MasterChef

Gordon: Previously on "MasterChef"...

This is "MasterChef: Dynamic Duos."

This season, we'll be joined by a new judge.

- Ooh! - Please give a warm welcome

to the amazing Tiffany Derry!

- (cheering) - Oh, yes!

...we began our search for America's best home cook duo...

You are now fighting for a spot in the MasterChef kitchen.

...as the first pairs battled it out for a white apron.

Here we go. This is all happening right now.

That's it. Yeah!

Get in there. Pour it on there, come on.

Oh, my God. I'm getting nervous.

Lamb's cooked beautifully. That is a marriage made in heaven.

Tasting this dish is like coming to your house for dinner. Good job.

When Gordon was cutting into the chicken,

there was a moment where my mouth watered.

I said, "Ooh, that chicken look juicy!"

- These aprons go to... - Tiffany: Tina and Aivan!

- Timothy and Athena. - Joe: Zach and Michelle.

- Tonight... - Welcome, welcome, welcome.

- The audition battles continue... - Whoo! Let's go.

...as more home cook duos go head-to-head...

- Come on, Ash. Let's do it. - We want that white apron.

- Nice flambe. - We're here to win.

- Taking 'em down. - ...to try and secure a pair

- of coveted white aprons. - You guys know how to make a fire, right?

- You're about to get extinguished. - Ooh, rawr!

I really see the dynamic duo in the dish.

- And you're going to give us an apron for it. - It's a little messy.

- Joe: You really shot for the stars. - Here we go.

- And you just missed. - Oh, boy.

Oh, my God.

- I'm just still trying to take in the fact that we're-- - We're here.

- Two is better than one. - Two is better than one.

But you got to be twice as good.

I can't wait to cook. Just get in there.

It's so fun to see these duos cook together.

I think it brings a completely different dynamic

- to the competition. - I agree.

Gordon on PA: Right, the next duo to battle

- is Darce and Courtney... - (cheering)

...versus Kayla and Ryan Kate.

Standing between us and the MasterChef white apron is two adorable badass babes,

but we got to take them down.

- Aah! - Oh, my God. I'm stoked to be here.

We have some big culinary dreams, and this is not just

"Let's go have fun on 'MasterChef.'"

- We want to change our lives. - Welcome. Welcome.

- Hello! - How are you?

Let's start off with you both. Give us an insight.

- Tell us your name. - My name is Darce.

This is my work bestie Courtney.

We work together in emergency veterinary hospital.

- Wow. - And we are your resident vet nurses.

Courtney: We work in a very, very intense emergency room.

- Sometimes it's big dogs. Sometimes we've had a wolf. - Courtney: Wolves.

- A wolf? - A couple of snakes.

Seriously? Wow. What about bears?

- Have you ever sort of rescued bears? - This one has seen all of it.

Gordon: How did this bond with food come together?

It's kind of our escape from the difficulties of the emergency room.

We kind of looked at ourselves and said it kind of feels weird to eat my patients.

So we bonded over turning our favorite dishes vegan.

- Wow. Vegan. - I'm vegan curious.

- You're vegan curious? - Yes!

- I'm so happy for that. - Okay, let's go!

- Ladies, welcome. - Thank you.

Your names and where are you from?

- I'm Ryan Kate. - And I'm Kayla.

- And I'm from-- - Wait, wait.

Do we look a little familiar?

- Yes. - Yes, you do.

- Do you see? - Oh, my God.

- Let me see that. - Stop it.

- Y'all were babies! - Ryan Kate: Season 3. "MCJ"!

- Tiffany: Wow! - A little bit taller.

A little bit prettier, you know.

But you're still wearing the same colors!

- Wait, are we actually? Oh, my gosh, we are! - You are!

- Oh, my God. That's adorable. - Amazing.

- Top five? - Top six.

Top six, and then I got top seven.

Graham: Ryan Kate paired with Kayla. What are we doing?

We are making pork venison sausage with sautéed vegetables and polenta.

Wow, this dish is amazing.

It is like a classic Italian trattoria dish.

What happened after that competition?

Even though Kayla lives in New York and I live in Texas,

- we stayed in touch and we just kinda kept cooking together. - Love that.

- And we're here to win it this time. - Joe: Amazing.

- Great to see you both. Welcome back. - Thank you.

- Thank you so much. We're excited to be here. - Right.

Tonight, you've got 30 minutes to put yourselves on a plate.

And convince us three that you deserve that incredible MasterChef apron,

and put your friendship bond to the test.

- Oh, yeah. - The very best of luck.

Your 30 minutes starts now. Let's go.

- Let's go, baby. Let's go, baby. - Let's go, baby!

- Let's go! - Here we go, Ryan Kate. We freaking got this.

I got your onion here. Thank you.

I'm gonna get the sauce started for the beurre blanc.

Okay, you keep setting up. I'll keep getting the mushrooms rolling.

