S12.W5 (E20-24): Twists Week

[Athena]

Twists

[katisha]

Thanks for setting up our new improved forum, mods.  I hope it'll make things easier for our overseas viewers. 

So, tonight's elimination episode had yet another twist - the takeaway challenge.  Not sure I'm that keen on this idea because I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't order takeaway expecting five-star dining excellence.  I just want it to be decent, well-cooked food that I didn't have to go to the trouble of cooking!  So I don't think this showed off any of the four contenders to their best advantage, but in saying that I'm glad Tessa was safe and out of Tracey and Chris, I prefer her so I was happy with the outcome.

I may be wrong but I'm almost sure that in pretty much every episode of his season, Ice-Cream Ben managed to work in a reference to his Oma.  Seems he's switched allegiances to his auntie this year!

Edited May 10, 2020 by katisha

[Rosenrot]

Weeee, we have a forum! 🤗

If this was any of the seasons from 1 to 7, contestants would've been given a map to Melissa's house and they would've needed to deliver the food by themselves. Cooking time would've been an hour INCLUDING the delivery time. These things they're doing now are so easy compared to the crazy shit the contestants had to pull off in the earlier seasons, and though I do think they need to challenge the cooks and force them out of their comfort zone more, I'm glad we're over all that "pick your ingredients in the pitch-black pantry" and "you've got two hours of cooking time and it includes having to run around in a city (and country) you've never been to trying to find specific ingredients, good luck!" BS. I always wanted to shake my TV and scream "this isn't Amazing Race, I just want to see some good food!!!" 

I knew it that by saying I like Chris more now I'd be jinxing him. Oh well. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Rosenrot
pantry, not gantry!

[SnideAsides]

I was going to defend season five because I feel like the challenges were the one thing they did better than recent seasons (aside from the obvious duds like the pitch black pantry and the stupid Alfa Romeo treasure hunt), but I just read through its Wiki page and... ooof. And I still haven't forgiven that season for replacing the "steady difficulty curve" story arcs with the obnoxious theme weeks (that we still can't get rid of), meaning now we can get "recreate a state reception from 1920" in week three and "make whatever, as long as all the ingredients can fit in... This Shopping Basket!" in week ten like last year.

This season has been pretty good challenge-wise though. Like the All-Stars mini-season, I feel like having returning players is forcing them to innovate on concepts they don't realise have gotten stale and predictable and it's helping the show enormously. I have no doubt we would have gotten the standard relay and time auction challenges instead of this year's cool variations otherwise.

In conclusion, I'm disappointed Melissa wasn't just lounging around in a hoodie and trackies when the takeaway arrived. Way to stick to a theme, SHOW.

[TVbitch]

This challenge was a bit muddled for me considering the food sits around for god knows how long anyway before the judges taste it. I know for MC UK the judges run out to everyones stations and taste right away, then have a formal tasting that is filmed. Not sure what they do for AU. Not sure it added anything for Melissa to be at home.  

Ben is starting to excel with non-frozen things and I'm bummed he is going to disappear. ....And I really want to know why?!?!

[ppl]

7 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

This season has been pretty good challenge-wise though. Like the All-Stars mini-season, I feel like having returning players is forcing them to innovate on concepts they don't realise have gotten stale and predictable and it's helping the show enormously. I have no doubt we would have gotten the standard relay and time auction challenges instead of this year's cool variations otherwise.

I feel the opposite. There's been way too many "cook whatever you want" challenges and not enough pressure tests or restricted theme/ingredient eliminations. These are All Star contestants and they should be used to be making dishes out of almost nothing instead of being gifted pantries, garden flowers and 75 minutes.

I did not agree with Chris being eliminated. Ben should have went home. The whole point of this take away challenge is to make sure that the dish would still be amazing to eat after delivery. By changing the egg element of his dish, he created another dish for delivery which means the spirit of the challenge hasn't been met. He didn't meet the brief.

The judges were also inconsistent with their remarks. Melissa saying that she wants more complexity in her delivered food. Who orders gourmet food for delivery? Chris making a simple dish is exactly what someone should be doing in a challenge like this.

This episode was really boring too. It's starting to show in the ratings as Lego Masters had its biggest gap last night over Masterchef.

