MasterChef finale 2017

Well, here we are again. Seems like only last week we watched in horror as Intense Matt’s egg thingy unglued itself before our eyes, leaving an also deserving Glowing Elena to take out the MasterChef title.
Who would you like to win and who do you think will actually win?

MasterChef finale starts on Ten at 7.30pm and is supposed to finish at 10pm. So if you start watching around 7.50pm you may avoid the faff and flashbacks.
Oh, and vote in the new poll for tonight’s winner.

We start with a flashback to the first day of the Top 24, and of course we get zoom ins on Eloise and Tamara.
We’re reminded the winner gets a monthly column in delicious. mag and $250,000 towards their “food dream”. I’m not even sure what the food dreams of Ben and Diana are, but no doubt we’ll find out tonight.
Ben and Diana (or Di-zey to her fellow contestants) arrive in their crisp chef whites and Ben has a sharp new do, while Dizer’s pontytail is extra swishy. At least George is not wearing a hideous jacket tonight. Matt, however, is dressed for a funeral in one of his long coats in black, with a double breasted black waistcoat and a silver cravat for bling.
There are heartfelt speeches about achieving your dreams, yadda yadda …
Come on – can we just get to the challenge, please! Or at least an ad break; I want to heat up my leftover rhubarb crumble to give me sustenance for this ordeal.

FIRST CHALLENGE
Every mystery box they’ve ever been set is lined up in front of them. They get their pick. Cool idea and it reminds me of how much I’ve forgotten – even the ones made of chocolate. Diana is actually considering Peter Gilmore’s box, with the abalone, which freaked out a lot of contestants.


Ben goes back to the begging and chooses Glowing Elena’s mystery box, which was the first of the season. And Diana – because she is not scared of abalone – picks Gilmore’s box, partially because she gets to use the garden as well (Ben does not). They can’t use the pantry.


Last time Diana cooked from this mystery box I noted in the recap: “Diana’s braised abalone is next and even Gary has to praise her broth.” It bodes well.
Diana is making a green juice from Chinese broccoli and nasturtium leaves – this could be the hot new thing at Boost tomorrow. The judges love it when people do new stuff, a la Ben and his tulip bulbs.
Ben is making lemon myrtle ice cream (bingo!!!) with candied cucumbers and 50 other elements.
Uh oh – he slices his finger deeply and you can tell he’s gutted. It’s so deep he’s actually dripping blood on the floor.

In a nice change, we get a voice over from Benita – perhaps because she is wearing an eye-catching leopard print kaftan.
Ben carries on cooking like the machine he is but the blood starts dripping through the bandage and all over his apron. Poor bugger. He is having trouble getting his shortbread crumb cooked because of the delays – isn’t that what almost cost him a spot the other day? He has to quenelle ice cream without being able to grip the container properly, in case blood starts pouring over his ice cream.

THE JUDGES TASTE
Diana’s dish has that modern cheffy plating and the judges are impressed by its looks, especially when she pours the green juice around the abalone.


Gaz says it’s “absolutely delicious” and the green juice showed confidence. Man, Gaz was such a latecomer to the Dizey train but now he’s all aboard and full steam ahead. They all adore it.


After a bit of ribbing about his slightly flawed quenelle, Matt wants more goat’s cheese mousse but Gary thinks the balance was fine. They like the lemon myrtle flavour and the cucumber and George even polished off his plate.
THE SCORES
Ben: Gary 9, George 9, Matt 8. 26/30
Diana: (She will get stronger scores) And it’s three 10s, amid much whooping from the gantry. 30/30.

ROUND 2
Matt says there are no rules: they can cook whatever they like in 75 minutes, using the pantry and the garden. They must make three plates of food.

Ben is sticking with the pumpkin theme, doing butternut three ways with a Dutch spiced biscuit and coffee and cardamom ice cream.
Dizey is coating prawns in oatmeal – interesting! – with a salad. It’s a dish drawing on her Malaysian heritage.
Uh oh – Ben has tipped coffee granules into his ice cream churner. Karlie is worriedly whispering up on the pantry and I agree with her concern – why didn’t he dissolve them in hot water first? Could make for a weird sandy texture.
Gary pops over to Dizey’s bench to loom over her shoulder as she takes her prawns out of the fryer. Just what she needs. She decides her prawns aren’t crunchy enough – although Gary just gives her one of George’s dead-eyed stares – so she adds Panko breadcrumbs to the oatmeal mix and is happy with the texture.

