MasterChef Australia series 8

MasterChef Australia (series 8)
Series 8
No. of episodes	40(as 23 of June 2016)
Release
Original network	Network Ten
Original release	1 May 2016 (2016-05-01) –  () present
Series chronology

The eighth series of MasterChef Australia premiered on Sunday, 1 May 2016 on Network Ten. All three judges from the previous series returned.

Contestants

Top 24

The first 19 contestants were announced on 1 May 2016. Cecilia Vuong was chosen having previously been selected in series six, as she withdrew that year before the competition started because of complications from a brain injury. A further 11 applicants were required to cook again the next day for the next four positions. The remaining seven then cooks competed for the final place. The competition includes two siblings for the first time in MasterChef Australia: Jimmy Wong and Theresa Visintin.

Contestant	Age	State	Occupation	Status
Brett Carter	43	WA	Airline captain	Competing
Chloe Bowles	24	QLD	Nanny	Competing
Elena Duggan	32	NSW	Teacher	Competing
Elise Franciskovic	28	QLD	Pharmacy technician	Competing
Harry Foster	21	QLD	Cocktail bartender	Competing
Heather Day	32	SA	Sales manager	Competing
Matt Sinclair	27	QLD	Coffee roaster	Competing
Mimi Baines	26	VIC	Product manager	Competing
Theresa Visintin	44	NSW	Mum	Competing Returned 14 June Eliminated 30 May
Trent Harvey	29	NSW	Electrician	Competing
Karmen Lu	24	WA	Waitress	Eliminated 23 June
Anastasia Zolotarev	26	NSW	Marketing co-ordinator	Eliminated 20 June
Nicolette Stathopoulos	19	VIC	Student	Eliminated 16 June
Zoe Konikkos	31	VIC	Sales manager	Eliminated 13 June
Miles Pritchett	46	QLD	Park ranger	Eliminated 9 June
Charlie Sartori	24	VIC	Professional golfer	Eliminated 6 June
Cecilia Vuong	31	VIC	Teacher	Eliminated 2 June
Con Vailas	31	VIC	Restaurant supervisor	Eliminated 26 May
Jimmy Wong	49	NSW	Sustainability specialist	Eliminated 23 May
Nidhi Mahajan	30	SA	Call centre worker	Eliminated 19 May
Olivia Robinson	26	NSW	Restaurant manager	Eliminated 16 May
Adam Mizzi	30	SA	Adventure company owner	Eliminated 12 May
Nathaniel Milevskiy	29	QLD	Paramedic student	Eliminated 10 May
Ashley McConnell	29	WA	Software sales	Eliminated 5 May

Guest chefs

Week	Guest Chef	Challenge
1	Billie McKay	Top 24 Mystery Box Challenge
2 (Marco Week)	Marco Pierre White	All Challenges & MasterClass
	Jake Kellie	Immunity Challenge
3	Reynold Poernomo	Pressure Test
	Braden White	Immunity Challenge
	Anthony Hammel	Team Challenge
	Daniel Wilson
4 (Nigella Week)	Nigella Lawson	All Challenges & MasterClass
	Lachlan Colwill	Immunity Challenge
5	Jason Atherton	Pressure Test
	Thomas Woods	Immunity Challenge
	Hayden McFarland
6	Maggie Beer	Mystery Box Challenge/Invention Test
Anna Polyviou	Pressure Test
Morgan McGlone	Immunity Challenge
Kylie Kwong	Team Challenge
7 (Power Apron Week)	Luke Nguyen	Mystery Box Challenge/Invention Test
	Ross Lusted	Pressure Test
	Curtis Stone	Team Challenge
8	Flynn McGarry	Pressure Test
	Victor Liong	Immunity Challenge
9 (Heston Week)	Heston Blumenthal	All Challenges

