He was one of the voted favorites of the competition by the public, his peers, and even the judges themselves. But one small failure was enough to leave him out Master Chef Ecuador (Teleamazone). On the night of this Monday, February 6, the Cuenca dentist Santiago Barzallo finished his time in the kitchens of the gastronomic competition.

The elimination challenge held in today’s episode was divided into three parts. In the first segment, a guest chef led a masterclass for competitive chefs. It was the chef from Cuenca, Daniel Contreras, owner of restaurant Dos Sucres. The expert gave a demonstrative lesson of a vegetarian ceviche, made with scobies that ferment the kombucha used for its preparation; accompanied by tamales.

In the second part of the broadcast, a small challenge was held to give advantage to one of the four contestants at risk of elimination: Alexandra, Santiago, Victoria and Jamil.

This moment was planned by the alliance between Jamil and Johanna along with Henry, Raúl and Sonnia, who told the presenter Érika Vélez from the balcony that she had already forgiven the businessman (in an earlier broadcast, the teacher had complained about Jamil and cried for his companions). The idea was to harm Alexandra, but the so-called ‘Diabla’ won the mini-challenge, which gave her an extra 5 minutes of advantage in the pantry and an extra 5 minutes for the guest chef’s visit, who advised her.

For his part, Jamil told in the private interview that the only one he cared about in the ‘fiu fiu’ group, as they have called Alexandra, Victoria, Santiago and even Jamil himself, is the Cuencano. “I like him,” he revealed.

The third part, the core of the challenge, involved preparing a dish inspired by the names of restaurants written by their colleagues in 45 minutes, reflecting on each chef’s personality. “Every chef’s biggest dream is to have his own restaurant,” judge and chef Jorge Rausch explained about the nature of this challenge.

Victoria was the first to go to the lectern. His fictional restaurant was called Thai-tanic, so he delivered coconut gel curry with citrus and a little bit of spice that he dubbed “The Iceberg of Titanic.” “It’s very good, very rich and super cute,” was Contreras’ evaluation. In the private interview, Sonnia said she would like Victoria to be rescued as they have never had any fights nor any problems.

Santiago followed with ‘Motequita’ (a contraction of mote with Cuenquita), a nickname with air foam and mote pata bouillon, for his restaurant Motes del morlaco. The jury found the flavors superfluous and the pork that came with the recipe a bit dry.

He was followed by Alexandra, who presented a sirloin steak with cauliflower puree and foam she called Achiote, at her restaurant Las carnes de la Diabla. She was the only one to adopt the techniques of chef Daniel Contreras, who praised her mash but criticized her foam. The rest was very good, the judges agreed. “It’s not your saucer woman, but rich,” Rausch said.

Jamil was finally judged, with his proposal Umami Bomb, which he prepared with pumpkin-stuffed agnolotis with a shitake broth reduction sauce, for his restaurant Francesco y Salvatore. His dish, a Japanese-Italian fusion, is delicious, Rausch told him, while at the same time recommending not to supplement it with crispy, which it failed to anticipate.

With this dish, Jamil recalled a previous chef’s pin challenge held with Alexandra in which they had to replicate agnolotis exactly. Jamil defeated Alexandra and from then on their animosity between them seemed to soar.

“He thinks it’s the eighth miracle, and that’s wow… Poor thing,” the graphic designer said in a private interview.

In their deliberations, the critics agreed that the decision to retire was due to the minimal mistakes they found in the “four strongest” in the race, as Rausch noted.

To add to the tension, rather than directly declare the night’s elimination, the judges first named those who were saved from leaving the competition, in this order: Victoria and Alexandra.

Between Santiago and Jamil, Judge Irene finally uttered the words everyone was waiting for: who is leaving the Masterchef kitchens. And that was Santiago. “Yes, I’m sorry he’s leaving, of the three he’s the one I like the most… It’s not his fault he’s a friend of ‘Diabla’,” Jamil insisted in the final confessional of the program of today, while Victoria watched Santiago anguished from the balcony, until he burst into tears.