ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... Service! ..Curtis Stone's degustation challenge... Come on, guys. Move faster. ..had teams fighting to avoid elimination. We've gotta go. But it was Chloe and Nicolette and Trent and Elise who faltered and paid the price. Tonight, four of the top contestants... I'm gonna fight as hard as I possibly can. ..will face the chopping block. You're cooking for your life. It will be one of the toughest eliminations in MasterChef history. It's head-to-head to save yourself. But they won't be going... I want this so bad. ..without a fight. Pressure's on now. Through inspiration... I really need to push the limits. ..and perspiration... You need to set this kitchen on fire. ..they'll create dishes so remarkable... Yummy to its absolute core. This is one of the best things I've eaten. ..it will be one of the toughest decisions our judges have ever faced. We've got a serious issue on our hands. # 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. # We got today. # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # So spin me round and... # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # ...show me the way... # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # ...back to... # 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. # Able 2016 TRENT: It was a bit of a downer yesterday, losing, but I guess I'm just trying to leave yesterday completely behind. Just try and get those sort of negative thoughts out of my mind and just concentrate on doing a good job today. It is crazy to think, "Hey, one of us isn't coming home." Yeah. I think I have what it takes as far as elimination. I'm able to keep a pretty level head most of the time and keep calm. For me, it's all about being able to be creative on the spot. That's the thing that I struggle with the most. I just need to focus and make sure I make the right decisions. Are you ready? Yeah. Let's do it. It's dawning on me that this might be the last time I visit the MasterChef kitchen. But today I'm gonna fight as hard as I possibly can to stay in the competition. Smash it, guys. Yep. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ELISE: Walking through these doors, I know I have to show the judges what I can do and why I'm here. I'm not ready to go home. CHLOE: This is my fifth time in blacks. This is the time where you need to keep fighting because this is where you learn the most about yourself. This is just a hurdle that you need to get over to be able to go forward. GARY: Good morning. You're all very, very strong cooks. I mean, the numbers are shrinking and the quality of food is going through the roof. Which we love, but it makes it all the more difficult when you come in on a day like today. So, best of luck. CONTESTANTS: Thank you. Today's elimination will take place over two rounds. In round one, you will cook off against each other in two duels. Whoever wins each duel is safe. Lose the duel and you're cooking for your life in round two. Lose that round, you'll be going home. How do we decide who's cooking against who? Very simple - a knife pull. There's four knives here. Two of those knives have the number one on them, two of the knives have number two on them. If you get the same number, you're cooking against each other. Alright, guys. All good? Go. OK. So, Nicolette, Elise, you'll be battling it out against each other. Chloe, Trent, you'll also be battling it out against each other. OK. Good luck. You know, it wouldn't be MasterChef without a delicious twist. Each pair of duellists must use what's under these cloths as inspiration for their dish. Both these things inspired great chefs both here and overseas to create signature dishes. Are you ready to see what your inspiration is gonna be? ALL: Yep. Nicolette and Elise, you must take the inspiration for your dish from... ..seashells. Oh, I love the look of panic! (NICOLETTE LAUGHS) What?! I don't know what to cook with seashells! I have no idea! Wh...? Trent, Chloe, you must take your inspiration from... ..autumn leaves. Awesome. Autumn leaves. We got autumn leaves, and I'm really excited by this. I live in a hinterland. It's beautiful where I am, so I've got a lot of inspiration. GARY: So, are you ready? Hopefully the brain is spinning. Loads of ideas coming to mind. You have 60 minutes. An open pantry. And the garden is in play. Are you ready? Yep. Your time starts now. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) CHLOE: Today, I've chosen to do chicken, because autumn where I'm from is so beautiful in the hinterland. It's all about the warmth of the food and how it makes you happy, and all I can think about is my husband and I having roast chicken by the fire and being so comforted. I've decided to roast my chicken on the crown with a sweet onion puree, charred and fresh vegetable leaves and a chicken brown butter glaze. Go, Chlo! I love chicken breast, but it gets very dry, so cooking it on the crown is a great way to maintain all the moisture. Smart move, Chloe. I am confident roasting chicken on the crown. I've done quite a few times. So I'm feeling confident about it. Come on, Trent. Go, Trent. This is probably the first time I've been given something