Elimination chart

	Week 1		Week 2		Week 3		Week 4		Week 5		Week 6		Week 7				Week 8		Week 9		Week 10		Week 11		Week 12		Finals
Mystery Box Challenge Winner	Jimmy Mimi Nidhi		Charlie		Anastasia		Heather		Chloe		Zoe		Elise (Power Apron)				Elena
Invention Test Winner	None		Nidhi Olivia Zoe		Anastasia Con Nicolette		Harry Karmen Mimi		Karmen Matt Mimi		Brett Chloe Trent		Anastasia Chloe Harry				Elena Karmen Matt Trent
Immunity Challenge	None		Lose: Zoe		Win: Nicolette		Lose: Harry		Win: Chloe, Matt		Lose: Chloe		None				Lose: Matt
Brett	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	Btm 3	Team Win	Top 3	Team Win	IN		Team Win		IN	Team Win
Chloe	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Win	Btm 3	Team Lose	Btm 3	Team Win	WIN	Team Win	Top 3	Team Lose/Imm.	Top 3		Btm 2		Btm 4	Team Win
Elena	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	Btm 3		Team Win		Top 4	Team Win
Elise	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	IN	Team Lose	IN	Btm 4	Btm 4	Team Win	P.A.	Btm 3	Team Lose		IN	Team Lose
Harry	Top 24	IN	IN	Btm 4	IN	Team Win	Top 3	Team 2nd	IN	Team Win	Btm 3	Team Lose	Top 3		Team Win		IN	Team Win
Heather	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	IN	Team Win	IN	Btm 4	IN	Team Win	IN		Team Win		Btm 4	Team Win
Matt	Top 24	IN	Top 4	Btm 4	IN	Team Win	IN	Btm 3	Top 3	Team Lose/Imm.	IN	Team Lose	IN		Team Win		Top 4	Team Lose
Mimi	Top 24	Top 3	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	Top 3	Team Lose	Top 3	Btm 4	IN	Btm 3	IN		Team Win		IN	Team Lose
Theresa	Top 24	Btm 3	IN	Team Win	IN	Btm 3	IN	Team 2nd	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 22)					P.A.	T.W.	Btm 4	Team Win
Trent	Top 24	Top 4	IN	Team Lose	IN	Team Win	IN	Team 2nd	IN	Team Win	Top 3	Team Win	IN		Team Lose		Top 4	Team Lose
Karmen	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Win	Btm 3	Team Lose	Top 3	Team Win	Top 3	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN		Team Win		Top 4	Team Lose	Eliminated (Ep 40)
Anastasia	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Lose	Top 3	Team Win	IN	Team 2nd	IN	Team Lose	IN	Team Win	Top 3	P.A.	Saved		Btm 4	Eliminated (Ep 37)
Nicolette	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Lose	Top 3	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	Btm 3/Imm.	Team Win	IN		Btm 2		Eliminated (Ep 35)
Zoe	Top 24	IN	Top 3	Team Lose	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	IN	Btm 3	Btm 3		Eliminated (Ep 32)
Miles	Top 24	IN	IN	Team Lose	IN	Btm 3	Btm 3	Team 2nd	IN	Team Win	IN	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 30)
Charlie	Top 24	Btm 3	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	IN	Btm 3	Btm 3	Team Lose	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 27)
Cecilia	Top 24	IN	Btm 3	Btm 4	IN	Team Win	IN	Team 2nd	IN	Btm 4	Eliminated (Ep 25)
Con	Top 24	IN	Btm 3	Team Lose	Top 3	Team Lose	IN	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 20)
Jimmy	Top 24	Top 3	IN	Team Win	IN	Team Lose	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 17)
Nidhi	Top 24	Top 3	Top 3	Team Win	IN	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 15)
Olivia	Top 24	IN	Top 3	Team Lose	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 12)
Adam	Top 24	IN	IN	Btm 4	Eliminated (Ep 10)
Nathaniel	Top 24	IN	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 7)
Ashley	Top 24	Btm 3	Eliminated (Ep 5)
Eliminated	None	Ashley	Nathaniel	Adam	Olivia	Nidhi	Jimmy	Con	Theresa 1st Elimination	Cecilia	Charlie	Miles	Zoe		Nicolette		Anastasia	Karmen

Episodes and ratings

Colour key:

