MasterChef Australia (2009–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - Top 50 Part 5 - full transcript
Last week on
MasterChef Australia.
Welcome to the top 50
of MasterChef Australia.
The search began for
Australia's next MasterChef.
This is gonna be tough.
And from fifty hopefuls twelve made
it through to the final 24.
Finally, I'm there.
I'm there.
Tonight, the last twelve
places will be decided.
The question is, are you
gonna be one of the lucky ones?
First up, they'll face
the mystery box.
I'm... I'm gone.
Then they'll have to impress
a big gun of Australian cuisine,
Neil Perry, in the
pressure test.
You have to push yourself
beyond the limit.
With only twelve places remaining
there are no second chances,
and for some their dream
will end.
The thought of going home really
scares me. I don't wanna go.
Today's now or never.
Really. This is it.
Getting into the top 24
would just be tremendous,
it would be in itself
a dream come true.
It's the last part of the top 50
and I know that
it's my last chance to make
a good impression on the judges,
so I really have to
do well today.
It's nearly a week since you first
stepped into the MasterChef arena.
And what a massive week
it's been.
Twelve spots in the top 24
have already been filled.
There are twelve spots left.
The question is,
are you gonna be one
of the lucky ones.
Today I have to do it.
Because
I don't wanna be at the end
and think, gee, I didn't try.
There's two deciding challenges
and our first challenge, ah...
It's a challenge that tests you,
to see how good you are on the spot.
It's the mystery box.
This is a challenge that sorts
men from the boys
and the women
from the girls.
You just have to make it up
on the spot
and that's really where it
all comes down to.
What are you waiting for?
Run to your benches.
I'm very, very nervous,
because I don't know
what's in the bloody box.
The idea's simple.
In that box, you'll find
some ingredients.
All you've gotta do is make
something inventive, spectacular,
inspiring, using some or all
of those ingredients.
Here's where it gets tricky.
You'll only have 45 minutes
to complete the mystery
box challenge.
45 minutes sounds like a lot
but when you're under that pressure
of the MasterChef kitchen, you're
thinking, oh my God, is it enough?
We'll taste all your dishes.
The best four dishes
will win their creators a place
in that final 24.
But this is MasterChef, there's
always a kicker.
The four of you that create
the least impressive dishes
will leave here within the hour.
You'll be eliminated.
Your dream will be over.
That makes my heart
sink, because
I really don't wanna be
in that bottom four.
I can't... I can't be the person
that's eliminated.
Four in, four out,
it's as simple as that.
So, ladies and gentlemen,
you may lift your lids.
Fruit. Crap.
I'm seeing chocolate,
strawberries,
I've got all these different recipes
running through my head.
It's... it's all fruit and chocolate,
and clearly it's a dessert challenge.
This is our first ever all-dessert
mystery box
and it's got some cracking
ingredients.
You've got a beautiful variety
of fruit, chocolate,
Grand Marnier, cinnamon
sticks, and...
hundreds and thousands.
I'm not a dessert person. My heart
just sank, I thought, I'm gone,
I might as well walk
out the door now.
There is no excuse not to give
us an amazing dish.
If you want a space in the top 24,
that's what you have to deliver.
Your time starts now.
The judges say go, and I run.
Shoulders out, barging people
out of the way, I have to do this,
it's my last shot.
Forty-five minutes. Gotta
work with that clock,
and I have chocolate mousse,
I know I can do it.
I'm making a German-style
cheesecake
that comes from my sister-in-law
in Germany.
I very very rarely make desserts
so I'm absolutely terrified.
I'm making some crepes
with filling of whipped cream,
and Grand Marnier sauce.
I'm doing a strawberry jelly
with chocolate-coated strawberries.
I've never made it before, and I'm
picking this up from
some of the techniques that
George used in his MasterClass.
And there you have it.
A simple little dessert
as easy as that.
I'm not a huge dessert person,
but I'm just going by my gut,
so hopefully that's gonna
see me through.
Georgie, I love the energy
in the room, it's fantastic,
you've got lots of chocolate mousses
happening along the line,
lots of crepes happening
along the line,
and when we're doing a dessert
challenge like this one,
the room always
smells great.
I'm doing a chocolate tart and I've got
a orange syrup on the go as well.
The dish I'm going to cook
is a cherry jelly
with a chocolate milk
granita.
I think the trickiest process of my dish
was overall timing.
Half an hour, it's gotta
go in now.
Going into the freezer, and hoping
that it sets in time.
Fifteen minutes down, you have
thirty minutes to go.
What I'm loving is you guys
have gone out
bolting out of the gates,
there's frenzy of cooking in here,
it's fabulous.
So Fiona, what are
you doing?
I thought I'd try something new
and I'm going to do
a strawberry jelly.
- Okay.
So I'm a little, you know,
worried about that but...
- Alright, okay.
- Get it in the blast freezer
it's gotta chill down.
I'm doing a chocolate
ganache tart.
I have made this... I've made
this tart before.
I've been in a couple of
challenges where
I've got to the end but
not quite made it and
with four spots up for grabs today,
I have to do something
that really stood out.
Don't open it. Don't open it.
Don't open it.
George, there are some of them,
when they lifted that cloche,
you could just see the delight
on their face,
fanastic, I'm doing a dessert,
the other half, oh my goodness,
it's gonna be a disaster.
Fiona, she's making a jelly which you
showed them how to do in MasterClass.
So at least she's taking
on board something new.
My only concern is, they've only
got 45 minutes.
A jelly tends to take a little
longer than that.
So we'll just have to see
how well she does.
The question is, George, will anybody
use the hundreds and thousands?
Oh no.
I hope not.
- Jake, how are you, man?
- Yeah, good, how are you George?
Have you used the
hundreds and thousands?
Well, I normally use coconut for them
and they're like a cherry rollup,
but filled with...
- What is the dish?
It's a panfried souffle,
just vanilla and chocolate.
- Should cross me fingers, and...
- Put up the best dish.
Yeah, just hope, hope I'm not
in the bottom four, you know.
- Okay man. Well good luck, yeah?
- Thanks, George.
Guys, you have fifteen
minutes to go.
Probably the most important
fifteen minutes,
cause four of you could go through
to the top 24.
- I'm making chocolate mousse.
- It's a really rich chocolate mousse,
it's not supposed to be like
fluffy, it's creamy.
Kate, what are you making?
The... I'm making a chocolate mousse
but it looks a little bit different
to what I... when I
make it at home.
Well. Your egg whites
look really different.
- Yeah. What went wrong here?
- I maybe overdid those.
But I'm still, all like... I'm trying.
You've gotta try your best,
and if you know you've tried
your best, the competition's fierce,
and I know that I...
I really want it.
The question is, is it gonna
be a great chocolate mousse?
- I hope so.
- Hopefully it sets.
Thank you.
The egg whites didn't come out
the way I did it at home,
I practiced this before, but I need
it now, I need it, really, now.
This chocolate mousse is either
gonna make or break me,
but I'm trying so...
that's all that matters.
Ahead.
A shock announcement...
Kate's got something
to tell us.
... might mean one more person
could make it into the top 24.
Just that little voice in my head
saying, it's another spot.
And later.
Celebrity judge Neil Perry...
This is a really simple
dish.
... helps decide who gets in
and who's going home.
In my kitchen,
not putting a dish
up complete
it's a bit of a no no.
This chocolate mousse is either
gonna make or break me,
but I'm trying so...
that's all that matters.
I'm actually having a good time
even though I was crying,
it was like a good cry and
the mistakes are like part of it.
You know, I'm not perfect
and neither is my food
and that's why I'm on MasterChef,
to try and improve.
Come on, guys, how proud
you must feel
to be right here in the
MasterChef arena,
cooking to save yourself.
To be in this competition
hopefully to seal a place
in the top 24.
- You can have those.
- Thank you.
You're a champion.
- I'm feeling very nervous,
really want one of those spots, so I'm just
praying that this will get me there.
I was attempting to make
a strawberry jelly.
The trickiest part of the dish
is getting it into the freezer and
getting it to set
in time.
I thought everybody would be
wanting to use the fridge and freezer so
I opted for something
really simple.
Cream, chocolate,
and oranges.
Crepes.
Done.
Who would believe that
45 minutes could go so fast?
You have 10 minutes
to go.
Come on guys, this is the
business end of this challenge.
You need to ramp it up
to plate it up.
This is the most important
part of the challenge,
it's make or break. I'm pretty
worried at this stage,
because I'm not sure I'm
gonna finish in time.
- Callum, how are you, man?
- Yeah, good, thanks.
What are you making?
I'm doing a jaffa tart
with an orange sauce
and segments of oranges.
- You feel this is your last chance, mate?
Yeah, I really do, because I got
close in the quail challenge,
I really though it was
my challenge
because not many people have
worked with a quail before,
and I was pretty disappointed. So yeah,
this is probably my last chance.
Well, we love your energy,
don't we, George?
We love that little frenzy
and the sweat on your brows.
Well done, buddy.
This is not cooking.
This is not cooking!
Shortcrust pastry is in the oven
but it's just not happening.
It's just not... not going
the way I want.
I don't think I'm
gonna make it.
So I need to look at
plan B,
which is turning my shortcrust tart
into a shortcrust biscuit.
Right guys, you've got
five minutes to go.
What I'd be doing right now, is putting
all those final little touches on
and making sure you're putting
up some gorgeous food.
Remember, for some of you,
if you'd made a mistake,
this is where you say goodbye
to the MasterChef arena.
I'm making a chocolate mousse
cake with a strawberry syrup.
My greatest worry is if the mousse
won't freeze in time.
The fridge keeps getting open and shut,
with that comes higher temperature,
and I sort of need it at quite
a low temperature
to set the mousse, so...
fingers crossed.
My granita is not setting
and my jelly is not setting.
Disaster.
How do you recommend
I make this mess up?
Sorry mate.
Just be quick mate. You don't
have much time.
Just try and get something
on the plate.
Could you put it in a little like...
something like this?
Yeah? So like a ramekin
or something?
- Yeah. I'm gonna do that.
- Run, mate.
Guys, this is the final
sixty seconds.
I finished it. It's plated up.
Is there work to be done, yes.
The cream doesn't look as pretty.
But, 45 minutes, you try doing it.
Running on the last second.
I need every single I can get.
I hope that this is the dish
that gets me over the line.
Because it's such a beautiful story.
I did the jaffa swirl
like a maze kinda swirl. My daughter
loves mazes and i just thought of her.
We have a leaker.
Didn't set. The gelatin
didn't set.
I have no solution, so I just
have to go with what I've got.
