MasterChef season 13 gives the challengers their first mystery box challenge

It’s time for the first mystery box challenge of the MasterChef United Tastes of America season. And for this mystery box challenge it is all about apples.

After winning the immunity in the last episode, Kyle gets a major bonus in that he gets to pick what each region can do with their apples. He can choose which two regions will cook savory dishes and which two will cook sweet dishes.

While chatting with his own region, the Midwest, he asked them if they want to choose savory, which they did. So what other region will get savory dishes? That would be the West. That means the Northeast and the South will be making sweet treats with their apples.

The cooks have just 60 minutes to make their apple inspired MasterChef dishes. And whoever has the best dish, will not only win immunity for the next week, but they will also save their entire team from elimination. And, of course, the judges will be tasting both the best dishes, and do the worst dishes once again.

MasterChef makes it all about the apples with the first mystery box challenge of the season

While some of these cooks are comfortable with sweet dishes, others are not. And it is clear that there are going to be some cooks who truly struggle in this challenge. In fact, it really seemed like the biggest struggles came from chefs cooking sweet dishes.

After walking around and talking to the different chefs, it looks like the judges have an idea of who they may be calling up for both the bottom dishes and the top dishes. And after watching some of these cooks struggle with their execution and the challenge itself, we think we know who may be in the bottom too.

So, which dishes did our MasterChef judges call up as some of the best?

• Nina – Apple Crumble (She got some really great comments for her dish.)
• Jennifer – Apple Spice Cake (She also got great comments across the board.)
• Wayne – Harissa Spiced Scallops (He was commended on the dish, but Aaron did have one request and that was that he wanted more Harissa.)
• Kennedy – Pork Tenderloin (This dish was called elegant by Gordon Ramsay, with the other judges also enjoying the comfort of the dish.)

Which chef came out on top after the very first Mystery Box challenge of this season of MasterChef? The best dish came from Jennifer! This means the South overall was safe, which saved Kendal from certain elimination.

And which dishes did the MasterChef judges call up as being at the bottom for the challenge?

• Richie – Spiced “Homecakes”
• Charles – Pan Seared Red Snapper
• Lizzie – Pan Seared Scallops

So which MasterChef competitor is going home? Sadly, the person going home is Richie.