A Pastry Pressure Test Sends a Home Cook Packing on CTV's MASTERCHEF CANADA

– Jennifer Baglione, a Salon Manager from Maple, Ont., is the next home cook eliminated from MASTERCHEF CANADA – 
– Canadian Astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield inspires the Top 7 home cooks with a special out of this world Mystery Box Challenge on the next MASTERCHEF CANADA, airing Sunday, May 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV GO –

To tweet this alert: http://bit.ly/1WFTtZh

TORONTO, April 24, 2016 /CNW/ - A decadent pastry Pressure Test challenge trips up home cook Jennifer Baglione, as MASTERCHEF CANADA judges Michael Bonacini, Alvin Leung, and Claudio Aprile found her éclair effort uninspiring and sent the Salon Manager from Maple, Ont. home. MASTERCHEF CANADA returns next Sunday, May 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and the CTV GO app with Canadian Astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield visiting the MASTERCHEF CANADA kitchen to inspire the remaining Top 7 home cooks with a special out of this world Mystery Box Challenge.

On tonight's episode of MASTERCHEF CANADA, the Top 8 home cooks were divided into two teams of four with Veronica Cham, Terry Adido, Shawn Karls, and Matthew Astorga on the Red Team, and Jennifer Baglione, April Lee Baker, Jeremy Senaris, and Mary Berg on the Blue Team. In a twist, the Team Challenge had no assigned captains, the judges asked for total collaboration, as the home cooks tackled intimidating ingredients inspired by the popular children's nursery rhyme "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." The heads included a pig's head and grouper head, beef and lamb shoulders, the knees of turkey and frog legs, and the toes from pig trotters and chicken feet. The challenge was to create a cohesive four-plate tasting menu in only 90 minutes.

The judges tasting began with the heads, with the Red Team's Shawn offering up a grouper cheek miso soup against Jeremy on the Blue Team, who used the pig's head to create an authentic Filipino dish called Sizzling Sisig involving three parts of the pig's head. Both were praised for their creativity and flavours with a special nod to Jeremy whose management style stood out during the competition. In the shoulders round, Matthew sticky beef shoulder terrine for the Red Team was missing the sticky factor while April Lee's braised beef shoulder with garlic mashed potatoes for the Blue Team was deemed too dry. Mary and Terry delivered their knees to the judges with Mary creating a turkey roulade with prosciutto for the Blue Team that Chef Michael Bonacini called Thanksgiving and Christmas on a plate. Terry on the Red Team created five-spice frog legs that were delicious, but slightly over seasoned. Lastly, plating fell flat for Jennifer who created chicken feet and fried polenta for the Blue Team, but Veronica's mastery of one of the most difficult known Asian dishes with her pig trotter, Xiao Long Bao, was a culinary triumph. In the end, the judges put their heads together, deliberated, and announced the Red Team as the challenge winners.

The Blue Team's loss sent them all into a Pressure Test, as Jennifer, April Lee, Jeremy, and Mary were tasked with creating of one of the world's most beloved French desserts – éclairs. The judges asked the home cooks to create four separate custom éclairs to be served in a specific sized pastry box in 90 minutes. Mary took the ambitious route by making four different pastry creams that proved very difficult for the expert baker. Frazzled and stressed, Jennifer entered her very first Pressure Test, her work station falling into a state of chaos and giving her a bad start to the competition. In the end, Jeremy's apple pie éclair was praised by the Chef Claudio Aprile for its innovation; while April Lee's light pastry wowed the judges – saving them both from elimination. Mary and Jennifer landed in the bottom two, as Mary's shoe pastry was under cooked, cracked, and overstuffed with pastry cream, while Jennifer's éclairs were petite with uninspiring flavours. Ultimately, it was Jennifer who had to hand in her apron, as the judges announced she would be next to leave the MASTERCHEF CANADA kitchen.

On an all-new episode of MASTERCHEF CANADA (Sunday, May 1 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV GO), Canadian Astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield inspires the home cooks to make dishes that are out of this world with a Mystery Box Challenge containing some of the ingredients that were available to him during his time in space. The winning home cook gets a huge strategic advantage: the opportunity to pair their fellow home cooks together for a classic MASTERCHEF CANADA Tag Team Challenge.