  – Highest rating during the series

  – Lowest rating during the series

Ep#/Wk-Ep#	Original airdate	Episode Title / Event	Total viewers (five metro cities)	Nightly Ranking
Week 1
1/01-1	Sunday, 1 May 2016	Series Premiere: Auditions Part 1 - Contestants started Series 8 with a challenge to cook their signature dish in one hour, vying for automatic entry into the Top 24. Gary, Matt and George judged the competitors with either "yes" or "no", with their votes deciding whether the contestant should stay in the competition. Nineteen contestants received three yes votes and won their way through to the main competition. Eleven other contestants, who received either one or two yes votes, were given a second chance and cooked again in the next episode.	1,012,000	#4
2/01-2	Monday, 2 May 2016	Auditions Part 2 - Eleven contestants, who were given a second chance to secure the five remaining spots in the Top 24, competed in the first challenge round to cook a dish with one of ten ingredients from their individual basket in 90 minutes. Mimi was praised for her snapper dish and immediately received an apron and joined the Top 24. The other three contestants receiving an apron were Harry, Elise and Adam.	949,000	#7
3/01-3	Tuesday, 3 May 2016	Auditions Part 3 - The remaining seven contestants faced the Pressure Test in the second round to recreate Shannon Bennett's chocolate peanut bar to secure the last apron into the Top 24. Between three contestants (Melissa, Miles and Sarah) who delivered the best dishes, Miles won the last apron after earning high praise from the judges with his dish.	947,000	#7
4/01-4	Wednesday, 4 May 2016	Top 24 Mystery Box Challenge - In their first challenge, the top 24 contestants had 75 minutes to cook with their choice of ingredients from the Mystery Box, chosen by season 7 winner Billie McKay. The three standout dishes were Nidhi's tea parfait with cornflake crumble, Mimi's tea-smoked duck dish and Jimmy's pan seared duck with stuffed mushrooms. Special mention went to Trent's pan-fried duck with home-made ricotta. The three contestants at risk of elimination were Ashley, Charlie and Theresa.	1,058,000	#2
5/01-5	Thursday, 5 May 2016	Elimination Challenge - The bottom three contestants faced their first elimination challenge. Each had to pick one of twelve cloches that contained twelve mystery ingredients on display and create a dish based on the chosen cloche in 75 minutes. They had the option to choose again if they didn't like their first pick but would be stuck with their second selection. Ashley's choice was mushrooms, Charlie's pick was ginger and Theresa chose prawns. The judges were impressed with Theresa's prawn salad and Charlie's chocolate ginger cremeux, despite the lack of ginger in his dish. As a result, both were declared safe. Ashley, who tried to recreate a pasta dish and was criticised for his overcooked egg and frying the ravioli, became the first contestant to be eliminated from the competition.	1,006,000	#4
Week 2 - Marco Week
6/02-1	Sunday, 8 May 2016	Marco's Mystery Box Challenge and Invention Test - The contestants were tasked to cook a dish with one of the ingredients (cinnamon, chicken, extra virgin olive oil, ham, honey, lemon, parsley and potatoes) from the box chosen by guest chef Marco Pierre White in 75 minutes. Five standout dishes were cooked by Cecilia, Charlie, Matt, Mimi and Nidhi. Charlie, who won the challenge with his Honey Semifreddo, had to pick a choice of meat and three vegetables for their first Invention Test. He chose lamb for protein and parsnips, onions & carrots for three vegetables. They have 90 minutes to cook a dish with these ingredients. Nidhi, Olivia and Zoe receive praises from the judges with their dishes where they will compete for the first Immunity Challenge. Matt receives special mention with his dish of lamb koftas. Con, Nathaniel and Cecilia receive negative feedback from the judges on their dishes. They will be competing in the first Pressure Test for elimination.	905,000	#5
7/02-2	Monday, 9 May 2016	Pressure Test: Dory a la Nicoise - Nathaniel, Con and Cecilia had to copy and recreate a dish Marco was cooking with no set time limit. All their instructions came from Marco and they had 10 seconds to prepare the dish after Marco finished cooking. Cecilia managed to follow Marco's instructions carefully and took the lead in the challenge. Meanwhile, Nathaniel and Con fell behind after the latter accidentally cut himself while skinning his fish. All three managed to complete the dish. Cecilia thrived with her approach similar to Marco's and was saved. It was between Con and Nathaniel who both had issues with the presentation of their dishes. Due to his overcooked fish, Nathaniel was eliminated.	850,000	#9
