Top 10 Worst MasterChef Contestants of All Time
This is a list of home cooks who failed to impress both the judges and fans in terms of cooking on MasterChef U.S.
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Tali Clavijo (Season 3)
What was this dude thinking? I decided to watch this season just to see how bad he is. Almost everything he makes is beyond subpar. His risotto dish is more like a sticky rice mess, and his crab dish is hard to deal with because the shell isn't removed. In one pressure test, his lava cake has no flavor.
He made a pizza dish that still had flour on it. His fish dish was the last straw because mustard, lentils, and bacon don't go well with Arctic char. His alliance with Ryan was short-lived because Ryan failed to produce a lava cake. Why would he go for innovative cooking techniques? I find it really weird.
Traditional cooking is better, and it is more likely to prevail in the future, especially by the year 2050. Tali, if you're going to use your so-called innovative cooking techniques, you may not survive on Hell's Kitchen or Top Chef. Even Colicchio would disapprove of your creative cooking skills. He should learn to respect his fellow competitors for their praise rather than berating them. Shame on you, Tali!
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Krissi Biasiello (Season 4)
I hate this person so much. She's basically the Russell, Elise, and Jackie (all three from Hell's Kitchen) of MasterChef. Joe berated her for a horrible catfish dish. She makes snide plans to eliminate everyone else just to stay on the show, including Jessie and Natasha. The producers keep her around just for drama and ratings.
In cooking game shows, they can't dismiss participants based on attitude. They only care about cooking capabilities. The show's crew praises her cooking over her attitude, but I'm so sick of this person. I hope she never participates in Top Chef or Hell's Kitchen. I don't want to hear from her ever again.
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Howard Simpson (Season 4)
I hated this guy so much. He missed an ingredient for some kind of shrimp dish, then he undercooked it. Finally, he added unusual ingredients like bell peppers to his pasta.
Joe considered him a total disgrace throughout the season. I hated when he made some horse noise when called for his pasta. If he participated in Hell's Kitchen, he wouldn't survive a single dinner service. Chef Ramsay would kick him out before participants chose their nominees.
He wouldn't survive Top Chef either. Tom would acknowledge his inconsistencies in each challenge, and Padma would eliminate him within the first few episodes. This guy would be considered the most incompetent chef if he participated in other cooking game shows, including Cutthroat Kitchen (I've only heard about it, but never watched it).
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Mark Togni (Season 8)
He, Sam, and Heather were doomed from the start. During the first mystery box challenge, those three were considered the worst of the worst. Gordon even threatened him with elimination. He's a jerk.
Between him and Jeff, I'd choose Jeff any day. Mark was such a lazy cook who didn't take anything seriously. He just made a bunch of football references and cooked what I'd make on a Sunday morning.
Jeff may have regularly given up and butted heads with other chefs, but Mark was a lazy guy who didn't listen, spouted football jargon, and simply seemed like he didn't want to be there.
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Sam Reiff-Pasarew (Season 8)
This guy is so oblivious in each challenge. He's as bad as Raj and Jeremy from Hell's Kitchen (seasons 8 and 11, respectively). He once said that writing is like cooking - wrong! These two arts are different. When he cooks, he doesn't pay attention to what he's doing.
First, he made liquid scrambled eggs. His bad lamb dish was the last straw. The liquid scrambled eggs are as bad as liquid mashed potatoes. This guy was a mess from the start.
The only time he wasn't in the bottom was when he was lucky enough to be on the winning team for the first team challenge. He was a consistently terrible performer.
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Ryan Umane (Season 3)
He always talks trash about Monti and even told female contestants to flash their breasts. He's arrogant and thinks he's the best contestant in the kitchen, but he got his ass kicked quickly. Jeff's attitude is bad, but at least he can make a soufflé, even if he struggles with desserts. This guy couldn't even make a molten lava cake.
He gave a live crab to Christine, knowing she can't see the pincers. I agree with Frank from the episode where he got eliminated. He said he'd love to go down there and slap him around.
I would say he's the most pretentious cook on MasterChef, but that would imply he knows what he's doing. He doesn't. He's just an idiot who had some time on his hands because he was unemployable, and he tried to force himself into being a cook.
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Cutter Brewer (Season 5)
I hate how Krissi finished higher than James, Jordan, Bri, Bethy, and Bime in season 4, but Cutter was way worse than Krissi in terms of cooking. He was one of the weakest home cooks, but the judges kept on saving him. It's like getting Malcolm or Howard, both from season 4, to the top 5. Cutter was pretty much the male version of Krissi: arrogant as hell, always blaming others, and unable to take criticism.
Cutter should definitely be in the top 10. Aside from his unlikable attitude, he was a consistently bad performer. He was placed in the bottom more than any other contestant on the show. Him making it all the way to the final 4 was a joke!
