MasterChef Australia

Tonight, it is one of those eliminations you just don’t want to lose, one based in New York. And from what I’ve seen, it’s going to be a fiery one!

The episode starts with a sweeping look of NY before we see Sun, Billy, Hayden and Dani dress up for tonight’s elimination. They all get to wear chef whites tonight instead of the traditional black aprons. We hear words from the four contestants as they express their thoughts on the elimination at hand.

Tonight, the elimination will be held in Harlem, where Hayden had to find inspiration in the very first challenge. I doubt though that this challenge will resemble that of Sunday. Matt Preston welcomes them to Harlem and to the elimination challenge where one of them will go home. Matt Moran is also there.

Preston tells them that the reason why they are standing there is because they stumbled in NY. We recap why each contestant is standing there today.

Moran tells them to roll up their sleeves and show them what they’re made of. They are in front of the famous and delectable Sylvia’s. Sylvia and her family will be joining them for lunch, a lunch the contestants will be cooking.

Sylvia’s son Kenneth and granddaughter Trenness come out and welcomes them to Sylvia’s restaurant before telling them what ‘soul food’ is.

Today, they will have to cook with love, it is the secret ingredient. Dani thinks she can cook like that. The judges and the contestants go into the restaurant to taste the dishes they will be cooking today.

They will be cooking four dishes each; three being the same for all of them and one being different for all of them.

The catch, none of them will be getting recipes. The three dishes they will be cooking today (all of them) are the Sylvia BBQ ribs, Sylvia’s fried chicken and Sylvia’s Macaroni and Cheese. All of these seem like fast food or pantry food; but they are complex plates using a heap of different flavours!

The side dishes they have to cook today are Okra Gumbo, southern style black eyed peas, Collard greens and Candied yams and of course the potato salad.

Hayden will be cooking the gumbo, Sun will be cooking the potato salad, Billy will be making the Collard greens AND the black eyed peas (he gets both as they are easy) and the candied yams are therefore going to Dani. They taste the sides and they are all pleased if not perplexed.

They will have 90 minutes to prepare the dishes and everything they need is in the kitchen provided.

Their time starts and they frantically begin their challenge. Kenneth continues to remind them to cook with love, but I don’t think that will be happening.

Meanwhile, Ellie & Alana, looking lovely, arrive at Daniel Boulud’s restaurant and sit down to their four course meal before going to their private MasterClass to learn a few tips.

Ellie reminds us that someone is leaving today, throwing us back into the challenge. Each contestant is frantically beginning on their chicken butchering. Hayden realises there are only three fryers (and four contestants), aiming to snatch one up early. Sun on the other hand, does not start on her chicken, starting on her potato salad so they can chill in time.

Kenneth & Moran come to Dani’s bench where she is preparing the Candied Yam. She tells him all the sweet flavours she is putting into the sweet, sweet dish however Kenneth reminds her that it is not just a sweet dish.

Next up Hayden, and he begins on his gumbo. Kenneth tells the Gumbo virgin that putting TLC into the dish will help him.

Billy is making his sauce for the chicken while the chicken is marinading in buttermilk. Meanwhile, Sun is starting to break down her chicken but she is concerned with time, deciding to rub on some spices and throwing it in the fryer. This may be too little.

With 60 minutes to go, Kenneth and Moran talk about the contestant’s progress and they notice that the contestants are trying to put their spin on the dishes, which Kenneth doesn’t think is a good thing; condemning some things the contestants are doing including Sun’s butchering.

Sun has created a marinade using anything she can, throws it on the ribs and throws it in the oven. Dani is also making a marinade but seems to be putting more effort into it. Billy is working on his macaroni cheese.

As Kenneth comes over to Billy’s bench, he is doing his Collard greens. Kenneth tastes the greens and thinks they need more flavour.

Meanwhile, Dani pours some sugar into her marinade not realising, it was SALT! Yuck!

Back after the break, we get a few flashes of some of the Harlem neighbourhoods before returning to the heat of the kitchen where Dani has added salt into her marinade.

She dumps her sauce and begins again. Meanwhile, Hayden continues to work on his Gumbo, hoping it doesn’t break down to mush on the hot bench.

Billy is making his black eyed peas and as he tastes, he his happy with it, and he’s quite vocal about his liking of his side dish.

As people begin to arrive, Dani is working on her macaroni cheese and Dani adds her chicken to the fryer. With Hayden’s chicken going in the fryer as well, that leaves one more vats free.

Billy gets his chicken in fast leaving Sun without a fryer. Dani burns her hand in the process as we reach the ten minute mark. Sun needs to get her chicken on and she begins to panic. The contestants don’t let her in and she begins to give Hayden some flack. When Hayden gets his out, Sun’s go in with only a few minutes left.

People are now mingling in the dining room as Dani continues to suffer from her burn. She forgets about her chicken that burns in the vat. She is laughing and crying at the same time.

With one minute to go, Sun just doesn’t look like she will finish and with 30 seconds to go, things just happen left right and centre.

The boy’s are happy but Sun is just cut up about her potato salad.

Meanwhile, Kenneth, Trenness and the judges sit and wait for the food to be delivered to them. Sun’s is first as Kenneth declares the chicken and potato salad unappetising. They don’t like the salad at all and they just don’t like the macaroni and cheese.

There’s just nothing positive coming out of this. Well, not quite, they do love the ribs quite a lot.

She will just hope others don’t do as ‘good’ as her.

Hayden’s dish is next and they love the look of this dish much better. Trenness is a bit worried about her ribs. As they taste, they love the macaroni cheese but hate the ribs. They don’t like the gumbo either.

Next up is Dani’s dish who as she plates up smells some nice flavours. When the judges get the food, they immediately notice the burnt wings.

They begin tasting with the chicken and Matt Moran says the chicken was burnt because the oil was too hot, saying the inside of the chicken wasn’t too bad. Overall, she must have done well as there wasn’t anything too negative. There wasn’t much of a review at all.

Billy’s is last to be plated up and they seem to like the look of his dish the best. They taste his black eyed peas first and with warming music, they love it to bits. They also like the chicken, the macaroni and pretty much everything. They can also taste love! Aww.

With that, tasting is done and they thank Sylvia’s descendents before gathering the contestants for the result.

Matt Preston tells them that one of them will be going home before interviewing them about their week in New York and the challenge at hand.

Sun would love to win but is just concentrating on being in the top seven. Dani talks about her teary week as she breaks down again. Oh, Dani. You’ve been so out of character.

The judges then go through each of the contestants pro’s and con’s with a few giveaway cutaways again being shown again. I love Sun’s somewhat sarcastic surprise when she realises her chicken was undercooked. A cheeky shot of Hayden was also funny.

Billy & Dani are particularly happy with their results. Billy’s dish was so good, he is saved first and is over the moon.

Matt turns to Dani and then reveals that she is safe. She breaks down again and it may be the last time she does!

It is now down to Sun and Hayden and isn’t it obvious who goes, if it wasn’t so already? Matt announces that Hayden is safe and Sun is going home. She is somewhat unenthusiastically calm and sombre and it’s as if she has lost her mojo, although she’s not the most animated person anyway. She is however such a nice person and you can see this through her hugs goodbye. It was as if they were farewelling a relative. It was quite sad actually.

I think the best part of that episode was seeing Sun’s lovely dog at the very end; how cute was it!

So overall, a nice episode again let down by a few cutaways, but let’s not discuss that. Sun’s elimination was surprisingly sad. Maybe it was because this ends the main bulk of NY week or maybe because it was such a heartwarming challenge. Or maybe it was just sad to see Sun go! I must say, if all eliminations were like this, MasterChef would be doing so much better!

With Sun now out of the competition, the poll on the front page of this website asking you for your opinion on who will win the season has been changed. Go back and refresh your opinion and if you were a Sun fan, who would you pick now?

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10

Sorry for not getting this up with speed as usual but it’s been a busy night last night and a busy morning, so I’ve only just completed it now. Tonight is a beauty of a task that begins in New York’s Times Square! Simply; I cannot wait.

We get another view of New York before we get a look at a recap of the week thus far before we see the contestants leave their hotel and leave for Times Square. They are blown away by the night time atmosphere of Times Square. All of a sudden, George, Matt & Gary appear on the screen of a Times Square billboard asking for their attention (and of course the attention of everyone else haha). When they get it, Gary tells them that New York is a city that never sleeps and tonight, they won’t be sleeping either. They are planning an ultimate dinner party and they are cooking.

They have to select their co-worker which is on their right, so Hayden cooks with Dani, Alana with Ellie and Michael with Kate.

Each pair will be responsible for one course, an entrée, a main and a dessert. They have to cook from a recipe of a significant NY chef which they will have to find themselves.

Somewhere in Times Square are the names of the three chefs, their restaurants and the dish they have to cook tonight. They will have to have a clue as everything is moving. ‘The answer they seek is always on the move’. As it turns out, these people are carrying black billboards. They will have to rush to the restaurant of the owner and fish for a recipe. They will cook at Four Seasons Hotel. The losers will go straight into elimination with the winners receiving a culinary experience of a lifetime. Their three and a half hours begins with a huge countdown clock appearing above them on the big screen. All these people wondering what a foreign cooking show is doing taking over Times Square like this would be quite funny to watch.

This is HUGE! They begin to ask everyone, policemen, strangers, ANYONE. Dani finds a lady with a sandwich board before finding out they are heading for the WD50 restaurant where they will meet Wylie.

Kate & Michael are still looking as Dani & Hayden jump in a cab and leave. Kate & Michael then find someone who offers them ‘steak frites’ from David Chang with Kate worried this may not be the best dish for her to cook. They can’t see anything else and decide to take it.

Ellie & Alana continue to search without luck but they still have over 3 hours to go. They finally find someone with ‘Corton’ Paul Liebrandt written on their sandwich board and must cook a ‘Gold Bar’ dessert.

