‘MasterChef’ season 7, episode 9 preview: Not-so-sweet 16

The first question we have going into next week’s new episode of “MasterChef” is rather simple: Who in their right mind would actually want to go and have a sweet 16 party in the middle of this show? You’ve got no guarantee your food will be good, Gordon Ramsay’s probably shouting at someone, and if things go horribly wrong, you’ve got camera crews there to document your tears as friends / family blackmail for the remainder of your lives.

Yet, that is precisely that is happening, and next week, the remaining home cooks are going to have the challenge of catering said birthday party … and they apparently will celebrate by screaming at each other rather than just have Gordon scream instead. Apparently, things will get especially heated between Andrea and Nathan when she claims that he was physically aggressive in getting her out of the way. Upon reviewing the tape (i.e. a few seconds of it) we don’t think there was anything deliberate here, but he probably should be communicating better in the kitchen and keeping a level head. We’ve seen that from him before.

Meanwhile, the pressure’s on for Eric and Katie after impressing this past week. They can establish themselves as favorites more than ever by dominating in this challenge. Given that they have some of the harshest critics out there in teenagers, this is something that they will likely have to contend with.

We’ll be back with some more exclusive coverage over the coming days, including potentially some exit interviews as well as a further preview for Wednesday’s episode.

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