I think I've had a little bit of trouble
with the way it's setting.
Hopefully it will taste nice.
You have ten seconds to go.
00:15:18,878 --> 00:15:20,013
00:15:20,213 --> 00:15:21,829
00:15:22,029 --> 00:15:23,413
00:15:23,613 --> 00:15:24,637
00:15:24,837 --> 00:15:25,837
00:15:26,037 --> 00:15:27,037
00:15:27,237 --> 00:15:28,237
00:15:28,437 --> 00:15:29,781
00:15:29,981 --> 00:15:35,258
That's it. Step away from
your benches. Well done.
The challenge has just ended and
my gelatin didn't set in time
and my granita
didn't set at all.
So, it's up to the
judges now.
You've just completed our
first ever
all-dessert mystery box
challenge.
We're now gonna taste your dishes,
those who have cooked
the best four dishes will go
straight through to the final 24.
The four least impressive dishes will
send their creators home.
Gentlemen,
it's time to taste.
- Jason.
- Yes.
- Where's your dessert?
- I know.
You've got a cherry on the plate.
- Jason.
- Yes.
- Where's your dessert?
- I know.
- You've got a cherry on the plate.
- Pretty much.
Ah, it's a cherry jelly. And I was
gonna serve it with a choc...
chocolate milk,
um... granita.
You know, I'll try and
turn it out.
- No.
- You know, not far off.
Tell me what went wrong.
Um... everything.
It didn't set in time. Desserts
are definitely not my strong point.
You know. We all know,
sometimes we have disasters.
Today is one of those days.
Don't kick yourself.
Just happens sometimes.
- Anyway, good job.
- Yeah, thank you very much.
I knew that I didn't execute
this dish at all,
I just wasn't confident
in what I did.
- Matthew.
- George.
What do you wanna get to?
- Personally?
- Yeah.
- Stage where you're at.
- So you wanna own a restaurant.
- I do.
- What's the dish?
It's a layered mousse and that's
just a strawberry syrup
to pour around.
Let's taste.
It's gorgeous. It's absolutely
gorgeous.
It's a beautiful dessert and
you should be very proud of yourself.
- Thank you so much.
- Well done.
That's like putting a spoonful
of strawberry velvet
and chocolate velvet in your mouth
at the same time
and rolling it around. It's a way
a true dessert should be,
if you do get through
to the 24,
you'll do very very well
in this competition.
Well done, Matthew.
I just wanna get in there. Really,
really, really want it.
That's a dense chocolate mousse,
there's nothing wrong with it,
it's sweet, does all the things
that you want a chocolate mousse to do
I wanna stay safe because you've worked
hard all week to get to where you are,
so I want it hardcore.
- It's nice and silky,
but it is after all just a chocolate
mousse in a glass.
It needs to be a tart. You can't
put a pie filling in that
and serve it. Exciting about a pie
is that beautiful,
kinda crispy shell.
- Fiona, what's that?
- It's supposed to be a jelly,
it's just the time ran away,
it hasn't obviously set.
So I'm calling it more of a
strawberry champagne.
As a strawberry
jelly you failed dismally
because it's not a jelly.
But it looks beautiful
and as a strawberry champagne I
think it would be a lovely cleanser.
It'd be gorgeous. It's fresh strawberries
and it's just sweet enough,
it's a great combination.
First rule of being a chef,
when people ask you what it is,
say what it is now,
not what you dreamt it was.
Cause what you have there is almost
the perfect summer dessert.
But what is it?
What is this?
- Strawberry champagne.
- Beautiful.
- Joanne.
- Hi, George.
I hope that this is the dish
that gets me over the line,
because I want them to see
my story on the plate.
Because I've got so many stories
to tell.
- I think my daughters would eat that.
- Would they?
Yeah.
When I was doing I though it was a maze
and it's all leading to
this one thing there, come on,
let's go for it.
Well, so your daughters inspired you,
your daughters, your husband.
- It's everything on the plate.
- Yeah.
I cook with my heart and my heart
told me to do this.
That's the only way to cook.
It's interesting. Looks beautiful
and in terms of flavor,
it's bang on what you've said.
A really great job.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I'm actually feeling a little bit
embarrassed with what I've done.
It looks okay, but I know
my wife's going to laugh.
You can't serve this in a restaurant
or a café, can you,
if you can't get it
off the tray.
I teased all my Anglo mates
at high school
for their hundreds and thousands sandwich.
- Very brave.
cause I had salami on mine.
This is a moment.
Interesting.
Callum. And when you're
not standing here
in the MasterChef kitchen,
what do you do?
I study sports engineering
at the University of Adelaide.
- And you wanna be a chef?
- I'm passionate about food,
and when the MasterChef opportunity
came along I thought I'd grab it
and give it a really good go.
- Tell me what your dish is.
The dish I made today is a jaffa tart
with an orange and cinnamom syrup.
Classic spanish flavors, orange,
cinnamon, chocolate,
but I would suggest that really you
only want a tiny slice
because it's so rich.
If you wanted to give us something
that tasted of chocolate and orange,
then my goodness, it tastes
of chocolate and orange.
But Matt's right, it is really,
really rich.
It's not a bad thing. You just
need a big mug of tea.
Okay.
From the comments I received I'm
not quite sure how I've gone
so I'm just a bunch of jittery nerves,
it's... it's quite nerve-racking.
Amazing thing, that
mystery box,
it turns even the best cooks
on their heads.
And we saw that you felt
that stress.
If you think about that challenge,
it was tough.
But what is really tough, is off the
back of that, four people
will earn their place in the top 24
and four people will be saying goodbye
to their dream in this competition.
I just hope I can get through
to the next round and
and prove myself. I haven't had
much of a chance here.
If I call your name, please
step forward.
Matthew.
Jo O'Brian.
Joanne Zalm.
Tony.
Fiona.
Claude.
Callum.
Jason.
The nervous tension is
mind-boggling.
You can feel the waves of fear
coming off everybody including myself.
Four of you are straight through
to the top 24.
Four of you going home.
The eight of you
represent
the cooks that cooked
the four best
and the four least impressive
dishes of today.
Four of you are straight through
to the top 24,
four of you going home.
It's mixed emotions. Half of me's
shit-scared I'm going home,
and the other halfof me is ecstatic that
I might be through to the top 24.
I... I don't think I'm
going home.
I hope... I hope I'm
not going home.
Matthew,
Joanne,
Fiona,
Callum.
You're through to
the top 24.
I'm ecstatic. I just wanna run up
to the judges,
hug them for hours, it was the most
amazing feeling I've ever experienced.
Jason, Claude,
Tony and Jo.
Unfortunately, your journey
ends here
and we wish you the very
best of luck.
Got a long hard week and I've not
just done this for myself.
I wanna show my children
as well that
if you have a dream, you can
go there and get it.
It may not work out the first time
but there's no reason to give up
and you can keep trying.
That's how you get up.
Matthew, Joanne, Fiona, Callum,
these guys over here
are already in the top 24.
You guys now get to join them.
But before you join them, you need
to take off those dirty white aprons
and I need to give you guys
a special one.
A real MasterChef apron.
Come on.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much.
I put on this clean, crisp
MasterChef apron
Has this big M on my chest, it just
feels like my heart is now on my apron.
This is my heart.
Go and join them.
Congratulations.
Congratulations. Welcome
to the club.
Thank you.
I feel so proud to be wearing
the MasterChef apron.
I would love to go all the way.
I am so in this
to win this.
There are twenty of you
standing in front of us.
You're now down to the wire,
this is your last chance to secure spot
in the top 24 and you've gotta be
ready to rock this competition.
But.
Before we get into that, Kate's
got something to tell us.
I've made a decision that I need
to be with my family
back in Brisbane.
So, I would like to give this
to you
and I'd like someone else to
have the opportunity
for this.
- Kate, it's very brave thing to do.
- Thank you.
But you know what, you get to go back
to your family, isn't that fantastic?
Yeah.
- Thank you so much.
- Thanks so much.
Good luck everyone.
Thank you,
Kate.
Despite having one of the most
wonderful experiences of my life,
I have a family at home that
need me and they need their mother.
It was a little bit of a shock. But there's
that little voice in my head saying,
it's another spot.
There are now nine spots
left in the top 24.
The next challenge
is gonna be tough.
You can look at these guys, they're
sitting in the safe seats.
Whereas you, you've still got
a lot of work to do.
It's a momentous occasion.
And it's only fitting
to have a momentous challenge
to match.
What you're about to face is
the pressure test.
So this is the way it works.
You'll get to cook the same dish
in the same time limit with
the same recipe.
And accordingly, we pay you the respect
of bringing a very big gun
to the MasterChef kitchen.
This mas has a restaurant
in Melbourne.
This man has three restaurants in Sydney.
One of those restaurants
was named in the world's top 50
not once, but seven years in a row.
That restaurant is Rockpool,
that man is Neil Perry.
When I see Neil Perry walk through
the MasterChef kitchen,
I'm amazed. Straight away I think
he looks like Steven Seagal.
I'm Neil Perry, executive chef and
owner of the Rockpool Grill.
I've been in a kitchen for 37 years now,
and I've loved through all of my life.
And it's my one great passion.
My food philosophy is all about produce.
My produces are supplies of the heroes,
and in Rockpool we really make sure
we then care for it
and nurture the best flavor
out of it.
Beautiful.
What turns a good cook into
an amazing one
is dedication. You have
to be focused
and you have to push yourself
beyond the limit.
Neil.
Neil, how you can see,
they're pretty excited.
They look excited, Matt,
they look excited.
Young cooks, what advice
do you give them?
Be organized, and be passionate,
and it's all about taste.
Now, please reveal the dish
our contestants will cook today
that will send nine of them
through to the final 24.
So Neil... I was, I was hoping
it was seafood, which was
a bit more my style compared to dessert
or boning out a bloody quail.
So the dish that you'll cook today
is crimson snapper poached in garam masala
and coconut milk and then served
next to noodles
and snow peas.
It's fragrant, it smells
delicious, you just want to eat it
and it looks...
it's like magic
on a plate.
This is a really simple dish.
It's a piece of cake,
but they've just gotta get
the elements right.
So get them all right, and it's a five
minute preparation at the end
to put this beautiful fresh
fragrant dish together.
This dish looks simple but there's
million things that can go wrong,
and I'm feeling absolutely
frightened.
Well now to fun bit.
To really understand the dish
you have to taste it.
Now, Alvin, you've cooked
a fair number of Asian dishes
in the challenges so far. How
are you feeling
looking at that?
- Really nervous,
because I don't think I've made
a curry from scratch before
and I've never made pasta
or noodles.
