Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...

MELISSA: Shannon literally wrote the book on French cuisine.

..and difficult challenges.

Reynold's incredible pressure test

was the end of the journey for Max.

Give it up for Max, everybody!

And in Curtis Stone's service challenge...

Dinnertime.

..the Favourites prevailed in both fast food and fancy.

(CHEERS)

Then, in a nail-biting immunity challenge...

What am I doing?

..Michael made the winning dish in just 30 minutes.

ANDY: It was a ceviche on a totally different level.

Thank you very much.

Tonight, it's an all-in elimination.

MINDY: The pressure is monumental.

Two exciting rounds, and one person will be going home.

# 'Cause you're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down

# You're wrong when it's right

# It's black and it's white

# We fight, we break up

# We kiss, we make up

# You're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down

# You're wrong when it's right

# It's black and it's white

# We fight, we break up

# We kiss, we make up

# You # You don't really wanna stay, no

# You # But you don't really wanna go-o

# You're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down. #

HARRY: It's like redemption. It's not, but it kind of feels that way.

Yeah.

Here we are again - elimination day.

It doesn't get easier.

Every time we're here, it still weighs as heavy as the first.

You good? I'm good.

Come on, Keyma.

HARRY: We've lost three fans now.

People are really struggling with the fact that

we're losing all of our mates, we're losing some amazing cooks.

And today we really, really need to keep us all here.

WOMAN: Good luck, everyone. ALL: Thank you.

Oh. Why is there a cloche?

Why is there a cloche?

In you come. Let's go. Yay!

OK.

I don't know about this, guys.

Good morning, everybody. ALL: Morning.

Minoli, nobody can see you. (LAUGHTER)

Hello.

Now, another all-in elimination

and I reckon I can feel the tension in the room already.

Michael up on the gantry.

How's that going, mate? It's not too bad.

Not only are you on the gantry, but you've still got a pin as well.

It's, uh...it's a good position to be in.

It's hard because it's a team thing

and not cooking with those guys, it feels a bit weird.

So... Do you want to swap?

(LAUGHTER)

Just saying. Toss a pin down.

We haven't seen a pin played at all yet.

And how many pins have we got?

I think we've got about five, haven't we?

Including yours?

Five.

Alright, let's get into it.

Because of the uneven numbers,

Favourites, you need to sit out two of your people to make it fair.

Who's it going to be? Hands up.

Alright, Alvin, Christina, you won't be taking part in round one today,

but you'll obviously be participating in round two, if it comes to that.

You can stand under the gantry.

Everyone else, to your benches.

Good luck, guys.

Our team is intact so far.

All 12 of us are still here.

Funk it up, guys. Oh!

And what I would love is for our team to remain intact

at the end of today.

OK.

Today is going to be a mad scramble.

This cook is absolutely crucial,

'cause if you cook the best dish in this round,

you save your entire team from elimination.

DANIEL: This round one isn't everyone for themselves.

You're supposed to be working as a team.

So if we do that, maybe we can beat the Favourites.

Round one is simple.

All you need to do is cook us something delicious

with whatever is beneath your cloche.

Let's not waste any more time.

You may lift your cloches now.

(LAUGHTER)

Just one egg! Just one?

Just one egg?

That's right. It's a single egg.

ALI: Eggs are fragile little suckers.

If you poach it, you could break it.

You fry it, you could break it.

You could crack it open, you could break it.

Literally, there's no back-up. That's it.

You've got to treat that

like the most precious little cargo, like, ever.

Righto, gang, let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

You'll have 30 minutes...

WOMAN: What?! Oh!

..to cook us anything that you want.

But it must include that one egg,

so don't break it.

(CHUCKLES)

The pantry and the garden are open,

but today we'll only taste

the six most appealing dishes.

Three from the Fans, and three from the Favourites.

Good luck.

Your 30 minutes starts now.

Oh, shit!

So sorry. Ooh!

BILLIE: 30 minutes is cruel.

It's enough time to cook a standard egg dish.

But this is MasterChef kitchen.

You have to push yourself and make something exciting and delicious.

So I am thinking of doing fancy eggs and soldiers.

So fried bread that's sort of loaded with really tasty things,

and just that one single little egg to dip them into.

Keep going.

One egg and 30 minutes,

this is the most level playing field that we could possibly ask for.

No time for the Favourites to show off.

No time for us to overthink.

This could be the thing that pulls us through.

Go, Steph.

Steph's told me that she's doing her chawanmushi.

I've had it before and it's so good.

I reckon that's gonna be the dish that wins.

So I'm trying to get the equipment that Steph needs for her cook,

plus whatever I need for mine.

Coming through, Steph.

I forgot the sugar. Yeah.

What do you need? Sugar.

I'll get it. Thanks.

At this point in the competition,

playing as a team, sometimes you do have to sacrifice

your dish or your choices or whatever for the better of the team.

And... No, I probably don't need that.

Oh, I'll take it in case.

Always take it in case. (CHUCKLES) Thanks.

I'm using my one egg to make a Korean hash baked egg thing.

I don't really know what it is,

but I'm going for the flavours that I understand

and something that's going to be quick to bash out.

This week's been really tough on our team.

I just want to make sure that everyone can get up on the gantry,

take a breather, and we can all remember why we're here.

Because we're bloody good cooks.

Did you grab my cumin out at all? Um, there.

Pre-opened. Thank you.

OK. She's done.

Chawanmushi is a Japanese egg custard

and a great chawanmushi, it's silky, it's soft.

It's got a lot of flavour punch in the stock.

So I need to make my own dashi

and then incorporate the egg

and steam it in whatever time I've got.

It's going to be a time push at this stage.

A lot to do and not a lot of time.

So today I'm making a crab omelette

with some chilli crab compound butter.

The idea actually comes from a cafe in Darwin.

They do a scrambled egg with crab.

It's got some fermented hot sauce all over it and it is delicious.

I've got enough time.

It's definitely stretched, that's for sure.

