Original subtitles

Oh, wow. This is amazing.

WOMAN: Wow!

MAN: It's a bit magical, eh?

Stunning.

MAN: MasterChef changed my life.

I've come back to push myself to new limits.

I'm laser-focused on holding up that trophy,

and I'm back to win.

WOMAN: Look how lush it is!

It's never been the right time,

but I believe now is the right time to test myself in the kitchen again.

MAN: This looks amazing. Look at this.

This second chance is now or never for me.

It's the universe telling me,

"You've got what it takes. Let's go."

ANDY ALLEN: Welcome to the MasterChef kitchen!

(CHEERING)

WOMAN: As soon as you walk into the MasterChef kitchen...

10 minutes to go!

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

..it is so exhilarating.

SOFIA LEVIN: That's exceptional.

Everything's in there perfectly balanced.

It genuinely does feel like coming home.

I honestly feel like I owe my whole career to MasterChef.

I've co-opened two restaurants now.

I've hosted my own cooking shows,

done MasterChef twice,

and I've come second twice.

You've had 18-year-old,

first-moved-out-of-home version of me.

To cook like this at 18 is really, you know, it's amazing.

MATT PRESTON: We haven't got an Italian name on that trophy.

Cook like this, and you will be the first.

Thank you.

Service, please!

You've had business owner version.

JOCK ZONFRILLO: I've watched you come a long way.

You left this kitchen the first time and you came into my kitchen.

I've got to say, the person you were then

compared to the person you are now is night and day.

(BABY COOS) Yeah!

And now you've got the mum version.

Good girl!

This is the third chapter of my MasterChef story.

(LAUGHS)

This time I'm competing for my daughter, Florence.

I want to make her proud and show her that it's never too late.

You can win, third time.

MAN: My life has changed a lot

since I first did MasterChef in season two.

Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. It's brilliant.

Put it there. Seriously, Good job. Thanks.

(WHOOPING)

I was the youngest contestant. I was 18.

GEORGE CALOMBARIS: Not long ago,

you were a kitchenhand washing pots and pans.

You are a champion. Well done today, mate.

Now I feel like I learned a heck of a lot

and I realised cooking is what I want to do for a living.

So I've competed twice.

I've gotten pretty close to winning MasterChef,

but to be here right at the end and be holding that trophy,

it would feel like I've just finished what I started.

And I think showing my kids that I'm happy to get outside my comfort zone

by coming back into the competition is actually a really powerful thing.

MAN: Game face. WOMAN: Yee-haw!

When I first stepped into the MasterChef kitchen in season six,

I was such a baby in the industry.

You know, I'd never cooked anything professionally.

You're cooking with an experience that is far beyond your years.

MAN: It looks absolutely beautiful.

That is delicious, delicious, delicious. Delicious.

I got out of the competition and just hit the ground running.

And eight years later, I came back...

..and I missed out to Billie and came second.

I was totally devastated, missing out on winning.

So I'm back to win.

ANNOUNCER: Three of our toughest contestants are back,

taking on 21 of the best returning cooks we have ever seen.

They are all here with one goal -

they want that title!

Who will win the MasterChef crown?

(ALL SHRIEK AND LAUGH)

Oh, my God!

(CONTESTANTS SHRIEK AND CLAP)

Oh, my God!

MAN: No way. That's huge.

He's beautiful.

Oh, my God!

Wait a minute. That's Gordon Ramsay!

Like, ah! (LAUGHS)

Good evening, everybody. I'm Gordon Ramsay.

Welcome back to MasterChef, everybody!

(ALL CHEER)

Wow.

Right.

For all of you, MasterChef has really changed your lives...

..and helped shape who you are today.

Because you've all gone on to do extraordinary things.

From cookbooks to amazing products,

TV shows and even successful restaurants.

But none of you have ever earned

the title of MasterChef Australia.

This, right here,

right now,

is your chance...

..to rewrite history.

Because you're all standing here

back to win.

(ALL WHOOP AND CHEER)

Declan, where are you, young man?

There you go. Here we go.

We've heard of you as far back as London, right?

Declan's my name, and...

Fish is my game.

(LAUGHTER)

Have you got what it takes this time round to pick up that trophy?

Yeah. Most definitely.

I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I was.

And how hungry are you for that?

Because we're not messing around here.

There's serious stakes for this.

I'm starving, mate.

More than hungry, I'm starving for it.

I'm here to prove to myself that I can do it,

and to the rest of Australia.

That's what I want to hear.

Audra, you're used to standing on this side

judging MasterChef in Singapore.

Shall I join you?

(LAUGHTER)

My whole life changed after I went into MasterChef.

And I think it's a reminder...

..that this was what I was meant to do.

Absolutely. Yeah.

MAN: To see someone like Audra from 2012,

who's gone on to become an amazing judge,

an amazing cookbook author,

she's achieved so much.

And it's testament to just how high the calibre is of this competition.

Now, sadly, I'm not sticking around for the entire competition,

but the ones that will be here to inspire...

..motivate and push you every step of the way...

..are, of course, your incredible judges.

Please welcome back, Andy!

(WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE)

Sofia!

(WHOOPING AND CHEERING)

Poh!

(WHOOPING AND CHEERING)

And Jean-Christophe Novelli!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(WHOOPING)

How are you?

ANDY: Wow-whee, look at this.

Are you trying to steal my job or what?

(LAUGHS)

I'm just here to make sure you don't (BLEEP) it up.

(LAUGHTER)

I'm going to say something very quickly.

Many, many years ago, like 35 years ago,

Gordon used to pick me up on his motorbike

most of the night for a Chinese.

(POH LAUGHS) And we both used to be skint...

True or not? This is true.

..and we used to share a bowl of rice in Soho, like two lovers.

(LAUGHTER)

And you know what?

One day, he dumped me...

..for David Beckham.

(LAUGHTER)

It's so good to see your faces.

Guys, do you realise what you've done?

You have said yes to this wild roller-coaster ride again!

Thank you for your courage

and for your vulnerability.

ANDY: Righto. You guys know better than anyone

just how fast things move in this kitchen, right?

So, we're not wasting any time.

Tonight is a service challenge.

(GROANING, LAUGHTER)

And Gordon Ramsay is going to be running the kitchen.

Let's go. MAN: Bring it on.

We are getting you into three teams.

It's game on!

Oh!

Depinder. One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One's over there, two's in the middle.

Three's over there. Let's go!

WOMAN: Day one, doing a service challenge.

Oh, my gosh!

It's about to be brutal.

We are not here to play.

Righto. We've got our teams.

But...every team,

they need a team captain.

And yours...

..are about to walk through those doors.

What?! (ALL GASP)

Really?

(WHISPERS) Who do you reckon?

Three more contestants.

That's right.

There's three more cooks joining you.

(ALL GASP)

Not only are they your captains tonight...

..they are your biggest competition.

No!

(LAUGHS)

Please welcome...

MasterChef legend,

Callum Hann,

Sarah Todd

and Laura Sherrad!

(WHOOPING AND CHEERING)

Whoo!

Yes!

DECLAN: Would you believe it?

Look who's walking through those MasterChef doors.

Three absolute MasterChef legends.

Just when you think you're special, they just bring you back to ground.

I'm going to be versing Callum, Sarah and Laura.

They are the GOATs in this kitchen.

Yeah, it's crazy, hey!