They now try to find out how to get down there but can’t find a local who can help them.

We return from a break where Ellie & Alana are trying to find someone who can tell them how to get to Tribeca for the recipe.

They find someone and run as fast as they can to the restaurant. The person recommended taking the eight train. So I’m guessing they had some idea how to get there as they could have just taken a cab.

I wonder what is going on when the guy in the information booth recommends taking the TWO train!

They hop on a train and meanwhile, Kate & Michael are on their way to David Chang’s restaurant whereas Hayden & Dani are also on their way but with so much traffic, they can only hope for a 20 minute travel time (without tip).

Michael & Kate (the green team) make it to their restaurant and on the way in, they get a bit confused as to where to go to find Ma Peche kitchen. They finally find it and Michael is now very nervous. Kate hopes he isn’t too harsh.

When they arrive, a man tells them they have to wait as David is in the middle of service time.

Meanwhile, Hayden & Dani (Red team) arrive at wd-50 to find that Wylie is sick and in bed at home!!!

The person running the show is Jon Bignelli, chef de cuisine at wd-50.

They will be making a bagel ice-cream! It looks delicate and delicious. He gives them a lot of advice and the two get moving with the recipe and the shopping list. They enter the pantry and get all they need as Ellie & Alana find out that the train they are on is not going to Tribeca! Some girl tells them that she can tell them where to go.

They have no idea what to do now (the train doesn’t go to Tribeca on weekends) and now they are on another train hopefully in the right direction.

After ten minutes, David Chang meets the green team and is right to the point in what he has to give them to successfully complete the challenge.

With the Steak Frites, a complex salad side dish comes with the dish. They get a shopping list and a recipe and are off after a quick taste test where Kate finds out that the fries are made of Rice!

David tells Michael not to come to NY and make HIS dish disappointing! Ooo, quite some pressure there!

Meanwhile, Dani & Hayden are now on their way to the Four Seasons Restaurant but there’s a couple of Four Seasons Restaurant which is either on east 52^nd or east 57^th. They make it first try and are the first in the kitchen where the judges are waiting for them. They have two hours and five minutes to cook their dish.

They begin quickly, heeding advice given to them.

Meanwhile, the yellow team consisting of Ellie & Alana finally make it to Tribeca but they have no idea where west Broadway is. They find some advice, but are not completely sure.

After a long search, they find the address, but there’s nothing there- oh wait, it’s right in front of them! After finding the restaurant, they look in search of the service restaurant. They are surprised at themselves; barging right into Paul Liebrandt’s Michellin star winning restaurant.

Paul gives them the recipe they ask for and they get to taste his delicate, complicated looking Gold Bar dessert. How on earth are they going to pull this one off?

They discuss the plate with Paul who gives them a bit of advice and tells them NOT to stuff it up (and with his glare, I would be very scared).

Back in the kitchen, the red team begin their entrée by beginning the four step process to cooking their trout. It isn’t long before main course makers, the green team (Kate & Michael) enter with an hour and 45 minutes remaining to cook.

Michael explains to Gary how their adventure went with Kate telling the judge she is feeling good and WILL get it done in time.

Michael is worried, knowing there is a lot to do in so little time.

Meanwhile, with 1 hour and 40 minutes left, Ellie & Alana are now heading to the restaurant but with the New York traffic, they become frustrated, wondering where they are all going. I wonder that as well, actually.

Ellie & Alana finally arrive at the Four Seasons Hotel, but it’s the wrong one! They need the restaurant, which is five blocks away! Back in the cab they go.

Kate & Michael and Hayden & Dani would be well into their Mise en place by now, wondering where Ellie & Alana are.

Hayden is now frying the dessert which was the second to last cooking procedure needed before smoking.

Michael is getting the hang of dealing with the steak as Ellie & Alana now struggle to get to the restaurant with an hour to spare. They finally make it to the surprise of Gary & George. They have an hour and twenty minutes to go.

The yellow team are positive that they can do it with Ellie on the base and Alana on the caramel. They discuss with Gary why they took so long. Ellie is very optimistic about the amount of time she has on her side.

At this point, the judges round up the challenge thus far with what the contestants are cooking, who they are cooking for and how they are all going. They are particularly concerned with Michael and Kate who keep fiddling around with their elements but the lateness of Ellie & Kate is also a huge worry.

After Michael gets the meat sous-viding, he begins on the carrot but he doesn’t peel it, just wash it! This could cost him time.

Ellie finishes some chocolate by the look of it and shoves it somewhere. Hayden meanwhile is working on his trout which is coming along nicely. Dani is ahead of schedule and the contestants are surprised her organisation; she has even cleaned her plates!

With 45 minutes to go, Matt Moran comes out of nowhere and gets them prepared for a huge guest list.

Ellie begins on the cocoa dentile and knowing it is meant to be delicate and light, she is worried it may be tricky.

Matt Moran is pleased with Dani’s organisation who is happy with everything going on. Dani does however think that plating up could be hectic despite the calm right now.

Michael finishes sous-viding his steak and begins to sear it. He also has to cook a sauce and with so much stuff needing to happen with the sauce plus the cleaning and preparing for an entire crab, Kate is now very nervous about what to do.

Matt Moran comes over and tells them that the main thing that needs to happen is the plating of the frites as they are the main part of the plate. They should only do other things once they have finished that.

Hayden now begins smoking his trout while Ellie begins to spread her (chunky) dentile which is not getting as thin as it needs to be.

Michael and Kate are struggling with their vegetables but their meat is looking good. The judges discuss the process of the contestants thus far with their concerns.

Meanwhile, the smoker goes off on Hayden’s trout, so he declares them done!

Michael and Kate now begin to fry the frites and are concerned by the amount of time they are taking!

Alana has ten minutes now to do everything they haven’t done (which is a lot for the incy bincy gold bar) but with time coming to a close, plating begins.

Alana & Ellie slowly plate up their elements for the gold bar to make sure they don’t screw it up. Other teams have more problems in plating however time is soon up and everyone just hug each other and give themselves a job well done.

Kate & Michael just hope they aren’t at the bottom but they think it is a huge possibility.

The contestants now come out to find out who they are cooking for. They only know that it is an ‘ultimate dinner party’. Is it for the G8, no! Is it for the president, no! It is in fact for the chefs who gave the teams their recipes! Paul Liebrandt, David Chang, Jon Bignelli and of course owner of the Four Seasons Restaurant, Julian Niccolini join the judges on the panel to taste their dishes.

The contestants are all shocked before Gary asks for the first course, Wylie’s Everything Bagel Ice Cream.

Gary interviews the pair about their time advantage and their challenges. They then dismiss the pair from the dinner before the guests eat.

Afterwards, Jon is smiling, thinking they have pulled it off. They think the ice cream is nice and it tasted like a bagel but they think the trout wasn’t smoked that well and David thought it wasn’t light enough.

Well, if he’s that critical about Wylie’s dish, I wonder how Michael & Kate will go with the Steak Frites!

They bring out the course and Matt Moran now interviews the pair about their struggles. After this, they are dismissed and tasting begins.

After tasting, David thinks they have the flavours down, complimenting their sauces. George also likes the cooking of the steak but Matt also sees the consistency over all plates. David also thinks the frites are successful.

The table don’t like the presentation and Matt notices the missing crab salad.

Last dish is the Gold Bar and after the yellow team brings it out, Paul is very impressed with the look of it. The girls are proud and the judges taste it. There is no interview shown, so this may mean a really good dish!

The judges taste and afterwards, Paul thinks they did a ‘bloody good job!’ Julian loves the presentation and the flavours with Gary complimenting the closeness of the replica to Paul’s version.

The judges do pick up the thick dentile but Gary is impressed considering their time limit. With that, the judging is over, and the judges debrief with the guests and they all agree that they all did well but there was an outstanding winner. The loser isn’t so obvious.

The contestants stand in front of all four judges as they show them their surprise at the brilliance of their dishes! But of course there has to be a winner and a loser. Gary tells them that the winner will be going on a food experience with Daniel Boulud in the form of a four course meal in his restaurant followed by a private MasterClass.

The losers will face elimination with Billy & Sun (who I completely forgot were still in this competition).

George thanks them for upholding the Australian reputation of good cooking in New York.

From here, George goes through the three courses, giving them some negative and positive points of each dish.

After this, Gary tells us that the standout winner for the challenge was the yellow team consisting of Alana & Ellie. They win the culinary experience with Daniel Boulud.

With this, the judges announce the losing pair and of course, a cutaway spoils this epic moment. Michael smiles into the camera as he thinks they haven’t done enough to win! What the hell! Of course, they have done enough with Dani & Hayden going into the elimination.

Yet again, MasterChef has fallen at the final hurdle. That cutaway was a BIG mistake, HUGE! Worst I’ve seen. The rest of the episode, gold! I loved the concept of the episode, and the judges appearing on the screen above Times Square was just the most priceless moment in the history of the show, and I want to watch it back!

Tomorrow, a New York elimination and seriously, the person going home here will be GUTTED! Who will it be, we’ll find out soon enough.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.5/10

After last night’s win, former rookie Ellie will tonight tackle for immunity. With the outcome pretty much already known, I just wonder why this episode has been stretched out to an hour in length!

Another night in the big apple, and it’s gonna be a ‘pin’ pointed episode.

Ellie is getting ready for her immunity challenge, the first she’s competed in. She has proven herself in the elimination challenges, but can she prove herself here?

As she puts on her chef whites, we notice that she is wearing a very funny ‘I heart NY’ shirt! She makes her way through NY (by foot, I know, despite the abundance of taxies). She makes her way to Central Park where the judges and the contestants are waiting for her. The parkgoers around her even crowd around to have a look.

George welcomes her to Central Park and tells her that today; she will have a chance to make her mark here in Central Park!

