by Bollywood star Chunky Panday, along with his wife Bhavna Pandey, made a special guest appearance on MasterChef India Season 9 Episode 13, which aired on January 21, 2026. In this episode, contestants competed in a Team Service Challenge themed around an Indian wedding, as Shaadi Week continued.
During the episode, the three judges — Chef Vikas Khanna, Chef Ranveer Brar, and Chef Kunal Kapur — organized a blind taste test to decide the captains of two teams for the upcoming team service challenge. Two contestants performed exceptionally well during this test, leaving everyone surprised.
The episode began with all pairs of contestants entering the MasterChef kitchen along with the three judges. Soon after, the special guests for the evening, Chunky Panday and his wife Bhavna Pandey, made their grand entrance. After sharing some light-hearted moments and jokes with the contestants, the judges announced the start of the Blind Taste Test.
Blind Taste Test Details
A massive Maha Laddoo containing about 50 ingredients was presented. One contestant from each pair was blindfolded, and each had to taste the laddoo and correctly guess one ingredient at a time. If a contestant guessed incorrectly, they were eliminated from the challenge, and it continued until only two contestants remained.
The last two remaining contestants would become team captains for the upcoming Team Service Challenge.
Since Vikram and Ajinkya had won the Haldi-Mehndi Cooking Challenge in the previous episode, they were safe from elimination and did not participate in this challenge.
As there were 11 pairs competing, the winning contestant of the blind taste test (the last one standing) would get the first pick while forming their team, giving them one extra pair of contestants as an advantage for the Team Service Challenge.
Participants in the Blind Taste Test
The following contestants represented their pairs in the blind taste test:
- Archana Dhotre
- SaiSri Rachakonda
- Venu Sharma
- Deepali Bihani
- Parvati Soni
- Anshmeet Singh
- Manju Ojha
- Yasmin Ansari
- Harshani Purohit
- Simran
- Kanchana Devi
Blind Taste Test Results
- Top Two Remaining: SaiSri Rachakonda and Simran
- Winner: SaiSri Rachakonda
SaiSri and Simran emerged as the final two contestants in the blind taste test, earning the honor of becoming team captains for the Team Service Challenge. The final round between them was highly impressive as both made some astonishingly accurate guesses. Ultimately, SaiSri was declared the winner, giving her team an advantage of one extra pair during the challenge.
The judges described this as one of the most intense blind taste tests in MasterChef history worldwide, as the contestants managed to identify 36 out of 50 ingredients — a remarkable achievement.
Team Selections for the Team Service Challenge
After the test, both captains selected their teams as follows:
Team SaiSri
- SaiSri Rachakonda and Chandana Rachakonda
- Yasmin Ansari and Mehfooz Ansari
- Archana Dhotre and Rupali Jadhav
- Parvati Soni and Himang Soni
- Venu Sharma and Avni Sharma
- Deepali Bihani and Jamuna Somani
Team Simran
- Simran and Himanshi
- Anshmeet Singh and Prabhdeep Kaur
- Kanchana Devi and Raksha Devi
- Vishnu Purohit and Harshani Purohit
- Anju Pradhan and Manju Ojha
The Great Indian Wedding Buffet Team Service Challenge
After forming the teams, the judges announced “The Great Indian Wedding Buffet” Team Service Challenge.
Both teams had to prepare a seven-dish wedding buffet, which would later be tasted by special guests — the Baraatis. The guests would judge the food based on taste, innovation, and presentation, rewarding the teams with Shagun envelopes of varying values.
The team that won the challenge would be declared safe from elimination for the week, while the losing team would remain unsafe.
Rules for The Great Indian Wedding Buffet Team Service Challenge
- Time limit: 2 hours
- The seven-dish buffet must include a welcome drink, one vegetarian starter, one non-vegetarian starter, one vegetarian main course, one non-vegetarian main course, breads, rice, and dessert.
- At least one live cooking station must be included.
- Food must be prepared for at least 25 Baraatis.
- MasterChef’s World-Class Pantry will remain open throughout the challenge.
- Only team captains can collect ingredients from the pantry.
After the announcement of the rules, both teams began preparing their dishes at their respective stations. The judges, host Paritosh Tripathi, and guests Chunky and Bhavna Pandey observed both teams’ progress, marking the end of the episode.
Next Episode Preview: In Episode 14 of MasterChef India Season 9, the winners of The Great Indian Wedding Buffet Team Service Challenge will be announced. It will be interesting to see which team wins safety and which team faces danger of elimination.
Stay tuned for more episode updates of MasterChef India Season 9! If you have any queries regarding Episode 13, feel free to leave a comment below.