[misgabi13]

4 hours ago, ppl said:

I did not agree with Chris being eliminated. Ben should have went home. The whole point of this take away challenge is to make sure that the dish would still be amazing to eat after delivery. By changing the egg element of his dish, he created another dish for delivery which means the spirit of the challenge hasn't been met. He didn't meet the brief.

I agree!

Plus his plated dish for the judges was bloody tiny and not in the slightest like anything Mel got!

12 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

In conclusion, I'm disappointed Melissa wasn't just lounging around in a hoodie and trackies when the takeaway arrived. Way to stick to a theme, SHOW.

I too was really hoping to see this!  Something super warm and snuggly!

As for tonight's episode - I really don't understand why Pho insisted on being captain when Callum had already said that is what he did every day.

I also don't understand why they couldn't incorporate the choux buns - which looked amazing!

They should have, also, ditched the sauce that wasn't working!

 

[katisha]

16 minutes ago, misgabi13 said:

As for tonight's episode - I really don't understand why Pho insisted on being captain when Callum had already said that is what he did every day.

And whatever Poh might think, she's NOT a leader at all.  The disorganisation she tends to bring to her own cooks was multiplied on this group challenge. I'm sure Callum would have done better, even if he and Sarah Carrot Lady were responsible for stuffing up that sauce.  Sarah T was an excellent leader, I thought.  

Not that it matters because they won, but I thought Brown Team's decision to continue with Laura's pastafest entree wasn't a good one because literally the only contestant in the competition who wouldn't have struggled to make that work well is her.  Surely they could have made a different kind of pasta from the dough, one that didn't need to be rolled and folded?

19 minutes ago, misgabi13 said:

I also don't understand why they couldn't incorporate the choux buns - which looked amazing!

Whilst I like Reynold, I think he was the main driver behind ditching Emilia's dessert idea and perhaps along with his considerable ability goes a bit of arrogance.  And Jess appears to sort of hero worship him so she was never going to talk him out of that plan!

 

[zibnchy]

Is anyone else disgruntled about Twists Week?

The episodes are more closely resembling Survivor or Big Brother challenges all of a sudden. I get that a good chef needs to be able to think on their feet. They need to be able to swap out ingredients or change a recipe last minute if something goes wrong. (OR a dreaded vegetarian shows up.) But when has it ever happened that, in the middle of prep during dinner rush, an entire kitchen staff is suddenly told that they now need to go work in the restaurant across the street? Immediately.

What did we learn from this? Nothing. Was it fun? No. Was it dramatic? No. Was Jock annoying? Yes. Did Andy think the food was banging? Mostly.

Also, did Reynold (I think it was Reynold) get paid extra to say something along the line of "No food ever goes to waste in this kitchen." Because we know that's not even remotely true.

[Rosenrot]

26 minutes ago, zibnchy said:

Is anyone else disgruntled about Twists Week?

So far it feels as dumb and annoying as the last(?) season's Secrets Week. 

6 hours ago, ppl said:

I feel the opposite. There's been way too many "cook whatever you want" challenges and not enough pressure tests or restricted theme/ingredient eliminations. These are All Star contestants and they should be used to be making dishes out of almost nothing instead of being gifted pantries, garden flowers and 75 minutes.

AMEN. 🙏

[SnideAsides]

We all know even if they were to restrict them to themes, we'd get bullshit justifications like "You said making something French-INSPIRED so I used the texture of escargot as inspiration for an ice cream!" and "nothing says breakfast like pasta!" and "you can totally have pork at a Bat Mitzvah if you cook it on a hibachi, show me the rabbi who says you can't!".

[katisha]

10 hours ago, zibnchy said:

The episodes are more closely resembling Survivor or Big Brother challenges all of a sudden. I get that a good chef needs to be able to think on their feet. They need to be able to swap out ingredients or change a recipe last minute if something goes wrong. (OR a dreaded vegetarian shows up.) But when has it ever happened that, in the middle of prep during dinner rush, an entire kitchen staff is suddenly told that they now need to go work in the restaurant across the street? Immediately.

What did we learn from this? Nothing. Was it fun? No. Was it dramatic? No. Was Jock annoying? Yes. Did Andy think the food was banging? Mostly.

Couldn't agree more. I don't honestly know the point of yesterday's challenge apart from messing with the contestants' heads.

[retrograde]

I kiiinda could see the logic for the "twist" based on the idea that good chefs should be able to improvise when put on the spot (eg having to slap together a vegetarian meal), but I think given the time constraints and the number of covers, it wasn't really feasible for them to adjust all that much. 

