‘MasterChef’ season 5, episode 12 review: Did Leslie, Victoria, Ahran survive double-elimination?

Tonight’s “MasterChef” episode was by far the hardest one of the season for the cooks. Typically, we have very little sympathy for people to go on a reality competition, given that they signed up to take part in these shenanigans in the first place.

However, seeing these cooks standing out in the pouring rain as they finished the Team Challenge revolving all around football was brutal. Nobody expected that to happen, and there were no umbrellas and these people were probably out there for hours on end. Hopefully they had a warm meal themselves after they got in. The challenge itself was otherwise dull, since it was once again a case of obvious editing. It looked like the red team was having more trouble throughout the challenge, only for us to later learn that they  were actually the winners in the end.

The Pressure Test, meanwhile, was far more dramatic. You had only Victoria, Leslie, and Ahran cooking three separate dishes in an hour about prawns, with only one of them being able to survive. Another moment of sympathy. There was great drama in this, mostly in that it came down to Ahran vs. Leslie all over again. It was obvious that Victoria was going from the moment that one of her prawn dishes was raw.

Things were harder for the final decision, and to be honest, we would’ve kept the two of them for another week. Neither made a big mistake, but Ahran made a slightly worse one and she was sent home. Maybe someone will return to the kitchen? By far, one of the saddest eliminations we’ve ever seen. This elimination was also clearly based on this alone, given that her overall body of work was probably better.

In the end, it was rather unfair that they got rid of two chefs like this, given you only had a one-in-three chance of surviving after losing a Team Challenge that you only barely lost. We’d rather see this happen in an elimination challenge or something. Grade: B (mostly for the rest of the drama).

What do you think about tonight’s “MasterChef,” and did the right people go home? Share below, and head over here to get some more scoop! We’ll have a preview for the next installment shortly. You can

Photo: Fox