It’s every man for himself – and one of them will be going home!

Masterchef Recap – 19 May 2011

It’s morning in the Masterchef house and today we see Hayden enjoying a smoothie.  After hours waiting in the wardrobe the film crew are rewarded bycapturing vision of Jay waking up. 

Soon the sponsors black SUV’s pull up at the Masterchef kitchen and the Boys exit already wearing their black elimination challenge aprons.

The challenge – 3 rounds of cooking with an open pantry.  As Gary explains “It’s time to cook your way back into the competition.”  So far it all seems pretty straightforward, surely there must be a twist?  There is...only 10 minutes allowed – the shortest time ever!

It appears the hyperbole baton has been passed to Account Manager Peter who is “looking around the room for bins in case I have to throw up!”  Fortunately he recovers quickly as they “hit the fruit and veg cabinet like a football scrum.”

All too soon it’s time to “step away from the benches.”  Billy and Peter have served up raw prawns.  Michael masters the gooey yolk on his salmon tartare, but IT Tech Support Mat’s meat disasters continue with a split yolk on his steak tartare which judge Matt Moran pronounces as inedible.  Five are safe, but for Peter, Mat, Seamus, Kumar, Billy and Andrew the second pressure test (in which the time limit has generously been increased to 15 minutes) awaits.

Seamus switches from Japanese to Chinese “looking for a dish to tick all the boxes” but after overcooking we see his “flavour base” consigned to the bin.  Andrew thinks he needs “to lift his game” and we get a heart wrenching back story about how six years ago he suffered a major workplace accident “which crushed his soul” – in a week light on for back stories is this a hint that Andrew’s Masterchef dream could almost be over?

Billy’s prawns this time are cooked.  Seamus is missing the required elements and Kumar has used too much ginger.  Andrew’s dish is the last tasted.  Sardines wrapped in prosciutto.  Matt Moran is up to taste, grimacing we seem him quickly turn and spit it out.  Oh no! He didn’t scale the fish!  As Film Projectionist Michael astutely points out “He wasn’t expecting that... imagine scales on the roof of your mouth.  Yuk!”

It’s no surprise then that Andrew’s dish is one of the worst two.  Joining him in the third and final pressure test is Seamus.  As Gary explains “You have only 20 minutes to take charge of your Masterchef dream!”   And we are underway with Gary shouting “We’ll keep our eyes on the clock.  You keep your eyes on the prize.”  Seamus is redoing his stir fried snapper, whilst Andrew is keeping it simple with a steak.  As we watch them go at it (“high pressure cooking at it’s best" according to Matt) we can only wonder at Andrew’s choice of cut....a sad skinny looking piece of meat.  Suddenly a surprise Seamus back story where we learn he has given up his graphic design business for the competition – a little less dramatic than Andrew’s crushed soul.

The finale approaches as the dishes are presented to the judges.  Andrew claims he has cooked the steak “medium well” to bring out the marbling.  Hmmm says Gary, thinking this is just an excuse.  As it turns out some of the steak is well done whilst other parts are medium rare.  The aoli is however “beautiful” allowing Andrew a glimmer of hope.  We don’t hear much about Seamus’s snapper except that it is lacking some soy.

Judgement time and a shock decision.  Seamus is out.  The aoli was the hero of the day.