to use as inspiration. But I have an idea straightaway to use beef. I thought about going for, like, a more secondary cut, but I just want to keep it a bit lighter. I don't want to do a braise or something that's too heavy. So I'm gonna serve beef eye fillet with some crispy kale, some beetroot, some roasted garlic, and I'm gonna make a salsa verde and also a red wine butter sauce. Come on, Trent! Come on, Trent! Come on, mate. I grew up in Batlow, which is a small country town in the Snowy Mountains. I just remember as a kid burning off in the autumn all the dead leaves and stuff like that. There's a smoky smell around all the time. So I definitely want to incorporate a smoky element with the dish. I'm not sure quite how just yet, but the pressure's on. ELISE: When I look at seashells, I'm just thinking, "OK, what's my fondest memories and what relates me back to seashells?" And as a kid, I would eat strawberry ice-cream when our parents used to take us out to the beach, and I used to dig in the sand and find sticks and shells and all weird and wonderful things. And then as an adult, I got engaged along the seashore. (POP!) Whoo! (SQUEALS) So, today I'm making a strawberry parfait with a champagne jelly, a coconut sand and tempered chocolate. I am making champagne jelly because it's one of my fondest memories. When I got engaged, we drank champagne, so it's one memory I really want to put into this dish. ELENA: Oh, is she gonna make her engagement dinner? Oh, my God. That would be so cute. NICOLETTE: This might be one of the hardest challenges so far. It's something that you've got to be really creative with. When I think of seashells, the first thing I think of is the beach - summer, the horizon, the ocean, water. So, today I'm cooking poached meringue with lemon and strawberries. MATT: Come on, Nic. Got to push now. I'm visualising having the crumb in the middle of my plate as the sand and then having that ball in the middle of the poached meringue to be the sun. Nicolette, your dish sounds delicious. Thank you. I'm slightly concerned about whether the theme of the seashells is gonna be clear enough to someone as stupid as me. Yep. We have to be able to look at the dish without knowing what the theme is and the inspiration is and going, "Oh, yeah, of course. That's the seashell element." It doesn't need to be literal. In this competition, head-to-head, you're gonna have to deliver something that's really clear with the inspiration as well. Yep. Yep. Thank you. I'm really worried that Matt doesn't see the connection I see between my plating and the seashells. It's really important that I nail that brief, or else I'm gonna be straight into that second round. GEORGE: It's savoury versus savoury, sweet versus sweet! There's only 45 minutes to go. Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GARY: Have you got a clear idea? Yep. I do. I'm doing chicken breast on the crown. Gary's got a little smile on his face as he's looking at that chicken on the crown. I mean, he loves that process of cooking a chicken, and so do I. And the quicker you get it in... Oh, yeah. ..the better, 'cause... Ooh, yeah. Time is running out. Absolutely. Push. Thanks, George. It's really important that I cook my chicken perfectly. If I overcook it, it will go dry. TRENT: The smokiness reminds me of autumn instantly, so I need to make sure I get lots of smoke flavour into this dish. I've had smoked butter before and I really enjoyed it, so one I'm gonna use that as a base for the sauce and I'm gonna whisk the smoked butter through the red wine reduction. What's he smoking? Butter? I've never made this before, so I'm not sure how it's gonna turn out. Come on, Trent! I've really taken a huge risk trying to do it in an elimination. GARY: I can smell some smoke over here, which is good. Yeah. So, I'm just doing, like, a smoked butter beurre rouge, so, like, red wine with smoked butter. My concern is your beurre rouge - your red sauce. Yep. Be interesting to see how that red wine goes with the smoke, won't it? Whether or not the smoke will kind of come through. After I talk to George and Gary, I can definitely see what they're saying. It's a huge risk trying to do it in an elimination. Be careful, huh? Yeah. If this doesn't go together, this could definitely send me into round two. 1 (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Come on, guys. Come on, guys. Chloe! Come on, Nicolette! TRENT: In today's elimination, we have to cook off against each other in round one. Nicolette and Elise have seashells as their inspiration and I'm up against Chloe, and we have autumn leaves. If you don't win, you cook off in round two and the worst dish of the day goes home. GARY: I like where Elise is going. There's a great little emotional connection there to seashells. But I'm not so sure about Nicolette. I think she's connected summer, beach and seashells, but I'm not quite with that. But we'll see. We certainly know it's going to taste beautiful. You know what, though? I'm really excited by the savoury duel. Chloe's chicken dish sounds sophisticated, sounds delicious. But then on the flip side, Trent's dish, it's all about leaves and the smell of smoke. It'll be interesting to see how that smoke shines through over that very, very big, rich sauce. Yeah. I've never done it before. I don't know. TRENT: After I talk to George and Gary, I can definitely see what they're saying. If this doesn't go with the smoked butter, this could definitely send me into round two. Come on, Trent! I've really taken a huge risk trying to do it in an elimination. But this is one of those times where I'm going to stick with my gut. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) If I go out on doing what I want to do, I can hold my head high and walk away happy. Alright? Yeah. It's good. NICOLETTE: The judges have had a bit of doubt about my concept and my connection with the seashells in my dish. So the new idea that I've come up with is to have some shells on the bottom of the plate, coconut crumb in each, and have that one beautiful meringue as a pearl in the middle of the plate. Now that I've got this visual image of the shells and my meringue, I'm really excited to make a change in my cook. Come on, Nic. Come on, Nicolette! Whoo! I want to have a surprise element inside my meringue pearl, so I'm thinking of taking a little bit of the meringue out of the middle and having some lemon curd in there. My grandfather passed away recently, and for me, summer reminds me of my grandfather and his lemon trees. So, I really want to have that lemon element on my plate today. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ELISE: So, my champagne jelly's in the blast chiller. I now need to get on to my strawberry parfait. I need to whip some eggs, sugar over a double boiler and whip some cream... (CHEERING) ..and then fold that through. MIMI: Oh, yum. So, I pour my parfait into moulds and get that into the blast chiller. It's head-to-head to save yourself! 30 minutes to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) CHLOE: I'm really hoping that this chicken's cooked because I want to allow it to rest before I cut into it. GARY: What temperature is it? It's at 58 now. 58. What do you want it to be? I want it to be 68. It's not quite cooked yet, so I put it straight back in. I need that chicken to be perfect if I want to avoid going through to the second round. ELISE: So, I'm making a coconut sand. And I want to use toasted coconut so that it looks like broken seashells and it gives it just a more beachy feel. Go, Elise! Thanks, guys. I now need to get on to my tempered chocolate sticks so that I can hide them in the sand. I'm definitely pushing myself. I know how long chocolate takes to temper and I'm just hoping that it works in this environment. Come on! Anything can go wrong. It's taking so long for it to drop. But I have to get it under 32 degrees, otherwise it's not going to be tempered. And I'm looking at the clock and I'm thinking, "Jeez, you don't have much time." I need to think of something quickly. Come on! You don't want to go into round two! Not in this duel, you don't! 15 minutes to go! So, I've got my sauce on the go. It's reducing nicely. So it's time for me to whisk the smoked butter through the red wine reduction. Trent, taste it, taste it, taste it. Yeah. Yeah. I've never done anything like this before, so it's a really big risk to take. MATT: Balance it. Season it. It's definitely got that really strong smoky flavour that I wanted. The judges are either going to love it or hate it. Right, pressure's on now. You need to pull all these elements together, otherwise you're in trouble. 10 minutes to go! Come on! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) The meringues have been in the oven for about 15 minutes now. I carefully take them out and pop them onto the bench to cool down. The meringues look exactly how I want them to look. So I'm really happy that they're going to be a smashing element on my dish. Come on, Nicolette! For the surprise element when the judges cut it open, I want to have some lemon curd inside there. To do that, I use a melon baller to remove some of the meringue and pipe in some lemon curd. Go, Nic! At this point, I'm really happy with my dish. I'm happy that I've got a good idea, and all the elements taste really good together. ELISE: My tempered chocolate is just not dropping and I'm running out of time. I need to think of something quickly to help drop that temperature. I'll just stand in the fridge and mix it until it drops. Just got to hurry up and get it to 31� degrees. It's working. I couldn't be happier. MIMI: Good job, Elise. It's the mother of all duels and only five minutes to go! (CONTESTANTS CHEER AND ENCOURAGE) TRENT: I start plating up. I'm really happy with how the dish looks, and I know it'll taste great. I'm just a little bit worried about whether I'm hitting the brief enough. I really need to push the limits and just do whatever I can to impress the judges. I am starting to think about something different that I can do. But I like the idea of the cloche, pump smoke under it just so you get that hit of smoke straightaway. Come on, Trent! It's definitely a bit of theatre, and every little thing that I can do today to make myself safe, I'm going to push it and do whatever I can. Come on, Trent! MIMI: Chloe, have you checked your chicken? It's got one