‘MasterChef’ recap: David Martinez is eliminated, gets new job

David Martinez no longer has a shot at winning “MasterChef.” But he does have a new job working for “MasterChef” judge Graham Elliot.

Elliot offered Martinez a gig just as Martinez was being bounced from the show for failing to properly cook a well-done steak. (Seriously. Chef Gordon Ramsay says there’s an “art” to making a steak well done, so that it’s properly seared, cooked through but not overdone, and yet still juicy. Martinez needs to go to that art school.)

It was clear that Martinez wasn’t ready to go the distance in this competition to find the best home cook in America, but he came close.

And hey, he managed to stick around after Josh Marks was eliminated earlier in the season, before he managed to fight his way back into the competition and into the front-runner’s position.

Now, it’s getting tight. There’s very little “fat” left, as evidenced by the performance during this week’s competition, which was to prepare dinner for select guests at the posh Hatfield’s restaurant in Los Angeles.

It was a girls-versus-boys breakdown, with Ramsay having final say over what left the kitchen, all reminiscent of “Hell’s Kitchen.”

The blue team lost by a slim margin, proof of how far this crew has come. (Losing must have hurt, given how the red team seemed to play up its “deaf” and “blind” status.)

Even judge Joe Bastianich got in on the act, saying that if it were up to him he’d put Christine Ha in charge of little more than coat check because, well, she can’t see! She’s a liability!

Clearly, if the outcome is to be believed, the blind were not leading the blind in this challenge.

The red team, led by a nicer-than-usual Becky Reams, was victorious. Bastianich apologized to Ha, conveniently leaving out his coat-check remark.

What did you think about Frank Mirando’s decision to save his own hide and excuse himself from the pressure test? He learned from the last time that he tried to be an upstanding competitor that nice guys do sometimes finish last. So he left Marks and Martinez to duke it out.

Seems like the best possible turnout for Martinez, who was worried about returning to the south side of Chicago empty-handed. In fact, he goes back employed with a celeb chef.

“That’s your new journey, that’s your path,” Elliot told him.

Martinez’s parting prediction? Mirando will be the Season 3 winner of “MasterChef.” Do you agree?

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