MasterChef – Tues, June 14 – returning contestants

So, the eliminated contestants are back, with a one in 12 chance at winning re-entry to the comp, and it’s the sweetest thing to see Charlie run and hurl himself into Intense Matt’s arms for a massive bro brog.


They have 60 minutes cook a dish from the following ingredients: Greek yoghurt, rosemary, beetroot, lamb rack, fennel (it had to be there), lemon, chocolate, quinoa, gelatine, botrytis, green cardamom pods and raspberries.
As the wearer of the cursed apron, Anastasia has the power to choose a returning contestant who can pick one extra ingredient. Pffft – call that a power? She picks her friend Theresa.
Theresa is excited because she’s been doing work experience with Reynold (the dessert king from last season who now has his own eatery) and has a dish in mind, for which she needs desiccated coconut. She’s making a snowball and choc rocks with raspberry centres.
A break from the comp has given Charlie a chance to rid his fringe of its floppiness and it’s back to its usual perfect state. He’s making a choc mousse raspberry sphere.
Cecilia is, of course, also making a dessert: a yoghurt sorbet with beetroot curd. She has been working hard at home on her plating (so, thank god, no more stuffed turnips).
Miles is making a choc beetroot parfait with nougatine wafers. Perhaps he’s not confident doing savoury with the ingredients available as there are no Asian flavours. He did well in the Shannon Snickers challenge but that’s when he had a recipe to follow.

Back from the ad break and it’s more Theresa, trying not to panic, as she so often in the past. Can’t we see what the others are making – not just random shots of lamb being Frenched (trimmed, that is).
Swishy Pony Tail Zoe – back before we could blink – is making a beetroot bavarois with confit beetroot, crunchy quinoa and candied fennel. Remember the old days, when the only dessert made of vegetables was a carrot cake? Those were the days …
More Charlie … Come on – surely we can spare a sec for Jimmy and amp up the sibling rivalry? Or Nidhi?
Zoe wants to show she’s learnt something new my making a tempered chocolate disc, but she’s rushing it and has to use the blast chiller. So, not tempered chocolate after all. “It’s perfect,” says Zoe, describing her dull, sheenless chocolate. She cracks her disc peeling it off the acetate – why did she only do one? Up on the gantry, Nicolette has a conniption.
So, the judges chatted at the start with Con – who got married straight after he left the comp – but the edit doesn’t bother showing us what he’s cooking. Grrr.

Should we add the phrase “elevate my dish” to the list of things MasterChef needs to ban, along with panna cottas and parfaits? Theresa just used it when discussing her idea to combine rosemary and raspberry.
Shannon pops over to turn up the heat on poor Cecilia, leading her to add a cardamom tuile to her dessert. Cut away to her repeating a lime a producer no doubt gave her: “Fifteen seconds is all I have between success and disaster.”
Miles’s choc parfait is a pile of poo and he knows it. Charlie’s mousse – which seems to parfait anyway – has worked, despite being in the red silicone domes of death.
Cecilia – who must have made a million tuiles before – is having bickie drama but finally gets it. She also shows off some fancy sugar work.
Charlie covers his choc sphere in choc plop – it looks rough as – what did he do to torture that chocolate? He needed to add coconut oil to create some Ice Magic.
Ooh – there’s a glimpse of Nidhi making a dessert. We’ll probably never know what it was.

