MasterChef Junior threw a stinky curveball at our young chefs

Season 8 of MasterChef Junior is not pulling any punches. While this may be a competition featuring young chefs, it is still a cooking challenge with a big prize at the end.

And in the fourth episode of the season, we went from a sweet treat (doughnut holes) to a stinky surprise. While we certainly enjoyed having Tilly Ramsay join the first part of the episode, helping to judge the doughnut holes and chatting with our young cheftestants, it was the second half of the episode that was a true test.

Among the ingredients that the MasterChef Junior chefs had to contend with were things like frogs legs, crickets, a giant monkfish, and octopus (to name a few). The goal was to take this smelly, scary ingredients and turn them into something amazing.

It was as much about being creative as it was delivering a delicious dish.

MasterChef Junior brought some smelly ingredients to the table in episode 4

Things were definitely not easy sailing for our cheftestants this time around, as many of these young chefs had never cooked with these ingredients. It was definitely a bit of a scramble in the kitchen. And at one point, Abir ended up cutting his finger, although he certainly kept it together.

While some of the chefs did a good job of shining a spotlight on their stinky ingredients, others failed to hit the mark. Whether it was a lack of knowledge about the ingredient or just not being able to get things done in the time allotted, it was clear that this was definitely a challenge.

Ultimately, it was Maclain who ended up getting sent home as he was simply unable to deliver with his dish.

Did you watch the latest episode of MasterChef Junior? What did you think of the challenge? Were you surprised by the ingredients that the young chefs had to work with?