NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
(CONTESTANTS LAUGH)
..the week kicked off with a bang...
Surprise!
That is exactly what we want you to capture in a dish.
..with a Mystery Box challenge where the tables were turned.
CATH: It's our chance to actually surprise the judges this time.
RUE: I am really pushing myself to do something I've never done before.
They delivered some stunning creations.
JOCK: I love the visual surprise.
MELISSA: Profoundly good. Amazing.
JOCK: Perfect, mate. Nailed the brief. I was surprised.
Well done. DECLAN: Thanks, guys.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Tonight, the bottom three face a Pressure Test...
RALPH: I am terrified. It's gonna be tricky.
..based on a fairytale with a plot twist.
(TENSE MUSIC)
(MALISSA SIGHS)
It doesn't quite feel as good as a white-apron day.
No. No
You know, I've been in so many eliminations now.
This one just feels...different.
I want to be in the top 8
and feel really proud about making it this far.
I don't want this to end yet.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Morning! CONTESTANT: Hello!
I can feel the weight of the moment this morning.
There is definitely a seriousness in the air.
And there should be. It's a Pressure Test.
Today's Pressure Test
is one of the most beautiful we've seen this season.
This Pressure Test has been set by a chef
who started working in Michelin-star restaurants
when he was just 14 years old.
Wow.
Now he heads up a successful Sydney restaurant
where every single dish is full of wonder and beauty.
For this chef, inspiration comes from everywhere,
whether it's children's books, Broadway productions or fairytales.
Please welcome
from Surry Hills restaurant Nel...
..it's Nelly Robinson!
(CHEERING) I've been there!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
(NORTHERN ENGLISH ACCENT) Hi, guys.
RHIANNON: Oh, my God! Nelly Robinson is in the house.
Hi, guys. How are you? Hello!
I've been to Nel
and his food is next level, but now I'm scared.
Hey, guys. CONTESTANTS: Hi.
How are you? Good.
Bit of tension in here, isn't there? Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
Nelly Robinson, first time in the MasterChef kitchen.
Finally! Thank you for having me, guys. Thank you.
Tell me about the restaurant, Nel.
I mean, what kind of food are you doing and why do you do it?
We basically work on childhood memories, memories of...of life,
and we we put it into themed menus.
Beautiful.
Now, without giving too much away,
talk about the dish that you brought in with you today.
Ah. In capital letters, it's FUN. Yeah.
(RALPH LAUGHS) It's...it's FUN.
How difficult is this dish?
I'd say 11 out of 10.
CONTESTANTS: Oh! RALPH: Eeeh!
He could've lied.
11 out of 10 difficulty.
Do I even have a chance today?
Unbelievable.
Look at your faces. Yeah. Oh.
Should we put them out of their misery?
Let's do this, guys. Come on, let's do it.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
OK.
RALPH: Oh!
CONTESTANTS: Ohhh!
Today, you're gonna be making my...
Oh, look at that! (GASPS)
..Mr McGregor Garden.
(WONDROUS MUSIC)
RALPH: This is straight out of a fairytale book.
It looks whimsical.
How crazy does that look? I know. It's amazing.
JOCK: Wow, Nelly, mate.
Talk me through the inspiration behind this dish.
Peter Rabbit's garden.
Oh! Mr McGregor! Of course! Beatrix... From Beatrix Potter.
'Cause he's stealing all the carrots and all the sweet potatoes.
So we created a garden around that, so that's where the story comes from.
Amazing!
Almost looks a bit too pretty to eat,
but you guys need to know exactly what you're dealing with,
so should we have a taste?
Yeah, please. Come on, now.
He says the dish is 11 out of 10. That's exactly how my nerves are.
11 out of 10.
Chocolate soil maybe or something. Yeah.
NELLY: We've got a carrot cake that's got all spices through it,
so very Christmassy flavours.
The foam is a vanilla buttermilk yoghurt.
So that's what's under this crumb, right? The soil, if you like.
Crumbled chocolate.
On top of that is all the leaves.
Crystallised carrot fronds.
And then tempered chocolate twigs at the top.
The carrot is raw,
but in a hot, sweet stock syrup.
And we've got that sorbet with carrot yuzu and ginger juice through that.
MALISSA: He's used sweet potato and carrots as the inspiration
to bring the sweetness in the dish.
Yeah, it's so beautiful.
Nel, why don't you walk us through the pressure points in here.
What are the big things that you've got to look out for?
Yeah, so the foam - that foam has to hold properly.
If it doesn't, you can't stand anything up in that.
It's a failure straightaway.
The carrot cake has got to be moist in the middle.
And then the biggest one for me is the sorbet.
It's got to balance right. Mm-hm.
If it's too too much ginger, when you eat the whole dish together,
you just get ginger and you lose the carrot flavour.
