. ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... I need desserts! ..John led the blue team... Forget about that. ..in an Asian restaurant challenge. I need two scallops. But his complex menu sent them into elimination... That is a dessert disaster. As a captain, I've failed. ..and handed Ashleigh the power apron. Tonight... Are you double-knotting this thing? ..it's a blind taste test... This is like an interrogation. ..as our home cooks plunge... I don't know even know if this is food. ..into the great unknown. You've got to keep yourself in the competition. Then they'll need steady nerves... I don't wanna go home because I can't peel an egg. ..as they risk everything on a single dish. What I'm going to serve is almost like a risotto. But which gambles will pay off... MATT PRESTON: That's good, isn't it? Dee-licious. ..and which will blow up in their faces? (SQUEALS) And it just goes voom! (SMOKE ALARM BEEPS) # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like a brighter shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like a brighter shooting star. # Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2016 GEORGIA: I'm not sure if I'm such a fan of power week. (LAUGHS) JOHN: I wonder what Ashleigh's advantage will be. Yeah. MATTHEW: I'm trying not to think about it, really. STEPHEN: Play the cards you're dealt, don't you? Exactly. I'm hoping that whatever Ashleigh's advantage is in the team elimination, that it plays into my favour but I'm a little bit nervous about how today's going to pan out. JOHN: I feel responsible for bringing the team into elimination. And I definitely want to redeem myself today. I want to prove that I belong in this competition. STEPHEN: This is my fourth elimination in a row and it's hard work. Always in the back of your mind, you're thinking, you know, this could be your last day in the competition. It's exhausting. (APPLAUSE) (ALL CHEER) WOMAN: Good luck, guys! WOMAN: Good luck! Today is all about cooking for your place in this competition. Every one of you has cooked great food. Do it again 'cause you want to stay here, you want to win. Yes? ALL: Yes, George. Excellent. It is exactly halfway through the competition. 12 contestants and 6 of you standing in black. And at the end of today, one of you is going home. Right. This week has all been about the power apron. Ashleigh, yesterday you were the best performer in the red team, and that's why you wear the power apron today. And you're about to have a huge influence on the complexion of this competition. ASHLEIGH: I am not feeling at all good about this. A million things are going through my head and I'm now wishing I was not wearing this power apron. Ashleigh, you'll notice that there are six contestants in black but there are only five chairs. There's a reason for that. Ashleigh, today you probably have the hardest decision of anyone wearing a power apron this week. Today, you have the power to save one of these six contestants from elimination. (ROSE SIGHS HEAVILY) It's OK, Ash. It's alright, sweetheart. Poor Ash. This is such a hard decision for her. Oh, hon. If somebody goes home because she didn't pick them, she's going to feel responsible for that person. Ashleigh, we know it's a tough decision. It's weird, isn't it? If you wield the power for yourself, it's easy to do. But to wield it for someone else, to look across that line of cooks and think, "Who deserves it the most from what they did yesterday?" Who are you closest to? Who needs it? Who doesn't need it? Ashleigh, which of these six do you want to throw a lifeline to? (SIGHS) I'm feeling so much pressure to make the right decision. I don't want any of them to go home. (SNIFFS) Um... (SNIFFS) I am going to... ..save Stephen. Phew! Thank you. Ashleigh, why Stephen? Um, I picked Stephen because I know he's had a rough time lately. He's been doubting himself a lot and that's something that I definitely...I know how that feels, and to go out feeling that way for me would be the worst thing and I know that he feels the same, so I'd like him to have a chance to do something that makes him proud of himself. Beautiful. Beautiful, thoughtful. Well done. (APPLAUSE) Come here, sweetheart. Thank you so much. Oh! Alright, guys. Ashleigh, you can keep the power apron on. Stephen, off with that black apron and up to the gantry. (SIGHS) Good luck, guys. For Ashleigh just to say that I'm saved is a massive relief. I'm really, really chuffed that she's chosen me and I don't need to go through the elimination today. Well done. Right. Down to business. Today's elimination is going to take place over two rounds, and no prizes for guessing the first round is a taste test. MATTHEW: Taste testing, I think, is going to be really tough. I'm not sure that I've got the best palate going around and I'm a little bit nervous. GARY: Each of you will get an identical dish. It's my version of a classic. Your job is to identify as many ingredients in that dish as possible. The more you get right, the easier the next round is going to be, because in round two, you only get