Big fan of eating it though.
Neil, why have you chosen
this dish today?
I've chosen this dish because
there's three elements
that the contestants have
to get right.
One is the flavor base
of the sauce.
Two, the semolina
noodles,
and then of course the fish.
- It's fantastic.
Thank you.
Dominic, now you looked pretty excited
when you knew it was Neil,
you're almost vibrating.
I'm a big fan, for starts.
- So how do you describe Neil's food?
Neil's food is actually sort
of what I aspire to.
It's exactly what I would love to
be making to be honest.
Of course it's just magnificent
and it's perfectly balanced
and while I'm enjoying the food,
I silently thought, oh shit,
I've got to cook this.
So that's sort of proving a damn wrong
what would otherwise be
a fine dining experience.
This is it.
The last chance to clinch those
nine spots in the top 24.
You have an hour and forty-five
minutes to complete
Neil's signature dish
to perfection.
It's up to you now. Your future
is in your hands.
Your time starts
now.
Catch up on all the latest news,
episodes, interviews and recipes
This is it.
The last chance you have to clinch
those nine spots in the top 24.
You have an hour and forty-five
minutes.
Your time starts
now.
An hour forty-five to recreate
a Neil Perry dish.
Come on, guys.
You know, we're amateur cooks
here, not professionals.
So the moment the challenge starts,
I make the tomato and chilli base,
which is the base of the sauce.
I thought, I need to get that in,
because that needs to sort of
simmer gently for
forty minutes.
- Alvin, how're you going?
- I'm stressed.
There's a go for you.
This should be your cup of tea.
- Please don't say that.
- So everybody's gonna be looking at you.
Please don't say that.
In terms of the flavor,
you must understand it.
Yes, it's all about the balance
of sweet and sour, you know.
What bit are you worried
about the most?
Getting the timing right.
Actually, no.
The bit I'm worried about
is filleting the fish,
cause I've seen you do it,
but I've never done it before.
- You keep going.
- I know you're nervous.
- I can feel it. I can see it.
- Thank you.
Yeah? So you go for it and
put up a gorgeous dish.
Cheers.
- Katie Pepper.
- Hey, guys.
- How are you?
- I'm alright.
Look, I'm following the recipe to
a T at the moment.
That looks absolutely gorgeous.
That's probably
the best tomato dice we've seen so far.
- Yeah.
Is it important for you
to be perfect?
Yeah, everything I'm doing, is important
that it's perfect today.
It's my last chance today.
The finish line is only
one hour away.
It smells delicious in here.
And what a challenge
for the final nine spots. Think about
this. Every little step you're taking
is one step closer
to your dream.
Next step, I make the pasta dough
for the semolina noodles.
Starting to feel like it's
coming together.
So much at stake, so much
on the line,
and I just want to cook
my heart out.
Jake.
You're looking confident,
I must say.
- Is this challenge up your alley?
- Yeah, it is. I like this style of cooking.
And um... Neil Perry is my favorite chef.
He's taught me how to cook on the TV.
- Has he?
- Yeah. That's... he's my main inspiration
for coming on the show.
- So you'd think you'd be nervous
when he comes and, you know, pokes
around at your sauce
and looks at your noodles and...
- Yeah, I'm just trying to breathe
and, you know, I just, don't wanna chop
another finger off
I wanna keep myself together today,
if I don't get through on this one,
I'll be kicking myself.
You have less than forty-five
minutes to go.
We don't wanna hear you hope
to do or you wish you done this,
we wanna hear that you could do it.
You can secure those nine spots
in the top 24.
Come on!
Being a snapper, I was rapt.
I'm always fishing up the coast, you know,
I fillet snapper every week so
I'm pretty confident in it.
- Matey, how are you going?
- Yeah, good. Great fish.
It's a beautiful fish. Alright.
You're looking alright.
Use the tip, Kate. The tip
of the knife.
Neil, what are the things that
you see that's been
the common problems the people
are having?
Well, I think something we take
for granted in professional kitchen,
the ability to fillet a fish. There's
two or three nice looking fish fillets
that were presented,
the rest are really
from slightly butchered
to completely murdered.
I knew this would be a problem.
I massacred the fish.
Damn you, fish.
I go Jackie Chan on the fish.
It's not good.
Hallelujah.
- You have thirty minutes to go.
- You need to start sprinting now.
Come on!
For once I'm feeling
under pressure.
Next step is to roll out
the semolina noodles,
and hang those, they have a
little time to dry before you
cook them.
I'm definitely nervous, I'm not the
only nervous person in the room. Who isn't?
But, you know, I've just learned from
the other challenges
I really need to keep
my head together.
Oh, Katie. Just carefully,
take your time.
I'm getting those silly little noodles
which were like this big
when they're supposed to be
this big,
on this big bar, and Matt Preston's
face is right there.
- I've tried my best. I've got it out.
- And that's what matters. Well done.
As I'm putting the noodles
through the machine,
I can tell that I haven't
rolled the mixture thin enough,
it's starting to break apart.
- That does pose a bit of problem?
Yeah, I'm really worried, I'm not
quite sure what to do to rescue it.
Is there anything I can do to
rescue this?
- Follow the recipe.
- Yeah.
There's a lot of pressure riding on this,
make the top 24.
Obviously, I've gone wrong
somewhere along my way.
Got twenty minutes left, I'm gonna
scrap the noodles and see how I go.
I think at this point I'm...
I've got twenty minutes left,
I'm gonna scrap the noodles,
just plated up the fish and broth
and see how I go.
Come on, guys,
this is the time.
Either you prove it,
or you gonna lose it.
Come on!
I have to really get cracking, get all
the components done and plated up,
because if not, I will
be going home.
So look at these. Sarah,
you feel good?
- No, not particularly.
- They look great, Sarah.
Yeah, they do look nice
actually.
Hey, you know what, I think there's
some great noodles along here,
I think they've done, other than a few
exceptions, I think they are fantastic.
Next step is to prepare the
garam masala,
so I roast all of my spices, smash it
all up in the pestle and mortar,
now I've just gotta put
everything together.
- How is it going?
- Good, how are you?
Big guy like you should be pounding
them all the way to home.
Cinnamon bark doesn't go.
- Yeah, cinnamon's a tough one.
Yeah. Nearly there.
My name's Dominic Corrigan.
Last year I came up
with a three point plan.
My three points were to
start a charity,
to really put a lot more energy
and time into those really important
relationships to me.
And the third one was a career change
that would actually make me happy
and fulfill me.
You have fifteen minutes to go.
Come on guys, it's not over,
until that food of yours sings.
It has to sing, the food
equivalent of Pavarotti.
Come on.
The dish isn't too complicated,
there's just lots of elements
that make the dish up. They
remind me of stuff that I'm used to make.
Mark. Are you feeling calm and
confident with this recipe?
Um...
I am actually. The currys and I fit
for obvious reasons.
- Why should that be obvious?
- My mother's gran's Indian,
the coconut, the garam masala
that's running through it,
they're just very
familiar flavors.
I'm Mark Smith, and I'm a student
from Melbourne.
My background is Indian, I was
actually born in Australia.
I would love to go back to India,
with my sister and learn
all about the food that
our parents grew up with.
Good luck.
I'm thinking that you might
do ok on this one.
- Good luck.
- Good luck.
It's not seasoned.
It feels quite daunting having
Neil Perry wander around,
you know, checking everyone's
cooking, because it's his dish,
and he's perfected it.
- That's good.
You're in a good space.
I think that's really flummox to me,
so many different components
to this recipe, looks so simple,
it's deceptive.
I mean, let's be quite honest, there's
noodles, there's fish and there's a sauce.
But, a lot of it comes down to that
last little marriage.
So it's gonna be a lot of trickiness
right happening at the end.
You have five minutes to go.
Take a look to your left.
These guys are in the top 24
already,
this is where you
wanna be.
Jump over that line and hopefully
go home with the top 24 place.
Come on.
I'm plating up with no noodles,
it's not the greatest feeling, but um,
I've worked really hard
in the competition so far
and to go home on noodles
would be really disappointing.
Guys, this is the final countdown,
this is the final sixty seconds.
Go hard now,
or go home.
Feels like I'm having a wrestle
with this fish and, you know.
I was running out of time
and I was starting to panic.
You have ten seconds to go.
00:44:27,531 --> 00:44:28,626
00:44:28,826 --> 00:44:30,377
00:44:30,577 --> 00:44:31,577
00:44:31,777 --> 00:44:32,777
00:44:32,977 --> 00:44:33,977
00:44:34,177 --> 00:44:35,177
00:44:35,377 --> 00:44:36,377
00:44:36,577 --> 00:44:37,577
00:44:37,777 --> 00:44:39,081
That's it, step away from
your benches.
Well done, guys.
So looking down on my dish,
I'm happy.
It's all I could've done. My heart
and soul is on that plate right now.
You've just plated up your final
dish the first week of competition.
Neil Perry's snapper with
garam masala and coconut milk.
We'll now taste your dishes.
This will shape our decision
on which nine of you take the
final places
in our top 24.
The first dish we'd like
to taste,
Kate Nugara.
I feel really proud of myself. And
I know my boyfriend and my family
would be proud of me cause I've
finished what I started.
As Neil is our esteemed guest,
he'll taste your dishes first.
- Neil.
- Thank you.
Kate, how do you feel
you went?
I was happy that I finished it.
But, it's not my best.
You've had a little bit of trouble
with the fish.
Yes, I did have a trouble, it's the first
time I've actually picked up
a full fish.
And it wasn't my
best friend.
Sweet. Sort of lacking balance,
but, um, overall,
you did a very good job and you
should be proud of yourself.
Finishing and presenting something
that is still quite delicious.
Thank you.
Gentlemen.
Look, it's lovely and creamy, it's
much heavier than Neil's is.
It's certainly fragrant, but the
creaminess really dominates it.
The noodles are a little bit short
but they've got some good bite,
there's still a little resistance. Having
seen how stressed you've become,
I'm really, really very proud you've
actually got
a full complement of elements
on the dish.
- Thank you very much.
- Well done. Well done, Kate.
If I go home on this dish, I know
that I can hold my head up high.
Do I wanna go home?
Absolutely not.
Because it's just the beginning.
Sharnee, we'd now like to
taste your dish.
I have managed to plate up my
fish and broth,
and some blanched snow peas
but I am missing my noodles.
and I'd really hate them to be
the death of me in this competition.
Looks like I'm on a
no carb diet.
In my kitchen, not putting a dish up
complete, it's a bit of a no no. Okay?
I have managed to plate up my
fish and broth,
and some blanched snow peas,
but I am missing my noodles.
