What Happens in Vegas Steaks in Vegas is the sixth episode of Season 6 of MasterChef. It was aired on June 17, 2015. On that episode, one cook left off-screen, the Top 17 went to Las Vegas for the next Team Challenge, and while one team captain successfully gambled their chances, another failed their gamble in getting their competition out.
Dan's exit
Seventeen of the Top 18 are in Las Vegas for an away Team Challenge as Tommy could not believe he was in the middle of glitz and glamour, stating that he fit right into the city. Amanda noted that Las Vegas a huge food city that featured many big named restaurants, and Derrick claimed he never lost in Vegas. The home cooks make their way to the top of Drai's Beach Club and Night Club above The Cromwell Hotel to see a long table, and Olivia knew they had to be above top-notch quality. Before announcing what the Team Challenge would be, Ramsay notes that Dan was not amongst the Top 18, revealing that the latter left for unknown reasons. Ramsay reassured the home cooks that Dan was okay, and they have moved up to the Top 17.
Team Challenge
With Dan's absence noted, Christina explained that while people came to Las Vegas for the entertainment, it would be the home cooks who would cook the performers dinner that night. For the 101 Las Vegas Entertainment Team Challenge, the Top 17 had to cook a meal for the entertainers, though Hetal said it would be difficult as the entertainers ate the highest quality of meals in Las Vegas. Because Stephen and Shelly won the last Elimination Challenge, they were named team captains, and for the former, he had a choice of what advantage he wanted. The first advantage was full control over his team picks, while the second advantage was picking the protein he wanted to cook. Ramsay revealed that the first protein was lobster, while the second advantage was chicken tenders. Although Stephen wanted the lobster, he did not want Shelly to pick up on it and downplayed his excitement, deciding to use mind games to get what he wanted. So, Stephen picked the team advantage, leaving Shelly the choice of what protein she wanted. Stephen knew that Shelly would want the chicken tenders due to her comfortability as a single mother, and his prediction came true as she picked the chicken tenders, leaving him the lobster. Stephen told Ramsay that he wanted the lobster all along and used a Jedi mind trick on Shelly.
Stephen began picking members of his red team, including Amanda, Charlie, Jesse, Sara, Olivia, Tommy, Kerry, and Nick. That left Shelly with a blue team consisting of Claudia, Derrick, Christopher, Hetal, Katrina, Veronica, and Ailsa. However, Shelly was not happy that Stephen picked five of the home cooks she personally wanted.
Both teams had sixty minutes to prep, cook, and plate their dishes while having another sixty minutes to serve their meals. Once everyone changed into their chef whites, both teams went to their respective kitchens and began conceptualizing their meals. Shelly suggested making a chicken rémoulade with saffron butter sauce and mango kale salad, ignoring Derrick's concerns about the time it took to hammer a chicken out, along with the concern about the mango prep. Still, Derrick was not happy about Shelly's idea, calling it the worst dish he had ever heard. In the red kitchen, Stephen told his team that they would make a lobster salad with smashed Yukon potatoes and gave out precise station locations to everyone. Then, Stephen shut down a conversation Charlie and Jesse had about the lobster, admitted to the red team that he would piss them off that night, but assured them that he would keep them out of the Pressure Test if they believed in him. That led Nick to deem Stephen a strong captain, claiming that he would scale off the building to clean a window if the latter told him. As the red team began prepping for service, Ramsay noted how lucky Stephen got with the team advantage but questioned how he could make consistent lobster for 101 guests. On the other hand, Ramsay admitted that Shelly should have the advantage as chicken can hold its heat more but wondered how they could elevate the tenders.
Twenty minutes before service, Veronica suggested that they use toothpicks to hold the chicken instead of tying them up, but Shelly ignored her. When Ramsay came by to see the blue team's progress, he corrected Shelly that what they were making was a roulade, not a rémoulade, and deemed the dish too complicated. Then, Ramsay warned Derrick that stuffing the chicken would take longer to cook, the latter said that Shelly had no idea what she was doing, and Claudia was beyond baffled by Shelly's decisions. The Las Vegas entertainers soon arrived, including the Chippendale's, the Jubilee Showgirls, magicians, and comedians, leaving Hetal speechless. Stephen presented the red team's grilled lobster on top of a focaccia sauce and smashed Yukon potatoes, but while Ramsay deemed it a great effort, he reminded the former that it was down to the execution of consistency. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay saw the demo plate and was outraged that it was minuscule and overcooked. Ramsay suggested to the blue team that they have a quick meeting and get their shit together because they were a minute away from service. Shelly called it a nightmare as they did not have anything ready for service.
