Tonight on FOX Masterchef returns with an all new Wednesday June 17, Season 6 Episode 5 called, “What Happens In Vegas Steaks In Vegas.” We’ve got your recap down below! On tonight’s episode the cooks go to Las Vegas, where they split into two groups and take over a nightclub to prepare a meal for 101 performers. Later, the losing team participate in two steak challenges that test temperature and taste, and one contestant goes home.
On the last episode, in the next mystery box challenge, the home cooks had to come out of their shells when they had to prepare unique crab dishes for the judges. The home cook who prepared the best crab dish received a significant advantage before the next elimination challenge. Then the remaining home cooks created their versions of sweet or savory dishes, using the same surprise ingredient of corn. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode per say the FOX synopsis “In the second field challenge of the season, the home cooks will take a surprise trip to Las Vegas, where they will be split into two teams to take over Drai’s Nightclub and feed 101 Las Vegas performers. The team who receives the most winning votes from the Las Vegas performer diners will be safe from the next pressure test, while the losing team will be dealt with a deuce steak contest at Gordon Ramsay’s Steak. In the pressure test, the home cooks will face two steak challenges testing temperature and taste, and one contestant will be sent home for good.”
Don’t forget to join us for our live recap tonight at 8:00pm when MasterChef Season Five on Fox airs. While you wait for the recap, let us know how you like the fifth season of MasterChef and who are you rooting to win tonight.
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RECAP:
On #MasterChef the home cooks are in Las Vegas. It’s #MCLasVegas and they’re at Ray’s Beach Club at the Cromwell Hotel. Gordon announces that Dan had to leave the competition and had to go back to Chicago. They are told they will cook a meal for 101 Vegas entertainers. Stephen and Shelly will be team captains and Stephen as winner can either pick his whole team first or choose proteins the teams will cook with.
Gordon says he can choose lobster then under the other cloche is chicken tenders. Gordon says it’s commonplace and easier to cook with. Stephen wants the lobster but doesn’t want Shelly to know that. Stephen says he’s going to out-think Shelly and says he will choose his team. Stephen is confident that Shelly will choose chicken since she’s a mom from Brooklyn who’s more comfortable with chicken. Shelly says she knows chicken and chooses that and Stephen is triumphant.
Then he tells Gordon he wanted the lobster and used a Jedi mind trick on her. Then he chooses Amanda, Charlie, Jesse and Sarah – all the people Shelly wanted. He also takes Olivia, Tommy and Carey. He took four out of her five top picks and she hopes he won’t choose Nick as well. And then he does. Stephen rooked Shelly out of the better protein and team. She has Claudia, Veronica, Hetel, Katrina, Derrick and a few others. They have 60 minutes to prep the entree.
Shelly tells her team they’re going to do saffron butter and roulade. Derrick says they don’t have enough time to hammer out the chicken but Shelly doesn’t listen. He thinks they’re in trouble already. Stephen says it’s lobster and potatoes and assigns roles. Nick says Stephen is doing well. He shuts Charlie down who says he’s making an individual plan. Stephen says there are no individual plans and says to listen to him and he’ll keep them out of the pressure test.
Gordon asks if he can make 100 lobster portions in the time he has. Stephen is confident. Gordon tells Graham and Christina that entertainers are very finicky. The blue team is questioning Shelly’s complex dish. Gordon comes to talk to her and she says roulade and he asks if she can get all the chicken rolled and says it’s too complicated. Gordon says stuffing the chicken will make the cook time longer. Claudia and Derrick are worried and think they’re going down in flames.
It’s 20 minutes before dinner service and Gordon tells the teams that the entertainers are arriving. The Chippendale dancers from the Rio are there and the Jubilee showgirls are there too. Gordon says the entertainers are in the building and they are down to eight minutes. Stephen lets Gordon taste the dish and says it’s a great effort and it’s down to execution. The red team is looking good but the blue team is doing a risky dish. Gordon calls the blue team over and shows them that it looks like sh*t.