Just didn't get there
with the noodles?
Not with the noodles.
So in my kitchen, not putting a dish
up complete, it's a bit of a no no.
The sauce, it's got a nice
little spiciness,
so all in all, if you have gotten the
noodles up, not a bad effort.
The sauce is very good, Neil nearly
said that himself.
Sharnee, if you get through, what
would it mean to you?
When I cook, and I do something
well, it's, it's huge.
You know, you get so
much joy from it
and you get joy from seeing other
people take joy out of it.
And I saw this as a chance to grab it
and really use it.
- That means, that means a lot to you.
- Yeah, it means a huge amount to me,
you know, what's life
without passion?
We're gonna judge you on
what you've done so far,
and what you're
doing here.
The question's whether that sauce
is good enough to get over
some of the issues in the past.
- Thank you, Matt.
Thanks, Sharnee.
You've undercooked
the fish, Stewart.
That would come back
in a restaurant.
- Did you cook them at all? The snow peas?
- A little, yeah.
Cause they look like something you just
picked out of a basket in the grocery store.
Isn't that good?
Fish is nice, noodles are good, and
the sauce has got a great balance to it.
Dominic, please bring
your dish forward.
I haven't been that happy with my
last few efforts
and I was sort of really doubting
myself halfway through today, so
this is my last chance.
I think the whole beauty
about this dish is
this way the flavors unfold
in your mouth.
And this is what you managed to do.
It's a little bit sweet,
but we all wanna go back in
and have a second spoon.
Mark, please bring your
dish forward.
I'm feeling pretty confident. Other people's
pieces of fish were really small,
so I think I'd done
pretty well.
Wow. Geez.
How did he get that in the pan?
It's bigger than the pan.
You definitely have given us lots
of fish. You're very generous.
Maybe just a pinch more garam masala,
you'd be absolutely top here.
Thank you.
I got good comments, I'm trying not
to focus too much on the fact that this is
either gonna make or break
my MasterChef experience.
Oh, I was just gona say we haven't had
a fish bone today.
- Bones, customers, freak out.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Totally.
Carrie, it is absolutely perfect.
That's how you cook fish.
For me, Sarah, the fish and the noodles
are the hero of that dish.
And we've not really seen great
noodles, perfectly cooked fish,
so well done.
- Thank you.
Jake, please bring forward
your dish.
Now, Jake, you've obviously learnt to
cook through watching Neil on the telly.
- Yeah.
- You've cooked one of his dishes.
Neil himself is now gonna
taste it. Excited?
Yeah, I'm excited. This is one of the
reasons I've come on the show,
to hopefully meet Neil and, you know,
learn from the master himself.
Neil.
Jake, let's start with
the noodles.
They're good.
Not only that, you twirled them
to be a similar presentation to our shoji.
Not many guys would have done that.
Fish is cooked pretty nicely,
the snow peas have got
a great crunch,
it's altogether a quite
delicious dish.
You've done Neil proud, you've
dones us proud, well done, mate.
- Very good.
- Thank you.
Alvin.
Please bring forward
your dish.
I'm the last person to take
my fish out and I think,
not very pretty, but...
I can... I'm praying to every
god I know.
It's a shame you just didn't do
a little bit more presentation.
The noodles are
really good.
They're up there with the best
noodles we've had today.
The issue,
is you did
massacre that fish.
So, overcooked fish, not
necessarily that well filleted,
but some good noodles
and a great sauce.
Is it enough?
As Neil says,
is it enough?
- Thank you, Alvin.
- Thanks, Alvin.
I've done all I can and all I can
do now is just hope.
You did a really great job today. If you
do your best and you give it your all,
and you walk away you say you've done that,
you should be very proud of that.
It's been an honor.
Thanks, Matt.
- Thank you, Neil.
- George, Gary.
Good luck.
What an extraordinary week this
has been.
We've got fifteen of you
already in the top 24
and nine spots left.
Coming into this competition I've put
a lot on the line.
My friends, family,
business, love,
it's all...
it's all on hold, so, so this
has to work,
there's far too much invested
here for it not to.
We discussed with Neil
who have been the most impressive
in this challenge, but we've also
looked at what you've done this week.
These great cooks don't just stand
by one dish.
I'm adding up my own week in my head
and I'm going, man, that,
I mean, today better be real good
to make up for the rest of the week.
It's time to find out
who's made it.
Alvin and Skye, please
step forward.
Two of us are up there, and part
of me thinks, oh no,
one of us is gonna make it in, and one of
us will not, they're gonna split us up.
Not everyone can go through.
But Alvin and Skye, you're both through
to the final 24, well done.
Oh my God, I'm in.
Welcome to Masterchef, take those
white aprons off.
Put on these special white aprons.
Thank you very much,
George.
When George hands me over
the apron, it's like a stamp.
It's like I've been branded. It's one of
the top 24 chefs in Australia.
You're number 16 and 17 if you had
a number. Go and join the top 24.
Well done.
Thank you.
Please step forward,
Graham,
Jennifer,
Bel.
The hard thing about this competition is
we can't put everyone through.
And we've seen some beautiful
things from you.
But I'm sorry to say, you haven't
made it into the final 24.
We now have to say goodbye
to you. Thank you.
Au revoir.
See you later,
guys.
When I knew that I was going home,
I was very disappointed, but
at the same time I just try to focus
on the positive,
and everything that I've gotten out of
being here the past week,
and it just, it made me feel
a lot better.
The next person up to
the front,
is Dominic.
- Dominic, how are you feeling?
- Nervous.
Um...
This time last year I'd
written three goals,
and my third one was to find
a total change of career.
- You haven't ticked that box yet.
- No, I have not.
So I think we should tick
the other box.
Congratulations, welcome
to the top 24.
Thank you.
You now have a MasterChef apron,
and you're now a part of the top 24.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
I just had a wave of relief. Awesome
feeling, really, really cool feeling.
When I call out your name, can
you please step up to the front.
Kate.
And Carrie.
I was preparing myself
to hear the worst.
Because even though I thought
I performed to the best of my abilities,
I thought it wasn't enough.
It's been a tough week
for you two,
and we know
that it would mean a lot
to you to get through.
The thought of going home
really, really scares me.
I don't wanna go.
It's tough competition.
We can't always get
what we want.
It's been a tough week
for you two.
It's tough competition.
We can't always get
what we want.
I feel like my heart's about
to jump out of my chest.
I expect the judges will say,
yeah, you put up a good fight today,
but at this stage
we will say goodbye.
And we know that it would mean
a lot to you to get through.
And we think that you've done
really well in this last week,
and you've showed some guts
and determination.
And for that reason,
you're both through.
Oh my God.
Kate, the grit and determination
that you had today
was phenomenal. And that's why
you are in the top 24.
Thank you so much.
When I put that dish on
and the job was done,
it might not have been the best job,
but it was finished,
- That's what I'm talking about.
- Yes, come on!
- Yes!
- That's what I felt. Today I felt alive.
Really. And I felt a lot more confident
than I ever have in a long time.
Congratulations to the two of you.
Let's pop on some pristine clean aprons
with MasterChef logos.
Congratulations, well done.
I felt like I was a princess
being crowned.
I just... I was just in ecstasy.
There's four spots left
in the top 24,
the pressure is absolutely immense.
Can the following people
step forward?
Stewart.
Katie.
Henry.
And Lacey.
You should be very proud of what
you've achieved here.
Unfortunately, there is no place
for you in the top 24.
Best of luck. Thank you.
Thanks, guys.
There is a little bit of
disappointment.
Sort of disappointment for the fantasy
that I could be MasterChef. It's gone.
Please step forward,
Devon,
Sarah,
Sharnee.
Sarah and Sharnee have
had a bumpy ride
for the last few days,
so have I, I don't know if from
our MasterChef group
one of us is going home.
I think the thing that's blown us away
in this last week has been
how high the standard has been
in the top 50.
While I say high, not
everyone can make it.
But you have!
You're all in.
You little beauty!
Couldn't believe it.
Couldn't believe it.
Sarah. Rollercoaster ride.
Oh my God. That's all I say.
I wasn't gonna cry, but
it's got the better of me.
Sharnee, you didn't manage the
noodles, but even Neil Perry
commented on how good
that sauce was.
So Sharnee, well done.
I'm so happy and so excited,
and I'm thinking
I have so many opportunities
to prove myself,
it's just gonna be a great experience and
I'm so glad to be sticking around for it.
One little bit of ceremony
that needs to happen.
Yep.
Come here, George.
Take that off. Time to put on this
illustrious beautiful MasterChef apron,
cause you are now part
of top 50.
Take that one off.
Yeah.
MasterChef apron is a pinnacle.
Because if you get one of those,
you are one of the best
amateur cooks in Australia.
Top 24, baby. Up you go.
Guys, please step forward.
There are four of you. Sadly,
there's only one final place left
in the top 24.
As I'm standing in front of the judges,
a lot of doubt was running through my head.
Whether I, you know, was worthy.
And that person
is Jake.
I think my mind just went blank, you know,
i think I was literally in shock, you know.
- Thanks, Gary.
- Well done, mate.
Well done.
That dish probably impressed
Neil Perry the most.
It looked so beautiful. And it tasted
so fantastic. So congratulations,
really well deserved, mate.
- Thanks, Matt.
This is beyond my wildest dreams.
To get this far, it's an awesome feeling.
An awesome feeling.
- The last one, and it's yours.
- Yes.
The MasterChef apron, you are
number 24.
Thanks, George.
Top amateur cooks,
well done.
Thanks, guys.
Richard, Greg, Mark, congratulations
for getting this far,
it's an amazing achievement.
Cause there's a little something
in all of you that we saw.
Alright? So don't give up, yeah?
The world's your oyster,
just shuck it. Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
I feel just, you know, gutted, sad,
it just feels like a missed opportunity and
you know, I just need to decide
where I go from here.
Wow! There you have it. The top 24
amateur cooks of Australia.
Congratulations.
Are you the next Australian
MasterChef?
- Yes, chef!
- Louder!
Yes, chef!
That's what I'm talking about.
Tomorrow night on
MasterChef Australia.
I'm here, I'm finally here,
and I'm about to start cooking.
The journey begins for our
top 24 amateur cooks.
We're pretty nervous and excited
about what's to come.
Then, the pressure is on in their
very first challenge.
It's all about putting your
heart and soul into the food.
As they serve up their
fondest food memory.
Everyone's manic.
These dishes just need to
stay at home.
I'm gonna make my mom
and dad proud.
And for the winner, a chance
to control their fate.
This is an amazing opportunity
that will change one of your lives.