to cook with the ingredients you each identified correctly in that dish. Clear? Yep. The ones that we get correct, they're the ones that we're cooking with today, so, yeah, there's a lot, a LOT riding on this tasting. GEORGE: Right. You'll have three minutes to taste and memorise as many ingredients as possible. You're then going to get a further two minutes to write down as many of those ingredients that you can remember. But there's one last thing. You'll be wearing... ..blindfolds. It's a blind taste test, yeah? MATTHEW: A blind taste testing - it scares me. Sit down, guys. Not being able to see what's in that bowl, I'm even nervous about actually getting food into my mouth let alone tasting what that food actually is. Are you double-knotting this thing? Triple-knotting. Is that too tight? This is like an interrogation. (LAUGHS) I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh. It's not funny. He just looks...he looks so cute sitting there. STEPHEN: I am delighted I'm not down there. It's a really, really tough elimination challenge. Is that positioned properly? Yeah. So being able to get out of that is unbelievable. To sit there with a blindfold on... it's just a weird scenario. My heart rate is going through the roof and I can feel us just tense and anxious about what's going to happen. It's going to be a nightmare. You have three minutes and your time...starts...now. GEORGIA: First thing that I'm touching feels ridiculously weird. What is that? I'm freaking out. I don't even know if this is food. There's lots of ingredients. 29 of 'em. Dig in and find stuff. I'm feeling the ingredients and it seems like they're quite separate, so I'm trying to taste them individually so I don't get the flavours confused. I pick up a squishy round thing. I taste and it tastes like egg yolk, so I'm pretty comfortable with that. Remember, every ingredient you identify correctly, you're going to get to cook with, so every ingredient is going to count. ROSE: I have no idea what this dish is. There are things that I'm eating and I have no idea what they are. I just can't place them to save me. Eugh! (LAUGHS) (COUGHS) Can we have water? As soon as I taste kimchi, I know we're in Korea and I'm not great with Korean food, so...uh! You should have about three or four at least by now. JOHN: I'm feeling really lucky because I think I'm blind-tasting my favourite dish. I can taste garlic. I can taste ginger. I can definitely taste gojuchang paste. I think this is a bibimbap. GEORGE: Come on, guys. Time's ticking. Who's going to get them all? John, are you going to get them all? Come on. Alright. 10 seconds. 9. JUDGES: 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Time's up. Hands out of the bowl. Time's up and I still have no idea what it is that I just ate. So I just need to write down as many things as I can remember. The more ingredients I've got to play with, then the easier it's got to be to make something. Right. You can take your blindfolds off. You'll see there's a pen and pad. You've got two minutes. Time starts now! Time starts and I just write like mad. I'm abbreviating. I'm not spelling correctly. I'm just like... (BURBLES) MATTHEW: We only get to cook with the ingredients that we correctly name, so getting as many of these right as possible is absolutely imperative today. Come on, guys. Time's ticking. GEORGIA: I write all the ingredients that I think's in that dish, but I'm also doing something really smart and writing down oil, salt, pepper, vinegar. They're key flavour ingredients and I know that if I get them, I can make anything taste good. JOHN: I'm starting to panic. One minute to go. I'm struggling to write anything down. Time's running out and I'm worried. My mind's just gone blank. Come on. Write. Write! Come on. Last few things. I've just forgotten all the ingredients in there. STEPHEN: Go on, Johnny. 10 seconds to go. This is my favourite dish. I should know all the ingredients, but my mind's just gone blank. 5. 4. I'm worried I won't have enough ingredients for the next round. 1. Pens down. (SIGHS) All I'm thinking of is I let myself down. I could've listed a lot more ingredients. We love a blind tasting, so... ..anybody got any idea what that dish was? Yep. What was it? It's a bibimbap. Ooh! (CHORTLES) I love it. Well done, John. That dish is one of my favourite dishes in the world, but I'm just feeling really, really nervous. I don't even know what I've written down. Hopefully I've got enough to create a dish. We were delighted to see that there were several ingredients that all of you got right. Shiitake mushroom. Another one you all got right - you should have done, too - was rice. The last one you all got right is... And it was front and centre. ..egg. Koreans absolutely love this. Four of you got it right. Garlic. Four of you got sesame seeds. Only three of you got lava. We also accepted nori. So, I wonder who missed this one? Beef. Beef is the key ingredient in this bibimbap and I didn't pick it. Mmm. I'm really starting to panic now. What else have I missed? This is a nightmare. . GARY: So I wonder who missed this one. Beef. JOHN: In today's elimination, we've gone through a blind tasting. GEORGE: Sesame oil. MATT: Pepper. And we can only cook with the ingredients that we've correctly identified. But there were moments during the challenge that I just went completely blank. Cucumber. Carrot. I'm terrified I won't have enough ingredients for the next round. Daikon. Peanut oil. Sugar. So many of these flavours going on. You could have easily missed this one. Salt. John, you didn't get that. I'm kicking myself. I didn't write down salt. One of the cornerstones of Korean cooking. Kimchi. BILLIE: Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish made of fermented cabbage. It has a real spicy, sour flavour to it. Ginger. Bean sprouts. Soy sauce. Gochujang chilli paste. Spinach. Zucchini. Well done, Sara. Thank you. Good pick, actually. Georgia, you got this right. Apple cider vinegar. Ooh! Nobody got... ..pickled daikon. Dried anchovies. Garlic chives. Ah! Garlic chives! Dammit! And chestnuts. Oh! OTHERS: Oh! And we would've been absolutely stunned if you got this right. It was bracken, or fern. Lot of wild and foraged ingredients in Korean food. And finally - anyone? Fish sauce! ALL: Ah! Ah! JOHN: This is a total nightmare. I should've gotten all those ingredients. I just hope I've got enough to keep me in the competition. One of you got 16 ingredients. It's really impressive. Sara, congratulations. Wow. Really? Good work. Yeah. Cool. Good job. (LAUGHS) Thanks. Georgia, you also did really well. 15 correct answers. Ooh. Thank you. Matthew, your palate's obviously pretty good. 13 right. And, Rose, you got 11 ingredients right. John, you were the least impressive taster. You only correctly identified 10 ingredients. Yeah, I think I just went blank. When I was writing it down, it was...yeah. I'm really disappointed that I've only managed to pick out 10 ingredients from that dish. It's going to be a tough cook today. Right. Round two. Let's get stuck into it. You have 60 minutes to turn the ingredients that you picked into a beautiful dish that's going to keep you in the competition. It doesn't have to be Korean. You'll find all the ingredients that you picked at your benches. The pantry and the garden are obviously out of bounds. Are you ready? Yep. Remember what you're cooking for here. You have 60 minutes. And your time starts now. (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) STEPHEN: Come on, Johnny boy! JOHN: I have no idea what I'm cooking. I look down and I haven't got seasoning. I've got a cucumber, lava sheets, gochujang paste. I've got mushrooms and rice, so hopefully I've got enough to create a dish. Perhaps a Filipino dish. I'm so happy that I guessed those 15 ingredients correct, and I'm so glad that I wrote down oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, because I'm seeing a really cool dish. Today I think I'm cooking seared beef that I'm going to put sesame seeds on the outside and then a little pickled salad. The first thing I'm going to do is prepare my beef. I'm going to cut a beautiful piece out of the fillet and the fat that I trim off the rest of the fillet, I'm going to render down. I really want to use that to make a delicious vinaigrette to go over the pickled vegetables and the beef. So today my ingredients are all vegetarian. So I'm thinking of making a kimchi soup because I've had one before and it's quite delicious and the kimchi and the sesame oil are going to be my friends today. Kimchi is funky. Like, it is nastily good stuff. So if anything's going to save me today, it's that kimchi. I had a look at my ingredients and I've got beef, which is really beautiful. I've got some mushrooms, some soy sauce, so there's definitely some really strong flavours in there. I'm thinking right now that my best option is to go with the broth. I can use half the beef, put most of the mushrooms in there and I've got a good 45 minutes to have that sitting on the stove top just developing and developing and getting some really beautiful flavours. (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) WOMAN: Come on! MATTHEW: I'm feeling really nervous about this. Korean ingredients - this is going to be really hard. Oh! Look, Korean food is not a strength of mine. It's not food that I would normally eat. I'm feeling pretty flat in the kitchen at the moment and probably the worst that I've felt since the competition started. I'm here on MasterChef to try and create an opportunity for me to pursue a passion for something that I really love. I love cooking. But it's been tough being away from my family. Are you going to bat? I'll bowl. BOY: OK. Or do you want to... Erika, my wife, and Emily and Lachlan, my two kids, we're a very close family. I miss them enormously... ..and that's kind of weighing on my mind today. Have I made the right decision? Am I doing the right thing being in this competition? I need to really pick myself up and focus right now and get myself into a positive frame of mind so that I can cook well. I'm really happy that I've got the beef. It's something that I'm comfortable with, so it's going to be the hero of the dish that I'm creating. And then I'm going to make a little salad with the remaining ingredients and some toasted rice. Hopefully it'll be enough to get through today. It's very simple. You are cooking for your place in this competition. 