Original subtitles

Maggie Beer! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

MAN: Yes, Maggie!

A national treasure brought a mystery box.

WOMAN: I mean, who doesn't love Maggie Beer?

And everyone was scrambling to impress.

MELANIE: I felt really flustered talking to Maggie.

I'm starstruck.

There were plenty of standouts.

JOCK: Perfectly cooked guinea fowl from Daniel.

Oh. Thank you.

And with a fresh take on an Italian classic from Aldo.

But Harry, Matt, Melanie and Billie

found themselves in the bottom four.

Tonight, will they be thrown in the deep end...

MELANIE: I'll just try my absolute best to stay in the competition.

..when another massive guest delivers his pressure test?

# '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. #

MATT: Did you do many pressure tests in your season?

BILLIE: Yeah, I think I did five. Did you?

Yeah, but it was, like, seven years ago.

(LAUGHS)

I did enjoy the pressure tests in my season.

I can say that because I made it through them.

I'm going into this challenge hoping that my experience

in pressure tests might help me.

But I don't think today's going to be easy.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

ANDY: Morning, guys.

Morning all. As you know, today is a pressure test.

You will need to pull out all of the stops if you want to avoid

going home today.

Because today's dish, it's been set by someone

that has truly mastered their craft.

This chef has completely transformed the way that we all cook.

He started a fin to gill movement...

(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM) Stop it.

Oh, my God.

..that has turned into a full-on fish revolution.

Please welcome the butcher, the chef, the master.

We have Josh Niland!

DANIEL: I love Josh Niland.

He has changed the way a lot of people think about fish.

If there wasn't a chance for elimination today,

I'd have my hand up just to nominate, just to jump down there

and give it a crack myself,

because I think he has got something up his sleeve

that's going to be pretty epic.

Yes. How are ya?

How are ya, mate? Very good to see you. Good to see you.

Hi! How are you?

G'day, mate.

Josh, welcome back. Thanks for having me.

It's always a pleasure to have you in the kitchen,

but this is your first time setting a pressure test dish.

Yeah. I mean, it's...

It's challenging to get most of our work under one cloche,

but I wanted to pick something

that really summarises the work that we do.

So this dish is 5.5 years of brain power

exerted onto one plate.

And it's extraordinarily difficult.

(LAUGHTER)

Great.

Well, I think that you should show them

what it is they're cooking today.

Today you'll be making my...

..tuna Wellington with mashed potato and tuna gravy.

(GASPS) Oh, wow.

So cool.

Come on up. Let's have a look.

Oh, wow. Wowser.

Oh, wow.

It's, like, completely perfect.

Josh, mate, it's pretty as a picture, obviously. Do you wanna taste it?

Yeah, please. Please.

Pretty please. Course you do.

What a luxury.

JOSH: So the Wellington basically comprised of

a beautiful centre-cut piece of tuna,

then mushroom duxelles.

And then around that is a very thin beer and buckwheat crepe.

And then around that, then, the sour cream pastry.

A sauce which is made using all of the bones from the tuna.

It shouldn't really taste like a fish-based sauce.

It should taste quite meaty.

And then mashed potato.

Because, you know, what's a Wellington without mash?

Harry. Thoughts?

It's so good.

I knew that today was going to be a challenge.

And this is like probably the most challenging thing

I've seen come in so far.

But I really hope today that I can do it justice

and give it a red-hot go.

Melanie, obviously, you've got another set of challenges.

You're unable to taste that because you're gluten intolerant.

It's been a really long time since I dabbled with wheat pastry, so...

Right, OK. So even making it, you wouldn't...

Haven't done plenty. For others, I mean. You know.

I don't make people food that I can't eat. What's the point of that?

Be thorough when you're reading the recipe.

Yeah, I will.

I'm going to have to rely on my instincts,

and I'll just try my absolute best

to stay in the competition.

I mean, it's all attainable.