I desperately wanna win.
MasterChef Australia.
Welcome to the top 50
of MasterChef Australia.
The search began for
Australia's next MasterChef.
This is gonna be tough.
And from fifty hopefuls twelve made
it through to the final 24.
Finally, I'm there.
I'm there.
Tonight, the last twelve
places will be decided.
The question is, are you
gonna be one of the lucky ones?
First up, they'll face
the mystery box.
I'm... I'm gone.
Then they'll have to impress
a big gun of Australian cuisine,
Neil Perry, in the
pressure test.
You have to push yourself
beyond the limit.
With only twelve places remaining
there are no second chances,
and for some their dream
will end.
The thought of going home really
scares me. I don't wanna go.
Today's now or never.
Really. This is it.
Getting into the top 24
would just be tremendous,
it would be in itself
a dream come true.
It's the last part of the top 50
and I know that
it's my last chance to make
a good impression on the judges,
so I really have to
do well today.
It's nearly a week since you first
stepped into the MasterChef arena.
And what a massive week
it's been.
Twelve spots in the top 24
have already been filled.
There are twelve spots left.
The question is,
are you gonna be one
of the lucky ones.
Today I have to do it.
Because
I don't wanna be at the end
and think, gee, I didn't try.
There's two deciding challenges
and our first challenge, ah...
It's a challenge that tests you,
to see how good you are on the spot.
It's the mystery box.
This is a challenge that sorts
men from the boys
and the women
from the girls.
You just have to make it up
on the spot
and that's really where it
all comes down to.
What are you waiting for?
Run to your benches.
I'm very, very nervous,
because I don't know
what's in the bloody box.
The idea's simple.
In that box, you'll find
some ingredients.
All you've gotta do is make
something inventive, spectacular,
inspiring, using some or all
of those ingredients.
Here's where it gets tricky.
You'll only have 45 minutes
to complete the mystery
box challenge.
45 minutes sounds like a lot
but when you're under that pressure
of the MasterChef kitchen, you're
thinking, oh my God, is it enough?
We'll taste all your dishes.
The best four dishes
will win their creators a place
in that final 24.
But this is MasterChef, there's
always a kicker.
The four of you that create
the least impressive dishes
will leave here within the hour.
You'll be eliminated.
Your dream will be over.
That makes my heart
sink, because
I really don't wanna be
in that bottom four.
I can't... I can't be the person
that's eliminated.
Four in, four out,
it's as simple as that.
So, ladies and gentlemen,
you may lift your lids.
Fruit. Crap.
I'm seeing chocolate,
strawberries,
I've got all these different recipes
running through my head.
It's... it's all fruit and chocolate,
and clearly it's a dessert challenge.
This is our first ever all-dessert
mystery box
and it's got some cracking
ingredients.
You've got a beautiful variety
of fruit, chocolate,
Grand Marnier, cinnamon
sticks, and...
hundreds and thousands.
I'm not a dessert person. My heart
just sank, I thought, I'm gone,
I might as well walk
out the door now.
There is no excuse not to give
us an amazing dish.
If you want a space in the top 24,
that's what you have to deliver.
Your time starts now.
The judges say go, and I run.
Shoulders out, barging people
out of the way, I have to do this,
it's my last shot.
Forty-five minutes. Gotta
work with that clock,
and I have chocolate mousse,
I know I can do it.
I'm making a German-style
cheesecake
that comes from my sister-in-law
in Germany.
I very very rarely make desserts
so I'm absolutely terrified.
I'm making some crepes
with filling of whipped cream,
and Grand Marnier sauce.
I'm doing a strawberry jelly
with chocolate-coated strawberries.
I've never made it before, and I'm
picking this up from
some of the techniques that
George used in his MasterClass.
And there you have it.
A simple little dessert
as easy as that.
I'm not a huge dessert person,
but I'm just going by my gut,
so hopefully that's gonna
see me through.
Georgie, I love the energy
in the room, it's fantastic,
you've got lots of chocolate mousses
happening along the line,
lots of crepes happening
along the line,
and when we're doing a dessert
challenge like this one,
the room always
smells great.
I'm doing a chocolate tart and I've got
a orange syrup on the go as well.
The dish I'm going to cook
is a cherry jelly
with a chocolate milk
granita.
I think the trickiest process of my dish
was overall timing.
Half an hour, it's gotta
go in now.
Going into the freezer, and hoping
that it sets in time.
Fifteen minutes down, you have
thirty minutes to go.
What I'm loving is you guys
have gone out
bolting out of the gates,
there's frenzy of cooking in here,
it's fabulous.
So Fiona, what are
you doing?
I thought I'd try something new
and I'm going to do
a strawberry jelly.
- Okay.
So I'm a little, you know,
worried about that but...
- Alright, okay.
- Get it in the blast freezer
it's gotta chill down.
I'm doing a chocolate
ganache tart.
I have made this... I've made
this tart before.
I've been in a couple of
challenges where
I've got to the end but
not quite made it and
with four spots up for grabs today,
I have to do something
that really stood out.
Don't open it. Don't open it.
Don't open it.
George, there are some of them,
when they lifted that cloche,
you could just see the delight
on their face,
fanastic, I'm doing a dessert,
the other half, oh my goodness,
it's gonna be a disaster.
Fiona, she's making a jelly which you
showed them how to do in MasterClass.
So at least she's taking
on board something new.
My only concern is, they've only
got 45 minutes.
A jelly tends to take a little
longer than that.
So we'll just have to see
how well she does.
The question is, George, will anybody
use the hundreds and thousands?
Oh no.
I hope not.
- Jake, how are you, man?
- Yeah, good, how are you George?
Have you used the
hundreds and thousands?
Well, I normally use coconut for them
and they're like a cherry rollup,
but filled with...
- What is the dish?
It's a panfried souffle,
just vanilla and chocolate.
- Should cross me fingers, and...
- Put up the best dish.
Yeah, just hope, hope I'm not
in the bottom four, you know.
- Okay man. Well good luck, yeah?
- Thanks, George.
Guys, you have fifteen
minutes to go.
Probably the most important
fifteen minutes,
cause four of you could go through
to the top 24.
- I'm making chocolate mousse.
- It's a really rich chocolate mousse,
it's not supposed to be like
fluffy, it's creamy.
Kate, what are you making?
The... I'm making a chocolate mousse
but it looks a little bit different
to what I... when I
make it at home.
Well. Your egg whites
look really different.
- Yeah. What went wrong here?
- I maybe overdid those.
But I'm still, all like... I'm trying.
You've gotta try your best,
and if you know you've tried
your best, the competition's fierce,
and I know that I...
I really want it.
The question is, is it gonna
be a great chocolate mousse?
- I hope so.
- Hopefully it sets.
Thank you.
The egg whites didn't come out
the way I did it at home,
I practiced this before, but I need
it now, I need it, really, now.
This chocolate mousse is either
gonna make or break me,
but I'm trying so...
that's all that matters.
Ahead.
A shock announcement...
Kate's got something
to tell us.
... might mean one more person
could make it into the top 24.
Just that little voice in my head
saying, it's another spot.
And later.
Celebrity judge Neil Perry...
This is a really simple
dish.
... helps decide who gets in
and who's going home.
In my kitchen,
not putting a dish
up complete
it's a bit of a no no.
This chocolate mousse is either
gonna make or break me,
but I'm trying so...
that's all that matters.
I'm actually having a good time
even though I was crying,
it was like a good cry and
the mistakes are like part of it.
You know, I'm not perfect
and neither is my food
and that's why I'm on MasterChef,
to try and improve.
Come on, guys, how proud
you must feel
to be right here in the
MasterChef arena,
cooking to save yourself.
To be in this competition
hopefully to seal a place
in the top 24.
- You can have those.
- Thank you.
You're a champion.
- I'm feeling very nervous,
really want one of those spots, so I'm just
praying that this will get me there.
I was attempting to make
a strawberry jelly.
The trickiest part of the dish
is getting it into the freezer and
getting it to set
in time.
I thought everybody would be
wanting to use the fridge and freezer so
I opted for something
really simple.
Cream, chocolate,
and oranges.
Crepes.
Done.
Who would believe that
45 minutes could go so fast?
You have 10 minutes
to go.
Come on guys, this is the
business end of this challenge.
You need to ramp it up
to plate it up.
This is the most important
part of the challenge,
it's make or break. I'm pretty
worried at this stage,
because I'm not sure I'm
gonna finish in time.
- Callum, how are you, man?
- Yeah, good, thanks.
What are you making?
I'm doing a jaffa tart
with an orange sauce
and segments of oranges.
- You feel this is your last chance, mate?
Yeah, I really do, because I got
close in the quail challenge,
I really though it was
my challenge
because not many people have
worked with a quail before,
and I was pretty disappointed. So yeah,
this is probably my last chance.
Well, we love your energy,
don't we, George?
We love that little frenzy
and the sweat on your brows.
Well done, buddy.
This is not cooking.
This is not cooking!
Shortcrust pastry is in the oven
but it's just not happening.
It's just not... not going
the way I want.
I don't think I'm
gonna make it.
So I need to look at
plan B,
which is turning my shortcrust tart
into a shortcrust biscuit.
Right guys, you've got
five minutes to go.
What I'd be doing right now, is putting
all those final little touches on
and making sure you're putting
up some gorgeous food.
Remember, for some of you,
if you'd made a mistake,
this is where you say goodbye
to the MasterChef arena.
I'm making a chocolate mousse
cake with a strawberry syrup.
My greatest worry is if the mousse
won't freeze in time.
The fridge keeps getting open and shut,
with that comes higher temperature,
and I sort of need it at quite
a low temperature
to set the mousse, so...
fingers crossed.
My granita is not setting
and my jelly is not setting.
Disaster.
How do you recommend
I make this mess up?
Sorry mate.
Just be quick mate. You don't
have much time.
Just try and get something
on the plate.
Could you put it in a little like...
something like this?
Yeah? So like a ramekin
or something?
- Yeah. I'm gonna do that.
- Run, mate.
Guys, this is the final
sixty seconds.
I finished it. It's plated up.
Is there work to be done, yes.
The cream doesn't look as pretty.
But, 45 minutes, you try doing it.
Running on the last second.
I need every single I can get.
I hope that this is the dish
that gets me over the line.
Because it's such a beautiful story.
I did the jaffa swirl
like a maze kinda swirl. My daughter
loves mazes and i just thought of her.
We have a leaker.
Didn't set. The gelatin
didn't set.
I have no solution, so I just
have to go with what I've got.
I think I've had a little bit of trouble
with the way it's setting.