It's tight, but, yeah, I can do it.

Gotta risk it for the biscuit.

I've just got a lot to do in this 30 minutes.

I have to cook the crab, pick the crab,

but I just know that it's gonna be delicious.

So I've got my crab cooking ever so gently.

Yep, cool.

Got my compound butter on the rip.

I've toasted off some chilli and coriander seeds.

I've thrown some butter in there to melt

and just get all friendly with each other.

CHRISTINA: You guys good? We're having fun, Christina.

Yeah, it's a good cook.

Have fun with it... Having a lot of fun.

..and you'll be fine.

I've got eight other really good cooks behind me working flat out.

They're going to try and bring it today as well.

So I need to try and do the best that I can.

If I nail this, then I can save them.

They trust me to do my job and I trust them.

So that's what it's all about today.

Minoli. Hey, Jock.

It looks to me, unbelievably, like you're making a curry.

Oh, surprise, surprise, I am.

In 30 minutes?

I am going as hard as I can because...

I can see. Yeah.

What is it?

I'm gonna do an egg curry from Jaffna.

Yeah? How is the egg in the dish?

Soft boiled and then put into the curry.

OK. And it just sits there.

Sounds good. Good luck. Thanks.

To make my curry,

I start off by dry toasting some spices

to try and deepen the flavour,

because I've only got 30 minutes to pack a punch in this curry.

I then start frying off some onions, add in that dry spice mix

and let those flavours develop in that coconut milk.

I know the judges love big, bold flavours,

so if my dish is full of that,

then I think I've got a really good chance

at winning for the Favourites.

Just run.

If you need to go, just go. Legend.

I'm...I'm sink boy.

In this challenge, one egg has to be an oeuf.

15 minutes to go!

(CHEERING) Come on, guys!

Let's go!

What's your 30-minute one egg dish?

I'm making a chawanmushi, and if Dan's got any crab to spare,

I'm going to dress it as well.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

What are you doing with one egg and friends?

I'm making oyakodon.

Seasoning, perfect balance, Japanese simplicity.

That's the idea.

Jock. 30 minutes. One egg.

Yes. Talk to me.

I'm doing son-in-law. So something simple.

Mindy's doing a sort of Chinese version of a son-in-law egg.

So I'm doing like a Vietnamese. Yum!

So chilli jam and some crispy, sweet potato crisp.

What are you doing with your single egg?

My single egg?

It's going to be poached on top of a chilbeh.

So similar to Montana, it's done in a more classic style.

So, garlic, herb, yogurt.

Are you doing a bread as well? Yeah, like a little flatbread.

Gee! Trying to do one. We'll see.

You guys are, like, making me nervous.

Ali! Hi, Mel.

Oh! Action stations and all of the scallops over here.

All of the scallops, yeah.

What are you doing with it?

It's my daughter-in-law Scotch egg. Oh, OK.

It's like a take on a Scotch egg,

but kind of with the son-in-law flavours.

Oh, I love this.

My mother-in-law's the one who taught me how to make Scotch eggs.

So it's kind of got a little bit of a family resonance for me.

You know what?

In a sea of egg dishes today,

this is already standing out to me.

So here's hoping you get picked.

Thank you.

I love a Scotch egg. I can make them in my sleep.

And son-in-law eggs are a classic kind of Asian dish.

I think that kind of mash-up style is a lot about who I am as a cook.

So while the egg's boiling,

I'm going to get onto making the scallop farce.

It's filled with coriander and ginger and garlic and chilli.

And I just kind of pulse that together

and then I'm going to wrap that around the egg.

Spicy.

MICHAEL: Make sure you got time

to do a second pick-through, there's no little tiny bits.

Remember what happened with Max? Yeah.

Just do a second pick, just to make sure.

I'm flat stick at the moment.

I've got my crab just undercooked perfectly the way I wanted it.

Sweating it up.

Mate, not only have you got to pick crab for your dish,

you've got to pick it for Steph's as well.

Do I?! STEPH: Just a little bit.

How much do you need it? Just a little bit!

She needs 300 grams.

Don't say that. (LAUGHS)

I'm picking crab. I've already got enough on my plate here.

But Steph said she wanted some for her chawanmushi.

Do you need much? 'Cause I'd love most of it. No, that's it. That's it.

No, that one's for me. Oh, I just need, like, a little bit.

Alright.

I am bricking it.

I...

I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew.

So I've got to really push through and hustle now

because I'm starting to really run out of time.

It might have to be crab scrambled eggs instead.

10 minutes to go.

JOCK: 10 minutes, guys. 10 minutes.

I need another pan! I need another pan!

(REPEATEDLY) I need another pan! I need another pan...

Sorry! Oh, shit!

We've all seen six of the 18 cooks. What's your favourite?

Ooh. OK. Ali's doing a scalloped son-in-law egg meat Scotched egg.

OK. And it's going to be amazing.

ALI: Right. Done. Ready to go.

What's your pick?

I'm gonna say Minoli,

because she's making a full-blown curry with a soft boiled egg.

In half an hour? In half an hour.

Yes.

See what happens when we push them?

Yeah. It's epic!

Fans or Favourites? They've got a chance to save the team.

I'm rooting for the Fans. I want them to have a win.

The Fans obviously really, really, really want to win this.

They really, really, really want to.

But the Favourites have got some confidence kicking around them.

I can tell you that. They really do.

Hot oil for a fried egg. Like, really hot.

Yeah. Not too hot. Just good hot.

Everyone be careful with your eggs.

Egg. I'm actually really scared to break it right now.

Oh. Nice work, brother.

It's all about the egg. So give it...

Give it some love and some time.

Hey? You can do this.

JULIE: I love the fact that there's only one egg here.

It's just like you've got to go all in on this one little egg.

Look at that. Beautiful.

Yes!

(CHUCKLES)

My dish today is a dukkah-crusted egg with some hummus and chemoula.

So, I think I'm going pretty well.

