It’s the immunity challenge tonight for week 10, and Simon, Larissa, Derek and Christina are batteling for immunity.
Waiting for them is the trio of judges and tonight’s mentor – Matt Sinclair. No talk of what George has been up to or why he’s been gone. Perhaps it had to do with his squash accident.
It’s Christina’s first immunity challenge, and she’s a bit scared.
George waves around the little pin, telling them why it’s important.
Matt goes through the general rules. Round one against each other, round two against a judge.
“Round one is something we like to call ‘same same, but different’. You’re all going to get the same ingredient to hero, you’re all going to get the same time to cook it. But here’s the kicker – you’re all going to cook that ingredient in a different style,” Matt tells them.
George comes around with a knife block. “Don’t pull it out yet,” he says to Christina.
“Sorry, it’s my first time,” she replies.
Everyone has a little giggle.
Larissa has Japanese.
Christina has French.
Derek has Vietnamese.
Simon has Spanish.
The hero ingredient is chicken. They’ll have 60 minutes to cook the chicken in their style. The pantry and the garden are open.
Time starts, and the contestants run to the pantry, and tell us their ideas.
Everyone’s suddenly talking about using a sous vide, so they must have learnt about that the other day.
ANUSHKA WATCH: Anushka, the 49 year old optical distributor who seems to have a new pair of glasses for each day, is wearing black frames with a bit of gold on the sides.
Time ends, and the contestants hug each other before getting tasted.
First up is Derek.
All in all, they love it, and like he made his own noodles.
Next up is Christina.
Gaz says her cauliflower is delicious and there are great flavours, but unfortunately her chicken is overcooked.
It’s Simon next.
They’re excited to get stuck in. It’s a great dish and they like it as well.
Finally, it’s Larissa.
They call this a cracking dish and say it’s an awesome dish.
It’s time for the results.
They go back to make a decision, but it’s a tough one. It was split between Larissa and Derek, but one just had a little extra edge. Larissa!
The guest chef has won 3 immunity challenges so far – it’s Adam D’Sylva.
The twist of today is that Larissa chooses the ingredients from an open pantry. She only goes once and those ingredients must fit into a basket. Adam gets the same ingredients, and won’t know what they are until it’s time for him to cook.
Adam goes into hiding, and the trio leave allowing Matt Sinclair to mentor.
Larissa decides to go for a corn based dessert. She’s chosen curry leaf, corn, blackberries, eggs, corn, popcorn, corn flakes, milk, sugar, and cream.
Time starts when she leaves the pantry.
When it’s time for Adam to come out, he’s really thrown off, and it takes a few minutes for him to get an idea.
The rest of the time flies by, and soon it’s time for the tasting.
First up is Adam.
They’re excited to try it, but then they decide it’s a REALLY weird dish.
Matt says it reminds him of being 19 and at uni, trying to make dinner with a pack of corn flakes in the cupboard.
Finally, Larissa.
Matt’s excited that the fried curry leaves has a popcorn flavour to it.
George is a bit weird about the dish, because he says the texture is great, but is the flavour delicious?
Matt says it’s outside his frame of reference for desserts. But it’s good.
Tasting done, it’s time for the scores.
Matt talks about how wild the flavours are and how it’s such a strange combination. He tells Larissa that if that was strategy, she’s brilliant.
Adam: Gaz 6. George 6. Matt 6. Total 18.
Larissa: Gaz 7. George 7. Matt 7. Total 21.
Larissa has won the pin!
As usual, this recap was written as I watched the episode, so there will be spelling and grammar mistakes.
I posted a MasterChef rant about Sandeep, and you can read it here. I also did a bigger rant about the rest of the season, and you can read that here.
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Felicity Feiner 
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