The contestants are happy for her who will now get a chance to compete in a challenge where elimination isn’t the losing treatment!

Matt welcomes today’s guest judge, saying that today the show has outdone itself. She is Lydia Baciarnich! Lydia introduces herself and tells Ellie that today, she will be up against someone who is a ‘friendly’ lion. Her competitor today is Cesare Casella!

We have a look at this expert and interesting chef before he emerges to take on Ellie!

Ellie shares her experience in Italy, showing her love for Italian food (and her and me the same). Cesare is wearing some rosemary leaves on his shirt and he explains the reason for this (people kept asking him for rosemary).

Cesare looks like a fun loving chef and it may be another fun immunity challenge! Still, it is all serious with Gary revealing the rules to the blind tasting. Lydia, Matt & George leave and Gary brings out the dish to be cooked for the day.

Some guy brings out a cloche and Gary says it is one of Cesare’s dishes heralding from the 15^th century.

Cesare opens the lid to reveal a beautiful dish of pasta del benconi all’amatriciana or simply, a hand rolled pasta with meat sauce.

As Ellie tastes, she doesn’t realise what will be so hard in the dish, there has to be a catch. She picks out a few flavours, and then a few more; noting there is a lot that goes into this dish.

Gary gives her a few pointers to watch out for when making the pasta dish. Today, it is  a simple challenge- there will be no head start and Ellie will only be given a recipe to make the pasta with the sauce having to come from the heart.

There is a pantry sitting near the regatta which contains all the condiments to be used for today’s challenge.

They quickly rush to begin their dishes and Cesare tries to calm her down with funny comments.

Ellie needs to work hard and while Cesare needs to begin his pasta, Ellie is already working on it. She asks Cesare for a little help but she can’t seem to get the pasta any less drier. Cesare helps her more, even giving her some meats to help her relax even more. He knows it is a competition, but his style of cooking is relaxed and she needs to be relaxed.

Even Gary tells her to crack on showing that she is falling behind due to the problems with the pasta.

After a while, she moves on to the onions and meat chopping. She has her red onions on the fry and she explains what she will do with the meat. As she cuts and cooks the meat, Cesare comes over with rosemary and a drink (spritzer) for Ellie. Ellie thinks he is trying to distract her (if not trying to get her drunk) and she decides to drink the drink later. She has a lot of things on her plate to do.

After the break, the two chefs are continuing to cook with Cesare giving Ellie some hard to understand commands. She didn’t realise her job would be this hard!

She begins to work on rolling out her pasta and yet again Cesare is to her rescue as she begins to struggle.

She gets the hang on it and just tries to get the consistency of the pasta right.

Meanwhile, her meat sauce is on and Gary has a taste, noting the lack of salt. Gary thinks it could do with salt despite Cesare saying different. Ellie goes to taste Cesare’s sauce and while it is nice, she doesn’t know if his sauce will reduce in time.

Ellie’s pasta is now cooking and boiling however she doesn’t know if her pasta will cook in time, so Cesare helps her out. She does however have five minutes remaining and in that time, she has a look at Cesare’s pasta, noting its thickness.

Ellie gets her pasta out of the pan and into the sauce hoping it will cook to perfection. Ellie now has a minute to plate up and as she does this, she feels quite good at her effort. Before time is up, Cesare does one more helpful deed, coating her dish in parmesan.

Ellie and Cesare thank each other for their company however Ellie is really excited about the prospect of winning a pin.

With that over, the two competitors now hang about in the beautiful Central Park as Lydia, Matt & George sitting down to eat! The table is positioned in front of the fountain overlooking the regatta.

Cesare’s plate comes out first as plate one. Lydia recognises the dish quite easily but she doesn’t like the amount of sauce the dish has however is pleased with it.

Lydia gets to plate up the pasta and she smells the pasta to great delight!

They taste and first and foremost Lydia loves the sauce, calling it complex and good. George loves the ingredients and the fruitfulness of the dish.

Lydia thinks the pasta is a bit too dense for her liking and Matt also isn’t a fan of the size of the pasta pieces, also calling them raw in the middle.

They score the dish with Lydia deciding to use five points to mark the sauce and five points to mark the pasta.

Ellie’s dish comes in and the judges begin to Ooo and ahh as they see the dish. Lydia says ‘just enough’ before plating up the dish.

They eat, giving nothing away before Matt says the pasta is cooked beautifully. They also like the sauce with Matt seeing the sauce on Ellie’s dish is a bit smoother; something she doesn’t like too much.

They also think the sauce was fresher on plate one, so what could that mean? A Draw?

So after a break, the judges contemplate a tie before scoring the last dish. Surely with their mindset, they would adjust their score accordingly to avoid this! Who knows, it could go either way.

The judges regroup in front of Cesare and Ellie with Gary congratulating Ellie on her first immunity challenge, interviewing her about her time in today’s challenge.

The judges find out who plated up what dish before George reveals that Cesare scored a seven with him. Lydia gives Cesare another 7 out of ten with Matt giving him an eight with a total of 22.

Now to Ellie’s dish who has to get 22 out of 30 or more to win the challenge.

Matt begins the revelation with Matt scoring Ellie an eight out of ten! Lydia gives Ellie an eight, putting her in front. She is super excited about the prospect of winning a pin. George gives her a… well an ad break by the looks of it.

After this break, we find out that George has scored the dish an eight out of ten, giving the rookie a huge 24, breaking her up in tears.

Who would have thought that Ellie would survive countless eliminations and go on to win an immunity pin! What a fantastic episode! Such a fantastic setting and such a brilliant challenge. Before Ellie leaves the challenge, Cesare offers Ellie a chance to go to his restaurant for a service.

I must say, Ellie still needs a bit of media training for her cutaways and there were maybe one too many ad breaks, but the end result was completely unexpected and completely heartwarming. A lovely episode once again airing from New York.

Psst… don’t forget about the poll on the main page!

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.5/10

Sun is in lockdown and the other contestants are living it up in New York City. While I feel for Sun, I’m just glad I get to actually see New York through the eye’s of these contestants, would be amazing. Speaking of amazing, here’s another NY themed episode!

We have a little look at the breathtaking city at dawn as the contestants awake in their chef whites (with QANTAS branded over them). The contestants are off eating breakfast as Michael looks in his envelope which reveals the recipe for today’s challenge and some name tags.

As Michael goes back to the table, the contestants receive a note telling them the Ambassador to the UN has invited them to the UN offices. They are quite excited but also look quite nervous. They look a bit out of place as these seven chefs enter the huge UN assembly hall with the judges waiting for them at the stage.

Gary tells them that tonight; the Australian ambassador is holding a huge VIP dinner for 300 guests as it is the closing night to the permanent forum of indigenous issues. There will be so many special guests.

The contestants will each be responsible for one canapés each and they will have 3 hours to do their prep in an offsite kitchen and bring their stuff to the UN and cook for service. This will be the most important event that MasterChef has cooked for ever and so they better do well.

The judges won’t judge tonight, instead, the guests will vote. By the end of the night, the best dish creator will head into an immunity challenge with the losing dish creator being sent into lockdown with Sun to face elimination.

Matt stresses that for amateurs to be cooking at such a huge event, they should realise the significance of the situation at hand.

They all head off to the offsite kitchen where a special guest is waiting for them. The contestants walk in to a line of cloches and special guest Armando Monterroso. He looks like a cuddly teddy bear but he also looks quite tough; if that makes sense!

This is a very prestigious kitchen, making 2 million canapé a year. He reveals the seven canapés the contestants will be cooking today; a Thai beef salad, deconstructed vichyssoise, a fancy looking mini taco, smoked duck breast, a seven spice rare seared tuna, yuzu curd and lastly a chocolate lollipop!

Gary tells them the contestants won’t be choosing their canapé, Michael will be! Oohh, so that’s what those name tags were for.

Michael has a look of each of the canapés with detail before revealing that cooking the Thai beef salad will be Alana. Cooking the deconstructed vichyssoise will be Billy. The mini taco cooker will be Michael. The person cooking the duck breast will be Ellie. The person cooking the tuna is Kate with the yuzu curd going to be cooked by Hayden with Dani cooking the lollipops. Michael has decided quite well, giving Dani, Kate & Billy a challenge and giving Hayden, his friend, a good deal.

Their time starts straight away and as they taste test their canapés, they have three hours to go!

Kate needs help straight off the bat with her huge tuna which Michael gives a hand to.

The fish looks quite daunting; having to break it down will be a task for poor Kate!

After the break, Kate is still working on her tuna and she stresses how well she has to work today.

George gives her some great advice and she begins to work as instructed, cursing the horrid Michael, haha.

Meanwhile, Ellie is hard at work on her duck breast, breaking down her 25 ducks. Wow, that is a huge job and as she massacres the ducks, George comes over and gives her some advice to be a bit neater and quicker.

Gary talks about Billy’s ‘soup’ (I will not be calling it its real name again, too complicated haha) as he discusses his game plan. He begins to chop up his vegetables, hoping they will cook faster, but the chopping process is slowing him down.

Over on Kate’s desk, she has finally cut off a piece of tuna, and a nice clean one at that!

Alana has a lot of work to do and she is working quickly on the beef, 8 or 9kg worth of it as Dani begins on her chocolate lollipops. She is very nervous about the piping job involved in it.

She begins by chopping up her chocolate but with so much to do, she is struggling!

Hayden is working quickly on his meringue curd and while it looks simple, Armando talks about the struggles he will face.

Michael meanwhile has made two batched of flop taco’s and he really needs to move it if he wants to catch up. George gives him some stern advice as he wishes he didn’t pick tacos! Kate on the other hand is moving well.

With two hours to go, the contestants really need to move, as suggested by an animated George.

Ellie is deciding not to smoke her duck as she smoked her octopus a few weeks ago (a failed attempt), opting for a more interesting approach.

Hopefully no drug addicts get a hold of that smoking contraption, which causes Ellie to laugh.