I've made my hummus, I've made my chemoula,

and it's time for me to move on to my dukkah.

I'm making it with pistachios today.

I've blitzed those whole spices and sesame seeds,

and then the soft-boiled egg

has to be really gently cradled into the spice blend.

Hopefully, the judges will want to taste it.

I'm going to the pantry if anybody needs something.

One chilli, probably. One chilli.

Just one chilli. Little one. Thank you, Tommy.

The pressure of thinking that there is just one dish

to rely the future of your team.

It's very hard.

And I don't want to be put in that position

to be the person not saving my team.

Chilli for you, sir. Thank you.

Gee. Thanks.

Just the one.

So, I'm gonna do asparagus alla Milanese.

It is a classic Milanese dish

where you've got beautiful cooked asparagus with a fried egg on top.

I'm not going to serve with a fried egg,

but I'm going to serve with a poached egg on top.

My goal today

is just to give the judges another perfect Italian dish.

I would love for them to imagine themselves

sitting somewhere in Italy, having a perfect brunch,

having nice glass of wine on the side, and that's it.

The sauce that I'm going to use to just dress the asparagus

it's salsa di alici.

Basically just garlic, anchovy and capers,

just to create a beautiful, fresh, vibrant umami to the dish.

Oh. Perfect. Ooh.

Good sauce? Ooh, yeah.

It makes feel much more confident.

Delivering a simple but flavourful dish

is the key to just pushing me to progress in this competition.

I bring forza Napoli, forza Napoli. Forza Napoli.

Yeah!

This precious little... My precious.

Come on, let's get you ready.

So, in order to make the Scotch egg, I get the iced soft-boiled egg.

I'm going to wrap that in the scallop farce

that's filled with those Asian flavours.

I'm going to pack that around - really gently -

around this precious egg.

Then I'm going to dip that in the flour.

Then I'm going to dip that in mayonnaise

and then coat that in breadcrumbs.

And then I'm going to pop the egg into the oil.

I've only got one egg.

So, I literally have everything crossed

because we've got a lot riding on this Scotch egg.

Come on, baby. Do your thing.

Make sure your egg is the best it can be.

You've only got five minutes to go. Let's go. Five minutes!

JOHN: Where did the time go?

I'm making son-in-law, nice and simple,

pre-boil the egg and then deep-fried.

I've got a beautiful chilli jam going,

and some crispy, sweet potato crisp.

Oh, my hands are shaking. How are you going, John?

I'm good. I'm about to fry. You're frying?

I'll put the egg in the oil.

And usually with this,

you only need to deep-fry it for about a minute.

You just want a nice, beautiful golden colour around the egg.

I'm just hoping when the judges cut through it, it will still be jammy.

We're only looking for the most egg-cellent dish.

Three minutes to go. Go, guys.

30-minute curry.

Pfft. It's so hectic.

I've got a lot to do in the final minutes.

I still have to get my egg into the curry.

I've still got to finish my rice.

Grr...what am I doing?

I'm just hoping those last couple of minutes

let the rice cook through.

I've tried my curry. It's really beautiful.

I think it works really well with that single boiled egg

and the seeni sambol, the caramelised onions,

is just the perfect accompaniment.

I just need everything to now come together perfectly.

Put in the crab. Love it.

I just need to squeeze it out, that's all. Put him on.

I take the chawanmushi out of the steamer.

It looks like it's just set, which is perfect.

I then put some of the dashi gel on

and I top it up with the caviar and the crab.

I want the judges to taste this umami bomb.

It's unexpectedly very punchy,

and I just want them to have that experience

where the egg custard touches the tongue, it just disappears.

One egg in two minutes.

DANIEL: I've got one egg omelette here, I've got a little pan

and I've thrown some of the compound butter in there to cook it.

My plan is to have it almost like a crepe

and it's going to fold over and be a nice thick centre of crab.

You can see the edges starting to bubble and wave.

It's looking like it's going to hold itself quite nicely.

Lovely. We can do this.

Now it's all up to folding the egg.

And this is the bit that really terrifies me.

you've only got one minute to go.

Let's go! Come on!

Let's go!

Come on, everyone. Keep pushing.

You've got this.

Lovely. We can do this.

I've got about one minute left to fold the egg.

This pressure is intense.

Whoo!

Good work, man. (LAUGHS)

Well done, brother.

It looks pretty. (LAUGHS)

It's folded. It looks super pretty. And it's cooking well.

And I am so proud of this. I think it looks great.

Wow-ee.

I feel like I haven't had a win yet.

I want to really have a chance to impress the judges.

So, I hope the judges pick it,

because I think it's going to be packed full of flavour.

And here we go.

Ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three, two, one.

That's it!

Come here.

Well done.

So sweaty. Oh, my God.

Oh, far out.

Got it done. I'm pretty happy. Yeah.

It's just a hard thing taking a risk in a situation like this,

but you just got to do it.

I mean, we're just getting hungrier and hungrier with the more Fans that go home.

So, we have to put up our A-game against the Favourites,

and that's why we're here.

So, I'm super proud I did it.

Hopefully it tastes as good as I think it's going to,

but we'll find out, at the end of the day.

How good was a quick cook? We love that.

There's some cracking dishes out there.

We're only tasting three from the Fans and three from the Favourites.

And the first one we want to taste...

Let's go, Aldo.

Aldo, what's your dish, please?

So, we've got asparagus alla Milanese.

It's basically a classic from Milano.

And the sauce is an anchovy dipping sauce.

And how would you like your egg poached?

Of course nice and runny. Beautiful.

Let's find out. Cut it open, Mel.

Mmm-mmm.

Whoa!

(MEL GIGGLES)

Very brave, mate. Very brave.

It's a Milanese classic.

But I reckon you've just made it that little bit better.

Texture of the white of a poached egg,

as opposed to when it's fried and a little bit squeaky,

it's just... It's so good, Aldo.

Thank you.

That anchovy sauce. It just... It had such life and depth.

Nothing goes unnoticed when it's that perfect.

Thank you.

You should be very proud of yourself. Because we are.

Thank you.

Well done, Aldo. Well done, mate.

It's made me feel so proud of myself, so happy with the feedback.

And the judges, they just remind me

what I need to do to succeed in this competition...

Wow. Beautiful.

..which is cook my true self.

Good work.

Next up, I am very excited to be calling for Daniel.

(CHEERING, WHOOPING)

Stop it.

Get it, Dan. Yeah.

Daniel, what have you made us, mate, with your one egg?

I made a crab omelette with a nice compound chilli, herby butter.

One-egg crab omelette. Yeah.

I'm impressed with how much work I did.

Like, I toasted spices, cooked a crab, picked the crab.

The only scary thing, though, is because I only had one egg,

I didn't get a chance to taste it, so I had to eyeball seasoning. We'll do it for you, mate.

I was going to say the only thing that could let you down here is the taste.

Right? Yeah.

Tell you what, you weren't skimpy on the crab either.

Daniel, what we look for in a perfect omelette

is that even, pale golden, no sign of brown.

The classic way, of course.

And you've done that here.

The ratio of egg to crab is sensational.

From a flavour perspective, chilli and the herbs

are just complementing it all.

The omelette itself is cooked absolutely perfectly.

You've nailed the egg. Cheers.

(LAUGHS)

Welcome to the party. (LAUGHTER)

I tell you what, it feels good to finally get invited.

You've always had an invite. You just never showed up.

Just never showed up, yeah. Fashionably late.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

Well done.

Congratulations, brother. Thanks very much.

Whoo!

Oh, stop it.

Oh, stop it. You gonna make me, big fella tear up.

Next up, Steph.

STEPH: So, I've cooked a Japanese chawanmushi.

We've had a fair few versions over the years,

and that is right up there with one of the best.

The flavour of you going to town and making your own dashi

is just reeking throughout that whole dish.

It was perfect. Well done. Thank you.

Minoli!

I made a Jaffna egg curry with seeni sambol and rice.

That is just Minoli greatness.

The use of the dry spice is unreal.

But...

What am I going to say? The rice.

It's undercooked. Yeah, I know.

Oh! (CHUCKLES)

John. Got my fingers and my toes crossed.

So, I've made for you a son-in-law,

served with a chilli jam and nest, which is made out of sweet potato.

The egg is rubbery, unfortunately.

Everything else on there is brilliant.

And the flavour that is in your chilli jam is epic.

Epic, mate. Thank you.

Oh...the last spot up the front on the tasting bench goes to...

..Ali.

Hi. Oh, hey.

Rightio, Ali. What did you cook?

I have cooked a daughter-in-law Scotch egg.

How are you feeling about having no idea how that egg's cooked?

Yeah, I'm... I'm terrified.

I'm not sure if I'm having a menopausal flush.

(LAUGHS)

Ali, do you want to cut it up? No, not really.

Ah, come on!

Come on.

(GROANS)

Stop it! Whoa!

That is perfect.

Oh.

Wow.

Yes, Melissa.

Yes, Andy.

Oh, it's horrible. Take it away. Take it away.

Oh-ho-ho!

What's going on today? It is crazy good.

Not just is the farce crunchy on the outside,

you can taste the coriander, you can taste the ginger,

you can taste the chilli.

It's all so well done.

And just humming right now in my mouth.

I think the thing that makes me happiest

that this is an amalgamation of ideas from other places

that you have made entirely your own.

Well done, Ali. Thank you.

(CHEERING)

We've really stacked the odds in our favour.

Dan's produced one of the best dishes

that he's cooked in the competition.

I've done also of my best dishes,

and Steph's completely nailed her chawanmushi.

So, I'm hoping the Fans will pull out a win today.

Alright. The challenge was one egg.

You had 30 minutes to do it,

and we chose three of what we thought were the best dishes

from the Fans and the Favourites.

Two dishes I think we took off the table straightaway,

Minoli, 'cause rice.

Yep. John, 'cause cook on the egg.

Which left Aldo versus three dishes from the Fans.

Now, we unanimously picked one of your dishes as being the best.

And it belongs to you, Daniel.

You've also saved your entire team. Well done, mate.

Yes!

It is an amazing feeling having the judges call your name out

and say that you've won.

I haven't had a win like this yet,

so it just couldn't have happened any better, I think.

Sorry, guys. No. Don't be sorry. You did well.

It's bittersweet because as much as we didn't want to be down there,

to see on the Favourites' faces that the same feeling

that we've had three times now.

Tommy. Thank you.

Now that we've been there and we can see it on their faces,

you know, I can't help but feel a little bit empathetic for them.

I can't believe that one of the Favourites is going home.

In round two, we want you to bring us a dish

with whatever is under THIS cloche.

So let's find out what it is.

Eggs! Oh!

Oh! More eggs?

What?

I was wondering where they were! (LAUGHTER)

It's the rest of your eggs.

In this round, you will have 11 eggs to make one dish.

You don't have to use them all if you don't want to.

But your dish must really celebrate the egg.

In this round, you're going to have 60 minutes.

The pantry and the garden are both open.

And, of course, the least impressive dish

will send its maker home.

Christina, Tommy, Billie, you've got immunity pins.

You can use that pin at any point during the cook

from the moment your time starts to the very last second.

If you do, you'll save yourself from elimination,

you'll go up to the gantry.

But, if you choose to be tasted,

of course, you run the risk of going home.

BILLIE: It's a daunting feeling.

The black apron - it's a reminder

that this is a competition, it can be brutal at times

and someone's going home.

So I'm already thinking about this pin.

Alright, everyone, your time starts...

..now.

(CHEERING)

CHRISTINA: Behind you!

You guys go. I'll stay out of everyone's way.

I'm going to make my mum's Nyonya curry.

It's normally cooked with either chicken, beef, lamb,

but I'm going to translate this curry

and celebrate the eggs with it.

My goodness!

Oh, no.

