Did our Raleigh cook's tiny churros keep him safe on this week's 'MasterChef'?

Only eight of the 19 remaining home cooks on "MasterChef" had to cook in Wednesday night's Elimination Test, and Juni Cuevas of Raleigh was one of them.

Juni was in this tight spot only because the winner of the night's Mystery Box Challenge (Cesar Cano) didn't pick him as one of the 10 players allowed to sit it out.

Luckily for Juni, the test was making churros, a traditional dessert in Spanish-speaking countries.

"I better execute these churros to perfection; otherwise, my Mexican card is going to be revoked," Juni said while frying up the pastries.

Juni made a vanilla churro with an ancho chili, Abuelita chocolate-inspired sauce.

Judge Joe Bastianich noted that the churros were smaller than most, but he liked them.

"So, small. That's a whole 'nother take on them, but the color is pretty textbook," Bastianich said upon inspection.

After tasting: "That's good," Bastianich said. "Being so small, I thought they'd be hard, but they're not. They're perfectly crispy and soft on the inside. You can tell your Mexican compadres sometimes good things come in small packages."

Juni's petite churros won him a spot in the Top 18 (Mexican card safe!).

But Alecia Winters' overly sugary churros meant she was the home cook eliminated in Wednesday night's show.

What's next

In next Wednesday's episode (8 p.m. on Fox), the Top 18 chefs have to cook for a wedding — and the previews make it look like Juni captains a team. It looks very ... tense.

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 9:23 PM.