15 minutes down, 45 minutes to go. Come on. (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) REYNOLD: Go, John. STEPHEN: Come on, Johnny! Come on, son! JOHN: 45 minutes to go and I'm still not 100% sure what I'm making. With my limited ingredients that I've got, I really can't do a Filipino dish, so I've got an idea. The only problem is... ..this dish has a really bad track record. Mmm! What's the heart of the dish? What are you working around? What I'm going to serve is almost like a risotto. A risotto? Knowing that the judges have had really bad risotto in previous series, I am taking a big risk, but hopefully I can pull it off today. Mmm. Curious and curiouser. Well, yeah. Least amount of ingredients... Yeah. ..across the benches. The challenge for you is to get texture in there, I think. Yeah. Get crunch in there. And with the least amount of ingredients is that you've got to keep yourself in the competition. You certainly don't want to go home today, do you? Don't want to go home. Creativity. Yep. It's going to be a big challenge, John. Push. JESSICA: What is John doing? He's got Korean ingredients but he's making a risotto? This could be an absolute disaster. . (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) JOHN: I really don't want to be in today's elimination. I only ended up with 10 ingredients and I am going to try and do a risotto. It's going to be a big challenge, John, but push. GARY: You don't seem convinced about that. I'm loving the stock that he's making because it looks jam-packed full of flavour with that nori sheet, the ginger in there and the shiitake. But once you've introduced the flavour of the rice, how do you keep the creaminess? How do you make it creamy? How do you make it... Is it soft and is it, you know... You want to eat with an egg on top and you want to eat every... you know, eat it with a spoon. He hasn't got butter. He hasn't got... Maybe a little drop of sesame oil at the end but it's not going to give it that creaminess. You know what? I'm a bit worried about him, actually. Hello. Georgia. You did alright in the ingredient pick, didn't you? Yep. Yeah, I'm really happy. Um...I... The dish? My dish is going to be beef tataki. I'm just going to seal it on the outside. I've coated it in sesame seed, salt and pepper. Serve it rare with some pickled vegetables. You know these things here? They're the worst invention. I actually hate these. OK. Because you know what it does? Is this one better? No, no, it just bruises the vegetable. If you're going to do a shred, shred it. Shred it by... You know, get a... Mandolin or... ..mandolin and then julienne it. Julienne it. I've got a mandolin. Or do ribbons. Yeah. Right! You're now down to the wire. Yeah. One of you is going to go home. Yeah. Right? You don't want to go home. I know that. Yeah. But it's going to come down to detail. Yeah, yeah. And that detail, that's not cooking. Alright. Yeah? That's... Done. Out. It's kind of rubbish. You'll be devastated if you go home. I would. So make sure it's delicious. Thank you. Perfect. Thanks. Thanks, guys. Gone. Gone, gone, gone. When the judges come to visit you at your bench, it's basically an insight into how you're going, and I always take on board their advice. I think you'd be silly not to, and I've seen people not take their advice before and go home. I really don't want to be that person. Rose? What did you get that you're going to use at the heart of your dish? Obviously the beef? Yeah, the beef. I've just started on a beef and mushroom broth. It's starting to get some flavour but...it needs a little bit more. Hopefully it will develop as we go along. Yep. Yep. So that's going to be... So I'm thinking broth, I'm thinking... I sort of had this idea for some rice, pan-fry it in the bottom, get it nice and sticky on the bottom, in a bowl with some beautiful fresh beef, put the broth over the top of it. If you've got rice and then you pour broth round it... Yeah. ..what happens? It'll just... Soup. It'll just be soup, yeah. There's the thing you've got to think of. Alright. I'll think about it. They're absolutely right. If I put this rice in the dish, it's just going to be a puddle of mush. But I still want to add an extra element in there and I want the softness to come from something, so I'm going to put a soft-boiled egg into the dish instead. SARA: Without beef and chilli paste, my round two cook is very difficult. I'm kind of in this corner of this vegetarian dish and I want to make a soup - I need to give it substance. What I'm thinking about doing is - because I don't have noodles - if I can grate the cucumber, carrot and daikon in a way that resemble noodles, so they'll not only be a vegetable dish but also give texture. Hopefully a