And I'm so excited to see our food of Saint Peter and Fish Butchery

get translated here in this kitchen.

Get the goose bumps again and it all gets a bit exciting.

You will have four hours to recreate Josh's tuna Wellington

with mashed potato and tuna gravy.

The recipe and everything you need is at your bench.

And of course, if you cook the dish that least resembles Josh's,

today will be your last day in this kitchen.

Alright, guys, good luck.

Your time starts now.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

ALDO: Come on, Harry!

Go Billie!

BILLIE: Even though there's only three elements -

the potato, the sauce and the Wellington...

..this recipe is huge.

Come on, Billie. Let's go, Billie.

I think having done a few pressure tests before,

I'm confident with my instincts, but it's quite a difficult task

to keep calm in a pressure test.

MELANIE: Not having done a pressure test before

and not being able to taste most of the components,

I'm definitely nervous.

But I just have to get stuck in and follow this recipe

to an absolute T.

The first thing I need to get working on

is the base of the tuna gravy,

so I need to weigh out those tuna frames

and get them in the oven ASAP.

Ow!

Getting the right level of caramelisation on these bones

is really, really important,

because if they are under-caramelised,

then they won't develop the really rich, sweet flavours

that is really important for the sauce.

There we go.

The tuna gravy is going to have to simmer away for the full four hours

to really develop the flavours.

And that means it's going to need a lot of love.

Skimming it constantly just to make sure that it's perfect.

Because the sauce on any dish,

it can really be a make or break situation.

WOMAN: You're doing well, Mel!

HARRY: My tuna frames are in the oven and they're roasting away

for the sauce.

And now I need to work on my mushroom duxelles.

It's the part that sits closest to the fish in the Wellington.

It creates another level of flavour throughout it

with roasted portobello mushrooms, some ghee, some thyme leaves,

onions, garlic.

And then that's wrapped in the pastry.

I thought the fish was going to be the hardest thing to do,

but apparently picking these thyme leaves is.

10 grams. ALI: Hate picking thyme leaves.

Nice work, Billie.

Josh, another very fitting dish for you to walk through this kitchen.

And this time it's a pressure test.

Mate, what's the first pressure point of this dish?

Well, I think they've got it in front of them.

It's getting that sauce done.

It's about taking a dark fish stock

and then roasting off the sundries of the tuna

in the form of those bones that still carry a bit of meat on them.

Yep. And like any good sauce,

there's that caramelisation period

that just...the bones need to take good colour without burning it.

If you stumble on that one, then the wheels come off pretty early.

Yeah, definitely.

It's a dish of variables, and you make a meal of one of them,

there's no turning back.

HARRY: I've done my mushroom duxelles for the tuna Wellington

and I feel like I'm in a pretty good position.

The next thing I need to do is the base for my tuna gravy.

I've got all my aromatics now in the pan, they're cooking down.

So my pepper, my juniper berries and my bay leaf.

And then it's finished off with some brown Murray cod stock.

You know, there's a lot of stuff that needs to get done.

And I think it would be very, very easy to fall behind today.

And I don't want to do that. So I need to hustle.

MELISSA: I hope everything's going Wellington.

You have three hours to go!

ALDO: Come on, guys!

Come on!

MATT: I've done my duxelles. I'm happy.

Tastes like his, looks like his.

Now I need to work on the gravy.

Josh's gravy,

it had a nice roasted colour to it,

and you could definitely taste the roasted bones.

DANIEL: Oh, good colour, Matt. I like that.

No, look, they look good.

Yes, that's it, mate. Look at that.

The tuna bones have a really nice caramelised colour

which I'm really happy with

because that's going to result in a delicious gravy.

Flavourtown.

(LAUGHS)

HARRY: Uhh, what am I doing?

Harry. Hi.

How are you going? Good.

So you're onto the sauce now? Yes, yes, yep.

Hey, what do you think of this?

It's not as much caramelisation as I'd like to see.

You know, see, even the bones are...

They're a bit blond.