I too got most angry at Reynold and Jess for not incorporating the chouxs, which were almost certainly going to turn out perfect. Neither of them appear to have significant baking skills, and it showed their limitations.   

Going back an episode, we were screaming at the TV for anyone who got the Laksa question wrong. And although I don't doubt that Ben's was the tastiest dish, it did seem unfair that he got a pass on totally ignoring the concept. But I'm hardly devastated to see Chris go. 

[Corgi-ears]

32 minutes ago, retrograde said:

I kiiinda could see the logic for the "twist" based on the idea that good chefs should be able to improvise when put on the spot (eg having to slap together a vegetarian meal), but I think given the time constraints and the number of covers, it wasn't really feasible for them to adjust all that much. 

I think the show was trying to upsize their traditional relay challenge. That challenge makes some amount of sense (and of course gave us classic veloute moments), since in restaurants chefs sometimes have to pick up others' dishes. But here, as you say, it wasn't realistic. Well, unless they took the time to spin more of a scenario: "In this Greek restaurant, the head chef underpaid his workers *COUGH*, so they all walked off the job, leaving all this prepped food. You now have to figure out what they were making!"

Plus, the twist really penalized the team, which looked to be the brown team, that was faster at prep. What was further irksome was how, though the judges say the cooks could choose to continue, modify, or start over, Andy and Jock had to make a big deal of how Reynold and Jess were committing a war crime by leaving off the choux. You fucking said they were allowed to do so. (Yet another example of the judges being unclear about their own rules: is Ben U. allowed to cook two versions of the dish for the takeaway challenge? Either tell him he is or he isn't; don't sit there all petulant, Jock, during the judging before you end up announcing -- no doubt because the producers stepped in -- that his nasi goreng, which to my eyes was made with mushy rice, was the best version you ever tasted.)

And now, math:

1. Why has the show screwed with the order of the challenges such that we constantly have team challenges with an odd number of contestants, one of whom has to sit out? In fact, it's odd how they treat Mondays as the start of the week; as the contestants walked in for the service challenge, they talked about being in the burbs "last week"; meanwhile, during Sunday's elimination challenge, the judges spoke to Amina/Tracy/Emilia about their good cooking "yesterday" (i.e., on Thursday). I imagine that all the episodes are pretty much filmed back-to-back, but it still bugs the hell out of me. This pandemic has already fucked up my sense of time; stop making things worse, show.

2. If the grey team won the entree and the brown team the main, why did Jock announce during judging that it was "two-all"?

PS: I really hate the way Andy claps. I hate the way Mel stands, one hand on hip, like she's posing for Tyra Banks. I hate the way Jock insists on glowering, trying to be menacing. I'm petty like that, and should probably heed Brendan's "advice" to Emilia: "walk away."

Edited May 12, 2020 by Corgi-ears

[ppl]

The twist today was so unfair and stupid. Why penalize the more organized team who was faster at prep and leave them with a mess of a kitchen? Why not just force both teams to add a mystery ingredient/bizarre element into each course during the 90 minute mark instead of switching menus?

I really hate that someone has to sit out during team challenges.

Why were the judges complaining about Reynold/Jess not using the choux buns? If they were so upset about two non-baking dessert cooks discarding the baking element of the dessert then maybe they shouldn't have come up with this twist. Either own it or be quiet. Besides, you know Jock would have thrown a hissy fit if the Brown team didn't use Laura's pasta.

If tomorrow's twist is that they have to switch stations and cook the person behind/in front of them's pressure test halfway through, I might just have to tune out the rest of this week.

[katisha]

I'm not crying. YOU'RE crying! 😥 

Welcome to mean twist #2 of the week and in a way this was almost worse than the team challenge one because at least that was a shared bad situation. If you were behind when those pages got taken, like Amina was, you were pretty much toast.

Jess really showed what a sweetheart she is tonight trying to help Amina out with a recipe for the mousse. That was a lovely gesture.

[misgabi13]

50 minutes ago, katisha said:

Welcome to mean twist #2 of the week and in a way this was almost worse than the team challenge one because at least that was a shared bad situation. If you were behind when those pages got taken, like Amina was, you were pretty much toast.

I am over 'Twist' week already!

