Ep 1. Pilot: Masters Get Schooled

In the premiere episode of Top Chef: Masters season 1, titled "Pilot: Masters Get Schooled," 12 world-renowned chefs are introduced and put to the test in an intense culinary competition.

The episode opens with host Kelly Choi welcoming viewers to the first ever season of Top Chef: Masters. She then introduces the first challenge in which the chefs must create a dish using only 5 ingredients, all of which are revealed to be school cafeteria staples such as canned tuna, tater tots, and Jell-O.

The chefs are given 30 minutes to create their dishes and present them to the judges, who will then select the top 3 dishes. The winning chef will get to choose their team members for the next challenge, while the bottom 3 will then face off in a quickfire challenge with the loser being eliminated from the competition.

Throughout the challenge, we see the chefs struggle to elevate these basic ingredients into something worthy of the judges' approval. Some choose to go for a traditional approach, while others get creative with their dishes. One chef even uses the tater tots as a base for a tartare.

Once time is up, each chef presents their dish to the judges: James Oseland, Gael Greene, and Jay Rayner. The judges are impressed with the creativity and skill of some of the chefs but disappointed in others who failed to fully elevate the ingredients given to them.

The judges select their top 3 dishes, which belong to Hubert Keller, Rick Moonen, and Roy Yamaguchi. Keller is declared the winner and gets to choose his team for the next challenge, which will consist of cooking for 100 hungry students from a Los Angeles high school.

The bottom 3 chefs, Cindy Pawlcyn, John Besh, and Michael Schlow, then face off in a quickfire challenge in which they must use a mystery ingredient to create a dish in just 15 minutes. The chefs are given squid as their mystery ingredient, and they must race against the clock to come up with something worthy of staying in the competition.

In the end, the judges are disappointed with one chef's dish and they are sent home. The remaining chefs then prepare for the next challenge, where they will be cooking for the high school students.

Overall, the first episode of Top Chef: Masters season 1 sets the stage for an intense and exciting competition between some of the world's most talented chefs. The challenges are creative and challenging, and the judges are tough but fair. We can't wait to see what's next for these chefs as they battle it out for the title of Top Chef: Master.