8/02-3	Tuesday, 10 May 2016	Immunity Challenge: Jake Kellie - The top three contestants, Nidhi, Olivia and Zoe, had 60 minutes to make a classic pasta dish. After Olivia and Nidhi fell behind with their dishes, Zoe won the first round of the challenge with her roast pumpkin and goat cheese ravioli and advanced to the second round to compete against guest chef Jake Kellie for immunity. She chose to cook Italian cuisine with a marsala and cinnamon creme brûlée in 75 minutes. Jake had 60 minutes to cook veal carpaccio. The judges praised Jake's flavour but criticised the presentation of his dish. Zoe presented her dish but it hadn't set perfectly after her brûlée top cracked, despite the judges appreciated her flavours. Therefore, her dish scored 24 points while Jake's dish scored 25.	1,029,000	#5
9/02-4	Wednesday, 11 May 2016	Plough Hotel Team Challenge - The 22 contestants traveled to Footscray at the Plough Hotel for their first team challenge. The team captains, Brett (Red Team) and Nicolette (Blue Team), each picked a card from three jars representing a three-course meal that would describe the traits of each meal. The teams had three hours of prep time to cook enough food for 70 people, before service began. The Blue Team fell behind the Red Team after they took a lot of time to prep the dishes. The Red Team's entrée, skewered prawns, received praises from George and Gary who declared them the winners. The Blue Team were sent to elimination after serving the judges under-cooked scallops and that also missed the mark on the theme (pub-lunch) as their entrée.	965,000	#6
10/02-5	Thursday, 12 May 2016	Alphabet Elimination Challenge - The Blue Team faced the first round of elimination. The challenge was to name an ingredient correctly according to the first letter of the ingredient. Cecilia, Adam, Matt and Harry made mistakes and were in the second round of the challenge where they had to cook a dish using the ingredient they had named incorrectly in the first round. Both Matt and Harry produced exemplary dishes and were declared safe. Cecilia impressed the judges with the flavours of her tuna dish but the consistency of her mayonnaise was criticised. When Adam presented his dish, the judges found it uninspiring, and this along with his under-seasoned lamb wasn't enough to save him from elimination.	967,000	#5
		MasterClass: Marco Pierre White, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan - The judges (minus George) and Marco treated the contestants to their first MasterClass. Marco taught the contestants how to cook his risotto milanese. Matt taught the contestants how to cook his baked cheesecake. Gary taught how to cook his Vietnamese duck pho, which had been chosen by viewers. Lastly, Marco taught the contestants how to cook his saffron arancini using his leftover risotto milanese.	706,000	#9
Week 3
11/03-1	Sunday, 15 May 2016	"Viewers' Choice" Mystery Box Challenge & Invention Test - The remaining 21 contestants faced their next Mystery Box Challenge with 75 minutes to cook with ingredients chosen by the viewers: cauliflower, maple syrup, coconut, goat cheese, okra, lemon myrtle, beef mince and squid. Karmen, Con, Heather, Matt and Anastasia stood out with their dishes. The judges picked Anastasia's dish as the winner of the challenge with the advantage for the Invention Test. She chose marmalade (over peanut butter and vegemite) which everyone then had to cook a dish with in 75 minutes. Anastasia won the second round of the competition with her orange quail dish and received a chance to compete in the Immunity Challenge, along with Con and Nicolette, who also impressed the judges with their inventive dishes. Karmen, Chloe and Olivia all faced serious technical issues on their desserts, and were sent into the Pressure Test, facing elimination.	837,000	#5
12/03-2	Monday, 16 May 2016	Pressure Test: Reynold Poernomo's "Moss" - Chloe, Olivia and Karmen were tasked to recreate season 7 alumnus Reynold Poernomo's dessert "Moss" in two and a half hours. Chloe received praise for creating a very similar dish to Reynold's, making her the first contestant to pass the Pressure Test. Several of Karmen's elements were liked by the judges but the lack of the crémeux was criticised. Olivia's dish had all twelve elements but there were notable errors in several elements. Those flaws were too much to keep her safe over Karmen, and consequently Olivia was eliminated from the competition.	893,000	#7
13/03-3	Tuesday, 17 May 2016	Immunity Challenge: Braden White - Anastasia, Con and Nicolette faced the first round for immunity pin with 60 minutes to make a dish using popcorn. Con and Anastasia presented their plates but they both lacked popcorn in their dishes. Nicolette won the round with her popcorn parfait, earning a chance to cook against guest chef Braden White in the second round. She decided they would both cook fish. She had 75 minutes and cooked a confit salmon with crispy skin. In his 60 minutes, Braden cooked a mulloway dish but the judges found his fish over-cooked and declared Nicolette the winner for the immunity pin with the score 26-25.	1,033,000	#4