CALLUM: You guys in teams already? Yeah!

Oh, amazing. Oh, good.

That's your team!

Who would have thunk? I know!

Let the games begin.

These legends, they're third timers in this kitchen.

WOMAN: Oh, my God.

And not only that, they've all placed second.

I'm very good at coming second.

(LAUGHS)

I know how to get to the end.

I've just got one extra little hurdle.

Well, this competition is going to be intense.

Only one of you

is going to take home ¤250,000,

hold up that trophy...

..and earn the title of Australia's next MasterChef.

(LIGHT WHOOPING)

I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners

of the land upon which this competition takes place,

and pay our respects to the elders, past and present.

This is a place that has always been rich in food and culture.

So take that as inspiration in this kitchen.

Right, all of you, the family reunion is over.

Let's get to it, shall we?

For today's service,

you'll be cooking an incredible two-course menu.

An amazing main course, followed by a spectacular dessert.

Now, lucky for you, I've chosen two incredible ingredients

to be featured across these dishes.

It's up to you to decide which ingredient

goes into the main course

and which ingredient goes into the dessert.

Now, trust me,

this is one challenge you want to win.

The top team tonight will have a unique opportunity

to cook for the biggest prize of this entire season.

Ooh!

Game-changing advantage.

And because tonight, we're not just feeding anybody.

This is serious. This is Back To Win.

All of you are going to be responsible for cooking

the most incredible dinner...

..for front-line workers.

Cool. Wow.

And they deserve nothing short of perfection.

Now, it's very near and dear to my heart,

our eldest daughter, Megan, is in the police force.

Our son Jack is a Royal Marine commando,

protecting and defending the country.

We're giving you two hours before service starts.

You'll be serving two courses, 60 plates per team...

Wow!

..30 per course.

Gordon, any famous harsh words? (LAUGHS)

Give it your all. Understood? Yeah.

Understood. Good.

Your two hours start now!

Let's go! Go!

Go, captain, captain, captain. OK.

Apron. Aprons!

Yeah. Thanks, Laura. Thank you.

CALLUM: I like this colour. Alright, let's do this.

Let's have a look, guys.

Oh!

Oh, my God! (GASPING)

Oh, my gosh. OK. Amazing.

Corn and carrots. Dessert, corn?

I think dessert corn.

Alright.

Alright. Sweet corn. I like...I like your style.

Sweet corn. Alright, let's talk teams quickly.

Yeah. I'm just gonna...

I don't know everyone very well, but I'm gonna try.

Andre, you're on mains.

Yep. I think you should be on mains, boys.

Mains? Yep.

Yeah, mains. Yeah.

Alright, guys, first impressions?

Carrots and corn. Come on. CALLUM: Classics.

Not a thank you in the house, anyone?

Thank you, Chef. Much appreciated.

Main course. Tell me, what are we thinking?

So we're thinking with carrot, beef. Right.

We're gonna get ideally the rump cap if we can.

We'll do carrot, a couple of expressions. We're still...

We've only just started planning, Chef...

Clock's ticking, guys, yes? Lovely.

Let's go. OK, thank you.

So we've got a hero carrots, right.

It's got to be prominent on the dish, we've got to use it a couple of ways.

Yeah.

Callum's leadership skills are phenomenal.

Do we do, like, macadamia carrot puree,

something along those lines? Yeah.

Do we do like a, I don't know, a little pickled carrot as well?

You can clearly tell he runs his own restaurant.

Whereas I've only been out of MasterChef for two years.

So, Callum, tell me what you need me to do.

Go for it.

Guys, I missed you!

Aw! I missed you guys, too!

The gang's back together. I know.

What a way to kick off day one.

It's kind of like coming back to school,

but we're the teachers, which is pretty cool.

Gordon Ramsay in the house.

First impressions of the two ingredients.

Protein. What are you doing?

So protein, we're going to do fish and sort of like a corn chowder.

Like in a modern way. Yeah.

And the captains could not be three better people

to lead the first team challenge. Yeah.

There's six restaurants between our three captains,

which is pretty impressive. Wow!

If you were Laura, Callum or Sarah,

how would you go about leading your group?

I'm wondering if you'd lead with a bit of an iron fist,

or if you'd let everybody play to their strengths.

I think you have to take charge from the get-go,

because if you don't and people start to, like,

go in their own lane,

I feel like that's when the plan can get confused.

So lay down the law. Exactly. Yeah.

Alright, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!

Jean-Christophe, if you were one of the leaders,

how would you go about it?

I would make sure clearly that everyone understands me.

And that's the problem.

(ALL LAUGH)

Guys, I've got a little bit of Adelaide goss.

Laura, when she popped out of here,

she actually went and worked for Andre for a while.

LAURA: Where's Andre? And she's the team captain today.

No way. Now she's leading Andre. Yeah.

That is good.

I wonder how either of them feel about that change of dynamic.

LAURA: Get the three things that need to be set on there,

like your set and forget,

they're your three things and then dress around that.

100%.

We are doing a corn and milk dessert,

so we're gonna have, like, a little roasted corn ice-cream,

a buttermilk granita, a little corn flake crumble,

and then, like, a really yummy, bitter whole orange cake.

I've decided that I'm gonna work with the sweet team,

and I'm going to leave the mains to Andre to sort out.

Lots of flat leaf parsley. MAN: Yeah.

Mustard, fennel, garlic.

I definitely trust Andre. I know how he works.

I think he can really help be that emotional support,

almost sous-chef role today.

Everyone, work neat and clean.

Andre, you're in charge of that.

I am feeling quite anxious at the moment.

I'm meant to be on maternity leave,

and I've just been thrown back into the MasterChef kitchen,

into this role, and it's feeling quite daunting.

There's lots of new faces,

lots of people that I haven't worked with before,

but also lots of familiar faces, which is nice,

but I am back to win, yes, I am.

Today and every other day in this kitchen.

Having fun, Laura? Always.

(LAUGHS)

For, like, the chowder kind of base we need something carby.

I think the fondant potato would be much better.

Yeah, so I reckon you can get on to that.

So on our mains we have Jimmy working on the pommes fondantes,

Jamie working on the kingfish.

And we have Snezana working on the corn chowder.

How are you going here?

Do you want me to make, like, a more stock and then we add

the corn to thicken it? Yes.

Is that how you wanted to do it? OK, good.

Having my own restaurant,

what I love to do is really find what people are good at.

Giving people the opportunity to shine is key.

JAMIE: How do you want the kingfish cooked?

If you're happy to do it on the pan,

um, and sear, get crispy skin. Yep.

Or if you want to just pop it in and confit, we can do that.

Yeah, OK. Skin on, crispy skin. Yeah.

I put my hand up from the start to do one of the toughest jobs -

cook the fish.

It gives me an opportunity to show a little bit of technique

and try to really impress Gordon and the judges.

It feels pretty wild to be back in MasterChef.

Um, it's been, you know, nearly 11 years

since I've been in the kitchen.

Jamie!

(CHEERING)

First time round on MasterChef I came on with a dream

that I'd always wanted to open a restaurant.

Thank you, sir.

I was 12 the first time I told my mum

that I was going to own a venue by the time I'm 30.

I signed the lease for my restaurant, Alba, when I was 30

and it meant everything to me.

It was definitely a passion project and something that I loved.

It's unofficially my fourth child, I suppose.

