![]() This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Season 3, Episode 8. February 24, 2015. Season 3 ends with two finalists competing for a trophy and a $100,000 prize. Welcome back to MasterChef Junior, or as I call it, The No I'm Not Crying Again It's Just Dusty In Here Hour. Even though the last season ended only a few weeks ago, Fox ordered up another round of kiddo cooks because 1. It must be a cash cow for the network and 2. It's the best show on television. Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot, and Joe Bastianich (who apparently wasn't to sign on for judging another season) welcome the new 8-13 year old contestants to their reality tv home for the foreseeable future/next few weeks. It's hard to get used to this new crop of chefs because the wounds of having my season 2 favorites Oona and Abby go home are still pretty raw, but I guess this is life and I have to just soldier on. The judges explain to the 19 fresh faces that the prize in this culinary battle is $100,000. Alexis, 8, says that she wants to win the prize money so she can use it for college and that she wants to 'get into a good college like in Hawaii or Disneyland.' I love that logic — obviously the best college will be in the most incredible places. Imagine having that thought process as an adult: 'The best jobs must be at the liquor store or the factory where they made my Marc Jacobs wallet.' Gordon explains that each contestant gets a coveted white apron of his or her own. The judges release them all into the pantry, throughout which the aprons are hidden. The show can go ahead and stop calling that a pantry, by the way. I know what a pantry is — it's where my mother stockpiles rice pilaf, Triscuits, and almonds that have gone stale. This is not a pantry, it's a whole grocery store. The thing has more food in it than I've cumulatively eaten in my 31 years on Earth and is easily five times the size of my apartment. I wonder what the rent would be like. The pint-sized cooks run around the pantry shrieking and knocking things over. Cory, 9, who I think is the love child of Questlove and Malcolm Gladwell, sees a giant chocolate egg that he knows has an apron inside of it, so he throws it on the ground, smashing it to pieces to find his. Once everyone is aproned, the judges announce the mystery box challenge. The contestants must create a restaurant-quality dish using only the ingredients found in the box at their station. They are all ready, even if, like 8 year old Riley, they can't be seen from behind the box even with hands raised. The contents of the box are salmon, mango, corn, broccolini, ginger, soy sauce, coconut milk, puff pastry, and tomatillos, which they can use in addition to a staple box that has things like eggs, flour, and milk. It's easy to look at those ingredients and think of how to assemble a good dish, but then I have to remind myself that every single one of these contestants was born long enough after the year 2000 to have only ever known Y2K to be a joke. During prep, Kayla, 11, is slicing a lime when she slips and cuts her finger. At first she looks down and politely just says, 'Medic,' as if she's asking someone to pass the salt. A few minutes later, though, she's crying a bit and we learn she actually sliced two of her fingers pretty badly. She manages to keep it together once the wound is bandaged up. Gordon cheers her up with some good ol' dad jokes, the medics give her a latex glove to wear over the bandage for safety, and she smiles and goes back to her mango turnovers and creme anglaise. The judges have been tasting dishes throughout the challenge, sampling the creations of multi-lingual 8 year old Riley, and tiny Jason Segel Nathan. They have decided on the three strongest dishes of the challenge and those contestants will come forward for a formal tasting and judging of the finished product. First up is Jenna, 12, from New York. Several other kids made desserts, but Ramsay calls out her excellent coconut rice pudding with mango-mint compote. Gordon loves the dish and says of it, 'OMFG!' Jenna reacts laughing and with shock. When Gordon clarifies that the F didn't stand for his favorite expletive, she points, out, 'Well, you have a track record.' That's a ballsy move for a 12 year old girl to call out Gordon Ramsay for his constant swearing and love of a good f-bomb (but let's be honest here, who doesn't love one?). Next up is Jack, 12, with his broiled salmon wrapped in swiss chard and over a coconut fish broth and avocado mascarpone smear. Graham is shocked by the multitude of techniques in the dish, noting they barely see this kind of work on the regular MasterChef competition, let alone on the one for children. The final of the three called to the front is Kayla, with her Michael Jackson-style singular blue medical safety glove. Obviously, the judges were impressed with her perseverance after her injury, but they are equally impressed with her mango turnovers. Jenna, Jack, and Kayla stand at the front of the room, waiting for the judges to announce which of them gets the advantage in the elimination challenge. This is my absolute favorite part of the show.
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