14/03-4	Wednesday, 18 May 2016	Huxtable & Pei Modern Team Challenge - The contestants were split randomly into two teams and had to cook a three-course meal for 30 guests from two restaurants in Melbourne: Huxtable and Pei Modern. The Blue Team were assigned to cook dishes from Pei Modern while the Red Team were assigned to Huxtable. The captain (Blue Team's Karmen and Red Team's Matt) and vice captain (Blue Team's Chloe and Red Team's Trent) went to the restaurants and had to memorise the directions of the recipes from the chef of each restaurant (Anthony Hammel of Pei and Daniel Wilson of Huxtable). They then returned to the MasterChef kitchen to relay to their other team members instructions to be able to replicate the dishes before service in 90 minutes. The Blue Team failed to replicate all of the dishes of Pei Modern's three-course meal after a series of technical issues on each dish: zucchini flowers for the entrée were under-cooked, the main's radicchio puree lack colour and they left off the hot caramel topping for the dessert. As a result, they were at risk of elimination after the Red Team won the challenge.	965,000	#4
15/03-5	Thursday, 19 May 2016	Raw and Cooked Elimination Challenge - After losing the team challenge, the Blue Team faced a two-round elimination. The first round was to prepare a raw dish with one ingredient from the pantry without cooking in 30 minutes. The rest of the team were safe while Miles, Nidhi and Theresa (after they fell behind with their dishes) had to compete in the second round. They had to cook with the ingredient they had chosen from the first round (cauliflower for Nidhi, pear for Theresa and tuna for Miles). While Miles was safe after impressing the judges with his tuna tataki, Theresa and Nidhi were left to await the final verdict. Theresa forgot the syrup on her poached pear before she could present it to the judges. Despite being an early front runner of the competition when she served the judges her cauliflower paratha and mint chutney, Nidhi's bhajis suffered from serious technical issues that resulted in her elimination.	908,000	#5
Week 4 - Nigella Week
16/04-1	Sunday, 22 May 2016	Nigella's Mystery Box Challenge & Invention Test - International celebrity chef Nigella Lawson appeared as a guest chef for the week. She presented her chosen ingredients (butternut pumpkin, chestnut, chicken thighs, pippis, ginger, pancetta, feta cheese and cumin) in a Mystery Box for the contestants to cook with in 75 minutes. Heather won the challenge over Charlie, Elena, Jimmy and Zoe with her open filo pumpkin pie. She chose chocolate as the core ingredient for the Invention Test, with 60 minutes to cook. Harry, Karmen and Mimi were named as the Top 3 with their inventive chocolate desserts. Chloe, Jimmy and Miles were sent to the Pressure Test after each suffer technical issues with their respective desserts.	956,000	#5
17/04-2	Monday, 23 May 2016	Pressure Test: Nigella Lawson's Three-Course Dinner - The bottom three performers from the Invention Test faced a Pressure Test featuring three dishes from Nigella: crab avocado salad, lamb with radishes and peas, and coffee pannacotta with chocolate coffee sauce. The contestants received only 60 minutes to plate up all three dishes. Chloe was praised for her dishes and was declared safe. All of Miles' dishes had notable flaws (salad that lacked dressing, sauce for the lamb that was burnt and pannacotta's texture was grainy) which would be enough to send him home. However, the judges were more disappointed with Jimmy, despite the positive feedback on his pannacotta, because his salad missed the other ingredients which lacked presentation and he served his inedible lamb under-cooked that sealed his fate to elimination.	919,000	#7
18/04-3	Tuesday, 24 May 2016	Immunity Challenge: Lachlan Colwill - Having landed in the top 3 of the Invention Test, Harry, Karmen and Mimi were surprised in the middle of the night by Nigella and Matt as the preliminary round for the Immunity Challenge was creating a midnight snack, something Nigella is well known for. Harry's brookies, a combination of brownies and cookies, were deemed the best dish and he won the right to challenge chef Lachlan Colwill for immunity. Harry chose "Christmas sweet" (over "Christmas savoury") as the pantry but his Christmas Pavlova wasn't enough to beat Colwill's Australian summer Christmas pudding and the professional won the challenge with a score of 27 over Harry's 26.	1,106,000	#4
19/04-4	Wednesday, 25 May 2016	Melbourne Showgrounds Team Challenge - The 18 contestants were randomly divided into three teams. They had to cook three dishes (one savoury, two sweet with one of these containing jam) for a crowd of 1000-2000 people who would turn up for a fete. The judges declared that the money that the teams made by selling their food would be donated to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. The two teams who made the most money would be safe and the winning team would therefore be decided by the guests. The teams were given four hours to cook before service would start after two hours. The yellow team's rocky road popcorn and blondies, the blue's team chocolate cupcakes with jam and buttercream and the red team's chocolate-chip cookies were the hits of the day. The yellow team were declared the winners with an amount of $6326. The red team were safe with an amount of $5892, leaving the blue team to face elimination.	948,000	#5
