So I’m going to gather that anyone reading this would be a MasterChef fan for the sole reason that you like all the cooking; because if you’ve seen the promo’s, if your into the ‘sex’ appeal this show just oh so oozes, you’ll probably be going out of your way to actually watch this episode! Yes, that’s right, Hayden’s getting down to his budgie smugglers but hey, if you’re a guy; don’t worry, my blogs don’t come with pictures. You can find out what happened in the episode right here; Haydo Free!
So the episode starts with, you guessed it, a scene of the contestants ‘naturally’ going about cleaning, swimming and of course, eating, in their luxurious abode. But these scene’s are getting shorter and shorter as we cut to the MasterChef kitchen almost straight away (and it’s a bare kitchen) and the contestants walk in and up to the judges.
George reveals that for today’s team challenge; they will be feeding 500 nippers. Hayden reveals that this is no easy feat, despite the fact that they are just cooking a sausage sizzle. They have to make their own sausages; but hey, no biggie right?
Matt Preston reveals that the winning team will be flown to Kingscliff and a nice resort for a private MasterClass. ‘But with that spoonful of sugar; there’s also some medicine…’ as Matt points out. Hilarious, Matt, hilarious. What isn’t hilarious is elimination; and that’s what the team who loses tonight gets.
The winners of the Mystery Box challenge, Sun, Craig and Peter must choose between themselves who becomes captain. Craig puts his hand up which is a brave move considering team captains that lose have been either eliminated or scraping the deck to stay alive. He chooses Blue which unlike last year is the ‘smart’ or lucky colour to pick. Craig now gets to choose the leader of the red team. Interesting.
He picks Michael, who seems ok in taking the role. He picked Michael because he is a good cook and not because he wanted to pick a cook who was bad. Craig then picks his first team member; Hayden because if he gets his shirt off, they’ll sell more sausages. Um, ok Craig.
Michael’s first pick is Danielle; apparently because she is the sausage expect. Danielle doesn’t seem to agree. Oh dear.
Craig’s next pick is Adam, Michael picks Kate.
Then,
Michael Picks: Jay, Alana, Ellie, Rachel, Mat, Shannon & Arena.
Craig Picks: Billy, Cleo, Peter, Sun (being on the blue team has worked very well for her in the past), Kumar, Andrew & Dani.
Once all the teams are picked, Gary reveals that they will leave as teams to plan their challenge. They have $1000 to spend and must work out how to use that shopping money, which two will go shopping, which two will make the ice-cream and who will be going to the carnival tomorrow. The teams split up and we go to the blue team’s planning session first; Gary is sitting in as Craig suggests Adam can look after the sausage mix while he and Cleo go shopping. Making the ice-cream is Billy and Dani. Gary asks them what ice-creams they were planning to create. Dani comes up with a few ideas off the top of her head which all sound nice. Hayden is asked whether they should also consider bacon and egg rolls however he feels they should play it safe and just go for sausages.
Overall; the blue team go for two different sausages; one for the kids and one for the adults. We move to the red team who are already planning how to go about their task with George. Michael and Danielle are going shopping while Kate and Ellie will be doing ice-cream. George tells them that they are not after Michellin stars however they better make sure they do well; it’s not a task for the feint hearted.
We start off at 8pm where the teams are going shopping in an empty Coles supermarket. Cleo and Craig go to the bakery section and also decide on getting some confectionary. Michael and Danielle are also doing quite well; they are getting their chocolate and making sure they get the best ingredients. There’s a lot of rushing and discussing.
Michael and Danielle get to the cashier and find out they have $100 to spare but the news isn’t as good for the blue team’s Cleo and Craig who need to sacrifice an onion to make it to budget.
At 3am in the morning, Dani, Billy, Ellie and Kate are up all night making some Gelato. Dani can’t believe that they are about to stay up all night to make Gelato. Where they are going, makes up to 300 different flavours; they aren’t making that many flavours though.
The contestants get into it. Kate reveals that the red team will be making three flavours as are the blue team. The flavours are also the same, Vanilla, Lemon and Chocolate so Billy wants to make sure that their ice-cream is better.
Ellie hesitantly doesn’t know if they are using the right amount of ingredients, but they seem to have a problem; they have so much chocolate; but nothing to melt it with. Very creatively, they melt the chocolate using hot water however here lies a problem; the chocolate may harden up on contact with the cool cream and milk.
Over on the blue team; Dani and Billy seem calm as Dani reveals that their gelato may be the difference between winning and losing.
