Episode 11

It’s Elimination Day for the Red Team where one of them will be going home. Matt delivers some news. Firstly, nobody will be getting a second chance to return to MasterChef and secondly – the team has to decide which two teammates will face-off in The Round. Tom puts his hand up saying as a Captain – he let the team down. Kumar then adds himself, saying he felt bad about the Ciabatta they made in the Sonoma Bake-Off Challenge.

With two people chosen, Tom and Kumar learn of their challenge. Three guest judges will bring in their favourite ingredient which is used to cook a dish of their choosing. There is no recipe – Tom and Kumar need to use their food knowledge and skills to recreate the dishes.

The first guest judge is Abla Amed from Abla’s Lebanese Restaurant. She brings some pistachios for them to make baklawa. Neither Tom or Kumar have made it, so Abla helps out with little hints throughout the challenge. The second guest judge is Shaun Presland from Sake Restaurant. He brings in a bag of tempura flour and asks Tom and Kumar to make some tempura vegetables and prawns. The third guest judge is Matt Preston. He brings a crate of limes and asks for a few Mexican dishes: a roast corn and capsicum salsa; a roast tomato salsa; some guacamole and some chicken wings.

With only an hour and a half to make all these dishes – it’s down to the wire, yet Tom and Kumar succeed in making all the dishes which the judges taste and then decide whose is better.

The judges announce their results: Abla votes for Kumar. Matt votes for Tom. Shaun had the deciding vote, and by a whisker it was Kumar who received the nod, meaning Tom was the first to be eliminated from the MasterChef competition.