(male narrator) Last week...
Three returning champions served up a challenge
of their own.
Take that basket and do it justice.
(narrator) But it was one costly mistake...
- That's what? - Raw.
Damn.
(narrator) That ended Katrina's MasterChef dream.
Tonight...
(Gordon) Three amazing boxes,
Three judges.
(Stephen) Am I gonna have to step
into the shoes of these MasterChefs?
[groans]
(narrator) The final four can see the finish line.
- That one's burned. - It's not burnt.
Killing me.
Uh, nope. Don't give me problems.
Give me solutions.
(narrator) Who will reach the semi-final?
This purée is mind-blowing.
(narrator) And who will trip up at the final hurdle?
- Seriously? - This is MasterChef.
(Claudia) Oh, my goodness.
My dream is to connect farm, food, and people via
a farm-driven food truck.
Welcome, guys. Come on down.
You know, I came here to follow the dream
of opening a gastropub in San Diego.
I'm so close.
(Claudia) Winning MasterChef would give me the opportunity
to open up Claudia's Cocina.
Authentic Mexican food with a Claudia twist.
I have a one in four chance of making my dreams come true.
Winning MasterChef,
opening a restaurant called Rock Torn Rose,
and calling my mom and saying that
I just won on MasterChef.
You are officially the final four of MasterChef.
Tonight, you'll be cooking in teams.
Win this challenge tonight, and your team
will be moving on to the semifinals of MasterChef.
Lose, and then you will go head-to-head
with your teammates and face the dreaded pressure test.
And one of you will have the advantage
of picking those teams.
The home cook that won the last challenge,
Nick Nappi.
(Nick) This is a big choice for me.
Do I pick somebody that I know that I work
really, really well with, and pick to win?
Or someone that I know that I can beat
in a pressure test?
I don't want to go to the pressure test.
So I want the strongest person with me.
So, Nick, who's it gonna be?
- Claudia. - Claudia.
Right now, I'm looking at the winning team.
Stephen and I.
And it doesn't matter what challenge
gets thrown at us.
We've got this.
(Stephen) All of a sudden, Gordon and Christina
and Graham, they all roll out boxes each with
their own name on them.
And I'm thinking, "Oh, no.
"Am I gonna have to step into the shoes
of these great MasterChefs?"
Mm-hmm.
Each box contains ingredients that really define
our style of cooking.
(Graham) Both teams will have just one hour
to use the ingredients in one of those boxes.
You're gonna be making us an incredible
MasterChef -worthy appetizer and entree.
(Christina) All of these three boxes will have starring roles
in tonight's challenges.
But for now, there are only two boxes we need to deal with.
Chefs?
Christina's box is taken out of the equation.
And immediately, I realize that's the pressure test.
Dessert in a pressure test?
No, thanks.
You guys ready to find out how you are going
to pick a box?
(all) Yes.
[laughs]
(Christina) Please, take a cookie.
[laughs]
Whoo!
Blue Team, please open your box.
You have some of my absolute favorite
ingredients on Earth.
Delicious duck, filet mignon, rack of lamb,
fresh watercress, butternut squash,
pomegranates, morel mushrooms,
and live Santa Barbara spot prawns.
It doesn't get any better than that.
All right, Red Team. Open up the box.
Oh, I love it.
You have live Dungeness crab, wild salmon fillet,
Berkshire pork chops, heirloom apples,
fennel, jumbo asparagus, and crème fraîche.
Oh, I love this.
Gentlemen.
We want to be truly inspired by your food.
To accomplish just that, we've decided to
provide you all with a little inspiration.
Oh, my goodness.
(Stephen) Inspiration comes rolling out of the restaurant
into the MasterChef kitchen.
Check it out. Check it out.
(Nick) There's salmon crudo.
(Claudia) Pork satay and creamy mustard.
(Nick) Crab-stuffed spot prawn.
(Claudia) Salmon tartare.
(Derrick) Different takes on rack of lamb.
Truly incredible what a MasterChef can accomplish.
This is amazing.
(Gordon) Each and every one of these incredible dishes
were created from ingredients within those boxes
in front of you.
Tonight, you can go a million ways.