soup's enough to save me. JOHN: I'm checking my risotto and I have to add something creamy to this dish. For a good risotto, you need cheese and salt and pepper, and I don't have those ingredients today. I have to think on my feet, so I think maybe using mayonnaise. That will add creaminess to my risotto. AMY: I'm really worried John is ruining this risotto by adding mayonnaise. Is that mayo? Yeah. Into the risotto? Yeah. Oh, wow. Egg-oil mixture. So I add my mayonnaise to my risotto. I stir away and... ..it's a disaster. It doesn't look the way I want it to. It doesn't look like a risotto. It looks too gluggy. It's got hardly any flavour. Ooh, that's weird, isn't it? Oh, God. If I served this risotto to the judges, I'll definitely be going home. I'm going to have to scrap my entire dish and start again from scratch. But I'm seriously running out of time. 30 down, 30 to go. (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) Come on! Matthew! Matthew! Matthew! Come on, Matthew! (LAUGHS) You need some energy. Come on, big boy. Half an hour's the decider. You know that, right? Yep. The mental, emotional strain, the pressure of the competition, it is starting to wear down, but I've got to snap myself out of it. So, what are you doing? What are you doing? Got a little beef tataki in sesame. I'm making a little salad with my bean shoots, daikon and cucumber. You've got some nice elements there. How do you think they'll work together? Look...they sound really lovely. But I look at that - that's not nice. No. Where you've got this beautiful carrot that you've just thrown into the bin there. I mean... You can stew it in the kimchi. Yeah. Just finely dice it and just pop it in there just to take on the flavour, and it still stays crisp. And you don't want to go home on the little things, and the little things are, you know, picking the bean sprouts. It's all the detail, yeah? Yeah. Sure. Thanks. STEPHEN: Come on, Matthew! I'm feeling a lot of pressure at the moment. I'm cooking with unfamiliar ingredients with an unfamiliar cuisine, and there's a real chance that I'm going to put up a dish today that's in the bottom and is going to send me home. Come on, Matthew. Come on, Matthew. Come on, Johnny boy. AMY: Come on, John. JOHN: I still don't know what my dish is going to be, but I just feel like I just need to create as many elements as I can. Maybe I can do a Korean rice ball. I've got a mayonnaise. And I've also got mushroom and cucumber stir-fry. Looking good, Johnny. But I think I need another element. Maybe an egg custard instead of the risotto. GEORGIA: I've actually really enjoyed this day so far. It's been a blast. I've got great ingredients. I'm really happy with how my dish is looking. I just need to finish off my beef vinaigrette. I rendered down the beef fat earlier on in the cook and drained it into a bowl. I put the beef fat back into a frypan and put it on the heat. I'm going to warm it up and then add some vinegar to it. When I add the vinegar to it, I'm going to emulsify it into the fat, season it, and that will make my dressing. The vinaigrette is going to have a beautiful beefy kick and tie my whole dish together. (VINEGAR SIZZLES) (SQUEALS) OTHERS: Whoa! (SMOKE ALARM BEEPS) (SQUEALS) . GEORGIA: I've got my beef fat heating up in a frypan on the stove. The next thing I need to do is add my apple cider vinegar. And it just goes voom! (SQUEALS) (SMOKE ALARM BEEPS) (SQUEALS) It's the biggest fire I have ever seen. Sorry! (ONLOOKERS CHEER, APPLAUD) JESSIE: Bravo! Whoo-hoo! Do I have eyebrows? Oh, my God! JESSICA: You almost burnt MY eyebrows off, George! (CACKLES) I've almost burnt down the MasterChef kitchen. My beef vinaigrette has gone up in smoke. But this is an elimination. I need to stay focused and I need to think of something else to tie my dish together. I decided I'm going to make a mayonnaise. Mayo's one of my specialties. I'm going to flavour it with the gochujang chilli paste and I just hope that the judges love it. GARY: You have to bring us one delicious dish if you stand a chance of saving yourself. 15 minutes to go. (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) STEPHEN: Come on, Matthew! Come on! Come on, Johnny boy. Come on, Rose. MATT: For me, back of the room, I'm not worried about. Front of the room, I'm really concerned. Yeah, absolutely. I'm really not sure what Rose is cooking at all. Where's it going? How's she going to put that together? I think the concern is Rose is the survivor - or, has been the survivor so far - but she's been the survivor with a RECIPE often. This is not her strength. I want to know how Matthew's feeling. Where's he at? GEORGE: I love the idea of a tataki of beef, but then he's introducing an omelette, and again I'm not too sure how he's going to link this dish together. Well, I've just left his bench. He doesn't know either. And as for John, I mean, rice ball, mayonnaise, custard. I'm putting those together in my head and I'm going... How does it work? You know what's interesting? He's got some nice elements on the bench. He's done a little cucumber with the gochujang and it looks really nice and I think to myself, "There's the bit that I'd build on. "There's the yummy bit. What's all the other stuff?" Hey, Sara. Did you get kimchi? Yes, I've got the kimchi. OK. So you...are you...have you put kimchi into your soup... Yes. It's in here. ..to give it some flavour? Can we have a little taste? Go for it. That's getting there. That's going to be delicious. It's on the way, but lose the fear. Yep, alright. Thank you. Just go for it. Gary pretty much says to me loud and clear that he wants it to be punchy, so I'm going to blow his jaw off. I'm going to put double, almost triple what I originally put in. It's going to be dark and dirty and...grrr! Time to pull this together. 10 minutes to go. Come on! (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) STEPHEN: Come on, Rose. Push, push, push. ROSE: The broth is looking really good. It smells really tasty. All I have to do is boil an egg for a few minutes in boiling water and peel it. GEORGIA: 10 minutes to go and I'm cooking my beef in the frypan. I'm just searing it really quickly and toasting the sesame seeds. The inside of the beef still has to be rare. I'm checking it and touching it and making sure that it's perfect. If it's not, I could be in deep trouble. JESSIE: Go, Johnny. John's cooking a lot of elements today and I just hope that he hasn't overcomplicated it, because the judges have made a big deal about keeping it simple and not making things too crazy, and I just hope it doesn't cost him. You know, John, you've got an awful lot going on on your bench. Yep. Some of it's really good. And some of it's terrible. OK. Alright? So you need to think about that. We only want to see the really good stuff. You want to stay. OK. You want to save yourself - what you leave off the plate is as important as what you put on it! Five minutes to go! Come on, guys! Come on, John! Five minutes. Let's go. Time's running out and I'm feeling a lot of pressure. I have to make sure I choose the right elements to put into the dish so I don't go home. MATTHEW: The dish is starting to come together. I'm still not 100% happy with where I'm going, but the beef is cooked, I've got an omelette, I've got a salad, I've got some dressing, I've got some toasted rice. The concept is there. I'm just hoping that I can bring it all together. You've got lots of ingredients, lots of delicious ideas. Yep. Today you have to be one person. I do. You have to be Robbie Williams. You know why? You're doing it for the kids. (LAUGHS) ROSE: It's so important that every element that goes onto the plate is absolutely perfect and it looks right. One bad element can ruin a perfect dish. STEPHEN: Come on, Rose. BILLIE: Go, Rose. I'm shaking and I'm running out of time and I just need to get this egg out of the shell and it's just not happening. (SIGHS) This egg is a disaster. I can't get this damn shell off and it is driving me mental. Dammit. This is the easiest part of my dish and I just can't seem to get it right. I've done about as good a job as a seven-year-old would do. Yeah, I'm not happy. I don't want to go home today, so I need to have a backup. So I'm going to fry an egg. I don't want it to break. If I lose my egg yolk, it's going to be ruined. MATT: You're hanging on to the edge of safety! Lift yourself up! AMY: Come on, guys! One minute to go! One minute! JOHN: Matt's advice was to simplify my dish, but I worked so hard to get all the elements together, so I've decided to serve everything to the judges. This is it! 30 seconds! WOMAN: Come on, Rose. You can do it! Eggs are causing me so much drama right now. (ONLOOKERS CHEER, SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) STEPHEN: You can do it, Rose! As they say, you've made your bed. Now you've got to lie in it. I broke it. I've broken the yolk. Going to have to use this one. I have to use the little, mangled boiled egg that I've got. It doesn't look pretty, but I have no other option. I've got no other time. 10 seconds to go. Come on! 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Time's up. Well done. GEORGIA: I'm feeling really good after that cook. I had a lot of fun and I had a near-death experience, so, yeah, all in all, I'm pretty happy. SARA: Time's up and I look at my dish and I'm really happy with the way it looks. I just hope I'm safe today. JOHN: Looking at my dish, I definitely feel I've redeemed myself. I've put a lot of flavour in that dish and I think the judges will recognise that. MATTHEW: I'm really worried about the flavours in this dish. I don't know whether I've managed to balance everything out well. I'm worried that this dish might just be a little bit too bland. ROSE: My dish is horrible. It's completely ruined. I'm thinking right now that it's going to be me in that bottom two and there's a good chance that I'm going home. MATT: At this stage of the competition, we've got five really good cooks there, so I'm excited to taste the dishes. Well, speaking of taste, let's get the first dish in. What's the dish? GEORGIA: Today, I've made a sesame beef tataki with a gochujang aioli, pickled vegetables, puffed rice and carrot chips. You identified 15 ingredients correctly. Yes. How many of those 15 did you use? All 15, but I left the bean sprouts off the plate at the very last second, so the bean...the bean sprouts aren't there. Thank you. Right, George. Thank you. Can I just say, that looks... It looks brilliant. ..spectacular. You know, 60 minutes to put up a dish that... ..is... (SIGHS) It's just so yum. Yeah. I absolutely love it. Delicious. Dee-licious. Tender beef. That gochujang mayo is really subtle and it's beautiful. It's such brilliant cooking because you've got that sweetness and the sourness of the vegetables and the different crunches. Let's get the next dish in. There's a lot, a LOT riding on this tasting. I'm not confident. The egg's obviously slightly damaged. I don't want to go home because I don't know how to peel an egg. It's crazy. . ROSE: I'm worried about this egg. I don't want to go home because I don't know how to peel an egg. It's crazy. GEORGE: What have you cooked, Rose? I've cooked a beef and mushroom broth with some vegetables. Did you have a good cook? Um...yeah, it was OK. If it's not great, then it's not great, but I feel good about it. So, yeah. Rose, we're gonna taste. Thank you. Thanks, Rose. Thank you. Well done, Rose. Thank you. The egg's obviously slightly damaged. The beef's cooked really well. I actually like that little sprinkle of torn lava and sesame seeds. It's a nice little seasoning. Let's taste. Gary loves the egg, so... ..he can crack it. Heeeeey! On ya, Rose. Beautiful. Ooh, yum. I don't mind that broth at all. Oh, that's good, isn't it? Mmm. I like the beefy touch to it. It's clear, it's...it makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Yeah. It's really yummy. This is simple and delicious. Like, the broth is all about the beef and then you've got that sort of salty, you know, seaweed sesame over the top, and creamy egg. What a nice tasting so far. Yeah! Great tasting so far. Let's get the next dish in. MATTHEW: I'm feeling a little bit lost at the moment. This is my third elimination in a row and it's starting to wear on me. I just hope that what I've done today is enough to keep me in the competition, because I know that I've still got a lot more to do. Matthew, what's the dish? Sesame tataki beef with toasted rice and a kimchi salad. You've probably improved more than anyone else. You've put up some great food and then, the last couple of cooks, you've started to wobble. From an emotional point of view, there are things I'm struggling with. The longer I'm staying in here, the harder it's been. Hard for the kids, hard for my wife, and...and hard for me. Why is the sacrifice worth it? This is about making a career change in the middle of my life. You know, that's a hard thing to do. So, as much as I would love nothing more than to go home and hug my kids, I want to stay here because I know what it means to me. Alright, Matthew, it's time for us to taste and hopefully, fingers crossed, this dish keeps you in the competition. Thanks a lot. Off you go. Thank you. I think the concern for me on that dish, I think it's gonna be dry. It does look very sawdusty, doesn't it? Yeah. It looks like someone's sprinkled breakfast cereal around the edge, and...and that's a concern. That is a concern. But maybe the juiciness of those vegetables will save the dish. Yeah, absolutely. Is there almonds underneath? Gee, he does like a little surprise underneath, doesn't he? Not a bad dish. Tastes better than it looks. You know what's really clever about it? By taking the juice from the kimchi, he's introduced some sourness, he's introduced some heat into the dish. It goes so well with that beef. It's such a beautiful combination of flavours. But I don't get why the omelette's there. It really doesn't have any role to play in the dish. Based on the first two dishes, which were stellar... Yeah? Oh, yes. ..this one's poles apart. SARA: I'm really happy with the way it looks. I just hope that egg is cooked correctly, so when the judges pierce it, it just oozes and gives a really nice softness and creaminess to the dish. So what have you cooked for us? I've cooked a kimchi soup with a soft-boiled egg, and I've used the vegetables as noodles. Pleased with it? I'm happy with the dish. I feel like it's a bit inventive. And I was nice and calm throughout the cook. Good. Sara, thank you. Thanks, guys. Oh, great. Look at the colour. Look at the colour! Ready, boys? Mm-hm. Oh, yeah. Oh! That is good. That's fantastic. (CHORTLES) I love how she's done the noodles in, you know, different shapes. In terms of you've got this flat noodle of vegetable of daikon. You've got this carrot that's done sort of nice and fine. And you think you're eating noodles, but you're not. She's used the kimchi and the sesame and the lava and created a very beautiful dish. This is one of those dishes that sits in now my list of top 12 things I've eaten on the show. I think it's really clever. Let's get the final dish in. JOHN: I'm feeling really nervous. I know that I've had very minimal ingredients, but I think I've made the right decision of picking the elements that will work together. So, I'm really hoping that the judges will love the dish. John, what have you cooked? I've cooked for you today a Korean rice ball with a gochujang, mushroom and cucumber stir fry, served with a egg custard and a confit garlic aioli. Is there anything else that you could get on the plate? (LAUGHS) Today was crazy because I was trying to get as much flavour as I can with the ten ingredients that I had. And...um...hopefully you like it. We know there's some good stuff there, John. Is there enough good stuff to save you? We can only find out by tasting. Shall we? Yep. Thank you, John. Thank you. What's that mayonnaise? Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm. Those crunchy rice balls with that spicy cucumber are absolutely the most delicious combination. But...the egg custard - why? The mayonnaise - no. He's tried too hard. It's try-too-hard. And you can tell this cook has been trying to do too much and not focused in. So that leaves the two boys, then, in the bottom, doesn't it? I think it's a tough choice. One the one hand, you've got John's dish, which has got two really good elements and two elements that are pretty nasty. On the other hand, you've got Matthew's dish, which has really got nothing terrible on it, but there's nothing where you go "wow" about. If he stays in, he stays in on the skin of his teeth on this one. I know my decision. . That was a very tough challenge. Only the ingredients that you correctly identified in that blind tasting is what you could cook with. You had to rely on your creativity and your ability to get you through. And you know what? Five of you all did well. But for one of you, today will mark the end of your MasterChef journey. I want to be bright and happy for a moment, 'cause there are some days you walk into this kitchen and you just go, "Yes, yes, yes! "This is why we're judges on MasterChef Australia." Dishes that could sit on any good restaurant's menu. And we had three of them in this challenge. If I call your name, please step forward. Sara. (APPLAUSE) Georgia. (APPLAUSE) Rose. MATTHEW: Well done, Rose. Well done, Rosie. I told you not to be worried. Rose, Georgia, Sara, you can rejoin the group. You're safe. ALL: Thank you. Good job. MATTHEW: Well done, Rose. Good work. (SIGHS) Two boys! So...Matthew, John, it comes down to the two of you and it comes down to the dishes that you cooked today. Matthew, you seared that beef beautifully. And we loved your use of the kimchi juice as a dressing. But there was too much crunchy rice on the plate, and that omelette - unnecessary. John, we loved your rice balls. And that spicy cucumber salad, the perfect partner. But, John, that custard was irrelevant, and worse than that, the mayonnaise was heavy and flat. If you'd left those two elements off the dish, it would have been a much better plate. But you didn't. And so the thing that's been your weakness all through this competition - putting too many elements on the plate - has been your downfall today. John... ..I'm sorry, you're going home. That's alright. Keep going strong, mate. I've had an amazing experience in MasterChef, and food's always been in my life. And...this has made me realise that... ..this is what... ..this is what I want to do. John, we've loved your food. You captained your team to victory in the Massimo Bottura challenge. He's polishing it off! And then I think a turning point for you was meeting Marco Pierre White and Marco's mystery box. Making a gnocchi with choux paste is very clever. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) We loved the fact that at various points you've just brought that Filipino food to the fore and put your own twist on it. What's next for you? I'm gonna definitely follow my food dream and...you'll probably see a Carasig restaurant somewhere. (ALL CHUCKLE) I love it. John, I hate to say it, but it's now time to leave the MasterChef kitchen. Good luck and goodbye. Good luck to you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks, buddy. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Good luck, everyone. (CONTESTANTS CHEER) I feel devastated, but even though I've been eliminated, I've learnt so much in the competition and I'm really proud of myself. I've cooked from the heart and I've enjoyed every single second, every minute, every day of being here in the competition. NARRATOR: Next time... Heston Blumenthal! (CONTESTANTS SCREAM) ..he's back! Oh, my God. Oh! Ecstatic. But are they ready for this? What the hell? THAT is what I want you guys to do. Get cracking! Let's move! With Heston in the house... Good luck! Thanks, Heston. ..everyone is out to impress. It just all works on every single level. I think you kind of nailed it. But push too hard and the next stop... Not too much pressure. I don't even think I'll get one element on the plate. ..is elimination. I've bitten off way more than I can chew. Captions by Red Bee Media Australia