Mm-hm. Yeah. Yeah.

The sauce is the thing that, like, connects all of the elements.

It's the concrete between the bricks. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

If you slip up with one element, it's a bit of a snowball effect.

Yep.

I've really, really messed this up, and I don't know if I can fix it.

ALDO: Come on, you got this.

One mistake could mean me going home today.

Alright.

HARRY: It's scary to know that I've already done something wrong

with my sauce.

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

I don't have time to go back and start again.

But in this competition, it's about pivoting.

And now's the time where I need to rectify what's happened

with my sauce.

I have an idea.

ANDY: You have what? I have an idea.

I'm going to take some out and put them back in to the oven

and then I'll put them back in the stock

and hopefully I can get a little bit more colour.

Keep pushing. Attention to detail.

Thanks very much.

WOMAN: Come on, Harry. Alright.

I'm really hoping that this will work.

But I just don't know if it's going to be enough to save it.

I've got my gravy on and I'm just starting on the...the crepes.

Looks good, Billie. Great, Billie.

I may be biased, but I think Billie is the one that's most suited

for this pressure test.

Nothing rattles her.

She's got laser focus and she's got killer instincts

when it comes to cooking.

Yes, Billie.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Yes, Billie!

You made it!

Yeah. She's the one to watch.

(WHISPERS) OK.

Oh, Matt.

That looks good, man. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Yeah, it's perfect.

Looking good, Mel.

Thanks, Michael.

Keep it up. You're doing well.

Um, I think I'm going OK.

I'm just kind of following the recipe, plodding along.

I make crepes.

Albeit gluten-free ones.

Nice work, Mel.

Um, looks right.

Now I'm just portioning things,

getting it ready to start onto the pastry.

ALDO: Nice, roasting the potatoes on salt. Take the moisture out.

BILLIE: I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll.

My crepes are done and I've got my potatoes roasting for the mash.

And now I need to get on to this sour cream pastry.

JULIE: It's almost like you do it for a living, Billie.

It's pretty hot in here.

So with the pastry, I got to work fast so that butter doesn't melt.

JOCK: Might not feel like it, but you're already halfway through.

Two hours down, two hours to go.

(CHEERING FROM THE GANTRY)

ALDO: Go Harry! Go Billie! Go Mel! Go Matt!

(LAUGHS)

Harry!

I think Harry is in trouble.

She's stressed, and she needs to catch up.

Come on, Harry. Make an extra one.

HARRY: Yeah.

Don't throw them out!

Keep them just in case.

Good point.

I feel like a mum. Like, up on the gantry.

I almost can't watch.

I've got my fingers crossed for her because it's not looking good.

Am I behind?

Just keep going.

At this point in the cook, I know I'm super behind.

My stock and the fishbones was a little bit of a setback,

but time is ticking away really, really quickly

and I need to keep pushing.

ALI: Nice one, Matty.

Keep going, brother. Yeah. Good, Matt.

My sauce is on the go. I'm working on the pastry now.

MINDY: Beautiful, Billie.

TOMMY: Freaking amazing, Billie.

Classic Billie's motored ahead, hasn't she?

So, you know, there's no competing with that girl. (CHUCKLES)

MICHAEL: She's just super, like, super focused, right?

Mm. Absolutely.

Rolling this pastry out is the first step

in the construction of the Wellington.

A lot of pastry calls for three mil.

So two mil is very thin.

If it's too thick, it won't cook all the way through.

It's a major component to get right on this dish,

so I need to get that pastry perfect.

OK.

(MELANIE SIGHS ANXIOUSLY)

Breathe, Mel. It's all good.

I'm definitely trying to remember what Josh's pastry was like.

It wasn't thick.

The recipe says it should be two mils thick,

which seems insanely thin.

Still not two mils.

It's been more than five years since I cooked with gluten flour,

so I wouldn't have a clue what's wrong.

I feel very out of my depth right now.

Keep going, Mel.