Please, take your boxes to your stations.
(Nick) The stakes are huge.
The team that wins goes straight
to the semifinals.
The strategy here is that Claudia and I
have to stay on the same page.
And we've got to come up with one menu
and stick to it.
Your 60 minutes starts
now!
All right.
First thing, let's make our menu seafood.
That's what I was thinking.
- We need to highlight the crab. - Beautiful.
Here's what I'm thinking, maybe something like
a prawn ceviche or prawn crudo?
With the avocado as well.
I want to get Mexican spice in the crab.
Maybe I can make a parsley and cilantro herb oil?
There you go. Do that.
(Derrick) I'm thinking the duck for the entree.
Yes, I like that.
We have to use the morels somewhere.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
A salmon fillet on top of a celery root purée.
Okay, perfect.
Lock it up.
Boo-yah!
Red Team, Blue Team, five minutes gone.
Let's go!
Prawns, cucumber...
- You've got garlic? - Yes, I do.
Gordon, in your box, what's sort of
screaming appetizer and entrees?
I'd start off with the shellfish,
those Santa Barbara prawns.
Then, into a red meat, a filet mignon,
a duck if you're adventurous.
Score it like this?
Yeah, like a diagonal checkerboard.
Graham, so is there anything in your box
that the home cooks should sort of be wary of?
Like, what are the sort of risks in your box?
(Graham) I love crab.
But you have one hour, and to spend so much time
in getting such a little bit of meat out of it?
Throw it to the side.
I'm spending way too much time on this.
Hey, so Gordon Ramsey's box, what are you guys
whipping up for an appetizer?
We're doing a prawn ceviche.
We're gonna use the roe.
Stephen's working on pea and avocado--
Watercress purée.
The sauce on the bottom, the cucumber,
the prawn on top of that--
Very light appetizer.
- All right, good luck, guys. - Thank you.
(Gordon) 13 minutes gone, 47 minutes to go.
My Claudia.
- Yes, Chef? - Appetizer, what are you doing?
We are making a crab broth, Chef.
Crab broth?
With a cilantro oil and then we're gonna put
some beautiful crab in there.
Whose idea was the crab broth?
Yeah, it's Nick's idea.
Is it in the oven? Are we roasting it?
It's already in the pressure cooker, Chef.
It's in the pressure cooker already.
- The crab's in there? - Not yet, Chef.
I'm waiting for it to boil.
I don't want to--
I got to put them in there the right way.
Well, what's in there?
Uh, shallots, garlic, bell peppers--
Yeah, we're 15 minutes in.
There's no [bleep] crab in there.
I cannot even believe it.
The crab is not in the pot.
A semifinal spot is lingering.
(Claudia) We are not gonna have a broth.
We've literally just booked our ticket home.
Well, what's in there?
Uh, shallots, garlic--
We're 15 minutes in.
There's no [bleep] crab in there.
I cannot even believe it.
The crab is not in the pot.
A semifinal spot is lingering.
But I needed it to boil first.
But the longer the better, the more flavor, right?
Absolutely, Chef.
38 minutes to go, good luck.
- Can we take them out? - Not yet.
(Gordon) I am nervous.
The Red Team are doing a crab broth
to start as their appetizer.
But 15 minutes in, the crab wasn't even in the water.
There is no chef anywhere tonight in America
that will get a crab broth tasting delicious
in 45 minutes.
I think they're-- they're not happy--listen--
They're not happy with our crab broth idea.
What else can we do?
We can do an Italian crab cake.
That could easily be mixed together.
Do that. Get on it.
Changing direction.
What do you want me to season this duck with?
Salt and pepper, that's it.
And we're gonna place the duck on this
flattop right here and get that skin crispy, right?
Right.
We can finish that duck in the oven.
No, let's just do it all in the pan.
Halfway, guys. 30 minutes remaining.
Let's go.
All right, Stephen, run me through.
Entree, what is it?
We're gonna go with a crispy-skinned duck here.
We have a sauce with nuts and morels and Madeira.
Butternut squash purée with caramelized Brussels sprouts
and some bacon in there as well.
- Those ducks-- - Yes, sir.