THE JUDGES TASTE


They love it but want even more sauce. Gaz says it could be a signature dish for her.
Diana is killing it!


George likes the plating (the ice cream has a lovely gloss to it) and they love the balance of flavours. Again, George says he should open an ice cream shop. He lives in Queensland so it could indeed be a goer. And Karlie and I were wrong about the coffee – it worked well.

THE SCORES
Diana: Gary 9, George 9, Matt 9. Running total: 57/60
Ben: Gary 9, Matt is next with 9 so George must give it a 10 – yep. Running total: 54/60.

THE FAMILIES ARRIVE FOR THE FINAL CHALLENGE
And here come the tears. Awww – Ben’s kids sprint to him. Diana is bawling at the sight of the lady I presume is her mum, who she hoped would fly in from Malaysia. On the balconey Pete the crane driver is practically howling. I love it.


Diana hasn’t seen her mum for a year. Ben’s son, Phoenix is adorable and his Oma (Nanna) has also come along. He must have been very young when his daughter was born, as she looks to be in her early teens. I thought he had three kids? Am I miscounting?
Kirsten Tibballs from Savour School – the one who set the mystery box challenge that was a chocolate box – is back with the final challenge. (By the way, that mystery box challenge was won by Weepy Pete when he made the coconut-looking dome.)
The judges reveal the dish they have to recreate and it looks like a still life. At first I worry they have to recreate everything from the pine cones to the display platter, but it’s just the fruit: a mandarin, Granny Smith and a pear.


They are all differently flavoured, with many layers inside. The stalks of the pear and apple are 100 per cent couveture chocolate.
Kirsten tells them the pear is the easiest one. For the apple they have to make their own mould out of sugar starch and won’t know if it’s worked until the end of the process.


I really hope this is not going to be one of those impossible challenges where we see them freaking out for six hours – yes, six hours!! – and serving up misshapen fruit.
I would say Ben has the edge because he’s more of a dessert man but Diana is better at keeping her composure.
It must be impossible to read a recipe properly when everyone is screaming up on the gantry. She obviously gets her focus from her mum. Up on the gantry a bloke (Dizey’s partner, I think?) tries to engage Mum in some producer prompted banter but she shuts her down with a “I’m concentrating”. Good one, Mum.
Ben is freaking out a bit and his Calvados catches fire, which we know is wrong because Diana mentioned it earlier. The producers send Kirsten over straight away to tip him off, as they don’t want to spend six hours filming someone when the audience knows all along their dish is a failure.
Diana mentions how important it is to dissolve the sugar and we see Ben scraping undissolved sugar into his bowl. Kirsten is there again to ask: “Why are you doing that?” Oh dear – chill, Ben! Although, showing you so flustered at the start means you will probably triumph in the end. A pep talk from George and an “I love you” from his son puts Ben back on track.
Diana juices her mandarins by hand; Ben uses the juicer. The edit doesn’t tell us who is right.
Oops – Diana’s liquid centre thingy has failed because she still had undissolved sugar crystals in the pan. A pity Kirsten wasn’t there to alert Diana to the problem as she did with Ben, albeit for a more serious issue.
Diana decides to remake it.
Ben’s liquid centre has also failed – that’s the one he remade twice. Urgh – I hate it when a dish is so hard even talented cooks can’t get them right.
Ben has run out of ingredients so ditches the element and poor Diana’s second attempt has also failed.
MasterChef needs to go back to the finale being people cooking food I’d want to eat in a restaurant, not some kind of Dessert Ninja Warrior designed to break people. Makes me miss Great British Bake Off even more. I really don’t want to watch a talented cook like Diana crying quietly in the corner over sugar gel.
Finally they both get their fruit on the platter but Diana’s pear stem breaks at the last minute.
Time for hugs all round. And tears. Pleaase, can we rehydrate poor Ben and Diana and get them a coffee and a snack. Ben’s comforting of Diana as she crouches weeping behind the oven ends in somewhat hysterical laughter from both of them.