Billy is chopping potatoes and in the meantime, cuts himself slowing him down!

Once he’s cut his potatoes, he realises he has to cut 32 more! Oh god, this is a horrible task!

Talking about chopping, Dani is cutting her chocolate so brutally; she needs to be bandaged up! It’s a huge challenge.

Meanwhile, Michael has begun to deep fry some of his taco elements and while he doesn’t think it is hard, he does think it is labour intensive.
Meanwhile, Ellie has finished smoking her duck and is now rendering the fat. There is an hour to go and people are being pushed to the brink. Things are happening everywhere with people running amok around the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Dani has started on her piping and she isn’t very confident. Billy is also having trouble, spilling some of his soup on the grill, sending a ball of flame coming up from below. After it settles, Billy uses a huge, fun looking blender to mush up his soup more. There is some more soup on the stove that is now bubbling over, causing more soup to touch the grill flames and more infernos to ensure.

Meanwhile, George gives a time conscious Dani some advice, telling her not to pipe out her chocolate, dabble it out manually- it will be much more time productive. The worried Dani continues to fret as her chocolate is cooking on her oven and there is still too much to do. For the second time in New York, she breaks down under the pressure. Poor Dani, I haven’t seen her this worried ever.

George gives her a bit of motivation, even offering to get her started on her second batch of chocolate, giving Michael some flack for his decision, in jest at least.

George, although helpful, is very stern, trying to get Dani started! Dani now has a glimmer of hope as she begins to pipe her chocolate quite easily.

There is only half an hour to go and as Kate begins to cook her tuna, she’s worried as she has never cooked it before.

Meanwhile, Gary helps Billy with his soup preparation. He still needs to work on his Jerusalem artichoke and he begins to struggle, even though the happy chef continues to beam in the cutaways. Does that mean he passes?

The contestants are now just working down to the wire to get everything done. The truck to bring things to the UN is fast approaching and they need to get it on the trucks whether they are done or not.

With one minute, the contestants pack up what they have done and move off to the UN to complete cooking and start service. I feel as if the hard part hasn’t even begun!

The contestants arrive at the UN and continue their preparation with smiles as they enter the posh looking kitchen.

Here, they only have an hour as Hayden lays out his spoons ready to plate up his curd. Gary wonders how much sugar he is putting in his curd, recommending he put in more.

Meanwhile, Ellie cuts her finger chopping cucumber and blood is squirting everywhere. It looks awful! Gosh that must have hurt!

The UN medics (with their blurred faces) quickly bandage her up and George offers to help her with her dishes. She quickly returns and is very grateful for his help.

Meanwhile, people begin to arrive as Billy begins to plate up his canapés. He has problems as his white soup doesn’t sit on the green soup as it is meant to; rather blending into each other. Gary adds cream to his white soup and hey, it makes it thicker and works!

Meanwhile, Hayden and his shaky hands pipe out the meringue onto his curds as he prepares his canapés for service.

It isn’t long before food service begins and the contestants begin to serve out their first canapés. Dani tells the waiter to smile as her dessert is meant to be fun. The waiter just looks like ‘what the hell is she on about’ haha.

As they go out, we hear some ideas from the guests who like some dishes, but not all of them (Billy’s soup isn’t a hit).

Meanwhile, a light hearted moment ensures as waiters stand by Ellie’s bench that catch her eye, distracting her a bit. Meanwhile, Hayden needs one of her waiters as he continues to yell out ‘service’ to deaf ears.

Ellie is quickly getting her canapés out plating out dish after dish after dish, continuing to flirt with the waiters to the teasing of George. Meanwhile, Billy is asking a waiter to take out two plates but the waiter is quite miserable and declines the order.

Meanwhile, the compere is now alerting guests to the seven canapés as the judges begin by trying Ellie’s Smoked Duck. They love her canapé, calling it an ‘easy pleaser’ saying she has done a good job.

To Alana’s Thai Beef Salad and while the judges think it is difficult to pick up, George calls it tasty however some guests aren’t impressed with the blandness.

To Michael’s mini taco and the judges take into account Michael’s advantage before calling his dish a crowd pleaser however Gary doesn’t think it is a standout.

Next up is Kate’s tuna and the judges think she has cooked it well. After tasting, they think it is a winner!

Time for Billy’s ‘soup’ and Gary knew it was a difficult dish but thinks it needed seasoning with guests not liking the dish at all.

Up next is Hayden’s yuzu curd and the judges are very animated while giving it an outstanding review! The guests love it as well.

Last to taste is Dani’s lollipop and the judges love the chocolate, saying it was soft.

George gives the contestants a last little push as the guests begin to cast their votes with many votes going to the tacos, the meringue and the tuna.

Matt asks the compere how the contestants have done and he wouldn’t suspect amateur work today, such a good job!

With that, service is over and what do you know, the last bit was quite an easy ride. They all give themselves a pat on the back as they head in to find out who won and who lost.

The judges are waiting for them in the assembly hall. They give them a run down of what is at steak before we go to an ad break.

After this break, we find out who won the challenge and who lost.

George tells them that there were 300 votes made with one person receiving 73 of them! The top two canapés were separated by 5 votes! A very close call as George calls forward Ellie and Hayden as the top two vote getters.

The two are ecstatic but Ellie wants to win the challenge as Hayden always wins. She is so happy in her cutaway; I reckon she has won it!

Matt calls Ellie the ‘immunity virgin’ before announcing that she has in fact won the challenge. Oh my god, why won’t this show STOP with the cutaways!

Now for the bottom two votes (split by only 3 votes!) These two canapés were Dani’s and Billy’s. With that, Michael, Alana & Kate are safe and they head off leaving the other two behind.

One of them scored 17 votes and the other was saved with 20 votes.

The person who scored the least amount of votes was Billy who will now go into lockdown with Sun as Dani survives lockdown again!

With that, another stunning episode is over. Not much to say, brilliant episode, loved the concept and the whole UN idea is just a kicker, definitely a huge twist. I’m happy that Sun now has a lockdown buddy in Billy and also happy that Billy may now leave (I’m getting quite sick of him). Those cutaways though, grrr, pet hate; they need to bloody go into an alley and get shot! Not needed at such crucial stages of the episode!

Before I go, just a reminder about the poll on the main page of the website- who will win MasterChef? Have your say and remember to keep checking back after eliminations to refresh your vote!

Also, to Amazing Race fans, the blog will be up tomorrow. As I said, I can’t complete it tonight due to the MasterChef overlap, but it should be up sooner rather than later!

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10

The big apple, the city that never sleeps, the city where big dreams are made of, whatever you want to call it, I call it MasterChefVille (not really), as tonight, the MasterChef contestants head to New York City in the good old US of A!

We begin with a luscious look at the Sydney harbour as the contestants all go about their daily business, including Kate who just avoided elimination.

Some guy visits the MasterChef house carrying with him an envelope. It turns out to be Anthony Bourdain, to Michael’s excitement. Everyone is equally surprised when they see him.

They all sit down and he congratulates them for coming this far. He tells them that he’s come to their hometown (Sydney) and now he will repay the favour, taking them to his (New York). I don’t think I have to tell you how excited the contestants were when they hear this!

Some details, they are leaving today, they will be in NY for a week, they will need the envelope (which contains a few room keys to a fancy hotel and the plane tickets, two of which for Alana and Billy are business class tickets as a reward for a great job last week) and they are leaving now!

They must meet the judges at Liberty Island when they arrive, so they quickly pack with so much excitement and are soon on their way to the airport. They happily board their planes, especially Billy & Alana who enjoy business lounge before heading on their business class plane ride!

The contestants are toasting their way to NY as Billy & Alana lie in their flatbeds, wow, so jealous haha.

They arrive in NY and it isn’t long before they pass some famous landmarks. They are all still in utter shock. They go for a bit of a sightsee before heading to Liberty Island, the home of the Statue of Liberty. Matt, Gary & George await them and remind them, this is no holiday.

They welcome them to ‘the time of their life’, NYC! Matt tells them that what they are about to do will eclipse everything they have ever done before!

Gary tells them that their first challenge will see them travel to all parts of the city, saying that today; they need to dig their fingers into the city. What makes the cities culinary heart beat?

For their first challenge, each person will be sent to a different part of the city and they must use their location as inspiration for their own dish.

The winning dish will give the maker a sneak peak at tomorrow’s challenge. The loser will go into an elimination held at the end of the week and that person will go into lockdown, no more challenges, no more outings! Wow, heaps is at stake.

They have 3 hours to explore their corner of NY and bring the judges their creation. They must go to the International Culinary Centre where they will have 90 minutes to cook their dish.

Gary gives them some clues as to where they will go. He gives Alana a statue with the Greek flag on it. She will be going to Astoria, NY’s little fish.

Sun gets a weird knife thing and she is going to the lower east side, famous for their delis.

Michael gets a hot dog stand to represent NY’s famous food stands.
Hayden gets an ironic cap saying ‘Harlem’. Kate is going to Chinatown, something she doesn’t feel confident with.

Dani gets the Brooklyn Bridge memento and will therefore be going to Brooklyn. Ellie gets a small hand bag which suits Gary quite well. She will be going to the meat packing district!

Billy gets a Pizza man statue, and will be going to The Bronx.

Gary reminds them to make a dish that ‘represents’ their location, something that confuses and terrifies the contestants. George tells them they will be expecting a dish able to inspire the guest chef tonight, a 3 star unnamed Michellin winner.

With that, they are off to their corner of NY.

After the break, the contestants are off to their area and Dani arrives in Brooklyn and discovers the community feel to the area. She visits Farmacy, an old fashioned soda restaurant. She tries a homemade soda before the owner takes to various other locations.

At one point, there is a brief product placement of the iPad. She continues to explore, trying rhubarb, a whoopee pie and even goes to shop at a local grocery store.