DANIEL: Does it say how thick it's supposed to be or no?

Yeah. Two mil. Oh, yeah.

ALDO: Keep rolling.

Almost there, Mel.

MEL: I can see that the pastry is too thick.

And if I can't roll it thinner, it won't cook through.

What is going on?

And I'm starting to panic.

MONTANA: Keep pushing.

We're past the halfway mark, and I have so much I need to get done,

and I have a sinking feeling I'm not going to be finished in time.

(SNIFFLES)

(SIGHS)

My pastry is not quite where I want it, but I have to keep going

to get this Wellington on the plate.

It's a really intense cook.

Quite natural to just kind of have a bit of a meltdown,

but I feel like I did, and now hopefully I'm over it.

It's just a recipe and I'm just trying to think about it like that.

I need to move on to prepping my tuna loin so that I can assemble

this Wellington and get it into the oven ASAP.

Melanie. You OK?

Yeah. I'm all good. (LAUGHS)

Still got that good old smile on that face, which I like.

I'm just trusting the recipe.

So I really hope you checked it to a T.

So it's your fault. (LAUGHS)

Guys, the jobs are starting to pile up.

You've only got an hour to go.

Come on, guys! JOCK: Let's go!

(CHEERING) Come on, Harry! Stay focused, Harry!

Come on!

My potatoes are in the oven. My mushroom duxelles is finished.

My gravy is reducing.

I've got my crepes completed.

Now I need to get my tuna loin portioned out correctly,

which is going to go in the centre of the Wellington.

I like the look of this one.

I need a piece of loin from the centre of this filet

that's 9.5 by 7 by 5 centimetres and weighs 300 grams.

MONTANA: There you go.

I weighed it. It's supposed to be approximately 300.

Mine was about 320, which means it's pretty close to what Josh's was.

I'm just measuring out my duxelles now.

I'm going to start laying out my crepe and mushroom

so I can wrap the tuna loin and make up this Wellington.

DANIEL: Let's go, mate. Wrap them up.

BILLIE: "Approximately 9.5 by 7...by 5."

I'm having a bit of a moment.

I can't really work out what the dimensions are

for this piece of tuna,

but I know I have to get it right.

"9.5 by 7 by 5."

It doesn't really make sense.

It takes a lot of laser focus to compete in a pressure test.

And having flown the frequent pressure test miles myself,

I know that you need to follow the recipe to a T.

But with this particular pressure test, making a Wellington,

the weight and the size of the tuna is quite important

because if you have a tuna that's too big, it might be undercooked.

And if it's too small, then you run into the risk

of overcooking the tuna.

What!?

Nine and a half long. So it's actually not that long.

The devil here is in the details.

So if you don't pay attention, then you'll run into trouble.

(GROANS)

I think it's fine. (LAUGHS)

HARRY: I feel like I've caught up a little bit,

but I need to keep pushing forward.

"Then trim tuna to 300 grams rectangle portion

"approximately that size by 5cm high."

There's an approximation of the dimensions of it,

but in the recipe it says that it needs to be 300 grams

because that will ensure that I have the right cook

and the right amount of duxelles, crepe and pastries for my Wellington.

That's pretty good.

So now that I've got my perfect 300 gram piece of tuna

to go into the middle of my Wellington,

the next thing I need to move on to

is the construction of the Wellington itself so I can get it in the oven.

Once it's perfectly wrapped in the duxelles mix,

I'm placing it into the centre of my crepe

before I go to wrap it in my pastry.

Whoo-hoo. Finally.

ALDO: Come on, Harry. Come on.

MELISSA: Come on, Billie.

BILLIE: I'm starting to construct this Wellington.

I'm trying to get that small round shape that Josh's Wellington had.

But it's not sort of coming together as it should.

Hmm.

Little bit big.

I realise my tuna's too big,

and that means that it's going to take a bit longer to cook.

TOMMY: That's gonna be problematic.