Rhiannon, what are you tasting?
I absolutely love this foam.
RALPH: This foam.
It's so yummy. The cake is yummy.
Even these little leaves... So they're the...
Like, they're really sugary. They're the top of the carrot.
So we don't waste anything. It is delicious.
It...it really reminds me of, um, my childhood as well.
These are all very familiar sort of flavours.
This actually reminds me of my dad and Christmas in England
where you have this massive big feed and then out comes the dessert.
Malissa, questions?
How do I do it?
(LAUGHTER)
There is so much going on, but when you have it all in out mouthful,
it all just works together.
Mate, my best advice to the three of you is don't get overwhelmed.
When you break it down and you pull it together, you'll be fine.
I've never made anything close to resembling this.
Desserts are not my strong suit,
so being a Pressure Test
with desserts, it's gonna be tricky.
ANDY: Ralph, Malissa, Rhiannon...
..you've got two hours and 15 minutes
to re-create Nelly's Mr McGregor Garden.
ADI: Wow!
Before we taste, you'll have seven minutes
to finish the dishes in front of us.
Two of you will make it to the top 8 today
and the dish that least resembles Nelly's in taste and looks
will unfortunately send their maker home.
Nelly, do you want to kick them off, mate?
Alright, guys, let's go, eh?
Your time starts now!
(GANTRY CONTESTANTS CHEER AND CLAP)
Go, go, go, go!
BRENT: Let's go, guys! ADI: Yes, guys, let's do it!
CATH: Oh, good idea, Rhi. Good idea, Rhi!
RHIANNON: First thing I do is sketch Nelly's dish
so I can re-create it at the end of the cook
because there's no way I'm gonna remember what it looked like
two hours and 15 later.
(GROANS)
Starting with a sweet potato wrapped up in foil,
put it in the oven, I can do that, that's really easy!
Tick that off my list. I'm done. What's next?
"300 grams. Wrap sweet potato in foil. Place in the oven..."
RALPH: "Wrap the sweet potato in foil and place in the oven at 180."
Strategy coming into today's cook is to read the recipe once...
..and just start executing immediately and with confidence.
I need to keep a fast pace from the beginning
so that I don't run out of time at the end.
Nelly, firstly, beautiful dish, mate.
It looks and tastes absolutely stunning.
And I think the taste of the dish is all about balance,
and for that, all of these different elements
need to be absolutely spot-on.
How many elements are there?
Nine. Nine? And only two hours and 15?
It's a short one today. I think that's gonna challenge them.
I mean, Rhiannon's first time in a Pressure Test,
so I'm interested to see how she goes.
MELISSA: Starting this recipe, that first chunk, what's in there
that they really need to focus on getting really, really right?
They gotta get that sorbet into the blast chiller
'cause it's gotta be completely set.
Sweet potato's gotta be in cooking
so they can make those beautiful, beautiful leaves.
Carrot tops into the dehydrator. They gotta crystallise for two hours.
So the first half an hour is crucial on this dish.
MALISSA: I'm getting my crystallised carrot fronds ready.
I need to lightly brush them with egg whites
and then dip them into some really fine caster sugar
so they can then be placed into the dehydrator throughout the cook.
Is that closed? ANDY: Mm-hm.
Yeah, that's it. That's it?
Yeah. OK. Thank you.
DECLAN: Shake it like a Polaroid picture.
Nice, Rhi.
Believe it or not, you've already used 15 minutes.
Only two hours to go.
(GANTRY CONTESTANTS CHEER AND CALL OUT)
RHIANNON: Carrot.
Rhiannon. G'day.
First Pressure Test First Pressure Test.
How hard can this possibly be? Yeah, I know.
A few crumbs, couple of leaves, eh? Bugger-all, mate.
I love this. The flavours are delicious.
My dad's English, so this really resonates with me.
Yeah.
As soon as I saw this dish and tasted it, "Oh, my God!"
Exactly. I feel like I'm at home.
Yeah, well, that's what we're doing. Yeah.
He didn't have an accent like that? No, no, he didn't have... (LAUGHS)
He sounds a little more British than me.
I definitely sound very North Queensland.
He's kinda like, "Oh, my God, what happened to my kids?"
(RHIANNON LAUGHS HEARTILY)
If I'm in a Pressure Test, this is the one I want to be in.
It reminds me of my dad, it reminds me of the UK.
I feel a little bit more comfortable now
and I feel like I can relax into this cook.
I've done a bit of juicing in my time,
you know, when I go on health kicks every 10 years.
I'm making carrot juice for the carrot sorbet.
It's a sorbet. I'm following this recipe to the gram.
There's such random numbers in there.
Like, there's 1.1, there's 33, there's 333,
and I'm going "Oh, my God!"
Just do it.