minute left. OK. Cool. It's literally down to the wire for me. I need that chicken to be perfect if I want to avoid going through to the second round. So I grab it out of the oven... ..and it's perfect! I'm so rapt. Looks amazing, Chloe! But you can't have roast chicken without some kind of thick, heavy sauce, 'cause it really marries everything together. So I need my sauce to be reduced down to almost a syrup consistency. Push hard, Chloe. Keep going. I really hope I haven't left it too late. The time's ticking away, so I need to start plating. I get my parfait and my jellies out of the blast chiller and I'm just praying that they're set. BRETT: Come on, Elise! My parfait has set, my sand is complete, and my jellies are just perfect. Beautiful, Elise. I put the strawberry parfait in the middle and put the champagne jelly around the parfait. Then I hide some fresh strawberries and some tempered chocolate as sticks throughout there and then cover it with the coconut crumb. HEATHER: Come on, Elise! Two minutes! Just two minutes! (ALL SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) Two minutes to go! CHLOE: My sauce hasn't gotten down to the consistency I need it to with two minutes to go. I need this base to reduce quickly. And it needs to hurry up. You don't have much time. If I don't get this sauce on the plate... ..I'll definitely be in round two. 1 1 (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Two minutes! Just two minutes! CHLOE: My sauce hasn't gotten down to the consistency I need it to with two minutes to go. I need this base to reduce quickly. And it needs to hurry up. You don't have much time. If I don't get this sauce on the plate, I'll definitely be in round two. I grab a bigger saucepan, because obviously the bigger surface volume will help it reduce faster. And I'm just watching it reduce down, hoping that it will be ready in time. 30 seconds! Make sure every little bit is on the plate! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Arggh! Yes, I like that. CHLOE: Less than 30 seconds to go now, and I finally have that syrup consistency that I wanted. So I need to hurry and add the brown butter, the vinegar and the salt. Come on, Chloe, get it in there! 10 seconds to go! Nine! ALL: Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it! Step away from your benches. Well done. How'd you go? Good? Yeah, alright. I could not have left it any longer. That was crazy. I've definitely taken inspiration from the autumn leaves. I really think this dish is my best one so far. I love those little taps on the back. That was like the friendly bit after what has to be one of the most serious cooks we've seen so far in the competition. And of course, we can't wait to taste. Elise, let's start with you. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) (LAUGHS) So, your inspiration was seashells. Yep. Like Nicolette. What have you cooked for us? I've cooked a strawberry parfait with a champagne jelly, a coconut crumb and tempered chocolate. Good? Yep. I'm happy. What do you reckon on the presentation? GEORGE: Love it, love it, love it. I think it looks fantastic. And it takes you to that place. Yep. What was your reason behind it? I'm from Far North Queensland, and as little kids, our parents used to take us out to the beach and I used to eat strawberry ice-cream out there. And I got engaged along the seashore with some champagne. Did you just hear that inspiration box get ticked with a big boom? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Love it. Really, really do. Come on, Gary, let's go. Dig in. Yeah. I'm just tasting something that you've cooked that we're quite happy about. Thank you. 'Cause you brought us a story and you backed it up with a dish that tastes delicious. And I'll let the boys break it down, but it's just one word - delicious. Thanks, George. MATT: It's so good. It's so toasty and crunchy and delicious. If sand tasted like that, I could understand why babies eat it on the beach the whole time. You've done it really proud. Thank you so much. Thank you. I absolutely love it. And beyond the concept, it is yummy to its absolute core. Well done. Thank you, boys. (CHEERING) Nicolette, you're next. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) NICOLETTE: I definitely struggled with my concept and having the inspiration of the seashells in my dish. But the flavours are really there, so I hope the judges enjoy it. Nicolette, what have you cooked? Here I've got poached meringue with strawberries and lemon and a coconut crumb. Where's the inspiration from? Matt came past and talked to me about my plating and that it didn't really remind him of shells. I thought my meringue could be a pearl and obviously the shells come from the beach and summer. Oh, it's a good bit of sunshine. Mmm. Nice. Yeah. And really soft too. I think the lightness of the meringue, the purity of the flavour of the curd is really delicious, and I love that. That meringue is so delicious, so light. And it really just - phh! - evaporates in your mouth. This lemon curd is very bright and you're left with a flavour of lemon dominating the dish. It's a really good dessert, but for me, you've just missed tiny things. Thanks, Nicolette. Thank you. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) I think I probably could have done a little bit better. I think I'll be cooking off in the second round. Let's move on to the second duel. Chloe. CHLOE: I'm really excited about my dish. I've taken inspiration from the autumn leaves and I let my memories with my husband drive me today. Wow. (GARY CHUCKLES) And I really hope I've done enough to be safe. Gee, that looks good, doesn't it? It does. It looks great. So, Chloe, what's the dish? So, I've cooked a crispy-skin chicken breast on the crown with a caramelised onion puree, beer-pickled onions and crispy, fresh fried autumn leaves. Lovely. Straightaway, what a great interpretation. I love it. Love it. Are you going to pop the sauce on? Yeah. I just want a little bit. Gee, it's great. I love the surprises in there. Yeah, me too. (SNIGGERS) Stop it! (CHUCKLES) I love that sound, don't you? That sound of a plate being scraped. Oh, yeah. That is SO good. (LICKS FINGERS) Mmm. What's going on? No, good tears. Good tears. We didn't even notice. We were just mesmerised in the plate of food. It's delicious! Thank you. The whole dish is wonderful, tasty, thoughtful, clever and all about autumn leaves. Yum. It absolutely nails the brief. Absolutely 100%. And it delivers in terms of taste. It is gorgeous. And the sauce - it tastes of chicken, and then you get brown butter flavours on top of that. Wonderful cooking. Chloe, thank you for dinner. Can we book a table for three tomorrow night? (GARY CHORTLES) That was great. Yes. That's what makes me happy! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) The judges loved my dish. And I definitely think I've done enough to be safe and to avoid going through to round two. Last up, Trent. Today I've cooked something that I would not only love to eat, but I feel like I've cooked from the heart. I've made the judges turn around just so I can get it all set up, just so the theatre's a bit more natural. Trent, should we turn around now? Yep. OK. JUDGES: Aah! Oh, nice cloche. Ooh! Yeah, hey. Like it. Oh, now we're there, aren't we? Now we're in autumn leaf territory. Oh, here we go. What's the dish? I've got a seared beef fillet with a smoked beurre rouge sauce, a salsa verde, some beetroots, some crispy kale and roasted garlic. This looks absolutely gorgeous. Great. Love it. Love it. I'm worried about this butter, though. Is this your idea? Um, I've seen a similar sauce, like, a beurre blanc with a red. And I've had smoked butter before on bread... But you've never put it in a sauce before? No, I haven't put it in a sauce before, so... (LAUGHTER) (WHISTLES) That is just absolutely so beautiful. You've just nailed it because the intensity of that red wine butter sauce is spot-on. Yep. That needs to become one of your signature dishes. That is spectacular. Thank you. Thanks. This plate of food is SO beyond your years, Trent. In terms of where this sits, not just in the competition, but in terms of everything I've eaten this year - and I've eaten in some amazing restaurants this year - this is one of the best 10 things I've eaten...for absolutely sure. It's spectacular. Well done, Trent! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) This is food in all its glory. That's unbelievably good. We've got a serious issue on our hands. Yeah, I'm just looking out... A serious issue. I'm just thinking, "Oh, now we're in trouble, aren't we?" Yeah. 1 You're all very, very strong cooks. We've just eaten four absolutely brilliant dishes, like, standout. MATT: Nicolette, Elise, two great desserts that really mark how strong the cooking is in this competition. However, we do think there's one dish that nailed the inspiration slightly better. Elise, that was yours. You're safe. Congratulations. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) ELISE: I can't believe it. I'm safe. I'm so happy. But it sets in. Nicolette, she's got to go and fight in round two. Trent, Chloe, two of the best dishes we've seen in MasterChef history. Let's not beat about the bush here - they were both spectacular. And I think you saw from our inability to hold any form of poker face there that we loved them both. By the barest of margins, though... ..Trent, we preferred your dish. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Trent, Elise, black aprons off, up to the gantry. You're safe. Well done. You're OK. You'll be right. CHLOE: I think round one has just shown how high the standard is in this competition. And I'm just way more determined and focused to have another really good cook and stay here. Chloe, Nicolette, on any other day in the MasterChef kitchen, both of those dishes would certainly have kept you safe. But not now, not at this point in the competition, and certainly not today. In the first round you had autumn leaves and seashells, which were your inspiration for your dishes. And in the second round, it's all about what's under this cloche. Are you ready to find out what it is? BOTH: Yep. GEORGE: Mmm. Empty, eh? Maybe not. Your inspiration for round two is... (CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM) Take a guess. BOTH: Fire. I'm really excited that we get fire to play