The next morning; the people required at the beach wake up and drive to Cronulla in those SUV’s. Everything is set up for them and Gary reveals that although this is a challenge between teams, all the money will be going towards the Cronulla SLSC; so both teams need to bring their A game to support the club.
They get cooking with the $1000 worth of ingredients. Rachel and Alana are working upstairs on the BBQ’s along with Arena and Danielle who all will be working on making the sausages. Rachel reveals that the idea of so many people on sausages means that more sausages go out more frequently. This means; more money.
Danielle reveals that with the $100 extra they had, they brought eggs to make a Sausage and egg roll (like the Sausage and Egg McMuffin you could get at your local Maccas). George likes the idea.
Meanwhile, Craig reveals the blue team idea; a sausage sizzle for the kids and an Aussie dog special for the adults. Gary reveals that they should get moving; that’s a lot of work and it is a mighty hot day. For the blue team; Kumar, Craig, Peter, Hayden and Adam on sausages. Cleo, Sun and Andrew are on onion duty downstairs. Cleo’s eyes are welling up and she’s getting teary from the onions. I feel for her. Meanwhile, Jay is already cooking his cut onions.
Meanwhile, customers are turning up and each team are battling for the first few customers.
Jay takes control of the sausage and egg sandwiches but no one seems interested. Come on, guys. Jay tries his hardest, but at $4.50, they are pretty expensive.
He lowers the price to $2.00 and is finally able to persuade a customer to eat. All of a sudden, the customers rock up.
Meanwhile, the blue team has made nothing. They realise what the red team are doing is the same thing that the blue team was going to do. Finally, the Blue team starts with some sausages.
Meanwhile, back at gelato, the guy’s there are still going. All of a sudden, red team finds out that all of the measurements they’ve been making have been in pounds! Major disaster!
They try their best to sort out the problems associated with the mismeasurement but Ellie says that this mistake could cost the team the challenge. The measurement mishap means more ingredients than needed have gone into the mixer; and therefore the progress that they make will be slowed right down at the current mixer speed.
Speaking of speed; back at the sausage station, the red teams grinder isn’t working properly and was only able to make 1 sausage in 15 minutes. Jeez.
It is 7.50am and the red team sausage makers are sweating and panicking, Michael is pressuring them for sausages. The machine is just not going quick enough. Danielle calms down, shuts it down and tries to reset it.
Luckily with the gelato; the only thing the red team have measured wrong was the stabiliser; so hopefully everything is ok! They collect their mix and it turns out ok, but will their chocolate lump up on contact with the cool mix? No, another thing going right. Surely, something will go wrong!
Meanwhile, all is ok at the blue team’s gelato station however the chocolate isn’t as chocolate-y as they thought.
So all has worked well at the gelato station and all that is left to do is to freeze the ice-cream.
Kumar from the blue team checks out the red team prices to create some competition. The blue teams price menu board catches the eye of the judges who like the look of it; calling it good marketing, but they haven’t sold anything.
The red teams board is not up to data and is very bland; so cracks are already starting to show. The blue team at the sausage station are still going with the sausage and they are having more luck than the red team were. Luckily the red team’s grinder is now working and they get their first sausages down to the food stand.
It is now 8am and the nippers are at the bench. Knowing that the red team have made quite a bit of money already, the blue team must now get a move on. They get a lot of customers, but struggle when they find out they can’t feed any of them. They could lose all those customers.
This is good, because although the red team are having a few troubles, this team is still two sided as the blue team are also facing troubles.
Finally, the blue team gets some sausages down and hand out a free sausage to a waiting nipper. Aww, how lovely. And there we have it, the customers return!
Red team also has a queue; so this could come down to the wire. However, Michael isn’t too keen on the look of the sausages, but still goes to cook them. He’s a very confident sales person, that’s for sure; he looks like a natural.
Meanwhile; the customers give some feedback and although it is positive; it is split (although this is obviously what the producers want). Meanwhile, Rachel is just powering through the sausage making process. She is very confident that she is doing really well; and everyone agrees.
The red team tries a la carte selling and they are having a lot of success. Arena is out of food before you know it.
Sun catches on and asks Hayden to help sell. Luckily, the gelato’s arrive and it’s a whole different ballgame now. The teams, while both having the same flavours, have very different methods of selling their ice cream.
The gelato is a hit for both teams however Kate reveals that some customers have been favouring the red teams ice-cream more than the blue team however Dani claims that she is selling about 30 scoops a minute.
Meanwhile, Matt and George taste the sausages. I find it kind of funny seeing these professional judges trying this food in this scenario. The music also helps build that casual feel. The judges love the red teams sausage however believes there isn’t much seasoning in the patties however believe they will sell well anyway.