You're cooking skin side down, you're rendering out the fat,
but they're still raw, okay?
- Yeah. - Be careful.
- I will. - We have 25 minutes.
25 minutes to get them cooked and rested.
Cooked and rested, yes, Chef.
Good luck.
Wow.
So Blue Team, no one's taking control yet.
Watch my Brussels sprouts in there.
I can't watch your--
Duck is still raw, 25 minutes to go, can they pull it off?
- Yeah, they got to get it done. - They got to get it done.
Claudia, what's going on?
We're making some Italian crab cakes instead.
I am forming them right now, Chef.
Okay, what's the entree?
Pan-seared salmon over garlic Tuscan kale.
Okay.
We wanted a completely seafood menu.
Good luck, okay. I can't wait to see it.
Thank you, Chef.
- Stephen. - What's up?
Are you kidding?
What do you mean, am I kidding?
What does that mean?
Those are gonna be done in 25 minutes in the oven?
Do you have a better idea?
Talk to me. Don't give me problems.
Give me solutions.
(Claudia) How are those skins?
Are those skins crisping up real good?
- Perfect. - That one's burned.
It's not burnt.
- I don't agree with that one. - What, this?
That one, I don't agree with.
Give me another one. Give me another one.
- I'll do another one. - Yes, thank you.
- Killing me. - Last six minutes.
Blue Team, Red Team, start thinking
about your plating.
Let's go!
I think our appetizer's just a little on the green side.
Little on the green side, what does that mean?
We need another color.
All right, well, while you're thinking about it,
do something.
The Blue Team's appetizer to entree on a menu,
I'm sold.
I just don't know that I'm sold
that Derrick and Stephen as teammates.
It was supposed to be the pomegranate.
Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I don't think we need to do that.
This is where we're at. I'm already here.
Hey, when we plate the salmon, we're gonna plate it
skin side up.
No, skin side down.
- You want it down? - Yes.
Skin side down.
Do we need more red on that plate?
(Gordon) Last two minutes, guys. Let's go!
I'm changing the way its sitting.
You can't change it while it's on the plate.
- Yeah, yeah. - Come on, guys.
Put the greens down and then the salmon on top.
Beautiful.
(Gordon) Finishing touches, please.
Get that sauce on there.
You follow me with the sauce while I plate this.
Follow me with the sauce.
(Gordon) 10, 9, 8,
Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.
7, 6, 5, 4,
3, 2, 1.
And stop! Hands in the air!
- Good job. - Well done.
It's time to find out how you did.
(Gordon) Red Team, please bring up your appetizers.
(Nick) Everything's at stake right now.
I just hope that Claudia's crab cake idea pays off
and that we didn't take a risk at the wrong time.
Describe the dish, please.
(Claudia) We've made Italian crab cake, Chef,
with a roasted red pepper sauce, cilantro oil,
and an avocado mousse.
What's in the crab cake?
There is crab, egg, scallions, parsley,
salt, pepper.
Look at the vibrancy of that. Beautiful.
And it tastes good.
It's seasoned nicely. It's crispy on the outside.
And I closed my eyes, it tastes like crab.
Is it the most luxurious crab cake? Not really.
Is it Italian? Not really. But it's good.
The important part is you bounced back,
and you came back strong.
And I'm amazed.
You got that done within 25 minutes.
Well done for changing directions.
Smart move.
(both) Thank you, Chef.
Thank you.
I really have to saw through all of the crab meat,
which is a great sign.
What makes it an Italian crab cake?
We had the parsley and the green scallions
and then the roasted red pepper on top.
It's chock full of crab.
The avocado and the cilantro actually brings
a really nice zest to the bite.
But I think that if you had more roasted red pepper
on the plate, you would've sold me on
the Italian-style crab cake.
But overall, really tasty appetizer.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
All right, next up, Blue Team.
Appetizers, please. Let's go.
I had definitely an integral part of this dish,
but at the last moment, Derrick decided
to dress it up with some pomegranate seeds.
It doesn't make any sense.
It's his plating. He's gonna own it.
He better sell it.
Right, Derrick, describe the dish, please.
