Yesterday, the yellow team failed to portion their meat well again (thanks, Chris), so they’re in elimination today.
Laura, Reece, Khanh, Tessa, Chris, Courtney, Ben U (Bun), and Brandon are facing off.
The judges wait for the group to enter, with Jock ready to go in his chef whites. It’s a Jock challenge, which is all well and good, except that Laura used to work at his restaurant, and while he said there won’t be any favouritism…
The losers enter the kitchen.
Jocks like, let’s not poodlefake, it’s a pressure test, someone’s going home, and it’s my pressure test.
But for the first time ever, this is a two round pressure test.
Everyone does the pressure test of 90 minutes, then three go to round two, and one goes home from there.
First’s things first – Jock pulls out his dish for round one, three Orana Snacks.
Jock brings the eight over to talk about it all and get them to eat it. I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what this dish actually is? I don’t know what anything is, except the last thing is a crumpet with honey and butter, and the first is like scarlet prawns or something?
Time starts, and they’re off to their benches to read their recipes and get going.
Reece tells us that this is the first pressure test he’s ever done! He never did one in his season, which is wild, but good on him.
As per usual, I’ll wait for something to actually happen.
Reece put the eggs in something warm and it cooked, so he had to start it again. What he had to start again, I cannot say.
Bun burns the bottom of his crumpets and they’re yuck. He’s ruined two batches of crumpet but decides to go with the first batch as the burnt flavour will go all the way through.
There’s one minute left, so let’s get to the tasting I suppose.
First to taste is Chris.
The yogurt thing, Jock calls textbook.
They crack the prawns and Jock lets out a demonic, “Yeeeeaaaah!” They’re perfectly cooked.
“Yes, your holes did depart you,” Jock says of the hole-less crumpet.
All three judges liked it, which kind of annoys me because he’s the reason they messed up the portions for two challenges, but go off I guess. I’m sure he’s a super lovely guy.
Next is Courtney.
The poop chutes are still in her prawn, which is not good. Personally, as a prawn aficionado, specifically on Christmas, I don’t care for the poo inside the prawn. Yuck, disgusting, I’m not eating it, that’s for the cats.
Jock goes to roast again, the yogurt thing is not seasoned well, but the crumpets was good.
Mel says she got everything, it’s just minor little things that aren’t good from the best.
I love Courtney, so this is a shame, and she knows this could send her to round two.
Up next is Tessa.
“Holes,” Jock says, holding up a crumpet and staring straight at Tessa. He turns to look at Mel and Andy. “We have holes.”
This episode is both the worst and the weirdest. What is going on?
Anyway, the judges really like the foods.
Next is Khanh, who only has two crumpets because of burning one in the last miute.
They taste Brendon’s next, but don’t show the overview, which I’m a bit bitter about. They said the prawns were gorgeous, and Andy said to keep this mind-frame going as he’s cooked really good food.
Laura next, and I’m really worried favouritism will play a factor in some way, shape or form.
He calls everything just about perfect, and Andy says it’s pretty well the same as Jock’s dish, which doesn’t surprise me at all because she literally worked at his restaurant. She just gives a nod and a smile like she’s not surprised, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s made this before to be honest. She really shouldn’t be in a Jock challenge, they should have done something else instead. But I digress…
It’s Bun’s (Ben U) turn now
The prawn is undercooked and the crumpets have no holes.
And Reece.
Pretty much every element is a banger, except they pretty much all pull out a poop chute. Ugh.
“Not great,” Jock says. “When you miss a step, it doesn’t matter how good your cooking is, you missed a step.”
He’s sent back to his bench.
And that’s the last of them. Weird they didn’t do Brendon’s but did everyone else’s, but I don’t work for, or have any affiliation to ten, so who am I to tell them what to do.
It’s decision time. Jock sends three people to step forward for round two.
Reece, Courtney, and Bun are fighting to stay in the challenge.
It’s crunch time.
The dish for round two is a pickled salad or something, and damper with lamb butter, which is pretty much hollandaise sauce made out of lambs fat and as hollandaise is my favourite sauce and lamb is in my top two meats, tied with pork, that sounds amazing.
It’s time again for them to try the foods. The damper is being cooked as they talk about the foods. If you’re interested in the salad and the cones, etc, then check out the episode, but otherwise, don’t bother.
Okie dokie, it’s cooking time, and once again, I zone out, as Bun, who will be arrested and drop out of MasterChef this season, talks about how it would suck to be the second person to leave after getting second place in his season.
Courtney starts getting super stressed and the judges come over to try and calm her down. I hope this isn’t foreshadowing of her impending doom…
There’s only ten minutes to go and everyone starts running.
Time starts to tick, everyone’s in a mess, and the cooking ends. Thank goodness, I’m bored and ready for bed.
First to taste is Reece.
Image one is Reece preparing the food, image two is his damper cooking, and image three is the food he presents
Overall, the judges love it, and it’s perfect, however the balance for the salad is not good. It was a great effort nonetheless.
Next up is Bun. As he’s trying to plate, the foam doesn’t work at all and nothing is coming out of the whipped cream thing, I don’t know, I’m not a chef.
Picture one is him working, picture two is the mess of a sitch he’s in, and picture three is his dish.
The judges commend him on getting everything up. The damper is good and airy and the ones are consistent. The butter was not perfect, but he took a red hot go.
Finally, Courtney. She rolls the cones and gets everything ready while her damper is cooking.
There was criticism of how Jock counted for her, it seemed quite fast. It looks as though it is an accurate count down, however it does seem quite fast. Perhaps it’s just editing, who’s to say (MasterChef is but…)?
Here’s a video in real time as it aired of Jock counting while Courtney finished plating.
They enjoy the elements she has, and the butter is closest to Jock’s, however they cannot overlook the lack of elements she presented.
It’s time for the results, and I feel like they super got her hopes up high, as Jock talks about everything wonderful she did and that two of her elements were the best of the lot, “however one dish was incomplete,” he said, before telling her to get out of the kitchen.
As usual, this recap was written as I watched the episode, so there will be spelling and grammar mistakes.
You can read last years recaps here, catch up on this season here, and watch this season over here, at shvideos.net.
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Felicity Feiner 
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