MINDY: The pressure is monumental.

I mean, I'm from Byron - it's all about peace, love and mung beans.

We are chilled out when we cook.

Ginger, garlic...

So I'm going to bring on the egg love.

I'm going to cook a beautiful Asian-style omelette.

It's going to have an incredible cured pork broth around it.

Yeah, Mindy. WOMAN: Yes! Go, Mindy! Go!

And if I stick true to what I love,

hopefully, that really brings me home today.

Go, Aldo! Go, Aldo! Whoo!

(CHEERING)

BILLIE: I don't know how to do this.

CHRISTINA: You right? I just don't know what to do.

I understand it's a great opportunity to cook in this kitchen,

but stakes are high, they're really high today.

Oh! Are you playing your pin now? Yeah.

That's it? Yeah.

We've got a pin, ladies and gentlemen.

(SPECTATORS CALL OUT AND CLAP) Onto the gantry.

Alright.

Going up against the Faves...

There's so much skill in this group.

It means that I'll make it through another challenge.

And if that means, you know, handing over the pin, then that's...

..that's a trade-off that I'm very happy to make.

Billie! You're up there already, girlfriend?!

What the...?! SASHI: Oh, Billie!

(LAUGHS)

CHRISTINA: It's the first elimination for the Favourites.

So, you know, that's never a good feeling,

but I'm very lucky I have a safety net - just play my pin.

So, I'm going to do bitoque,

which is a Portuguese steak with a fried egg on top

with some Portuguese tomato rice.

I'm just going to have some fun with today, cook what I love -

if it's good, great,

If it's not, then I'll just play this and go home...

..and go upstairs, not go home. (CHUCKLES)

Freudian slip. (LAUGHS)

Where's all the eggs gone?

Oh, God.

Oh, jasmine. That's what I need.

What I've decided to do is an egg fried rice.

In my home, fried rice is one of my 'fridge shaker' meals -

you shake the fridge, and whatever falls out,

you throw it in the fried rice.

It's got bacon and onion in it,

it's got fresh corn and peas in it,

it's got coriander root and ginger,

and of course, throughout that,

there's the beautiful omelette tossed through.

But does it celebrate egg enough?

So then I have the idea to put a salt and pepper egg with it.

Kind of like salt and pepper squid or salt and pepper prawns...

..but it's an egg.

ANDY: Hey, Jules. Hello.

It's fried rice you're cooking here, I'm guessing...

Yeah. ..by the look of everything that's here.

Yep. Talk to me about this.

You'd have made this a billion times.

I have. But I have never done salt and pepper eggs.

Right. What's in your mix?

Plain flour, cornflour, five spice, salt, pepper,

and a tiny bit of chilli.

I actually love that you're doing

something that you've never done before in an elimination.

I don't. I know that you mightn't... Oh, come on, Jules.

I don't think you mightn't, but that is a great idea.

So, that should be done like the back of your hand,

concentrate on the eggs, and we'll see you tomorrow.

I know who I'm cooking against

and I know how well they cook and how clever they are,

how good their ideas are.

I just feel frightened that what I can bring is not good enough.

What am I doing?

Yes.

Today I'm making a lemon tart.

When I was in Paris, I actually went to a cafe

and this was actually one of their dish

and it's actually won the best lemon tart in the world.

And I managed to stumble across a recipe, and I've...

..hopefully, I've perfected the techniques.

This lemon tart, it's a celebration of eggs.

Like, how could you not celebrate eggs without meringue?

It's layers of hazelnut caramel, lemon curd and madeleine,

and then topped off with a meringue.

There's definitely risk involved

in making something that's quite technical.

But I know I can do two, three elements all at the same time.

WOMAN: Go, John!

My tart shells are in the oven baking

and I've measured out all my ingredients for my lemon curd.

With this lemon curd, because it's got cornflour,

you actually want to bring it to a simmering point

and cook out that cornflour.

I blitz it, so it's nice and silky and you don't have any lumps,

and it's tasting beautiful.

I'm pretty confident I can pull

all the elements that I need for this dish.

I just don't have the time to make mistakes.

Oh!

Sp... (COUGHS) Spicy. Whoa.

In round one, my rice was undercooked.

This time around, I really need to work on my timing.

I've committed to making Sri Lankan pan rolls.

They're just morsels filled with so many yummy fillings

wrapped in this beautiful crepe, crumbed and then deep-fried.

And it's just...

Oh! It's so good. It's so good.

JOCK: (SINGSONG) Minoli!

Hello, Minoli. Hello.

Smells pretty good. Have you recovered from round one?

Oh... I just, like, bit off a little bit more than I could chew.

It got you, just a few minutes out. I know.

And the thing is, the curry was bangin'.

Oh... What is going on here?

'Cause that smells ridiculous. What are you making?

Just a tomato and tamarind chutney for some egg pan rolls.

I'm into it.

Normally, it's got potato and fish, or meat,

but I'm just gonna chuck eggs in there.

Only egg?

Oh, egg, a little bit of potato, leek, carrot.

You've got to cook them all the way down first.

Yeah.

Have you got enough time?

I have to. Minoli...

I know. ..you know you do this thing where you, like, run out of time?

Yeah. Please don't do it.

I know that this smells amazing,

but this isn't the egg component, and you've got a fair way to go.

Yes, I do. Good luck.

Great.

Honestly, I bit off more than I can chew in round one

and I was like, "I'm not gonna do that in round two."

I've done that in round two.

Oh, my God - so many things!

So I'm sick and nervous inside.

If anything goes wrong,

I could be going home.

Grater. Oh, my God!

So many things!

(CHEERING)

This is huge because no matter what happens now in this cook,

we're going to send one of the Favourites home for the first time.

ANDY: Yeah. And I think, by the looks of them, they know that.

Like, there are a few, like, worried faces, nervous faces.

Billie knew it. Billie knew it, she's out.

And, dare I say, looking at a bit of body language,

Tommy, also another pin bearer...

Yeah.

..not his usual bouncy, enthusiastic, excited self.

How you going, Tommy?

Tommy. How you going? Yep?

I'm going OK.

There's definitely a little part of me saying,

"Hold onto that pin.

"The longer you have it, the more safer you'll be."

But it weighs on my mind that my teammates are amazing,

and I'm honestly really scared of them all.

Tommy. Hey, man, how are you going?

I'm very well.

11 eggs. 60 Minutes.

What are you making?

I'm making a fish broth, egg noodles.

But I don't know if the egg noodles is enough to hero the egg.

Are there other ways you can introduce egg into this dish?

That's probably the question that you need to answer.

You gotta hero the egg.

Yeah, exactly. I'll leave it with you, mate.

Thank you.

I'm still thinking about what else I can use as an egg element,

but nothing's coming to my mind.

And I'm worried, if you're cooking scared,

there's a high chance you're going home.

Sarah. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble happening over here.

What is the dish?

So I'm actually making omelette rice today.

Love it.

So you have that perfect football shape over the top of the rice,

slit down the centre, it unzips

and reveals a silky interior. That's the plan.

That looks good, Sashi.

Sashi. Yes.

What are you making?

I'm making an egg sambal.

Yeah. With a coconut and egg netted crepe.

Yum. So, yeah.

Playing to the strengths.

Yeah, I'm going back to my roots.

Very smart. Yeah.

That's still going.

In round one, I cooked such a great dish

because I cooked a dish that's important for me,

food from the heart and from the soul.

Because I want to showcase one more time

what food from a small country village could bring

to the MasterChef kitchen.

I'm gonna cook filoscio.

It's a dish that Nonna, she makes on a Sunday.

It's just basically egg, bread and pasta in the Napoletana sauce.

Just a peasant dish, actually, because that's what they used to eat

when they were very poor.

Like, my family wasn't very wealthy,

so that's...I'm bringing back.

This dish, it's simple, and it's got just two components -

the egg part and the rich Napoletana ragu.

Oh, home sweet home.

This dish has been created by my Nonna.

(MURMURS IN ITALIAN)

My last trip back home, I started to record my Nonna cooking for me

on my phone.

(SPEAKS ITALIAN)

(SPEAKS ITALIAN)

She does the same thing that I'm about to do.

The bread, it's like a bread frittata.

Egg mixture. It's gonna be fried off.

And then the bread is going to be like a sponge

absorbing all the sauce into it.

Beautiful.

Yes, Alvin! Alvin!

Oh, beautiful eggs.

Feeling good. So I'm cooking something that I really love.

I'm making a nyonya curry.

It's an emotional dish to me because it's my...

..it's my mum's recipe, and I want to do it justice.

She's the reason why I know how to cook.

So, yeah, a lot from here.

Go, Jules. You got it. You got time.

You got it.

I think my dish today is a tale of two parts.

I have my fried rice,

I know I can do, I know I can get done,

I know I can make it taste good.

And the other part is my salt and pepper egg,

something I've never done before.

It's an enormous risk, but I feel like it's necessary

to add to this humble thing that I normally cook.

Salt and pepper egg.

I've got a bunch of eggs that I can play with,

so I'm going to cook different eggs for different lengths of time.

That's not going to work.

I think four minutes is a bit soft.

I'm going to see which ones will deep-fry and which ones won't.

That's five minutes.

And from there, hopefully I'll have the perfect egg.

I know that if I get it wrong, I am going home today.

You may have had 11 eggs, but you've only got ten minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Good.

I'm making Sri Lankan pan rolls with a tomato and tamarind chutney.

I've got the pancake batter.

It's looking good. Yep.

So I've gotta...I'm just gonna do a few

and then start deep-frying them.

I think I hit the nail on the head with the crepe batter.

Now I've got to get these pan rolls rolled.

Um...

OK.

I add the soft boiled eggs and vegie mixture into the crepe,

roll it up.

I need to crumb them, deep-fry them.

And I'm just going to pick my best ones to serve the judges.

How many more minutes?

Just over seven.

Oh, my God. Seven minutes.

Seven minutes!

Like, in my brain, my brain was like, that's not enough time.

And my other brain's like...

..you don't have a choice.

I don't want to serve the judges undercooked pan rolls.

This is really, really, really tight.

Oh, my lordy.

Great work, Min!

Thanks.

JOHN: The curd's done, and I need to make my meringue.

The meringue is actually sitting on top of the tart

and finishes off the tart beautifully.

As I pour in the sugar syrup,

I'm noticing that the eggwhites just aren't whipping.

Yeah. It's not doing it.

Without the meringue,

I'm worried that it's not celebrating eggs.

Doing well.

CHRISTINA: Thanks.

I'm watching the Favourites today.

And it's...it's definitely nerve-racking.

The standard of cooking in the competition,

it's kind of terrifying.

I'm starting to assemble my dish.

You have tomato rice, and then I have steak,

some caramelised onions, and then a fried egg on top.

As I'm plating up my dish,

I'm thinking I just need to beat one other person.

But I check on my rice and...

Rice is over.

Just a little.

I don't know if this is the right move to make to plate up this dish.

Has someone else stuffed up their dish even more than what I have?

Yeah, I'm not super happy.

So...

Um...

Playing my pin.

What?

Playing your pin. Oh!

(SIGHS)

JOCK: There it is.

CHRISTINA: I'm not a gambler.

I don't want to be the idiot that goes home wearing the pin.

I'd rather just play it and then take my chances next time.

Nice work, Christina.

Good luck, everyone!

Kill it! Go, Alvin! Go, Minoli!

Come on, guy!

Alright. Two pins.

And then there was one.

TOMMY: She's not ready, is she?

JOCK: Yeah, but it's also stuck.

I'd be more worried about the stock now.

I'm really not happy with how everything's going.

The seafood fish broth tastes pretty bad.

I need to really try to save this cook.

But I want to put this egg into it, and I'll see what the egg does.

