Juan Betancourt eliminated from MasterChef Celebrity Legends after salmon dish

The elimination

On Monday, 26 October, the eighth episode of MasterChef Celebrity Legends on La 1 ended with the expulsion of model and actor Juan Betancourt. Four contestants faced the elimination test: Paz Vega, David Bustamante, María Escoté and Betancourt, after Flo used his pin to save himself. The task was a savoury dish built around an ice cream with an unusual flavour, such as Kalamata black olive, smoked salmon or foie. Betancourt served a salmon dish, and the judges Pepe Rodríguez, Jordi Cruz and Marta Sanahuja found it failed to convince them. Jordi Cruz said the beetroot did not come through and the dish felt too thin, while Marta Sanahuja said the sphere did not turn liquid when opened, as it should. Pepe Rodríguez then announced that Betancourt was the one leaving the competition.

The earlier tests

The night opened with a musical game hosted by singer Falete, in which song titles named the base ingredient of a dessert that also had to include an exotic fruit brought by fruit creator Raúl Cárdaba. Reports disagree on the golden apron: El Periódico and La Razón say Edu Soto won it over Santiago Segura, while El Confidencial and RTVE say Santiago Segura took it. The apron reportedly guaranteed a place in the ninth episode. In the team test at Bernabéu Market, a 3,000 square metre food hall inside the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, contestants cooked a menu of three tapas for guests of the Real Madrid Foundation. Edu Soto's blue team, with Marina Rivers, Paz Vega and Santiago Segura, won the challenge, while the red team led by Flo, with Bustamante, Escoté and Betancourt, drew harsh criticism from the jury. Earlier in the episode, Flo had won Marina Rivers's pin, the so-called 'pin infiel', in a challenge.

Reactions and farewell

Edu Soto cried when the verdict came, while David Bustamante and María Escoté tried to console Betancourt. Marina Rivers gave the most emotional farewell, saying:

“How can someone be so handsome, so tall, so strong and so good, so humble and so shy? I love him.”

Betancourt left saying he had beaten his previous record, going from the sixth programme to the eighth, and that his tears were of happiness. He said he had enjoyed this run more because of his fellow contestants and had prepared more for the kitchen this time. He named Flo as the contestant he would like to see win. He predicted that Marina Rivers would take the title, calling her one of the favourites.

Injury and recovery

In a post reported on 27 October, Betancourt said he would stay away from professional commitments for at least two weeks because of an injury to his left leg. He shared a photo of himself lying on a medical bed, with cables attached to the injured leg and an electrostimulation device, the start of his rehabilitation. He said he had watched his own elimination from home while barely able to move. He described the recovery in the message written over the photo:

“Two weeks of rest are coming, to properly recover the abductor. Two centimetres of tear, so patience, which is what I find hardest.”

He ended the post in a light tone, saying he and his team were still in the running.