MasterChef Canada (season 5) facts for kids

In the Season 5 premiere, the Top 21 home cooks in Canada, Reem Ahmed, Oyakhire Airende, Eugene Cheng, Kaegan Donnelly, Claudia Escudero, Felix Fudge, Michael Griffiths, Andy Hay, Jen Jenkins, Nikita Kaisar, Layla Kelly, Marissa Leon-John, Peter Maltais, Dawn O’Hara, Sienna Potter, Jonathan Rahim, Nadia Rehman, Mike Schroeder, Melissa Skowron, Beccy Stables and Michael Varga were surprised by the judges showing up with coolers containing a special secret ingredient at their hometowns across the nation. In order to earn the coveted apron, each home cook had to pick one ingredient and showcase in a dish, and home cooks who underperformed in the cook were eliminated. During the cook, Dawn and Oyakhire were called out and sent home, while Beccy, Jonathan and Andy received aprons immediately after tasting, having made the three best dishes. After some consideration from the judges, Jen, Kaegan, Marissa, Melissa, Michael G., Michael V., Nadia and Reem were also given aprons since their dishes were good enough. Claudia, Nikita, Layla, Sienna and Mike, on the other hand, were all eliminated as their dishes were substandard. This left Eugene, Felix and Peter to be given one last chance to re-earn the final apron. They had to make a second dish using the same special ingredient, and take it in a different direction. In the end, the judges decided that Eugene (who previously overthought and over-complicated his original audition dish) redeemed himself enough, and received the final apron, sending both Peter and Felix home in a double elimination.

Mystery Box 1: The first Mystery Box featured coffee as the main ingredient. Half of the home cooks were tasked with making a savoury dish while the other half had to make a sweet dish. Kaegan, Beccy and Michael G. made the three best dishes, and Kaegan won the challenge.

Elimination Test 1: As the winner of the Mystery Box, Kaegan was immune from elimination. He also got to choose to save either the "savoury" or the "sweet" home cooks from the previous challenge. Targeting Beccy, he decided to save the other home cooks who made savoury dishes, saving Michael G., Eugene, Nadia, Jen and Reem from elimination. In the elimination challenge, the remaining contestants had to prepare a dish by purchasing ingredients from the pantry using the budget wallet, which allowed them to spend no more than $10, or the luxury wallet, which required them to spend at least $50, with Kaegan assigning the wallets. Kaegan gave the budget wallet to Melissa, Marissa, and Jonathan, and gave the luxury wallet to Michael V., Beccy and Andy. Jonathan and Michael V. made the two best dishes, making team captains for their first off-site team challenge. Marissa and Andy also did well enough to be saved, despite the fact that the latter’s lobster dish was extremely salty, leaving Melissa and Beccy in the bottom. The judges decided that Beccy did just good enough to stay, so Melissa was eliminated.

Team Challenge 1: The home cooks faced their first off-site team challenge, in which they were tasked with preparing a hearty meal for 101 Habitat for Humanity volunteers, who were building homes at a construction site. Split into two teams, they were given only two hours to create a family-style meal using various cuts of chicken, with hungry volunteers deciding their favorite meal by casting votes. As the winner of the last challenge, Jonathan was given the option of picking either the protein or his team first - he chose to pick a team member first. Michael V. chose the dark meat, leaving the white meat to Jonathan, who chose Eugene, Marissa, Andy and Jen, forming the Red team, while Michael V. chose Michael G., Nadia, Reem and Kaegan, forming the Blue team. As the last home cook standing, Beccy chose to join the Red team, who won the challenge.

Pressure Test 1: Returning to the MasterChef kitchen the next morning to face his first pressure test, the judges gave Michael V., the captain of the Blue Team, the choice to save the most deserving member of his team, including himself. After a long deliberation, he decided to save himself. As a result, Michael G., Nadia, Kaegan, and Reem faced the pressure test, in which they had 80 minutes to replicate a four-layered Black Forest cake with two layers of mousseline pastry cream filling and a layer of chocolate ganache filling in the middle. Nadia and Michael G. made the two best cakes, with Nadia's cake deemed be the best; both safely advanced forward in the competition. Reem struggled with the pressure at the start and produced a cake that was raw in the middle. Kaegan forgot to put sugar in his cake batter and ended up serving a one-layer cake after he dropped one layer on the ground and the two remaining layers became soggy after they were soaked in sugar syrup. As a result, Kaegan was eliminated.

Mystery Box 2: The home cooks found a large delivery cardboard box from Chefs Plate, Canada's #1 meal kit service, which contained a large variety of ingredients, including sauce, syrup, fruits, dairy products, meat and vegetables. The cooks were tasked with designing a home-inspired dish that could be made in just 30 minutes, with the winner of the mystery box receiving three big advantages. Michael V., Nadia, and Michael G. made the three best dishes, and Michael G. won.

