MasterChef (American TV series) season 6

MasterChef (U.S. season 6)
Season 6
No. of episodes	TBA
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	May 20, 2015 (2015-05-20) – September 2015 (2015-09)
Season chronology

Season 6 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef premiered on Fox on May 20, 2015.

Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot returned as judges. Joe Bastianich left the show after five seasons and was replaced by Christina Tosi as the new judge.

Top 22

Contestant	Age	Hometown	Occupation	Status	Winnings
Ailsa Von Dobeneck	27	Norfolk, Virginia	Assistant Railroad Manager	Top 20	0
Amanda Saab	25	Seattle, Washington	Social Worker	Top 20	0
Charlie Chapman	25	New Orleans, Louisiana	HVAC Technician	Top 20	0
Christopher Lu	30	Los Angeles, California	Restaurant Manager	Top 20	1
Claudia Sandoval	31	La Mesa, California	Events Manager	Top 20	0
Daniel "Dan" Collado	29	Chicago, Illinois	Engineer/Model	Top 20	1
Darah Carattini	30	Irvine, California	Amusement Park Guide	Top 20	0
Derrick Peltz	28	Fort Myers, Florida	Drummer	Top 20	0
Hetal Vasavada	27	Bloomfield, New Jersey	Startup Developer	Top 20	0
Jesse Romero	29	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Petroleum Landman	Top 20	0
Justin Banister	18	New Caney, Texas	High School Student	Top 20	0
Katrina Kozar.	34	Brookfield (town), Wisconsin	Administrative Assistant	Top 20	0
Kerry Prince	31	Greensboro, North Carolina	Human Resources Representative	Top 20	0
Nicholas "Nick" Nappi	31	San Mateo, California	Dishwasher Sales Representative	Top 20	0
Olivia Crouppen	25	Thousand Oaks, California	Fashion Stylist	Top 20	0
Sara Zacek	29	Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin	Mobile Home Park Manager	Top 20	0
Stephen Lee	47	Palm Springs, California	Urban Gardener	Top 20	0
Shelly Flash	32	Brooklyn, New York	Kitchen Assistant	Top 20	0
Tommy Walton	53	Chicago, Illinois	Fashion Designer	Top 20	0
Veronica Cili	58	Key West, Florida	Beauty Consultant	Top 20	0
Brianna Watson	24	Worcester, Massachusetts	Hair Stylist	Eliminated May 27	0
Mateo McConnell	38	Atlanta, Georgia	High School Teacher		0

Elimination Table

Place	Contestant	Episode
		3		4
	Ailsa	IN	IMM
	Amanda	IN	IMM
	Charlie	IN	IN
	Christopher	IN	WIN
	Claudia	IN	IMM
	Dan	WIN	IMM
	Darah	IN	IMM
	Derrick	IN	IN
	Hetal	HIGH	IMM
	Jesse	IN	IMM
	Justin	IN	IMM
	Katrina	HIGH	IMM
	Kerry	IN	IMM
	Nick	IN	IMM
	Olivia	IN	LOW
	Sara	IN	IN
	Shelly	IN	IMM
	Stephen	IN	IN
	Tommy	IN	IMM
	Veronica	IN	IN
21	Brianna	IN	ELIM
22	Mateo	IN	ELIM

  (WINNER) This cook won the competition.

  (RUNNER-UP) This cook finished in second place.

  (WIN) The cook won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Elimination Test).

  (WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and was directly advanced to the next round.

  (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge, but did not win.

  (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in an individual challenge.

  (IN) The cook was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in a team challenge.

  (IMM) The cook did not have to compete in that round of the competition and was safe from elimination.

  (IMM) The cook was selected by Mystery Box Challenge winner and did not have to compete in the Elimination Test.

  (PT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, competed in the Pressure Test, and advanced.

  (NPT) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge, but was exempted from the Pressure Test.

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance.

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in the Team Challenge and they were the only person from their team to advance.

  (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in the Team Challenge, and their team was last to advance.

  (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from MasterChef.