Once service began, the red team began efficiently, getting their dishes flying out of the kitchen thanks to Olivia and Amanda plating. In the blue kitchen, Shelly cut into Ailsa's chicken and saw it was raw, preventing the blue team from serving any dishes a Christopher announced they had none ready. Ramsay was further angry when Claudia said they were under 74 portions ready. In the red kitchen, the red team continued to surge through service, but Tommy was caught tossing food onto the plate without care, and his portions were oversized and sloppy. Ramsay ordered Tommy to calm down, or he will toss him into the pool, while Stephen decided to relocate the latter to the potatoes, switching him out for Sara. In the dining room, Christina checked on the entertainers eating the red team's grilled lobster with roasted vegetables and smashed Yukon potatoes, with most praising the dish. Christina tried to give the patrons hope that the blue team would serve them something.
Thirty minutes into service, the blue team has yet to serve a single dish, which Christopher deemed embarrassing. A frustrated Ramsay ordered somebody to take control, and Derrick decided to take control of the mess from Shelly, who had given up. Thanks to Derrick's leadership, the blue team began serving dishes, with Graham noting that Christopher is searing the chicken while Derrick is plating. In the red kitchen, Stephen catches Tommy dazing off and burning the potatoes, leaving them with little left to work with. Ramsay accused Tommy of sabotaging his team, but the latter argued against that and thought the potatoes were supposed to have that cook. However, that comment left Stephen in disbelief, and Ramsay told Tommy that they were not supposed to go that black. So, Stephen sent Tommy dishes, irritating the latter as he was getting stabbed in the eyeballs with a sharp stick despite trying to help. Stephen refused to send out any subpar food as the red team entered the final quarter of orders. In the blue kitchen, Derrick's leadership brought back the blue team's momentum and felt there was some hope left to win. In the dining room, the blue team's chicken roulade with saffron butter sauce and roasted potatoes were deemed worth the wait.
Meanwhile, the red team got refocused and served all their dishes with only eight minutes left on service, but while they celebrated, Stephen knew that finishing first did not matter if the entertainers did not like their food. In the blue kitchen, the blue team had six and a half minutes of service time and only twenty-four servings to go. Despite their best efforts, the blue team failed to serve eight of their dishes to the entertainers, which Hetal knew meant losing eight votes, with the only hope being that they liked their dish more than the red team's.
With service completed, the entertainers were asked to vote on their favorite dish, placing either a red or blue card into the ballot box. While Olivia saw red cards in the first couple of groups, Jesse was shocked when more blue cards came in. Nick was starting to feel discouraged by that, while Derrick was hopeful about their chances. After counting the votes, Ramsay said that the decision for the winning team was a close three-vote difference, the closest he had ever seen. In the end, with 52-49, the red team was crowned the winners, while the blue team had to face the Pressure Test. However, Ramsay announced that only four home cooks would be cooking in the Pressure Test and announced that Shelly was immune for being the team captain, before giving her the power of saving three others. After learning that, Derrick knew that Shelly could reward the stronger chefs with immunity or put the stronger cooks in the Pressure Test.
Discussion
The following evening, the blue team met up at Gordon Ramsay Steak as Shelly had no idea what to do with her advantage, while Christopher was hoping that he did not screw himself over by being inside his head. Christina and Graham explained that the blue team would be cooking steaks for Ramsay inside his own steakhouse, making Hetal fearful as she never cooked steak due to her vegetarian background. Before moving forward, Ramsay reminded the blue team how they lost the Team Challenge, deemed Shelly's performance lackluster, and asked Claudia where it went wrong. Claudia felt they were doomed from the beginning as her suggestions were ignored, while Katrina felt that stuffing a chicken was a bad idea from the start as they had little time to accomplish that. Derrick agreed, explaining that Shelly's dish was not a good idea for 101 entertainers with sixty minutes of cooking time. Feeling that she was thrown under the bus, Shelly spoke up and admitted to her mistakes before revealing that she only made the dish once before. However, that comment frustrated Derrick, leading the two to argue.
Shelly was asked to pick three people to join her in the balcony with the red team, and her first pick was Hetal for shifting around in the mess. That irked Derrick in the wrong way as he felt Hetal did the least amount of work on the blue team, and then, Shelly saved Veronica for keeping her head down. For her final pick, Shelly saved Katrina for working hard, but Claudia knew the former saved the weakest people on the blue team and landed a direct onto the stronger home cooks. With Shelly's job finished, she went up to the balcony, knowing that she wanted to take out the stronger home cooks and give herself a better chance at winning the competition.
Pressure Test Part 1
The four home cooks put on their black aprons as Christina revealed it was a two-part Pressure Test. While all four of them would be cooking together in part one, two would compete in a head-to-head battle to see who goes home. Ramsay called for a server and announced that he wanted a New York striploin cooked medium rare for the first part of the Gordon Ramsay Steak Pressure Test. Before the challenge began, Graham explained that Ramsay would be doing blind judging, and the two home cooks who were the closest would be safe.