And it also could potentially throw out the balance of

the duxelles and the pastry.

Right. Bugger.

That Wellington has to be perfect.

And I can't believe I missed a very important step on the recipe

with the weight for the tuna.

But there's nothing I can do now.

It's already assembled and I don't have enough time to do it again

because it needs to go in the oven ASAP.

I'm just hoping now that I've left myself enough time

to get this tuna cooked and on the plates.

If there's ever a time to keep a cool head, it's right now.

30 minutes to go!

(CHEERING)

ALDO: Go Mel! Go Matt! Go Billie! Go Harry!

Come on, guys!

(MELANIE SIGHS) OK.

I've managed to get the duxelles in a nice even layer

all around the tuna.

But now I have to get this chunk wrapped in the crepe.

Supposed to be excess overhang.

If anything, there's not enough.

It's not enough bloody crepe.

But there's not enough crepe to wrap it and it's just kind of not right.

I don't know why.

This doesn't make sense.

I've got my second crepe.

The recipe doesn't talk about using scraps from another crepe,

but obviously that's what I'm gonna have to do.

Dunno. Flying a little bit blind.

Hoping that what I've...

..the way I've followed the recipe is the right way.

DANIEL: Nice work, brother.

That looks good, man. Yeah, it's perfect.

MATT: I mean, I'm happy I've got that together.

Alright, keep going, brother.

There we go.

ALDO: Come on, Harry. How long it has to be in the oven?

HARRY: So, 18 to 20. Beautiful.

Harry, how are you doing? Hey. Good.

You got four minutes to get it in the oven.

I can do it.

How heavy was yours?

300 on the dot. Beautiful.

ALDO: Come on, Harry. Come on. (CLAPS)

Now it's time for me to motor through this mashed potato.

Done this before. I know what I need to do.

I just need to get it done.

DANIEL: Nice, Mel. Great work.

MEL: My tuna Wellington is looking quite nicely assembled.

I can feel that the pastry on the end is quite thick,

but I just need to get this in the oven ASAP.

18 minutes.

You're alright, Mel.

Keep going, Mel. Keep going.

(BREATHES DEEPLY) Home stretch.

She might have to pick up her pace.

40 minutes, Bill. BILLIE: 40 minutes left. OK.

I've got to get that in, then.

That's in the oven.

I put my tuna Wellington into the oven,

but because my tuna's too big, I don't know if I've got enough time

to cook it and then carve it and then plate it.

So it's going to be down to the wire.

Oh, God, this is awful.

ANDY: Come on! Go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MAN: Come on, everybody!

MAN: Go, Mel! Go, Billie! Whoo! Whoo!

Go, guys!

MATT: Ooh, that's hot.

MICHAEL: Push, Matty.

You going OK?

Ah...

I'm motoring. Yeah.

I'm motoring.

I'll be finishing. Don't you worry.

Good. That's the fighting spirit.

My Wellington's cooking in the oven. I'm pleased with my mashed potato.

Now I need to finish my sauce.

Give it another skim to remove some of the scum.

Looks quite similar to Josh's.

I need to strain out all the bones

to make sure I've got no impurities in the final sauce.

The one thing that I'm not worried about is the mashed potato.

It tastes awesome.

But I need to go back to my sauce

because that's the thing that brings the dish together.

I just need to reduce it down a little bit further.

Looking at my sauce as it bubbles away,

it kind of doesn't look how I would think it should look.

Phew.

Holy mackerel. What is going on in there?

It's like there's a lot of sludge.

(EXHALES HEAVILY) Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Something's going wrong here in the process,

as in, in the skimming.

It hasn't been skimmed.

At least you're honest, yeah. Try to be.

But, yeah, the more it goes down,

the more challenging it becomes to find clarity.

Yeah. Yeah.

If you don't take action on that, you could see yourself in trouble.

Yeah. OK.

(SIGHS)

I need to get this sauce as clear as I possibly can

until I end up with some semblance of clarity that's near Josh's.