Episodes

Episode 1

• Original Airdate: Wednesday 20 May 2015
• Auditions Round 1: The top 20 contestants were given a surprise that they will be facing another 20 contestants in head-to-head battles to decide who will be receiving a white apron. Contestants with similar signature dishes (steak vs steak, seafood vs seafood, baker vs baker etc) were put together against each other to decide which was the best home cook among them. The first battle was between Claudia and Andrew in shrimp, and Claudia emerged as the winner and received a white apron. The next battle was between Stephen and Tommy in pork tenderloin. Tommy initially had difficulties during the cooking as his pork tenderloin was still raw after taking it out from the oven, but he quickly bounced back and won the battle and received a white apron. The next battle was between four contestants - Amanda, Derrick, Nate and Moniza in lamb. Derrick was the first to receive a white apron for his outstanding pistachio crusted rack of lamb, and then after some consideration from the judges, Amanda was the next to receive a white apron. In the following battles, Ailsa, Dan, Kerry, Mateo, Veronica and Nick all received a white apron. The final battle in this episode was between Katrina and Taylor, hometown rivals, in salmon. After some long consideration from Gordon, Katrina was the winner and received a white apron.

Episode 2

• Original Airdate: Wednesday 20 May 2015
• Auditions Round 2: As the head-to-head battles continued, the next battle was between Hetal and Jill in an apple dessert. Hetal was the winner and received a white apron. In the following battles, Darah, Olivia, Sara, Charlie, Justin, Jesse and Brianna all received a white apron. The final head-to-head battle was between Christopher and Shelly in chicken. While Gordon chose Shelly, Graham and Christina both chose Christopher and therefore Christopher was declared as the winner of the battle and received the final white apron. Gordon thought "[they] had made a major mistake" in the decision.
• Auditions Round 3: The defeated home cooks were called back into the Masterchef kitchen and the judges announced that they will be distributing two more white aprons for a spot in the competition. Six of the defeated home cooks were chosen by the judges for the final challenge. Graham chose Taylor and Stephen, Christina chose Andrew and Demetria, and lastly Gordon chose Jill and Shelly. The challenge consisted of every day ingredients including chicken, tomatoes, bacon, kale, carrots, mushrooms, blueberries, cheese and chocolate, and the contestants were given one hour to create a stunning dish for the last two spots in the competition. Andrew made a stuffed chicken thigh with puree medley and tomato salad, the judges thought that the chicken was delicious but there were too many things going on with the puree as there were three different purees all together on the same plate. Taylor made a pan seared chicken with kale and carrot mashed potatoes, Graham thought that the chicken and kale had great flavors, but the puree was too "gummy". Jill made blueberry BBQ chicken with scalloped carrot and potato, Christina thought that the chicken had unexpectedly great flavor, the gratin was delicious but had too much cream and herbs in it. Stephen made grilled chicken with pappardelle and vegetables, Gordon thought everything were delicious, but the portion was way too big as it felt like there were three separate dishes on one plate. Shelly made mushroom and kale fritter with kale salad and fried chicken skin, Christina thought the dish was delicious but thought the fried chicken skin could be better presented. Demetria made a chicken roulade with sauteed potatoes and mole sauce, and Graham criticized her mole sauce for looking very unappetizing and felt like "a stain on the plate" as if the chicken was plated on a "diaper", and Christina thought she threw her second chance away with the mole sauce. At the end of the challenge, Demetria was the first to be sent home. Shelly received a white apron and Taylor was sent home. Stephen received the last white apron while Andrew and Jill were sent home.

Episode 3

• Original Airdate: Wednesday 27 May 2015
• Mystery Box Challenge 1: The top 22 contestants were faced with their first Mystery Box Challenge. In the box, there were ingredients that the contestants had themselves left behind in their own kitchen when they left to travel to the competition. The cooks had 60 minutes to prepare their dishes. The top three dishes were Katrina's pork schnitzel with braised cabbage and Christmas peas, Dan's savory eclair with creamy mushroom filling and Hetal's coconut curry soup with red chili chutney and Cilantro mint basil oil. The judges decided that Dan was the winner of the first Mystery Box Challenge and received advantage in the elimination challenge.