Because I want this balance to be exactly like Nelly's.
And I've got to put it in a bowl and into the blast chiller asap
because it needs time for it to set and be beautiful.
CATH: Great, Rhi! (TIMER BEEPS)
MALISSA: I love to eat sorbet, but I haven't made many in my time.
(GROANS)
Bloody hell!
I know that so it's not crystallised and so it's not icy,
you need to make sure that everything is spot-on.
Carrot juice.
The measurements are so precise.
33 grams of ginger and 333 grams of carrot juice,
and I am measuring them to the tee!
CATH: Mal, you're looking really good, really clean, really focused.
There is no room for mistakes.
Yum!
Head's up, your sorbet should be in the blast chiller.
You should be working on your cake.
One and a half hours to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CATH: Go, Mal! Come on, Rhi-Rhi! Let's go!
(CONTESTANTS CALL OUT)
ADI: Keep working.
RALPH: Jesus. Alright, I've got to keep motoring.
ADI: Ralph is being so careful to measure all the ingredients
before he even starts on the next step.
And you can see him trying to be so methodical and careful,
but he doesn't have time to do that.
He needs to get a move on if he's gonna get this finished.
Keep going! RUE: Ralph, you need to work quicker.
RALPH: Perfect.
I've measured everything up precisely to what's needed
'cause you want the sorbet to set.
And I feel like he's given us these exact measurements
'cause that's how the sorbet's gonna set.
RUE: Good?
Yep! OK.
CATH: Sorbet done?
Sorbet done. Check.
Looks beautiful, Ralph. Thank you!
(READS) "..the mix running.
"Add eggs one at a time until eggs and mixture's combined.
"Sieve in the self-raising flour."
Pretty much normal cake.
Carrot sorbet's in the blast chiller
and now I'm working on the carrot cake.
It is one of the main elements.
It is the base, so I've got make sure it's perfect.
Rhiannon. Hey.
How are you travelling? Oh, you know, I'm bloody goin'.
Just bloody goin'. Yeah.
Can't ask for anything more, can we? No. (LAUGHS)
Sorbet, confident with the sorbet? It's in the blast chiller?
It's in the blast chiller. Yeah.
Did you taste? No.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
You didn't taste? You didn't taste it?
No. No! Beg your pardon?
We'll leave you with that. You gotta taste.
Oh, shit. It's all about balance.
I know it is! So taste it.
My eyes!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
We said it's all about balance. I know it is!
So taste it. My eyes!
I know I followed the recipe to the letter,
but I can't stuff an element up
because there's no time to do it again.
Oh, it's yummy! There you go.
CATH: There you go, Rhi! Awesome! (ANDY AND NELLY LAUGH)
I'm trusting the measurements. Bloody hell!
(NELLY LAUGHS) Oh, my God! This is chaos, mate.
I've got to, like, calm the brain.
Calm down. Calm the brain.
Oh, my God! Imagine if that wasn't right!
Oh, yum! That is yum!
I am just working as fast as I can with this recipe,
but if I get one element wrong in this dish...
(MUTTERS) It's not plain. That's self-raising. This is plain.
RHIANNON: ..it could bring down the whole thing.
So I really need to focus right now.
Let's get this done.
MALISSA: I'm working on my carrot cake.
I need to make sure it is perfect.
I need to make sure that it is moist.
I've got my mixer going. I'm creaming my butter and my sugar.
I'm getting all my other elements ready.
I am following this recipe to a tee, but I'm not wasting any time
because I want to put it in the oven asap.
Malissa. Hello. How are you going?
Good. How are the confidence levels? Yeah, good.
Good? I don't know what it is.
But when you put that black apron on,
you cook at the highest level that you possibly can.
Yeah, I don't know why I don't do that all the time.
I don't know either.
Oh, you know, I'm just permanently gonna wear this, I think. (LAUGHS)
Today, how are you gonna make the perfect cake?
It's gonna be perfectly moist today because...
What did you learn? ..I'm gonna follow this to a tee.
OK. And make sure there's no errors.
Keep motoring, though. Yeah, I will, I will.
Because, honestly, it's just gonna snowball...
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ..if you fall behind.
Everything needs to be perfectly balanced in this cake.
The carrot cake mixture is looking really beautiful.
It looks like a great texture. I've got all my ingredients in there.
So I think it's perfect and it's ready to go in the oven.
And now I need to start working on
my charcoal crumble.
Charcoal crumble, OK.
"Place the butter and the raw sugar in a bowl on the stand mixer."
OK.
OK, so...that's that.
CATH: Come on, Rhi! Cake's in the oven!
Whoo-hoo! Cake's in the oven! Let's go, Rhi!
ADI: Well done! Relax.
Well done.
RALPH: Sorbet's done. Next step, carrot cake.