Elimination Test 2: As the winner of the Mystery Box, Michael G. was safe from elimination and his dish was promotionally featured on the Chef's Plate menu across Canada. He was then given the advantage of assigning three different versions of a secret ingredient: dried, canned and fresh, to the remaining home cooks. Targeting Eugene and Andy, he gave the dried ingredient to Marissa, Jonathan and Beccy, the canned ingredient to Eugene, Andy and Reem, and the fresh ingredient to Nadia, Michael V. and Jen. The secret ingredient was revealed to be mushrooms in the pantry. Eugene made the best dish, while Andy and Marissa made the second and third best dishes respectively. The three are became team captains for their next team challenge. Reem, Jonathan, and Nadia made the three worst dishes, and Reem was eliminated.

Team Challenge 2: The home cooks' second team challenge took place along Toronto's lakeside off leash dog park at the dog-friendly Cherry Beach. They were given two hours to make donuts for dog owners who frequented the park, and the team with the most sales won the challenge. Eugene chose Michael V. and Nadia, forming Red team, Andy chose Michael G. and Jen forming the Blue team, and Marissa chose Beccy and Jonathan forming the Green team. The Green team won the challenge.

Pressure Test 2: The two losing teams faced the pressure test, but not all six home cooks participated. The Green team was given the advantage of decide which home cooks would be saved. After discussion, they decided to save Andy from the Blue team and Nadia from the Red team. This left Michael G., Eugene, Jen and Michael V. to face the pressure test, in which they had to replicate a Russian salmon coulibiac. Jen made the best dish and was the first to be sent to safety. Despite his initial best efforts, Michael G. made coulibiac that had large gaps between his slightly undercooked puff pastry crust and his slightly overcooked salmon, but did well enough to be saved, leaving Eugene and Michael V. in the bottom, since they both forgot to season their salmon as they were layering, and their pastry crusts were very thick and hard. The judges decide that Michael V.'s coulibiac has more problems than Eugene's, and the former was eliminated as a result.

MasterChef Canada Redemption - Part 1 of 3: Made available online shortly after this episode was broadcast, two of the first four eliminated home cooks, Kaegan and Michael V., were featured. They were both tasked with making a dish featuring trout. Kaegan was criticized for adding too much black pepper, while Michael V. was criticized for overcooking his trout. Ultimately, Kaegan was declared the winner and proceeded to the final round of Redemption.

Gauntlet Pressure Test 1: Like the seventh episode of the previous season, the top 8 home cooks faced three grueling and daunting pressure tests, each featuring a French classic and progressively more difficult than the previous, revealing the home cooks' skills, strengths, and weaknesses, and one home cook was sent home at the end. The home cooks had to battle for survival to progress to the next stage of the competition. The first pressure test required them to make a classic French omelets by frying stiffly beaten egg whites and butter on a pan in just four minutes. While Jen's, Nadia's, Jonathan, and Marissa's omelets were complete messes, Eugene's and Beccy's omelettes were the best with Eugene's omelette deemed picture perfect, and both advanced safely into the Top 7. They also became team captains in their next team challenge. Additionally, Andy and Michael G. have also made intact omelettes perfectly cooked and decent enough to safely advance to the top 7.

Gauntlet Pressure Test 2: Jen, Jonathan, Marissa and Nadia faced the second pressure test, in which they had to make a butter-basted steak cooked medium rare, with just 15 minutes (2 minutes to heat up the pan, 8 minutes to sear the steak and baste it with butter, and 5 minutes to rest it). Nadia and Jen emerged as the winners and were saved.

Gauntlet Pressure Test 3: Marissa and Jonathan went head-to-head for survival in the final pressure test, in which they had 30 minutes to make a stunning crème caramel finished with a caramel sugar dome. Marissa made the best dish and was saved, while Jonathan proceeds methodically but fell dangerously behind, leaving everything under the wire, compounded when he oiled the inside of his ramekin and filled it with sugar syrup instead of the outside, which made it difficult for him to remove the sugar syrup dome. Finally, he made a costly mistake when he flipped his pudding out from the ramekin, causing his pudding to collapse into a messy sauce, resulting in his elimination to the shock of the other home cooks.