20/04-5	Thursday, 26 May 2016	Cake Elimination Challenge - The losing team faced a cake-themed elimination. For the first round, their task was to take turns tasting and naming different cakes. Charlie, Matt and Con were the first three to misname a cake and were tasked to bake a cake in the second round with 90 minutes. Matt's carrot cake received very positive feedback overall. Meanwhile, Charlie's chocolate and raspberry hazelnut cake split the judges' opinions for being dry and Con's thyme pound cake was described as unevenly cooked. Both of the cakes were dense but it was Con's cake that was buoyant which could not save him and he was eliminated.	1,111,000	#1
		MasterClass: Nigella Lawson, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan - For the remaining contestants' second MasterClass, Nigella taught them how to cook her tequila and lime chicken. George presented the contestants with his lamb moussaka. Gary showed the contestants his dish: fish three ways and hot-smoked trout. Nigella also presented her second recipe: her lemon pavlova.	854,000	#7
Week 5
21/05-1	Sunday, 29 May 2016	Leftovers Mystery Box Challenge & Invention Test - In the Mystery Box Challenge, the contestants found themselves cooking with a mix of ingredients including barramundi, vanilla beans and miso, as well as with instructions to keep every discarded piece of food stored with a "waste not, want not" principle in mind. Chloe won the challenge and her advantage was a pass straight through to the week's Immunity Challenge. The remaining cooks were tasked to create an inventive dish with no pantry or garden available, just what was left of the mystery box items including the scraps. Matt, Karmen and Mimi impressed the judges and they joined Chloe in the Immunity Challenge while Theresa, Charlie and Brett missed the mark and ended up in the Pressure Test.	808,000	#5
22/05-2	Monday, 30 May 2016	Pressure Test: Jason Atherton's Quail Afternoon Tea - Brett, Charlie and Theresa had three hours to recreate the dish of guest chef Jason Atherton. His dish contained five elements: roasted quail, duck tea, slow-cooked quail egg, pearl barley mushroom porridge and a savoury parfait. While Brett's dish impressed the judges, Charlie was criticised for the consistency of his parfait and the lack of mushrooms on the porridge but it was Theresa who was eliminated after failing to complete her dish when she missed out her quail egg and duck teabag.	918,000	#7
23/05-3	Tuesday, 31 May 2016	Woodland House Immunity Challenge: Thomas Woods & Hayden McFarland - The winners of the Mystery Box Challenge and Invention Test were split in pairs for the first round of the Immunity Challenge. Chloe, as the winner of the Mystery Box Challenge, had a second advantage of picking one of the Invention Test winners as her partner. She chose Matt and in the first round, they had to cook two jaffles (sweet and savoury) in 75 minutes. Matt and Chloe beat Mimi and Karmen with his spiced mince jaffle and her apple pie jaffle. As a team, they then competed against Woodland House chefs Thomas Woods and Hayden McFarland from Melbourne in the second round with a chance for both of them to win Immunity pins. With 75 minutes, they were given the option to choose two ingredients: one sweet and one savoury, for them to cook their dishes. Matt chose prawns and Chloe picked raspberries. Thomas and Hayden had 60 minutes to cook their dishes with the same ingredients. While Thomas' raspberry vinegar jelly scored 28 points to Chloe's rosewater bavarois with 21, Hayden's miso glazed prawns was criticised for the use of bitter melon in the dish and given a score of 18 points to Matt's 27 for his hot n' sour prawn head broth. The professionals' final score was 46 while Chloe and Matt, for the first time, won an Immunity pin each with their total score of 48.	1,105,000	#2
24/05-4	Wednesday, 1 June 2016	Hellenic Republic Team Challenge - Contestants were randomly chosen to be on two teams by George who is the owner of the Greek restaurant Hellenic Republic in Kew. The teams had to cook a Greek three-course feast (including a lamb on a spit) to be served to 120 guests, including George's family and friends. George's mother Mary was the guest judge with Gary and Matt. The Red team led by Zoe fell behind during the challenge. Despite this, their dishes impressed the judges but cost them the victory after putting too much cinnamon in the dessert and they were sent to elimination.	897,000	#9
25/05-5	Thursday, 2 June 2016	One-Inch Cube Elimination Challenge - After Matt used his immunity pin to escape the first round of elimination, his remaining team members had to identify and correctly guess each cube of an ingredient while blind-folded. Cecilia, Elise, Heather and Mimi then had 60 minutes to cook a dish in the second round with the use of the ingredient they guessed incorrectly in the first round. After Mimi was declared safe with her mango dish, it was between the dishes of Heather (who had too much lemon), Cecilia (who had a lack of ham) and Elise (whose lamb sauce was too salty). In the end, the judges were unanimous and Cecilia was sent home.	1,089,000	#1
