Masterchef Canada Recap, episode 11: “Nobody wants an ugly dumpling”

After last week’s exhausting foray into food-truck management, it was back to the studio for the seven remaining contestants, who cracked crustaceans and tried (operative word: tried) to work in teams. Here, three takeaways from episode eleven.

Lesson #1: Less is more (except when it’s less)
Despite the judges’ repeated advice to keep things simple, this week’s mystery-box challenge once again saw contestants hand-cranking pastas and hoarding half the pantry—only to lose to Mike’s lobster salad on toast. (Judging by the response to Julie’s pared-down version of this dish from Red Lobster, though, there is such a thing as too simple.)

Lesson #2: Taste your food
Duh! Eric’s dim-sum-restaurant-owning grandfather must have been aghast. 

Lesson #3: A team is only as strong as its crappiest chef
This show usually makes it pretty obvious who’s going to be eliminated, typically within about five minutes of the opening sequence. This time, Julie’s total resignation and undisguised cluelessness (“Which way does the lobster go in?”) seemed almost too clearly flagged, and we sort of expected a last-minute twist that would keep her in the game, if only to incite a little controversy. That wasn’t the case, though, and she was given the boot. Meanwhile, Mike’s devious dim-sum pairings saw sworn enemies Eric and Kaila bickering, shrieking at each other and, eventually, wrapped in each other’s arms. Aww. We’re totally shipping them now.

Images courtesy of Bell Media