Five years later, I ended up closing it.

Closing the door on Alba was pretty tough.

I put everything into it and it's still raw.

Coming back on MasterChef is going to allow me

to hopefully move forward.

It's still food that drives me,

and it's still food that allows me to show love...

..and it's still food that is my passion.

This is almost like a new start point for me.

GORDON: Jamie, why did you choose this fish?

Kingfish, big fillets.

We can really portion it and make it look pretty.

Get consistency through timing of cooks

and then get plates out that look similar.

Sure. Yeah. Listen. The main course. Wrestle the kingfish.

Yeah. Absolutely. So elevate that. Yeah. For sure.

Skin on, it's staying on? Skin's on. Yeah.

Good, good.

This kingfish is the central element of this dish.

The sauce can be as delicious as we want.

If the protein's not perfect,

we're not going to win this challenge.

I need to make sure this is good

to prove to myself that I belong in this industry.

I belong in this competition.

And closing a restaurant isn't the end of my food dream.

It's just the start of another chapter.

(CHATTER)

Get more ice-cream machines on quick!

Let's go.

How's that, um, creme anglaise tasting, Darrsh?

Yeah, it's really subtle.

We're going to need something else to amp it up.

OK. Get yourself, in a minute, a juicer.

Yeah. Cut off some corn kernels.

Juice the corn kernels. Yeah.

Put the sweet corn juice in to boost the flavour. OK. Perfect.

As captain today, I'm only as good as the team around me.

And when you've got superstars in the dessert space

like Darrsh and Rue, I know that

the sweet dish is going to be sorted today.

And people like Audra. She's gone on to be a judge herself,

so she's super experienced.

And someone like Ben, who's actually gone on

to run his own hospitality business as well.

I feel like we've got a really solid team.

Uh, Callum, give me an insight to what we are doing.

So, sweet corn with our sweet.

So we think we're going to do cute little, um,

sweet corn-inspired pavlovas. Mm-hm.

Carrot with our savoury, we're going to be going beautiful rump cap.

We're going to do it on a macadamia carrot puree.

We're gonna do some beautiful little pickled carrots

and then the carrot tops in the chimichurri. So, three ways.

Smart. Protein-wise. Did you grab the rumps?

We did. We got the rump caps there. Right.

Thinking we're gonna sear them all whole

and then just baste them as they're cooking...

Yeah. ..and then carve them to order.

It's something that seriously needs to rest.

It's not a strip loin. It's not a rib eye.

It's a rump.

Please just don't leave it too long before you start working with it.

Yeah. OK, guys. That's a great idea. Thank you.

Good. If Gordon says it, we do it, OK?

I think we almost need to get them searing,

like, sooner than later. They're pretty even.

I would just gonna, like, half in like that.

And then once we've cooked it... Cut across the bone like that.

..we'll cut across like that. Yeah. Totally. OK. Sweet.

I'm in charge of the meat today.

And with this rump, it's all about simplicity.

The entire dish is there to highlight this phenomenal produce.

You just wanna render the fat down on these, Cal.

Yeah, 100%. Yep, yep.

Last time I was on MasterChef,

my cooking style was a little bit more experimental.

Molecular gastronomy was a thing. What's the dish?

It's a camp fire with some beef sous vide

rolled in charred leek ash.

Absolutely smashing.

I can't remember when we've seen stuff

as good as this in this kitchen.

After being on MasterChef, a lot of opportunities came my way.

I was lucky enough to set up a couple of great food businesses,

have a couple of children.

However, running a kitchen and having young children

is not an easy thing to do.

Sometimes you've got to make tough decisions,

and, in the end, I decided it made more sense to take a step back

from cooking professionally.

My two little girls are huge MasterChef fans.

What would you think if I told you

that they asked me to go on it again?

Yeah. Yay!

Then after I told them that I was coming back,

they are almost as excited as I am by it.

I love you!

I think they expect me to win, so there's a bit of pressure there.

(LAUGHS)

Ben, you got your work cut out for you,

with them all being so random in size.

But everyone does beef fillet, though, right?

Rump caps - kind of cool to do something different.

Mate, I'm all about the rump.

If you can nail the rump cap, I'd take the rump cap

over a beef fillet any day of the week.

Yeah.

Right. Hi.

Hey. How are you? You good?

Good, thanks. Are you good?

I've got Gordon Ramsay standing right behind me.

Oh, God. How scary is that?

What am I doing with my life right now?

Teams, let's hope your menus are locked in!

You have 90 minutes to go! (JUDGES CHEER)

Alright, team, in half an hour. Gordon's going to come back.

He wants to taste something.

Let's just make sure we've got a few elements to show him.

How's your fish portioning? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, the fish will... We'll be good for fish.

That's alright. What's happening here?

So this is a puree. OK. Thank you.

It's a green...

That's fine. Thank you. I trust you.

Laura's given me the reins for the main course.

We're doing a porchetta roll with a pickled carrot,

a slaw, glazed carrots and a parsley veloute.

Alright. Oven's on high.

Decided to make three porchetta rolls tonight

because it's a great dish to cook in bulk and to slice to order.

Pork one's in. I got the timer on. Fab.

Pork in the oven!

What's going on? So, Burgundy team, captain Laura.

They've chosen the, uh, porchetta as their main course.

That's going to be an interesting one

because it's all going to come down...

Obviously, you want that blistering crackling on the outside,

which is the hero of the porchetta. That's it. Yeah.

And then beautiful succulent meat.

Alright. Second pork's in, Loz. Thank you.

Are you having fun, Andre? I actually am, man!

Yeah. I can see you're into it.

Poh...

I nearly cried, man, when you walked in.

Really? Yeah.

So I said to Poh, you look really emotional.

I was trying not to. I was like, "Two minutes in,

"I can't cry." Sure you can.

Real men cry all the time. Not two minutes in.

(THEY LAUGH)

It is. It's setting a standard.

I'm very emotional today to see Poh for the first time

under the bright lights of the MasterChef kitchen

after all these years.

Back in season one,

we were both competitors,

at the start of our food dreams and careers.

You might need to put some more layers on there, Poh.

Are you trying to psych me out? Yep.

I'm going to do another layer. Shit.

Yeah, you should.

And after all these years,

I'm so proud to see her where she is and where she belongs.

The queen of Australian food!

After MasterChef series one,

Poh and I's careers split.

I went on into opening multiple restaurants and venues

with about 70 staff.

The reason why I'm back is because after all of these years,

I've built these businesses in hospitality

and that's taken me away from cooking.

Instead, I'm concentrating on numbers,

business, overheads.

So this allows me to come back to base,

start cooking again.

The mains porchetta

is looking really, really good in the oven.

We're starting on the slaw.

The veloute is on. We're looking really good.

We're looking really good.

I realise now that

this is what I'm meant to be doing for the rest of my life.

So getting back into the kitchen is

the start for the rest of my career, basically.

Back in the kitchen. Sarah...

Oh, my God. The corn chowder. It's amazing.

Oh, that's yummy. Do you think so?

It's perfect. Yes?

Yeah, it's really good. Behind. Behind. Behind.

I'm loving the vibe of the blue team.

Everyone's working on their own respective element,

and it feels great. How are you going, Theo?

Yeah. Good, good.

For dessert, we have Depinder making the carrot halwa,

which is a traditional Indian dessert

that's cooked in ghee, sugar and spices.

