Well I don’t know about you, but I lurve chocolate and tonight’s episode is all about chocolate. Tonight, the kids will have to taste themselves through a challenge which must surely put all other taste test challenges before it to shame.
When the kids walk into the kitchen (almost immediately), they see a fountain of chocolate paraded in the middle of a small but magnificent ‘chocolate wonderland’. They begin to eat the chocolate as kids do and soon enough, they are covered in the stuff.
Then, the judges walk in and begin to scare them, saying they weren’t supposed to eat the chocolate, before reminding them that they can. Hmm, I smell a complaint about child obesity coming off the back of this.
Gary gathers the group together, telling them that today; their challenge will be based around chocolate. Before we begin, let’s see the scoreboard. Before THAT, I should mention that the judges tonight are Gary, Anna and George.
So, to the scoreboard:
JACK: 14
LILY: 11
MADI: 9
CHANDLER: 8
DEE: 8
KIERAN: 8
STEVEN: 8
INDIGO: 7
GRETA: 6
MIRAEDE: 6
ZAC: 6
GRACIE: 5
AYA: 4
HANNAH: 4
JADE: 4
ALYSHA: 3
CAROLINE: 3
HARRY: 3
MARCUS: 3
TOM: 3
George tells them that the top four contestants will be safe from elimination while the bottom eight will have to face elimination.
Anna then tells them that they are about to do their very first taste test. She then tells them that they will taste the wall of rocky road behind them. Tom is quite happy. This Darrell Lea’s Rocklea Road has over 20 ingredients and that they will have 5 minutes to list them all.
With that, they go and taste the wall. They all seem very interested in getting the ingredients down, and considering they are kids, that’s what I would call ‘competitive’.
After their time is up, George collects their notes and the judges stand before the cloches containing the ingredients in the Rocklea Road. George then opens them up, one by one, to reveal the ingredients to be dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, marshmallows, pistachios, peanuts, coconut, pecans, honeycombs, fudge, nougat, Turkish delight, cherries, banana, pineapple, apricot, sultanas, liquorice, ricebubbles and peanut brittle.
With that, we now find out the results.
Gary says that in equal third place with 12 ingredients and 2 points on the board is, Hannah and Tom!
In equal second and with 13 ingredients earning 4 points are Chandler and Gracie.
That leaves the winner, with 14 ingredients and 6 points on the board is… six people! They are Greta, Harry, Indigo, Lily, Miraede and Madi!
That will be a big boost for them, and the kids at the back get a point.
Lily is now in first place with 17 points with Jack and Madi on 15 in second place.
The contestants then regroup and George points them back in the direction of all the chocolate again and they see different sculptures of things; detailed ladybugs and leaves. All made out of chocolate. And George confirms this by eating a ladybug.
Gary said that they were all made by Kirsten Tibbles, a confectionary extraordinaire. With that, Kirsten comes in as a guest judge. She looks a little like a blonde Julie Goodwin.
One kid calls her a ‘godmother of chocolate’.
She tells them it too her 200 hours to make all of what they see before them.
Anna tells them that it is time to take on the biggest challenge of the week; an invention test. Anna goes through the rules again; they will be given the same core ingredients and the same of everything else. Each dish is as different as their imaginations. I should mention that Matt has now joined the group.
He tells them that the top 12 kids on the leaderboard will be safe after this round (hmm, that sounds better) with the other 8 kids going into elimination.
Now it is time to find out the core ingredients are. On top of the leaderboard is Lily and with that, she gets the privilege of choosing the core ingredient. In the pantry, she is given the options of dark chocolate and oranges, white chocolate and raspberries and milk chocolate and peanuts.
So what will she choose? Gary gives her a few tips to work with when deciding, before we cut to when she brings the core ingredients out.
Lily reveals her options before she is allowed to lift the cloth which reveals…white chocolate and raspberries. Mixed decisions all round, but they have 80 minutes to work with.
With that, they are in through that pantry like a hoard of seagulls.
Jade isn’t so sure what she needs, but she seems to have a full basket.
With that all over and the kids at their benches, they begin to cook.
After the break, Gary and Kirsten visit Miraede who is making ‘blondies’ (White brownies, haha) and the judges look impressed.
They move to Lily who is doing a white chocolate mousse and if she has enough time, a white Christmas. Gary wonders if it will all work.
With an hour to go, Gary whips out ‘Boom Boom, shake the room’ yet again! Lily was waiting for that.
