Degrassi: Whaaaaaaaaaaat??

MasterChef: When Safe Isn't Safe

I'm neither much of a cooking show guy, nor a reality show guy, but the one contest I get addicted to every year when it comes back is MasterChef. It is, above all, an extremely nice show, where most of the success is due to an individual's talent, not sabotage or backbiting from fellow competitors - though there is a certain amount of gamesmanship. We've seen otherwise strong contestants be sent home because they got thrown something that was simply way outside their wheelhouse. Up until his elimination, I had Eddie pegged as an unstoppable frontrunner, but then he got sushi'd.

One of the nail-biters for this season has been Bri. Man, I love Bri, but she makes me so nervous. I guess I just need to learn to trust her. Bri is a vegetarian cook, to the point where I think she says during a challenge that she's never cooked chicken before. And she's on a national TV cooking competition! That's messed up. Naturally, the show hasn't coddled her.

"Sooner or later," I told my friend Amanda, who also watches the show, "She's going to get tripped up. It's bound to happen."

"I dunno," Amanda said, "She's proven she can hang, when it comes to meat."

Sure enough, she was eliminated a few weeks ago, but not for a meat challenge. She found herself in a pressure test, where she had to prepare a tray of eclairs. That didn't work out for her. But last week, the show has its "redemption" week. In last year's incarnation, they invited everyone back for a chance, then had the top three prepare a dessert for the remaining competitors to taste and judge. This year, the three judges picked a favourite and set those three against each other. Amongst all the perfectly viable candidates - I am offended on Savannah's behalf! - Joe picked Lynn (who I thought was a bit overrated, from how much guff he got despite his supposed skills.) Graham picked Bime, who I can't even really remember except that he was a bit punch-drunk. Gordon picked Bri. And after a tense vote, and a contest in which Bri and Bime served salmon (again, almost cringe-worthy images of Bri cutting fillets like a sheet cake) Bri was voted back in, in a blind taste test. After tonight's performance, she's even resumed her front-runner status. I was already a Bri fan (what can I say, I'm a sucker for girls in thick-rimmed glasses) but now I don't see her as an underdog. She's here to win.

Tonight's episode featured Krissy - the villain of the show - winning the Mystery Box challenge (did you know Wal-Mart Steaks have a plan for your life?) and selecting a different bird for each of the contestants: Quail, Pigeon, Pheasant, Chicken, Duck and Turkey. It made for an interesting dynamic, seeing what each cook did with each bird. Krissy targeted Natasha and Jordan, two of the forces to be reckoned with, with difficult-to-prepare pheasant and quail respectively. Meanwhile, Jessie, also one of the stronger competitors, got chicken, which the judges considered a "free pass."

She blew it.

It's just interesting to see how a contest like this one can really separate the pros from the Joes (remember that one? Me neither.) Jessie "played it safe" and found herself risking elimination alongside Jordan, while Natasha pulled a Bri and did an amazing job cooking something she's never eaten. In the end, Jordan was sent home, and Natasha and Bri were the victorious two.

I really do love watching the events unfold on this show every week. The "story" of the episode is usually clearly drawn, in this case with Krissy announcing her reasoning behind her picks, the judges discussing which competitors look strong and which they doubt, and while the endings are sometimes overly predictable, it's also tense to watch those judging scenes to see if it's really as bad as they suspected. It's that old comedy formula: "tell them what you're going to do, then do it, then tell them it has been done."

Watching MasterChef is that kind of ride. One week, someone is your favourite, they next they're going home and you have to conclude, "Man, they really deserved that." Plus you get to see the whole group dynamic evolve. Everyone hates Krissy. Everyone fears Natasha. Everyone wonders if the other shoe's going to fall when it comes to Bri. Not to mention, Luca's coming up from behind, and James is there with a snappy remark. As we head into the top 6 (for the second and final time) we're left with a crop of chefs with fewer blind spots. Bri's vegetarianism is clearly not a hindrance to her cooking meat, no matter how much the viewers want to believe it is. Natasha has proven herself adept at everything she's tried, James seems to have a great sense of flavour, getting high marks this week for his dish's fully realized Asian influence. Now that we're near the end, everyone who's going to go home will have felt like a potential winner at some point, and that's what makes the whole thing so exciting. Safe isn't safe.