‘MasterChef’ season 7, episode 17 review: Did Shaun, Tanorria, Brandi, or David make final three?

Wednesday night’s second episode of “MasterChef” proved to be one stuffed full of competition, and we expected nothing less given that this was an opportunity for the remaining cooks to try to find a spot in the final three.

the first surprise of the night was merely that the final three would be the last phase of the competition; this season, there is no final two. Is that the right move for this show? We’d argue so, if for no other reason than that we sometimes do find the finales a little bit of a struggle from a content point of view. There’s only so much footage that you can conjure up of just two people talking about their dreams while cooking.

There were two phases of this episode, with the first involving critics and the second being a more specific showdown between Tanorria and David. (Shaun and Brandi advanced through the first part.) In the end, the final person moving forward is … David! That means the two Las Vegas guys are still around, and despite being strong almost all season, Tanorria is gone right before the finale.

Is it a shame to be losing her at this stage? Absolutely, we think the answer there is yes since she’s talented. We know that David’s not an audience pick at this point because of his two blowups over the course of this season, but if his food’s good enough, his food’s good enough. We do still think he’s got an uphill battle moving forward.

In the end, we’ll give this episode credit for keeping us getting, and setting up a final showdown that should prove rather intriguing. Grade: B.

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