The four had twenty minutes to cook their New York striploins, and Derrick called it a bucket list Pressure Test due to cooking in a high-quality kitchen. Derrick believed he would shine in the Pressure Test, while Shelly secretly confined to Tommy that she wanted Claudia and Ailsa to win. Ramsay explained to Graham that a mid-rare steak must have a nice render to the fat and wanted to see pink in the middle. Ten minutes left, Claudia was hoping for the caramel sear on her steak, while Christopher knew that one misstep would be game over before realizing that he forgot to sear the fat side down before putting his steak into the oven. Five minutes left, Ailsa was second-guessing herself and felt that her's was undercooked due to taking it out early. At the same time, Christopher felt that Derrick had the correct temperature. Eventually, time was up, and the four home cooks had their steaks ready for judging, with Charlie glad he was not in the Pressure Test as it would be a Goodfellas moment.
Ramsay had the four New York striploins in front of him and picked Derrick's steak to start. Ramsay liked the sear, claiming it had finesse and found the cook mid-rare throughout the steak. That made Derrick happy that he served Ramsay a great steak in his own restaurant, knowing that his mother would be proud. For Christopher's, Ramsay immediately saw white fat through the steak, and a lack of color on the bottom, deeming it lazy. That embarrassed Christopher as he was a steakhouse manager and freaked out. Ramsay saw it was rare for the temperature, but while it tasted good, he knew it would have been sent back in a heartbeat. Up next was Ailsa's steak, but Ramsay saw no seasoning, insufficient coloring, and a bottom that was boiled. Then, Ramsay saw that the steak was raw, claiming that the only thing missing was its horns and that it would have never left the kitchen. The final steak Ramsay looked at was Claudia's, who liked the sear on the edges and found equal searing on the bottom. Even though the cook was two minutes off, Ramsay deemed the flavor decent, which was its saving grace. Claudia acknowledged that her steak was not perfect and hoped it was enough to get her to safety.
After Ramsay's tasting, Christina asked him to name the first steak that would save the home cook who made it. Ramsay easily picked Derrick's steak, and he felt he validated his target while knowing that Shelly messed up. When Graham asked Ramsay the second steak for safety, the latter picked Claudia, making her feel she was on fire. Claudia went up to the balcony, glad she would not cook in the second Pressure Test.
Pressure Test Part 2
Christina called Christopher and Ailsa down to the front, making him feel that the stakes were high. Ramsay revealed that they would cook a filet mignon to a rare temperature for their second Pressure Test.
Christopher and Ailsa had fifteen minutes to cook their filets, and Shelly was praying that the latter beat out Christopher. Ramsay explains to Christina that a filet mignon was difficult to cook due to the lack of fat, so basting and rolling were needed to cook it rare and keep it warm. Ailsa tried to sear on both sides with a lot of butter, and with seven minutes left, Christopher was in fighting mode. Christopher tried to do his best on searing and basting but second-guessed himself and took it out of the oven, deciding to put it back on the pan, but caught it on fire. Seeing that caused Graham and Christina to believe that Christopher was going home, and eventually, both Christopher and Ailsa had their filets mignon cooked.
As with before, Ramsay would judge the steaks blind, and their names were on the bottom of the plates. The steak Ramsay preferred would save that chef. Ramsay started with the one on his left, and while he felt there should be more color, he liked the seasoning around the steak. After cutting into it, Ramsay found it slightly undercooked with one-half cold. Despite that, Ramsay deemed it a strong effort. Ramsay saw the caramelization for the second filet and cutting it open revealed a strong pink color. However, Ramsay felt it was heavy on the sear, suggesting that the cook could have lessened it by thirty seconds.
Elimination
After tasting the two filets, Ramsay noted how difficult it was to decide on the best. The first filet had great seasoning and even color, but it needed thirty more seconds of basting to get rid of the chill. The second filet needed thirty seconds less on the searing, but Ramsay found it had strong seasoning from the salt. However, Ramsay said that one had the slight edge and lifted the plate on the left to reveal that it was Ailsa's filet. With that, Ailsa was eliminated, and Christopher was sent up to safety for making a near-perfect filet mignon. Christopher felt that Shelly made a big mistake putting him in the Pressure Test as she should have gone home for leading the blue team to failure, while Ramsay encouraged Ailsa to continue following her dream in the food industry. As Ailsa left, Shelly felt terrible that she caused her elimination as she wanted Derrick or Christopher gone instead, knowing that her gamble failed.
Trivia
- Title Reference: The title refers to the Team Challenge and the steak-themed Pressure Test taking place in Las Vegas. It also serves as an obvious pun to the saying "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".
- Las Vegas Themed Team Challenge and Pressure Test Track Record: This is both the 2nd Las Vegas Themed Team Challenge and Pressure Test to occur in MasterChef History. The 1st of which took place in Season 4 when Luca, Natasha, Beth, & Kathy all participated in a Restaurant Takeover Team Challenge at Gordon Ramsay BURGUR in Caesar's Palace Las Vegas; with the former and latter of which participating in a Butter Poached Lobster Themed Pressure Test at a Vegas Rooftop