And we still have 20 minutes to go here in SA! Although 10 minutes of that will be ads.

THE JUDGES TASTE
Diana is first. Her mandarin looks pretty good but the apple is a bit squished and the pear overripe looking. Her decision to remake the sugar thingy cost her time to get the perfect presentation, but Matt sticks up for her ballsy move to keep trying.
They have trouble cutting the mandarin due to the thickness of the choc but the other two look pretty impressive inside.
Kirsten says “she’s got the flavours perfect”. Gary misses the liquid centre thingy and the mandarin wasn’t quite citrussy enough. (Is that because she didn’t use the juicer? Hope they tell us.)

Ben’s fruit is more polished looking – not as good as Kirsten’s, but good. George praises him for comforting Diana, when really you’d have to be a heartless bastard not to. The inside of his mandarin looks better than Diana’s and they love the taste. It and his chocolate stems are “outstanding”. Kirsten says his double-dipped pear (caused when the pear slipped out of is grasp into the choc coating) has a too thick coating, which makes it too sweet.

THE SCORES
Ben: Matt 9, Kirsten 9, Gary 8, George 9. Running total: 89
Diana: Gary 8, George 8, Kirsten 8, Matt 9 (and this must be the score where they film the two endings, because that was the deciding vote, giving her 90 points). Matt really should have given her an eight and made them do a tie-breaker challenge – one of those 10-minute cooks. We’ve never seen that in a final. That score was unfair to Ben.

DIANA WINS! Yay! Although they both did a good job, she has been consistent throughout the comp and so organised. She would be an asset in any professional kitchen.
Ben gets $40,000. Karlie gets $10,000. The same prize money as last year.



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169 Comments

  1. We would like Diane to win alas it will not be as Ben has been reading from the script…doing it for the kids…doing it for oma…(cos Nonna is so 2015)…it is time for a male winner…

  2. It’s the choice between hands through the hair and onto the food and double dipping into bowls after tasting. Both finalists excel at unsanitary kitchen techniques.

    Ben, too much ice cream, as maz said the kids, plus Oma oracles. Last night’s haircut. That might be enough for him to win.

    Just throw some pork belly and ice cream in the general vicinity of those scavenging Stooges and it’ll be down to the wire.

    George said these were “the best of the best” last night.

      • lol, I will be flipping between Ninja Warrior and finale. Their ratings picked up last night, over 900k, NW was 1.7m . NW finale is tomorrow so I guess we’ll see ratings in the morning. Valuable lesson for $hine. Sack the judges, except for Shannon; bring in a female judge and introduce blind tasting OR if a guest chef comes on with a dish for contestants to replicate, he or she alone should decide the winner/loser.

    • If it was a blonde ponytail , it might be enough…..but the ponytailed Karlie, Nicole and Eliza all failed

  3. WARNING …. anyone west the Murray, turn off The Project before the end because Carrie may have given something away.

  4. I’ve switched off. I can’t believe Ben is doing another @$#%& ‘ing ice-cream in the grand finale!

  5. Diana getting twice the air time Ben is and we are only 20 minutes in… hmmm. Good sign or not for Ben?

    Sigh. He’s making ‘oice’ cream again.

  6. There’s blood on the bench. Ben’s leaving it all out there, even his blood. Cuts himself, what a nong.

  7. All these contestants on all these reality shows that are all doin’ it for the kids…

    Have any of you ever read a story, seen an interview, where some kid, anywhere, anytime, states “my life changed after Mum/Dad won Masterchef/MKR/The Block/Big Brother/House Rules/Survivor/etc/etc/etc…

  8. Every year in the final the judges always say how amazing those dishes were.

    We should have a showdown between the finalists in the past season. That would be interesting.

  9. Wow the hairdressers have had a field day, DIana is lucky all she ended up with was extra swish in her ponytail. There’s some hideous dos up in the gantry (I’m looking at you Eloise).

  10. Ages to go before it starts here, but I’m cracking up at these comments. Aren’t we a cynical bunch.

    Maz and Liberty, drinking for every mention of kids or every cliche will have us plastered after 2 1/2 hours. That’s probably not a bad state to be in at the end of the finale, now that I think about it.