I'm just blending this. Yeah.

And we're going to pass it through.

We are elevating the traditional halwa.

We're going to make it into a parfait,

which will make it a beautiful creamy texture.

The parfait we need to get on now,

because otherwise it's not going to set.

So we're working really hard on that.

And I'm working on the rough puff.

The parfait is going to be silky smooth.

Then you've got the pistachio cream,

which is also another texture that's smooth.

So we want that contrast.

Andy! Good to see you.

You on the bread section? Crazy!

Can't really do anything else.

All eyes are on me for this dessert.

Theo... Yeah. It's a puff pastry, right?

Yeah. You should know that inside out learning that in France.

Yeah, definitely.

I was known for my bread skills and my pastry skills in season 15.

Have a go at the bread, dude. Look at that. That is next level.

Your pastry is perfect.

10s, 10s, 10s across the board.

I've got this massive burning desire to open a bakery

and always be working with bread and things like that.

But after the first time on MasterChef,

I went back to working as a sparky,

just to earn some money so that I could open the bakery.

But I just felt like I got stuck in that rhythm of,

"Alright, this is safe."

And, you know, it's easy to earn money.

But now I feel like the universe is telling me something

by giving me this opportunity to be on MasterChef again

and just go, "Theo, what are you doing?"

Like, "Stop putting up lights and putting in power points."

I need to follow this dream.

If I was to win,

I would definitely be opening a bakery.

Like, the next day. Like, "Let's go!"

How long have we got?

Um...

75 minutes to go, teams.

OK. Our guests are arriving shortly.

75 minutes to go, guys. Yes?

Alright, guys, there's 75 minutes to go.

We've got to push hard now.

Sauce is on. That's great. Thank you for getting these seared.

Yeah, yeah.

I know I say 75 minutes,

but ice-cream takes a long time to set in the hot kitchen, yeah?

Yeah, oui, Chef.

I'm maining up the sweet team.

So we're gonna have, like, a little, uh, roasted corn ice-cream,

a buttermilk granita, an orange cake,

and then little corn flakes, salty crunch.

Sav, you got a timer on for crumble?

Uh, yeah, it's stuck on there. Let's keep an eye on the crumble.

Make sure it's rotated. Yep.

We're absolutely in for a chance at winning this.

Laura, focus on those ice-creams.

'Cause if we're going to turn the ice. It's got to get in the freezer.

Is that ice-cream in yet?

Let me check with Sav.

Sav, I need this in the freezer in literally five minutes.

You will not have set ice-cream. Yes, Chef.

Being a captain is an honour,

but also terrifying, because, at the end of the day,

the captain goes down with the ship.

Those ice-creams are still not in the churners.

The ice-cream is going in now. Ice cream's going in now.

Is it cold? Is it cold?

Yeah. It's cool. Is it cold?

No. No. It's cool.

Three minutes and it needs to go in the blast, in the thing.

100%, Chef. Three minutes.

I'm trusting everyone with their own elements, and I don't like to hover over people.

So what is this? This here is a parsley veloute.

This is for the base for the pork belly that the pork will go on.

Laura. Yes, Chef.

Get a quick taste of that. That's a very weird taste.

But Gordon's starting to notice that things are going wrong.

A bit too much white wine went in it.

How much white wine went into it?

That's where we've been trying to wrest it from... I didn't see.

I can smell something.

Something's burning. Is there something burning?

Oh, shit.

I look over and Gordon's found our cornflake crumble.

The crumble is burnt. It's gone. It's burnt.

It's (BLEEP). What happened?

And I am mortified that he's found this before I have.

Shit!

For Gordon to find this burnt crumble before I do,

he knows I'm in the shit. Come on. You gotta...

You gotta think now. Gotta think.

I just feel like I've lost complete control.

It's like failing. Let's be real.

It's like a complete fail right now.

Shit.

So our crumble is burnt. Come on, guys, please.

Oh, there is a bit going on here, isn't there?

Like, I saw that whole crumble for the dessert - burnt,

straight in the bin. Really?!

Straight in the bin. That's going to hurt.

Also, no ice-cream in the churners yet.

It's almost an hour of ice-creams not going in the ice-cream churner.

Yes. Understood, Chef. It should not take that long.

Clearly, you can see there are some problems.

Alright, I want...

I feel like there's a lot of things that have contributed to

what is happening right now in our team.

First day jitters. It's like a war zone.

Working with new team members. Laura, 30 seconds, please.

Oui, Chef. Sorry.

And I'm gonna say me not probably being across everything.

But this is where you need to divide and conquer.

You're the captain for a reason. Exactly. I'm going to make some...

Do not fall on the sword. ..some decisions.

No, it's not. Listen, you want to win this thing.

Correct. Exactly.

There's a life-changing, incredible prize for this.

But captains need a voice. Yes.

The pressure on the team captain is always huge.

But today, on me, it's absolutely enormous.

White wine. White wine.

And then you're going to gradually take it into...

Mix it into... Yeah.

I've come second twice in this competition.

I'm back to win for the third time.

The voice is amazing. It's actually hard.

Why is it so hard when you're so successful? Come on.

I know, it's just, it's a lot of different personalities.

We're going to get out of this. No, I know, I know.

We're gonna get out of this. It's just a shame.

But they can't work blind. They've got to get close to

what they're doing, and they've got to be accountable.

The easiest thing to do right now is just to accept defeat.

But I feel like I know how to make it to the finale.

I know how to pivot.

I know how to take on the challenge

of what this MasterChef kitchen throws at me.

I am going to turn this around.

Guys, can we have a quick team meeting, please?

Can I get everyone to stop what they're doing?

Unless it's going to burn and just come here

and let's just have a really quick powwow.

Full attention. Pork - mains team. Andre, sauce.

Where are we at? Sauce. I think it's done.

I just want taste and seasoning, your thoughts.

Fantastic. Porchetta. Where are we at?

Porchetta. I'd say we've got about 12 minutes on the first one.

We need to remake a crumb. I need ice-creams on.

Right. Understood. But get organised.

These firefighters, police officers,

it's a dream come true for them.

OK? So you need to start taking this serious.

Is that understood?

Can I have an answer, please?

ALL: Yes, Chef! Thank you. Let's go.

ANDY: Heads up, crew!

WOMAN: Oh, my goodness!

MAN: Holy moly!

The diners are starting to arrive and they are hungry.

Woo hoo!

Here they are.

MAN: Oh, wow. WOMAN: Come on, Team.

AUDRA: I think we sometimes don't realise that, as chefs,

we're not really cooking for us. It's not really about us.

It's about our diners. It's about people that we cook for.

And today it's so much more meaningful.

Hey, team. Yes.

How are we doing?

Hello.

You know, my uncle's a cop and my younger sister's a nurse,

so I know how hard they have it.

RUE: My mum's a frontline worker. She's a dialysis nurse.

And I do have a lot of family members

that are frontline workers,

and I would like to do them proud.

Captain.

Sarah, I want to see a dish... SARAH: Yes.

..before it leaves your pass, please. Yes?

Yes. 15 minutes, I want to see a dish.

15 minutes. It's not a banquet. Understand that?

We're not cooking 30 portions, sending...

No, four at a time. It's four at a time.

Seven fours. One table of two. Yes? Yeah.

JAMIE: Sarah.

Fishes or portions?