Harry is having a bit of trouble and on the verge of tears, Gary helps him out a bit and finally, he’s on a roll. Crisis diverted.
Soon enough, they have but 45 minutes to go.
Dee is making a white chocolate cake in the middle of a chocolate dome which is made by rubbing chocolate around the perimeter of a balloon and then removing it. Yeah, very difficult no joke! I actually cannot believe he is trying this!
The kitchen is now going off with chocolaty goodness and the judges visit Jade who is making a white chocolate and sticky date pudding which sounds delicious. The judges are a bit concerned about the time but feel it is sophisticated.
They then visit Jack who is making some sort of tasting plate because nothing seems to be working. The judges ask him to take a deep breath and think.
Greta is making a cheesecake and one of her food processors breaks. She has a spare one!
With 30 minutes to go, some of them are already working on the detailed parts.
The judges discuss the progress of the contestants and Kirsten notices that while some of the children are burning their chocolate, they are doing quite well.
Who are in trouble? Well they think Jack is with his difficult dish. They do like Dee’s plan with the chocolate dome, calling it clever and just hope the balloon pops with the dome in tact.
Meanwhile, Chandler is plating his tarts up. One is perfect, but the other is very crumbly. He tries a third back up tart which he is nervous about. After the break, he gets it out perfectly and he gives himself a pat on the back.
To Greta and she is trying to twirl her decorations which just isn’t working. Meanwhile, it is time for Dee to burst his balloon and he just hopes it works because he’s left it to the last minute. He pops the balloon and it looks brilliant.
With a minute to go, Miraede tries to help Lily but it is all OK. Aww.
Soon enough, their time is up and we see some pretty impressive dishes. Dee finds out that he has left half a balloon in the dish which is odd because it looked like he spent so long looking through it.
It is time for tasting nonetheless and Greta produces her White Chocolate Cheesecake. Despite having no time for presentation, the judges LOVE the presentation. Kirsten loves the flavours and the finish of the elegant cake. Greta is over the moon.
Harry is next with his White Chocolate Tart with Rose Fairy Floss. Kirsten loves the fairy floss and the presentation.
To Jade and her White Chocolate and Sticky Date Pudding and Matt thinks it looks fantastic. Jade has successfully done this dish before with dark chocolate.
It looks amazing and as Gary pours that scrumptious sticky date sauce over the crumbled pudding, I know she is safe.
Jack is next with his White Chocolate and Coconut Panna Cotta with Chocolate Pudding. He was unable to make more than one pudding.
Matt calls his Panna Cotta perfect.
Chandler presents his Raspberry-Topped Tart meal and Gary calls it absolutely amazing and also compliments its grown up appeal.
Dee is next with his half a balloon filled Raspberry & white chocolate cake dish. George cracks the dome apart and Dee just hopes there is no balloon in that general vicinity.
He does hit it, but George just tosses it aside. George reminds him that eating a balloon is dangerous, but commends him for the taste.
Lily is next with her white chocolate mousse and white Christmas. It looks fantastic and apparently, it tastes that was as well.
Miraede presents her Blondies and milkshake and while Matt loves the milkshake, Gary adores the blondies. Aww, and Lily and Miraede got to present together!
We then cut to the verdict where the five judges enter before the juniors. George then calls out the third place getter, earning 2 points, Greta.
In second place with four points is…Jade. And winning this challenge and earning a magnificent 6 points is… Chandler, but a cutaway gave it away.
Everyone else gets a point for trying.
It is now time for the scoreboard again:
CHANDLER: 18
LILY: 18
JACK: 16
MADI: 16
GRETA: 14
INDIGO: 14
MIRAEDE: 13
DEE: 10
GRACIE: 10
HARRY: 10
KIERAN: 10
STEVEN: 10
JADE: 9
ZAC: 8
HANNAH: 7
AYA: 6
TOM: 6
ALYSHA: 5
CAROLINE: 5
MARCUS: 5
That means that Chandler, Lily, Jack, Madi, Greta, Indigo, Miraede, Dee, Gracie, Harry, Kieran and Steven are safe.
Going into elimination are Jade, Zac, Hannah, Aya, Tom, Alysha, Caroline and Marcus.
After a few nice words, the episode ends with the kids yelling ‘yes, chef’!
A very happy and very well produced episode which was only brought down by a very dodgy use of cutaways at the end there. Remember, if it is a result, don’t ruin it. Other than that, I loved the episode and cannot believe there is nearly a week before the next episode airs! Also, I want chocolate.
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.7/10
Loading ...