Time to taste


Cecilia’s yoghurt sorbet with beetroot curd: She’s done a fancy, modern presentation to one side of the plate and shown off many techniques. Shannon: “You can tell you’ve worked damn hard.” The judges love everything. “That is a dish worthy of winning a place,” says Matt.
Miles’s choc parfait with raspberry botrytis jelly: His plating really has not improved – he needs to ask Cecilia for some lessons. But the judges love the flavours. Miles pretends for the camera he’s in with a shot but he knows he’s got Buckley’s.
Nidhi’s cardaomom parfait with choc crumb and raspberry sauce: Ah, we DID get to see Nidh’s dessert. It’s tasty.
Nathaniel’s lamb with fennel rings and choc rosemary sauce: Yep, he WAS in the comp – I swear. The lamb is well cooked. Wish we’d heard what they thought of the soz.
Con’s lemon ice cream with roasted fennel and toasted quinoa crumb (so Zoe wasn’t the only one with that idea): His dessert looks super pretty – I wish we’d seen him making it. Shannon likes the ice cream.
Charlie’s choc mousse sphere with raspberry gel: George could need a jackhammer to get through that chocolate shell. It looks nice inside. George loves the mousse, the raspberry gel and the crumb. Gaz says he nailed it.
Zoe’s beetroot bavarois with with puffed quinoa, candied fennel and choc: Shannon says her tempering of the chocolate was flawless. What the? “I like it, but for me it needs more chocolate flavour,” says George. Gary is more enthusiastic.
Adam’s crusted lamb rack with veg and lamb jus: “It’s good cooking,” says Gaz.
Jimmy’s choc mousses dome with sponge: “There’s lots to love in this dish,” says Matt.


Theresa’s yogurt rosemary snowball with chocolate raspberry balls (just call it Snow, Theresa): The judges let out “ooohs” when they crack open the choc rocks and raspberry spurts out. Matt is smiling as he eats. “There’s some skill in there, backed up by some really great flavour,” says Shannon. Gaz thinks it’s fantastic.
And that’s all we get to see. Sorry, Olivia and Ashley – you’re both the new Invisible Elena.

And the winner is …
As was bleeding obvious, it’s between Cecilia and Theresa. as with Highlander, there can be only one … and it’s Theresa. Will she be be able to keep a lid on the flustering and faffing this time round? At least her decision not to go home to Canada after her first boot, in order to do work experience in kitchens, has been validated.
But I do wish Cecilia had won.
Theresa also gets the power apron but we have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the new poisoned chalice is.

Tomorrow night …
It’s a service challenge and Curtis Stone is the guest chef. More importantly, Matt Preston wears an eye-popping candy pink ensemble.



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87 Comments

  1. Happy Birthday!!

    Good grief. Not spheres again!! Many have done work experience with Reynold and they are channeling Reynold’s desserts

  2. How quickly I forget…. I don’t recall the returning contestant in the blue shirt. No idea who he is.

  3. I loved how Miles said he had to serve a Shannon Bennett dish to…”Shannon Bennett and those other 3 blokes” ๐Ÿ˜‚

  4. Grr watching Zoe tempering chocolate. She should be cutting the chocolate piece before it set.

    Also I thought you shouldn’t set the chocolate in the fridge as the chocolate will be dull and not shinny.

  5. It would be nice to see a bit from Jimmy, Adam, Ashley, Nidhi, Con, Olivia and anyone else I’ve missed.

    I feel for Anastasia what a p*ss weak excuse for a “power” 2 nights in a row.

    • My theory on the power apron is it gives the contestants who have not had much airtime something for their exit clip. Neither Anastasia (in particular) or Elise have had too much airtime prior to this week.

  6. Anastasia should pick who cook savoury and who cook dessert. The idea of the power is to eliminate your competitors

  7. Miles’ parfait looks like what I see in my cats litter tray when they’ve eaten something that doesn’t agree with them.

  8. How dirty are Therese’s hands? There’s no way I would taste her food with her hands looking like that.

  9. The other Top 12 didn’t even get a chance for the power apron. Then some eliminated contestant got it.

    Also Anastasia got ripped off. I hope for the next elimination challenge, all previous power apron wearer will be exempted in the challenge

    • Agree with you Littlepetal. Power apron should not have been given to a returning contestant when there were 12 contestants standing there who have never been eliminated.

      The power apron has fizzled…Anastasia gets to choose the cook who gets to choose another ingredients. How does that help Anastasia?

  10. So Theresa is from Canada. I question, in the politest way possible, the value to MCK in her continuing. In the unlikely event that she won, she would take her money, book and tv deal and any future publicity out of the country.
    And I know her dish looked and tasted good but I thought Cecilia had the better technical skills.