• Elimination Test 1: For the Elimination Test, the contestants were required to make a stunning apple pie by Christina Tosi. For winning the Mystery Box challenge, Dan was immune from the challenge. He also got to choose as many contestants to receive immunity as he wanted. He chose to save Hetal, Amanda, Claudia, Justin, Shelly, Nick, Jesse, Kerry, Tommy, Ailsa, Katrina and Darah. The remaining 9: Brianna, Charlie, Christopher, Derrick, Mateo, Olivia, Sara, Stephen and Veronica had to bake a stunning apple pie in 90 minutes. The judges also announced that two cooks will be sent home at the end of this challenge. During cooking, Olivia told Gordon that she doesn't know if she will be doing a crust for her apple pie, to which Gordon reminded her that Christina asked for an apple pie (which has a crust). After much hesitation from her, she finally was convinced by Gordon to do a crust. Once the time was up, Veronica's apple pie was up to be judged first. Her apple pie with caramel and walnut had a bizarre and messy presentation, but all the judges agreed that her pie was absolutely delicious with a nice use of cinnamon. Christopher was very nervous because he had never made an apple pie before. His apple pie had maple syrup and bourbon filling, but during judging, he got very defensive to Gordon about his use of corn starch in the pie and expressed that he always "got pick on", to which Gordon calmly told him to relax as he too himself has been picked on a lot in his life and the proof of his abilities will be in the food. Christopher's pie was deemed delicious and the pastry was cooked beautifully and had amazing color. Olivia vocally expressed that she hated her apple pie so much that she would rather "shave [her] head" than serve the pie to the judges. Her pie was made with goat cheese and blueberries, and the judges thought everything in her apple pie tasted nice and balanced except for the goat cheese, which tasted very out of place. Derrick made a Granny Smith apple pie with orange zest and brown sugar, Gordon thought the pie was delicious but not enough apples inside it. Stephen made an apple pie with mascarpone and caramel, but Christina pointed out that his pastry crust still tasted raw and was undercooked. Charlie made Grandma's apple pie. Graham thought his pie was good but lacked techniques. Mateo's ginger apple pie with cardamon and salted caramel was panned by the judges for the thickness of the apples. Its pastry was too thin to sustain the weigh of the apple and the pie disintegrated when cut, and Christina pointed out that the ginger was overpowering the rest of the components in the pie. Sara's pecan apple pie with cinnamon and caramel sauce was delicious and Graham said it was like "a slice of autumn". Brianna's apple pie with ginger and mint got bad reviews. Christina commended her for her lattice work, but the pie was very watery and literally like "apple soup". With the best apple pie, Christopher was declared winner of the elimination challenge. The three worst pies of the night belonged to Brianna, Mateo and Olivia. Mateo was the first to be eliminated. After much deliberation from the judges, Brianna was the next home cook to be eliminated.

Episode 4

• Original Airdate: Wednesday 3 June 2015
• Team Challenge 1: The top 20 contestants are faced with their first team challenge. Each of the two teams must serve their own, unique version of a park burger and a fish & chips dish for the thousands of hungry visitors of an amusement park.
• Pressure Test 1: The losing team will be put up against an pressure test in which the selected home cooks will make 12 cinnamon rolls for the three judges. Some contestants will stay and some may leave.

Episode 5

• Original Airdate: Wednesday 10 June 2015

U.S. Nielsen ratings

No.	Episode	Original air date	Rating/share 18–49	U.S. viewers (million)	Rank (Timeslot)	Rank (Nightly)	Rank (Weekly)	Source(s)
1	"Top 40 Compete"	May 20, 2015	1.2/4	3.39	3	8	<25
2
3	"Top 22 Compete"	May 27, 2015	1.6/6	4.72	1	1	TBD
4	"Top 20 Compete"	June 3, 2015	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD