. ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... My liquid butternut gnocchi. ..cooking and chemistry converged... No time to waste. ..as our contestants faced their most ambitious pressure test yet. You're not giving up, you hear me? I won't give up. Let's make some gnocchi. Jessica aced the challenge. We've got two-pan action happening. But in the shock of the season... This is so bad. ..Sara was eliminated. We are so sorry. You are going home. Tonight, it's a cook where anything goes... Today, you can cook whatever you want. ..where our final four will unleash... You can just show off. It's your day to shine. ..and show Australia just how far they've come. Oh, my gosh. And the dishes they will produce... How delicious is that! ..will be amongst the best we've ever seen. That's what food's meant to do. # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. Supertext Captions by Ericsson www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2016 GEORGIA: It's a total thrill to be in the top four. I can't believe I've come this far. 20 people have left and every day that I'm here, it's starting to feel more and more real. BILLIE: The competition is getting super tough. I think we're all on a level playing field at the moment. We each have our own set of skills and different strengths. But certainly, any of us can win. REYNOLD: Finals week standards are definitely higher than ever, higher than last week, higher than the week before that. I don't know what the hell's going to happen today but hopefully, it's gonna be something fun. Good morning. ALL: Morning. It's kind of special, watching just four of you walk through the door and stand in front of us. It's wonderful. And all smiles. And so you should be, because the standard's been so high. The food has been so good. And we're halfway through the finals week and you've survived an elimination. It means you're still here and one step closer... ..to winning MasterChef 2015. JESSICA: The closer and closer we get to the end, the more and more tangible it gets. It feels like something that is actually achievable. I definitely think I'm capable of winning this. Well, I've got some good news. No-one is going home today. Cool. But that doesn't mean there's not a lot on the line, 'cause every day counts, every cook counts. Win today and you get a massive advantage that could set you up for a place in the finale. An advantage at this point in the competition is just amazing. It's what you want. We're all kind of neck and neck. So it's a game changer. Last man standing. Question is are you going to be the last cook standing. Oh, just like everyone else here, we're nervous. We don't know what we're gonna come in, you know, for today. No. Bit daunted by it. Well, you know, just a little reminder, there's a quarter of a million dollars up for grabs. Uh, yeah. Just thought I'd throw it out there. It's a nice little motivator. REYNOLD: One of the four of us is gonna win MasterChef 2015. It's real. It's reality for me now. The penny's dropped. This is getting really serious. A word of advice - don't let the moment overwhelm you. Focus. Understand what it is. Understand that you have collected skills along the way. You have created your own idea of what food is to you and how much it means to you and how you cook, your style. You know your weaknesses by now. You know your strengths. So put all that together and go for it. 'Cause that is what will win. Challenges are getting harder and harder. Each one, I sort of think, "This can't get any harder." And it does, so it's definitely testing. This is finals week and we want a challenge that really shows us how far you've come, shows you how far you've come. A challenge that's going to test your creativity, that's going to put your palate under the microscope and that really demonstrates that you have that MasterChef magic. I'm nervous, I'm really nervous, 'cause I know it's going to be this insane, insurmountable task. The one regret we hear most from MasterChef contestants is that they never got to cook THAT dish, the dish they've always wanted to cook, the dish they dreamt of cooking, the dish that said how good they were. For the four of you, you will not have that regret. Because today, you can cook whatever you want. Today there are no rules. Having more choice is way harder than only having a little bit of choice. No parameters is so much harder. We're going to be tasting all of your dishes, and quite obviously, the tastiest, the most delicious, the most beautiful, the standout, will win. And the best dish, the dish of the day will earn its maker that massive advantage in tomorrow's challenge. But before we get started, you've just got to decide one thing - how long is your cook time gonna be. So you've got to decide how long you want to cook between you. Oh, you're a bit nervous. For 45 minutes? An hour? Go on, have a chat. We'll let you have a chat. What do you guys think? We're not gonna take half an hour. That's crazy. 90 sounds good. 'Cause some of us are gonna be sweet and savoury. Sweets take time. (ALL CHAT) I'm happy with that. Let's do it. So, have you decided? ALL: Yes. How long? 90 minutes. 90 minutes. You all agree 90 minutes. Plenty of time to do what you want to do. Everybody's happy. Yes. Alright, are you ready? You pumped? It's all in your court. Your 90 minutes starts now. Good luck! Having no rules at all is a little scary. It's high pressure. But we all really want this. I have absolutely no idea what today's advantage is. At this stage in the competition, you really want to win that advantage. It's gonna change everything. I'm stoked that it's an open pantry. What more can you ask? You can just have a free cook. You can just show off as much as you'd like. There's no handbrake here. There's no excuses here. No. This is your opportunity to cook whatever you want, and I love that. But the pressure's on. Reynold undoubtedly will do a dessert, will do something spectacular. We know that he's got a few tricks up his sleeve, so that'll be interesting to see. And Jessica...Jessica's known for putting bags of flavour into her savoury dishes, so surely she's going to do a savoury dish today. Can she make it look finessed and beautiful, 'cause the thing about Georgia and Billie and Reynold is as beautiful as their food tastes, it looks spectacular. It's the sprint now to that finish line, and you want that advantage going into tomorrow. Well, we know what's coming. They need the advantage. Today I'm doing a dish inspired by growing up on a dairy farm. Waking up early and helping Mum and Dad milk the cows was such a special thing, and it's something that really sticks with me. So, as a kid, I just remember eating cornflakes in the morning and pouring over the fresh milk and the cream would be sat on top so it would be like a really rich breakfast. My dish is sort of a take on cornflakes. It's a dessert using saffron, lemon, lemon verbena, white chocolate as well, so doesn't really have a name but it's just a little take on a memory. Cooking a dish that's so personal to me really takes this cook to another level. I think failing with a personal dish hurts more than if you just cook a dish that doesn't really mean anything to you. There's a lot of pressure to get this right so, um, yeah, I've got to move. JESSICA: I'm known for putting up strong savoury dishes and I'm pretty sure the judges are gonna be expecting that from me today. I might be crazy but all I'm thinking about is making a dessert. Cheese-driven, of course, knowing me. I am doing a blue cheese cream with a cherry ice-cream. It's sort of a dessert version of a cheese plate. My food dream is to open a little cheese and wine bar. I want to sell cheese to take away or sit down and eat, create your own cheese boards. Have really amazing, interesting wine lists, and maybe just a couple of cocktails as well. I've been coming up with lots of different cheese dishes since I've been here and this one I totally would never have time to do in a normal challenge, so I figured I'm here to take risks this week, I may as well try. That's what my gut's telling me to do, so I'm gonna go with my instincts today. Gotta be savoury here. I'm actually not. Gotta be kind of something funky and dirty and interesting. It is funky but it's not savoury. Right. I'm kind of doing a dessert cheese plate. Is it a cheese course or is it a...? It's probably leaning more towards dessert than a cheese course. OK, but playing with the cheese element or that funky blue cheese. Yeah, big blue cheese flavour, a little bit of salt in there. For me, it's gonna be how well you present the dish. Flavour you haven't got an issue with. And we don't want to change your style. But this is the time. If you're gonna quenelle it, quenelle it beautifully. 'Cause you've got some stiff competition. Yeah. You don't want to be making silly mistakes with things that should be second nature. It's slowly dawning on me that maybe a dessert was a silly idea, but I believe in the dish and they like the flavours so I just have to really make sure that everything on the plate is perfect and I make it look beautiful and then I think I'll be OK. My grandma was a huge part of my life, and she taught me how to cook. I have beautiful memories of cooking with my grandma, who I called Mama. And it's all in her kitchen with her making lemon meringue pie. I think of the meringue and the lemon filling and the pastry and her giving me the spoon to lick. So those memories are going to inspire the dish I'm going to cook today. Whoo! Today I'm going to cook lemon meringue with coriander seeds and blueberries. I've kind of made it more modern and more unique to me by adding the blueberries and the coriander seeds. In the competition, it's time to take risks. It's not a time to sit back and do things that are safe. You really need to push yourself. Georgia. Hello. How are you? I'm well. How are you? Are you doing a dessert? I am doing a dessert. Wow. Is that OK? Yeah. Oh, it's fine. You can do whatever you like. It's your day today. It's your day to shine, really. Yeah, yeah. I'm just wondering why you'd do a dessert, knowing that Reynold is always gonna do a dessert, given the choice. I'm not thinking about what Reynold's doing. I'm just doing what I want to do. But you have to beat him today. Yeah. I don't cook like Reynold does. I could still win. Oh, she's got all the answers. If you're not confident now, when are you ever gonna be? Think about the advantage. Yeah, I am thinking about it. Today I'm gonna play around with a new idea that I've had recently. I'm gonna be making an apple and caramel dish. I'm gonna cook this dish 'cause I can see this dessert being in my dessert bar later on. I don't really want to copy anyone else's dish, I just want to make something that is different, something that is unique and something that I can claim to be my own. This dish has three caramel elements and three apple elements. And I want to be extravagant about it. I want to make it look absolutely beautiful but also taste really good. With almost 30 minutes gone, I think I'm doing OK. I've got my ice-cream churning, my white chocolate melting for the caramel cream, and I'm just starting my caramel sauce. There's a lot going on in here, I can tell. Dessert, yeah? Yeah. You know, I think everybody else is doing dessert. Oh, really? Yeah, look at it. Look, look, look. Sugar, flour, lemons. It's interesting, 'cause if I knew you were gonna do dessert, I just wouldn't go near it. No, I'd do it and beat him. (LAUGHS) You have given us desserts that no other contestants ever on MasterChef has given us. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you've blown us away. So the pressure for you is high. Yeah, keeping up the standards. I really want to keep impressing the judges with my desserts, so I'm pushing myself today. I check on the white chocolate in the oven. White chocolate is burnt. I did a small mistake, and that could really cost me. 9 Two almost identical families; two almost identical fridge-freezers. Both have all the modern features. So what's the difference? The Smiths chose a fridge-freezer that's Energy Star qualified. That means it uses up to 40% less energy. Because it runs all day every day, that will save the Smiths a lot on their energy bills. And that's just one appliance. Next time you need a new appliance, look for one displaying the Energy Star. . There's a lot at stake today. I open the oven door and I take it out. White chocolate is burnt. Oh...shit. Looking at this white chocolate, some bits are dry, some bits are burnt, and it's not really what I want it to be. I'm not sure if I'm gonna use that one. It's a bit too dark. So I'm gonna try it again. I grab some white chocolate, put it into a little bowl and put it into the microwave. Today there's no rules and we can cook whatever we want. And the winner will have an advantage for tomorrow's cook that could take them to the semi-finals. There's only one rule - make it delicious! Half an hour down, one hour to go. Today I'm doing a dish inspired by cornflakes. I'm doing a white chocolate and lemon verbena mousse with saffron flakes. Lemon verbena has a sort of mild, citrusy, beautiful flavour, and I think it goes really well with creamy desserts. Love it. That's a really good idea. But I have one massive concern. Yeah. Lemon verbena and saffron. Mm? Nothing? I'm excited. Yep. I'm worried about the lemon verbena and the saffron and how that connects. Mm-hm. OK. Alright, thank you. But... I haven't impressed George, so I'm feeling pretty nervous. 30 minutes has already passed and I've only got an hour left so I don't know if I should keep going or sort of change it. This dish is inspired by my grandma. I love the memories of her making lemon meringue pie and giving me the spoon to lick. So, today, I'm doing a take on that memory. I'm going to make a deconstructed lemon meringue pie and serve it on individual wooden spoons. I've never plated a dish up before on wooden spoons and I don't want it to look tacky so I'm putting a lot of effort into the little details. I think I've definitely taken on a lot of elements today but it's finals week. I've really got to push myself. Look at you, Georgia, whisking, tasting. You're flying, aren't you? I hope I'm doing my best. Huh? How are you going? Good. This is good, isn't it? Mm. I like it. Beautiful. What's that? Jelly? That's my blueberry jelly. Yeah. Is it grainy? Did you cook out... Is it agar-agar? Yeah. You remember when we did this on MasterClass... Yes. ..we made sure it's super flat so you don't get any lines underneath. You know, all the detail. This is finals, yeah? I'm getting flustered. Finals week. Don't get flustered. Do it properly, you know what I mean? 'Cause you're doing such a great job. Thank you. The best thing that can happen is that I get that advantage for the next challenge, so I'm gonna take any hints that they're gonna give me today, so I tip the blueberry jelly straight back into the saucepan and start again. Today I am cooking roasted figs with a blue cheese cream, oloroso sherry ice-cream and a walnut crumb. I'm using an oloroso sherry in my ice-cream. It's got a really lovely kind of round, nutty, dried-fruit flavour which is going to go beautifully with the cheese and with the figs. I'm not that experienced with all things ice-cream and it's probably the one element that I'm most nervous about on this dish. I think the sherry flavour is really important to the dish so if it doesn't work out, there's definitely gonna be something missing on the plate. I need to get it freezing in the blast chiller as soon as I can so it has plenty of time to firm up. I'm feeling a lot of pressure today. I've definitely taken a massive risk doing a dessert, which I'm proud of myself for taking, but it's quite stressful. I'm cooking a dessert which is caramel and apple. There are many caramel elements to my dish. I've got my white chocolate cremeux, a caramel tuile and a caramel ice-cream. I'm just hoping it's not going to be too sweet. Reynold, are you surprised everyone else is doing desserts? Oh, yes and no. I would have thought yes, I would have thought, you know, this is... They're in your arena, they're on your home turf. They're here. You know, now is not the time to run dry. Yeah, it's not. OK? For this dessert, I'm going to use all the skills and techniques that I've learnt throughout this competition. I'm trying to speed things up so I can get this almond tuile done. I've combined the caramel with the almonds and processed the mixture in the food processor. I sieve the mixture onto the Silpat and put it into the oven to toast. Really important to win that advantage because we're so close and you want to get that advantage to, you know, be ahead of everyone else. I believe I can win MasterChef. I know that the three girls believe that they can win it as well. But as long as I have my heart and my mind to it, I can win it. 45 minutes down, 45 minutes to go. You want to win that advantage. Let's go. Certainly love the dishes, I'll be honest. And I'm surprised that all of them are doing desserts, especially in competition with Reynold. But who do you think's doing well at this point? Reynold? (LAUGHS) I think. You know, all the dishes sound great, but we know that there are gonna be two spectacular dishes in there. Yeah. There are gonna be at least two dishes that are gonna be vying. We're gonna be going, "That's so good. "How can we compare this, which is so perfect, "with that, which is so perfect?" If I was one of those girls, I wouldn't be doing a dessert in the face of Reynold's dish. There's just no way. I'd do something completely different. BILLIE: I really want that advantage today, so having George tell me that he doesn't think the flavours of lemon verbena and saffron will work together at all sort of pushes that opportunity further away. And I really want it, so I'm sort of stuck, whether I go with my gut and do the flavour combination or listen to George and change it. But I'm gonna stick to my guns and go for it because I've done the flavours together before, I know that I'm only gonna use them lightly, so it's not gonna be strong, and I'm just really hoping it works. So, I understand George is nervous about lemon verbena and saffron. Are you nervous about lemon verbena and saffron? I don't know. I... I'm gonna go with it. Yeah, that's what you're here for. Yeah! You're top four. George has never been top four. That's the main thing. You've got to go with it. You know what? Massive advantage on the line. If you win it, that's great. Yeah. And you're gonna win it by surprising people. You're not gonna win it by confirming things we know already. That's right. Thanks, Matt. I really want them to like this dish because it's so personal to me. So I'm hoping that I'm making the right decision here in pushing forward with the dish, because at this stage of the competition, having any sort of advantage is just huge. JESSICA: Because my ice-cream is kind of starting to come together - it is solid, it's just a bit soft - I take it out of the ice-cream machine and put it in the blast chiller to try and firm it up so it can quenelle nicely to go on the plate at the end. Everything seems to be coming together pretty well on this dessert. I'm going to start on my burnt butter crumb, which is one of my favourite flavours in the entire world. So, I've got some butter melting in the pan and I'm putting the oats, some chopped walnuts and milk powder in there. This is the kind of crunchy, salty, savoury element that's going to complement the blue cheese cream. I'd probably like to be a little bit further ahead, but these are the two elements that going to be the most temperamental, so I'm really glad I've spent some time on them. Hi! Ooh! All going OK? Yeah, so far. Is there something that ties it all together? Is there is a syrup or is there a...? I was going to make a little caramel with the leftover poaching liquid that comes out of the bottom of the roast figs. This caramel sauce is going to be the binding agent of all of it, so I've got some sugar and a little bit of water in a pan, cooking down, and I'm waiting till the figs come out 'cause I'm going to use those roasting juices. Nothing tastes better than the sweet taste of success, and it could be yours in 30 minutes. Both of my mousses are in the fridge, so I move on to my saffron tuile. My tuiles are probably the most important part of this dish. I want it to get that colour of cornflakes because that's the whole idea of the dish. To make my tuile, I soak some saffron in a little bit of water until the colour leaches out, whip some eggwhites, add some butter, flour and sugar and add the saffron mix. My tuile mix is looking good, but it's a little bit dull. The colour of it isn't quite yellow enough to get that cornflake colour. So I put a drop of the yellow food colouring in. And it is just insane. It is so yellow. It's, like, neon yellow. These cornflakes are going to look radioactive if I keep them this yellow colour. They look ridiculous. I'm pretty worried at this point. . BILLIE: My tuile mix is looking dull. I put a drop of the yellow food colouring in and it is just insane - it is so yellow. These corn flakes are going to look radioactive if I keep them this yellow colour. So, I decide to smear it out really thinly and cook it longer in the oven and, hopefully, then it will look like a corn flake. Push now! 15 minutes! REYNOLD: My most complex element is my tuile. This tuile is nothing like any other tuile. It's not like a disc. It's not like shards. It's a stretched-out tuile into a nest. Practise a little patience on this just for a second. I'm interested to see what happens. But you see how you're getting a bit of viscosity now? I don't think I can do it. It's not easy. No. It's not easy. I've seen the judges watching me and just trying to stretch it really carefully, it's just adding a little bit of pressure. It's clever, isn't it? Mm. Oh, I'm sweating now - heaps. GARY: Is that kind of what you want? Yeah. Just kind of like nested up a little bit. It's all very clever. I love that. And I actually love the taste too. GEORGE: Mm. But it's the thing with apples. You know, I'm funny with apples. You know, I know burning things - quite cool. Yeah. Yeah? But... But what does it do for it? The judges are quite concerned about the flavour of that apple, so I'm gonna make sure the apple is gonna be steeped in that poaching liquid, to get more apple-y flavour. But I'm really worried about the balance of sweetness with caramel. Hopefully, that's gonna add some refreshing notes to it. It's all very calm and collected in here. I hope it pays off. 10 minutes to go! JESSICA: 10 minutes to go and the ice-cream has definitely got a big question mark over it. I've only made ice-cream once before in this kitchen, so... it's quite stressful. Are you having trouble with that ice-cream? It's gone slightly icier than what I made it. Why's that? I... I don't know. I did the same thing as I did the last time I made it. It's almost just like... it's not creamy enough, is it? I don't know what's going on. I don't know enough about ice-cream to know what's going on. If you just used milk, maybe it needed half cream, half milk. It's got milk and cream and milk powder. Has it? Hmm. I do not have time to redo this, so I'm just gonna hope that it firms up. And I've got all my fingers crossed that it's gonna work out today. I've left my tuiles in the oven for a little bit longer and I'm really, really hoping that the colour changes and that it actually resembles corn flakes. I take them out and the colour has changed and the taste is still the same. I'm so happy that they've turned this golden-brown. (BOTH CHUCKLE) I'm just carefully snapping them into little flakes, like corn flakes, so that I can arrange them over the top of the mousse. And they actually look like corn flakes, so I'm so happy. I want the dessert to be exciting and surprising when it's cut through the middle. I want a bit of wow factor, I suppose. So, there's a strawberry centre and a strawberry sherbet as well. It's so risky to not take on the advice of people like George. I guess I'm just really going with my instinct, and using lemon verbena and saffron together. I think is going to work best. If that does, it'll be amazing, but if it doesn't, I'll be so embarrassed. Honestly, my biggest concern is getting through this challenge. I want to get that advantage. That would be great. I know we're all doing desserts, so it's gonna be really hard. I just hope the flavours all work together. We are so excited - excited because in five minutes, we start tasting your dishes. GEORGIA: I've made my jelly. My lemon curd's delicious. The Swiss meringue's really good. The tuile's worked out. OK. Alright. To plate my dish up, I'm actually quite nervous because I'm serving it on a wooden spoon and I hope the judges don't see it as something that's... ..I don't know, a little bit tacky. So I want to make sure that it looks really intricate and beautiful. I just hope that eating off the wooden spoon isn't going to affect the flavour of the dish. I guess the danger with this dish is that it is a dessert and there's a lot of sweet elements, so it needs to be balanced. It's just one mouthful off the wooden spoon, so I need to make sure that it's not too sweet and that the curd balances out the sweetness of maybe the meringue and the tuile kind of brings some saltiness and... ..so it all goes together in that once mouthful. I now need to flame the meringue. I need to be super-careful not to burn any of the other elements. The wooden spoon's a bit dangerous. (GASPS AND BLOWS) Oh, my gosh! . I'm torching the meringue and if you combine a blowtorch with baking paper, you get fire. (GASPS AND BLOWS) Oh, my gosh! MATT: Oh! (LAUGHS) Sorry... I didn't see you. I can't... Just...turn it off. At least you didn't burn the dessert. That's cool. No, I didn't. I'm relieved that none of my dessert got burnt because I might not have had a dish to plate up. MATT: Three minutes to go! GEORGE: Come on. (JUDGES APPLAUD) I need to make this dish look like a bowl of corn flakes, so I start getting the flakes that I've made and poking those into the lemon verbena mousse. I want the entire dessert to be covered with the saffron flakes because I want it to really look like a bowl of corn flakes, so I can't really leave any mousse showing because I want all of that in the centre to be a surprises. REYNOLD: As I'm plating up all the elements onto the plate, I'm hoping it's gonna be a complex, cohesive dish. I put the butterscotch caramel in the middle, some white chocolate cremeux around it, some apple pieces and then some apple chips. There's a lot of caramel elements, but, at the same time, I've got some apple elements as well. Come on! Last little bit of effort! Every second counts. Two minutes to go! Come on! GEORGE: Come on, Jessica! It is a huge risk for me to make a dessert against, you know, somebody like Reynold. I know that presentation's gonna be really important. My dish has to look perfect today. So, I'm plating up two dishes, just so I can choose which one I want to present to the judges. A bit more work, but I think it's gonna be a good choice. I lay some of the roasted figs on top of my oloroso caramel. Then, on the side, I'm piping my blue cheese onto these little honey wafers. And as I'm placing them, one of the wafers snaps in half. And the piping on that one's pretty dodgy as well. So, I kind of already know which one I want to serve the judges. GEORGIA: To garnish my dish today I'm going to use some viola flowers from the garden, 'cause they're purple and yellow, and blueberries and lemon meringue pie are purple and yellow. I'm really happy with how this dessert is coming together. But a part of me is really worried because George wasn't happy about the lemon verbena and the saffron combination. The strawberry puree is going to be sitting in and around the corn flakes, which replicates the strawberries that I used to put ON my corn flakes when I would eat it as a kid. The time is ticking away! One minute! REYNOLD: I dust the almond tuile and put that on top of the plate. The plate's looking absolutely amazing. It's one of my most beautiful dishes that I've ever put up in this kitchen. JESSICA: I grab my ice-cream out of the freezer and I'm trying to quenelle it, but there's parts that are really firm and parts that are soft. I'm really struggling with this. I'm running out of time. I'm feeling crazy stressed. George pointed out that if I was gonna do a quenelle, I had to do a beautiful one. And this is just not working for me. 30 seconds! Come on! 30 seconds! Believe me, you want that advantage! 10 seconds to go! Nine... JESSICA: I manage to finally get a nice-shaped quenelle out of this ice-cream. And then I put it on the plate. JUDGES: ..two, one... I put it on the wrong one! (SIGHS) Damn it! I have placed it on the wrong plate. The one with the broken...wafer and the piping that looks like it was done by a monkey. GEORGIA: This dish is all about licking the wooden spoon while my grandma was making lemon meringue pie. It's quite sentimental to me, so I really hope they love it, 'cause I do. I would really love to win this challenge, especially cooking a dish that's really personal - eating a bowl of corn flakes as a kid. That would just mean the world to me. I hope I've done enough. Some days, I do good in the desserts but, at the same time, it's not good enough. And at this stage of the competition, the standards are ridiculously high. JESSICA: I'm feeling really annoyed at myself. I'm really happy with all the elements on the dish. I mean, the ice-cream's not quite right, but everything else is delicious. And I just stuffed it by a stupid mistake. Well, what a huge opportunity - make anything you want, time limit set by the contestants. And we've got four desserts, which is gonna be interesting. Um, I think it surprised all of us that... Yeah. ..all of those final four would pick a dessert. It's kind of Reynold's territory. It's sort of Reynold's challenge to lose, isn't it? It's gonna be fascinating. Absolutely. I don't think it's happened before, actually, and I certainly think if they were being a little more strategic, I don't know whether they would pick a dessert again. We'll see. Well, it is what it is. We're gonna be tasting four desserts. Can't wait. Let's get the first dish in. Mm. I'm proud of the dessert I've put up. I really love it, but I'm questioning myself. Lemon verbena and saffron are both pretty strong flavours. I don't know if they're gonna love it. I really hope George does, especially. I really don't know. 1 UPLIFTING MUSIC The people of New Zealand have a unique opportunity to decide the future of our flag. In the final referendum, your vote counts. Help decide which flag we stand for and how we're represented to the world. It's time to decide, New Zealand. . Hi. GARY: Ooh. So, the dish is...? Uh, white chocolate, lemon verbena mousse with a lemon curd and strawberry centre and saffron flakes, with a macadamia praline as the sugar. So, it's inspired from the memory of pouring the milk - like raw milk at home - over a bowl of corn flakes, and just the cream would come out, and then sprinkling sugar on top. It certainly looks like corn flakes. I tell you what. That little bowl of crushed up wafers looks absolutely fantastic. I mean, you've got the colour spot-on. Time to taste. OK. Thank you. Thanks. GEORGE: OK. MATT: Oh... That's nice. GARY: Yeah, it is nice. That's very nice. It's very clever. Very delicious. If I shut my eyes now and I run my tongue through my teeth, I get that sense of having eaten corn flakes. I get that flavour. And that's brilliant. And what's nice is 'cause the saffron's baked, really, in a tuile, it's not...too potent. You know, I think we questioned - we all questioned - the idea of whether saffron and lemon verbena would go together. And Billie has proved, yet again, that she's got a really sure way with flavours, because they married perfectly in that dish. I love the fact she's taken a risk, she's done a dessert, she's done a dessert that's pretty out there, and...nailed it. Yeah. Brilliant. Great little start. Yeah. Let's get the next dish in. Top dish. GEORGIA: I don't want the meringue to be too sweet. I don't want the lemon curd to be too tangy. It needs to balance in flavour. I'm just really hoping that the judges don't think it's tacky that I've plated up on wooden spoons. But it's a beautiful memory for me and I hope that my grandma would be proud of it. Hello. GARY: Hello. Georgia, Georgia, Georgia, why the wooden spoons? The wooden spoon represents my childhood memory of licking the spoon while cooking lemon meringue pie with my grandma. Georgia? Yes? You've obviously seen the other desserts. Have you won the advantage for tomorrow? I'd really love to think so. But I know how fierce this competition is, so I don't want to get my hopes up. But I'm really proud of what I did today. I really feel good about it. Right, Georgia - time for us to taste. Thank you. Thanks so much, guys. Just before we, uh, down the hatch, what do you reckon? MATT: You know what? My initial reaction is "That is ridiculous and stupid." And then that little wooden pallet comes out with those on, and I think of a table of four people sitting at a restaurant, each getting a wooden spoon and hearing that story, and I can see photographs coming out and, um, people raving about it. GEORGE: Yeah. Look, I think it looks really pretty, but there's...there's... I...I can't smell any of that beautiful part of the dessert 'cause I'm just getting the smell of whatever taint was on that wood. Conceptually, I love the idea. It's just that the meringue is very sweet. But the whole thing's really sweet. There's not enough acidity in the curd to balance the sweetness and you just end up getting this kind of giant hit of super-sweet meringue and... Yep. ..and...and it's just... It's just an overload. You know what I love about lemon meringue pie? The really yummy bit for it is all the sandy, crumbly pastry. And as much as she's put that little wafer in there, it just doesn't do it for me. It reminds me of curd and meringue. And curd and meringue is not enough to make me think of lemon meringue pie. Great concept, great idea. But, um... ..I would have been far happier with three perfect lemon tarts, with a thin little plume of meringue and then lots of blueberries on the top. You know what? If you did little miniature versions of those in a cocktail party, people would love 'em. Oh! Wouldn't they? You'd see those little lemon meringue pies come round and you'd just go, "Yeah, want one, want one." So, that's a definite positive. Right, boys. Let's get the next dish in. JESSICA: I'm really angry at myself. In a rush at the end, I put my ice-cream on the wrong plate. Infuriating. Come on, Jessica. What's wrong? (LAUGHS) I'm just really annoyed at myself. Why? Stupid, small mistakes. And we spoke about presentation, didn't we? A lot. Yeah. That's alright. I'm embarrassed to put that... Oh, come on. ..the way it looks. Come on. Don't be ridiculous. What's the dish? I've done... ..and a honey wafer. When we taste this, what's the abiding thought you want to leave us with? Not about flavour, but about you and about how... who you are as a cook. It's...I mean, flavour-wise, it's very much me on a plate. And I guess the fact that I took a massive risk today. I think in terms of something you read on the menu, it's a definite 'must order', um, and that's exciting. Thank you. Let's hope that the flavour can outweigh any question marks that you may have about the presentation. Thank you. Shall we taste? Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Jessica. Thank you. Thanks, Jessica. GARY: Tweezers are out. I can smell it from here. GEORGE: Oh! Smells good. Ooh! GEORGE: That... Would you like some more? (LAUGHS) That is SO good. GARY: Oh! GEORGE: Yum. Wow. How delicious is that? Oh! Wow. Just...just everything... everything you want. The intensity in that sherry caramel, um, freshness in the ice-cream, freshness in the figs, just enough heat to soften them, so they're really... They haven't broken down but they're super-succulent, super-juicy. Um, I had a good whack of blue-cheese mousse on my fig and, so, that was the perfect balance. But the thing I really love, and brings all those sherry flavours together, is that...is that burnt butter crumb, and which is heavily salty, and it just gives you the sense of, you know, eating the biscuit to go with your blue cheese. I love it - I can see a clear transition from where the idea comes from to where this dessert is. And is all the work, the complexity, all the technique that Jessica's shown, worth it, with this dish? I think so. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I love it to bits. I think it's the dark caramel, the many kind of flavours of that sherry, that are reproduced through that dish, that make it really special. If I had a jar of that in the fridge... It wouldn't last very long. ..you would find me at every hour, throughout the evening, like, going, "Eeee!" like that, and dipping into it. It is absolutely wonderful. I really love it. I'm not even thinking about the presentation. Oh! I was saying, we've forgotten about the presentation. And you can, when you're eating something as yummy as that. And that is gorgeous. I mean, it is...it is... It puts you in a place where you feel warm and fuzzy. Mm. And you're made to feel really good. And, really, that's what food's meant to do. Yeah, yeah. You'd go back to the bar, you'd go back to the restaurant, just to have this dessert. On that, let's get the last dish in. REYNOLD: I'm feeling pretty happy with my dish. I'm hoping that they're gonna like it 'cause by the looks of it, it looks good, but I'm feeling the pressure. Everyone has made a dessert and there are high expectations for me to do well. GARY: Wha-hey! Look at that! Are you happy? Yeah. Real happy with it. Yeah, I...I would be too. It looks spectacular. I love that little kind of wafery tuile on the top. What's the dessert? REYNOLD: Apple and caramel. So, there's charred apple, butterscotch, caramel and vanilla ice-cream, crispy apple bits and the almond tuile. This dessert, just looking at it, makes me feel we're sitting in a really expensive restaurant and the pastry chef is a young gun. And that's what you are, Reynold - you are a young gun. Now, we have seen stunning desserts already. Yeah. So, you're kind of in the box seat, you're kind of the favourite. But I tell you right now that if there's even a minor slip in that dessert, you won't win. But, gee, that looks good at this stage. GARY: I don't think we should ask too many more questions. No. Go away and let us eat. Come on. Thanks, guys. Enjoy. See you later. Just...just before we dive in, I reckon that is one of the best-looking desserts we've ever had on the show. And I'm not just talking about from contestants. I agree with you, Gary. I'm talking about from professionals as well. I agree with you. . GARY: I reckon that is one of the best-looking desserts we've ever had on the show. And I'm not just talking about from contestants. I agree with you, Gary. I'm talking about from professionals as well. I agree with you. MATT: Um... I find the overload of caramel quite...quite heavy. (GARY GASPS) (LAUGHS) And I find myself... Aaaah! You... What are you talking about? I find myself... Ambulance? Should we call an ambulance? I want... I want some more apple. Let me check... I want some more apple, I want some more freshness. And I just feel that this is... ..this is the toffee apple where the apple is tiny and the toffee is loads. For me, there's not enough freshness, there's not enough acidity to balance all that sugar. I love this candy... this kind of toffee candy floss. That's brilliant. I love the crispy apple skin. But...but in...I find it... ..I find it pretty wearing to eat, in terms of this endless onslaught of toffee. Look... I get where you're going. And I sort of... For me, the let-down is the apple component 'cause it could have been fresher. And there's ways to introduce freshness into the apple, even by just shredding fresh apple... Yeah, sure. ..and putting it on the plate. But let's...let's come to terms with our lives right at this moment. (LAUGHS) Right? That ice-cream and that caramel sauce, it was...it's yum. That is technically beautiful. Isn't that a brilliant thing, when they put dishes up that you almost think, "Wow, I'd have trouble "coming up with that idea myself, in that period of time"? 'Cause I've never made a tuile like that before and now I want to make one. There's a huge advantage on the line, and whoever wins it, they've done so by putting up an amazing dessert, and they're more than deserving of that advantage. Yeah. This is finals week. And we've allowed our four to run rogue - you know, have 90 minutes, an open pantry, cook what you want. And what they've given us - definitely three of them... But you know what? At the end of the day, I know who's the winner in my eyes. I do too. Me too. But whether these are three different dishes... (LAUGHS) ..we shall have to find out. Well, we threw out the rulebook today and I think we should do that more often because the food was absolutely fabulous and we cannot get over the fact that we're still dealing with amateur cooks. I don't even know if we should use that word anymore, because the creativity that comes out of this kitchen is astounding. You all did a fabulous job today. But only one of you can win that advantage. Georgia, we loved the idea of licking that dessert off that wooden spoon, the creativity. But you know what? It was just too sweet. So, unfortunately, you won't be winning that advantage today. That's OK. I thought it was good. It is a bit of a shock and I am disappointed. But I'm going to take their feedback and it's something that I thrive on. MATT: Reynold, Billie, Jessica... ..your dishes would have graced any fine-dining restaurant table in this country. They were great. Reynold, you're the king of desserts in this kitchen - the one to beat. You delivered a dish that looked like the best dessert we have ever seen in this kitchen. Jessica, we loved the combination of that blue cheese mousse, those succulent, juicy figs... ..and the freshness of that ice-cream. You developed those wonderful three core flavours of sherry, fig and blue cheese into a beautiful, complex dessert. Billie, you took such a risk. But you pulled it off. (CHUCKLES) Your dessert looked and tasted just like corn flakes, but it was so much more. You told George he was wrong about the pairing of lemon verbena and saffron. You backed yourself. And you...were...right. BILLIE: I'm not thinking about winning at this moment. I'm just really enjoying knowing that my instinct was right and that the judges loved the dish that's so personal to me. The three of you made the decision almost impossible for us today. And really, that's just as it should be in finals week. Reynold, Billie, your desserts looked absolutely beautiful. Jessica...you were worried about how your dish looked. But looking beautiful is one thing. Looking delicious, looking like you want to dive right in, and then, when you do, being rewarded with this kind of riot of flavours, this balance of salty crumbs, salty blue cheese, that caramel sauce, the figs... Wow! Wow! Wow! Jessica... ..that's why... Oh, my God! ..you win today. Well done. (LAUGHS) GARY: Well done. (JUDGES AND OTHERS APPLAUD) Oh, my God. GEORGE: Jessica, well done. Thank you. You not only beat Reynold at his own game, but everyone else as well. (LAUGHS) Are you OK? Yeah, just give her a moment to... You just turn around to Reynold and just go... (BLOWS RASPBERRY) (LAUGHS) Oh, God! If that doesn't give you the belief that you can win this competition, nothing will. Jessica, you get that massive advantage in tomorrow's challenge. Oh, my God. Now, guys, go home, get some rest. 'Cause let me tell you, tomorrow, you're gonna go places you've never been before. Off you go. See you later. Well done today, by the way. MATT: Well done, all of you. It's just the most amazing feeling in the world. This is...ridiculous. I beat Reynold at dessert. This is one of those little glimmers where I hold onto, that I know that... ..things like this make me believe I can do this... to the end. BILLIE: That's awesome. Well done. VOICEOVER: Next time, it's the ultimate gesture of trust... Today, I'm handing the Press Club keys over. ..in the most important cook of the season. The winning dish today puts their maker into the semi-final. Then move it! Come on! Let's go! With the boss prowling the pass... GEORGE: Energy now, not later! ..our contestants must each re-create... I'm freaking out. ..a George Calombaris classic... It's an absolute monster. ..for a room full of VIPs. Are you gonna get there? I don't know. This is a challenge Aaagh! ..that will change everything... I can't cook everything and plate everything. ..with the winner going through to the semis. Which one of you is safe and who is going into elimination? Able 2016