    • I totally agree but how can we even judge properly when we don’t see all the dishes.

      The only good thing about tonight’s episode was Zoe didn’t get back in.

      • They don’t look half as corrupt as Ma$terchef Aust’s stooges. They’re keeping it real. No parfaits ,cravats et al.

        • Not as many episodes as AU. Only on once a week. Seems that the judging is fairer and that they actually seem to eliminate the right contestants. No immunity pin. If the contestant wins the mystery box they get to choose the ingredient for the invention test and they also don’t have to cook in the invention round…similar to US version. AND….thank goodness…NO power (aka “unpower”) apron.

    • Lola please don’t insult the TMNT, at least their rat keeps them on the straight and narrow, and with integrity not like the 3 rats of MCAU.

    • The teenage mutant ninja turtles have saved the world more than once. ๐Ÿ™‚ The power apron has done nothing.

  11. Didn’t recognise some of them. Yes, therese came from canada and Jimmy from Singapore for the comp, did someone assure them of places I wonder!

    • They are both Australian citizens so allowed to enter. I would “guess” the brother/sister relationship probably enhanced their chances of getting in.

  12. Apologies to all teenage mutant ninja turtles fans everywhere.
    Power apron , no power but just a useless piece of material !

  13. Oh my God, what’s this obsession with putting fucking beetroot in a dessert? At least 3 of them did it. Beetroot’s a vegetable & doesn’t belong in a dessert. The only place beetroot belongs is in a hamburger.
    So glad Zoe didn’t get back in. I was hoping either Charles or Miles would get back in but when Miles parfait didn’t set knew he had no chance. He should have said it was a mousse.

  14. Love the way Miles leaves the room first and says “I’m outta here. Good luck everyone”
    Now, that’s an exit (for the 2nd time) !

  15. What was that?
    Most of the poor suckers were cooking their butts off, not knowing they didn’t have a chance in hell. From the start, the focus was only on The Chosen Ones.

    For a stay-at-home ‘mom,’ Whispering Theresa doesn’t seem to stay at home much, and her Canadian accent tends to come and go.
    And wasn’t it enough to get back in – why does she get the non-Power Apron, too?
    Though Anastasia must be happy to see the back of that useless rag.

    I thought Cecilia’s creation showed way more technique and should’ve beaten the Canadian Mounties.
    But why is everyone doing desserts these days?
    Let’s have a savoury week … no moulds or blast chillers.

    • I think they said at the start that she is Australian, but went to live in Canada when she got married. Not surprising she has a hybrid accent. Still would have preferred someone else to get back in.

  16. Aw, that was almost sad, all the reruns (except for the short blond woman and one of the guys, and why not them?) presenting their dishes with big smiles and shining little faces. A lot of their recently acquired skills were very much less than perfect, but at least they tried. Thank god Zoe didn’t make it back with her beetroot whatever and crap-looking tempered chocolate.

    How many blast chillers do they have? It seemed as though 8 or 9 of them had several elements that needed to go in the blast chiller. It was obvious that anyone who did lamb chops any way did not have a chance; it was a dessert night. Theresa’s various blobs of white didn’t appeal to me, but I liked the raspberry surprise in the chocolate blobs.

    I wish the judges would be a little more supportive, instead of walking around pulling faces and shaking their heads. But then, they do treat it more as a popularity contest than a cooking competition.

  17. The Twill. The TWILL!
    How much air time was spent on the effing Twill?

    I gave up when I noticed strangers had wandered off the street to cook with the contestants and no one asked them why they were there.

  18. Not Zoe!!

    Teresa’s looked the most professional, by far, from what I saw – but was flicking in during the ads from The Bachelorette (priorities!).

    Bit disappointed for Charlie, but he left with a direction, and with good grace. His chocolate looked clumpy. Maybe he should skip the choc…

  19. I was hoping Miles or Cecilia might make it back as they were both robbed at alimination. Ma$terchef never fails to disappoint.