Hopefully it will taste nice.
You have ten seconds to go.
00:15:18,878 --> 00:15:20,013
00:15:20,213 --> 00:15:21,829
00:15:22,029 --> 00:15:23,413
00:15:23,613 --> 00:15:24,637
00:15:24,837 --> 00:15:25,837
00:15:26,037 --> 00:15:27,037
00:15:27,237 --> 00:15:28,237
00:15:28,437 --> 00:15:29,781
00:15:29,981 --> 00:15:35,258
That's it. Step away from
your benches. Well done.
The challenge has just ended and
my gelatin didn't set in time
and my granita
didn't set at all.
So, it's up to the
judges now.
You've just completed our
first ever
all-dessert mystery box
challenge.
We're now gonna taste your dishes,
those who have cooked
the best four dishes will go
straight through to the final 24.
The four least impressive dishes will
send their creators home.
Gentlemen,
it's time to taste.
- Jason.
- Yes.
- Where's your dessert?
- I know.
You've got a cherry on the plate.
- Jason.
- Yes.
- Where's your dessert?
- I know.
- You've got a cherry on the plate.
- Pretty much.
Ah, it's a cherry jelly. And I was
gonna serve it with a choc...
chocolate milk,
um... granita.
You know, I'll try and
turn it out.
- No.
- You know, not far off.
Tell me what went wrong.
Um... everything.
It didn't set in time. Desserts
are definitely not my strong point.
You know. We all know,
sometimes we have disasters.
Today is one of those days.
Don't kick yourself.
Just happens sometimes.
- Anyway, good job.
- Yeah, thank you very much.
I knew that I didn't execute
this dish at all,
I just wasn't confident
in what I did.
- Matthew.
- George.
What do you wanna get to?
- Personally?
- Yeah.
- Stage where you're at.
- So you wanna own a restaurant.
- I do.
- What's the dish?
It's a layered mousse and that's
just a strawberry syrup
to pour around.
Let's taste.
It's gorgeous. It's absolutely
gorgeous.
It's a beautiful dessert and
you should be very proud of yourself.
- Thank you so much.
- Well done.
That's like putting a spoonful
of strawberry velvet
and chocolate velvet in your mouth
at the same time
and rolling it around. It's a way
a true dessert should be,
if you do get through
to the 24,
you'll do very very well
in this competition.
Well done, Matthew.
I just wanna get in there. Really,
really, really want it.
That's a dense chocolate mousse,
there's nothing wrong with it,
it's sweet, does all the things
that you want a chocolate mousse to do
I wanna stay safe because you've worked
hard all week to get to where you are,
so I want it hardcore.
- It's nice and silky,
but it is after all just a chocolate
mousse in a glass.
It needs to be a tart. You can't
put a pie filling in that
and serve it. Exciting about a pie
is that beautiful,
kinda crispy shell.
- Fiona, what's that?
- It's supposed to be a jelly,
it's just the time ran away,
it hasn't obviously set.
So I'm calling it more of a
strawberry champagne.
As a strawberry
jelly you failed dismally
because it's not a jelly.
But it looks beautiful
and as a strawberry champagne I
think it would be a lovely cleanser.
It'd be gorgeous. It's fresh strawberries
and it's just sweet enough,
it's a great combination.
First rule of being a chef,
when people ask you what it is,
say what it is now,
not what you dreamt it was.
Cause what you have there is almost
the perfect summer dessert.
But what is it?
What is this?
- Strawberry champagne.
- Beautiful.
- Joanne.
- Hi, George.
I hope that this is the dish
that gets me over the line,
because I want them to see
my story on the plate.
Because I've got so many stories
to tell.
- I think my daughters would eat that.
- Would they?
Yeah.
When I was doing I though it was a maze
and it's all leading to
this one thing there, come on,
let's go for it.
Well, so your daughters inspired you,
your daughters, your husband.
- It's everything on the plate.
- Yeah.
I cook with my heart and my heart
told me to do this.
That's the only way to cook.
It's interesting. Looks beautiful
and in terms of flavor,
it's bang on what you've said.
A really great job.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I'm actually feeling a little bit
embarrassed with what I've done.
It looks okay, but I know
my wife's going to laugh.
You can't serve this in a restaurant
or a café, can you,
if you can't get it
off the tray.
I teased all my Anglo mates
at high school
for their hundreds and thousands sandwich.
- Very brave.
cause I had salami on mine.
This is a moment.
Interesting.
Callum. And when you're
not standing here
in the MasterChef kitchen,
what do you do?
I study sports engineering
at the University of Adelaide.
- And you wanna be a chef?
- I'm passionate about food,
and when the MasterChef opportunity
came along I thought I'd grab it
and give it a really good go.
- Tell me what your dish is.
The dish I made today is a jaffa tart
with an orange and cinnamom syrup.
Classic spanish flavors, orange,
cinnamon, chocolate,
but I would suggest that really you
only want a tiny slice
because it's so rich.
If you wanted to give us something
that tasted of chocolate and orange,
then my goodness, it tastes
of chocolate and orange.
But Matt's right, it is really,
really rich.
It's not a bad thing. You just
need a big mug of tea.
Okay.
From the comments I received I'm
not quite sure how I've gone
so I'm just a bunch of jittery nerves,
it's... it's quite nerve-racking.
Amazing thing, that
mystery box,
it turns even the best cooks
on their heads.
And we saw that you felt
that stress.
If you think about that challenge,
it was tough.
But what is really tough, is off the
back of that, four people
will earn their place in the top 24
and four people will be saying goodbye
to their dream in this competition.
I just hope I can get through
to the next round and
and prove myself. I haven't had
much of a chance here.
If I call your name, please
step forward.
Matthew.
Jo O'Brian.
Joanne Zalm.
Tony.
Fiona.
Claude.
Callum.
Jason.
The nervous tension is
mind-boggling.
You can feel the waves of fear
coming off everybody including myself.
Four of you are straight through
to the top 24.
Four of you going home.
The eight of you
represent
the cooks that cooked
the four best
and the four least impressive
dishes of today.
Four of you are straight through
to the top 24,
four of you going home.
It's mixed emotions. Half of me's
shit-scared I'm going home,
and the other halfof me is ecstatic that
I might be through to the top 24.
I... I don't think I'm
going home.
I hope... I hope I'm
not going home.
Matthew,
Joanne,
Fiona,
Callum.
You're through to
the top 24.
I'm ecstatic. I just wanna run up
to the judges,
hug them for hours, it was the most
amazing feeling I've ever experienced.
Jason, Claude,
Tony and Jo.
Unfortunately, your journey
ends here
and we wish you the very
best of luck.
Got a long hard week and I've not
just done this for myself.
I wanna show my children
as well that
if you have a dream, you can
go there and get it.
It may not work out the first time
but there's no reason to give up
and you can keep trying.
That's how you get up.
Matthew, Joanne, Fiona, Callum,
these guys over here
are already in the top 24.
You guys now get to join them.
But before you join them, you need
to take off those dirty white aprons
and I need to give you guys
a special one.
A real MasterChef apron.
Come on.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much.
I put on this clean, crisp
MasterChef apron
Has this big M on my chest, it just
feels like my heart is now on my apron.
This is my heart.
Go and join them.
Congratulations.
Congratulations. Welcome
to the club.
Thank you.
I feel so proud to be wearing
the MasterChef apron.
I would love to go all the way.
I am so in this
to win this.
There are twenty of you
standing in front of us.
You're now down to the wire,
this is your last chance to secure spot
in the top 24 and you've gotta be
ready to rock this competition.
But.
Before we get into that, Kate's
got something to tell us.
I've made a decision that I need
to be with my family
back in Brisbane.
So, I would like to give this
to you
and I'd like someone else to
have the opportunity
for this.
- Kate, it's very brave thing to do.
- Thank you.
But you know what, you get to go back
to your family, isn't that fantastic?
Yeah.
- Thank you so much.
- Thanks so much.
Good luck everyone.
Thank you,
Kate.
Despite having one of the most
wonderful experiences of my life,
I have a family at home that
need me and they need their mother.
It was a little bit of a shock. But there's
that little voice in my head saying,
it's another spot.
There are now nine spots
left in the top 24.
The next challenge
is gonna be tough.
You can look at these guys, they're
sitting in the safe seats.
Whereas you, you've still got
a lot of work to do.
It's a momentous occasion.
And it's only fitting
to have a momentous challenge
to match.
What you're about to face is
the pressure test.
So this is the way it works.
You'll get to cook the same dish
in the same time limit with
the same recipe.
And accordingly, we pay you the respect
of bringing a very big gun
to the MasterChef kitchen.
This mas has a restaurant
in Melbourne.
This man has three restaurants in Sydney.
One of those restaurants
was named in the world's top 50
not once, but seven years in a row.
That restaurant is Rockpool,
that man is Neil Perry.
When I see Neil Perry walk through
the MasterChef kitchen,
I'm amazed. Straight away I think
he looks like Steven Seagal.
I'm Neil Perry, executive chef and
owner of the Rockpool Grill.
I've been in a kitchen for 37 years now,
and I've loved through all of my life.
And it's my one great passion.
My food philosophy is all about produce.
My produces are supplies of the heroes,
and in Rockpool we really make sure
we then care for it
and nurture the best flavor
out of it.
Beautiful.
What turns a good cook into
an amazing one
is dedication. You have
to be focused
and you have to push yourself
beyond the limit.
Neil.
Neil, how you can see,
they're pretty excited.
They look excited, Matt,
they look excited.
Young cooks, what advice
do you give them?
Be organized, and be passionate,
and it's all about taste.
Now, please reveal the dish
our contestants will cook today
that will send nine of them
through to the final 24.
So Neil... I was, I was hoping
it was seafood, which was
a bit more my style compared to dessert
or boning out a bloody quail.
So the dish that you'll cook today
is crimson snapper poached in garam masala
and coconut milk and then served
next to noodles
and snow peas.
It's fragrant, it smells
delicious, you just want to eat it
and it looks...
it's like magic
on a plate.
This is a really simple dish.
It's a piece of cake,
but they've just gotta get
the elements right.
So get them all right, and it's a five
minute preparation at the end
to put this beautiful fresh
fragrant dish together.
This dish looks simple but there's
million things that can go wrong,
and I'm feeling absolutely
frightened.
Well now to fun bit.
To really understand the dish
you have to taste it.
Now, Alvin, you've cooked
a fair number of Asian dishes
in the challenges so far. How
are you feeling
looking at that?
- Really nervous,
because I don't think I've made
a curry from scratch before
and I've never made pasta
or noodles.
Big fan of eating it though.
