'MasterChef Junior' Season 8: Maclain's flavorless octopus dish sends him out of the show

With chefs winning immunity, the rest of them found themselves taking on a rather unique mystery box challenge

UPDATED APR 8, 2022

Maclain on 'MasterChef Junior' Season 8 (FOX)

The heat is most certainly on when it comes to 'MasterChef Junior'. With the number of chefs in the kitchen down to 13, these young chefs are starting to feel the pressure with each passing elimination. And, after the first outdoor cooking group challenge, it looks like it's now time for a dessert challenge!

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With Gordon Ramsay's daughter, Tilly Ramsay making a guest appearance on the show, the chefs were tasked with making 50 doughnuts holes with two unique flowers, all within 60 minutes. As the chefs found themselves in a race against time to cook and plate these doughnuts, there was undoubtedly a lot on the line, seeing that the top three doughnuts would win the chefs immunity from next week's challenge. But, when it came down to it, the judges were curious to try Ava, Starla, Maclain, Grayson and Ivy's creations. Ava, Starla, and Ivy's doughnuts won them immunity based on batter, flavor, and presentation.

But, while they celebrated, the others had a tough road ahead -- they found themselves facing a mystery box elimination challenge. The first thing that stood out to them when looking at the mystery box, was that the stench was foul. On revealing the ingredients, they had quite the list of smelly ingredients to work with -- the contestants had to make a dish using ingredients like monkfish, durian, sweet bread, frogs legs, crickets or octopus.

When it came down to it, the judges decided to try out the dishes that felt left a lot to be desired, based on the final outcome. They tried Freddy's octopus based Nicoise salad, Molly's monkfish and biscuits, Maclain's grilled octopus and couscous salad and finally, Andrew's grilled octopus and an assortment of roasted vegetables. The judges noted that each dish was lacking -- from presentation to seasoning and execution.

Unfortunately, Maclain's' lack of flavous on the plate ultimately resulted in his elimination. Maclain was upset over the outcome but noted that he was grateful for this journey and promised to keep on cooking.

Catch Season 8 of 'MasterChef Junior' on Thursdays, at 8pm ET/PT on FOX.