Adaiah Stevens, 12, of Danbury, Conn. is a contestant on the Fox TV show, Master Chef Junior.
She is photographed in her home Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014.
Adaiah Stevens, 12, of Danbury, is the last Connecticut contestant standing on Fox’s reality competition series “MasterChef Junior” after last night’s episode, in which fellow Nutmegger Oona Yaffe, 9, of New Haven, was eliminated.
Both girls struggled during last night’s challenge, which asked the young contestants to run a pop-up restaurant for 40 VIPs in the food industry. The six remaining contestants were split into two teams of three. Oona was on the blue team, headed by Samuel, 12, and Adaiah was on the red team, helmed by 8-year-old dynamo Abby.
Each team was tasked with preparing two appetizers and two entrees. The meals were technically complex — the appetizer dishes were fried zucchini blossoms and a ceviche, while the entrees were filet mignon with fries and a fish dish.
In the beginning, the blue team struggled badly, partly because Oona had a tough time with the zucchini blossoms, which kept falling apart in the deep fryer. Though Adaiah’s teammate Logan initally struggled with his ceviche, the red team overall had a stronger appetizer round.
However, in the entree portion, the red team lost ground, partly because Adaiah seemed to be having trouble getting her beef done in time. This didn’t please judge Gordon Ramsay, who acted as the expediter for the service. At one point, he nearly went bonkers when Adaiah told him there was eight minutes left on her beef order.
It was a rare stumble for the Danbury tween, who has long been a frontrunner in the competition. She took another hit in the challenge, when the judges deemed her beef under-seasoned (though it was cooked to a perfect medium rare).
Ultimately, though, the red team won the challenge, meaning all its members, including Adaiah, were safe from elimination.
The only member of the blue team to avoid being sent home was Samuel. That meant Oona and her other 12-year-old teammate Sean had to go home. The tiny New Haven native was heartbreakingly sad to leave, her eyes filling with tears. But the judges told her and Sean that they had done incredibly well, in particular praising a chicken liver dish Oona had done earlier in the season.
When the judges asked who she thought would win the competition, Oona predicted it would be either Samuel or Adaiah.
Adaiah is now one of only four contestants left competing for the $100,000 prize. Tune in next week to see if she makes it to the final round.