It needs love, 'cause otherwise I'm going home.

How's my Wellington looking?

My Wellington has had about 17, 18 minutes in the oven.

Not cooking as fast as it should be.

Your weight of the tuna - how heavy was it?

The weight of the tuna?

Uh, I'm not sure. In the recipe it was 300 grams.

The actual raw tuna. Shit, did it?

I don't remember having to weigh the tuna.

Oh, no.

Sure enough, there's a line says it should be 300 grams.

(SIGHS)

And now it's making sense why I'm taking longer to cook

because it's too big!

The time and temperature

is consistent with the size piece that I did,

whereas this one is just slightly bigger.

Is everything else ready?

Um, just about. I just need to finish my sauce.

Thank you. All good. Job's done.

OK. Alright.

Thanks, Josh. You're right. Hang in.

DANIEL: It's alright, mate. Dust it off. Keep going, eh?

I just have to carry on.

I don't know what this will do for my final dish, though.

Now is the moment of truth. Time to carve your Wellingtons.

Five minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MAN: Come on, guys!

Come on, guys. Go, guys!

Come on, Billie. Come on.

Where's my tea towels?

(OVEN BEEPS)

MICHAEL: Nice Wellington. Nice, Matty.

She's looking brown.

Looks pretty good.

She's a little blonde on top, but...

..she'll have to do.

So my sauce is looking good.

It's reduced down nicely and it tastes good.

Um...

But I'm still waiting on this tuna Wellington to come out of the oven.

That's gonna, yeah, be down to the wire, isn't it?

(OVEN BEEPS) Oh, that's me!

The Wellington is fine looking.

Like, it's cooked quite nicely, at least on the outside.

So I at the very least have time to get everything on the plate.

MICHAEL: Oh-ho, Mel!

Nice.

But so much rests on what is inside that Wellington.

Three minutes to go. Come on!

Come on, guys. Let's go. Great work, guys. Go, Matty!

Go, Mel!

Go, Billie! Go, Harry!

Come on, let's go!

Well done, Mel!

Oh, shit.

ALDO: Come on, Bill. You got this.

Oh, my God. I'm so stressed.

BILLIE: OK.

Down to the wire.

Oh, come on, Billie.

(OVEN BEEPS) OK, there we go.

Yes, Billie.

Come on!

I'm happy with the pastry. It seems nice and thin.

But carving into this Wellington,

I'm just really worried about the tuna.

Come on, Billie.

Yes, Billie!

I'm guessing it's pink.

And here we go. 10...

ALL: Nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

That's it!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Well done, Bill!

Just.

Just made it.

I am so disappointed right now.

I know that my sauce isn't perfect.

It's, like, definitely not as beautiful and clear as Josh's.

I really don't want to go home today.

BILLIE: Good luck, Matt.

Good luck. Good luck, mate.

Thank you.

Good job, mate.

I'm just proud to be presenting my tuna Wellington to Josh Niland.

Alright, mate? Hello. How are you?

I think that the flavours are good.

So I just hope that it's close to Josh's.

You know, I want him to be impressed by me.

Matt, second pressure test.

Second pressure test. As good as the first?

If anything, each time I'm in the kitchen,

I'm more passionate and more excited about it.

So good.

Yeah, pressure test aside,

and the threat of going home aside,

if anything, like, my favourite cook of the competition so far.

Wow. Yeah.

That's awesome. Yeah.

Alright, mate, we'll test that.

Perfect. Thank you very much. ALL: Thank you.

JOSH: The cutting's a bit rough, huh?

ANDY: Yeah. But other than that, it looks pretty good.

MEL: OK.

It's fantastic.

Just speaking to the pastry alone

and how crunchy it is, almost glassy.

It's wonderful to see that he's paid attention to that.

He should be very proud.

Epic cook for Matt. Yeah.

The medallion of the tuna, mine was cooked really nicely.

The duxelles, that was another really big tick there.

