In the expanse of just a few hours, 260 room service breakfasts needed to be served (130 by each teams) at The Radisson in Los Angeles, a rather big deal for the remaining 14 contestants of MasterChef.
Team captains Christine and Josh had their duties cut out for them. Right away I was impressed with what Christine did in sizing up and delegating cooking assignments based on what her individual team members could accomplish; their strengths and weakness were all important in this breakfast challenge. I mean, if you can’t make a Hollandaise sauce, you don’t delegate that duty to someone who can’t do it. Makes sense to me. So why in the world would Captain Josh fling assignments left and right to his hand-picked team members without consulting any of them on what they could and could not do? It was a recipe for disaster.
And that rang true after the final bell. Despite the appearance of Josh’s team having the seemingly better output in not only speediness but in quality as well (remember: Christine’s team didn’t finish putting out all their orders), it was her’s that came out on top and won the challenge based on the decision of the hotel’s guests.
And that meant a pressure test for Josh’s team: The captain, Frankie, Anna, Monti, David, Tali and Ryan. And, oh … what a pressure test.
45 minutes to put together a perfect molten lava cake. Firm on the outside, molten (naturally) on the inside. Tough freakin’ challenge. Given that task I’m sure I would have failed.
But, before the challenge began, David, Frankie and Monti are saved as the best of the breakfast challenge on the losing team. They got to sit out the pressure test nightmare. Josh, Anna, Tali and Ryan, however, must participate.
At the end of this impossibly difficult contest, wasn’t it very interesting to see the two “partners in crime” Tali and Ryan wind up with the worst molten lava cakes of the four? Anna and Josh were duly praised for their efforts, with the other two concoctions not even coming close to passable desserts. (Anna, as a matter of fact, was highly commended by Joe for her effort.)
The twist on the elimination was Gordon’s decree the worst of the two in the challenge was to honorably step forward and hand over their apron. There was a bit of a tense moment (editing … you gotta love it) as the two stood there and the tension mounted. But in the end, it was a little bit of a surprise me Ryan was the one to step up to the plate and admit he should be that person. All I have to say to that is what I said at the beginning of the season: “I’m calling him out as gone shortly.”
Notes:
Quotes:
“It’s diarrhea on a plate.” — Graham of Ryan’s chocolate molten lave cake disaster
“Got a straw in your back pocket?” — Gordon regarding same
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Jun 26, 2012 @ 00:30 EST5EDT
I’ve got to hand it to the editors, because they definitely tried to make Ryan look not as bad this week … because he was leaving. So we’d all have mixed feelings, etc. I honestly think I would have rathered see Tali go this week; at least Ryan’s tasted good and he had one fan (Tanya?). Tali’s got no one and less cooking skills than Ryan had. There’s no way Tali can go all the way; he’s such a weak cook I can’t believe he’s gotten this far. Ryan could at least cook … and mouth off …
I did laugh out loud when I heard the challenge was molten lava cake, because Keith could NAIL that in his sleep. He makes it often … and perfect every time. It’s actually a lot easier than they made it seem.
*POST AUTHOR*
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Agreed Deb: I would have much rather seen Tali get the boot instead of Ryan going out with a whimper as he did. Of course Tali can cook, but Ryan appeared to have the superior cooking skills over him.
Having never made a molten lava cake before, it appeared just as difficult as the pressure test appeared. But that’s the rub of the pressure test … isn’t it? Some have the aptitude to pull it off, some do not. Ryan even admitted he’s not a baker which contributed to his downfall. Now, reading even Keith can come up with a cake in his sleep, I have the confidence to give it a shot …
*heheheheh*
Deb – re the lava cake – YES! Even I can make that. Kind of diminished the challenge, because it’s really not that difficult. But then again, some cooks choose to remain ignorant about baking because they “don’t do desserts/pastry” as if it’s an affront to their chefliness.
*POST AUTHOR*
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Apparently I’m the only one who has never given a lava cake a whirl first-hand.
And here I thought it was a tough challenge!
I half expected them to make this a non-elimination week just so they could keep up the drama. Tali should have been gone already because he’s consistently turned out bad food, but he thinks it’s top of the line. He’ll never improve because he’s so delusional about his cooking that he won’t take notes from anyone about making it better. He should be gone soon without his buddy … or he could become like Rachel on Big Brother and blossom now that the person he’s been relying on is gone. But that’s a long shot because he’s way too full of himself.
I agree the editing made Ryan look better. David made an unfortunate comment about Red Team and Felix (Felix was still trying to put plates on the serving cart after time called). He said he was not surprised they would resort to cheating to win. That and other things he has said tells me he is not a nice guy either. One of the reasons I suspect he was at the bottom with Tali and Ryan for team selection.
As for the lava cake challenge: it looked tough. Having never had one I now have a desire to get one the next time I go out to dinner!
I did like the way Christine tasked people by finding out first their strengths as opposed to Josh who just barked out who did what.
Tali’s molten lava was an actual cake and Ryan’s was glob of goooo! If I was at a restaurant and got served Tali’s I would eat it and if it was not good send it back. If I got Ryan’s I would leave the restaurant and NEVER COME BACK! You all are crazy to think one is better than the other! This was obviously well written by the production team – aka…Reality TV = entertainment. Would it have been the same to see Josh’s molten lava with Ryan? NO! Tali is in it for a reason! To win and it shows that he could at least bake an actual cake that stands on its own!
Tali should do himself a big favor and drop Ryan. He is all over twitter and other places,trying to act as if they are still a couple. He is doing himself no favors and any of the other contestants are not helping their cause by answering Ryan and his stupid tweets. They should let Ryan fade away and be the non event that he is. Only a loser would continute to attack people the way that he does.And only a loser would have his girlfriend and brother doing the same thing. They all really are cheap imitations of wannabe Ny’ers