MasterChef Canada Redemption - Part 2 of 3: Made available online shortly after this episode was broadcast, Kaegan and Jonathan faced off in the final round of Redemption. They were both tasked with making a dish based on choices, the first of these being made by Jonathan for ranking higher than Kaegan. First, Jonathan selected the duck breasts, leaving Kaegan with the wild boar chops. Kaegan then selected the red potatoes, leaving Jonathan with the sweet potatoes. Jonathan then selected the broccolini, leaving Kaegan with the Brussels sprouts. Finally, Kaegan selected the Granny Smith apples, leaving Jonathan with the sweet oranges. The two home cooks began cooking with their ingredients. Ten minutes into the challenge, Claudio revealed that he, Alvin, and Michael were looking for someone who was inventive, resourceful, and flexible. Therefore, he added a twist to the challenge by telling them to switch places with each other at once.

MasterChef Canada Redemption - Part 3 of 3: Also made available online shortly after this episode was broadcast, Kaegan and Jonathan continued their face-off from MasterChef Canada Redemption - Part 2 of 3. In the end, Kaegan was praised for cooking another duck breast as an insurance policy (though he ultimately chose to plate Jonathan's original duck breast), but was criticized for having a little blood on the plate from the protein. Meanwhile, Jonathan was praised for having a flawless dish, but was criticized for forgetting to plate the potato chips that he had made out of Kaegan's red potatoes. Claudio then announced to the two that the winner would be revealed in the seventh episode, with such episode consisting of a team challenge followed by a pressure test.

Team Challenge 3: The Top 7 home cooks gathered for a Team Challenge in Kleinburg, Ont., at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, home to the iconic Group of Seven. They were tasked with creating a three-course tasting menu inspired by the G7 art themes (land, sea and sky) for seven esteemed recipients of the Order of Canada. Eugene chose Andy and Michael G., forming the Red team, while Beccy chose Marissa and Jen, forming the Blue team. Nadia originally wanted to join the Blue team, but was ordered to join the Red team by Claudio, who then announced the winner of the MasterChef Canada: Redemption challenge. To the home cooks' surprise, Kaegan returned as the last member of the Blue team after emerging as the MasterChef Canada: Redemption winner after beating Michael V. and Jonathan. In the end, the Red Team was declared the winner for their creative menu. As their advantage, the Red Team (Andy, Michael G., Eugene and Nadia) safely advanced to the Top 7 once again, this time safe from the pressure test.

Pressure Test 3: The Blue team faced the pressure test, in which they had to replicate oysters prepared three different ways. The first was a Japanese-inspired sake poached oyster with Asian pear slaw and a perfectly poached lobster claw. The second was a raw oyster topped with mignonette sauce, champagne jelly, and red tobiko, and the third was an oyster Rockefeller with béchamel spinach purée, sautéed oyster mushrooms with panko breadcrumbs. In a twist, the judges announced that the pressure test began with an impromptu oyster shucking challenge, in which the home cook who shucked the most oysters in 3 minutes would be saved. Taking quality into account, Marissa was saved, leaving Beccy, Kaegan and Jen to face the pressure test. Beccy produced the best dish, leaving Kaegan and Jen as the bottom two. The judges decided to save Kaegan, resulting in Jen being sent home.

Mystery Box 3: The voice cast of Corner Gas Animated (Brent Butt, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Lorne Cardinal and Nancy Robertson) made a surprise appearance during the mystery box challenge to inspire the home cooks with some comic relief. The theme of the challenge was elevated diner food. Nadia, Beccy, and Andy made the three best dishes, and Andy won.

Elimination Test 3: The remaining home cooks faced the classic MasterChef tag team challenge. They were tasked with recreating an Asian street food platter, consisting of steamed bao with pork belly, jellyfish salad, banh mi sandwich with chili chicken and chicken liver mousse, takoyaki, and banana fritters. Targeting Eugene and Michael G., Andy paired Eugene with Beccy and Michael with Kaegan, leaving Marissa with Nadia. Despite Michael G.’s initial concerns on working with Kaegan, the two made the best platter, which mostly praised by the judges for its flavors, although their banana fritters were burnt and their takoyaki balls were slightly overcooked. Beccy became surprisingly vocal during her cook with Eugene when he became flustered and unfocused, and they managed to produce a platter that was missing some components, but had flavours good enough to save them from elimination. During their cook, Nadia became increasingly frustrated with Marissa’s lack of communication. Their platter was panned as they presented no banana fritters, an incomplete bao, a sloppy jellyfish salad, a bland and incomplete banh mi sandwich, and raw takoyaki. The judges deemed Nadia to have performed just good enough to stay in the competition and slightly better than Marissa, who was sent home.