We've decided on two pieces of fish per portion,

so that every guest gets the same amount of fish

and every plate looks the same.

So I tried to make sure every single portion,

there's one top loin and one of the belly,

which is a little bit more fat.

OK, I'll get a tray. We're all good.

So you've got twice the jeopardy

'cause you're cooking two pieces for one portion.

So just be careful and when you need help, ask for it.

Yes. OK. Before you go down.

Absolutely. OK. Open up. Yes?

Not...not planning on going down. No.

Cooking 60 pieces of fish is going to be a mammoth task,

but I'm confident that I'm going to be able to get it done

and make sure that every guest walks out happy.

So you're going to sear the fish and just finish it

with a little bit of lemon,

and then plating.

So we've got the chowder base.

We've got our fondant potatoes

and then our beautiful tempering on top

just to bring it together.

And that's it for the main.

Sarah, I just want you running a restaurant

for 30 covers. Yes.

Your way. Let's go. Done.

Audra, I need you up here ready to plate. OK, Chef?

Alright, Chefs, let's go.

Service is about to start.

Time is moving very quickly indeed.

But we've got a great team

and I think things are coming up pretty smooth.

The beef looks fantastic so far. Thank you, Chef.

Some of irregular sizes, unfortunately. So it's...

I'm sorry, I do not understand anything you just said.

Speak slowly.

They are irregular sizes so they're not even,

so it's a little bit complicated.

We're just trying to make them all perfect.

Thank you. It's the Kiwi accent.

Thank you to allow me to understand. It's my pleasure, Jean-Christophe.

Great accent, by the way.

The meat's been cooking for about two hours,

almost, to be honest with you.

It's been on and off. On and off, on and off.

So we've crisped up the outside

and now we're letting it rest through.

So it should be just cooked in the middle.

For our main today, we are serving a beef rump cap

with a carrot, macadamia puree,

pickled carrots and a carrot top chimichurri.

The carrot is beautiful. Oh.

Beef, please. Can we get a cut?

A little slice of beef? Yeah. A portion.

Just one stunning portion of where we're going.

You've figured out how you're getting your 30 portions, right? Let's go.

Gordon Ramsay has the highest standards of any chef,

so we don't have room for any errors.

Let's go.

To plate our main course today

we're going to start with that carrot and macadamia puree.

It's really sweet and kind of roasty from the carrots.

And don't slice any more beef just yet.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm not. I'm not.

The Wagyu rump, that's going to go on next.

I need to see a plate. Let's go.

And then we've got carrot top chimichurri.

That's going to sort of mellow the whole thing out,

'cause there's a lot of richness going on in this dish.

So that herbiness, a little bit of chilli,

is going to be just the kick it needs.

And then to finish off, those pickled carrots.

It's looking great.

Matty, can I get the jus we've got now, mate.

Just as it is. As it is, Chef.

I feel so proud of this team. For a bunch of people

that have never cooked together before today,

I just don't think we could have done any better.

Puree, delicious. Thank you. Chimichurri, delicious.

The pickle is fine.

I pull that back like that,

that is raw in there.

Uh...

A fillet, we're going to get away with.

A strip, we'll get away with, but not... OK.

Them, tonight, the firefighters, police officers,

they're not going to have that raw.

We've got a chance of winning this, but the beef has got to be cooked.

Yes, Chef. Take control. Let's go.

I've spent two hours cooking this beef,

and to not have it cooked to Gordon's liking

is absolutely heartbreaking at this point.

Was your vision of this to finish in the oven?

Yeah.

We've got 10 minutes before service starts,

so we make a quick decision.

Let's put the biggest ones in one tray

and the other ones in the other, 'cause the biggest bits

are gonna need a bit longer, aren't they?

We're gonna throw the beef into the oven

and try to get a couple more degrees of heat into it.

So probably another five to eight degrees, Chef. Yeah.

But we've got very little time left, so we're gonna have to nail this.

10 minutes, guys. Yes? Yes.

Yes, Chef. 10 minutes.

LAURA: What's happening with the pork in the oven?

Pork. Let's pull it. They need to come out and they need to rest.

I'll get them all out. What's that for, Steph?

Um, this is for the coleslaw. The coleslaw? Good.

Yeah, it's a bit of a pomegranate mustardy kind of thingy

with wee bobby whatsit.

Let's stop dallying. Oh, thank you. Let's go.

LAURA: How's my main looking?

Honey maple carrots are done. Our slaw is nearly done.

Yep. Slaw. Steph's making a dressing.

I don't want it to be a pub slaw. I want it to be really fresh.

We have carving station ready to go? Carving station's ready.

We're looking really good. Team's working beautifully well.

We've found our feet and rhythm, so it's looking good.

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.

We've got heaps. Yeah, we've got heaps.

The porchetta comes out of the oven.

I reckon that's perfect.

And it looks beautiful.

The idea of cooking porchetta rolls

and cutting them up

into individual portions just before service

has paid off.

Nice pieces, these.

Fantastic.

Gordon, can we borrow you?

(GORDON GRUMBLES)

What's going on?

Uh, Laura, yeah. She's...

I think she's letting Andre run away with that main course

with that porchetta.

I think her team's running her rather than her running her team.

Andre, can I borrow you? Yes.

Is this what we're vibing? And then slaw.

Yep. And then pickles.

Yeah. And a little sauce on the outside.

Yeah. Slow, gentle. Thank you.

Blue team. Sarah. Yeah.

So they're doing an elevated corn chowder.

The only team that's used corn for their main.

How long on the fish? Two minutes, Chef.

Kingfish, you know, is a staple here.

But as opposed to one piece of kingfish,

they're doing two per portion,

so twice the jeopardy there.

If one's a bit under, he'll crucify us.

Callum is definitely, definitely stepping up and running his team.

They've chosen the carrot three ways. OK, great.

That chimichurri with the carrot tops, it looks good.

My big worry is that rump. That rump of beef.

If he gets this right for the main course,

it could be a showstopper.

It's close, but it just needs a little boost.

ANDY: Heads up, everybody,

we need plates leaving the pass in one minute.

Yes!

Woo! Come on, team, let's go, guys!

Restaurant quality. Yes, Chef.

OK? Every dish, restaurant quality.

Alright, Chefs, let's go.

Ready? Come on, guys, let's do this.

What's it sitting at, Chef? 36.

Going right up. Get it...

If it's... Out of the pan now, please, mate.

We've popped the rump cap into the oven for just a few minutes.

Without this beef being perfect, we don't have a dish.

Carving the beef now, I could not be happier.

It looks brilliant.

Yeah, the beef looks beautiful. Oh, it looks awesome.

Beef looks amazing, guys. Doing a great job.

Great work, great work, Ben.

Here we go, everybody.

JUDGES: 10, nine,

eight,

seven...

Oh, my God, this is crazy.

..five, four...

I need pork.

..three...

Where's my spoons?

..two, one.

Service has started!

Come on. Come on. Come on.

Restaurant style, guys. Here we go. Let's go.

First four beef. Let's go. OK. Let's go, Audra.

I'll do the puree. AUDRA: OK.

OK, I'll put meat and then chimichurri.

Let's go. Lovely. Really consistent.

Each one the same, guys. Yeah.

You're going to do carrots? Yep.

Four beautiful plates at a time,

that's all we need.

Beautiful.

Service. Service, please.