- You feel good with that? Okay. - Yeah.

Right, Darce and Courtney, give us an insight to the dish.

We are making a vegan lomo saltado with lionsmane.

Typically this dish would be made with a little bit of strip sirloin,

but we're gonna sub out that sirloin

for a lionsmane mushroom.

Wow, so a beautiful stir fry.

- Both: Yup. - Love that.

Kayla and Ryan Kate, what are you cooking?

So we're making a pan-seared sea bass over a bed of lemon garlic spinach.

Wow, When you guys finished the competition first time round,

- what was it like going back to school? - Oh, I was a celebrity.

- I was the (bleep), honestly. - I felt like I was the-- on the playground.

- It was so much fun. - Later on in life, the hype died down.

So this is to get it back up. You know what I mean?

Rekindle the fire.

We had a lot of fun as kids on "MasterChef Junior,"

but it means a lot more to us this time.

Cooking is something that we want to pursue in the long run.

All right, heavy cream is going in to reduce.

- You're gonna get rice on ASAP. - Yup.

- Rice and water. - Or as we like to say, stat.

- Stat. - Gordon: So 15 minutes gone. 15 minutes remaining.

- Okay? So let's go. Right, Courtney, Darce. - Thank you.

- What are you doing there? Pressing them down? - Yeah, I'm grill-pressing

them down because lionsmanes, they're big and fluffy.

Yeah, so it needs a real firm sear.

- We need to get all that liquid out. - And a nice seasoning as well.

Yes? Now you two clearly can handle pressure,

bringing these incredible animals back to life.

- Oh, yeah. - This is what we do in the E.R.

We talk about food in between seeing cases.

We use this as therapy. Like, still go to therapy, but this is therapy.

Gotcha. Love that. Keep it going. Season everything.

- Thank you, Gordon. - I'm sorry. What is it seasoned with?

- Magic. - Magic, baby.

- Kayla and Ryan Kate. - Hello, Joe.

Let's think about it. Season three, you were little girls.

- I know. - And now you're women

still pursuing this dream of cooking.

- I wouldn't change anything. - Has it intensified over the years?

- It's definitely intensified. - Oh, for sure. Definitely.

- All right, let's talk about the dish. - Yes.

- So pan-seared sea bass. - Sea bass.

- Beurre blanc? - Yes, white wine beurre blanc with some shallots.

- Did you taste that? - Not yet.

- Taste it. - Yeah.

- What does that need? - It needs salt.

Bingo! Taste everything before you put it on the plate. Good luck, ladies.

- Thank you so much. - Ready? Open.

- Sorry. - I think a little more salt. A little more oil.

I have to keep whisking.

There's a clump in it.

- Perfect. Yeah. - It's good now?

You girls are doing amazing.

- You guys got it. - Yeah? Girl power!

Now that there's a female judge back in the MasterChef arena.

- Yeah! Let's go. - We needed a female baddie up in here.

- A baddie, she says. - Tiffany: Duos, five minutes left on the clock.

- Darce, look at these. Yeah. - Mm-mmm!

Honestly, the color on those mushrooms from Courtney and Darcy is exceptional.

- It's gonna be good. - Whoo!

They cooked those mushrooms for 25 minutes.

I hope it's not like eating leather.

- It's the texture of meat. - How's it looking over there?

- It's looking good. Ooh! - Gordon: Ryan Kate and Kayla.

Very mature cooking. It's a really grown-up dish.

- Should I add just a splash of water? - I don't think so.

- No? - I wouldn't, but whatever you feel comfortable with.

But my worry is the beurre blanc.

They can't get that beurre blanc too thick,

otherwise, it'd be way too rich for that bass.

One minute remaining. Come on!

- We got one minute. - Ooh, it's a heavy boy.

You got it. You got it. You've lifted wolves.

- I know! With two hands though. - You can lift a freaking pan. My God. Come on.

- Spinach in the middle. - This fish is nice.

- I'm going in with rice here, okay? - We got this.

- Gordon: Bring it home. Let's go. - Yes, Chef.

- You want me to go? - Yeah, go.

Salt. You need this. Here. Get it get it on.

- Do you like the sauce like this? - Yeah. I think it's good.

- Judges: Five, four... - You got it. You got it.

- ...three, two, one. - Yeah!

- Gordon: And stop! Hands in the air! - Joe: Hands up.

- Let's go! - (bleep)

- Gordon: Well done. - Yes!

- Well done. - Yeah!

- That looks great. - Beautiful.

- Darce, Courtney, how you feeling? - Oh, my God.

- I'm feeling stoked. I can go run a mile right now. - I'm, like, high.

Pressure higher in MasterChef kitchen or E.R.?

I mean, they're pretty comparable.

I don't want to steal this from you, Gordon, but...

- Kayla, Ryan Kate, happy with the dish? - Both: Very happy.

- I think all the components come together cohesively. - All the flavors are on point.

- Good. - It's a slay.