It's a spot prawn ceviche topped with
a pea and avocado purée, spot prawn roe,
finished with pomegranate seeds.
Marinating the spot prawn, smart choice.
Love that fresh vibrancy to begin the dinner with.
Who cleaned the prawn?
I did, Chef.
I've got the crunch of the cucumber,
freshness of the Santa Barbara spot prawn.
Purée's intriguing.
Champagne vinegar, vibrant, delicious.
Roe, amazing.
But there's one ingredient in there that doesn't sit.
The pomegranate seeds.
The pomegranate seed.
I don't want to feel like I'm going to the dentist
to take out a pomegranate seed within my teeth.
What the [bleep] was going through your mind
putting a pomegranate seed in there?
There's one ingredient in there that doesn't sit.
The pomegranate seeds.
The pomegranate seed.
What the [bleep] was going through your mind
putting a pomegranate seed in there?
I didn't think there was enough color on the plate, Chef.
Yeah, but maybe a pomegranate juice, so you got
the sweetness and the sourness from it.
But the obnoxious crunch of the pomegranate seed,
it's just not necessary.
So on the verge of something stunning,
but it was spoiled by a pomegranate.
Damn.
Would you say that this was more your dish or your dish?
I think one person has to--
Just tell me, yours?
Yes, yes.
It's seasoned nice as far as the acidity.
I would've rather seen the cucumber cut a little smaller.
And then, just olive oil on the actual spot prawn.
It's still a great dish, but is it the dish
that immediately makes me taste it and go semifinal?
Probably not.
If I would have not used the pomegranate seeds,
would it have knocked it out of the park?
We could possibly be going to a pressure test.
I'm sweating pomegranate seeds right now.
It's now time to try the entree from the Red Team.
Nick, Claudia, please bring it up.
(Nick) The plate looks beautiful.
And if our entree is as good as our crab cake was,
we've got this in the bag.
Please tell me what we have.
(Nick) We have a pan seared salmon over sautéed kale,
a celery root purée with a roasted red pepper sauce,
and salmon roe.
Roasted pepper sauce used twice?
Uh...
It doesn't make any sense to me.
The same exact sauce used in both the crab cake
and the salmon dish.
Why on both dishes?
We tasted this dish, and it needed something.
We weren't gonna give that to you if it wasn't complete.
The same exact sauce doesn't get used
anywhere else on the menu.
Sorry.
Why do we spend so much time...
Oh, no.
Doing a crispy-skinned fish
and then flipping it over and letting it sit
on a bed of wet Tuscan kale and sauce?
Look at that, it's like a salmon condom.
It's disgusting.
Kale's delicious. Celery root sauce is great.
The appetizer was great.
We just wanted some more sauce.
This dish, it's like taking you back down that slope now
because of what is on it that we don't want.
Yes, Chef.
Confused.
What goes well with salmon in your box?
Begins with F.
(both) Fennel.
There's another one in there, begins with A, asparagus.
Kale's way down here, way down on the list.
Who cooked the salmon?
I did, Chef.
And what were we looking for in the middle?
- Medium. - Medium.
And what's that?
That's under medium.
Yeah, you know that's rare.
Actually tastes better than it looks.
However, if I give you now, 30 minutes, both of you
go back there and cook from Graham's box again,
do you think you could come up with something
better than that?
- Absolutely. - So do I.
You've cooked better individually
than you have as a team.
This dish shows no personality.
It shows confusion.
(Nick) I'm kicking myself in the ass right now.
I can't believe we put the red pepper sauce
on the plate for the crab and the salmon.
I should've listened to myself and left
the damn salmon skin up.
I'm worried about the outcome of this.
I don't know if we did enough to beat the Blue Team.
Blue Team, can you bring your entrees up to the front?
(Derrick) We got t to shine with this entree.
And all I'm thinking is, we put the protein
in Stephen's hands, a madman.
(Christina) What's the dish?
(Stephen) Crispy-skinned seared duck served on a bed
of butternut squash purée, Brussels sprouts,
and then a sauce of morel mushrooms and shallot.
In terms of execution, is there anything
you would have done differently?
Stephen took charge of the duck.
And I think if there was maybe one thing we could swap,
it would've been the way I would've seared the duck.
