katisha

Not to mention the judges gave Daniel some pretty significant help when they "strongly suggested" his idea for his course was too time consuming. 🙄

You can breathe easier now, @SnazzyDaisy. It was Julie. And I suspected that would be the case because during the episode they showed some footage of Heston Blumenthal walking into the Masterchef kitchen, and he gets this look of recognition on his face. That could only possibly be for Billie so I reckon she'll at least be final three. And in tonight's episode, since we obviously cannot possibly lose Daniel for any reason, it was always going to be between Billie, Sarah and Julie, and the odds suggested Julie (although they were wrong about Keyma). I can't snark too much about this elimination because it's probably not really Julie's fault that the editors decided to feature her quite as much as they did this season. I thought she took the news really well and with good humour. Also, she and Billie get points for having the manners to say "Service, please" to the wait staff. Sounded much more like an order when Sarah and Daniel said it without the "please". Recap time. He's dead right. Love or hate Julie, there's no doubt in my mind that she should still be there and Dan should not.

Second episode in a row which failed to really hold my interest, to the extent that I snoozed through most of the truffle hunt and only half watched the cooking portion of the episode. The main interesting thing about it was that Keyma won immunity. I was sure (as were Sportsbet) that she was the next in line to get booted and since we now know she's not, that brings up some interesting possibilities for tomorrow. We can almost guarantee it won't be Daniel, because apart from the "protected species" thing he's got going on, he's also now the only bloke left so that alone will keep him around for top three, I feel certain. Could it be...could it be that "Saint" Julie might be about to go? I feel it'll be one of the three ladies. If she does, be prepared for an episode which runs about 30 minutes over time while all the judges tearfully apologise for what they've been forced to do.

I couldn't agree more!

As Mindy might say, "You go, girlfriend!" 😂 https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/masterchef-alvin-career-pivot-after-elimination-025832692.html

So, to sum up the latest Sportsbet odds after Alvin's elimination...

I'm absolutely gutted for Alvin. I really like him and I just cannot believe he's not there anymore and bloody Dan is. 😠 What have these judges got against Billie? Three eliminations in a row - come on! I'm glad Keyma ended up doing well in round 2 because I certainly would have felt her pain about having to cook not one but two dishes with oysters. I am not a seafood fan and realise most people will think that's weird, but oysters would be up there on my list of truly hideous-looking seafoods, second only to octopus. 🤮 But they are a much desired, expensive delicacy, so what would I know! That was the main reason I didn't like this episode much - one round of all oysters was bad enough, let alone two! And talk about a challenge tailor made for Dan to avoid round 2 - can that really be such a coincidence? Here's what Ben had to say about it all. Bahaha - aquatic snot! 😂 He had to go there - might as well, because Alvin did when he said, "The only thing standing between me and top 5 is these mother-shucking oysters!" 😂 It kind of seems that way.

Recap from the episode before last. 🤣

😂 Unfortunately, I doubt it will be him having a hard time in the kitchen on Sunday in the elimination episode. IF a Fan goes home, it'll be Keyma, not him. Tonight's episode was OK, I guess, but it did feel as though Sarah was unlucky not to win the immunity over Julie. After all, there was nothing wrong with her dish, whereas Julie's dish clearly had faults in that it was a few lumps of cake served with a couple of scoops of ice-cream. I mean, I don't doubt it tasted good but surely the winning dish should be one which both looks AND tastes good? Meanwhile, poor Alvin missed out again and like @Aerobicidal, I'm afraid he's getting that "next Favourite to go" edit.

So did I, but I got the feeling they gave the win to Sarah almost through gritted teeth! Even though I'm annoyed by her name-dropping and constant references to the restaurants she owns, nobody would call Daniel a better cook than Sarah but the judges seem to sell her short a lot, and if he'd managed to do even a half-decent job of that huge hunk of steak, he'd have won for sure. He just stuffed it up too badly even for them to over-praise it. Alvin was hilarious tonight. "You're going down, Keyma!" "Twist the knife in my back!" 😂 (small voice) I know most people are very tired of Julie, and I am a bit too, but I think her friendship with Billie is incredibly sweet. Also, I'm curious re Billie. Remember how a couple of years ago they brought her back as a mentor and she just absolutely fell flat in that job i.e. she came across as uncomfortable and sort of boring? Yet in her interviews as a contestant, she comes across as on the quiet side but still really sweet and likeable. Maybe her personality just wasn't "out there" enough to carry off a mentor role? Poh did much better at it, but Poh has a huge extrovert type of personality so you'd expect that.

And part of that is that they wanted to keep him because he had actual potential. So he must have earned his place 😊 Who only knows what Dan has in mind career wise with food?

Hehe! I always think with the "Blokey McBloke" contestants, they're trying to create Andy Allen Mk II. Because to be fair to Andy, he got this sort of edit in his season, ie electrician turned cooking savant, but then he's gone on to back it up by actually working in a restaurant with a good reputation. That just cannot happen with any random tradie. Andy obviously had some ability all along which the show was able to nurture.