Let's go team.

Good. Very nice, Callum. Next four, let's go.

CALLUM: Thank you. Chef.

BEN: The beef came right down to the wire and it was so close,

but I think we just nailed it in the end.

I hope that my beef is going to win it for our team.

What a way to start. We have the highest calibre of cooks

we've ever had in this kitchen.

And the competition is fierce, right?

I think they're all looking around at each other,

"How do I get to walk out of here with my chest pushed out going,

"'We won the first challenge with Gordon Ramsay in the house?'"

Got to keep that door closed, my man.

You've got to get in and out of there. That's it.

POH: It is pretty special to watch Gordon in motion.

And because of him being here, I really do feel like the food

is going to come out beautifully.

Beef cooked beautifully.

Try and keep it just a little bit more central. Yes? Go, go.

A little bit less on the next one.

Thank you. Service please. Let's go. Thank you very much.

Ooh, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

(ANDY CHUCKLES)

That looks awesome.

Yeah.

This is Green team main

and it's beef rump cap,

carrot three ways.

I love the colours. It's very well-proportioned.

And most importantly,

this look very appetising.

Yeah. I love it already.

Let's dive in.

Oh, cuts like butter.

Wow.

Whoa. Mm-hm.

I am loving this, right.

This is like beautiful textures,

beautiful colours,

stunning flavours.

Like, everywhere that you put your knife and fork,

everything is just peaking with flavour.

The seasoning is on point.

I am loving this dish.

I've got to give Ben a shout-out for cooking that rump cap.

Looking good, guys. Yes?

Looking great.

That was so inconsistent, the pieces,

it could have gone horribly wrong.

But if I look around, every one is blushing medium rare.

That is absolutely money and not easy to do.

As soon as the dish landed, I wanted to dive in.

The colours are so inviting and when you dive in,

everything has been executed so well.

And what I love about it is the balance.

There is such a lovely amount of acidity,

heat and there's actually a fair bit of garlic

in that chimichurri,

but it works so well with the richness of that rump cap.

I love this dish.

It is not a surprise to me at all

that Callum has such successful restaurants

in South Australia,

because this...this just feels like

a culmination of all of his experience and his leadership

on a plate.

What a joy! If I was on my own, I'd be licking that plate.

If it's good, it's good. Yeah.

Sarah, are we ready to go? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. That's going to be beautiful.

This is out. Yeah? OK.

This is it. Our first dish of the competition.

We have to get this thing going.

I love that! I love the curry leaf.

I love that.

Yes, popcorn on top.

That looks amazing.

GORDON: Right, Sarah.

Describe the dish, please.

So basically it is the corn chowder.

Then we've got the pommes fondantes,

the fish, the clams, some popcorn.

So the sauce tastes good.

Fondants are proper now where they are.

And who cooked the fish? Me.

Raw fish.

Ice-cold raw fish.

Oh, my God.

The first piece of kingfish was served raw.

Come on, blue team.

My first chance to impress him, gone.

Might as well go to (BLEEP) Nobu and serve it as (BLEEP) sushi.

Is this our best? No, Chef.

Come on, guys. Come on.

(BLEEP)

(METAL CLATTERS)

Jesus Christ.

Who cooked the fish? JAMIE: Me.

Raw fish.

Ice-cold raw fish.

Oh, my God.

May as well go to (BLEEP) Nobu and serve it as (BLEEP) sushi.

The first piece of kingfish was served raw.

Help me out, please, Jamie. The job's hard enough. OK?

Yes, Chef. Please.

As much as corn's the hero,

if I don't cook this fish perfectly, we won't win the challenge.

So let's just nail the cook on the fish, please.

If you check and you check,

she's not going to be left in the shit, OK?

Look, we're a team, right? Yes, Chef.

OK? We go up together. We go down together. Yes?

Yes, Chef. So give me all you got.

Yes. And look at me. Get your head up.

Yes. Let's go.

We got this. We got it.

I need four more pork in one minute, please.

I need four hot plates in one minute, please.

Hey, guys. Laura's talking. No one's answering her. Come on.

Sorry, Laura. Come on guys.

Hey, guys. "Yes, Chef."

ALL: Yes, Chef. Come on, guys.

To choose four of the best ones, right?

Yeah.

This is the first dish I've done in 16 years

in the MasterChef kitchen.

LAURA: Is the pork seasoned?

Pork seasoned. Phew!

It feels refreshing to clear out the cobwebs of the first cook.

That's it. Left, left. Right, right. Let's go.

Three carrots per plate. Handful of slaw in the middle.

More. More slaw?

OK. It's got to be more.

It's got to be a big... A big, high mound.

Just less sauce 'cause it's all starting to go everywhere.

See what I'm saying? There's a little puddle.

But in the chaos of this cook...

LAURA: More height, Tim.

..no one's actually tried this dish in its complete entirety.

Let's go, guys. Service, please. Happy with that, Laura?

Uh, yeah.

All we can do is hope it's good and pray that the judges like it.

Let's go. Plates go. Pick up. Let's go!

Thank you. Oh. Thank you so much.

ANDY: OK.

Interesting.

SOFIA: That is...big. (LAUGHS) Very interesting.

I hope you guys are hungry.

Righto, Burgundy Team,

porchetta, glazed carrot, brandy jus,

and a lot of other things.

I think I can see, like, some sort of parsley thing going on.

Veloute, veloute.

Carrots.

There's a lot.

It feels like everything has been quite rushed.

Wait, let's get these out of the way first.

Service, please. Guys, we're crossing over each other.

Come on, let's go. Stay unified! Guys, stop, stop, stop!

I can feel the distraction in the kitchen.

There's clearly a lack of definition.

You happy, boss? LAURA: This is hard.

You're taking the responsibility, eh. I don't remember it being this hard.

The first day, you don't know everyone as well.

It's hard, isn't it? It is.

POH: I feel like this tastes like many people

going their separate ways and making elements,

and then they've just bunged it together.

This needs, like, seven layers off.

There is so much going on and nothing is allowed to shine.

Service, please. Service, please.

Doing a great job, team.

And let's just, yeah, try and be methodical, team.

Let's follow one after the other. It's not a race.

Can you get a temperature probe?

44, 46.

Yeah. That's perfect. Yeah. That's 48. Yeah.

Service!

Next round. Whoo!

Every piece of fish that comes my way,

I'm double-checking to make sure it's cooked perfectly.

I cook, you double-check.

But it only takes one piece of fish to be over or undercooked,

and then we have no chance of winning this challenge.

Sarah, are we good? They brought it back up.

Yes, good to go. Yeah?

Hey, blue team, do you want to win this?

TEAM: Yes, Chef! Come on, then!

(WHOOPING)

Here we go. Ah.

So we've got the blue team's main here.

Seared kingfish with corn chowder. Wow.

And lots of other little bits there as well.

I'm intrigued.

Should we give it a go?

My fish is a little inconsistent.

I've got my belly piece, which is absolutely perfect,

but my loin piece is a touch over,

which is a shame.

I mean, that's the risk you run when you try and cook,

what, 60 pieces of fish, two per person?

But flavour-wise, there's a lot going on here.

And I think this is classic Sarah, right?

Being able to have, like, this amalgamation

of a couple of cultures and just that little spread

and that little sprinkle of Indian spices over the top,

by the tempering with the mustard seeds

and the frying of the curry leaves.