The butternut squash purée is delicious.
The Madeira sauce is delicious.
The duck skin is a little tough to get through.
The skin wasn't rendered far enough.
But I think overall, this dish was definitely
a really nice 50/50 marriage.
Good job on this dish.
Thank you.
Why morels?
I look at it as Derrick's from the city,
and I am from the country.
The morels have a deep, earthy flavor
that marry well with the duck.
And who cleaned the morels?
I did.
So I've eaten two morels,
and I've got sand and grit.
Damn.
Yeah.
Duck cooked beautifully.
Could've been longer fat side down,
so no white fat anywhere.
It's moist. It's delicious.
Purée is mind-blowing.
The sweetness with the gaminess of the duck,
absolutely love it.
I just wish we had cleaned the mushrooms.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
It seems like the appetizer went to the Red Team.
And the entree seemed to lean more towards us.
I mean, at this point, it feels kind of 50/50.
Across the 60 minutes, both teams had
some highs and some lows.
However, you know, both teams bounced back.
But there can only be one winning team tonight.
The two home cooks who will now move in
to the semifinal of MasterChef...
Congratulations...
The two home cooks who will now move in
to the semifinal of MasterChef...
Congratulations...
Blue Team.
Yes!
Derrick, Stephen, head up to the balcony.
It's the culinary fight of your lives.
Two of you enter, one will leave.
But before that battle begins, you need to put these on.
Your armor.
Here you go.
(Nick) I just feel bad, man.
I chose Claudia for my team because she's
the strongest competitor here.
And she's my best friend in this competition.
And now I've got to go to a pressure test with her.
Only one of us is walking out of this thing.
In the previous challenge, you both had to make
an appetizer and an entree as a team.
We are still missing...
the dessert.
(Nick) Of course, it's desserts.
I don't want to get too confident right now,
but the last couple things that I've baked have been great.
Hopefully I can do that again now.
(Christina) With these ingredients, I also put together
some incredible desserts of my own.
Oh, my goodness. That's beautiful.
To be the MasterChef,
you have to be able to defeat the desserts.
Wow.
Nick, which of these desserts do you think
is the most difficult?
Oh, my God.
Um, the macarons and the tower of power.
Claudia, which of these desserts is the most difficult?
I think the pavlova for me,
and the three layers of cheesecake.
Let me tell you which one is the most difficult.
This one.
Tonight, to save yourselves from elimination,
you will both have to make
my chocolate malted layer cake.
Beautiful.
There are six distinct parts of this dessert:
chocolate cake, malted milk crumbs,
a chocolate malted milk soak, chocolate malt frosting,
a warm malt fudge sauce,
and perfectly charred marshmallows.
Wow.
It takes months to master this cake.
I'll give you my basic recipe for it
and 90 minutes.
Ooh, [bleep].
Seriously?
This is MasterChef.
Head to your stations.
You dodged
the biggest
bullet.
Semifinals are right on the other side
of this crazy ass cake.
It's time to see if I've become MasterChef or not.
Everything you've sacrificed, everything you've fought for
in this kitchen is now all on the line.
(Claudia) It's unfortunate that Nick and I are down here,
because I think that we're both the two best chefs
in this competition.
This feels like our finale.
Your 90 minutes...
Good luck.
Starts...
May the best chef win.
Now!
[exhales heavily] Come on, kid.
Tonight, this is the hardest ever pressure test.
This, for me, is the ultimate challenge of who
deserves a spot in the top three.
Nick and Claudia are very well-rounded bakers.
They know how to make a chocolate cake
and how to bake it well.
I think they are both completely capable
of pulling it off.
(Claudia) I've never been under so much pressure.
I don't want to go home today.
I'm not ready to go back to La Mesa.
I'm not ready to see my daughter yet.
Even though I really would love to see her.
It's just not time right now.
So I'm not going down without a fight.
So this incredible cake, it's a tower of pure chemistry.
But how do you teach somebody to make this?
Yeah, when they get hired, like, what are the steps?
When I teach my staff how to make
the chocolate malt layer cake,
we start by teaching how to make the cake itself.
Okay.
