‘MasterChef’ recap: Lynn’s elimination? Yawn. Let’s talk about Bri

Eyes flying open. Hands clasped over gaping mouths. “MasterChef” competitors looking at each other as if in need of smelling salts.

Really?

Such appearances suggested that Lynn’s departure was something of a shock to the competitors. But to viewers? Much ado about nothing. Granted, Lynn was dubbed the “King of Plating” by all those around him. And he could indeed make a plate look good. Tasting good, though, was something else entirely. He wasn’t dominating in any of the challenges. So was he ever really considered a front-runner, jockeying for position alongside Natasha the Narcissist and Bully Krissi? Nope.

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There’s no way Lynn was in it for the long haul. Who wants a MasterChef who absentmindedly uses the same towel to wipe his sweaty face as to wipe plates down for serving? Not me!

Arguably, Savannah was the more shocking elimination of the night. Shock as in, audiences might have forgotten that she was even in the running, as she has been a secondary player to all the Krissi-fueled dramas highlighting this season.

Luckily, Savannah had a moment to shine before her departure, as her Mexican mystery box challenge was deemed a hit among the judges, including actress and restaurateur Eva Longoria. Glory was short-lived, though, as Savannah would later lead her team to defeat in the Surf City taco show down. (The jumping off the surf board-meets-voting thing was a little overdone, don’t you think? It’s one thing to craftily edit to amp up the tension. It’s another thing to stage it entirely. Just not that interesting.)

No, the eliminations were all secondary to the most delicious turn of the evening: Bri is a game player!

Bri scored the ability to dole out dishes in an especially tricky elimination. One competitor would get a plentiful basket of ingredients, plus a steak, and 30 minutes to put it all together. The rest of the field would get a minimalist basket of baking ingredients, and a full hour to put it all together.

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Bri assessed it beautifully. She gave the steak to Natasha, and the rest were left to bake for their lives. Natasha made it immediately about her -- because, really, who else would it be about? -- but it was actually a compliment to Natasha’s considerable cooking skills. Neither basket would prove difficult for Natasha. But the baking would prove difficult for the rest of the field.

Bri came pretty darn close to upending Krissi. Luckily for Krissi, though, Lynn ended up making something that, according to judge Gordon Ramsay, looked like a mix between baked cat poop and something your granddad “left under his bed before he passed.”

No one insults like a chef.

Some made it out to be that Bri “failed” to use her powers wisely. It was actually a shrewd use of powers, don’t you agree?

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