MasterChef Canada Season 9 After Episode 2: Four Premiere Exits Named, Top 12 Listed

Bottom line: Amanda Baker, Dre Pao, Marshall Gu and Ral Onyeachonam are the four home cooks who left MasterChef Canada in the Season 9 premiere. Episode 2, “Rice, Rice Baby,” aired Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, with a solo rice challenge and a visit from Season 8 champion Veronica Wu. Who left at the end of that second episode is not confirmed at time of writing.

Who is still in the MasterChef Canada Season 9 kitchen?

These are the 12 cooks who earned white aprons in the premiere and started Tuesday's episode. Ages, hometowns and jobs come from Bell Media's cast release.

The table shows the field going into Episode 2. It doesn't mark anyone out for Tuesday, because nobody official has.

Who went home on MasterChef Canada this week?

Not confirmed at time of writing. As of 4:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday, CTV's clips from the episode showed the challenge and the guest, not the exit. Bell Media hasn't put out an episode summary, and we found no report naming a cook. So we're not guessing.

Last week the wait was about two days. The premiere aired on a Tuesday; CTV News Saskatoon posted its video with the latest eliminated home cook on Thursday, Sept. 24, and The Extra Mile ran its exit interview the same day.

Who was eliminated in the Season 9 premiere?

Four cooks, all from Ontario:

• Amanda Baker, 36, Ottawa, founder of Baked Good Impact
• Dre Pao, 34, Hamilton, cooking content creator
• Marshall Gu, 34, Toronto, senior data manager
• Ral Onyeachonam, 33, Toronto, supper club host

The Extra Mile named all four in an exit interview published Sept. 24, and Windspeaker reported the same names in its profile of Geraldine Russ. That fills the gap in our premiere results, which went up before anyone had said who left.

One detail from that interview: Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington was cooked in pairs, each cook matched with someone they had only just met. Baker said her partner was Harley Maranan, who is still in the competition.

What happened in “Rice, Rice Baby”?

CTV's official clips give three confirmed pieces. The cooks worked alone this time, in a rice challenge built around texture: fluffy, crispy or sticky. Veronica Wu, the Season 8 champion, walked in as a surprise guest. And a third clip profiles Rebecca Abbott, the Gander cook CTV describes as a Canadian Air Force captain and biathlon coach.

That's all the network has released. No episode description beyond the title has been published, and the clips stop short of the judges' decision.

How has the cast changed since the premiere?

We re-counted the cast list by province. Ontario started with seven cooks, the biggest group by a distance, and lost four of them in one night. Three remain: Aliyaan Amlani-Kurji and Monika Baird from Toronto, and Manka Umba from Ottawa.

British Columbia's four are all still in, which made B.C. the largest contingent in the Top 12. Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador each kept their one cook, so seven provinces are still represented.

Age barely moved. The Top 12 average 34.2, with a median of 33.5; the four who left were between 33 and 36. The youngest cook (Amlani-Kurji, 23) and the oldest (Russ, 52) both got through the first cut.

When is MasterChef Canada on next, and where can I stream Episode 2?

Episode 3 airs Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CTV. If you missed “Rice, Rice Baby,” Bell Media says each episode reaches Crave the day after broadcast, which means Wednesday, Sept. 30 for this one. CTV.ca and the CTV app carry it with a TV provider login.

Our Season 9 time guide explains the early 7 p.m. slot, and Tuesday's preview has the channel details. For the other apps, see where to stream Canadian reality TV. Sister site Watch Canada On Air lists everything new in Canada on Wednesday, including The Amazing Race premiere on CTV.

How long does Season 9 run?

Eleven episodes, per Bell Media. Count forward from the Sept. 22 premiere and a Tuesday-only run with no skipped weeks would end on Dec. 1. CTV hasn't announced a finale date, so treat that as our arithmetic, not a schedule.

The winner gets $100,000 and the title. Mary Berg hosts and judges with Hugh Acheson and Craig Wong. All eight past champions, Wu included, are in our MasterChef Canada winners list. Elsewhere on CTV this week, The Traitors Canada held its first roundtable on Monday; the full grid is in this week in Canadian reality TV and the fall premiere calendar.

FAQ

How many cooks are left on MasterChef Canada?

Twelve started Episode 2. The number after Tuesday's episode is not confirmed at time of writing.

Who was the surprise guest on MasterChef Canada this week?

Veronica Wu, the Season 8 champion, according to CTV's clip from the episode.

Was Gordon Ramsay in Episode 2?

Nothing CTV has released says so. He was announced as a special guest for the premiere's Beef Wellington challenge only.

Sources

• Bell Media: 16 new home cooks enter the MasterChef Canada kitchen
• The Extra Mile: Season 9 exit interview with the first four cooks out
• Windspeaker: MasterChef Canada profile of Geraldine Russ
• CTV on YouTube: Surprise Guest (Veronica Wu)
• CTV News Saskatoon: MasterChef Canada's latest eliminated home cook

By the CA Reality On Air desk · Updated Sept. 30, 5:33 a.m. ET