It just really interests me.

I know we started slow, but we're gonna to finish strong.

OK. And I want to hear you.

Come on, come on! Yeah, alright. Let's do this. Let's go.

I love the way the dish looked.

And my fish was cooked really beautifully.

The skin was crispy and the flesh just flaked apart.

And seasoning is perfection.

First, I would like to congratulate them

for daring to try to use corn in a main course...

Yeah. ..with fish and with a chowder.

And I'm actually quite impressed

because this is absolutely delicious.

Well done. Mm.

THEO: Happy? SARAH: Yeah, thank you.

Four working. Last two going in now.

Halfway, guys, yes? Halfway! (CLAPS) Yes? Yes, Chef.

Let's start thinking about the dessert.

Yes, Chef.

Alright, final four pork ready. Yeah.

Plates are hot. Plate the pork.

You chuck them down.

There's only a few more plates to go out for mains,

so it's time to regroup and focus on our dessert.

Are those ice-creams set? They're set.

The ice-cream's going to be good. The granita is going to be good.

We're definitely taking a risk with this dessert.

Conceptually, it's something new, it's something different.

There's lots of elements.

GORDON RAMSAY: Laura, we can start desserts, please. Yes, Chef.

Hey, guys, can we go on desserts, please? They're waiting!

Let's go then. Four at at time! Yes, Chef.

So the cake needs to be the vessel for the ice-cream to sit on.

The key to this dessert is balance. It's as simple as that.

So the bitter cake, the salty crumb and the freshness of the granita.

Like, everything has got a place in this dessert.

Load that granita on.

SAVINDRI: Make it snow!

Oh, my goodness!

Hold on, guys, just stop. Just a touch less granita, please.

I'm just trying to gain a bit of control

and make sure they know that they're being led,

and hopefully I'm leading them in the right direction to a win here.

Guys, that's way too much cake.

That's like four times the amount that we originally put on.

But it's so hard!

Guys, I just want them all to be exactly the same.

It's like having seven children.

I've got one, and that's hard enough!

Service, please. I love this place. It's amazing.

I think it's, um, maybe a really good wake-up call

that this is not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

SOFIA AND POH: Oh!

OK.

I think we're all going to be surprised

because this one is just named corn and milk.

Yeah, I want to unbury it.

Whoa!

Whoa.

Whoa!

Whoa.

Whoa!

I just felt like it didn't come together at all for me.

I found the granita really jarring.

Like, it was just way too sharp for me.

And the cake was a bit too bitter.

So there was just, like, intense bitterness,

intense sourness.

I found all the flavours quite incompatible,

and I did feel like their mains,

it felt a little bit like they struggled.

I can see the struggle.

But I did really like the corn ice-cream and the flavour

and the fact that it was a bit salty.

Ice-cream, please. Four portions, yes?

Ice-cream ready.

SOFIA: The thing I like most about this dessert

is the intensity of the corn flavour in the ice-cream.

And I think even just the orange cake

with all that rind and skins in it,

that bitterness would have gone really nicely

with just the ice-cream.

The granita is really interesting

because I think it would be a great element on another dessert.

I don't think it works here.

You know what I would call it? Confusing. ANDY: Mm.

(POH LAUGHS)

I would agree with that.

I get what's going on here.

Like, you know you've got sweet corn ice-cream.

You've got sour buttermilk granita. Like, you've got a salty crumb.

You've got a bitter cake.

In theory, it should all work.

But the balance is just way out of whack here. Yeah.

And, unfortunately, it just hasn't worked with this one.

I think it's clear after this tasting,

Laura's team, they are out of the running.

And this is really going to come down to what Sarah's team

and Callum's team bring us for their desserts.

I think we're on the same page. Yeah. I agree.

Alright, last two.

Alright, well done, guys.

(TEAM CHEERS) Great effort on the mains.

Let's bring it home.

Whilst I'm really chuffed with this main course,

I now need to divert my attention

to this dessert because the dishes are equal weighting from the judges.

So it's really important that we nail not just the savoury, but the sweet as well.

Spotless, yes? Yes. Yes, Chef.

If this is how you run your restaurant,

I can't wait to make a reservation. Thank you, Chef.

Um, how are we doing with the dessert?

With the ice-cream, make sure it doesn't melt.

Yeah, so we're pre-cooling on to frozen cold trays,

just so they can sit slightly so they don't melt too quick.

Yeah, good. Let's finish strong, shall we, guys?

Let's go. Alright, guys, let's get rocking and rolling.

I really want to win this first challenge,

for me, for the whole team.

On the first day of the competition, there couldn't be more at stake.

OK, chefs, are the pavlovas all out?

Yes, Chef. Do we have corn ice-cream quenelles?

We are halfway. Halfway? Beautiful.

The dessert today, we're going to be making a kind of Aussie classic.

A sweet corn ice-cream pavlova.

It's gonna have a popcorn crumble, fresh mango and passionfruit curd.

The popcorn crumble. CATH: Yep, done.

What temperature is it right now?

Uh, it's room temperature. Great.

Just chuck it in the fridge or freezer, just for a few minutes.

Yep. We've got to make sure we don't melt this ice-cream, OK?

OK. We've got all the pieces of the puzzle.

We just have to come up with how to plate this dessert now.

Ice-cold plate. Let's go.

Just grab four out again.

Let's go. In the middle, so we work together.

That's it. Two plates and two plates. Let's go.

Left, left, right, right, so we don't keep on moving stuff.

There you go. OK.

SARAH: Yep, perfect. Last four. Hey!

The main was a real struggle,

but I feel like the result was incredible.

Let's start thinking about the dessert, yes?

Yeah.

If we can nail this dessert, I think we can take this out.

We'll do a test plating. Yep. Sounds good. OK, cool.

For our dessert, we are doing a carrot halwa parfait.

So the carrot halwa is like...

I make it all the time at home. I make it for my family.

So I'm hoping that flavour is going

to come straight through the parfait, yeah.

This is... That one there? Yeah.

So then...can I have the pastry?

I think that the flavours in these dishes

definitely show a little bit of me.

And, you know, also the other contestants,

I wanted Depinder to pull out a dessert that really speaks of her.

Behind, behind, behind, behind.

Also, I really wanted Theo to do his thing

and pull out a really beautiful pastry.

One pastry, Theo.

I pull out the rough puff pastry...

So we've got the parfait dessert.

Yeah. OK.

..and it's not how I envisioned.

It needs to be light and airy,

lots of layers, but it's not thin and crispy.

It's quite thick and solid, and it's quite brown.

Now, what's this bit on top here? This is, um, the pastry.

What have they done there?

I've spent hours making this element,

and it's the only thing I've done pretty much all day,

and now it looks like a hockey puck

instead of a beautiful shard.

What a shame.

I think the puff pastry needs to be cut through with a spoon,

not hammered through, yeah, with a chisel.

It's not the way I wanted to start my MasterChef journey.

Jesus.

The puff pastry needs to be cut through with a spoon,

not hammered through, yeah, with a chisel.

The crucial element of this dessert hasn't quite worked out.

Everyone needs to be in sync with what you want.

Yeah. OK?

There's elements here, but it needs to be brought together now.

You're the captain. You're the only one who can do it.

Got it. Thank you. Let's go.

We need to completely rethink the plating.

Um...

The pastry is the only textural element on the plate.