And the mash, it's very reminiscent of yours.

It's beautifully seasoned and lovely and smooth.

Yeah.

It's a brilliant cook for him.

I am absolutely stoked for him.

I'm proud of him. Yeah, really good.

And just to hear him saying how much he enjoyed the cook, you can tell.

I think it's going to be very surprising

if he's anywhere near going home today with that plate of food.

It's a nine out of ten. Yeah.

BILLIE: Good luck, Mel.

HARRY: Good luck, mate. Thanks, guys.

All the best.

(SIGHS HEAVILY)

I mean, I know that what's on the plate isn't perfect.

MEL: Hey, Melanie. Hey.

I have no idea how this is going to eat.

And that makes me so nervous.

(SIGHS)

(SIGHS)

How are you feeling now that's over?

Relieved. (CHUCKLES)

Um, that was a...pretty hectic slog.

Yep.

Be proud of what you've achieved and the effort you've put in.

Yeah, like, I did my absolute best.

Well, thank you, Melanie, we'll taste.

Thanks, guys. JOSH: Thanks, Mel.

(EXHALES)

Looks-wise, I have to say the pastry is...

..definitely thicker than yours. Yeah.

By quite a bit. It looks a bit raw on the inside.

I think we need to commend Melanie

for really pushing as hard as she could today

because there are so many challenges ahead of her.

But she has presented every single element on the plate,

that's really great to see.

ANDY: The interesting thing for me, the sauce -

it's easily the best element on this plate of food.

JOCK: There's a really nice acidity, colour, depth of flavour,

um, it's nice and glossy, there's a clarity to it similar to yours.

Yep.

Kind of goes downhill from there, I'm afraid.

The Wellington itself, if we talk about it, it is super sized.

The weight, she didn't notice it, obviously, in the recipe

and that's led to this domino effect.

I've got a lot of uncooked pastry, beyond the crepe.

Overall, it's just not as neat and trim and tasty as yours.

I am disappointed for her in terms of how it's played out

and I'm worried for her also.

Yeah, disappointing. Yeah. Yeah.

MELANIE: Good luck, mate. BILLIE: Thank you.

MATT: Good luck, Billie, they look awesome.

They look beautiful, Billie.

That was a really, really hard challenge

and I almost thought I was not going to have the tuna Wellington

on the plate.

Billie. Hello.

Hello.

Looking at the dish, I don't really know if I've done it justice.

Billie. Yeah.

Pretty interesting cook, wasn't it? Yeah.

Yeah, that was really hard.

I just don't wanna go home.

Not yet. There's been no pressure test

that's been able to send you home yet, has there?

Well, no. (CHUCKLES)

You'd like to keep it that way. I'd like to keep it that way, Andy.

For sure. Thanks, Billie.

Thanks, Billie. Thank you. Thanks.

Oh, it looks pretty good, huh?

MEL: Looks very nice.

Impressive.

Very good.

That is incredible... Mm.

..how thin that is.

I'm so impressed with the pastry work.

Beautiful.

And tuna's cooked beautifully.

The duxelles is super impressive. Yep.

MEL: It's very pleasing to look at.

She's done a very good job.

The flavour of the gravy is fantastic.

Yep. I think...really great outcome.

Mm.

Good luck, Harry. Good luck, Harry.

HARRY: Thank you. They look great, mate.

Thinking about the possibility

that I could be leaving the MasterChef competition today,

I just feel incredibly overwhelmed.

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

Knowing that my sauce isn't perfect, it's really, really scary

and I'm quite literally shaking in my boots.

(EXHALES)

Harry. Hi.

Talk to me. Why nervous?

I'm terrified of walking out, feeling like I failed.

Do you feel like this is a failure in any way today?

I know you had difficulty with the sauce

but I think you worked really hard to try and rectify that.

Thanks, Harry. We'll taste now.

Thank you.

My piece of tuna is gorgeous.