He says they open in 60 seconds and they need to get their sh*t together. Service starts and the red team has food flying out of the kitchen. The blue team hasn’t turned out any plates. Gordon comes back into their kitchen and they tell him they have no chicken ready. Gordon yells at them while they struggle. Stephen has the red team working hard but then Tommy is screwing up on plating. Gorodn yells at him and Stephen says he’s making sloppy oversized portions.
Gordon yells at Tommy to wipe the plates. Stephen freaks and fires Tommy and pulls Sarah up first. Gordon tells him it’s a good move. He puts Tommy on potatoes and Christina checks on the entertainers. They offer positive feedback on the lobster. Halfway through service, the blue team has still not put out one single plate of food. Derrick steps up and takes over. He says Shelly checked out and she admits she’s not strong enough. He has Victoria plating.
Graham says Christopher is searing chicken and Derrick is plating. Graham says you could get rid of the rest of the team and those two could do it. Stephen is furious that Tommy is burning potatoes. Gordon asks Tommy if he’s trying to sabotage the results. Stephen then sends him to stand at the back and Tommy says he’s getting volcanic hatred everywhere he turns. The red team tries to rebound from the burned potatoes and Derrick is pulling the blue team back from disaster.
Derrick hopes they now have a chance then screams at everyone to come plate and get the food out. The chicken is getting rave reviews on the floor. Tommy is now washing dishes and the red team is back on track. They send out their last plate and they’re done. They cheer. Graham says they crushed it and they have eight minutes to high five. But Stephen says that doesn’t mean they liked the food. The blue team is down to 24 people left to feed. Gordon counts down from 10.
He calls for an end to service and they are short eight plates. That means eight votes lost. Their only hope is that their food tasted better. Gordon asks the entertainers to cast their votes. They choose either a blue or red playing card to put into a clear lucite box. Olivia is excited to see lots of red cards then the blue cards start picking up. Nick is seeing a lot of blue cards. He’s worried. Derrick is thrilled to see so many blue cards and says it’s way more than he expected.
Gordon counts the votes and tells them there were just three votes separating the teams and says it’s the closest they’ve had. It’s 52 versus 49 and the red team wins it. If the blue team had served their last eight plates, they very likely would have won it. Stephen’s team is ecstatic. Gordon tells the blue team they have to face the pressure test but says not all of them have to face it. He says only four members have to go into. He tells Shelly that she isn’t facing the pressure test as captain.
He says she has to pick three more to save. Derrick wonders if she will reward the hard workers or put strong people into the pressure test to sabotage them.
Shelly wonders how to save people and should she choose threats or top performers. The chefs are at a top Vegas chop house. Christina says they’re going to face the pressure test at Gordon’s Steak restaurant at Paris. Graham says they will cook steak and Gordon will judge them. Hetal is nervous because she’s never cooked steak. She says she’ll go home if Shelly doesn’t save her. Gordon tells them four of the eight have to face the pressure test.
Gordon tells Shelly that her performance was lackluster. Claudia says she tried to make suggestions but she didn’t listen. Katrina says stuffing the chicken was a bad idea because of a lack of time. Shelly thinks they’re throwing her under the bus. Derrick says it was a good dish but not for the time limits they had. Shelly then goes on the attack and says she knew they would throw her under the bus. Derrick says he knows she’s going to throw the strongest people into the test.
Gordon tells Shelly to choose three people to save. Shelly says this person worked really hard and she chooses Hetal. She heads upstairs with the red team. Derrick thinks Hetal did the least amount of work. Then Shelly says this person worked hard and chooses Veronica to send upstairs. She also goes up to safety. Shelly’s last choice to save is Katrina. She also goes upstairs. Claudia says Shelly just saved the weakest three people on the team.
Gordon tells Shelly to also go upstairs and Derrick says he won’t forget this. Shelly says she wants to knock out the strongest in the competition. Christina says they’ll all be facing the fire and says it’s two pressure tests. Graham says for the first half they all have to cook steak then the remaining two will do it again with another cut of meat and another assigned temperature. It’s a #DoublePressure test. Gordon says first is a New York Strip to be cooked medium rare.