- Start with butter, sugar. - Right.
You paddle that around.
The sponge batter needs to have tunneling and aeration.
That's what a cake is.
It's light and fluffy. It's not dense.
Come on, come on, come on, come on.
12 minutes gone, guys.
Come on, stop shaking.
Stop shaking. You got this.
Claudia, how are you feeling?
I'm feeling good, Chef.
Consistency's nice and light, aerated.
Yes, yes. I whisked it.
There was a paddle in there, but the paddle doesn't
get all of that air in it.
- You changed it, good. - So I changed it.
Smart, with a little more of that--
- Yes. - Can you beat him?
- Yes, Chef. - Good luck.
Thank you, Chef.
[bleep]
Get off, dude.
[bleep]
I'm mixing my batter, and I realized
I used my scrape bowl, my dump bowl, in my batter.
I put the wrong bowl of ingredients in the mixture.
I've got to start over. I'm screwed.
[bleep]
Let's go. Let's go.
What happened?
No, don't talk to him.
Got to do it again.
[bleep].
I can't believe it.
By now, your sponges should be in the oven.
[bleep] [bleep]
(Nick) I'm mixing my batter, and I realized
I put the wrong bowl of ingredients in the mixture.
I got to start over. I'm screwed.
[bleep].
(Nick) Right now, I got to stay calm.
I have the ingredients that I need to make another batter.
Scale it down a little bit.
It's not the exact amount, but I know that if
I ratio right, I think I'm gonna be okay.
Thank you, God.
So, Nick, how are you feeling now?
I mean, you had to redo your batter.
I feel better.
What happened?
Yeah, I let the pressure get to me.
There's--you know, all that's in my mind is my family.
So it's not even just the pressure,
this is a technical thing.
- Absolutely, yeah, there's no room for interpretation.
So you've got your cakes in the oven now?
- Yeah. - You feel confident.
- I feel good, Chef. - You're gonna make it happen.
- I'm gonna make this happen. - All right.
- Doing good. - Yeah, yeah.
Focus, Claudia, focus.
(Christina) While those cakes are baking,
they need to make the frosting.
The butter has to be the right temperature.
Otherwise, you're gonna get chunks of butter.
You're gonna have a frosting that breaks.
There you go, there you go, there you go, there you go.
All right.
(Christina) From there, you have the
malted chocolate milk cake soak.
You soak the cake with it.
The charred marshmallows,
those are pretty easy, right?
Everyone's made a s'mores at home before.
Oh!
Ah!
Oh, that one's on fire.
13 minutes to go, guys.
Ah!
(Christina) Claudia's been sort of doting
over these mini marshmallows.
One, two, one, two...
She's losing a lot of time.
I got it.
Oh, no.
(Graham) Nick's oven is open.
He's now pulling his cakes out.
(Gordon) Yeah, he is back in the game, big time.
How long for your sponges, Claudia?
Yeah, they need a couple more minutes.
(Gordon) She shouldn't have filled her molds up so full.
Therefore, it's taking so much longer to cook.
Nick's started to assemble his first base on the--
It goes cake, soak, frosting,
charred marshmallows,
frosting, and then all over again.
(Gordon) Wow.
He's ahead of her now.
Claudia needs to check on those cakes.
She made the batter beautifully, but if she over bakes the cakes,
she's gone.
Yep, dry.
- Claudia. - Yes, Chef.
How are your cakes looking?
They were looking really, really soft in the middle.
Let's take a look at them.
Thin, nice and domed, they feel good.
Look at them, they're starting to stretch out.
- It's time, girl. - Okay.
The only thing that I'd say to you is make sure
you have all your decor ready, 'cause you're gonna
be tight on time.
Good luck.
(Graham) Use that turntable, guys.
Be a culinary DJ.
Come on, Claudia. Come on, come on, come on.
The malted chocolate fudge is easily
the hardest part of this cake.
That glaze needs to be just warm enough
to be fluid, but just cold enough
to want to hug the sides and the edges of that cake.
Nick's is looking amazing.
You're not gonna have time to garnish it, Claudia.
She has a lot to do.
Five minutes left, guys.
That looks a little thick, don't it?
