'MasterChef US' Season 10: Noah's basic error costs him a finals spot
Noah Sims escaped the previous elimination just by the skin of his teeth. In the previous episode, Noah’s poor performance in the team challenge and yet not being eliminated triggered several fans. His over-confidence led to his under-performance in the previous team challenge. If you thought that the home-cook learned his lesson, then you couldn’t be more wrong.
In the semi-finals episode which aired on September 11, saw the four home-cooks make their way to the Hatfield House Estate, to be welcomed by the dapperly dressed judges - Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Aarón Sánchez. The Queen of British Cuisine - Nigella Lawson, was the guest judge. The four cooks - Dorian Hunter, Sarah Faherty, Noah Sims, and Nick DiGiovanni, were tasked with preparing a venison dish that is fit for “king and the queen” in the Victorian kitchen of the beautiful Hatfield House Estate, within 60 minutes.
Halfway through the challenge, Nigella wanted to have an English trifle, so the home-cooks had to whip up the classic English dessert alongside the venison. All of them were under a lot of stress to complete their plating on time. Thankfully, all four home-cooks managed to present their plates to the judges.
Dorian prepared cocoa butter rack of venison with bitter greens, herb roasted fingerling, potatoes, and rhubarb compote. Dorian who has never cooked venison before, managed to ace the protein and wowed the judges. However, her potatoes weren’t crispy enough. For the dessert, she made a creamy blueberry lemon trifle, which Gordon labeled as the best dessert of the evening. Next up was Noah who presented the judges with pepper-crusted venison loin with a morel mushroom risotto, asparagus, and red wine reduction. Joe comments that Noah chose the most unforgiving protein to be accompanied by the most unforgiving carb. The venison was perfectly cooked, and the judges appreciated it, unfortunately, the risotto was overcooked and didn’t go very well with the judges. His trifle was appreciated. Sarah presented her dish - venison rack with parsnip and apple puree, roasted Romanesco and a port reduction. Even her venison was cooked well, but it lacked flavor, the judges felt that she could have added something else to uplift the dish. Her trifle’s cake too wasn’t spongy enough. Finally, Nick served his beautifully plated venison. Unfortunately, he made a huge mistake of forgetting to take off the string from the meat, which the judges were very unhappy about. They appreciated both his venison and the dessert.
The judges had a tough decision to make as all the four dishes had their own strengths and weaknesses. After some deliberation, they decided to send Noah home due to his overcooked risotto. Throughout the challenge, Noah kept repeating how confident he was, and how he wasn’t going to be eliminated. Unfortunately, his overconfidence and overcooked risotto cost him a spot in the top three line-ups.
Few fans, however, felt that it was unfair of the judges to pick Noah over Nick who forgot to take off the string. A fan tweeted, “Noah over Nick, who left string on plate??? Favoritism at it's finest. That simple... #Masterchef #Unreal." Another fan wrote, “Not surprised Noah is out but hearing that the string being left in would cost him a Michelin Star and Nick not being eliminated is a tad surprising #MasterChef." While other fans couldn’t stop cheering for the top 3 home-cooks. A fan shared, “That was a hell of a nerve-wracking semi-final. I was sweating bullets for @chefnickdigi I’m sorry about Noah, but I think that’s the correct final 3. #masterchef”.
Tune in to MasterChef season 10, on Wednesday nights, at 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT on Fox.