  11. Ben OICE CREAM AGAIIIINNNNN

    If that were me in the kitchen I would’ve necked a few swigs from that Bundy bottle.

  12. I thought that normally the judges are tizzied up in dinner jackers at the finale
    And im not going to comment on more f?…?..$@ ice cream

  13. Diana dish is just too simple for this round. One hour just made some crunchy prawns a sauce and pickle

  14. I’m doing a running recap on SA time in case anyone is fast forwarding (or needs a toilet break). Up to the second round scores.

  15. Family time. Retch….people carrying on like they’re at a funeral. Embarrassing. Hug the bejeesus out of everyone and go back to handling food. Fail.

  16. I’d be so tempted to throw the apron in their faces and walk out. So friggin unrealistic and loads too much pressure in one day. I hope it was filmed over 2 days!!!

  17. Second time Ben has cracked under pressure. He is getting the redemption edit. If they give Ben the title because he has reproduced then this is b&**%%it.

  18. Ben has a scripted “I can’t beat her – she’s too good moment” Cue sad dramatic music.
    George steps in for the pep talk – Ben recovers. Cue inspirational music.

    And Masterchef jumps the shark.

    • Wonder what would happen if they turned around to the producers and said “nope, no faux scripted drama from me, I’ll keep my dignity intact”

    • George gives Ben a big pep talk but Diana you’re on your own and they expect us to swallow that they don’t play favourites.

  19. The only way Ben will win is if Diana produces a completely unfinished dish.
    I could not stand for one second trying to cook under pressure with that sort of crowd in the room – f-ing peanut gallery reminding you how far behind you are in a foreboding tone of voice. That and all the faux encouragement.

    • Couldn’t agree more! Add the judges whose comments are either derailing a good idea or giving someone an unfair advantage.

  20. Right now as Ben joins Dianna on the floor it finally hits me. We are the losers for watching this travesty.

  21. It’s just so stupid that it comes down to something that is not even normal chef’s work but a really specialised area. I definitely won’t be watching next year.

    • I agree. The only thing I don’t understand is why a chef that has worked for years perfecting their skills and craft in order to produce such a highly specialised dish, would sit there agreeing with the stooges as they look at the contestants “house of wax horror creations” and say “there’s a few minor flaws”.

  22. This pressure test is not exciting at all. I think the other pressure tests in the earlier weeks were better

    • Yep, have to agree. Who the f**k wants to make dessert shaped like fruit? A really elaborate cake/dessert, I understand but fake fruit – bzzzzzzzzzzzzz
      I don’t see it as a culmination of the whole competition (part of their “journey” ). It’s just not fitting way to end. πŸ™ Regardless of the winner.

  23. Well, that was a fairly anti-climactic finish. I still would’ve liked Ben as the winner but it was well deserved to Diana. A very worthy winner of a terrible season.

  24. That was BS – they did not compare apples with apples.

    They said that both tasted well but visually one looked like a fine art painting and the other looked like a dropped water colour so how can Matt bloody Preston give them the same score?
    You sir have descended into charlatan territory.
    Shame I say and you should be slapped with your own gravat.

  25. Yes, Diana is a better cook but Preton to compliment the apple and pear and didnt say anything about the mandarin which was really bad. And to give a 9. So he is a better judge than the creator

    • I thought this as soon as it happened. They couldn’t have let him win after that. That whole drink driving scenario was a completely suss situation.

    • I think Delicious Magazine said “No we just can’t possibly do a year’s worth of columns on Ice cream.”
      I was actually a fence sitter until Ben did two ice creams in the final so I’m happy with a Diana win.

      • Me too – I liked the fact that everyone said how hard he worked – always reading, researching, etc. Sounds like some others swanned around the house amusing themselves, but he swotted.
        I can’t entirely blame him for the ice cream obsession – when he was receiving such OTT praise for his increasingly odd flavour combos, it would be hard to stray from the path to the churner.
        I liked Diana throughout so pleased she has won, but early on Ben was only a savoury cook and didn’t seem to get much attention until he picked up the churn.