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Stephani Syfax-Shepherd (Season 5)
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Alejandro Valdivia (Season 11)
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Jeff Philbin (Season 8)
Jeff may have had an attitude, but I feel he had strong cooking skills compared to some others in that season. I'm not a fan of him, but there have been much worse contestants on MasterChef.
He scraped by the skin of his teeth every episode and always acted like an arrogant crybaby when things didn't go his way.
He was always giving up and was a really bad team member.
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Anne Hicks (Season 11)
She's an idiot. She thinks she knows everything, but she doesn't know a thing at all.
Worst contestant on Season 11.
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Lexy Rogers (Season 11)
Always talks about being poor and having only $40 a week to feed her family, which is obvious bs.
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Sasha Foxx (Season 4)
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Astrid Lavenia (Season 5)
Yes, Astrid. MasterChef does have a cleaning crew, but that doesn't excuse you from deliberately throwing food scraps onto the floor.
You'd think Joe would immediately throw her out after that.
How did she get a white apron? Let alone not be in the top three on this list...
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Malcolm Green (Season 4)
If you can't cook savory or sweet dishes, there's no point in going to MasterChef. I don't know how he got past the audition, and I can't believe his daughter was naive enough to think he would actually win.
He should be much higher on this list.
Two dreadful performances are sure to get you sent home.
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Mateo McConnell (Season 6)
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Shelly Flash (Season 6)
She initially lost at auditions, but Gordon wanted her to be part of the game. She's pretty much like Virginia from Hell's Kitchen. They both had subpar performances, but Gordon kept them around, making them stay on despite being on the chopping block multiple times.
I know audiences despise her, but I think she's at least better than Krissi from Season 4.
It was utterly shocking that she made it as far as she did. Aside from the whole incident where they saved the weakest chefs in Episode 6, she was a consistently subpar performer.
She only advanced as far as she did because of her sob story and because she was pretty much Gordon Ramsay's favorite throughout the season.
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Shanika Patterson (Season 9)
You Shanika haters really need to calm down! She's not as arrogant as you think. She's usually right about most of the mistakes that team captains make, and she is very supportive of Bowen. She may deliver her ideas in a harsh way, but they're usually correct.
This is not a personality competition. It's a cooking competition. She has made some pretty good dishes before she got eliminated.
I understand that Shanika can be very direct when talking to people, but she truly is looking out not only for her safety in the game but for others' safety as well. I'm not the biggest fan of her attitude either, but Shanika is a competent cook, and that's why she's still here.
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Derrick Peltz (Season 6)
Ugh, he was a tool from day one. I was so bitter that he made it to the top two.
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Faruq Jenkins (Season 1)
Overreacting to Sheena getting eliminated? Come on, it was obvious.
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Suzy Singh (Season 2)
From the first time you saw her, it was like, Urrghh. She was always talking about herself and how good she is. Her cooking skills are okay, but obviously not the best, like the way she brags about them. Even when she returned as support for the finale cooks, she still couldn't get over herself and said one of the spots should belong to her.
People like Suzy, Christian, and maybe Max made season 2 a little unpleasant to watch. My favorite for season 2, personality-wise, was Ben Star.
I was immediately sick of her the second she opened her mouth. I never supported her, never liked her, and never wanted her to get as far as she did. I fully believe she and Max should have been the first two out. Her arrogance was out of this world, she talked too much and rolled her eyes at everything, and she cried to try to save herself when in jeopardy. I was entirely disgusted by her.
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D'Andre Balaoing (Season 7)
He outstayed his welcome. He somehow looks like a Bruno Mars reject. He's "lazy" (oh yes, I said it because I can).
I don't want to see his face. There are a lot of things that I would change because he isn't amazing just the way he is.
Stupid man. He should have gone home in Episode 1.
Couldn't make mashed potatoes.
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Bri Baker (Season 10)
I mean, she started with a couple of good dishes, but after that, she delivered so many bad, bottom-of-the-barrel performances and only one truly strong dish. Honestly, out of every contestant to make the top 10, she's probably the 2nd worst, with only Tali being worse.
She had inconsistently poor performances. She may be good at design, but she overdid it. Her raw meat dish was her exit from the competition.
I don't have much to say about these contestants because I forgot they exist.
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Bowen Li (Season 9)
He's a hypocrite and phony. Absolutely horrendous human being. No one really deserves to be on this list except for him.
Can't stand this guy. I hope they send him packing his bags.
The most obnoxious personality on the show.
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Max Kramer (Season 2)
I can't even stand it when he speaks. Anytime he opens his mouth, he has to say something negative, something pretentious, or something about his "skills." ANNOYING.
What an arrogant snob! He was always going on about how much the other contestants sucked, yet he was awful as well. So glad he didn't last long at all.
Very arrogant, and he couldn't do anything without his parents' money. He has no clue how to be humble or sympathetic to others.
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Darah Carattini (Season 6)
After the first team challenge, she sacrificed herself to be eliminated. She could have gone up to the balcony instead.
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Evan Tesiny (Season 10)