Well, that one definitely went to script. I think Mindy must have realised she was toast even before the challenge started. Good on her for taking it in such a positive way. She was never a favourite of mine but I've grown to like her more as I see her as one of the casualties of the "we must have Dan in the final" train. Is it just me or has Kristen Tibballs had a huge amount of Botox or something since we last saw her? At one point she seemed to be trying to make a sad face in response to Billie saying she missed her daughter, and it just wouldn't work! And here's the recap. He was in good form tonight! 😂

Rightly or wrongly, I can't see anyone except Mindy going tomorrow night. Julie's too popular with fans and I'm pretty sure Billie will knock it out of the park. But I do like Kirsten Tibballs - she's a sweetheart! So it'll be an interesting episode. Can't remember where I read it (possibly the FB page) but someone was saying they were sick of Jock's bursting into applause thing, saying it reminded them of Mark Holden on Australian Idol with his "TOUCHDOWN!" It is starting to annoy me but I guess Jock didn't want to be left out because Melissa has her "traverse" and "gloosy" and Andy his "bangin'" and "EPIC"!

Could not agree more. When Aldo was saying "who even likes cucumber", I was thinking that I do, but the way I enjoy eating cucumbers is the simplest way imaginable - just seasoned with a little salt! So, yeah, not going to cut it against wasabi at all. And I think one of the reasons that cucumber is so subtly flavoured is that so much of it is water. Mel said "traverse" last night - I can't unhear it now that you've pointed it out! 😂

Well, that turned out pretty much how I expected. Again, Daniel got incredibly "lucky" to end up with wattleseed as his first ingredient because he (somewhat mysteriously) knew exactly what to do with it, keeping him safe from round 2. Billie, Julie and even Aldo are definitely superior cooks to Daniel but you do get the feeling that the producers are so set on this Fans narrative, they would have found a way to save him by making his second ingredient something really difficult like, I don't know, a type of seafood mainly found in the waters off Darwin. After Julie played the immunity pin, Billie was always the favourite to beat Aldo in a cook-off but the thing is, his dish was just fine. It just wasn't exceptional like hers was. He didn't seem that disappointed, so maybe the family reunion he got last week helped to cushion the blow. Billie was the most upset I've ever seen her. Here is the recap. 😂 It can't only have been me who thought those mushrooms looked a bit genitalia-ish! 😂 😂 😂

Damn, why can't it be Daniel who's going home, the most deserving out of those left? The longer he stays, the more worried I get about the season outcome.

Well, that was a pretty lame episode. I far prefer it when a cooking show features at least A dish I might actually want to try. I particularly felt for Julie getting stuck with trying to make something tasty out of noxious weeds. Sarah said she'd cooked with chestnuts before - shouldn't she have realised they are very labour intensive and she'd need to make sure she left enough time to not serve raw chicken? Maybe she didn't want to ruin her fine dining/French training reputation by admitting she'd only used canned ones (which Julie was happy to do!) The challenge should have been a no-brainer for Alvin to win but again, he said he had experience cooking sea urchin, so why didn't he realise that cooking the noodles over heat wasn't the right way to prepare that dish? So on balance, Keyma deserved to win and she probably got lucky in having first choice of those awful ingredients. That sorbet did end up a beautiful colour and looked appetising.

If that happens,

Some of the contestants have had very memorable children. One of Sashi's sons was very cool too :)

Yeah, even this old cynic was getting a bit teary over some of those reunions! It was certainly very nice of Masterchef to reunite Aldo with his family members like that. It was interesting to see how different some families are in regards to expressing emotions. Billie is a very cool, calm person in the kitchen and doesn't display a great deal of emotion and her family are also low-key and not especially demonstrative! If it was me on Masterchef, my family reunion would have been like Billie's as we don't tend to be overly-emotional. Everyone shows love in different ways. :) But Alvin giving his partner a huge hug, Julie with her hubby and sons...yes, dust in my living room too! I found Mindy incredibly overbearing and bossy in the early part of this season but she's mellowed out and tonight I felt she worked well WITH Daniel rather than just ordering him around like a sous chef, and as a result they made a really good dish. I'm with you on that. I get that savoury sweet is a thing now but if I wanted a savoury last course of a meal, I'd order another entree. I want my sweets to be, well, sweet! But Billie did work with Heston Blumenthal for a while, didn't she, and it seems some of his more out there ideas rubbed off on her. As for Keyma, if there had to be only two Fans left at this stage I'm glad she's one of them. She's a genuinely lovely soul and has some excellent skills too. I thought tonight's episode might not be recapped but it was!

The TV ad preview being advertised on the Masterchef Facebook page suggests Aldo won't just have his husband taking part in this episode. I have a feeling someone from Italy will be there too - just not sure if it's his lucky charm magic Nonna!

Wow, this will be a tear-fest of an episode. I reckon Aldo will personally flood out the kitchen.

Well, that was a satisfying result. It doesn't make it any better that Montana outlasted Michael, which should never have happened in any universe, but tonight it was the only fair decision (even though she put in a good effort for someone who doesn't cook dishes like that very much). I did wonder if the editors were setting us up for a surprise Mindy boot i.e. the pressure test was almost tailor made for her skills, yet she still went home - that would have been so much more dramatic! And yes, Aldo made mistakes too but Montana definitely made more. Recap! 😂 Which episode was that? Pretty much! 🤣 I think Ben has as much of a problem with Montana's "occupation" as I do!

Aldo, Mindy and Montana? That's a bottom three I can get on board with. Talk about spoilt for choice! 🤣 Seriously, it should be Montana who goes but it won't be. They are so determined to keep a couple of Fans there way past their use-by date and she's been the beneficiary. Well, one of them. Was Daniel trying to squeeze out a few sympathy tears tonight? 😒 I don't think you'll find many on this forum, mate. We entirely agree when you say, "I don't even know why I'm here!"