I try with putting the egg into the broth.

But I don't know if it's going to work.

I've got to really think about this pin.

Am I going to use it? Should I use it?

What if I don't use it and I go home with it?

Time is just tick, tick, ticking away.

I just don't know.

You know, my mind isn't clear right now.

It's terrifying.

Alright, I'm going to put this egg into it

and I'll see what the egg does.

There's no other feeling like tasting your dish,

and there's just like something completely wrong.

That is a terrible feeling that I wish on nobody.

I'm really not happy with how everything's going.

Are you happy with that?

I'm playing my pin, man.

It's all yours, brother. Alright. We got another one.

ANDY: Three from three.

WOMAN: Yeah, good work, Tommy. Well done, mate. Here.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Well played.

It's time for me to bow out.

Just this cook did not go right for me from the get-go.

WOMAN: Well done, mate.

I feel like, oh, that safety net is gone now,

and I'm half relieved, half scared now.

Good job, Tommy.

ANDY: Tommy's played his pin.

And that means it's down to one of you eight.

You've got three minutes to go.

MAN: Come on, guys!

(APPLAUSE)

(SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT)

JULIE: So, it goes from being one of my team of 12 going home

to one of only eight of us going home.

And those odds are nowhere near as friendly.

Come on, Jules. A few minutes to go, mate.

My heart feels like it's going to piston straight out of my chest.

I'm so frightened I'm going to run out of time,

and I don't know if my eggs are cooked through enough.

WOMAN: You got it, babe.

You good?

The meringue is not working.

Without the eggwhites whipping, I just won't have a finished dish.

So my quick thinking is,

balance the dish with a nice, beautiful chantilly cream.

(APPLAUSE)

It's time to hustle. You've only got one minute to go.

WOMAN: Oh, Sez. Oh, yeah. Sarah, amazing.

MINDY: Crisp up!

Faster!

Most people think of an omelette as this

creamy, kind of rich and decadent dish,

and my omelette is nothing like that at all.

A Chinese-style omelette is like this

amazing, pillowy souffle of egg.

So I'm hoping just to really transform people's idea

about an omelette today.

ALVIN: I taste my nyonya curry.

It sings.

The eggs are perfectly, perfectly jammy.

If that doesn't take you back to my home in Malaysia,

into my kitchen, I don't know what does.

Alright, gantry. Give us a hand.

ALL: 10! 9!

8! 7! 6! 5!

4! 3! 2! 1!

(ALL CHEER, APPLAUD) That's it!

Well done, everyone.

I think all the judges were worried

I wasn't going to get this dish done in time.

But I'm really happy that the coating is crispy.

As long as the judges think that I've celebrated the egg enough,

then that's all I care about.

(SIGHS, SNIFFS)

My dish is complete,

but there's just something telling me...

..fried rice...

..is not going to win this for me.

I don't know if this is the right dish.

I have a feeling in my gut that's telling me that it's not.

Well, round two of the elimination, and we gifted you 11 eggs

to make a delicious dish to save your place in the competition.

And the first one we'd like to taste - Aldo!

(APPLAUSE)

ALDO: If I'm going to go home today on a dish that I'm proud of

and a dish that I love too,

I'm going to be fine with that.

Alright, Aldo. What did you cook, mate?

The real name is filoche,

which is a dish that my nonna makes basically every Sunday.

And that's just egg, bread, lots of parmesan,

and then a sauce.

What I did, it's what you keep telling me all the time

that I'm cooking - you say to do yourself.

I had fun. I was relaxed.

I was in the tone.

And I cooked what I love to do.

Perfect.

Wow.

Aldo, I've never tried this before.

And I'm so glad that I've tried it now.

Mate, that is two from two from you today.

When you can do a Napolitana sauce that good, it is luxury.

Aldo, with this dish, you've taken us to your Nonna's home,

and I feel like I'm sitting in her kitchen.

And I feel surrounded by love with a dish like this.

Even if it's not from my heritage,

I feel your family and your history,

and I'm deeply respectful of that.

Thank you.

That's the best compliment, actually. Thank you.

Every component of it is perfection.

Yes, it's simple, but there is no more fitting a dish

that proves how good a cook you are

and why you should be in this kitchen.

Mate, well done.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

ALDO: I took a piece of my nonna and I put it into this kitchen.

It's just overwhelming.

It's good. It's feeling good.

The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Sarah.

WOMAN: Good job, girl.

WOMAN: Beautiful.

Today I've made omurice with a nice sauce to pour over the top.

Rice, beautifully cooked.

Chicken, lovely and tender.

It was silky. It was creamy.

It is exactly what you promised us.

Well done. Thank you.

Next up it's Sashi.

SASHI: I've made an egg sambal with roti jala.

That is just beautiful family food.

This roti, it was exactly the right texture that you want

to go into that gnarly, rich, complex sambal.

Oh, yeah. I'm jealous of your kids, man.

(LAUGHS)

Next up, it's Alvin.

WOMAN: Go, Alvin.

ALVIN: I made a nyonya egg curry.

This might be your mother's curry, but this is entirely new.

It's refined. It's elegant.

It's soulful. It's intelligent.

And it's beautiful.

Thanks, Mel.

Next up, Mindy.

MINDY: It's a Chinese omelette.

JOCK: Even with everything that you got packed in there,

I still got egg every bite.

I got a beautifully, perfectly cooked omelette.

Thanks so much. (APPLAUSE)

Next up, Minoli.

(APPLAUSE)

I don't know what just happened.

What happened?

I don't know. Just, like, the...

It just hit me that I was here in elim.

What hit you about it?

This is something that's very close...close to my heart.

Because literally, like, any Sri Lankan person will froth over it.

Like, it's, like, the cheapest thing in the whole country.

It's just the best.

Alright, come on. Take a deep breath. Introduce your dish.

I have made egg pan rolls with a tomato and tamarind chutney.

Minoli?

Yes?

I must have, like...

..a little smidge...

