The WORST episodes of MasterChef (US)
Every episode of MasterChef (US) ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of MasterChef (US)!
Award-winning chef Gordon Ramsay, acclaimed chef Aarón Sánchez and renowned restaurateur Joe Bastianich put a new batch of talented home cooks through a series of challenges and elimination rounds.
#1 - Road to the Finale
Season 15 - Episode 16 - Aired 9/10/2025
Celebrating the highs and lows of the season with a look at the finalists.
#2 - Recipe Telephone
Season 15 - Episode 8 - Aired 7/16/2025
In a MasterChef first, the Top 9 duos face a brand-new challenge of 'Recipe Telephone'. In a culinary relay, each duo is split up: one teammate begins cooking while the other waits in a separate room. Halfway through the challenge, the duo's swap places, and the second teammate must complete the dish. It's a high-stake, high-pressure challenge that tests just how well each duo really knows each other. Teamwork and intuition will need to be enough for the duos to plate a winning dish.
#3 - From Train to Table
Season 15 - Episode 9 - Aired 7/23/2025
The Top 8 duos are halfway through the competition and the challenges are getting tougher by the week. Today, the duos face another intimidating team challenge outside of the MasterChef kitchen. This time, two teams must prepare a VIP dining experience aboard a moving steam train. It's a race against the clock and an intense test of the duo's teamwork, to see which partners can keep from running off the rails. The team with the fewest votes from the diners will face elimination in the dreaded Pressure Test.
#4 - Grand Finale (1)
Season 15 - Episode 17 - Aired 9/17/2025
The top three duos compete to take home a quarter of a million dollars, the trophy and the first-ever title of "America's MasterChefs."
#5 - Top 8 Compete (1)
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 8/1/2011
The remaining contestants try to impress the judges.
#6 - Bring Home the Bacon
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/24/2015
In the next challenge, it's proven that Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day when the home cooks are each tasked to create an elevated breakfast dish in 45 minutes. Not only does the winner have immunity in the next mystery box challenge, but they also receive two additional advantages. Later, in the mystery box challenge, contestants must create TV dinners.
#7 - Home State Heroes
Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/6/2018
In the first mystery box challenge of the season, the Top 24 must prep, cook, and plate one dish featuring an ingredient unique to each of their home states.
#8 - The Great Ingredient Bid Off
Season 15 - Episode 10 - Aired 7/30/2025
The four duos on the losing team last week fight for survival in a new Pressure Test challenge. In a Gordon Ramsay-style food auction, the duos must bid for their ingredients for their dish. But instead of bidding with money, tonight they are bidding with time. The more minutes they give up to 'buy' their preferred ingredients, the less time they will have to make their dish. Find out who can hold their nerve and who will pay the highest price for failure, in the most strategic challenge yet.
#9 - Let the Battle Commence: Top 40
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 5/20/2015
Forty of the best home cooks in America travel to Los Angeles to present their signature dishes to the distinguished judging panel: Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot, and new judge Christina Tosi.
#10 - The Sweet Escape
Season 15 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/9/2025
The five duos on the losing team from the previous challenge face the first Pressure Test of the season. The pairs enter the MasterChef kitchen to find a Mystery Box with a mallet inside. Gordon reveals the Mystery Box IS their ingredient. The box is made completely out of chocolate! In this first dessert challenge of the season, each duo must smash up their box and use the chocolate to make a stunning sweet dish to avoid elimination.
#11 - Beer Necessities
Season 14 - Episode 10 - Aired 8/21/2024
The chefs must incorporate Blue Moon beer into their dishes.
#12 - Top 15 Compete
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/27/2011
The contestants hope to impress the judges and advance to the next round.
#13 - The Audition Battles
Season 15 - Episode 1 - Aired 5/21/2025
Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich welcome new judge, award-winning chef Tiffany Derry, as they embark on their search for America’s best home cook duos. And it all starts with Audition Battles, as eight pairs of home cooks go head-to-head fighting to win legendary white aprons.
#14 - Backyard BBQ
Season 15 - Episode 12 - Aired 8/13/2025
The MasterChef garden is decked out for a sunny backyard BBQ and the Top 6 duos feel the burn. Split into two teams, they must serve a garden full of BBQ aficionados. The losing team will go straight into a pressure test, where one couple will be eliminated.
#15 - Getting A-Head in the Competition
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 8/12/2015
In the next team challenge, the remaining home cooks split into teams to prepare vegetarian meals for guests of the MasterChef restaurant. Teams have access to any ingredients that they choose in the MasterChef pantry, as long as the dishes are vegetarian. The winning team is safe from elimination, while the losing team must cook in the next pressure test and create delicious well-composed meals using various cuts from an animal head.
#16 - Semi-Finals: Pasta & Keeping Up with Gordon
Season 13 - Episode 18 - Aired 9/13/2023
The remaining five home cooks take on two rounds of challenges that determine who will move on to the Finals.
#17 - Birthday Bakes
Season 14 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/14/2024
The chefs turn to their baking skills when tasked with making a celebratory birthday cake.
#18 - Top 8 Compete (2)
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 8/2/2011
After being spared from elimination, the eight remaining cooks again vie for a spot in the next round; two contestants are eliminated.
#19 - Cinnamon Roll-er Coaster
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/3/2015
The remaining 20 home cooks face their first team challenge of the season at an amusement park. Once teams are decided, each team is tasked with creating its version of an amusement park burger and fish & chips dish for thousands of amusement park guests. The winning team is safe from elimination, while the losing team has to face the first pressure test of the season, during which the home cooks make 12 cinnamon rolls.
#20 - Top 16 Compete
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/21/2011
The contestants form two teams that must cook a five-course meal for hundreds of diners; one contestant is sent home.
#21 - Divide & Conquer
Season 15 - Episode 13 - Aired 8/20/2025
The three duos from last week's losing team face the final Pressure Test of the season. It's the toughest one yet, as each duo is challenged to create a three course meal that replicates an appetizer from Joe Bastianich's restaurant, an entree from Tiffany Derry's restaurant, and a dessert from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.
#23 - Happy Birthday MasterChef
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 7/1/2015
Each team prepares a two-course menu for the 100th episode celebration, during which VIP guests dine on oyster and caviar appetizers and a duck breast entrée, followed by a special surprise dish by judge Christina Tosi. The losing team faces the next pressure test, in which contestants must create a three-layer birthday cake.
#24 - The Wall
Season 15 - Episode 14 - Aired 8/27/2025
With the Grand Finale just around the corner, the Top 5 duos face a MasterChef rite of passage - The Wall. Both cooks in each duo must make the exact same dish - whilst divided by a giant 8 ft high wall, communicating by shouting over it. The duos must be in sync every single step of the way to ensure their dish not only looks the same but tastes exactly the same as well. The pair who make the worst dish will be eliminated.