Week 6
26/06-1	Sunday, 5 June 2016	Maggie Beer's Invention Test & Mystery Box Challenge - Each contestant picked one of three ingredients – abalone, silken tofu and lemongrass – to cook a dish within 60 minutes in the Invention Test by guest chef Maggie Beer. The top three dishes were named and Zoe won with the use of silken tofu for her cheesecake. Her advantage was to choose the eight ingredients in the Mystery Box Challenge for everyone to cook with in 60 minutes. She chose basil, chilli, garlic, pancetta, pork mince, ricotta, thyme and tomatoes. The top three dishes were cooked by Chloe, Trent and Brett while Charlie, Elise, Harry and Nicolette were at risk of elimination after presenting the least-impressive dishes.	919,000	#5
27/06-2	Monday, 6 June 2016	Pressure Test: Anna Polyviou's "Mess" - In possession of the Immunity pin, Nicolette used it and so Elise took her place to compete against Charlie and Harry in the Pressure Test. They had three hours to cook all the elements of Anna Polyviou's dessert "Mess" before assembling the dish in 15 minutes. Harry and Elise impressed the judges despite a single flaw on each of their dishes. Both of them were declared safe as Charlie's plate lacked balance due to his thick white chocolate dome and missing gelatine in the raspberry curd. Despite his elimination, Polyviou offered him work experience as a pastry chef at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney.	1,086,000	#4
28/06-3	Tuesday, 7 June 2016	Immunity Challenge: Morgan McGlone - In the first round, Brett, Chloe and Trent had 60 minutes to bake an eclair for an advantage in the second round. Both Trent and Chloe impressed the judges, who voted Chloe as the winner with her chocolate eclair with toasted pecan praline. Hoping for a second Immunity pin, Chloe chose coffee over tea as the core ingredient to cook against guest chef Morgan McGlone of Belles Hot Chicken in Barangaroo. She presented her coffee bombe dessert but an issue with the meringue failed to win her another pin, scoring 18 to Morgan's 22 for his coffee crusted quail.	1,069,000	#4
29/06-4	Wednesday, 8 June 2016	Melbourne Chinatown Team Challenge - Guest chef Kylie Kwong mentored the contestants to cook at least two Chinese dishes, with one costing $7 and any others $5, to be served to 500 people. Two teams were assigned through fortune cookies that contained a coloured paper (red or yellow) with one of each team assigned as captains (Red Team's Elise and Yellow Team's Chloe). The money raised would be given to the Smith Family charity organisation. When the yellow team ran out of customers at their stall, they added another dish to the menu at the last minute. Both teams raised over $6000 with the red team winning the challenge as the yellow team were sent to elimination.	1,049,000	#4
30/06-5	Thursday, 9 June 2016	Lucky Dip Elimination Challenge - Chloe opted to use her Immunity pin and skipped the challenge while her remaining team members faced elimination. They had to pick a core ingredient and a cuisine from lucky dip bags to cook a dish within 75 minutes. Elena, Harry and Matt cooked the best dishes and were declared safe. Mimi's Thai lamb dish lacked a crunchy element and Zoe was criticised for the texture of the pumpkin filling to her American tart. But in the end, it was Miles' salmon dish that lacked focus on the fish itself, eliminating him from the competition.	1,041,000	#1
Week 7 - Power Apron Week
31/07-1	Sunday, 12 June 2016	Luke Nguyen's Mystery Box Challenge & Invention Test - For the contestants to gain a Power Apron, guest chef Luke Nguyen presented his Mystery Box (with ingredients including crickets) for them to cook an exemplary dish. Beating Matt and Heather in the challenge was Elise with the use of crickets for her parfait. After earning the power apron, Elise had 90 minutes to prepare her dish, choosing the method of frying (over steaming), while the others had 60 minutes to prepare their fried dishes. Despite this advantage, Elise fell behind after wasting her 30 minute advantage due to choosing a dish that would require an element that could not be fried. Anastasia, Chloe and Harry received praise for their inventive dishes. The winner of the Power Apron was Anastasia with her tarragon prawns and fried fennel pesto. Elise was sent into the Pressure Test along with Elena and Zoe to face elimination.	836,000	#5
32/07-2	Monday, 13 June 2016	Ross Lusted's Two-Cloche Pressure Test - The advantage of the Power Apron was to choose between the two cloches presented by guest chef Ross Lusted for the Pressure Test. Each cloche contained a difficult dish (sweet and savoury) for Elena, Elise and Zoe to cook. As the holder of the Power Apron, Anastasia chose his perfumed stone fruit (sweet) over his chicken duckling dish (savoury). All the girls struggled during the challenge and while Elise scorched the burnt peach butter on her dish, it was Zoe's thick over-reduced syrup and chalky sorbet that sealed her elimination.	918,000	#7