..of Sri Lankan in me, because I'm frothing on that.

(LAUGHTER)

Seriously, like, it is goose-bump stuff.

MELISSA: They're everything you want in one bite.

It has that gorgeous, crunchy, outer golden shell,

the beautiful tender pancake.

And then all of those wonderful flavours

singing and melding together.

And then you dip it into something as explosive as that.

And you have...joy.

Minoli...I don't think you're going anywhere today.

Well done. Thanks.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

That was good. It was so good.

I'm alright now.

Next up to the tasting table, Julie Goodwin.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

JULIE: I have listened to all the judges' feedback

and its rave review after rave review for every other dish.

WOMAN: Go, Julie!

My nerves are ridiculous.

I am not ready for this to end.

Missed an episode of MasterChef?

enjoy another serving or savour past seasons at:

Julie, what have you cooked us?

Fried rice with a salt and pepper egg.

You have survived heaps of eliminations

in your time in the MasterChef kitchen.

So how did you deal with it back then?

Oh, probably the same. (LAUGHTER)

Cried a bit and sweated a lot.

How'd you go with the salt pepper egg?

That was fiddly.

It was hard to peel and really had to be delicate with it.

Runny?

Soft. Let's go with soft.

It's running and soft.

(SIGHS HEAVILY) Looks delicious. It looks good.

(CHEERING)

ANDY: Yeah, gooey. It looks really, really good.

(MOUTHS)

Julie...

..I really like that.

We got fresh pops from the sweet corn and the peas,

you got the smokiness from the bacon.

My only comment's a little bit greasy.

MELISSA: I'm looking at the bacon

and I sense your hesitancy today in it.

It could have been taken further if you had a bit more confidence

to just really floor it and mic-drop it.

You would have really taken it to a really fantastic place.

Not the best fried rice I've ever had,

it's not the worst fried rice I've ever had.

The good thing is the flavour's there.

It's a little bit clumsy, I would say.

Even just some of the chopping,

like still needs to be finessed along the way.

Especially when you're in a round two elimination.

Like, those things can literally make or break you.

Thanks, Jules. Thank you. Thanks, Julie.

Obviously mixed reviews.

There are obviously some negatives to the dish.

And I think that my instinct that

perhaps it's not MasterChef enough was correct.

No.

No, no.

I think they're after a level that I haven't achieved today,

and that's heartbreaking.

So I know I'm in trouble.

Last but not least, John.

(CHEERING) MAN: Go, John!

I know that this is a good dessert,

but I'm worried that the meringue not being in my dish

could send me home.

At the end of the day, this is all about celebrating eggs.

That's so not meringue.

No. What happened to it?

Hmm.

John, what have you made?

I've made for you a lemon tart.

At the end, I was going to whip up the meringue,

but for some reason, it just wasn't whipping up

and ended up just using cream to finish it off.

I was wondering why that didn't look very meringue-y.

Because it's cream. Because it's not.

Yeah.

John, not everything went your way today.

I can tell just by eating it.

A lot of pastry.

See the sides?

It's like...it's like almost shortbread thickness on the sides.

It's cooked all the way through,

but there's a lot of pastry to what's in the inside.

I love that hazelnut caramel down the bottom.

The texture is beautiful, the flavour is magnificent.

I'm disappointed you didn't get the eggwhites done.

Obviously, when things don't work, quick thinking,

replace it with cream, which was a good idea.

My biggest issue with this is

your curd's overcooked.

It's super, super hard and very eggy to the taste,

which is a sign it's sort of come up to a boil more than anything else.

It's a shame.

Flavours are great, but the pastry and the curd,

is that gonna see you in trouble today?

It might do.

There are some good elements on here,

but the elements that feature the egg aren't up to scratch.

So that's where I think you've left yourself vulnerable.

Thanks, mate. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

I'm definitely worried about my place in this competition.

I don't want this experience to end,

but I'm worried that this could send me home.

On elimination day, you had to lay it all on the line,

and a few of you didn't hesitate.

Aldo, Mindy,

Sashi, Minoli,

Sarah and Alvin...

..each of you brought us an egg dish

that transported us into your homes and into your hearts.

And I can tell you now, you will not be going anywhere.

(APPLAUSE)

That alright, if I hold your hand? Yeah.

So, that leaves John and Julie.

So that leaves John and Julie.

Julie...

..while your salt and pepper egg was perfectly cooked...

..your fried rice, it was a little greasy.

John...

..while your hazelnut caramel was delicious...

..your lemon curd was overcooked...

..and the meringue, it didn't make the plate.

Mm. Yep.

And on a day when you had to feature the egg,

the egg elements were flawed.

I'm sorry, mate, that's why you're going home.

It's OK. It's fine. It's OK.

I'm just so lucky to be standing here, like, next to Jules.

(LAUGHTER)

I'm in this competition because of her.

I've watched her...and I wanted to be in her position.

And to be standing next to her right here... (SNIFFLES)

..that just cements my love for MasterChef.

And I'm so grateful for that.

John, it took great courage

for you and all the Favourites to come back this year and compete.

We respect you so much for that.

And on top of that, mate, you've shown us some techniques

that have absolutely blown us away.

You deserve to be a Favourite.

And once a favourite, always a favourite.

Remember that. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Thanks, Andy. Well done, John. Congratulations.

Thank you.

So nice to meet all the Fans.

I came back to the MasterChef kitchen

to reignite my passion for food.

Cook your heart out. From the heart.

Being picked as a Favourite was actually an honour.

I'm not the type that sort of, you know, shows off.

I don't have that big ego.

But MasterChef saw me in the same calibre as these Favourites.

Give it up for John, everybody!

I've learned to really believe in myself.

I CAN do this.

I have the skills and the talent to pursue a career in food.

VOICEOVER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia,

they get to choose their own mystery boxes.

We've thrown a few curveballs in there.

Oh! Oh, my God.

But will their choice spell disaster?

Count me in.

Three, two, one.

Captions by Red Bee Media