It’s the immunity challenge for Queensland Week, and the winners of yesterday, Simon, Abbey, Derek, Nicole and Anushka are fighting against each other to fight for a pin.
The winners are forced to walk up a hill to go and cook. Everyone’s waiting for them outside again.
The trio of judges, Gaz, George and Matt, and Billie are ready to tell them about the challenge.
“Round one, it’s all about one of Queensland’s finest ingredients – ginger,” Matt tells them.
I hate ginger. I don’t even eat gingerbread, so I don’t really care about this at all. I could not and would not cook this. I would bow out now. All I have to say is this – yuck.
Matt goes on to tell them they have an hour, the dish really needs to hero the ginger, same old. MasterChef has stocked a pantry full of ginger ingredient things. The winner will be facing the chef.
Time starts, as does the montage.
ANUSHKA WATCH: Immunity contestant, optical distributor, and cutie, Anushka, 49, is wearing yellow frames with black legs. I don’t know what those leg/arm things are called. I’m not an optical distributor!
It looks like the contestants, without an upstairs area, are allowed to be free range chickens again (see yesterday’s recap). Perhaps they’ll roam around the kitchen as they please through all of Queensland Week…
“Always a gun show, Derek,” Tessa says
“What else am I supposed do?” he asks, busy cooking.
“You could, uh, wear a long sleeve shirt,” Joe says.
Someone calls Nicole, “Niccers,” which was certainly something I heard.
Time ends, and after a quick look at the landscape, we’re ready for the tasting.
First is Abbey.
“The broth is punchy as,” Billie says.
They really go on about that broth. it’s very gingery and very nice.
Next up, Simon.
Gaz liked the bugs and the snow beans, but that’s about it. Billie says there are nice flavours. She reminds him to take on advice when the judges come around.
Derek.
My dad would hate this.
They enjoy the cake.
“Well done, Derek,” Matt says.
Up is Nicole.
Billie tells her she hits the ginger flavours, but it’s just not her day.
Finally, Anushka.
“I’m really pleased for you,” Gaz says. He said that when they walked around, it was looking pretty sad, but it’s a great dish.
“You’ve brought us a proper Queensland dumpling,” Matt tells her.
It’s time for the decision.
“For us there was one dish that had it all,” Matt says. “That dish belonged to you, Anushka.”
Billie helps her put on her chef jacket.
Matt starts to tell them about who Anushka will be facing. It’s Ben Williamson.
Tessa goes on about how she knows of Ben and goes to his restaurant all the time. Like, this is all about Anushka right now, Tessa needs to leave.
Same rules as usual – Anushka has 75 minutes, Ben will have 60.
George tells them that there will be five ingredients. Anushka will pick one and it’ll leave the table. When it’s time for Ben to cook, he’ll come over and pick one of the remaining four ingredients to cook.
The trio of judges leave, and Billie is in charge.
The five ingredients are honey, macadamias, pineapple, finger limes, and lemon myrtle. Anushka chooses pineapple. It’s time for Anushka to cook, and the montage to begin.
Anushka tells Billie she’ll be making a layer cake, just like she did for her audition. At this stage, I would caution her from making the dish that got her in. It got Kyle out last week.
When Ben comes back over, Billie tells him to pick one of the covered dishes. He gets the lemon myrtle.
As Billie mentors, I think that really they should just employ Poh full time, like that time they got Shannon Bennett to do everything for a season. Billie just continues to look and sound uncomfortable.
Ben is giving more of a MasterClass than anything. He’s talking to the contestants, letting them try a sauce or something, and talks them through what he’s doing.
In the last few seconds, Anushka cracks out a blow torch for the pineapple on top. She says it looks pale and unappealing.
Finally, time is up, and it’s time for the tasting.
First is Ben Williamson’s dish.
Right of the bat, Gaz says some great tings.
“Absolutely drop dead gorgeous,” he says.
George calls it refreshing, and Matt calls the lemon myrtle delicious. Matt wants less raspberry, and George agrees a bit.
Next is Anushka.
From the second they see it, they know it’s Anushka’s, based on the fact it’s a layer cake.
“Anushka will cook the layer cake right up to who knows,” Gaz says.
“And that’s ok,” Matt says. “Cook what you know.
When George opens it up, there’s oozy pineapple stuff inside. They like the twist.
“It’s a moist sponge cake with layers,” Matt says. He goes on to say he wants a more extravagant dish, and as it is, it’s not enough to beat a chef.
Gaz says the pineapple wasn’t hero-ed enough.
Anushka’s scores: Matt 7. George 6. Gaz 6. Total 19/30.
Ben’s scores: Matt 9. George 8. Gaz 8. Total 25/30.
That means Anushka didn’t win the pin.
Matt thanks Ben for coming, before George gets them ready for tomorrow.
“We’re off to Noosa!” George says, and everyone cheers. “It’s going to be huge. That’s all you need to know. Bye.”
As always, this recap was written as I watched the episode, so there will be spelling and grammar mistakes.
If you have a Twitter Tip, tweet me.
To watch this episode and catch up on ones you’ve missed, head over to southhemitv.com
Felicity Feiner 
Leave a Reply