33/07-3	Tuesday, 14 June 2016	Second Chance Cook-Off - Previously eliminated contestants returned to the MasterChef Kitchen to compete for a place back in the competition. They had 60 minutes to cook a dish with the use of the following ingredients: wine, rosemary, raspberries, dark chocolate, cardamon pods, lemon, greek yoghurt, lamb and beetroot. The returning contestant would also receive a Power Apron for the winning dish. Anastasia, who still had the Power Apron, got a second advantage to choose one of eliminated contestants who would then pick another ingredient. She chose Theresa who added coconut in order to make a yoghurt rosemary snowball. That dish highly impressed the judges over Cecilia's yoghurt sorbet and earned Theresa her place back in the competition, winning the Power Apron.	1,040,000	#5
34/07-4	Wednesday, 15 June 2016	Sails by the Bay Team Challenge - Guest chef Curtis Stone mentored the contestants at the restaurant Sails by the Bay in their team challenge. They were randomly chosen in pairs and each team had to cook and serve a 6 course degustation dish with the use of citruses for 50 people. The thirteenth contestant could sit out of the challenge to avoid elimination if Theresa used her Power Apron. Returning the favour for giving her the advantage to earn her place back in the competition, she chose Anastasia. The green team (Elise and Trent) attempted to come up with another element to improve their dish at the last minute, while the purple team (Chloe and Nicolette) ignored Curtis' advice for improvements on their dish. By the time the teams presented their dishes during service time, the green team's mandarin prawn salad had a technical issue on the prawns and the purple team's grapefruit sorbet received negative remarks on its presentation. Those dishes sent the two teams into the elimination round. The other teams won the challenge with the blue team's (Elena and Theresa) tangelo refresher named the dish of the day.	1,062,000	#2
35/07-5	Thursday, 16 June 2016	Nature Affinity Elimination Challenge - The contestants faced each other in pairs in a two-round elimination. For the first round, Elise and Nicolette had to cook a dish inspired by seashells while Trent and Chloe took the inspiration from autumn leaves. Elise and Trent produced the best dishes and were saved while Chloe and Nicolette then had 60 minutes to compete with a dish inspired by fire in the second round. It was a split-decision, with one of them declared safe based on presentation. Although she was praised for the flavours of her dish, Nicolette was eliminated by judges' decision.	1,083,000	#2
Week 8
36/08-1	Sunday, 19 June 2016	Grotesque Mystery Box Challenge & Team Relay Invention Test - This mystery box contains odd ingredients (monkfish, celeriac, morel mushrooms, morton bay bug, blue cheese, Buddha’s hand, chicken livers and horned melon) for the contestants to cook a dish in 60 minutes. The winning dish of this challenge was Elena's buttered bug, celeriac and horned melon. From a choice of paired ingredients, she chose honey and lemon as the core ingredients. This invention test was a one hour-relay challenge. Elena has a second advantage to choose her own team (Matt, Karmen and Trent) while George randomly divided the other remaining home cooks in teams of four. Each team member have 15 minutes of cooking time and 45 seconds to take each turn in the kitchen. Elena's Red Team won the challenge despite missing out one of the elements in their dish while the Yellow Team's dish lacked creativity after Brett swapped their original dish, the Blue Team were the worst performers due to lack of teamwork and Theresa's deficient head start. Their dish had the use of artificial flavors that sent the team to elimination.	895,000	#5
37/08-2	Monday, 20 June 2016	Pressure Test: Flynn McGarry's Beet Wellington - The Blue Team had two and a half hours to recreate Flynn McGarry's 62 step dish: Beet Wellington. After Heather and Theresa impressed the judges, Anastasia and Chloe had a couple of serious flaws on their dishes. Chloe's sauce was diluted after she accidentally spilled her first batch of smoked beetroot water and her beet balls lacked smoothness.	1,064,000	#5
38/08-3	Tuesday, 21 June 2016	Immunity Challenge: Victor Liong -	1,047,000	#4
39/08-4	Wednesday, 22 June 2016	Outdoor Cinema Team Challenge -	927,000	#8
40/08-5	Thursday, 23 June 2016	Elimination Challenge: Time Auction -	912,000	#5
Week 9 - Heston Week
41/09-1	Sunday, 26 June 2016	Heston's Mystery Box Challenge & Invention Test -
42/09-2	Monday, 27 June 2016	Pressure Test -
43/09-3	Tuesday, 28 June 2016	Immunity Challenge -
44/09-4	Wednesday, 29 June 2016	Team Challenge -
45/09-5	Thursday, 30 June 2016	Elimination Challenge -
		MasterClass -