The cooking competition show, also known as MasterChef: Back to Win, returned to Fox in May 2022 for Season 12.
The lineup was originally formed of 20 returning MasterChef contestants from previous seasons, including two former MasterChef Junior contestants who came back to compete as adults, but the group has now been whittled down to just three.
Judges Aarón Sánchez, Gordon Ramsay, and Joe Bastianich sent Emily Hallock and Shanika Patterson home during part one of the season finale that aired on September 7, meaning Michael Silverstein, Christian Green and Dara Yu are the last chefs standing.
Viewers think they already know that Silverstein wins, however, after a commercial seemed to drop a clue that he is the Season 12 champion.
Food delivery service Grubhub has teamed up with MasterChef to promote their “virtual restaurant,” and has released advertisements to support the partnership.
One of the commercials aired during the August 31 MasterChef episode, and showed Silverstein in the footage, alongside three other past contestants who all won their respective seasons.
Kelsey Murphy, Season 11’s winner, Dorian Hunter, who won Season 10, and Season 9 champion Gerron Hurt are all listed on Grubhub’s website alongside Silverstein, who is credited only as a Season 10 contestant (referencing the first time he appeared on the show), with no mention of his current run.
When the advertisement was released in August, fans had their suspicions that it may have given away who wins the season, as the other stars in the commercial besides Silversetien were all winners.
Now that the September 7 episode has confirmed that Silverstein has made it to the final, viewers are now convinced that their theories are correct.
Taking to Twitter after the semifinal episode aired on FOX, fans bemoaned the advert, saying it has given away the end of the season.
One social media user wrote: “Wasn’t Michael revealed to be the winner in the Grubhub commercial already, though? What’s the point?”
While another posted: “Y’all remember (a few weeks ago) when that Grub Hub commercial revealed Michael as the winner of this season of Master Chef? Let’s see if they’re correct…. #MasterChef.”
Another fan had a different view, predicting, or hoping, that somebody else may win the show after all.
“Wow, Christian WON five challenges this season! His food is phenomenal, and I so hope that commercial showing Michael as the winner was wrong! #masterchef,” they wrote.
Newsweek has reached out to a representative for MasterChef for comment.
The winner of MasterChef will be revealed when part two of the season finale airs on Fox on September 14.
