Season 7 of the Indian Hindi-language competitive reality TV series MasterChef India – Hindi premiered on Sony Entertainment Television on 2 January 2023. The winner of this season was Nayanjyoti Saikia. The first runner-up was Santa Sarmah.The second runner-up was Suvarna Bagul.
Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar returned as one of the judges for the show while Vineet Bhatia was replaced by Garima Arora.
This season marked Khanna's sixth consecutive season serving as a judge on the show and Brar's third season. Similar to the past seasons, Amul remained the title sponsor of the show. The Masterchef India season 7 was announced on 14 August 2022 on Sony Entertainment Television channel and audition rounds were conducted in 4 cities across the country- Kolkata (24 September), Delhi (1 October), Hyderabad (8 October) and Mumbai (15 October). The shown ended with grand finale on 31 March 2023. The winner was Nayanjyoti Saikia, a student from Tinsukia, Assam and got the prize money of ₹25,00,000 while the first runner-up was Santa Sarmah, a homemaker from Guwahati and second runner-up was Suvarna Bagul, a homemaker from Mumbai, both got the prize money of ₹5,00,000.
Masterchef India-Masterclass- an extension of the show, featuring the same contestants and judges as 7th season but instead the judges will cook for the contestants, teaching them skills and recipes started on 2 April 2023 and ended on 8 April 2023.
Top 16 A large number of home cooks appeared at the nationwide auditions, of which 36 cooks were selected by MasterChef India judges and welcomed at the MasterChef Kitchen. They competed in a cook-off to win the final 16 spots. The top 16 contestants were revealed on 6 January 2023. ContestantAgeHometownOccupationStatusNayanjyoti Saikia26Tinsukia, AssamStudent Winner; 31 MarchSanta Sarmah34Nagaon, AssamHomemakerRunner-Up; 31 MarchSuvarna Bagul41Mumbai, MaharashtraHomemakerThird; 31 MarchAruna Vijay36Chennai, Tamil NaduDigital CreatorEliminated; 29 MarchKamaldeep Kaur40Ludhiana, PunjabHomemakerEliminated; 28 March 24HaryanaLawyerSachin Khatwani22Lucknow, Uttar PradeshCloud Kitchen OwnerEliminated; 17 March Priyanka Biswas32Kolkata, West BengalCake ArtistEliminated; 10 March Deepa Chauhan52Bangalore, KarnatakaEntrepreneurEliminated; 24 FebruaryNazia Sultana33Guwahati, AssamHomemaker Priya Vijan34Bangalore, KarnatakaNutritionistEliminated; 10 FebruaryAvinash Patnaik32Bhubaneswar, OdishaPhD Student-Horticulture, Food ConsultantEliminated; 3 FebruaryVineet Yadav23Lucknow, Uttar PradeshMehndi ArtistEliminated; 27 JanuaryYashu Verma19Kolkata, West BengalStudentEliminated; 20 JanuaryDyuti Banerjee32Kolkata, West BengalProfessor, LawyerUrmila Asher "Baa"76Mumbai, MaharashtraYouTuberEliminated; 13 January
Elimination Table
PlaceContestantEpisodeWeek 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12Week 13 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13/14 15 16 17/18 19 20 21 22 2324/25 26 27/28 29 30 31/32 33 34 35 36 3738/39 40 41 42 43/44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52/53 54 55 56 57 58 59 6061/6262/6364/65 1NayanjyotiWINIMMWIN INWINIMM INLOWWINIMM IN INWINIMMINLOWWINIMMWINLOWWIN INWIN INBTMPTTOPININTOPININWINIMMINLOWPTIMMINININTOPINTOPPTIN WINNER 2Santa IN INLOWBTMPTWIN INLOWPT INWINIMM IN INBTMPT INWINIMMLOWNOT INIMMLOWTOPWINIMMTOPINTOPININTOPWINIMMINWINPTPTININ ININWINIMMIMMTOP 3Suvarna INIMMWIN INLOWPT INLOWBTMPTLOWWINBTMPT INLOWBTMPTLOWNOTWIN INLOW INBTMPTINTOPLOWNOTBTMNOTPTINWINPTPTININ ININTOPPTPTINTHIRD 4Aruna INWINIMMWINIMNWINIMM INWINIMM INBTMIMMIMMLOWNOTWIN INWIN INWINIMM ININININININWINIMMINLOWPTPTINININININPTTOPELIM 5KamaldeepTOP INLOWWINIMMWIN INWINIMM INLOWBTMPT IN INBTMPTWINIMMLOWNOTWINIMNLOW INBTMIMMTOPININTICKET TO FINALEINTOPIN ININ PTELIMGurkirat IN INLOWWINIMMWIN INWINIMM INWINIMMWINIMM INWINIMMLOWNOT INIMMWIN INWINIMM ININININININLOWBTMPTTOPLOWPTIMMTOPINBTMNOTPTELIM7Sachin IN INLOWBTMPT INNOTLOWPTINLOWBTMPT IN INBTMPT INLOWBTMPTWINLOW INIMMWIN INBTMPTLOWNOTBTMNOTPTINWINPTELIM 8Priyanka IN INLOWBTMPTWIN INLOWPTWINLOWWINIMM IN INBTMPT INLOWWINIMMWINLOWWIN INLOWBTMNOTPT ININLOW NOTININLOWBTMELIM 9Deepa IN INWINIMM INNOTWINIMM INWINIMM INWINIMM INWINIMMLOWNOT INIMMLOW INBTMELIM 10NaziaIMMWDR IN INBTMPT INLOWBTMPTWDR 11Priya IN INWINIMM INNOTLOWNPTWINWINIMM IN INBTMPT INLOWBTMELIM 12Avinash IN INWINIMM INNOTWINIMM INWINIMMLOW INBTMELIM 13Vineet IN INLOWBTMPTWIN INWINIMM INLOWBTMELIM 14Yashu IN INLOWBTMPT INNOTLOWELIMDyuti IN INWINIMM INNOTLOWELIM 16Baa IN INLOWBTMELIMVIS
(WINNER) The cook won the competition. (RUNNER-UPS) The cooks finished in the second and third place. (WIN) The cook won the Mystery Box challenge, or any other individual / pair challenge. (WIN) The cook was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and directly advanced to the next round. (TOP) The cook was one of the top entries in the individual challenge. (IMN) The cook won an Immunity Pin in a given challenge. (IMM) The cook didn't participate in the challenge as he/she already advanced to the next week. (IN) The cook wasn't selected as a top or bottom entry in an individual / pair challenge. (PT) The cook competed in the Pressure Test in elimination round, and advanced. (LOW) The cook was on the losing team in the Team Challenge. (LOW) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual challenge. (BTM) The cook was one of the bottom entries in an individual challenge and had to compete in the upcoming elimination challenge. (NOT) This cook did not participate in the challenge(s) as he/she had won Ticket to Finale or was disqualified. (WDR) The cook withdrew from the MasterChef Kitchen. (ELIM) The cook was eliminated from the MasterChef Kitchen. (VIS) The cook returned to MasterChef Kitchen as Visitor Appearance and participated in a challenge.
Controversies The season was marked by a series of controversies, including:
The season first landed in controversy when home cook Aruna Vijay, who is a vegetarian, was allowed to cook paneer as a substitute for fish. Audience termed this move as biasedness and favoritism towards Aruna. Homecook Aruna Vijay's dish was selected in Top 3, wherein she had made "Appam Stew". Netizens alleged that it was a 'plain looking' dish and saw this as an act of biasedness and how it appeared as though the show was fixed.
Episodes
References
External links MasterChef India Season 8 on SonyLIV