TV Watch MasterChef

Credit: FOX

Christine Ha is heating up the competition in the MasterChef kitchen.

But as the Fox show's first blind contestant she's inspiring people around the world with her ability to prepare all kinds of dishes under pressure.

"I have gotten a lot of amazing letters from people, messages – just an outpouring of love and support," says Ha, who chatted with PEOPLE at the Television Critics Association summer tour in Beverly Hills on Monday.

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Credit: Michael Lavine/FOX; Carlo Allegri/AP

Tuesday's episode of MasterChef was a turbulent ride for our remaining seven home cooks. We threw them into the fire with our first ever tag team elimination challenge, and the results proved that it did indeed push everyone to the breaking point.

Monti and Felix were downright impressive, and not just because Felix has experience with sushi. Their plate was a result of exemplary team work. It's no secret that they don't particularly care for each other, but they checked their egos at the door, communicated beautifully and gave us exactly what the judges were looking for. We certainly cannot say the same for Becky and David.

Frank has come a long way from his one-trick pony days of plate after plate of pasta. Taking a spin on traditional Southern food from none other than the great Paula Deen, arguably the reigning lady of Southern cuisine, was risky to say the least. But kudos to him – he pulled it off nicely.

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Credit: Michael Lavine/FOX (2)

From what was once a solid and tight-knit group of home cooks, on Monday's episode of MasterChef we saw the competitive nature of our contestants! With nine left, the pressure is mounting, and we are anxious to see who has the ability to carry it to the next level.

Sea urchin is not something that is found in most kitchens across the country, but Graham, Gordon and I wanted a clearer picture of our home cooks' food sensibility and creativity. Cooking is a craft, a profession and an art form. A true MasterChef should have the ability to work with something foreign to them and, with little explanation, should possess enough innate knowledge and intuition about food to make the most out of it. It is what differentiates a cook from a chef. We saw this with both Felix and Josh in the uni challenge, and later with Monti during elimination. It is exactly what we expect at this stage of the game, and those who don’t possess it will be weeded out.

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Credit: Greg Gayne/FOX; Michael Lavine/FOX

On Monday's episode of MasterChef, our top 12 contestants faced off in another team challenge in Venice Beach, Calif. Venice Beach may be L.A.'s most laid back neighborhood, but that does not mean the locals don't take their food seriously – food trucks are huge here! With Stacey being the big winner from last week, she was given advantageous task of splitting her fellow competitors into three groups of four, and showed us that she came to play.

I've got to hand it to Stacey. She's taking the competition seriously and has really stepped up these last few weeks – not bad for someone who initially didn't get past the audition round. Her strategy was sharp and cunning, and for the most part, her plan paid off. I love how she did whatever it took to get more people in her line – it ultimately secured her team the win, and tells me she can hack it in the real world of running a restaurant. For me, she's become a top contender.

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Credit: Michael Lavine/FOX

On Monday night the final 14 contestants of MasterChef season 3 faced another team challenge – sweating it out in their first professional kitchen!

The plan was to execute 130 traditional American breakfast dishes in 90 minutes. It doesn't sound too difficult, but our inexperienced home cooks sadly learned otherwise. Working in a busy kitchen is the ultimate test of teamwork. You either have the ability to perform as a unit or you don't. Individual culinary talent takes a back seat here – customers will never taste the food if it doesn't make it out the door.

Felix's lackluster performance was a huge surprise to me, and probably to Christine as well. I completely understood why Felix was chosen as an expeditor – she is a runner and server in a Los Angeles restaurant! It is her job to interact with an expediter every single day! How she could be so unaware of what this role requires? Christine did a decent job leading her team, but honestly, about five minutes in, I would have pulled Felix off that line and replaced her with Becky.

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