Rhiannon and Malissa both have cakes in the oven,
but I'm quite an analytical and logical person.
So, I'm gonna measure out all my ingredients
to make sure that I've got them ready to go so I can start the cake.
It's important to get all the elements prepped
'cause the dessert eats together
and if one is element's off, it's not gonna eat the same.
I don't want to rush things
and then put the wrong measurement in
and then mess up the whole dessert.
I didn't think there'd be this many ingredients in a carrot cake!
So it's taken me a bit longer than what I would like,
but I feel like once I get them all together,
I should be able to just get everything mixed together
and motor through the cook.
MELISSA: Ralph, sorry to tell you,
but your caked needed to be in the oven five minutes ago.
OK. BRENT: Come on! Let's go!
ADI: Come on, guys!
Keep moving!
Ralph still hasn't put his cake in.
Like, come on.
(EXHALES)
(RALPH HUMS) What's going on? (GIGGLES)
Why is he taking so long?
MALISSA: I'm working at a good pace. I just need to keep this up now.
I'm now working on my charcoal crumble.
I'm trying to work as quickly as I possibly can.
Don't know where the charcoal... charcoal powder is.
RHIANNON: The key to getting the charcoal crumble right
is to make sure that...
There it is!
RHIANNON: ..it has that bitter flavour.
I distinctly remember the bitterness from Nelly's dish.
You've got to cook it for the exact amount of time
and make sure it doesn't go over or under.
(MIXER WHIRRS) That looks even.
THEO: You're doing great, Rhi. Come on. That's it, Rhi. Great.
Ralph, come on. Yeah.
You gotta go quicker, bro. Move it. Come on.
Come on, give him a clap. RUE: Come on, Ralph!
So I've got my mixer going with the butter and then add my sugar.
I just need to beat that together
until you get a creamy consistency,
but I'm falling so far behind,
so I'm just rushing to add all the other ingredients.
CATH: I'm a little bit worried about Ralph.
I don't think he's actually creamed his butter with his sugar properly.
It is vital with a cake like this to cream your butter and sugar.
It makes for a lighter cake.
It cooks evenly.
And if you don't cream it, it's gonna be more dense.
He's playing with fire here.
Now's not the time to fall behind. You've only got one hour to go!
ANDY: Come on! Let's go!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
ADI: You can do this! Let's move! Move!
ANDY: Very interesting out there.
Malissa, she does this weird thing when she puts that black apron on
and starts to cook and it's like a totally different Malissa.
So she's in a great spot at the moment.
Moving forward, Rhiannon, she is 100-mile-an-hour.
We were round her bench at the beginning.
She sort of had this nostalgic light-bulb moment.
You know, her dad's English.
She's got this connection to this dish.
I think she's found comfort in this,
which, on her first Pressure Test, I think's a good thing.
I think that's gonna carry her through quite well.
CATH: Another element done. Well done.
That's fantastic, Rhi. (CLAPS)
THEO: Good job! Awesome! Awesome!
Ralph, he's falling behind.
I'm worried for him. I'm worried. Yeah.
RUE: Ralph.
Come on, Ralph!
He still does not have his cake in the oven.
RALPH: My head is in every direction possible.
I've realised that the method I'm using at the moment
of measuring out everything is not working.
So I'm gonna have to chuck that to the side.
I am terrified.
I need to put this cake in as soon as I can
to get in there with enough time to cook.
MELISSA: That texture doesn't look right.
RALPH: I don't know if I'm gonna get this done.
RALPH: I need to put this cake in the oven as soon as I can.
to get it in there with enough time to cook.
MELISSA: That texture doesn't look right.
I'm motoring at this point.
I'm moving as quickly as I can.
Look, the girls are superhuman.
I have no idea how Mal and Rhiannon have got in front of me this much.
I still have to make the chocolate branches,
the charcoal crumble
and the oak tree sweet potato chocolate leaf.
And then the yoghurt foam.
Ralph, get it together. Hurry up.
Hurry up! Like, you're wasting time!
CATH: OK, that's it. In the oven, Ralph. Well done.
Tick that off too, buddy. Come on.
MALISSA: There is under an hour left in this cook.
My sorbet's in the freezer.
I've got my carrot fronds in the dehydrator.
I've got my carrot cake in the oven.
My charcoal crumble and my sweet potato
is still baking for my beautiful leaves.
(READS) "Branches. 250 grams of dark chocolate."
MALISSA: The chocolate branches is the step
that I was least looking forward to in this cook.
I am not an expert with chocolate.
But I know that if you don't do it correctly,
your chocolate isn't gonna shine, it's not gonna snap.
"45 degrees."
MALISSA: So, this is gonna be a real pressure point for me.
But, you know, I've just gotta hope that it works out. (LAUGHS)
Gosh. Come on.