Hayden is now looking around Harlem and stops at Claudio’s barber shop for a bit of a shave, finding out a bit about the Harlem culture.

He explores the borough’s African American culture and works out what he will cook straight away.

Meanwhile, Michael is out exploring street food and loves how the idea doesn’t constrict him to one area of NY nor does it confine him to one cuisine. He cooks a taco and goes shopping, knowing what he wants to cook!

Meanwhile, Dani, Michael and some of the other contestants arrive back at the culinary centre and I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get to see the other contestant’s locations.

They quickly all arrive, get their chef whites on and begin to cook their food. They are all a bit annoyed that they don’t know where anything really is and there are a lot of people sharing the one kitchen, but they all quickly get into their dish.

The judges visit Hayden and compliment his moustache. They find out he hasn’t tasted the fish he brought from the markets and he gets right on it, only to find out, they don’t taste all that good.

This causes him a few nerves.

He hopes that he can improve the dish by adding a lot of spices and herbs.

Meanwhile, Billy is doing two dishes. We have a look at his time in the Bronx and see he was inspired by the street art. He is very inspired by the use of Tabasco, opting to make a dressing, also making an Osso Bucco. The judges wonder if he’ll get his dish done in time but he’s confident he will.

He has his Osso Buco on in the pressure cooker and begins on his clams.

Sun is working on an orange based dish. We look at Sun’s adventures in the lower east side where the New Museum of Contemporary Art building has really inspired her. She wants to make a cake and the Katz diner and its pastrami loving atmosphere draws her into it. There she discovers a woman who recommends a honey cake.

The judges visit her and wonder why she would want to make a cake she has never tasted. They are also concerned about the fact she wants to stack her cake! This could either be a really good thing or a really bad thing.

Meanwhile, Alana visited the Greek neighbourhoods of NY and became inspired to make a savoury custard on her plate. She was very inspired by what she saw overall and wants to make an Australian dish that would translate well in the US.

She has her custard on and begins on her lamb racks. George announces there are only 60 minutes left and Dani is making many dishes including a rhubarb cake and a whoopee pie. Meanwhile, Sun is nervous about her cake and she is running out of time. She is rushing around all over the place and finally gets it in the oven, but is it too late?

Meanwhile, with 45 minutes to go, I see George and Gary in the funniest scene of the season, announcing the following:

‘Uptown, Midtown, Chinatown…. FUNKY TOWN’ thanks to George who added that last bit on the end there. My god, I couldn’t stop laughing, I think it was the Rockstar fingers George was holding up that got me!

Gary really wanted to go see EVERY area the contestants visited and George calls it a truly beautiful challenge.

All contestants are off and running. Kate visited Chinatown and will be making a ginger lobster with rice and bok Choy. She describes her time in Chinatown before telling us about her time in Red Egg, her main source of inspiration. Chinatown looks like the best and most colourful places visited tonight.

Kate knows that she is playing with fire when it comes to her lobster as there are so many things that could go wrong.

Meanwhile, Ellie, who searched the meatpacking district, a place of high end fashion that used to be a huge butchery district in ages gone by, is struggling with the stove and cooking her meat.

Ellie is worried about her flavours and whether they will blend well. Meanwhile, Dani is feeling the heat when it reached the 40 minute mark and needs to get her whoopee pie on.

As she makes it, it looks like what she wants but it tastes horrible by the sound of it! She goes with it anyway.

Alana is now smoking her lamb racks and every other contestant is now upping the anti as the music becomes deep and bassy.

The judges visit Michael and are impressed with his dish thus far noting the flavours and the look of the corn he will be using. Gary tells him to be weary about the chilli going into his dish.

Meanwhile, Sun is waiting for her cake to finish and she is just annoyed by the agonizing wait.

Dani is now up to piping her whoopee pies as Sun pulls her cake out of the oven, happy with the look of it.

Alana on the other hand is less than impressed with her smoked lamb racks which are overdone. She can’t do anything about it and will just have to hope someone has done worse than her.

The contestants continue to plate up and meanwhile, Alana is now in a happier mood, knowing her dish may not be all lost. She butters up the judges by giving them both a complimentary baklava.

They now have 15 minutes and Sun is having trouble cutting up her cake as it is too warm. It crumbles at the cut. Kate is happier however with her lobster tasting brilliant. I can see a good dish getting plated up here.

With plating time approaching, panic entails as people crowd the essential areas of the kitchen like the hot pans.

Dani takes her whoopee pies out of the oven and see they have overcooked; not a good sign. Her cupcakes are also not very enviable. She begins to cry under the pressure as she realises her egg cream milkshake is the only good thing going for her. She can hardly contain herself; she is just balling her eyes out. She will just have to bite the bullet and go with her original dish with the cupcakes and whoopee pies.

Meanwhile, with six minutes remaining, the contestants quickly plate up and there is panic ensuring everywhere. At times, the atmosphere is just too fast for me to catch up, there is so much going on.

Sun’s cake I can see is not looking too good, but it could get better! Meanwhile, most people have brilliant looking dishes as time is up and there are a few people proud of their efforts. On the other hand, Sun is very upset; hoping someone else has done as badly as she has. She cries as she watches the top layer of her cake fall off of the dish.

With cooking over, the contestants meet the judges in a fancy looking room as they wrap up the day by telling them that the three Michellin star winning guest judge is Eric Ripert. And who else?!

Matt tells them that with Eric here with them, they better have made the best dish they have ever made! He tells them what is at stake and it aint good news for the loser! God, how bad would it be to go into lockdown!

First up for tasting is Hayden’s dish. He has plated up a Spice Encrusted Catfish which Eric identifies as ‘north of Manhattan’.

The judge’s taste and Gary scrunches his face up asking what the greens are. He reveals they have been pickled and the judges just love them! George wants a whole bowl of them! Gary loves the combination of the entire dish, even that troublesome catfish.

Next up is Kate who feels happy with her dish- Ginger & Scallion Lobster. Gary thinks it is her prettiest dish to date, calling it restaurant quality.

Eric likes the simple look and complex taste factor and overall, it gets brilliant reviews!

Up next is Alana and despite the burnt Lamb Rack, she is very confident about her dish.

George thinks the frenching of the lamb is brilliant and Eric thinks it is a sophisticated dish!

They taste and Matt immediately notices the burnt lamb but overall, they love the dish and love the smoked flavours.

Next up is Ellie who is beaming in her cutaway, kind of giving it away that her Dry Aged Beef is a winner. Eric can even pick up that she has visited the meat markets. Eric mutters that the meat is good during tasting and compliments her dish on its taste and style.

She leaves beaming as I suspected.

Up next is Dani who had quite a bad time in the kitchen today, plating up her Egg Cream thickshake and cupcakes.

It doesn’t take long before she breaks down but justifies her dish as being inspired. She makes her soda and the judges are hesitant, but LOVE the Egg cream soda immensely. They then taste her cupcakes and while Gary loves the flavours and sweetness but Matt tells her the cooking isn’t too good. Matt does highlight that Dani has brought Eric his first ever Egg Cream Soda, so she has been able to present a dish from a corner of NY that Eric has never explored.

Now to Michael and his ‘food cart’ inspired dish. He dons a food cart vendor’s hat and finishes the 43^rd St Taco he has presented to them. Very interesting concept he has there.

The judges taste and Gary loves his performance and his dish. Overall, the dish is a success but Eric is missing the avocado. George feels like he should be paying Michael for his dish! He actually does pay him, like a true food cart customer would.

Sun comes through with her cake and is very embarrassed, even causing Eric to laugh. She explains her day in NYC. She’s not happy at all but the judges go ahead and taste.

Gary tells her she has missed the idea of turning it into a dessert with George telling her the concept isn’t there. She goes off sighing heavily. She is not happy at all.

Next up is Billy who presents his dish with a smile (in his cutaway, he is very happy, suggesting a good dish). His dish is Clam and Pepper spray. He has decorated his dish to represent street art and has even given them all a pepper spray thing to spray their dish with. Overall, the judges love the creativity and marketing potential the dish presents.

Next is his Osso Bucco In Pedro Ximenez which has been decorated with some kind of ‘blood splatter’ effect.

The judges taste this second dish and while George was concerned it wouldn’t cook, it did, and fabulously. Matt however is a bit confused by some of their flavours however Eric thinks he has created a NY dish.

With that dish over, the judges first tasting in NY and they agree that there are six good dishes and two disastrous dishes. They quickly choose the losers without hesitation and move off to reveal the news.

After the break, the judges meet the contestants yet again to wrap up the day. Yet again, they discuss what is at stake. Dani just hopes she doesn’t go into lockdown.

Matt tells them that six of them could be considered for top dish of the day, but he ultimately just calls three of them. They are Alana, Michael & Billy. Overall, it is Eric who announces that the winner of the challenge is Michael! With that, Michael will get an exclusive insight into tomorrow’s challenge.

Matt presents him with a black envelope which contains this insight before he is told to take Billy & Alana for a trip outside, however the cannot find out what is inside despite the fact Alana & Billy cheekily want him to.

After this, George announces that Ellie, Kate & Hayden are safe, leaving Dani & Sun in the bottom two.

Gary wraps up where they both went wrong. Gary then announces that Dani is safe with Sun going into lockdown and elimination at the end of the week.

With that, she tearily goes into a week in NY without any exploration or any challenges. I reckon that has to be the worst feeling ever!

With that, the other contestants head into The Renaissance New York and are happy to see their luxurious rooms.

With that, we leave with one more shot at that black envelope!

What a brilliant start to NY week. While this episode had a lot of rushing around and a lot of very busy scenes, it was a nice way to begin with week. In a way, when you’re trying to show people at home the magic of New York, how they did it tonight was good, but only just good. I would have rather missed out on seeing some of those locations if it meant ALL contestants would spend at least a few hours of one day in that location.

