‘MasterChef’ season 7 finale review: Did Brandi Mudd, Shaun O’Neale, or David Williams win?

On Wednesday night’s season 7 finale, “MasterChef” took a page from the Monty Pyhton playbook and did something completely different. First things first, we had a situation where David, Shaun, and Brandi got to go back home and prepare for your last culinary showdown. We’ve had family members show up before, but this took things to another level. Then again, you could say the same thing about the final three twist in general? This is the first time that the show has raised the stakes rather than just giving us a final two as they have in the past.

The final culinary battle tonight was intense. There were mistakes, multiple courses, guest judges, and arguments aplenty about why each person was the right person to win the show.

We have to be honest here: Going into the finale, we thought it was fairly clear that Brandi was going to emerge from this season as champion. She had the edit on her side, she won the most competitions going into the episode, and we just think that her story would be a great one given her humble beginnings.

Yet, the great thing about this show sometimes is that it can catch you off-guard with some of its winners. We saw this for sure a couple of seasons ago, and we had it again tonight: Shaun is your winner! We’ve already heard various strong reactions, and we get some of that; yet, we trust the judges’ judgment on who the best home cook was on a given night. Shaun was insanely talented and we’d eat his food any day of the week. The same probably goes for David and Brandi. (We’d much rather eat David’s food than be embarrassed in a game of cards against him.)

So with that announcement, another season is in the books, and for the most part, this was one of the best finales we’ve seen. At least having three home cooks there added a little more substance to what occasionally can feel dragged out at the end. Grade: B.

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