with. And I have a really good idea. There's so much inspiration for me today. Cooking over an open fire is one of the hottest trends in food at the moment. Think of the embers, think of the smoke, think of the dancing flames of an open fireplace in winter. That's the dish we want. It's an open pantry. You have 60 minutes to bring us a dish that keeps you in this competition. Chloe, Nicolette, your duel starts now! Gary, fire as inspiration. What would you do? Fascinating challenge. There's lots of old classics that use fire. You know, whether it's just a simple crepe suzette. I love that idea of bringing some theatre to the table, where you've got some sizzle and some smoke. Yes! You know, I think of things like, you know, chestnuts being grilled over a barbecue. So how do I bring that aroma? How do I bring that flavour to an incredible dish? The one thing our contestants don't want to see is their place in the competition go up in flames. (CONTESTANTS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) CHLOE: When I think of fire, I think about sitting huddled around a fireplace with my husband, toasting marshmallows and just being comforted. So, I'm going to do a toasted cinnamon butter cake with port-poached figs and a maple-toasted marshmallow that I'm going to ignite in front of the judges. Toasted marshmallows over the fire. That's a huge connection with the brief. I really want my cake to be smoky like a fire is. So I decide to smoke the cinnamon quills that I'm going to add into my cake to make sure that it has just a subtle, smoky spice undertone. In round one, I put up a dish that I was really proud of, so in round two, I really want to do that again. I want this so bad. So bad. Smells awesome, Chloe. Come on, Nic. You've got this. Come on, Nic. NICOLETTE: In round one, I didn't have a very good concept. Come on, Nic. Work quick. But now I've just got such a clear vision of what I want to do. Hi, Nicolette. Hi, guys. What's the dish? I'm thinking of doing a smoked white chocolate mousse and then having that as, like, a log on the camp fire, some vanilla bean marshmallow, and toast them off with the blowtorch. So it looks like marshmallows on the camp fire. Great little idea, isn't it? I've never seen you look as serious as this. This is the serious part of the competition. Has it dawned on you? This had better make the grade, otherwise - home. Good motivator, isn't it? Not today. Yep. Fire up! Come on. Yep. Thank you, guys. Come on, guys. They're both so focused, aren't they? MATT: There's absolutely no doubt that this is going to be a heavyweight battle down there today. Um, these girls, they both know what they're doing when it comes to desserts. They've both got a clear idea of what they want to do. They don't want to lose, they want to stay in this competition. And they're right down there fighting for it now. Hi. Hi. Hi. What's the dish? So, I'm doing a smoked cinnamon cake with a maple meringue that's going to go over the top that I'm gonna light on fire in front of you, and it's gonna work. That would add a beautiful addition to the dish. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is the heart of the dish. Yep. Go for it. Push, push, push. Yep, pushing. Yep. My cake batter looks really good. I'm really happy with it. I just want to make sure it's got enough smoky flavour that I want. It needs more cinnamon. This cake is a big part of my dish. It's why I really need that cake to work. MIMI: I'm actually a bit worried about Chloe's cake. She put it in a really big tin. And I'm a bit worried she won't be able to get it cooked in time. NICOLETTE: Today's brief is to be inspired by fire. I really want to get that camp fire site on my plate with this white chocolate mousse set in that log shape to create the firewood. ELISE: Taste good? Yeah. Good girl. I pour it into some moulds. It's so important that this mousse sets today. The whole idea of this dish is that I have that log shape on my plate to create the firewood. If I don't have that mousse on my plate, the dish is a complete failure. If you want to make an impression and save yourself, you need to set this kitchen on fire! 30 minutes to go! Come on! CHLOE: My butter cake is now in the oven, but I'm worried that it won't cook far enough. How's that cake going, Chloe? Um... Are you a bit worried about it? A little bit. Yep. I'm going to crank the oven temperature up and hope that that's enough to help my cake cook in time. And I get straight on to my figs. ANASTASIA: Oh, figs. Beautiful, Chloe. I'm going to cook some in a sticky port syrup, and then I'm also going to burn some on the hibachi grill and incorporate that into my burnt fig and toasted almond cream. They look really good, Chloe. Today, I really want to push myself and show the judges who I am. This is exactly the kind of food that I want to make. And I really hope the judges love the taste. NICOLETTE: My mousse is in the blast chiller, setting. I move on to making my toasted marshmallows. I heat up my sugar syrup and I whisk together two egg whites. Once the sugar syrup's reached a really hot temperature, I pour it into the egg whites and get that whisking. I'm really happy with how I'm going. I'm getting a beautiful, fluffy meringue. I can really see a dish coming together in my mind. It looks really good. Oh, yum. I just really hope the white chocolate mousse really sets well. Forget "there's no SMOKE without fire" - there's no SAFETY without fire! 15 minutes to go! Come on, guys! 15 minutes to go and I check on my cake. This cake is the most important element on my dish. My cake needs to be cooked. (GASPS) Good save, Chloe. Nice job. (WHISPERS) Got to stop shaking. You've got to stop shaking. And my cake is cooked! Yes! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I need to keep moving, so I get straight on to making a Swiss meringue. I put my egg whites, sugar and maple syrup into a glass bowl over simmering water until it's all combined and dissolved. Once that's finished, I transfer it straight into a stand mixer and I basically whisk it until it's nice and light and fluffy like a meringue. BRETT: Yum? Yum. GEORGE: There's no doubt about it, the pressure is on. Harness it, 'cause you've only got 10 more minutes. You got it? Come on, Nic! Keep pushing! NICOLETTE: I take my chocolate mousse out of the freezer, and it's set. It looks amazing. I need to pop them out of the mould so that I can roll it in the crumb and get them on the plate looking like a log. But I can't get them out. It's sticking to the moulds and it's just not working out. ELISE: They don't need much, Nic. I use a spoon to try and lift some of it out. I'm trying to just get this mousse out of the mould and...it's not holding its shape. There's just all these different shapes going on. They're more like blobs rather than logs. It's just devastating. (SOBS) Aww. MATT: Standing up on the gantry and watching Nicolette have a meltdown mid-cook in an elimination, final round, it's...it's awful. This whole competition means the world to me. (SOBS) There's nothing else that I want more than to stay here a little bit longer and just pursue my dreams. That's what I want to do. (SNIFFS) I just hope I don't go home. 1 MATT: Standing up on the gantry and watching Nicolette have a meltdown mid-cook in an elimination, final round, it's...it's awful. NICOLETTE: I just hope I don't go home. GEORGE: Look at me. Oi. Don't lose it now. (SOBS) OK? You hear me? Oi, come on! Oi, don't lose it now. Alright? Yeah? You're just cooking food. Yep. You know how you love cooking it at home? Yeah, I do. It makes you super happy. And you've done that so far in this competition. You've given us great desserts, you know? You're NINETEEN years of age, Nicolette. At 19, I had no idea about creativity. And here you are at 19. Can you imagine what's gonna happen at 29? Right, you just need to focus now. You hear me? Look at me. Yeah. Do you hear me? Yeah. So, no more tears and get it together, put up a great dish. And you can do it, yeah? You've got elements. Start pulling it together. You hear me? Yeah. "Yes, George?" Yes, George. Yep. Come on. Let's do it. Come on, Nicolette! Go, Chloe! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Come on, girls. Bring it home. Get this done. This is where you've got to harness that little bit of panic and make it pay off in your fingers. Five minutes to go. Come on! (CONTESTANTS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) HARRY: Keep pushing! NICOLETTE: I'm going to focus on what works. I'm not giving up without a fight. This competition means way too much to me. Come on, Nicolette! This is definitely not my original idea, but I'm really happy with it now. Are you good, Nic? Yeah. You? Yep. One minute! One minute to go! One minute! Come on! Come on! Push, push, push! CHLOE: I'm really happy with how my meringue looks, and I know the rest of my elements are good. I'm just HOPING that this flambe in front of the judges works. GARY: Right, this is it! Come on, guys. Ten seconds! ALL: Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it, Chloe, Nicolette! Your time's up. Ohh! Good job. CHLOE: I'm really proud of myself, but Nicolette, she's tough competition. And... (SIGHS) Yeah, I just hope that I've done enough to stay. But it's up to the judges now. NICOLETTE: I'm taking my dish up to the judges, and I've never been so nervous in my life. There's no way I want to go home now. Whilst my mousse logs didn't quite work out, I think my dish still resembles a fire pit. I hope there's enough on there to keep me safe. What's the dish? Grilled peaches, toasted marshmallow, smoked white chocolate mousse and toasted macadamia nuts. GEORGE: It looks beautiful. At an age of 19 years old, when most kids don't know what to order in the drive-through, you are actually coming up with two dishes today to a pretty tough, strict brief. Now, most 19-year-olds don't have that focus and that belief. Yeah. Thank you. You've got some serious talent. Is there something more that you want to do? The dream that I'd like to do is to go into some of the best pastry places around Australia to learn. Even if you win this competition, that's the first thing that you should do. Thanks, Nicolette. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Nicolette. Enjoy. What do you think, boys? The toasted marshmallow I love. I think that's great. Just to give us the idea of a fire with a yellow and red centre, I think is an absolutely brilliant idea. The peaches look absolutely beautiful. Yeah, and you know what I do smell, is that lovely roastiness of the macadamia nuts. Mmm. Which is lovely. Shall we taste? Yeah. The peaches are... She's handled them absolutely brilliantly. And I love that toasted macadamia. I think it's a perfect complement to the peaches. She's just charred those peaches enough to give you some of that smoke flavour from the grill, but it's still fruity. There's a white chocolate saltiness in the mousse, which I like. And I also like the smoke in the mousse. 60 minutes, that kind of pressure. Yeah. It's a really amazing achievement. Right. Let's get the next dish in. CHLOE: I definitely think that flambeing in front of the judges will bring that theatre to them and hopefully help them understand the story and inspiration behind my dish. I'm just hoping it works. Chloe, what have you cooked? I've done a cinnamon butter cake with a maple meringue, a port syrup with port-roasted figs. Lots of fire-related elements, that's for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Are you pleased? Yeah, I'm really pleased. I think I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do and I just went for it. Come forward, Chloe. Do what you have to do. This flambe element is the theatre in my dish. It's my fire element as well. So if it doesn't work, I could be going home. 1 CHLOE: This flambe element is the theatre in my dish. It's my fire element as well. So if it doesn't work, I could be going home. Ooh, look at that. Look at it. It's burning. The meringue is toasting and it's going gooey and I'm really excited. (WHISPERS) Oh, yes. And this is such a good moment. It's toasting. OK. That's good. Great. Chloe, time for us to taste now. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Wow. That looks fantastic, doesn't it? Yeah, it looks great. I mean, it's exactly the brief. We asked for fire and we got it. Let's hope the cake delivers inside those little bubbles of meringue. Alright. Let's taste. Oh...my goodness. How delicious is that? Cake, super light. And the fig, a beautiful combination. But the surprising thing for me is how well that maple syrup meringue works with the poaching liquid from the figs. That meringue is super airy, super light, a beautiful texture. And it just evaporates. All I need is a cup of coffee and I'm happy. You know what I mean? (LAUGHS) Oh, yeah. The quality of the dishes that we're eating at the moment is so good. We have a tough decision to make. Let's go tell them. Nicolette, Chloe, you've given us some of the best dishes we've seen in the whole competition. You've both won immunity pins for your cooking, and that puts you in a very small, very select and very talented group across eight seasons. But unfortunately, we have to send one of you home. I'm sorry, Nicolette, it's you. Nicolette, in your case, the sophistication and the perfection of Chloe's dish was enough to best your dish. But... ..all three of us feel that you walk out of here with your head held high. You've found your place in the world - the place where you should be, if you want it. Matt's so right. I mean, you think about some of the dishes that you've given us throughout your time here in the competition. We've loved seeing you grow. Oh, stunning. Yeah, really beautiful. That dish is sophisticated, it's delicious, and every single element of that just pops. Bang! I love this dish. It's wonderful. That dish makes me happy. I love the saltiness too. It's nice control. Thank you. It's absolutely beautiful. We LOVE, love this dessert. Honestly, just go out there and fly and make it happen. "Yes, George"? Yes, George. "Yes, George"? Yes, George! Excellent. Alright. See you later. CHLOE: I think I'll miss who Nicolette is. She's just got drive and passion like I've never seen in a 19-year-old before. She's going to, honestly, rock the pastry world. Bye, guys. Love you! See you! (ALL CHEER) The entire MasterChef journey is over, but I'm never going to forget it. I think what I can take from this experience is that I should always believe in myself. Next for me will just be putting my head down and getting as much training as I possibly can so that I can become one of the best pastry chefs Australia has ever seen. ANNOUNCER: Next time, MasterChef's most feared invention test... The relay! ..is back. We all know what happened last season. White chocolate veloute hell. In this game of tag... I'm definitely feeling the pressure. ..communication is paramount... Are you ready to rumble?! ..as they cook one by one... What's going on? That one. ..to complete a dish... Yes! That's what we want. ..that will keep their team safe. Haz, what have we got? But stray from the plan... I'm going to have to change it up. ..and the consequences could be dire. Brett's gone rogue. Will history repeat itself... This is insane! ..in a challenge that will send one team to elimination. Fingers crossed we're not gonna be wearing black tomorrow. Forensic psychology takes us 'beyond the darklands' into the criminal mind. It unravels the inner workings of offenders to help us understand crime, the consequences and its prevention.