Claudia's definitely needs more heat.
Claudia, you've got to get that ganache on.
Got to keep it on the heat.
Three and a half minutes to go.
I know, but it's, like, not even boiling.
Ah, get on there.
Phew.
90 seconds to go.
(Christina) Kay, she can do this. She can do this.
- Good job, Nick. - Yeah, buddy.
Oh, god, I'm so happy with it right now.
Now just start decorating. Let gravity do the work.
(Gordon) 60 seconds to go.
Oh, my gosh.
- You can do it. - You can do it, Claudia.
- Come on. - You can do it.
Just start decorating.
- Marshmallows on top. - Marshmallows on top.
Sprinkle them on, Claudia.
20 seconds to go.
(Graham) Let's go, Nick. Tighten it up.
15 seconds to go.
(Gordon) Five seconds to walk down here, guys.
- Yes, Chef. - Put it on the--
[groans] Nick, walk.
- 10, 9... - Take a breath and walk.
- 8... - You're fine, Nick, go.
7, 6-- Claudia, you've got to move.
5-- Start walking, Claudia.
4, 3, 2,
1, and hands in the air.
- Give me a hug. - Well done.
Claudia, how do you feel?
Disappointed.
(Claudia) [groans]
Looking at Nick's cake, then looking at mine,
it is truly depressing.
I'm so worried about going home and feeling like
I let my daughter and my family down.
Nick.
Yes, Chef.
(Gordon) How do you feel?
This whole competition has been the hardest thing
I've ever done.
This was the hardest thing I've ever done inside of
the hardest thing I've ever done.
(Gordon) That was an extraordinary 90 minutes.
Claudia, Nick, well done.
(both) Thank you.
Let's begin.
Claudia, you definitely fell short in terms
of that outside presentation.
But it's the inside of the cake that doesn't lie.
I assure you that the flavors are there.
Your future rests on this slice of cake.
Very impressive.
Thank you, Chef.
Let's take a bite.
I mean, you almost managed to get
the layers of chocolate cake
lighter and fluffier
than when I make it.
It's almost cloud-like in a really lovely way.
Visually, I think Nick has you beat.
But from a flavor standpoint, it's gonna be
really tough to beat.
Flavor-wise, it's delicious.
Got a great malt tone in there
that I'm a huge fan of.
The sponge cake itself, really big.
- Yes. - You know? Aerated.
Which I think could be a good thing
if everything else is in equal proportion.
But clearly, things are not in proportion here.
Half of my slice looks like it's crying out
for the outside chocolate coating.
I want darker marshmallows, and I want more fudge.
Fact that you got here to the quarterfinals,
kind of expected more from you.
There's nowhere near enough frosting.
If you're gonna put less marshmallows in,
they need to be charred to high hell.
You need to balance the sweetness.
Nick, let's see how you did.
I have to say, visually, your cake is beautiful.
Thank you.
My one concern for you is definitely height.
Yeah.
Because Claudia's cake is quite tall,
making your cake seem much shorter.
Yeah, so when I had to do my second batter,
I didn't have enough to make the full.
So I had smaller cakes.
You shortened the recipe slightly.
- Yeah, I had to. - Got you.
'Cause I only had the ingredients that I had left.
Let's slice in.
So, Nick, this slice of cake
could be your ticket
to the semifinals.
It's pretty beautiful.
Thank you, baby Jesus.
You did a really nice job at finishing this cake.
Thank you.
There's something in that cake that's not quite right.
- It's all about taste of the cake, right? - 100 %.
[whispering] There's something in that cake that's not quite right.
It feels expensive.
Wow.
Nick, inside it looks beautiful.
Thank you.
Frosting's delicious.
Fudge, really beautifully done.
But it's very sweet.
Why's that so sweet, Nick?
I have no idea, Chef.
It's 'cause I-- you know what?
It's 'cause I messed with the recipe.
Tried to scale it back, but my ratios
must have been off.
You scaled down the recipe.
- Yes, Chef. - Why?
I didn't have enough ingredients to do the full--
It's competition.
What do you mean, it's a competition?
If Nick Nappi had asked you for ingredients,
an egg, flour, butter, would you have given him?