We cannot leave this off.

It's too late to make the puff pastry from scratch.

I need to get creative.

Because the puff pastry is so thick,

we need to play around with the plating of it a little bit.

OK.

So I feel like, if we actually have the parfait in the centre

and we just crumble up and make it a bit more

like a flaky pastry around the outside...

So, make a crumb out of the puff pastry?

I reckon.

We can put on the garnish around the outside, like, neatly.

Because of the new way we're plating the pastry,

we need to adjust

how much of each element goes onto the plate.

The pistachio cream, we're doing,

like, four dollops on top of the crumb.

I think just do three dollops of the pistachio.

Yep.

So, we're going in with three dollops of the pistachio cream,

four dollops of the carrot gel.

More of a blob.

Oh, yeah. Let's keep that consistent.

And all of the other ingredients scattered around...

And you're doing sultanas and carrots.

..so that the plate looks full and that with each spoonful you get

the correct proportions of all the elements.

Oh, I'm proud of you, team. Look at this!

So great. Look at this!

Well done, Sarah. No, it's not me.

Everyone has pulled it together.

I definitely feel like we're in with a chance here.

Sarah, happy with that? The look, visually, looks beautiful.

Yeah, we love it.

Service, please. Let's go. Four more now, yeah?

Oui, Chef.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Ooh!

Oh, that's gorgeous! POH: That looks gorgeous.

Thank you. It's really beautiful.

What have we got? Blue team - Carrot Halwa Parfait.

OK.

Hmm.

Halwa is a traditional Indian dessert.

I've eaten this dish in regional Indian restaurants,

and it's this lovely texture

which the blue team has made into a parfait,

and that's genius.

So, when I bit into it and it wasn't overly sweet,

it had that thickness and that solidity to it

like a parfait does,

I just thought it was a beautiful modern interpretation

of a traditional dish.

Plus that pastry, though it wasn't a shard as expected,

added this crumbly, buttery texture, which I think elevated the dish.

Let's go.

I thought it looked absolutely beautiful.

I love the colours and the composition.

Very, very pretty.

I love the flavour of the parfait,

and I thought the parfait and the pistachio went

really well together - that beautiful floral cardamom.

And I think it's a concept

that turned into something really beautiful.

It looked a million bucks. I'm loving the balance,

I'm loving the textures, I'm loving the colours.

Well played. Yeah.

That's it. That's it. Come on, finish strong.

CALLUM: Alright, chefs, let's go. Right now, let's go.

For the win today, it all comes down to this dessert.

Rue, you good?

Yep, good. Yeah?

Yes. Yep. Excellent.

So, we've got to try and figure out

a way to elevate this dish to the next level.

So, what's your vision with the pavlova?

We're going to, like, grate the little tips,

and then it sits like that, and then we fill it up.

Love it. Yeah.

Rue has had a great idea to flip the meringue upside down.

Doing a great job, team. I'm so happy with them.

We've shaved them down, so we can effectively use them

like a little open bowl on the plate.

These look absolutely beautiful.

And we're going to glue them down with some

of that lovely passionfruit curd - it's going to hold them in place.

Oh, my gosh, I love this.

And then all the goodies are going in.

We've got popcorn,

we've got fresh mango,

and of course that beautiful quenelle of sweet corn ice-cream.

Happy with that, Callum? Yes.

Beautiful. I think these are beautiful, Chef.

Yeah, these meringues are the sexiest thing I've ever seen.

Service, please. Four more plates, please, guys.

I love the look of our dessert,

but looking across at Sarah's team...

Oh, that's great.

..their dessert is looking so beautiful and intricate.

Blue team, let's finish strong. Come on.

Let's go. One more four. Let's go. Last four.

I know that our dessert is just as good,

but I just hope the judges think it's even better.

Four more plates, please, guys.

Oh, that's clever. ANDY: Oh, hello!

I'm loving the look of that.

POH: OK, so this is green dessert - Sweet corn Pavlova.

Oh, that looks so good! That looks amazing!

I'm diving in. Yeah, let's do it. I'm excited.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Whoa. Mm-hm.

It is absolutely...

..delicious.

Yes. Oh, he loves it!

What a job. I think they've nailed it.

The dish looks very, very attractive, very pretty,

very miniature.

I noticed very quickly some elements were a little bit too sweet,

but then behind - the sharpness of the passionfruit,

the citrus, the mango...

Oh, it's an envelope of flavours, textures.

I loved it.

Presentation - A plus, 10 out of 10.

So clever to invert the moulds,

make those meringues so that they're little bowls

and then actually fasten it to the plate

so that it stays there

with the passionfruit and lime curd as well.

For me, it's perfect.

I felt like every single element on this played its role perfectly.

None better than that corn ice-cream,

which just was like the anchor

to absolutely everything on this dish.

All it's there to do is just pull back on, like,

passionfruit, mango.

For me, I thought it just balanced the whole dish.

GORDON: Final two, yes? Yeah, you go, Audra. Go, Audra.

(THEY CHEER)

Well done, chefs. Great job. All of you, well done.

Well done. There's only one winning team today.

There is a massive prize up for grabs.

You've done a good job. Thank you, Chef. Thank you.

I just hope that the green team has done enough.

First off, all three teams did exceptionally well.

I mean, you all had bumps in the road.

You all overcame those bumps.

I'll be honest, coming up with two incredible dishes like that

in that short period of time

with a carrot and corn is bloody hard.

Random choice!

You did yourselves proud. Honestly. Well done, all three teams.

Thank you.

(ALL CHEER)

We know you all wanted to start this competition off with a win.

It's what you came back to do.

But there was one team that served up not one,

but two back-to-back bangers.

The winning team is...

..the green team!

Callum, you steered that ship like a true captain.

How are you feeling? Uh, so elated.

I forgot, just, the adrenaline of this kitchen.

Like, that's such a genuine reaction.

I feel so, um, chuffed with how these guys went tonight.

SOFIA: Green team,

tomorrow, the eight of you cook for a prize

everyone is going to want to get their hands on.

And this guy here will be back to set one hell of a challenge.

ANDY: Here we go!

ANNOUNCER: This season on MasterChef Australia...

Are we ready? CHEFS: Yes, Chef!

Let's go.

..Gordon is just getting started.

OMFG!

And...

Please welcome the one, the only, Peter Gilmore!

..the superstar guests keep on coming.

POH: Curtis Stone!

Maggie Beer!

Shannon Bennett! (ALL CHEER)

Kirsten Tibballs!

The king of FoodTok, Andy Cooks!

Josh Niland!

You ready for this one?

(ALL EXCLAIM)

With our incredible judges.

This is the thousand-cut tofu flour.

(GASPING)

ANDY: That is my salt-baked mud crab with confit garlic butter.

MAN: Oh, my God, Jean-Christophe. MAN 2: The man is a genius.

Voila! (AS JEAN-CHRISTOPHE) Unbelievable!

I get asked a lot what Australian food actually is.

And it's dishes like this

that puts Australia on the world stage.

ANNOUNCER: Because, at the end of the day...

Wow! Holy moly! ANDY: Holy dooly!

..the food is what makes the world go round.

This is a celebration.

Well done.

That is perfection.

It's just like heaven.

That was so delicious.

If you keep cooking like that,

the trophy is yours for the taking.

You're in for one hell of a season.

Captions by Red Bee Media