MasterChef Canada (season 3) facts for kids

Mystery Box 1: The mystery box contained thirteen iconic Canadian ingredients, one from each province and territory. Shawn, Mary, and Veronica made the three best dishes, and Shawn won.

Team Challenge 1: The home cooks were tasked with preparing and serving a baby pork rib entree with two sides and a sauce to 121 firefighters. Matthew and Michelle were the captains of the Red and Blue teams respectively. Matthew got to choose all five members of his team before Michelle. He chose Mary, Sean, Jeremy, Vince and Jacqueline to join him, forming the Red Team. This left Michelle with April Lee, Jennifer, Julia, Shawn, Terry and Veronica, forming the Blue Team. With a difference of 20 votes, the Blue Team won the challenge.

Mystery Box 2: The mystery box had the home cooks workings in pairs. The pairs were Mary and Matthew, Jeremy and Jacqueline, Terry and Jennifer, Julia and April Lee, Michelle and Veronica, and Sean and Shawn. Julia and April Lee, Jeremy and Jacqueline, and Terry and Jennifer made the three best dishes, and Terry and Jennifer won.

Team Challenge 2: For their next team challenge, the home cooks were tasked with cooking a three-course lunch for sixteen fashion elites. Each team had to make one vegetarian, one seafood, and one meat dish. Veronica and Jacqueline were the Red and Blue Team captains respectively. Veronica chose Matthew, Michelle, Julia and April Lee, forming the Red team. Jacqueline chose Mary, Jeremy, Shawn and was left with Jennifer, forming the Blue team. The judges gave Terry the option of choosing which team to join, and he chose to join the Red team. The Blue team won the challenge.

Mystery Box 3: The mystery box contained basic ingredients needed to produce a baked dessert, as well as a heart-shaped tin. Veronica, Terry, and Shawn made the three best dishes, and Veronica won, and her recipe was also featured in a Becel advertising campaign.

Team Challenge 3: For their next team challenge, the home cooks arrived at Mississauga's Hansa Haus and had to cook gourmet sausage dishes with a topping and a side for 250 people in celebration of Oktoberfest, and the team with the most sales was safe from elimination. Shawn, Mary and Terry were the captains of the Red, Blue and Green Teams respectively. Shawn chose pork as his protein, while Mary chose lamb, leaving Terry with beef. Shawn chose Jeremy and Jacqueline, forming the Red team, and Mary chose Veronica and Matthew, forming the Blue team, while Terry chose April Lee and was left with Jennifer, forming the Green team. The Green team won the challenge.

Team Challenge 4: The home cooks were split into two teams and had 90 minutes to prepare a four-dish menu each using the heads, shoulders, knees and toes of various animals. In a random draw of selections, the Blue team consisted of April Lee, Jennifer, Jeremy and Mary, while the Red team consisted of Matthew, Shawn, Terry and Veronica, and there were no team captains in this challenge. The Red Team decided on an Asian themed menu, while the Blue Team created elevated versions of old favourite recipes. The Red team was the winner.

Mystery Box 4: Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield was a special guest for the mystery box challenge, in which the home cooks had 45 minutes to make a dish using space food. Matthew, Veronica, and Mary made the three best dishes, and Matthew won.

Team Challenge 5: The top six home cooks took part in the annual restaurant takeover in Eric Chong's restaurant located in Toronto's Chinatown: R&D, co-founded with Alvin. The guests consisted of MasterChef Canada alumni, including season two winner David Jorge. Mary led the Red team with Veronica and April Lee, while Jeremy led the Blue team with Matthew and Shawn. The judges decided that the Red team performed better overall.

Mystery Box 5: The home cooks were tasked with to making a dish containing a protein, vegetables and a purée. Veronica, Matthew, and Mary made the three best dishes, and Matthew won.

Individual Challenge: The final four remaining cooks were surprised in the kitchen by their families, who joined them for a trip to Toronto's St. Lawrence Market. The cook with the best dish will automatically be advanced straight to the top three semifinals, leaving the remaining cooks to battle it out in a replication pressure test where one cook will be eliminated. The judges decide that Mary's dish was the best of the challenge.

Mystery Box 6: In the semifinals, the 3 semifinalists had 90 minutes to prepare sixteen plates of an entrée for the judges and thirteen of Canada's most influential professional chefs/restaurateurs. The ingredients were the exact same Canadian ingredients from the first Mystery Box challenge. The winner of the challenge directly advanced to the finale, and the remaining two semifinalists went head-to-head in the final pressure test of the season. Mary won the challenge, winning her a spot in the finale.