Come on, Rhi, you can do this, love. That's it. Come on.
OK, let's just get to 45.
RHIANNON: I'm feeling quite anxious about the chocolate branches.
Nelly's were perfect.
They were, like, nice and glossy and beautiful.
When tempering the chocolate, it's gotta be perfect to the degree.
OK, we're at 30.
My theory right now is just stay at the microwave and make it happen.
Now is not the time to lose your temper. 45 minutes to go.
(GROANING AND LAUGHTER) RUE: Oh, come on, guys!
Saw what you did there with temper the chocolate, and so on.
Piping bags.
Where were your piping bags, Mal?
In the little container at the back. Oh.
Thanks, love.
I don't even know how many pages are to go in this recipe,
and I don't wanna know.
Because I feel like if I know,
I think I'll spin out and go out of control.
Hello. Hey.
I just saw you spin around six times before you got your bag.
Yes. Just calm down.
I love a good Kylie Minogue spin-around.
"I'm spinning around. Move out of my way."
We can don the gold hotpants and have a party later
when you finish this and you stay.
But for right now, pick up.
Keep going. Yeah, excellent. Thanks, guys.
RHIANNON: I am no artist. They don't look great.
Oh, jeez, that's all pretty woeful.
RHIANNON: But time is running out very quickly.
I've gotta just keep moving.
Ha, look at my trees.
ADI: They're beautiful. Keep moving.
(CATH CLAPS) Nice.
(TIMER BEEPS) Good job, Ralph.
That's it. Another element done, Ralphie. Well done.
I'm running. Full sprinting across the kitchen.
Usain Bolt and me are brothers at this point in time.
I'm doing so much work to kind of catch up.
I've just put my crumble in the oven
and I need to start focusing on the chocolate branches.
I could see Rhiannon finishing her chocolate branches.
I'm just upping the speed on everything I'm doing
and I'm trying to get the tempering done as quickly as possible.
You can really feel Ralph is pushing hard to get this done.
No-one wants to go home.
It's getting electric. There's not long to go.
And we want them all to put up a really good dish.
MALISSA: I'm piping these trees as quickly as I can.
I'm not gonna lie - these trees look a bit dodgy.
Oh, that doesn't look very pretty. That looks like a chicken foot.
They don't look as pretty as Nel's did,
but it'll have to do.
The pace has picked up but you've still got a lot to do.
30 minutes to go. (CONTESTANTS CHEER AND CLAP)
CATH: 30 minutes to go. Go, Malissa!
I need to start multitasking and I need to move quick.
I have to get my pickling juice ready for my carrot ribbons.
My charcoal crumble is ready. I need to get that out of the oven.
OK, that's ready.
My sweet potato is done.
I'm pretty happy with how it's all going.
OK.
I've been rushing and zooming so much
my kitchen bench is an absolute mess.
But just, like, I've kicked it up a gear and I've actually caught up.
I feel so happy.
Good news, I've caught up. (LAUGHS) Oh, God.
RHIANNON: I've done the branches. They're covered in cocoa.
And I've set the pickling liquid aside to cool.
And now I'm getting on to the oak tree chocolate leaf.
So, the oak tree chocolate leaf
is actually made up of sweet potato as the base.
So, you've gotta mix all that together
and then you've gotta spread it in this leaf mould, which is so cool.
And then you've gotta bake it.
DECLAN: That's good, Rhi, nice and quick.
The oak tree chocolate leaf has to look exactly like the mould,
so I'm, like, making sure that there's no gaps,
and then I get rid of any excess from the top.
OK, so we want this in a 160, 10 minute.
I've gotta get onto this foam, and time is running out very quickly.
Um...timer.
CATH: You're up with the others, Ralph, so you're doing OK, buddy.
RALPH: Thanks, Cath.
Nice, Mal.
MALISSA: I can see the finish line
and I'm just gonna keep running.
I'm not gonna lose any steam.
I checked the cake and...
(SOFTLY) OK.
MALISSA: ..it was cooked.
Yay! (LAUGHS)
You've come this far. Don't lose your way now.
You've only got 15 minutes to go!
Come on! (GANTRY CONTESTANTS CHEER)
It's out! Look at that, Rhi!
Put this in the fridge to cool.
Yoghurt's done.
Time to make my yoghurt foam.
"2 grams of gold gelatine."
This is important, this bit, because they're on the foam.
So this is the... This is like...
Has to be able to be perfect. It's gotta hold.
500 grams of buttermilk.
If the foam isn't right, then the whole dish, basically, is a failure.
Knowing how much relies on this foam,
it's really hard not to doubt yourself during this element.
Nice, Mal.
I won't know if the foam has actually worked
until I serve it to the judges.
Oooh.
Everything's crossed, and I'm gonna hope for the best.