  26. I wanted Diana to win, but matts 9 just didn’t make sense. Ha ha how funny when molly blew off Timmy!

  27. I am not jumping for joy that Diana wins. She does deserve to win but the finale is just so suss. It actually can go either way.

    The last 2 finales were a sure conclusion as to who won. (Some people still think Matt Sinclair got rob)

    They need to have some points accumulated from all the weeks before the finale to be added to the finale

  28. Narcissa just showed up in a question on “Have You Been Paying Attention”. She was described as “Fan Favourite” (Clearly they have not been reading TTV).
    Alas I fear we are not to be rid of her yet, Ch10 have plans.

    • Fan favourite? I just died a little inside.

      I adore HYBPA – and to have it polluted by Narcissa’s beaming face and rehearsed to be oh-so-guileless gesticulations is a CRIME.

  29. Someone on Facebook commented Doctor Ray looked horrified with the way they bandaged Ben’s finger, only for it to start spurting blood again

  30. Production errors – Gary at supposed start of grand finale cookoff: “Has it registered yet that in a couple of hours one of you will have your name etched on this trophy?” George at supposed start of grand finale cookoff: We know you”re friends “but for the next couple of hours you put that aside”. Round 1 was an hour or so, Round 2 was 75 minutes, and the copycat chocolatier challenge was 6 hours. They confused MC with Star Trek – no time warp factor here. Anyway, thanks all youse gice for your company on “the journey” & to the “eva” fabulous Juz who cooks it up!

  31. Two ice creams….same old “stuff” for Ben so I am glad he didn’t win. How many ice creams did he make? He became too dependent on ice cream and the stooges calling him the Ice Cream King did not help.
    However, Matt’s score made no sense. How could he give Diana a 9 with her failed mandarin? Ben’s mandarin was better and his fruits looked nicer than Diana’s. I thought it might be a tie but then Matt pulls out that BS “9”. Aren’t they allowed to score so that there is a tie?
    The finals should be blind judged and perhaps each round could include a guest judge.
    The third round….stupid challenge. How about something more realistic instead of having them make fake fruit that even the stooges would not be able to perfect.
    Next season: better hygiene practices….LOL…not holding my breath for that.
    Diana…licking her fingers and then touching food and equipment, Diana’s ponytail hanging over the food, Ben bleeding (why no glove?) and also wiping his hands through his hair again….It’s the final. Cook clean and cook hygienically but they don’t seem to care about that on MC.
    New judges…probably not going to happen.
    Better editing.
    Contestants should be scored down for making the same thing over and over again.
    If the stooges want ice cream then do one ice cream challenge and then get rid of the ice cream makers.

  32. Farcical, but never mind, Diana a far better cook than Ben. The Madam Tussaud’s house of wax horrors a ludicrous finale. Agree, new judges, more independent judges, less peanut gallery performances, more hygiene, ice cream verboten, or perhaps just forget MC altogether, banish it to the mists of history as I now have.

  33. Agree with the above posters – Masterchef really needs a shake up in almost every way.
    I’d actually like to see more of the behind the scenes, show the contestants back at the house having a food discussion and showing the kinds of things they’re learning practicing. Doing this for a few minutes every episode could get rid of a lot of the filler commentary during the actual tests at the MC kitchen. We don’t need to watch the amatas taking car rides, endlessly repeating how nervous they are and that they have to do well, over the top reaction shots etc. It’s not such a jaw-dropping surprise that they will have to cook (insert random ingredient of the day) when they walk in the door.
    Keep Matt as he seems to be generally more diplomatic towards the contestants equally. Have George in a lesser role and promote Shannon. Give Shannon’s mentoring role to another up and comer. Perhaps a past contestant who has done well? Scrap Gary entirely. The show is seriously lacking a straight talking sassy female to inject some life into it. Get Angelique on board.

    Most of all we definitely need to change the cooking itself. The ridiculous hundred step tests should be ONCE IN A WHILE. Not every episode. Perhaps more Cutthroat Kitchen type challenges – like give them a mystery box full of shit a uni student would have in the cupboard. Do the humble cupcake challenge like back in S01. The return of the CWA. Have a challenge pairing wine with foods. Make your best 2 minute noodles. Cook things that inspires the people at home to go wow I could cook that like I did with the first few seasons.

