The Best Episodes of MasterChef Season 5

Host award-winning chef Gordon Ramsay, along with fellow judges restaurateur Joe Bastianich and acclaimed chef Graham Elliot return for Season Five, putting the latest group of contestants through a series of challenging elimination rounds and turning one home cook into a culinary master.

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The contestants must prepare a unique dish in the first mystery box challenge -- which features ingredients typically used in desserts; in the next round, the contestants prepare a classic American dish.

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The cooks compete to feed 500 male and female troops on a desert Army base; the losing team faces a pressure test featuring blueberry pie.

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The contestants tackle a seafood challenge, with the winner choosing what dessert the others will prepare in the elimination round.

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The contestants prepare a seafood menu for a beachfront wedding; one team faces a challenge featuring a meal with steak and fries.

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A mystery-box challenge has the Top 16 chefs preparing dishes using canned foods. The winner will work with former "MasterChef" champion Luca Manfe and "MasterChef Junior" winner Alexander Weiss to select a specialty dish for the elimination round.

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The contestants must put aside their difference as they pair up to create a surf-and-turf dish; the challenge losers face a pressure test featuring spring rolls.

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The remaining 14 cooks work in two sets of teams at a busy, iconic diner in Los Angeles; the members of the losing team must make a three-layer red velvet cake during a pressure test.

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The cooks must create a dish using Alaskan king salmon; during the elimination round, the cooks create a dish using one judge's favorite ingredients.

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The cooks prepare romantic dinners for couples celebrating anniversaries; Ramsay's wife joins him for dinner; the losing team create their own truffle recipes for a box of chocolates.

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For the first time, the contestants get to choose between two mystery boxes: one filled with high-end ingredients and one containing ordinary items; the winner of the challenge chooses which type of stuffed pasta the remaining cooks make.

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The home cooks split into two teams and create menus of healthy football game concessions for an entire stadium; the cooks on the losing team must create three unique prawn dishes in a pressure test.

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The cooks split into teams of two and prepare a poultry dish using different parts of the chicken; two pairs face a pressure test with eggs.

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The remaining contestants receive hometown encouragement as they prepare savory apple dishes; while the challenge winner is safe from elimination, the other contestants form teams of two and make a variety of potstickers.

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Ramsay works alongside the cooks as they take over a high-end restaurant in Los Angeles; croquembouche pressure test.

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Joined by VIP kitchen guests, the cooks prepare dishes inspired by loved ones; the cooks face a challenge involving rare protein dishes.

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

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The Top 3 contestants create dishes for a panel of judges from all 50 U.S. states. The winner earns an automatic spot in the Top 2, while the other two chefs face a pressure test involving desserts.

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In the Season 5 finale, the winner is chosen after the Top 2 compete for the trophy, a book deal and a $250,000 grand prize.

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