It does remind me a lot of yours

in terms of having just that sort of seamless ombre

into the blush of the centre. Absolutely.

And it is meltingly beautiful.

The attention to detail on making sure

that tuna was the exact size and weight

that, you know, that 300-gram piece with the perfect dimensions,

I think that's made it a really beautiful piece of tuna to eat.

Great caramelisation on the pastry,

duxelles, there's a good whack of thyme in there,

which I really liked.

The mashed potato, beautifully seasoned.

The pastry, the work was fantastic.

There was a lot of superficial things to like.

I think the thing that I just can't get out of my head is the sauce.

Needs to be meaty and robust, NOT fishy.

Mm.

This is everything that I don't want the sauce to be.

You can taste the impurities.

It doesn't have that really clean, luxury flavour

that, Josh, yours was just singing with.

It's a bit muddy. Mm.

When you put up, probably the least impressive sauce

out of the lot of them,

you're pretty vulnerable, in my books.

Mm.

She's just been let down by some key points here,

um, and that is gonna see her in the firing line.

This was an absolute mountain of a pressure test,

I'm sure you can all agree.

Josh, you set a very complex challenge.

Thank you. (LAUGHS)

It's been a pleasure to come back

and it was a thrill to watch all of you cook.

I mean, to execute that kind of dish at this stage in the competition

is remarkable, so well done to you.

Mate, there is no question that we feel the love

every time you're in the MasterChef kitchen.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Josh Niland, everybody!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Harry, Matt, Billie and Melanie,

you were tasked with re-creating Josh's tuna Wellington.

Two of you really rose to the occasion today

and produced a pair of commendable dishes.

Matt.

You had perfectly crisp pastry,

rich, glossy gravy with great depth of flavour.

Combine that with melt-in-your-mouth mash

and your dish was an admirable re-creation of Josh's.

Thank you.

It was dish of the day, so well done, you're not going home.

(APPLAUSE) Well done, Matt.

Billie,

you were cool, calm and collected through most of the cook

and that translated onto the plate.

Your pastry was flaky and your duxelles was stellar.

Overall, it was a lovely dish.

You are also safe. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE) Well done.

Melanie,

your gravy was tasty and, for the most part, emulated Josh's...

(SIGHS)

..but because you didn't weigh the tuna,

the rest of the dish was affected.

The pastry surrounding it was thicker and it was uncooked.

Harry.

Your gravy was muddy and the flavour was completely off.

However...

..your tuna wasn't overcooked

and your duxelles and mash were both flavourful and well seasoned.

It was a really close call today

and it came down to the smallest of things.

Yep.

But at the end of the day, the dish that least resembled Josh's...

..was yours...

..Melanie. Yep.

ANDY: Melanie,

you've produced some of the best dishes and desserts

that we've seen so far.

I've had a great time.

Even though we were, like, Fans vs Favourites,

everybody was so generous with their time and advice and recipes

and, um, it was really cool. (CHUCKLES WRYLY)

You were a great cook before you came into this competition

and we cannot wait to see what happens next in your journey.

So, thank you so much for cooking for us

but now, it's time to say goodbye.

Thank you.

Thanks so much, Melanie.

Congratulations, you did so well.

I'm really sad to say goodbye to everybody.

This experience has been absolutely amazing.

Hey, two in one day. (LAUGHS)

MasterChef has represented something

that I never thought I was capable of.

I never thought I'd walk through the kitchen doors,

let alone stay until top 16.

(LAUGHS)

I came into MasterChef to really push myself

and it's forced me to go so far outside of my comfort zone.

So I'm really proud of myself.

(APPLAUSE)

Give it up for Melanie, everybody!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...

Wow.

..at a location this magnificent,

the brief is clear.

Bring us something bougie.

But with only basic ingredients to work with...

BILLIE: Our main dish

is essentially lamb and vegetables.

..can they turn the ordinary

into extraordinary?

Whoa! What?

Captions by Red Bee Media