    And no more sucking up to Heston constantly. He is not some sort of magical food wizard. He just uses a lot of liquid nitrogen.

    • Stacey – I was typing nearly the same sentiments as you posted!
      I couldn’t agree more – I was looking at some old photos when we were making a lot of recipes that were interesting, but not impossible to tackle. That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching masterchef to get inspired – there’s no way I’m inspired to make coriander ice cream or a stupid fake fruit fantasy.

      • I feel you, Bruss. The cooking needs to be way more relateable. I don’t mind the over top pressure cooking sometimes but it alienates me. I don’t own a water bath, blast chiller, smoking gun or a set of silicone domes, and the only kind of truffle my local coles sells is of the chocolate variety. Reynold of yonder years has this problem. I’m not interested in cooking something that requires the equivalent of moondust, therefore I do not regard him as such a hero. This disconnect was proven with Michelle this year, who idolised him and his intricate recipes to the point where she copied similar methods from youtube videos to get in the comp yet could not fry a f-ing potato chip.

        And next year the constant remaking of dishes and reusing of ingredients should be addressed. Chastise contestants for not getting out of their comfort zone instead of calling someone the ice-cream king/baking queen/meat man/dessert lover. Address the lack of variety and invention.
        “What are you making today?”
        “blah blah blah broth/beetroot/icecream/whiskey/pork”
        “Again? Becoming quite a habit dear contestant… hmmm. I’d have a think about that if I were you, yeah?” Cue disconcerted looks between judges and amata. Close ups dissolve into fire. /End scene.

    • A challenge like Cutthroat Kitchen would be great. They should be using ALL of the ingredients in the mystery box instead of just one. They did that with one of the boxes this season but it should be done for all of them.
      CWA return….another excellent suggestion.

      • Also like the camping challege in S2 I think. Also there should be told in the mystery box and invention test that today only cook savoury or only sweets.

        Also some cuisines week or challenges like Italian today or Indian the next week. But wait a minute….. adding some chilli and 5 spice is Chinese.

        They are aupposed to be the best home cooks

          • Yes, That was my subtle dig on Tamara.

            Just use basil and it is Italian. Make some chinese pau with some basil in it. Bingo it is Italian. Add some shrimp paste (belachan) in the ice cream and it is Malaysian. Oops….. got a new flavour for ice cream

  34. I recorded it so we could fast forward through the tears and doing it for the kids and the anxiety attacks, so I may not have had the full final-e experience.
    I’m okay with this.

    The fruit challenge was just ridiculous. But it did come hot on the heels of ‘make what you like” so I am a bit torn. They can’t seem to get the balance right between letting contestants manipulate the result by playing to their strengths and judge’s weakness and setting OTT challenges that are ridiculously convoluted. When a contestant is in tears because their stupid centre of a multilayered dessert was jelly and not liquid, you have to know there’s something wrong.

    There will have to be some incredibly plausible promises made about changing a LOT to make me sign up again next year. And I think one of those changes would have to be a change of judges for me – Keeping Gary and George when they are clearly completely over it and only capable of trotting out cliches (”this makes me happy” level of cliche) is a bad, bad idea. I am torn with Matt as he was not as regularly committing the same sins as the other two, but he was definitely down there with some bad behaviour.

    We drifted away so much during this season that I don’t think I will mindlessly start watching again next year as I usually have done. To fast forward through the end is really telling to me – at the end there was only my husband and I watching – the kids were completely uninterested. I’m not sure how much is that they have grown up, but it’s a long way from family viewing – Australian Ninjas takes that award these days!

    Anyway – thank you Juz for your excellent recaps that gave me enough info about the people we liked to keep me slightly connected to the end. Sterling work as always πŸ™‚

      • Just 1.1 million viewers. Again Ninja Warrior is higher. People are sick of the fake judging. With Ninja Warrior, viewers can see who get through, who fail and there is no help whatsoever.