ADI: Good, Malissa. THEO: Well done, Malissa.
Am I doing the right thing? Yeah, I am.
(MUTTERS INDISTINCTLY)
"Place under the bowl until mixture is cool."
CATH: How's the timer on your cake, Ralph?
Ralph?
Do you have a timer for your cake? Huh?
Your cake?
Oh, my cake.
RALPH: Everyone's yelling at me
and I realised I haven't checked on my cake.
And it'd been about 45 minutes, 50 minutes.
If it's not cooked, then that's it.
I'm cooked.
(WHISPERS) Shit.
Still not cooked.
(TENSE MUSIC)
Here's something new! Six minutes to go!
It's a season of secrets and surprises after all.
(INTENSE MUSIC)
How much do I put in?
RALPH: Oh, my cake.
So, I checked my cake.
Still not cooked.
(WHISPERS) Shit.
If this isn't done by the time that clock ends...
..you're going home.
But I've just gotta pivot my focus from the cake
to everything else that I'm doing.
Yeah, the yoghurt foam's next.
And that's the one I know I need to get perfect,
otherwise the dish won't hold.
The gelatine needs to dissolve,
but I don't have time to do any longer than a couple of stirs
to make sure that it's dissolved.
And then I cool it down.
RUE: Come on, Ralph, come on. DECLAN: Come on.
Will it stabilise so that when I spray the foam, it's gonna hold?
I don't know.
(SIGHS)
(PLASTIC FUNNEL CLATTERS)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Has he even had that in an ice bin?
ANDY: That was in the ice bath for about 20 seconds.
So it's actually hot? It's gonna be hot.
MALISSA: I've only got a few short minutes left,
and I still need to do my carrot ribbons.
CATH: This the last element, Mal? Yes.
That's it.
I need to cut them so they're perfect on all edges
and they're all exactly the same size.
And then pop them in the pickling liquid, which I prepared earlier.
I have to plate up in the tasting room in front of the judges.
Every element of this dish needs to be ready to plate.
I'm cutting up my carrot cake.
CATH: Oh, Malissa, you're smashing it!
I've got my leaves ready to go.
Oh, that one broke. OK, that's fine. I only need one.
I've got my sorbet in the freezer.
I have my yoghurt foam, my chocolate branches.
I've got my charcoal crumble. There's a lot going on here.
90 seconds! (CLAPPING AND CHEERING)
ADI: Come on! Get it done! Come on!
Yes, Ralph, let's get 'em all in containers, mate.
It's finally time to cut the cake.
And so moment of truth right now.
ANDY: Come on, Ralph. Let's go, let's go.
Come on, Ralph, you've got this.
Cut the first slice and...
Beautiful.
Thank God, it's actually cooked.
I'm so happy.
ADI: Nice, Ralph. Beautiful.
I'm frantically moving around the kitchen,
trying to make sure that I've got all my elements.
Oh, where's my ruler?
30 seconds! 30 seconds! Come on! Let's go!
Oh, my God, I've gotta put all this stuff in containers?
You're kidding me?
BRENT: Come on, guys! Come on!
It is chaos!
CONTESTANT: You can do it! Yeah, keep going, guys!
(ALL CALL OUT) ANDY: Here we go!
JUDGES AND CONTESTANTS: 10, 9, 8,
7, 6, 5,
4, 3, 2, 1!
(CHEERING AND CLAPPING)
Whoo-hoo! Yay!
Oh, my God, that was so fun!
(LAUGHS) Ahh!
RALPH: You know, frantic as it was, I got everything done.
Till the last couple of seconds, but finished.
So that's all that counts.
Did that two hours and 15 minutes fly, or was it just me?
They were under the pump from the absolute get-go.
As a dessert, it's very deconstructed.
There are lots of components.
A huge amount of it is in balance
and how they construct it at the last moment,
so we don't really know who's done well and who hasn't.
I'm looking forward to tasting it and seeing it all together.
Well, we're about to see it all together right now.
Shall we get the first one in? We should. (LAUGHS)
RALPH: Good luck. Good luck, love.
Thank you.
MALISSA: I've got every element ready to go.
I'm hoping that I've done a really good job today
and that this is gonna keep me safe in the competition.
Hello. Hi. MELISSA: Hello.
Well, well, well, here we are again. Back again.
(MELISSA LAUGHS) We have to stop meeting like this.
We really do have to stop meeting like this.
You were like night and day from
when you walked through the doors this morning to when you finished.
I think you had the recipe in one hand
and you were jumping up and down, saying, "I did it, I did it!"
I definitely didn't feel very good walking in today
but, you know, now that the cook is done, I'm so proud of myself.
And if today was my last day, then what a day to end it on.
I'm really happy. Yeah. Awesome.
