Oh, sure, MasterChef. Take their photo during a ridiculously difficult tag-team challenge. Credit: Michael Becker / FOX. © 2017 FOX Broadcasting.

Oh, sure, MasterChef. Take their photo during a ridiculously difficult tag-team challenge. Credit: Michael Becker / FOX. © 2017 FOX Broadcasting.

I feel like I was onto something last week when I referred to MasterChef's surprise (well, at least it was news to me) two-hour run as the Long Night. 'Cause it happened again on Wednesday. Now I get it, Game of Thrones. I really, really get it.

Note to FOX: Stop doing this shit. (Complaining to the White Walkers totally worked, right?) I enjoy the series and all, but double features every week — if that's the new norm here — is a little much. A lot much, actually. Is this, like, standard as each season progresses? (Again, I'm really a MasterChef Junior kinda gal.) Like, host-judge Gordon Ramsay has two hours to fill with one of his shows and the new F Word thing that aired after MasterChef up until last week didn't really pan out? I'm genuinely asking — and pleading with you to quit it. I think I'm the only one, but come on.

Just take it into consideration.

Episode 14 first asked the top nine home cooks to prepare a breakfast dish using Nutella, although at least two of them — Chicago nutritionist Cate's cheesecake and the Mystery Box battle-winning cake from Massachusetts music teacher Jason — were interesting interpretations of the challenge. I'm not knocking the idea of cake for breakfast. However, I can't get behind this…


Then we saw the bottom competitors fight for their MasterChef aprons in a streeessfuuul tag-team-style Elimination Test that involved recreating a big platter of Mexican food (think tacos, ceviche and churros), plus top-notch communication between the teammates. Tampa's Jeff Philbin and Pittsburgh dancer Caitlin didn't do very well at all, and this strategic pairing, curated by the victorious Jason, ended with Caitlin hitting the road.


But there was a funny moment where Detroit minister Yachecia and Chicago addiction counselor Eboni were arguing about who cooked what. "She like the new Jeff," Eboni said — out of nowhere — adding that her teammate isn't willing to admit to her mistakes. Best part: The camera panned to Philbin real quick, who's shown throwing his hands in the air. Crying emoji moment.


The second episode, which started off with another blue vs. red team challenge, was, um, also rough. Philbin landed on blue, led by team captain Dino, and they butted heads a little bit — for good reason, turns out. Each team had to make two dishes, but the judges told them to only present one for tasting. The left-behind plate that Philbin wanted to go with, Ramsay eventually revealed, tasted better than the brainchild of Dino their team decided to rally behind. Bummer.


Chocolate truffles were in the spotlight during the evening's final elimination, a point in the show where our local guy looked like he was still feeling some type of way about what went down earlier, which wasn't a good feeling for those of us who've seen how tricky sweets can be. While judge Christina Tosi said his presentation wasn't great, Philbin did bounce back (Eboni even volunteered supportive words about not giving up). In the end, another Massachusetts teacher, Daniel, went home because there was an unmelted chunk of chocolate in one of his truffles' ganaches. Say it with me, "Daaamn, Daniel."


Anyone else out there counting? This means Tampa's got representation in the top seven, people. Woot! Woot!

This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 7, 2017.