MasterChef Junior season 5 episode 7 review: A tale of pie and fire

Only a show like MasterChef Junior could choose to start one episode with a task where the winner got to throw pies in the face of one Gordon Ramsay, and then end things not too long after that with an opportunity for kids to cook food using a blowtorch.

Let’s make one thing clear — we’re not sure as a grown man we’d be that comfortable hooking stuff with a blowtorch. It just feels like there are about 200 different things that could go wrong at almost every second. Yet, the home cooks for the most part figured it out despite being thirteen and younger. The two eliminated kids in the end in Syd and Jasmine didn’t go home because of the fact that they couldn’t use the equipment. They just had a rough day at a time when many of the other kids did a pretty good job in the kitchen. The judges were, for the most part, impressed — including Richard Blais, who seems right at home with a challenge that involves basically setting food on fire. It’s right in his outside-the-box wheelhouse.

One of the things that did make this challenge interesting was that instead of having the contestant make something a little generic like a chicken dish or a cake, they gave them a tool that allowed them to be creative. This is the biggest flaw sometimes in MasterChef Junior — it can get caught up sometimes in routine challenges to the point that if forgets about one of the show’s biggest strengths. This is a show that really does a great job allowing the contestants to be creative and show off their imagination. These are kids! Allow them to be just that. The more you do that, and the better the show ends up being.

As for the pie challenge, it was little more than an excuse to throw perfectly good dessert in the judges’ faces. We understand it as a way to let the kids have a little bit of fun, but after you’ve done this once to the judges, do you really need to do it again at some other point in the season?

Our overall take

MasterChef Junior filled a little bit of time in the first part of the episode, but it concluded with one of its more interesting challenge. While neither Jasmine nor Syd was the biggest character this season, they did bring a lot of energy and passion and will be missed … for now. More on that in a second. Grade: B+.

What’s next?

Based on the preview that aired at the end of the episode, it looks like most of the contestants are going to get a chance to fight to return to the kitchen! We do like these sort of redemption challenges, and it’s especially personal now that we’ve done exit interviews with most of these kids. We’re probably pulling for Mashu the most just because he’s been one of our favorite people on the season and we can see just how badly he wants it.

What did you think about this MasterChef Junior episode, and who do you think is the most likely to return to the kitchen? Share some of your thoughts on the subject below! (Photo: Fox.)