Neil, why have you chosen
this dish today?
I've chosen this dish because
there's three elements
that the contestants have
to get right.
One is the flavor base
of the sauce.
Two, the semolina
noodles,
and then of course the fish.
- It's fantastic.
Thank you.
Dominic, now you looked pretty excited
when you knew it was Neil,
you're almost vibrating.
I'm a big fan, for starts.
- So how do you describe Neil's food?
Neil's food is actually sort
of what I aspire to.
It's exactly what I would love to
be making to be honest.
Of course it's just magnificent
and it's perfectly balanced
and while I'm enjoying the food,
I silently thought, oh shit,
I've got to cook this.
So that's sort of proving a damn wrong
what would otherwise be
a fine dining experience.
This is it.
The last chance to clinch those
nine spots in the top 24.
You have an hour and forty-five
minutes to complete
Neil's signature dish
to perfection.
It's up to you now. Your future
is in your hands.
Your time starts
now.
Catch up on all the latest news,
episodes, interviews and recipes
This is it.
The last chance you have to clinch
those nine spots in the top 24.
You have an hour and forty-five
minutes.
Your time starts
now.
An hour forty-five to recreate
a Neil Perry dish.
Come on, guys.
You know, we're amateur cooks
here, not professionals.
So the moment the challenge starts,
I make the tomato and chilli base,
which is the base of the sauce.
I thought, I need to get that in,
because that needs to sort of
simmer gently for
forty minutes.
- Alvin, how're you going?
- I'm stressed.
There's a go for you.
This should be your cup of tea.
- Please don't say that.
- So everybody's gonna be looking at you.
Please don't say that.
In terms of the flavor,
you must understand it.
Yes, it's all about the balance
of sweet and sour, you know.
What bit are you worried
about the most?
Getting the timing right.
Actually, no.
The bit I'm worried about
is filleting the fish,
cause I've seen you do it,
but I've never done it before.
- You keep going.
- I know you're nervous.
- I can feel it. I can see it.
- Thank you.
Yeah? So you go for it and
put up a gorgeous dish.
Cheers.
- Katie Pepper.
- Hey, guys.
- How are you?
- I'm alright.
Look, I'm following the recipe to
a T at the moment.
That looks absolutely gorgeous.
That's probably
the best tomato dice we've seen so far.
- Yeah.
Is it important for you
to be perfect?
Yeah, everything I'm doing, is important
that it's perfect today.
It's my last chance today.
The finish line is only
one hour away.
It smells delicious in here.
And what a challenge
for the final nine spots. Think about
this. Every little step you're taking
is one step closer
to your dream.
Next step, I make the pasta dough
for the semolina noodles.
Starting to feel like it's
coming together.
So much at stake, so much
on the line,
and I just want to cook
my heart out.
Jake.
You're looking confident,
I must say.
- Is this challenge up your alley?
- Yeah, it is. I like this style of cooking.
And um... Neil Perry is my favorite chef.
He's taught me how to cook on the TV.
- Has he?
- Yeah. That's... he's my main inspiration
for coming on the show.
- So you'd think you'd be nervous
when he comes and, you know, pokes
around at your sauce
and looks at your noodles and...
- Yeah, I'm just trying to breathe
and, you know, I just, don't wanna chop
another finger off
I wanna keep myself together today,
if I don't get through on this one,
I'll be kicking myself.
You have less than forty-five
minutes to go.
We don't wanna hear you hope
to do or you wish you done this,
we wanna hear that you could do it.
You can secure those nine spots
in the top 24.
Come on!
Being a snapper, I was rapt.
I'm always fishing up the coast, you know,
I fillet snapper every week so
I'm pretty confident in it.
- Matey, how are you going?
- Yeah, good. Great fish.
It's a beautiful fish. Alright.
You're looking alright.
Use the tip, Kate. The tip
of the knife.
Neil, what are the things that
you see that's been
the common problems the people
are having?
Well, I think something we take
for granted in professional kitchen,
the ability to fillet a fish. There's
two or three nice looking fish fillets
that were presented,
the rest are really
from slightly butchered
to completely murdered.
I knew this would be a problem.
I massacred the fish.
Damn you, fish.
I go Jackie Chan on the fish.
It's not good.
Hallelujah.
- You have thirty minutes to go.
- You need to start sprinting now.
Come on!
For once I'm feeling
under pressure.
Next step is to roll out
the semolina noodles,
and hang those, they have a
little time to dry before you
cook them.
I'm definitely nervous, I'm not the
only nervous person in the room. Who isn't?
But, you know, I've just learned from
the other challenges
I really need to keep
my head together.
Oh, Katie. Just carefully,
take your time.
I'm getting those silly little noodles
which were like this big
when they're supposed to be
this big,
on this big bar, and Matt Preston's
face is right there.
- I've tried my best. I've got it out.
- And that's what matters. Well done.
As I'm putting the noodles
through the machine,
I can tell that I haven't
rolled the mixture thin enough,
it's starting to break apart.
- That does pose a bit of problem?
Yeah, I'm really worried, I'm not
quite sure what to do to rescue it.
Is there anything I can do to
rescue this?
- Follow the recipe.
- Yeah.
There's a lot of pressure riding on this,
make the top 24.
Obviously, I've gone wrong
somewhere along my way.
Got twenty minutes left, I'm gonna
scrap the noodles and see how I go.
I think at this point I'm...
I've got twenty minutes left,
I'm gonna scrap the noodles,
just plated up the fish and broth
and see how I go.
Come on, guys,
this is the time.
Either you prove it,
or you gonna lose it.
Come on!
I have to really get cracking, get all
the components done and plated up,
because if not, I will
be going home.
So look at these. Sarah,
you feel good?
- No, not particularly.
- They look great, Sarah.
Yeah, they do look nice
actually.
Hey, you know what, I think there's
some great noodles along here,
I think they've done, other than a few
exceptions, I think they are fantastic.
Next step is to prepare the
garam masala,
so I roast all of my spices, smash it
all up in the pestle and mortar,
now I've just gotta put
everything together.
- How is it going?
- Good, how are you?
Big guy like you should be pounding
them all the way to home.
Cinnamon bark doesn't go.
- Yeah, cinnamon's a tough one.
Yeah. Nearly there.
My name's Dominic Corrigan.
Last year I came up
with a three point plan.
My three points were to
start a charity,
to really put a lot more energy
and time into those really important
relationships to me.
And the third one was a career change
that would actually make me happy
and fulfill me.
You have fifteen minutes to go.
Come on guys, it's not over,
until that food of yours sings.
It has to sing, the food
equivalent of Pavarotti.
Come on.
The dish isn't too complicated,
there's just lots of elements
that make the dish up. They
remind me of stuff that I'm used to make.
Mark. Are you feeling calm and
confident with this recipe?
Um...
I am actually. The currys and I fit
for obvious reasons.
- Why should that be obvious?
- My mother's gran's Indian,
the coconut, the garam masala
that's running through it,
they're just very
familiar flavors.
I'm Mark Smith, and I'm a student
from Melbourne.
My background is Indian, I was
actually born in Australia.
I would love to go back to India,
with my sister and learn
all about the food that
our parents grew up with.
Good luck.
I'm thinking that you might
do ok on this one.
- Good luck.
- Good luck.
It's not seasoned.
It feels quite daunting having
Neil Perry wander around,
you know, checking everyone's
cooking, because it's his dish,
and he's perfected it.
- That's good.
You're in a good space.
I think that's really flummox to me,
so many different components
to this recipe, looks so simple,
it's deceptive.
I mean, let's be quite honest, there's
noodles, there's fish and there's a sauce.
But, a lot of it comes down to that
last little marriage.
So it's gonna be a lot of trickiness
right happening at the end.
You have five minutes to go.
Take a look to your left.
These guys are in the top 24
already,
this is where you
wanna be.
Jump over that line and hopefully
go home with the top 24 place.
Come on.
I'm plating up with no noodles,
it's not the greatest feeling, but um,
I've worked really hard
in the competition so far
and to go home on noodles
would be really disappointing.
Guys, this is the final countdown,
this is the final sixty seconds.
Go hard now,
or go home.
Feels like I'm having a wrestle
with this fish and, you know.
I was running out of time
and I was starting to panic.
You have ten seconds to go.
00:44:27,531 --> 00:44:28,626
00:44:28,826 --> 00:44:30,377
00:44:30,577 --> 00:44:31,577
00:44:31,777 --> 00:44:32,777
00:44:32,977 --> 00:44:33,977
00:44:34,177 --> 00:44:35,177
00:44:35,377 --> 00:44:36,377
00:44:36,577 --> 00:44:37,577
00:44:37,777 --> 00:44:39,081
That's it, step away from
your benches.
Well done, guys.
So looking down on my dish,
I'm happy.
It's all I could've done. My heart
and soul is on that plate right now.
You've just plated up your final
dish the first week of competition.
Neil Perry's snapper with
garam masala and coconut milk.
We'll now taste your dishes.
This will shape our decision
on which nine of you take the
final places
in our top 24.
The first dish we'd like
to taste,
Kate Nugara.
I feel really proud of myself. And
I know my boyfriend and my family
would be proud of me cause I've
finished what I started.
As Neil is our esteemed guest,
he'll taste your dishes first.
- Neil.
- Thank you.
Kate, how do you feel
you went?
I was happy that I finished it.
But, it's not my best.
You've had a little bit of trouble
with the fish.
Yes, I did have a trouble, it's the first
time I've actually picked up
a full fish.
And it wasn't my
best friend.
Sweet. Sort of lacking balance,
but, um, overall,
you did a very good job and you
should be proud of yourself.
Finishing and presenting something
that is still quite delicious.
Thank you.
Gentlemen.
Look, it's lovely and creamy, it's
much heavier than Neil's is.
It's certainly fragrant, but the
creaminess really dominates it.
The noodles are a little bit short
but they've got some good bite,
there's still a little resistance. Having
seen how stressed you've become,
I'm really, really very proud you've
actually got
a full complement of elements
on the dish.
- Thank you very much.
- Well done. Well done, Kate.
If I go home on this dish, I know
that I can hold my head up high.
Do I wanna go home?
Absolutely not.
Because it's just the beginning.
Sharnee, we'd now like to
taste your dish.
I have managed to plate up my
fish and broth,
and some blanched snow peas
but I am missing my noodles.
and I'd really hate them to be
the death of me in this competition.
Looks like I'm on a
no carb diet.
In my kitchen, not putting a dish up
complete, it's a bit of a no no. Okay?
I have managed to plate up my
fish and broth,
and some blanched snow peas,
but I am missing my noodles.