Team Challenge 4: The Top 6 home cooks face a super-charged Restaurant Takeover team challenge at Claudio's Toronto restaurant, Copetin. The teams had to prepare and serve two technically demanding appetizers: octopus a la planche and beef tartare, and two entrées: sea bream and lamb, to a restaurant filled with discerning dinner guests. As the winners of the last challenge, Michael G. and Kaegan were team captains; Michael G. chose Andy and Nadia, forming the Red team, while Kaegan chose Eugene and was left with Beccy, forming the Blue team. While the Red team performed smoothly and effectively throughout service, the Blue team fell dangerously behind service as Kaegan was overcome with stress. He eventually relinquished his role to Beccy, allowing the Blue team to catch up. The Red team was declared the winner.

Pressure Test 4: Kaegan, Eugene and Beccy had 75 minutes to make 10 macarons with two distinct flavours. Leaving everything down to the wire, each home cook cook had trouble packaging their macarons, the judges decided that Beccy made the best and was safe. Both Eugene and Kaegan were left as the bottom two, as they both had significant issues in their macarons. The judges decided that Kaegan made the weakest macarons and he was sent home once again.

Mystery Box 4: As the competition tightened, the Top 5 home cooks were presented with coolers containing the same ingredients they used to make their audition dishes and were required to make a new dish that used those ingredients in a different way to showcase how much they grew during the competition. Furthermore, the judges surprised the home cooks by bringing in their family members for a surprise guest visit, who also worked alongside them. The winner of the challenge received a big advantage in the next challenge. Andy, Beccy and Michael made the three best dishes, and Beccy won.

Elimination Test 4: Beccy did not automatically advance to the Top 3, and had to participate in the elimination challenge, which ended with a double elimination. The challenge featured the four previous MasterChef winners: Eric Chong (season 1), David Jorge (season 2), Mary Berg (season 3) and Trevor Connie (season 4). The four chefs guest starred in the challenge and each came with a basket full of ingredients to inspire the home cooks. Beccy's advantage allowed her to assign the baskets to the other home cooks, including herself. She chose Mary's baking basket and also gave the same basket to Andy. She then gave Eric's East Asian basket to Michael G., David's seafood basket to Nadia, and Trevor's Italian basket to Eugene. Following the cook, Michael G. and Andy impressed the judges with their Thai green curry and sweet and savoury tart, respectively, and they earned the first two spots in the semifinals. Nadia and Eugene's dishes received lukewarm reviews, while Beccy was rebuked for her dish's very bitter aftertaste, which overpowered the pears perfectly cooked with buttermilk. In the end, the judges decided that Beccy's dish exhibited skills just good enough to earn her the last spot in the semifinals, sending both Eugene and Nadia home.

Individual challenge: In the semi-finals, the final 3 home cooks faced their first pop-up restaurant challenge in the MasterChef kitchen with 30 of Canada’s top food bloggers and influencers in attendance. They were tasked with making an entrée that reflected one of three different restaurants with unique cuisines that were set up for each of them, and the winner of the challenge directly advanced to the finale. While each home cook's entrée had pros and cons, the judges decided that Beccy, whose elegantly plated dish was perfectly cooked (albeit a tad under-seasoned) did slightly better than Michael G. and Andy, and she earned the first spot in the finale.

Pressure Test 5: Michael G. and Andy went head-to-head in the final pressure test of the season to determine who would earn the other spot in the finale. They had 75 minutes to replicate elevated versions of three classic Canadian desserts: a deconstructed Nanaimo bar, a sophisticated butter tart and an updated blueberry grunt. After tasting the three desserts from both home cooks, the judges found that Michael G.'s desserts were elegantly plated but slightly undercooked and dry, lacking full flavours, while Andy's plating was messy, but his desserts had spot on flavours. The judges decided that Andy earned the last spot in the finale, sending Michael G. home.

In the Season 5 finale, Beccy and Andy competed for the title. As with the previous season, they had to work non-stop for three hours to prepare a three-course meal for the judges, spending one hour on one course. Their appetizer had to be ready for pick-up after the first 1 hour, the entrée after 2 hours, and dessert after 3 hours. For the appetizers, Beccy served a quail Scotch egg on a nest of potatoes and parsnips, while Andy served a Halifax lamb donair salad with Pita chips and Tahini dressing. For the entrees, Beccy delivered rabbit two ways with Jerusalem artichoke puree, while Andy made an elevated hodge-podge with Dungeness crab, sweetbreads, onion soubise and crab bisque. Finally, for the desserts, Beccy served a "Fallen apple" panna cotta with an apple gelee core on a soil of dried fruits and nuts, while Andy served a Newfoundland touton with malted pastry cream, brown sugar and bruleed rhubarb. In the end, the judges decided that Beccy's menu was slightly better executed and innovative, making her the youngest winner of MasterChef Canada.