Now onto the blue team and first up is the Aussie Dog. It gets the approval of Matt who believes that there is nothing wrong with the world when you’re eating it. The sausages for the kids are also a hit with the judges. Overall, the judges believe the blue teams meat based lunches are far better than the red team’s and should hope that their spruiking skills are top notch.
Hayden, who is privy with the SLSC, gets on the PA system to the chagrin of the red team who are gob smacked at the marketing stunt. Everyone in the red team is shocked to the core. Mat is angry, Rachel is WFTing and Danielle wants Captain Michael to do something quick!
This is hilarious. I love this challenge!
Hayden mentioned that blue team is the only team on the ground however Kate, who gets on the PA system for the red team thanks to a cooperative lifeguard, puts to rest those rumours.
Meanwhile, the judges taste the red teams gelato. Overall, they do well and the judges especially like the fact the red team used real chocolate. Matt also loves the lemon sorbet flavour.
Now onto the blue team and the judges initially notice the amount of sugar in the ice-cream and they love the texture. However, they don’t like the chocolate ice-cream so much, agreeing with Dani who said it wasn’t chocolate-y enough. The judges also call their lemon sorbet ‘artificial’ and overall believe the red team did a better job at their ice-cream. Of course they did; so now it’s even again.
But not so fast; it is time for the main event; Hayden and his Speedo’s! It seems a lifeguard has leant Hayden a pair to put on and he goes for it. This catches the attention of Jay who believes Hayden should get back to the kitchen. He attracts a lot of customers but Kate jumps into the crowd and sells the kids some red team ice-cream.
So after a huge day; there is half an hour to go. There’s been a lot of creative marketing idea’s, most coming from the blue team and Hayden but for this last portion of the day; it’s all out mayhem. There are sales pumping left right and centre with the Blue team looking like they are coming up with the better deal with customers running to them.
The red team push a deal on ice cream and as the kids run over, the blue team do the same. For the last minutes; everything is sold for anything they can make! Jay even sells a bowl of mince for someone to cook later! It is mayhem. Wow, this challenge just got more interesting as it went along and bang, it finishes!
The teams clap and congratulate, but now it is time for the results. Matt Preston tells them that the overall response was absolutely fantastic; so in that respect; both teams are winners. Before running through the pros of winning and cons of losing, he tells the teams that the judging was simple for this challenge; whoever made the most money won. I love these kinds of challenges; it is probably the most fair of all types of challenges as it poses no overall advantage on anyone. It all comes down to who make the most money.
The judges talk about the red team. They loved the gelato and praised their teamwork down at the beach however believed that communication upstairs could have been better; as could the sausages as they were a little burnt.
George asks Michael if the red team is won and after an open ended answer; he asks Michael again; this time, Michael gives an adamant ‘yes’!
Now onto the blue team. Craig believes that everyone worked to the best of their ability; praising the Aussie dog. He was a proud captain. Gary was also proud and praised their sausages. Gary also loved the idea of the blue wave (blue covered ice-cream) was ingenious. George then asks if the blue team has won. They all say yes at once!
However, there are negatives. They got off to a slow start and they also had their best seller Hayden, cooking until 9.45am!
But now all is said; let’s get to the result.
Both teams raised a total of $4,547- all going to Cronulla SLSC! Nice work- $4,500 for a sausage sizzle, that’s amazing. But individually, that’s what counts.
The winning team made $2,434 and they were the red team! The blue team faces elimination!
That means tomorrow; Dani, Hayden, Kumar, Billy, Sun, Craig, Peter, Adam, Andrew and Cleo will face elimination.
So with the conclusion of this episode, what can I say; best challenge of the series! Both teams put up a great fight; there were two evenly balanced teams, each with shining pros and cons. Each element of the challenge was presented beautifully in this 90 minute episode; the size of which was concerning for me considering how I feel after sitting through 90 minutes of MasterClass; but I have literally been at the edge of my seat all episode.
The laid back setting and healthy competition being dealt left right and centre was just a brilliant mix and I was genuinely interested in ALL aspects of what made up this challenge, from the frantic shopping, the all night ice-cream making, to the selling itself (and my, weren’t there some doozies in the marketing department) I cannot put a foot wrong with this episode.
The only thing I would change would be those bloody scenes at the MasterChef house; they just seem so scripted and acted it’s just a little corny. Luckily, that didn’t weight too heavily on my verdict.
Now we wait as tomorrow, 20 become 19 as another contestant goes home. What a way to ruin a great party, hey!
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.9/10
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