MasterChef USA

- Season 12

(2022)

Forty chefs get called back to audition, but only 20 will claim a coveted white apron and get the chance to get back cooking in the kitchen-as will two contestants from MasterChef Junior competing alongside the adults.

The audition battles continue this week on the most competitive season of MasterChef yet. For those who fell short in past seasons, these auditions are a chance to fulfill their culinary dreams. This week, three chefs who competed on MasterChef Junior enter the kitchen for the first time as adults.

With only six aprons left, the judges round out auditions and give a lucky few chefs a chance to return to the MasterChef kitchen. Each 45-minute audition battle brings the contestants one step closer to being in the Top 20.

In the first elimination round of the season, all 20 chefs must cook something inspired by the dish that originally sent them home. The chef that recreates their elimination dish in the most elevated, refined and skillful way will win immunity.

This week, the chefs face their first mystery box challenge of the season. Season Seven winner, Vegas restaurant owner and cocktail connoisseur Shaun O'Neale, returns to the MasterChef kitchen to dish out the challenge. The chefs have 60 minutes to cook three identical dishes using the spirits they receive in their mystery box. On the line are immunity or elimination, as the chefs compete to create a dish with their respective spirit as the star.

For their first team challenge, the top 18 travel to the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Los Angeles. The chefs must collaborate to create a hearty and delicious lunch for more than 100 brave women and men. One contestant will be eliminated.

Chef Gordon Ramsay shares his secret love for meatless, dairy-free dishes by demonstrating his famous Beef Wellington transformed into a vegan dish made out of beets. Chef Ramsay then challenges the contestants to create a top-notch vegan dish, using their knowledge of flavors and techniques.

The 16 remaining chefs are challenged to cook a Southern cuisine dish inspired by complex flavors from countries around the world. MasterChef also welcomes award-winning chef and Southern fusion restaurateur Tiffany Derry to the kitchen.

One chef selects a dessert for each of his or her fellow competitors to bake to perfection. Anything less will force the contestants to face elimination.

More than 100 cowboys and cowgirls in Horse Town, U.S.A., gather for the MasterChef rodeo, where the Top 14 chefs divide into two teams to create the best steak and sides. The team that doesn't live up to the cowboys' standards faces the possibility of elimination.

The remaining chefs are challenged with a "Winner's Mystery Box," curated by the Season 3 Champion, Christine Ha. The contestants are tasked with creating a Michelin-starred Vietnamese dish, but there's a catch - they must use every ingredient given to them.

The Top 12 chefs are challenged to a tag-team cook-off, as they approach the halfway point in the competition. They're tasked with choosing a partner and cooking three menu items from Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred restaurants, taking turns against the clock.

In order to secure a spot in the Top 10, the remaining chefs partner with GrubHub to elevate a traditional take-out dish into a gourmet concoction.

Keeping up with culinary trends and tapping into nostalgia, Chef Ramsay brings a new challenge to the kitchen. The Top 10 chefs are tasked with elevating traditional gas station and road trip snacks into gourmet dishes.

The Top Nine chefs are faced with another Winner's Mystery Box challenge, this time from MasterChef Season Nine winner Gerron Hurt. With no more immunity pins up for grabs, each contestant must create a dish that packs heat using an assortment of chilies and peppers.

The Top Eight chefs are paired together and tasked with communicating on opposite sides of a wall to create identical dishes with a double-elimination on the line.

The Top Six must take over Chef Wolfgang Puck's kitchen at the famous Spago restaurant in Los Angeles, California, and uphold its renowned reputation.

The Top Five chefs are faced with two separate elimination challenges in the semifinals: a Baked Alaska and one of Chef Ramsay's signature dishes, an intricate lobster tortellini.

The Top Three chefs have made it to the finals and are one challenge away from being crowned the "MasterChef" champion. Each chef has to prepare an appetizer and entrée in front of a live audience with the support of former judge Graham Elliot.

The remaining chefs whip up a gourmet dessert with former judge Christina Tosi.