Some amazing dishes were plated up and some pretty terrible ones as well. That twist of sending a contestant into lockdown; well I’m just trying to work out if it is tooooooo evil for the show! Maybe not, but I do feel for Sun.

Before I finish up, I’d just like to apologise if there are a few spelling or grammar mistakes in the blog above, or if there are area’s that just don’t make any sense at all. I do blog as I watch and watching this episode after blogging the three hour finale of DWTS has really taken it out of me and I just hope this hasn’t resonated into my posts. I choose not to proof read my articles as it takes up more time and I begin to double think things that I write which may cause some of my opinions to not translate correctly. I hope you enjoyed this blog nevertheless.

Also, just remember about the poll on the main page of our website asking you who you think will win this year’s title! The poll will refresh after every impending elimination so make sure you keep checking up and voicing your opinions. The poll is all thanks to AndrewB!!

I’m keen on a second outing into the big apple tomorrow night, so until then, have a good night.

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10

 

UPDATED: Masterchef Finale is August 7 at 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

The article below was written early July, using a number of assumptions about season 3, which ended up not being true – the way they finished the series this year was different to the previous two.

 

Original outdated article:

 

The final two weeks of Masterchef Australia for 2011 are upon us as the remaining contestants battle it out to see who will become Australia’s third Masterchef.

On Sunday July 17, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama comes to the Masterchef tasting table. The contestants who are shocked by his presence, quickly learn that he is a real foodie who has likes and dislikes. They can cook whatever they like for him, so long as it is vegetarian.

On Monday July 18, the three poorest performing cooks from the Dalia Lama challenge are faced with a Dessert Pressure Test with the challenge set by Pastry Chef Katrina Kanetani from Satiate. Sadly, one of the final group of contestants are sent packing.

Tuesday July 19 sees Eamon Sullivan – the only Celebrity Masterchef winner take on the winner of the Dalai Lama challenge in the last immunity challenge for the year.

On Wednesday July 20 is the last team challenge for 2011. The contestants head to the Qantas First Class lounge at Sydney airport where they must cook for the first class guests. Dumped in the kitchen mid-service, they have to serve up a selection of dishes for real customers.

On Thursday July 21, the bottom three from the Qantas team challenge battle it out in elimination night. Each must cook a dish of their own choice that showcases how far they have come in the competition. They must include a variety of techniques and ideas that they have learnt since being on the show. 

Friday July 22 is Masterclass. 

Now for some predictive programming – note the information that follows is based on the assumption that Masterchef 2011 will conclude in a similar manner to previous years. Ten have not yet released prime time programming for the week July 24-30. This information will not be able to be released until Sunday July 17 in any case.

In previous years, the final week of Masterchef has been a week of eliminations. Starting with 6 contestants for the Sunday night show – July 24 this year – and then one eliminated each of the following four weeknights until there are two left after the Thursday night elimination who go into the finale and cook off to be crowned this year’s winner.

Each of the nights Sunday July 24 – Thursday July 28, Masterchef is likely to be extended, finishing at 9pm. Ratings for Masterchef build and build during the final week – last year, final week ratings surpassed the 2 million mark (5 city metro). It is also a week that Ten could win in ratings over Seven and Nine. 

The final Masterclass will be Friday July 29. If they follow previous years, the final Masterclass will see all 24 contestants of the top 24 reunited for the last time for a night of cooking and fun where the contestants get to set challenges for George and Gary.

If last year’s final Masterclass was anything to go by, we are in for a hilarious Masterchef moment on that night.

Then, Sunday July 31, is the big finale night. The Masterchef finale for 2009 and 2010 were the most watched shows for those two years. This year, will Masterchef reach the same glory?

My guess is figures will be close to the previous two years, but perhaps a little down – more like 3.5 million (5 city metro).

As for being the most watched show for 2011, well, there was that certain wedding back in April which will be hard to beat in terms of combined audience figures. But for a single show on a single channel, the Masterchef finale will be right up there.

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever this week threw at us will be nothing compared to what we are about to face. Australia, we are about to enter an onslaught of reality television; launches, finales, special events and extended episodes litter the schedule and we can expect a bit of a backlog when it comes to me blogging them, but more on that later!

Let’s begin by recapping the week that was and as it enters its finale, Dancing With The Stars pitted the contestants against each other with not one, but three dances (MINIMUM!). After each of the stars performed their routine, they were asked to have another go before entering a Dance off which saw the four contestants enter a three-round duel with one another in order to win points for the final ranking.

Unfortunately for Samantha Armytage, her fun loving charm was unable to provide her a seat in the finals which I guess is a good thing; this is a dancing competition, and she really couldn’t dance all that well.

MasterChef Australia had a pretty huge week as well with three contestants leaving throughout the course of the week and one returning!

After a mystery box/ invention test combination, Billy was sent to elimination with Hayden and Mat but ultimately, the king of desserts faltered and was sent packing!

Network TEN was finally able to legitimately release the results of the immunity test BEFORE THE AIRING OF THE EPISODE! As it turns out, Dani won the pin but will later give it up in Thursday’s elimination!

On Wednesday, before the teams split up in a French v English cuisine cook off, sneaky little Mat was disqualified for sneaking a phone onto the set. Big no, no Mat! Luckily, this meant Billy could return! He competed with the red team who successfully won the contest, sending the blue team consisting of Kate, Dani (who used her immunity pin, remember!! ), Peter, Hayden & Michael into elimination.

After three rounds of cooking (as you do on MasterChef!), Peter was sent home based on a slightly worse off Apple Pie than Kate.

Pretty big week, hey, but maybe not as big as The Amazing Race Australia. The show saw the robbery of the surfers, the ending of the extended leg and the elimination of Chris & Anastasia, the most controversial team of the lot.
Well, maybe that wasn’t so huge but as it heads for its final weeks, it’s good to note that with only five teams left, it’s going to be dog eat dog from here on in!

Australia’s Got Talent finished off their semi final series with a bang. Not only did The Bandit, Adam Hynes and Wayne Rodgers make it through to the grand final, but we also saw acts from singers, acrobatics and even an old man on a really long pole!

Lastly, The Block is cruising along doing its own little thing with Shelley & Scott spewing out challenges all over the joint; it’s a wonder these contestants have even been able to start on their second room!

So much reality and do you know what; we’re about to get it super sized!

It all kicks off with the whopping three hour finale of Dancing with the Stars. Not much to say here except for those of you slacking off on updating your DWTS scorecard; it’s Haley Bracken, Damien Leith & Manu Feildel fighting it out for that coveted trophy! Who will win? Well in a day and three hours, we’ll know.

MasterChef kicks off a week in New York and while I don’t know how this week will unfold (thanks to a tightlipped TEN) all I know is that it is bound to be huge with Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday’s episode extended in one form or another!

We also have the launch of another renovation style reality program and no, it’s not The Renovators just yet; instead Nine has snuck in another brand to compliment The Block; it’s Jamie Durie’s Top Design. Not quite sure what’s going to happen, so we’ll find out when we find out.

On The Amazing Race Australia, doing the maths, I don’t think it is possible for there to be another non-elimination leg, so we can be almost certain someone is leaving. According to the promotions, it is kind of implied that a team will leave, or come close to leaving before the pit stop! But this could all be a misunderstanding on my part, definitely looking like a good episode nonetheless.

The Block has another judgement day, this time for the second bedroom; can Polly & Waz dig themselves out of their hole? It’ll be a tough one!

Australia’s Got Talent also heads into finals week part one. It seems to me that this show needs at least three or four weeks of finals to get a winner, but I think there is only two parts as usual, so we’ll probably see a winner soon!

So with all that out of the way, this week, there are a few unavoidable pre-emptions to my blogging schedule. As you may know, I go to extreme lengths to provide you with as reliable a blogging source as possible, but sometimes my life or scheduling gets in the way of things. Unfortunately, this week is one of those weeks in which both factors play a part so unfortunately there will be some delays to blogging schedules. This list includes, but is not limited to nor completely confirmed, certain problems and outcomes thereby occurring:

-          Dancing With The Stars is a 3 hour finale event and therefore, I may not blog MasterChef Australia until the morning after. Chances are however, I’ll end up blogging it after DWTS and getting it out of the way!

-          On Monday Night, The Block crosses over with MC which in turn crosses over the first fifteen minutes of The Amazing Race. If I watch The Block, I have to tape MasterChef. As The Block runs through half of MC, it is impossible for me to make it to the end of MC before 8.30 and therefore, I cannot tape The Amazing Race (as MC will be taping its last 15 minutes and I can’t tape two things at the same time), well, not the first fifteen minutes anyway. In this case, I will have The Block and MC up on Monday night and what I might do is blog as much of The Amazing Race as I can, saving me to watch on line, and just update the blog in the morning with the stuff I missed.

-          As far as I know, Tuesday is as normal.

-          Wednesday is tricky. With The Block & Top Design running until 9.15 and a 90 minute episode of MC, I may leave MC until Thursday however that means it won’t be up until well past 1pm.

-          I’m fairly sure Thursday and Friday will be fine.

 

So I am so sorry for the inconveniences that could possibly be caused next week; I will try to minimise the effect these have by blogging ASAP, but I cannot promise anything at this stage. Again, I’d like to extend my deepest thanks to all of my dedicated readers for your continued support in what I do. It’s not a hard job, but it can be quite a big one at times!

Until tomorrow, have a good weekend!

 

Just a reminder, as we enter the final weeks of MasterChef, the contest is REALLY heating up! To celebrate the top eight of MasterChef, AndrewB will be running a poll on the main page of this website (Throng.com.au of course!) asking for your opinion on who will take out this season! The poll will be refreshed each time someone is eliminated, so make sure you keep checking back and having your say!
The poll can be found where the poll is usually found!