Yes, Chef, I would have.
Why didn't you ask for ingredients?
I, uh--
I have fought by myself.
And I didn't think to ask for help.
That's gallant. That's brave.
That's tenacious.
But somebody's going home tonight.
Thank you, Nick.
(Nick) Damn it, man.
This was the hardest pressure test
I've ever been in.
I'm hoping that the presentation and the other flavors
are gonna carry me through.
So, we got two fundamental flaws.
Claudia's sponge is delicious, but it was way too light.
(Graham) Not enough frosting on the outside.
But visually, it was nowhere close to Nick's presentation.
Unfinished, unfinished.
- Proud of you. - You too, babe.
- Nick's looked incredible. - Yes.
(Gordon) Right? His frosting was good.
His glaze was delicious.
But when you change the ratios in a recipe--
(Christina) You have to be like a mathematician to the gram.
But the big question is, tonight, Christina,
who got closest to what you presented?
I hated the fact that I was going against you.
For the record, if I was gonna lose to anyone,
I'd rather lose to you.
It'd be an honor to lose to you if I have to.
- We all agree? - Yeah, let's go.
(Gordon) Claudia, Nick,
tonight's pressure test was unlike anything
we've ever given, witnessed.
But the reason the bar was set so high
was because it's about how good you've become.
Whatever the results, you guys did an amazing job.
(Claudia) I'm not gonna be happy with any decision today.
When you grow to respect someone to the level
that Nick and I have grown to respect each other,
you realize that there is
nothing in the world
that could make it okay
to see someone else
lose that opportunity.
- Good luck. - You too.
(Claudia) I'm not ready.
I'm not ready to hear this verdict.
Christina, who's going through to the semifinal?
(Christina) [sighs]
The person going through is...
Claudia.
- I love you. - Love you too.
Oh, my God.
Good job.
Nick, you by far made
the most visually beautiful cake.
But baking is a science.
And you just can't mess with those ratios.
Hold on.
I'm not sad.
I took a risk coming here.
I'm not going back to where I was before,
because of you three.
I can't explain or thank you enough.
The next chapter in Nick's life,
where are you going?
Going back to San Diego.
I'm jumping in the ocean.
And I'm gonna start working on getting that gastropub up.
Follow that dream.
If there's anything I can do, I'm there to help.
- Thank you. - Let's get that right.
Thank you.
Go say good-bye then.
- Keep in touch, yeah? - I will.
- Good job, man. - Thanks, man.
Nick, you did an amazing job tonight.
Thank you.
(Gordon) Three left, one of them's gonna become
America's next MasterChef.
Who's it gonna be?
None of those idiots, it's gonna be--
You know what?
Claudia reminds me of someone that I cherish, my mom.
- Uh-huh. - She's a fighter.
So I think Claudia.
Thanks.
Thank you.
(Nick) It's bittersweet being eliminated.
Top four was a huge accomplishment for me.
Top three would have been better,
and the winner would've been great.
But I feel good, man.
I feel really good. I accomplished a lot,
a lot more than I thought I would.
[yells]
I quit my job as a restaurant supply salesman...
There we go.
To follow my dream.
Let's keep them rolling, guys. We're doing well.
And my biggest fear has always been...
Ah, that's hot.
Am I good enough?
Tonight's winning dish was made by Nick.
But Gordon and Graham and Christina,
they made me push myself.
- Incredible. - Thank you.
They made me believe in myself.
And it's a cool feeling, man.
- It's good. - How good?
- Really, really good. - How good?
That's really [bleep] good.
- Well done. Seriously. - Thank you.
Today, I feel like a new man
that took on a risk
and made something of himself.
Good night, Nick.
[applause]
(narrator) Next week, it's the two-hour MasterChef finale
as the three best home cooks in the country
face the most daunting challenge of the season.
These 30 industry leaders are your judges.
Oh, my God.
(narrator) It starts with an epic culinary battle...
This is it.
(narrator) For a spot in the final two.
He's pulling together stuff that I've never
really tasted.
(narrator) But, in the end, only one
will be crowned MasterChef.
And it all happens right here, next week.
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