Well, look, let's continue that really great energy you have.
You have seven minutes to plate up. OK.
Good luck. Thank you.
Your time starts when you hit the bench.
JUDGES: Good luck. OK. Thank you.
Nel's dish was phenomenal, the way that it looked. It was so beautiful.
So I need to do my best to replicate that.
I've got my carrot cake on the plate.
And now I need to get my foam all ready.
(LAUGHS) OK.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
MALISSA: Ooh. (LAUGHS)
I've got my charcoal crumble, my chocolate branches.
Some carrot strips over the top.
I've got my sweet potato beautiful leaf.
Crystallised carrot fronds.
And I've got my ginger and carrot sorbet.
Finish strong, Mal. Gosh.
It looks beautiful.
Gosh.
There you go. My trees look like chicken feet.
Thank you, Malissa. We'll taste. Thank you. Thanks.
Got everything up and everything tastes really yummy.
I'm just hoping that it perfectly represents Mr McGregor Garden.
What do we think of the appearance?
There's some elements of it, looking at it straightaway,
that are really good.
Her leaf is excellent. The foam looks like it's holding.
So until we taste it, we'll never know.
I'm pretty impressed.
The flavour balance of the dish is pretty good.
ANDY: Yeah. I think she's done really well.
The cake texture is beautiful.
I really like her charcoal crumb.
The flavour of it was absolutely spot-on.
The same goes for the sorbet.
And the tempered chocolate had a great snap to it.
There's a lot of positives on the plate.
It may not have been as pretty as yours.
Yours is a very elegant, very romantic-looking dish of food.
This didn't have that kind of finesse and that delicacy,
but I really liked the bitterness of the leaf
and of the charcoal crumb as well.
And I loved the zing in the sorbet.
Yeah, all the components were really beautiful.
The cake was gorgeous.
The foam flavour, texture fantastic.
I think it was so very well done.
Fortunately for her, it ate 10 times better than it looked.
Good effort, really good effort. Yeah.
MALISSA: Good luck, Rhi. Good luck, Rhi.
Thank you.
First-ever Pressure Test
and this could be my last cook in the MasterChef kitchen.
I'm concerned about the whole thing.
I do not wanna go home today.
Are you known for your desserts? No.
Are you known for your finesse? No.
I'm gonna say this was a bit out of your wheelhouse, am I right?
100%. You're so right.
Stream full episodes
of MasterChef Australia
now on 10 play.
(TENSE MUSIC)
I'm gonna say this was a bit out of your wheelhouse.
Am I right? 100%. You're so right.
Like, are you known for your desserts?
No.
Are you known for your finesse? No.
How did you go into this, then? It must have been daunting.
It was so daunting. Like, I literally was so anxious this morning.
But then when I tasted it, I was like, "Oh, my God."
It just transported me to my dad.
That calmed me.
You're on the verge of top 8.
Like, did you ever think you'd get this far?
No. Like, not...not at all.
This is what dreams are made of for me.
Like, I just really wanna be here.
Well, one thing you have to do is nail this plate-up.
You've got seven minutes. Good luck. Thank you.
I've gotta assemble the dish in front of the judges and Nelly,
and I am freaking out.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(WHISPERS) Oh, shit.
Oh! (LAUGHS)
(BREATHES HEAVILY) JOCK: It's fine. Don't worry.
It's OK. Slight explosion.
You've got this.
It's just crumbs.
Like Andy said, I am not known for my finesse in plating.
(WHISPERS) Her twigs look better. Mmm.
I don't know if mine looks anything like Nelly's dish.
Oh, dear.
But I got the job done.
Oh, my goodness.
We're gonna taste it. See you later.
Thanks. Thanks, guys. Enjoy.
(NELLY SIGHS)
It's a little flat, and there's not enough twigs.
But she's had a good effort.
Carrot top's a little bit more...rustic.
Thought the crumble was a little overdone.
I think there's just a little touch of burntness in the back of it.
And I thought the Christmas-tree-sized carrot fronds
at the top were just a little bit too much.
And too much sugar, adds to the dish.
But...I think the cake's beautiful. I think the foam's beautiful.
And I think the sorbet's beautifully balanced.
So I think bringing that together, I thought it's a good effort.
But the flavour of the cake, especially, was spot-on.
And she may not have the finesse,
but she definitely can bring the flavour.
And with the cake, with the sorbet, and also with the foam,
they are spot-on flavour-wise.
I think Rhiannon's done a really good job.
Whatever it was that she connected with
when she tasted your dish at the beginning,
you can definitely get a little bit of a sense of that
in the dish itself, especially in the cake.
I don't know if it was the Douglas fir tree Christmas trees on there,
I felt like it was festive and Christmassy in a way.
I loved the delicacy of the chocolate work.
I think she did very, very well there.