 

It was a pretty harsh elimination last night that has seemed to get, well, my readers divided anyway. So let’s sit back, have a beer, and enjoy a MasterClass All Star edition! Ooo, so excited!

The show begins as always, so I won’t go through what happens, but the contestants continue to reiterate how important MasterClass is.

The judges wrap up the week, seeing the exhaustion in the contestant’s faces. He promises them revitalisation, with three special guests coming in. Before they announce this, they have to talk about the Private MasterClass with Luke Nguyen. Fans Dani & Hayden will get to attend the MasterClass, to Dani’s absolute shock and happiness.

Now onto the special guests and Gary hints they will focus the contestants and inspire them. He tells them all that today’s guests are former contestants. The first person to come through is Andre Ursini; a good old local South Aussie!

He has a lovely little restaurant in town which I have been to and have enjoyed (at the time, I actually didn’t know it was his so I’m not biased haha). Today he will be cooking Polenta with Quail (Polenta Con Quaglia).

Gary leaves George and Andre alone as they start work on the Polenta.

First step is to work on a tomato sauce. Funnily enough, they start by putting in Greek Olive Oil to a pan before adding onion.

He has another pot filed with a litre of water cooking for 45 minutes. He adds some Polenta to the water (raining it in, not tipping it in). It has no flavour and it is a vehicle for other flavours. Next up, he puts peeled tomato into the onion and olive oil mix. He is very good at giving a lot of tips as he goes.

He also gets all the sauce out of the peeled tomato can into the pot and puts basil and garlic in the mix as well. George is impressed with the freshness of the dish.

With that, the Polenta is on and the tomato paste is also on! Time for the next step!

That step involves work on the quail. He has removed the bone and wants to stuff it with sage. He seasons the meat, puts some sage in the quail ‘ribbon’ and wraps it up.

He puts some olive oil in a pan and pops in the quail bodies before popping in the legs with sage. He browns it off before shoving some butter and thyme in. He then puts it in the oven for a few minutes before taking it out quite happily. He lets the quail breast rest for a bit before adding some sofrito to the leftover quail fat from the pan.

Back to the quail and he begins to tear off a few pieces from the quail breast. Meanwhile, Andre adds some more seasoning and a bay leaf to the sofrito before using a stick blender to finish off the tomato paste.

He grabs some brown sugar in the paste to even out the acidity before adding the shredded quail into the pan with the sofrito. He then adds some of that paste to the pan as well with some thyme.

Time to finish the Polenta by adding some butter and cheese to the mix. After tasting, George wants some more butter and cheese before Andre adds some parsley to the sofrito mix.

He then plates up the dish and it looks wonderful.

Kate & Sun come up to taste with a returning Gary and they love it. It just looks so good.

He ends the segment with some top tips before we bid farewell to good old Andre!

After the break, the judges welcome back Jimmy from last season! He’s the king of curry but I never saw the hype in this guy, all he did was curry. With such little diversity, he wouldn’t have been as popular had he competed in this season!

Jimmy mentions the flour he makes which was used in a MasterClass segment previously. He even mocks his mother’s accent in the process of explaining this.

Today, he will be cooking some Butter Chicken, my ALL TIME FAVOURITE CURRIED MEAL!!!

He begins by adding to a bowl, yoghurt, lime juice, vegetable oil and then some ginger, garlic, garam masala and ka soory methi. He also adds chilli powder (not hot) and salt to finish it off and he stirs it all up into a mix, but doesn’t mix it up completely. He continues to mock the Indian Accent and it is so funny of him. After a while, he mixes the ingredients in fully and grabs some chicken.

He adds the chicken to the mix and marinades it all in. He sticks it in the fridge for 24 hours and luckily, he has come prepared with a pre prepared mix.

Using the mix, he adds the chicken on a grill and puts it straight into a fan forced grill oven. Now it’s time to make the sauce.

After the break, Gary takes the chicken out of the grill and it looks quite tasty! Now it is time to sauté the onions by adding oil to a pot and putting in the onions. After that occurs, he adds some ginger, green chillies, cardamom pods and blade mace. After mixing a bit, he adds some cashew paste for texture and flavour before cooking it further.

He then grabs a bowl of vine ripen tomatoes and adds it to the sauté onions, lets it cook and then adds some tomato puree.

He then lets it cook and bubble away before throwing the sauce into a blender, blending it up slowly, then a little quicker before he sieves the rest of the chunky bits out.

Using the paste, he adds it back into a hot pan and then adds chilli powder and stirs it up a bit before adding salt and ka soory methi. He mixes it up some more before adding some sweet honey, yum!

He takes it off the heat, grabs the tandoori chicken, and chops it up a little more before adding it to the mix. He puts it back on the heat to cook some more.

Now it is time for the butter. Jimmy gets Gary to chop up the butter and add it to the dish. He then adds some olive oil to get the consistency right. He also adds some pouring cream before garnishing it up with chopped coriander and green chilli. And with that, his lovely butter chicken is done!

There are a few volunteers to taste but ultimately, Billy & Ellie are asked to come up to taste the lovely dish. Wow, I am so envious! It looks so bloody awesome, lovely!

He gives them all some top tips and with that, Jimmy’s return to the MasterChef kitchen is over again and he leaves on a very high note!

Back after the break, it’s time to go on a private MasterClass with Luke Nguyen, Dani & Hayden! Today, he will be teaching them how to cook a Master Stock Chicken in what looks like a very luscious garden.

Before they cook the dish, Luke takes the two to see how noodles are made! He shows them around the factory and gives them a lot of information on the different type of noodles.

He also gives them some tips on how to cook the noodles.

After looking around a bit, we return to the garden where Luke has a pot on the stove! He has some very exotic spices including cinnamon bark and cardamom sitting by the side and he gets Hayden to wrap it all up in a bag before they add some soy sauce into the pot of water with salt and the spice bag. They bring it to the boil for the flavours to infuse together and when that’s done, he gets them to smell the stock before tasting it. They think it’s amazing.

They add a full chicken into the stock and adds a plate on top of it to stop it from rising. They then let the meat poach off of the heat.

It’s now time to make the sauces. He adds some water to a bowl before the oyster sauce and the brown sugar goes in. With that, they also add some sesame oil to finish that off.

Now for the dipping sauce for the chicken. Again, they add water before adding fish sauce and coconut water for balance.

They mix it up and after tasting the salt, they add some lime juice and garlic with some chilli and mix it up into a sauce.

Now back to the Master Stock Chicken and they need to prepare a basting liquid consisting of vinegar and maltose simmering on a pan. They then take the chicken out of the Master Stock and plop it in the basting liquid.

With the dipping and noodle sauce done, they get on with the basting by taking the chicken out of the stock oh so carefully, hooking a hook into it and pouring the basting liquid over it. They then hook it up to fan dry and when that’s done, Hayden is given the task to cut the chicken in half.

He puts half of it in a sieve and ladles some vegetable oil over it.

Luke then grabs some noodles from the morning, declumps them, puts them in a sieve and dips it in the oil before putting it straight into ice water. He puts it in some warm water to finish up with and puts it in a bowl.

He dips some sauce into the noodles and they plate up the dish after cutting up the chicken a bit. The two contestants are pleased at the meal and Luke gives them some top tips to go home with!

They thank Luke with a cuddle and some kind words before they head back for the MasterChef kitchen!

Back in the kitchen, it’s time for the third and final contestant to return is Alvin from last season. He enters the kitchen with Matt Preston in what will be his first appearance on MasterClass. Alvin is very excited to be on the judge’s side of the bench and to see this year’s contestants.
Today, he will be cooking a sweet dessert- Black Sesame Dumplings!

To begin, he adds some Malaysian palm sugar to a pot with water to make some caramel. He tells them that if they don’t watch it, they could boil it! He asks Matt to help him on the sesame paste, getting him to grind the sesame up in a bowl.

They melt up some butter in a pan and add sugar and the black sesames. They let the dumpling filling cool before moving onto the making of the dough.

He adds some flour to a bowl before adding water. He mixes it all in and makes it very unsticky and lovely.

With the dough, filling and caramel done, it’s time for the garnish!

After the break, they recap what they have done so far. He has some Wan Ton skins sitting to the side and Alvin gets Matt to put them in some peanut oil. After they crisp up, they take one and dip one end of it into the caramel and use it to pick up some of the sesame filling.

It’s really simple to do and with that done, they move onto the ginger syrup.
To a pot of water, he adds sugar and ginger. With that simmering, Matt gets Alana & Kate to come up to the bench to help with the dumplings. They shape some dough into a sphere, dent one side in and shovels a small amount of sesame filling into it before rolling it back up. One is now done, and he gets Alana & Kate to do two more. Even Matt has one to do.

After the step is completed, Matt thanks Alana & Kate and they leave the bench. Alvin now puts the dumplings in to cook a bit before Matt pours over some ginger syrup before they finish the dish with the Wan Ton skins.

Gary comes in, just in time for tasting as Alana & Michael comes up to taste the dish. With that, Alvin gives off a few more top tips (even though he along with the other contestants have filled their segments with brilliant top tips) before the judges wish him well and send him off. With that, the contestants all sit around a buffet to celebrate the end of another MasterChef week (and Andre & Jimmy return).

So another brilliant MasterClass comes to a close. Wow, wasn’t that fun! Not only do we get to see three former contestants return to share some of their success and dish ideas with the current cast AND see Matt Preston cook in the kitchen, but that Private MasterClass with Luke Nguyen was brilliant.

Next week, the contestants head to New York, and with TEN giving nothing away, I’m not sure what next week holds in store for our contestants, whether there will be eliminations or even a MasterClass, but one thing is for sure, I cannot bloody wait!

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 9.9/10

All of Mat-gate aside, last night saw Dani and the blue team struggle sending her, Peter, Hayden, Michael and Kate into tonight’s elimination. One will be going home and with all the ‘good’ players on Dani’s team (quoted from Ellie), it’s going to be a tearjerker!