  35. Thanks Juz.
    Bringing back all the old mystery boxes was a bit odd. I wonder if they had to go by the same ‘rules’ as the original box had. Like the one where you had to use every ingredient. I liked the earlier seasons where they had to cook a dish they had done earlier in the season that they hadn’t got right & improve it.
    Bloody Ben making ice cream again was a bit annoying. Then the poor bugger cuts his finger. He was distracted by the idiots up in the gantry.
    That pressure test was ridiculous. What was the point of all that bullshit that they didn’t even have to make? I thought they had to do the whole thing.
    When Diana got 8’s for the final challenge I thought for a minute Ben would win. But good on her, she is a worthy winner.
    I’m a big softie, I got emotional when the family all came out. Even the guys up the top were crying.

    • Props to Diana for saying “I’m shutting out the gantry. It comes from a good place, but it’s totally distracting”. I gave her the win for that right there!

      • She’s absolutely right. Although I’m sure there’s a producer there telling the gantry peeps: “Make some noise. Arum, we need footage of you saying ‘give yourself time to plate up. Now, Benita, how about you talk about how great Ben is. Now do Diana.”

        • It’s hilarious when they yell out don’t stop keep going when they haven’t stopped & are continuing on.

          • I know. Plus, I LONG for a contestant to turn around and say in plain and unequivocal terms ‘hey (insert name, e.g., oh, i don’t know, NARCISSA), I’m here and you’re not, so why would I take YOUR advice, you total loser.”

      • My favourite useless pieces of gantry advice are :

        “Keep pushing!” ~ ( the amata in reality is pushing shit uphill)

        “C’mon~ you can do it!” ~ (hell will freeze over before the amata can do it)

  36. I am interested in how Kirsten feel with Matt giving a higher score than her to Diana. She created the dish and she is also an international judge. To have Preston scored higher is a mystery………

    Also Gary gave the same score to both of them. When contestants are recreating the same dish, judges cannot sit on the fence with the scoring

  37. Yep, everything just fine with Ma$terchef how it is…..NOT

    For the first time in ???? many years, the finale didn’t come first.

  38. I thought it was very sweet of Diana’s mother to shake Ben’s hand and wish him the best.
    Diana’s boyfriend reminded me a bit of Callan.

    Maybe they will look at the ratings this season and realize that they need to make changes to MC, starting with the judges.

    • Matt Preston already spruiking about going back to basics. He said we dont need to recreate those 1001 steps recipes. Just made good tasty food.

      But next year is the 10th season. You want to go big. Unfortunately they have been saying for the last 3 years, every year is bigger and better. Now you need to come back to earth with a thump.

      Finally I think MKR judges have the last laugh. Remember at the start of this season, George was giving advice to Pete and Manu when MKR rating has dropped about 20%. He was bragginng how MC is doing so well. Ha ha ha

  39. No wonder Gary was trying to justify the result on The Project. He said when you watch the finale you agree who with the result. But the score from Preston just caused this reaction.

  40. If ever there was a year for a drawn result, this was it. I don’t understand what they have against having joint winners – it would be a great hook.
    Unlike many commenters I didn’t mind the fruit challenge, but I was annoyed by two-in-a-row cook-what-you-like challenges. I don’t really want to see pre-rehearsed dishes trotted out, I want to see challenge and variety.
    I like both contestants, but Ben really should have been the winner based on the final fruits.

  41. Most disappointing finale ever. It should have been a tie. They had to give Diana that extra point to have a winner. Bad luck for Ben, didn’t necessary cook worse than her.

    They should just have had joint winners or a sudden death cookoff. That would have been specatular!

  42. What a farcical end to a continuing farcical show.
    The judging in that final challenge was a joke. Diana put up a dog’s breakfast of ‘fruit’ and gets a 9? Sure, her abalone looked great, but the prawns … meh. Even with help from Gary along the way.
    Just goes to show that when the winner is pre-determined, the ‘judging’ is adjusted, accordingly.

    As for the constant ice creams, Ben made his first one in Japan, discovered he had the knack, so ran with them. If they keep telling you to cook whatever you want, you’re going to play to your strength.
    Diana cooked Malaysian-inspired dishes all the time – which was never mentioned.

    I think Diana’s a great cook – organised and deserving of the accolade.
    But when put with the previous two winners, Billie and Elena, all three are pretty much interchangeable. The earth isn’t moving.
    Ben, like Matt last year, would’ve been a breath of fresh air – humble, appreciative and a true gentleman. Pity.