The remaining Top 7 home cooks vying for the title of MASTERCHEF CANADA and the $100,000 cash prize are:

• April Lee Baker, a Homemaker from Calgary, Alta.
• Jeremy Senaris, a Building Plan Examiner from Winnipeg, Man.
• Mary Berg, an Insurance Broker from Toronto, Ont.
• Matthew Astorga, Digital Design Consultant from Pitt Meadows, B.C.
• Shawn Karls, a Doctor from Montréal, Qué.
• Terry Adido, a PhD Law Student from Edmonton, Alta.
• Veronica Cham, a Lawyer from Toronto, Ont.

For more on MASTERCHEF CANADA, fans can visit CTV.ca/MasterChefCanada for exclusive content, including must-see videos with the home cooks and the judges, bios, full episodes, sneak peeks, and extras.

New episodes of MASTERCHEF CANADA are available following their broadcast premiere on demand at CTV.ca and on the CTV GO app, and encore Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on M3, Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV Two, and Sundays at 5 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Viewers can watch Jennifer Baglione live on CANADA AM (Weekdays at 6 a.m. ET), CP24 BREAKFAST (Weekdays 5:30 a.m. ET), CTV News Channel (9:45 a.m. ET/PT), CTV MORNING LIVE ATLANTIC (Weekdays at 7 a.m. AT on CTV Two Atlantic), and THE SOCIAL (Weekdays at 1 p.m. ET) on Monday, April 25 as she discusses her experience on MASTERCHEF CANADA.

The MASTERCHEF format and finished programmes are represented internationally by Endemol Shine Group, and is based on a format originally created by Franc Roddam.

MASTERCHEF CANADA is produced by Proper Television in association with CTV. President of Proper Television, Guy O'Sullivan is executive producer, along with Proper's Vice-President and Creative Director, Cathie James. For Bell Media, Tina Apostolopoulos is Production Executive, Factual and Reality, Independent Production; Robin Johnston is Director, Factual and Reality, Independent Production; Corrie Coe is Senior Vice-President, Independent Production; Mike Cosentino is Senior Vice-President, Programming, CTV Networks and CraveTV; Randy Lennox is President, Entertainment Production and Broadcasting.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Twitter: #MasterChefCanada 
@CTV_PR
@CTV_Television 
@MasterChefCDA 
Michael Bonacini – @MichaelBonacini 
Alvin Leung – @TheDemonChef 
Claudio Aprile – @ClaudioAprile
April Lee Baker – @AprilLeeBaker 
Jeremy Senaris – @chefonfiyah 
Mary Berg – @mary_berg3 
Matthew Astorga – @matthewastorga 
Shawn Karls – @doctor_shawn1 
Terry Adido – @grated_nutmeg 
Veronica Cham – @vronnie17

Facebook:
facebook.com/ctv 
facebook.com/MasterChefCDA

Instagram:
@MasterChefCDA 
@BellMediaPR 
Michael Bonacini – @chefmichaelbonacini 
Claudio Aprile – @claudioaprile1 
April Lee Baker – @April_Lee_B 
Jeremy Senaris – @onfiyah 
Mary Berg – @mary_berg3 
Matthew Astorga – @matthewastorga 
Shawn Karls – @doctor.shawn 
Terry Adido – @grated_nutmeg 
Veronica Cham – @vronnie17

About CTV

CTV is Canada's #1 private broadcaster. Featuring a wide range of quality news, sports, information, and entertainment programming, CTV has been Canada's most-watched television network for the past 14 years in a row. CTV is a division of Bell Media, Canada's premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, digital, and Out-of-Home. Bell Media is owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. More information about CTV can be found on the network's website at CTV.ca.

SOURCE CTV

Tonia Addison, CTV Networks, 416.384.2194 or [email protected]; Ama Sechere, CTV Networks, 416.384.2066 or [email protected]; Christy Sullivan, CTV Networks, 416.384.3624 or [email protected]