    Miles looked doomed, not in great mood and looking the complete loser in the lemon t shirt that looked years old. I don’t know if Park Ranger Parfait was going to help him. The moron should have plonked for marron.

    I was in an induced coma by decision time. That last raft of ads was just too much.

    Well, that chick from Canada should be able to knock out a moose.

    Enjoyed watching Zoe fail again.

  20. So still don’t know what Zoe is up to…. maybe she sulked after being eliminated and not getting back in that she refused to play nice… when she was background speaking she seemed more flustered and woe me more than usual.

  21. I was hoping that Miles would return but as soon as I saw the parfait I knew that he was gone.
    Too many spheres, too much use of beetroot, a few contestants’ dishes glossed over or not even shown. Focus on Charlie, Miles, Zoe, Theresa and Cecelia. Big deal made about Zoe’s tempered chocolate which didn’t look tempered and Cecelia’s twill which at least was successful. Glad that Zoe did not find her way back into the MC kitchen.

    The power apron is a farce. Power would have been Anastasia choosing what each contestant had to make, savory vs sweet, and perhaps also choosing the ingredient that each contestant had to “hero”.

    • Agree… or even Anastasia being one of the tasting judges and being involved in who got to stay..

      • Having Anastasia help with the decision would have made a lot of sense if the power apron actually had any power.

  22. I was hoping that Miles would return but his as soon as I saw the parfait I knew that he was gone.
    Too many spheres, too much use of beetroot, a few contestants’ dishes glossed over or not even shown….nothing really exciting. Focus on Charlie, Miles, Zoe, Theresa and Cecelia. Big deal made about Zoe’s tempered chocolate which didn’t look tempered and Cecelia’s twill which at least was successful. Glad that Zoe did not find her way back into the MC kitchen.

    The power apron is a farce. Power would have been Anastasia choosing what each contestant had to make, savory vs sweet, and perhaps also choosing the ingredient that each contestant had to “hero”.

  23. You know Masterchef is sinking faster than the titanic when Dating Naked has more cooking going on.

  24. Oh god, that flustered canadian/australian/asian lady is back. Nobody that easily flummoxed should be on reality tv, the producers are just being mean. Surely she’ll disappear again with another dithery what-am-I-cooking? dish.

    If not Miles, I wouldn’t have minded Jimmy back. Boo to all the fuss over Charlie when Jimmy’s dish looked pretty much identical, in the 4 seconds we saw it.

    Last night was like a story with main and supporting characters… the veil of reality is getting thinner, no idea why the producres think it makes the show more entertaining. It’s the opposite, it just bores people.

  25. Jimmy’s dish is so much better looking than Charlie. Poor Charlie just tried to pour melted chocolate over the sphere. He didn’t even add cream to thin it down. Big fail there

  26. Why didn’t the producers show all the dishes and then the audience gets to vote who goes back into the kitchen. Cecilia’s dish looked more technical and appetising and no way would I have tasted Theresa’s white blobs if her hands were dirty when prepping it.
    Where was Nidhi’s, Olivia & Con’s dish.? They got zero air time.
    Fail. Masterchef. And a bit mean only giving them an hour and expecting amazing technical dishes from them all.

    • You cant get the viewers to vote as the show was filmed months in advance. By the time it is aired, they have finished filming

  27. wondering if Con actually put his hand up to be eliminated initially.. how do you get married a week after being eliminated… looked like it was planned months in advance.

    • According to his bio on the official website, he is already married:

      It was while working at a Hobart hotel in 2012 that Con met his now wife Sarah, a colleague. The pair moved to Melbourne in 2014 for Con to explore opportunities in both the food world and in his other life-long passion, music.

  28. I’ve added Theresa to the top three poll, so if you haven’t voted already, go ahead. But if any of you vote for her I know you’re just messing with me.

  29. That’s ruined it for me, Theresa is back, I had enough of her last time.
    Too much favouritism this year as usual.

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