    As for this failing show itself; they need to trim the fat, stop the silliness and inconsistencies and go back to basics.
    To use their own words, “Boom boom, shake the room!”

    Thanks Juz, and my award for best quote goes to Von for ‘Narcissa.’ Hilarious and up there with Still Life With Lobster.

    • Have to agree with many of the comments in particular the waste of food. Using whole ducks (at $10) a pop for non-organic just to make a great jus is a disgrace. Same goes for chicken and wagyu. Perhaps they can give each contestant a fridge and that’s it for the week. I know (or read somewhere) that open bottles of spirits and wine – where they only use a cupful, are put to use somewhere (the judges liquor cabinet?). Also recall that all food leftovers from a “cook” have to be thrown out because of hot studio lights etc.

      • I think they belong to that Oz Harvest or something that donates leftover food to charity. There was a thing about it a few years ago. I assume they still do so.

  43. Thanks Juz for your perseverance and great recaps during this interminable season. Cheers also to the other posters, without Juz and you I wouldn’t have made it through to the end.

  44. I watched so I can participate on the blog. Thanks Juz for your funny recap. They are my sentiments too

    • Yes…Thanks Juz and everyone who posted here. The best thing about MC is this blog. This is a great group of witty & intelligent people and I always enjoy reading the recaps and the posts!!

  45. We knew there were two endings. I think the drink driving caused Ben to lose.

    Last night they aired the wrong scores! The scores showed Ben with 90 and Diana wirj 89. Did they get work experience kid to do the editing or it was a last minute decision to switch the winner?

    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/07/25/12/42AA98B200000578-4727468-Good_spot_Taking_to_Twitter_one_fan_shared_a_screen_shot_of_the_-a-2_1500980753615.jpg

    It should have been a tie and split the money. Everyone will be happy.

    • I thought that this might be photoshopped so I watched the ending again and there it was. Only on screen for about a second and easy to miss. Big mistake. Interesting that when Matt was giving his score he only said that she needed a “9” to win and nothing about what would happen if she got the same score as Ben. A “tie” would have been fairer than this bogus ending. I was sick and tired of Ben’s ice cream but Diana’s melting fruit was not as good as Ben’s.
      A few yrs. ago the judges in MC Professionals could not decide on which contestant was the best so they had two winners that season. People were upset about that.
      Ben’s win…

  46. They do filmed 2 endings. I think originally Ben will be shown the winner. Then with his drink driving charge, they quickly re edit the show and missed that little bit.
    It just confirmed there is a lot of manipulations from the producers as to who they want to win.

    Asian can forget about winning next year.unless you are realy really good. A male will have a better chance of winning.

  47. I really hate that the contestants and families have to fake the winning ( or at least one of them). It’s so contrived. It means that the second time they film it they know that second prize is getting $40,000, third $10,000. I hate this so much. There is a lovely little video of Diana with family and friends in a pub on Monday night when the winner is announced ( on her instagram). Wonder if someone was filming at Ben’s possible “victory party”.

  48. How do they get everyone to act genuinely for two different endings? I suppose the contestants are used to being told how to act, but what about the familiies and the kids? Or is it all just creative editing – splicing together facial expressions that fit the appropriate narrative.
    I would hate to be in a competition and have to fake the ending like this.

  49. I found the final kind of boring but only watched the first two rounds, so might have been bored because neither of those produced any innovative or surprising dishes, After seeing the fruit pressure test revealed, I went and did other things because I felt such a specialised item was stupid in that situation. Didn’t see those results, but I’m still glad Diana won because she is a much more experimental and organised cook than Ben.

    It’s over now, so thanks, Juz, for the recaps and the forum, and thanks to everyone else for giving me many laughs over snarky, hilarious and incisive comments. Let’s hope Matt Preston’s desire to get the show back to basics is taken note of, because this season was often unwatchable.

    I’m a bit over cooking competitions, although no doubt Marco’s show will pull me in, at least for a while.

  50. Intense Matt just posted on Facebook he is filming a cooking show with some former contestants, to screen in Sept. not sure what channel

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