Thirty-six home cooks arrive with the intent of being placed in the Top 20, but the contestants must pass the audition rounds and impress the judges to earn the coveted apron; the contestants hope to earn a valuable "Judges' Pass."

Only eight aprons are left for the hopeful home cooks to earn so they can pass through the audition rounds, where they have less than 45 minutes to prepare their signature dish and leave the judges wanting for more before the Top 20 are chosen.

In this week's mystery box challenge, the Top 7 must create an Asian-inspired dish that centers around one of the most prominent utensils in culinary history - chopsticks! The winner gets a huge advantage moving forward, leaving the remaining home cooks to compete in a pasta-themed elimination challenge.

With two eliminations on the line, the pressure is on for the losing team in the tag-team challenge.

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.

The top five chefs are faced with tow separate elimination challenges in the semifinals: a baked Alaska and an intricate lobster tortellini.

The four generations are split into teams as they take on their first field challenge - cooking a healthy and hearty meal for professional soccer players. The chefs must work together to cook over 100 portions of food and the pressure intensifies as the generations collide. Both teams compete head-to-head in hopes of scoring a win and earning the safety from elimination.

The top six home chefs get a break from the MasterChef kitchen to take over Ramsay's Rooftop, an exclusive pop-up restaurant open for one night only in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles.

The top five chefs face two challenges involving a mystery box and replicating a restaurant quality dish.

The top 13 must break down Alaskan king crabs; the contestants cook for chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Home cooks serve up their signature dishes to the judges; guest judge Emeril Lagasse.

The top 17 home chef's return to the kitchen for their second mystery box challenge, but this time with a twist -- one region begins the challenge 10 minutes behind the rest.

The top six chefs face the ultimate challenge of taking over the world's largest Hell's Kitchen restaurant.

A final team challenge establishes who will move on to the top three.

In the next challenge, with help from some familiar home cooks, the remaining 3 will have one hour to prepare an amazing appetizer dish. The contestants will then have one hour to create entrees and one hour to create a dessert. After evaluating the final dishes, the judges will reveal America's next MasterChef, and the deserving home cook will walk away with the trophy, a book deal, and the $250,000 grand prize.

In this week's mystery box challenge, the Top 6 get a special treat as their family members join them in the MasterChef kitchen. The contestants will then have to cook a dish inspired by their families before competing in an elimination test that will send one or more of them home.

The Top 20 must quickly demonstrate their culinary expertise before they encounter their first mystery box challenge, where they must create a Ramsay-inspired dish, but only 18 home cooks can progress further in the competition.

The cooks have 60 minutes to present their best beef dish to the judges.

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 chefs who advance to the finals prepare an appetizer and entree with the support of Graham Elliot.

The contestants must get at least three yes votes this season to earn an apron, and in today's episode it is contestants from the Northeast region. Daphne Oz is the guest judge. The first contestant competing for an apron is Carla and she does not advance. Richie is the next contestant and he advances with three yes votes. Nina is next and earns three yes votes and an apron. Purvi is next and her dish impressed all four judges earning her an apron. Eddie is next and only gets two yes votes therefore he did not advance; however, Joe offers him training in some of his restaurants after the show. Ross also fails his audition. Brynn is next and earns four yes votes and an apron. Ryan is the day's last auditionee and gets three yes votes earning him the final apron for the Northeast region.

The South region is the final region for auditions, and this week Tiffany Derry joins the judges for the voting. Reagan starts off the auditions and gets four yes votes and the first apron of the night. Austyn is up next but gets two immediate no votes, so she fails. Kendal is next and gets four yes votes for the evening's second apron. Jessica attempts her audition next but she gets two no votes and does not pass. Michele follows with her audition and also gets two no votes thus failing. Jennifer is next and gets three yes votes, breaking the streak of failures and earning the night's third apron. Sav follows with her audition and gets an overwhelming four yes votes and the fourth apron. When Kolby auditions, Gordon brings his grandfather in to taste the dish and witness Kolby being awarded the fifth and final apron.

The remaining home chefs face the hardest challenge yet in this celebration of "MasterChef's" 250th episode; the kitchen heats up when the chef with immunity is tasked to assign each contestant with an iconic cake to re-create.

The chefs face their toughest mystery box challenge yet -- fish.

The final three home cooks take on their last challenge in the MasterChef kitchen in front of a live audience. Each chef has to whip up a spectacular three-course meal, knowing only one deliberation stands between them and the $250,000 prize.