The blue team are getting ready for the elimination with Dani dressing in her black apron, Peter packing and Kate taking down her pictures.

They are quick to enter their SUV’s, travel to the kitchen and enter to meet the judges and a row of benches.

The judges are Gary and guest judge Justin North. The judges acknowledge that today is a serious day for them all with Gary reiterating why they are sat here today.

He tells them that Anthony Bourdain has taken the red team off for a day in Sydney. They are all taken on a tour of the Sydney fish markets as Bourdain dishes out some handy advice to the ever listening contestants. Team leader Alana was so happy with the advice as she isn’t too confident with seafood.

As they move around, they try all that is on offer before relaxing at a pub that looks like the back of a shop! It looks like the best way to end a day this far into the competition. But it’s not over yet, Matt Moran takes them all to his restaurant, Aria where he will make a Pavlova, claiming it is an Australian dessert in front of the American Bourdain. Anthony is too smart however, noting it is a NZ dish. I think Matt tries to cover it up by calling it a ‘Swiss Meringue’. Yes, nothing screams Australian more than ‘Swiss Meringue’!

They tuck into the ‘Australian Pavlova’ as Alana thinks about the blue team. Yeah, as if she’s really thinking of them, it’s just an excuse to skip back to the kitchen where Gary questions whether Dani will be using her pin or not.

Not to risk her place in the competition, she will be saying goodbye to her immunity pin not days after getting it. She is sad to part from it so soon but Gary reassures her, it’s probably the best thing she could have done. She hugs her competitors goodbye as Gary moves onto the challenge.

It is a technique based challenge and perfection is required. They will all be set tight time limits and they need to remain focussed to pass.

There will be three rounds with one person saved each round leaving one to be eliminated! They all have a box filled with ingredients (what are those straw things actually called) and it is filled with a lot of vegetarian stuff with rice paper. They need to make some delicious rice paper rolls and without a recipe, they have to come up with it themselves.

The techniques the judges are looking for here are precision knife work, perfect balance of flavour for the dipping sauce, seamless wrapping and presentation of the rice paper rolls.

With time starting, the contestants are fighting for their place in the competition. Peter begins on his sauce as the others begin to chop up their vegetables. They only need to make three rice paper rolls so they shouldn’t rush with something complex.

Peter has made a rich, fishy sauce which he hopes works in his favour. Michael has his rice paper in to cook up as Hayden works on his sauce quite nervously. With five minutes left, the contestants begin to wrap their rice paper up and for a shaking Hayden, this looks very hard. It is a fairly thin piece of paper but Kate is also shaking, causing her ingredients to just pour out, and there’s only a minute remaining.

The contestants are really struggling to plate up with only 10 minutes to go; they just have to hope they have made the best one.

With that all over, the judges begin tasting with Hayden’s dish with only one rice wrap rolled correctly. They taste that particular wrap and they are happy with the chopping of the ingredients but there’s a lot of lettuce which may not be a good thing.

To Kate and she would have liked an extra five minutes. Her rice paper rolls look even worse but still nice. Gary loves the basil in her roll but she has way too much noodle in her roll and her carrot pieces are a little long.

To Michael and his rolls look much better than the other two so that’s a positive. The judges taste the dish and he is confident he has done well. Justin looks happy with the vegetable chopping but the amount of lime in his dish is a bit overpowering.

To Peter’s and his wrapping looks good as well, but there’s a few elements sticking out. The judges immediately notice his strong sauce but they like his chopping of the vegetables as they liked everyone’s.

The judges have now tasted all the dishes in round one and have come up with a winner. Gary calls out the names of the people who did not present the best dish and therefore will move on to round two. These people are Hayden, Kate & Peter with Michael safe from elimination!

Now to round two and they have two lives left. Justin assures them that what is hidden under their Hessian sacks is not easy. Peter just hopes that what ever it is; please don’t let it be a cake!

They lift the covers up to reveal a (wait for it… ad break) steak and a few vegies. It is a rib eye of beef; screaming out butchering techniques.

The judges will be looking for trimming and frenching, trussing it like an expert and cooking to an absolutely beautiful medium-rare.

Kate loves cooking rib eye steak, but is put off having to cook against Hayden and Peter! The person, who cooks the best version of the rib eye steak with 25 minutes, wins the challenge.

The contestants all begin by trimming their steak up with Hayden quickly moving on to his trussing.

Kate is spending a lot of time frenching the poor steak with most contestants putting their steak on the pan. Justin recommends 12 minutes cooking time and with the contestants heading into the last 15 minutes, the contestants are panicking.

As his steak cooks, Hayden makes a very interesting sounding sauce as Peter begins to make a very healthy sounding log.

Kate begins to check her steak for the first time and while the thermometer is telling her it is still to cool in the centre, her hand is telling otherwise. She just goes with the thermometer, putting it in the oven for a little longer.

With 10 seconds to go, the contestants begin to plate up their steak and with time up, the contestants are happy with their efforts but in a cutaway, Kate mentions that she would love to eat Hayden’s and Peter’s more. Does that mean she’s not safe? I would hope not!

The judges begin tasting on Hayden’s dish. They cut his steak in half and Hayden is happy at least. They taste and Gary loves the technique; that’s all he says.

They move onto Kate’s dish and cut her steak to see she has cooked it a little too long. They taste and the judges just love the flavours however there are a few negatives about the dish.

To Peter and they cut his steak to what Peter calls a medium-rare steak. Gary just says they’ve made it hard for them to choose, not giving much away.

With judging for round two over, Gary announces that the first person moving to round three is Kate and she will be facing off against Peter with Hayden safe from elimination. At the end of the day, Hayden’s alfoil on the bone to keep it clean was the ONLY factor that saved him!

With that, Kate & Peter face off to remain in the game. With this, we see a quick back story from Kate & Peter before we move onto the challenge at hand.

There’s a cover on top of what looks like quite a few ingredients! They uncover their ingredients to show all the ingredients to make a pastry type dish; in this case, an apple pie and custard- traditionally!

Three techniques, well they are nice, puffy pastry, wonderful filling, and a beautiful custard. They will have an hour to cook the dish and their time begins immediately.

Peter & Kate are moving at the same speed and with 45 minutes to go, there’s a lot riding on this challenge!

Peter has created his base and is now filling his pie with the filling and has put it in the oven. Meanwhile, Kate is a little slower and finds out that the pastry base has stuck to the paper she was using, pulling it apart a bit! Oh no!

This actually happened after she got it out of the oven but she tries to patch the pastry, just hoping it works.

Meanwhile, Peter is calmly working on his custard and he has already made curdled custard but given the opportunity to start again, he tries to save it using a blender.

Meanwhile, the apple pies are done for both team and as he worries, Peter takes away the edges from the apple pie quite safely. Kate does the same.

‘Beauty is in the pie of the beholder’ says Gary, taking the crown for best comment all season, as the contestants enter the last ten minutes of competition.

Kate has finished her custard and knowing Gary’s love of cream, she plates some up with her spare time.

Time is up and both contestants are happy with their efforts but Kate notices that if both their pies are good, the judges may look back at the rest of the day and decide who to send home based on that.

Kate doesn’t know if the pie will save her, but is happy that she created a good pie. She gets a bit teary, talking about her family and it’s the start of what will be a sad ten minutes. Peter is also looking quite sad when he talks about wanting to stay.

Gary tastes Kate’s dish first, loving her cream. He and Justin taste the dish. The judges just love the entire pie, with the custard also a winner. Gary is up for another apple pie, so they move on and taste Peter’s pie.

They cut it up and pour the custard onto it before tasting, saying it looks great. Ooo, its so nerve racking but finally, the judges present yet more pleasing comments. Now, from here on in, NO CUTAWAY’S PLEASE, because with no negative comments, gosh, this could be the best elimination yet!

The judges are finished, and leave to make their decision.

They return to say their decision was incredibly tough to come up with. The decision was based upon the underlying theme of the challenge, techniques. Gary announces that Kate is safe to her utter shock, with Peter announced as the sixteenth person to leave the MasterChef kitchen.

The judges then announce why Kate’s dish won, being lighter and more crispy while also telling Peter that his base was a little undercooked.

Justin offers his support and help to Peter who is gracious to be going home. Gary wishes him well as he leaves the competition and it’s not sad, it’s more humble. He leaves with a smile and with such lovely music; it feels like more of an event than a downer.

They’ve absolutely done it again! After last night’s shocking episode, this has been another one of a kind! No giveaway cutaways, no unneeded ad breaks and an absolutely beautifully produced exit from Peter. Wonderful, pure bliss! I wish MasterChef could do this every day!

 

Courtney’s Verdict: 10/10

Evicted MasterChef contestant Mat Beyer is standing by his assertion that he is no cheat.

Beyer was removed from the Channel Ten series after the discovery of a mobile phone, which are banned from the competition.

The 24-year-old says the reason he smuggled a phone into the house is because he is emotionally vulnerable due to the disappearance of his mother in 2004.

Julie Beyer was last seen in Lavington, NSW, seven years ago.

“My mum is a missing person and when someone is a missing person for seven years, she can potentially be declared dead,” Beyer said.

“An inquiry into her death was apparently started.

“I knew it was going to come up to Mother’s Day and then her birthday. I was feeling a bit emotionally vulnerable and one 10-minute phone call a week wasn’t really cutting it.

“I decided to take the phone into the house to keep in contact with my girlfriend.”

Producers were forced to eliminate Beyer as the phone cold have been used to research recipes online.

“It’s a phone, not a gun, when it comes down to it,” Beyer said.

“I didn’t cheat but I did break the rules.

“Clearly I probably would have been winning more things if I’d cheated.

“It wasn’t in any way to get a one-up on other contestants. I’m sorry and I definitely regret doing it. I think I’ve copped a ridiculous amount of backlash.”

Source: Herald Sun