They have 20 minutes and Graham says Gordon will taste test blind. The two best will be out of the pressure test and the other two will have to cook again. Derrick says this is like a bucket list since they are cooking in such a great kitchen. Derrick is confident that he will shine. Graham asks what Gordon is looking for and he says the sear is critical. He says the steaks should be cooked fat sized down to render the fat. He says it must be juicy and pink inside. They have 10 minutes left.
Claudia says if you don’t caramelize and sear perfectly the steak will fail. Christopher curses and realized he didn’t sear fat side down and it’s too late now. Graham tells them it’s five minutes left. Derrick checks his steak as Graham counts down the last 10 seconds. It’s hands off. The servers bring the steaks to Gordon. Charlie says it’s like Good Fellas and someone will be whacked. Ailsa, Claudia, Christopher and Derrick wait nervously.
Gordon chooses the first one and says he sear is perfect. He cuts into it and sees the color is perfect and it’s cooked beautifully. He tastes and says it’s delicious. Derrick says it’s his steak and he can’t believe he served Gordon a perfect steak in his own kitchen. Gordon chooses a second steak and says the sear looks good but it’s not cooked perfectly on both sides. It’s Christopher’s steak. Gordon says it’s the sign of a lazy chef since he didn’t sear on both. Gordon says it’s rare and would be sent back.
Next is Ailsa and there’s no seasoning and he says it looks like boiled beef. He says it’s embarrassing. He says it’s undercooked and he struggles to cut into it then says it’s raw inside and it only needs horns. He tastes and says it’s hard to swallow. He says that one would never have left the kitchen. Last is Claudia’s and he says the sear looks good on both sides. He cuts into it and says it’s slightly undercooked by about two minutes. He tastes and says it has decent flavor.
Claudia says she hopes her steak will keep her safe. Christina tells him to choose one steak that’s perfect and he slides it out. Derrick comes out to take credit for the steak. Gordon tells him it’s amazing. Derrick says he can’t wait to take Shelly out and says she has to know she screwed up. Graham tells Gordon to choose the second steak that’s safe from elimination and he picks Claudia’s. Gordon congratulates her but doesn’t offer any accolades.
Christopher and Ailsa have to cook again. Gordon says they have to make the Rolls Royce of steaks and shows them a filet mignon and says it takes more finesse than any other cut. He tells them to cook it rare. They have 15 minutes to cook a rare steak and Christina says the best steak will make that home cook safe and they will move on while the other will be sent home. Shelly hopes that Ailsa will beat out Christopher. Gordon says you have to baste it and roll it round to sear everywhere.
He says this is the most difficult steak to cook because it has to be warm yet rare. Ailsa is using lots of butter and oil to sear it before it goes into the oven. Christopher says he’s in fighting mode and is angry and looking for revenge. He’s searing and basting then gets it into the oven. Graham asks Ailsa if she’s confident and she says she is. Christopher is second guessing himself and thinks he didn’t sear it well enough. He puts it back in the pan. Christina wonders what he’s doing.
Graham says it should be on a rack resting by now. Then Christopher’s steak is on fire. He just hopes Ailsa’s steak is worse than his. He’s in full panic mode. The cook time is done and the two stand before Gordon. Graham says their names are on the bottom of the plates and Gordon will choose. He chooses one and says the seasoning looks good but it needs a bit more color. He cuts into it and says it should be strong pink. He says it’s slightly undercooked. He tastes and says it’s cold inside. That’s Ailsa’s steak.
He says it’s a strong effort. Gordon cuts into Christopher’s steak and shows that it’s got a nice pink throughout. He tastes and says it’s a bit heavy on the sear and it should have been cooked 30 seconds less. He says it’s a close call. He says the first is evenly seasoned and nice but needed 30 seconds more basting to get rid of the chill. He says the other needed 30 seconds less. He says one has a slight edge and holds up Ailsa’s plate and says she’s going home.
Gordon congratulates Christopher and says it was near perfect and sends him upstairs to be safe. Christopher says Shelly should be going home since she led them to failure today. Shelly says she wanted to send Chris and Derrick home and sent the wrong person packing. She’s disappointed.