Just didn't get there
with the noodles?
Not with the noodles.
So in my kitchen, not putting a dish
up complete, it's a bit of a no no.
The sauce, it's got a nice
little spiciness,
so all in all, if you have gotten the
noodles up, not a bad effort.
The sauce is very good, Neil nearly
said that himself.
Sharnee, if you get through, what
would it mean to you?
When I cook, and I do something
well, it's, it's huge.
You know, you get so
much joy from it
and you get joy from seeing other
people take joy out of it.
And I saw this as a chance to grab it
and really use it.
- That means, that means a lot to you.
- Yeah, it means a huge amount to me,
you know, what's life
without passion?
We're gonna judge you on
what you've done so far,
and what you're
doing here.
The question's whether that sauce
is good enough to get over
some of the issues in the past.
- Thank you, Matt.
Thanks, Sharnee.
You've undercooked
the fish, Stewart.
That would come back
in a restaurant.
- Did you cook them at all? The snow peas?
- A little, yeah.
Cause they look like something you just
picked out of a basket in the grocery store.
Isn't that good?
Fish is nice, noodles are good, and
the sauce has got a great balance to it.
Dominic, please bring
your dish forward.
I haven't been that happy with my
last few efforts
and I was sort of really doubting
myself halfway through today, so
this is my last chance.
I think the whole beauty
about this dish is
this way the flavors unfold
in your mouth.
And this is what you managed to do.
It's a little bit sweet,
but we all wanna go back in
and have a second spoon.
Mark, please bring your
dish forward.
I'm feeling pretty confident. Other people's
pieces of fish were really small,
so I think I'd done
pretty well.
Wow. Geez.
How did he get that in the pan?
It's bigger than the pan.
You definitely have given us lots
of fish. You're very generous.
Maybe just a pinch more garam masala,
you'd be absolutely top here.
Thank you.
I got good comments, I'm trying not
to focus too much on the fact that this is
either gonna make or break
my MasterChef experience.
Oh, I was just gona say we haven't had
a fish bone today.
- Bones, customers, freak out.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Totally.
Carrie, it is absolutely perfect.
That's how you cook fish.
For me, Sarah, the fish and the noodles
are the hero of that dish.
And we've not really seen great
noodles, perfectly cooked fish,
so well done.
- Thank you.
Jake, please bring forward
your dish.
Now, Jake, you've obviously learnt to
cook through watching Neil on the telly.
- Yeah.
- You've cooked one of his dishes.
Neil himself is now gonna
taste it. Excited?
Yeah, I'm excited. This is one of the
reasons I've come on the show,
to hopefully meet Neil and, you know,
learn from the master himself.
Neil.
Jake, let's start with
the noodles.
They're good.
Not only that, you twirled them
to be a similar presentation to our shoji.
Not many guys would have done that.
Fish is cooked pretty nicely,
the snow peas have got
a great crunch,
it's altogether a quite
delicious dish.
You've done Neil proud, you've
dones us proud, well done, mate.
- Very good.
- Thank you.
Alvin.
Please bring forward
your dish.
I'm the last person to take
my fish out and I think,
not very pretty, but...
I can... I'm praying to every
god I know.
It's a shame you just didn't do
a little bit more presentation.
The noodles are
really good.
They're up there with the best
noodles we've had today.
The issue,
is you did
massacre that fish.
So, overcooked fish, not
necessarily that well filleted,
but some good noodles
and a great sauce.
Is it enough?
As Neil says,
is it enough?
- Thank you, Alvin.
- Thanks, Alvin.
I've done all I can and all I can
do now is just hope.
You did a really great job today. If you
do your best and you give it your all,
and you walk away you say you've done that,
you should be very proud of that.
It's been an honor.
Thanks, Matt.
- Thank you, Neil.
- George, Gary.
Good luck.
What an extraordinary week this
has been.
We've got fifteen of you
already in the top 24
and nine spots left.
Coming into this competition I've put
a lot on the line.
My friends, family,
business, love,
it's all...
it's all on hold, so, so this
has to work,
there's far too much invested
here for it not to.
We discussed with Neil
who have been the most impressive
in this challenge, but we've also
looked at what you've done this week.
These great cooks don't just stand
by one dish.
I'm adding up my own week in my head
and I'm going, man, that,
I mean, today better be real good
to make up for the rest of the week.
It's time to find out
who's made it.
Alvin and Skye, please
step forward.
Two of us are up there, and part
of me thinks, oh no,
one of us is gonna make it in, and one of
us will not, they're gonna split us up.
Not everyone can go through.
But Alvin and Skye, you're both through
to the final 24, well done.
Oh my God, I'm in.
Welcome to Masterchef, take those
white aprons off.
Put on these special white aprons.
Thank you very much,
George.
When George hands me over
the apron, it's like a stamp.
It's like I've been branded. It's one of
the top 24 chefs in Australia.
You're number 16 and 17 if you had
a number. Go and join the top 24.
Well done.
Thank you.
Please step forward,
Graham,
Jennifer,
Bel.
The hard thing about this competition is
we can't put everyone through.
And we've seen some beautiful
things from you.
But I'm sorry to say, you haven't
made it into the final 24.
We now have to say goodbye
to you. Thank you.
Au revoir.
See you later,
guys.
When I knew that I was going home,
I was very disappointed, but
at the same time I just try to focus
on the positive,
and everything that I've gotten out of
being here the past week,
and it just, it made me feel
a lot better.
The next person up to
the front,
is Dominic.
- Dominic, how are you feeling?
- Nervous.
Um...
This time last year I'd
written three goals,
and my third one was to find
a total change of career.
- You haven't ticked that box yet.
- No, I have not.
So I think we should tick
the other box.
Congratulations, welcome
to the top 24.
Thank you.
You now have a MasterChef apron,
and you're now a part of the top 24.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
I just had a wave of relief. Awesome
feeling, really, really cool feeling.
When I call out your name, can
you please step up to the front.
Kate.
And Carrie.
I was preparing myself
to hear the worst.
Because even though I thought
I performed to the best of my abilities,
I thought it wasn't enough.
It's been a tough week
for you two,
and we know
that it would mean a lot
to you to get through.
The thought of going home
really, really scares me.
I don't wanna go.
It's tough competition.
We can't always get
what we want.
It's been a tough week
for you two.
It's tough competition.
We can't always get
what we want.
I feel like my heart's about
to jump out of my chest.
I expect the judges will say,
yeah, you put up a good fight today,
but at this stage
we will say goodbye.
And we know that it would mean
a lot to you to get through.
And we think that you've done
really well in this last week,
and you've showed some guts
and determination.
And for that reason,
you're both through.
Oh my God.
Kate, the grit and determination
that you had today
was phenomenal. And that's why
you are in the top 24.
Thank you so much.
When I put that dish on
and the job was done,
it might not have been the best job,
but it was finished,
- That's what I'm talking about.
- Yes, come on!
- Yes!
- That's what I felt. Today I felt alive.
Really. And I felt a lot more confident
than I ever have in a long time.
Congratulations to the two of you.
Let's pop on some pristine clean aprons
with MasterChef logos.
Congratulations, well done.
I felt like I was a princess
being crowned.
I just... I was just in ecstasy.
There's four spots left
in the top 24,
the pressure is absolutely immense.
Can the following people
step forward?
Stewart.
Katie.
Henry.
And Lacey.
You should be very proud of what
you've achieved here.
Unfortunately, there is no place
for you in the top 24.
Best of luck. Thank you.
Thanks, guys.
There is a little bit of
disappointment.
Sort of disappointment for the fantasy
that I could be MasterChef. It's gone.
Please step forward,
Devon,
Sarah,
Sharnee.
Sarah and Sharnee have
had a bumpy ride
for the last few days,
so have I, I don't know if from
our MasterChef group
one of us is going home.
I think the thing that's blown us away
in this last week has been
how high the standard has been
in the top 50.
While I say high, not
everyone can make it.
But you have!
You're all in.
You little beauty!
Couldn't believe it.
Couldn't believe it.
Sarah. Rollercoaster ride.
Oh my God. That's all I say.
I wasn't gonna cry, but
it's got the better of me.
Sharnee, you didn't manage the
noodles, but even Neil Perry
commented on how good
that sauce was.
So Sharnee, well done.
I'm so happy and so excited,
and I'm thinking
I have so many opportunities
to prove myself,
it's just gonna be a great experience and
I'm so glad to be sticking around for it.
One little bit of ceremony
that needs to happen.
Yep.
Come here, George.
Take that off. Time to put on this
illustrious beautiful MasterChef apron,
cause you are now part
of top 50.
Take that one off.
Yeah.
MasterChef apron is a pinnacle.
Because if you get one of those,
you are one of the best
amateur cooks in Australia.
Top 24, baby. Up you go.
Guys, please step forward.
There are four of you. Sadly,
there's only one final place left
in the top 24.
As I'm standing in front of the judges,
a lot of doubt was running through my head.
Whether I, you know, was worthy.
And that person
is Jake.
I think my mind just went blank, you know,
i think I was literally in shock, you know.
- Thanks, Gary.
- Well done, mate.
Well done.
That dish probably impressed
Neil Perry the most.
It looked so beautiful. And it tasted
so fantastic. So congratulations,
really well deserved, mate.
- Thanks, Matt.
This is beyond my wildest dreams.
To get this far, it's an awesome feeling.
An awesome feeling.
- The last one, and it's yours.
- Yes.
The MasterChef apron, you are
number 24.
Thanks, George.
Top amateur cooks,
well done.
Thanks, guys.
Richard, Greg, Mark, congratulations
for getting this far,
it's an amazing achievement.
Cause there's a little something
in all of you that we saw.
Alright? So don't give up, yeah?
The world's your oyster,
just shuck it. Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
I feel just, you know, gutted, sad,
it just feels like a missed opportunity and
you know, I just need to decide
where I go from here.
Wow! There you have it. The top 24
amateur cooks of Australia.
Congratulations.
Are you the next Australian
MasterChef?
- Yes, chef!
- Louder!
Yes, chef!
That's what I'm talking about.
Tomorrow night on
MasterChef Australia.
I'm here, I'm finally here,
and I'm about to start cooking.
The journey begins for our
top 24 amateur cooks.
We're pretty nervous and excited
about what's to come.
Then, the pressure is on in their
very first challenge.
It's all about putting your
heart and soul into the food.
As they serve up their
fondest food memory.
Everyone's manic.
These dishes just need to
stay at home.
I'm gonna make my mom
and dad proud.
And for the winner, a chance
to control their fate.
This is an amazing opportunity
that will change one of your lives.
I desperately wanna win.