MasterChef is an American competitive cooking reality television series that premiered on Fox on July 27, 2010. Based on the British series of the same name and produced by Endemol Shine North America and One Potato Two Potato, the series features amateur and home chefs competing to win the title of 'MasterChef'. The current line-up of judges consists of Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Aarón Sánchez.
A thirteenth season, subtitled United Tastes of America, aired May–September 2023. In August 2023, the series was renewed for a fourteenth season, with Ramsay, Sánchez, and Bastianich all returning as judges.
Format
MasterChef is based on the British BBC series MasterChef. The competition takes place in the MasterChef soundstage located in Los Angeles, CA which includes a large kitchen area with several cooking stations which is overlooked by a balcony, a well-stocked pantry, a freezer/fridge area and a fine-dining restaurant/seating dining area room used for certain challenges.
While the particular format of the season has slightly varied over the years, the following challenges have all been regularly featured:
Skills Test: Cooks are challenged to perform a list of common cooking techniques or styles, or to replicate a particular cooking method of a dish (i.e. steaks done to an exact wellness). This type of test is also sometimes used as an Elimination Test. Mystery Box: Cooks are all given a box with the same ingredients and must use only those ingredients to create a dish within a fixed amount of time. The judges will select three dishes based on visual appearance and technique alone to taste, and from these three select one winner who usually gains an advantage of some type. Elimination Test: After the challenge is explained, judges evaluate all dishes based on taste and visual appeal. The judges nominate the worst dishes for elimination and criticize them before eliminating at least one contestant. Team Challenge: The cooks are split into teams by either team captains or the judges. They often occur in a restaurant takeover or pop-up restaurant taking the place of the staff of a particular restaurant. Diners taste both meals and vote for their favorite. The winning team advances, while the losing team will participate in the Pressure Test or face elimination based on the teams' performance. Pressure Test: Another form of the Elimination Test, in which losing team members compete against each other to make a standard dish within a very limited amount of time that requires a great degree of cooking finesse. Each dish is judged on taste, visual appeal and technique, and the losing chef is eliminated.
Once the competition is reduced to either the final two or three competitors, the finalists will compete against each other in a three-course cook-off. All courses of the meal are judged and an overall winner is crowned. The winner of each season wins $250,000, a MasterChef trophy, and the title of MasterChef. Some seasons have also added other prizes such as a cookbook deal.
Judges
Notes
For the first five seasons, the series starred celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay (the co-creator of the series and Hell's Kitchen), Graham Elliot and restaurateur Joe Bastianich. From seasons six through eight, pastry chef Christina Tosi temporarily replaced Bastianich. On season seven, Elliot departed as a judge, and in place of a third judge, there were a series of guest judges, one of which was Aarón Sánchez. Since season eight, Sánchez joined as a regular judge. In season nine, Bastianich returned as a regular judge, replacing Tosi.
Series overview
Specials
Note: Bold indicates the winner(s) of the challenge.
MasterChef Celebrity Showdown (aired January 18, 2016) Ta'Rhonda Jones vs Kaitlin Doubleday from Empire (Mystery Box Challenge) Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker vs Terry Crews and Rebecca Crews (Cupcake Tag Team Challenge) Gigi Hadid vs Devon Windsor (Supermodel Signature Dish Face-off) Christine Hà, Luca Manfé, and Claudia Sandoval vs Addison Osta Smith, Zac Kara, and Amaya Baéz (Champions vs Juniors)
MasterChef Celebrity Showdown (aired January 2, 2017) Cheryl Hines vs Kal Penn (Mystery Box Challenge) Trai Byers and Grace Gealey vs NeNe and Gregg Leakes (Tag Team Challenge) Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber vs. Joel Madden and Benji Madden (Pastry Challenge) Anthony Anderson and Chef Gordon Ramsay vs. Jordana Brewster and Chef Christina Tosi (Mystery Box Team Challenge) Guest judges: Season seven winner Shaun O'Neale and MasterChef Junior season five contestants: Shayne Wells and Justise Mayberry.