‘MasterChef’ season 5, episode 2 review: Meatloaf mayhem

On tonight’s “MasterChef,” we had quite possibly the most dramatic stories involving meatloaf that we have ever seen in our entire life. We’ve never really been a big meatloaf fan (at least the kind that is not a singer), so the majority of this episode simply did not appeal to us.

The other thing that didn’t appeal? That the show really is not doing much to change things up five seasons in now that we are in the bulk of the competition. We’ve got a mystery box winner in Courtney who immediately developed the biggest ego known to man, and started spreading a holier-than-thou attitude. Then, we had a “twist” for Courtney winning that was very predictable, and an elimination challenge that wasn’t entire fair. We’re not a big fan of the weak being rewarded this early in the competition; if we want to watch strategy, we’ll watch “Survivor.” That’s a little more interesting than milking the drama among amateur cooks.

In the end, we lost Whitney at the end of the elimination challenge, but we cannot say that we learned too much about either of the eliminated cooks tonight. The problem in the early going is that it’s easy to figure out who stays and who goes, mostly because the editing makes it a million times easier than it otherwise would be to figure it out.

The one major standout of this episode, and the season so far? “Big Willie.” We sometimes feel like contestants on Gordon Ramsay shows that are a little heavier are a target of further abuse, but we really like just his general demeanor. He’s confident, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going to let anything get to him. Plus, he basically came close to winning both the dessert-themed Mystery Box and the elimination challenge. If the full episode was about Willie, we’d be smiling so much more right now than we are otherwise. Grade: C+.

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