I just think this is so far away from what Rhiannon would normally do
that I am absolutely, like, stoked for her.
To see her finish that product as she has,
I think she should be very proud of herself.
MALISSA: Good luck! Thanks, guys.
Good luck, Ralph.
The pressure is immense because I want to do Nelly's food justice,
but the smallest thing at this point in time will send us home,
so it's extremely nerve-racking.
Oh! (SIGHS)
Mate, it didn't look like a pretty cook, I've gotta say.
No, it did look frantic.
And I was running all over the place, just trying to keep up.
But got all the elements together, so... Just. (LAUGHS)
So I'm happy about that.
In the meantime, you have got seven minutes to finish this dish.
Thank you so much, guys. MELISSA: Thank you. Good luck.
That cook was the hardest cook I've had,
and I still have to plate the dish
and make it look beautiful.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
MELISSA: Why would you press the air
out of the thing you put the air into?
I'm happy that I've got
all the elements on the dish.
But the biggest concern is the flavours
and how they're gonna work together.
Today is not the day I wanna go home.
JOCK: Nice one, mate.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Thoughts?
A little large. (ANDY LAUGHS) Yeah.
A little bit messy.
Um...
There's a bit of height on this one, though.
A little bit of height. Big twigs.
(SIGHS) Yeah, I don't know. Let's try it. Let's try it.
Thanks, mate.
You know, I have the best of hope for him,
especially because Ralph has just
improved in leaps and bounds as a cook in this kitchen,
and you want him to succeed.
But, yep, it's definitely one of those things
where it's a messy cook, it ends up compounding onto the plate.
And it definitely is an indication of that today.
I'm glad that he managed to achieve every single element on the plate,
and he did the best that he could to put it together.
I'm sad for him because this is... it's not close to yours at all.
There is too much carrot cake on the...on the log,
which then meant not enough yoghurt to balance the whole dish,
which was unfortunate.
His cake was a little bit underdone, which is a bit sad.
And then his crumb was a little bit over as well, again, unfortunately.
So I'm actually quite disappointed in this one, to be honest with you.
Yeah, it's not...not good.
It looked like a disaster, that cook.
And I've gotta say, it eats like one.
I am so gutted for him because this is gonna leave him in trouble.
And I don't want him to go. No.
Because he's just one of those guys,
like, that he wears his heart on his sleeve,
he comes in every day just wanting to learn
and soak up everything that this competition is about.
And they're the people that you just want
to continue on in the competition.
Totally, you can't help but...
(JOCK AND MELISSA GROWL)
Re-creating Nelly's garden,
it definitely wasn't a walk in the park.
Magic on the plate, it is very difficult to replicate.
And it just goes to show, Nelly, you are at the top of your game, mate.
Thanks, guys.
Give it up for Nelly Robinson! (ALL CHEER)
Thank you, guys.
Today, one dish missed the mark on every element.
One of you brought us a cake that was underdone
and a dish as a whole that lacked balance.
Unfortunately, that dish was cooked by...
..Ralph.
Oh.
Ah, my dear.
Well done.
I'm sorry. It's OK. Well done.
We hate to see you go, mate.
You've brought us so many incredible dishes
during your time here in the MasterChef kitchen.
You've shown us through those dishes
that you're well and truly on your way to where you wanna be.
You know what? We think you're gonna get there.
It's just been so many good experiences,
like, every day that we've been in here,
so just the fact that I'm in here has been amazing for me.
So I've appreciated every minute of it,
and meeting lovely people who help each other along the way
and you learn a lot from them.
The experience will last a lifetime, so thank you, guys.
Ralph, we love you, mate. We all love you.
But for now, it's time to say goodbye.
Time to go. Thank you so much. Well done.
You did so well. Congratulations, mate.
You've got this. Thank you so much.
Thanks... (CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY) Thank you.
Come here, big fella. Aww.
Good luck, buddy.
See ya. (BRENT MURMURS)
(UPLIFTING MUSIC) Thank you so much, guys.
Leaving the kitchen today, as much as it hurts,
I can walk out of here with my head high.
Give it up for Ralph, everybody! (CONTESTANTS CHEER)
I did my best.
If there's something you're passionate about, do it.
I'm literally going guns blazing,
and I'm gonna take every opportunity I can to learn as much as I can.
And this won't be the last you see of me.
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...
THEO: Look at this!
..it's a Team Service Challenge...
We wanna see Greek food, but we wanna see it re-imagined.
Opa!
..where Greece is the word.
I feel like the challenge
was made for me today.
But they'll need to modernise the classics...
I'm so not modern. (LAUGHS)
I'm still stuck in the '80s.
..to win their chance at immunity.
Everyone is panicking. Come on! Push!
Oh!
This is not good.
Captions by Red Bee Media