To give them a hideously complex and technical dessert pressure test and then just take away the recipe with and hour to go makes no sense whatsoever!

As (I think) Reynold pointed out baking is all about times, temperatures and measurements and to finish of an hours worth of the cook without any of those details was just stupid!

Preview for tomorrow shows a new ingredient/s being thrown into the mystery box challenge which seems a bit fairer (unless you are cooking a dessert and are give octopus or prawns or something) and HAVE to use it!

Sorry to see Amina go - she was lovely (even though I think she only came 11th in her season) but she was never going to win a technical, dessert pressure test - especially without the recipe!

The lighting this year is weird.  At the start it looked like Andy had a giant love bite on his neck and at the end when the contestants who had not been in the pressure test were standing off to the side it seriously looked like Elise (sp?) was wearing flesh coloured knee high socks!

Roll on the end of the week and the end of stupid 'twists'!!!!

[Rosenrot]

Okay, that episode made no fucking sense whatsoever. 

I'd be more okay with taking away recipes if it wasn't A) a sweet dish, as measurements etc. really matter and if you don't have them, you're pretty screwed, and B) if it wasn't SOMEBODY ELSE'S DISH. You kinda need a recipe to recreate SOMEBODY ELSE'S DISH.  

I'm pissed.

Jess is a sweetie. 

[zibnchy]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

I'm not crying. YOU'RE crying! 😥 

I actually feel like I need to lie down and hug my cat after that. And stress eat.

Jess is too awesome for words. Just pure sweetness. She must be protected. Is it possible she's actually *better* than the great dessert god Reynold?

Laura got roughly 10 talking heads to everyone else's one. Is this the Laura show? Is Laura auditioning for her own show?

I may have been worried that Poh was leaving if they hadn't so completely telegraphed Amina's departure. I'm not crazy about Poh but there are a lot of others who should go first.

Melissa is so good at this. It is too bad Jock is such a dud. As is Andy but to a lesser extent (IMO).

The only twist I want to see tomorrow is when, mid cook, they swap out Jock for Matt Moran for the rest of the season. And then bring back Amina because Ice Cream Ben is off to make ice cream in jail.

[Rosenrot]

5 minutes ago, zibnchy said:

I actually feel like I need to lie down and hug my cat after that.

I did exactly that. With my cat, of course, not yours. She scratched me, but it helped. (Tho' I can mentally hug your cat too! Never enough cats to be hugged!)

11 minutes ago, zibnchy said:

The only twist I want to see tomorrow is when, mid cook, they swap out Jock for Matt Moran for the rest of the season. And then bring back Amina because Ice Cream Ben is off to make ice cream in jail.

[chokes on tea]

[Corgi-ears]

"We're taking away your recipes!"

Jess: "Oh no!" * runs to recipe, sets it on fire, swallows the ashes *

Edited May 12, 2020 by Corgi-ears

[SnideAsides]

1 hour ago, misgabi13 said:

Sorry to see Amina go - she was lovely (even though I think she only came 11th in her season) but she was never going to win a technical, dessert pressure test - especially without the recipe!

To be fair, Amina got booted in a bullshit twist her first time around too: she was the victim of the first ever double elimination (and Gary and George both strongly hinted she would have survived if it was a standard elimination). I think she's a much stronger cook than her performances suggest.

Incidentally, the person who survived that "two out of the bottom three are going home" challenge? He's now a judge on this show.

[TVbitch]

Can't read yet cuz I haven't watched elimination, but I just had to pop in and say that during the team challenge I saw Simon give Sarah a taste of a sauce, then dip the spoon back into the sauce and put it into his mouth for a taste, then put it back in the sauce. Later Reynold tasted his twill dough by licking the spatchula he was using to smear it onto the tray. 

This is making me not want to eat out anytime soon! 

I hope the emotional goodbye is for Poh, cuz I have grown tired of the Poh Show and I did not appreciate how she wrangled the captain position away from Collum.

 

[seltzer3]

1 hour ago, SnideAsides said:

To be fair, Amina got booted in a bullshit twist her first time around too: she was the victim of the first ever double elimination (and Gary and George both strongly hinted she would have survived if it was a standard elimination). I think she's a much stronger cook than her performances suggest.

Incidentally, the person who survived that "two out of the bottom three are going home" challenge? He's now a judge on this show.

Yeah Amina did really well in season 4.  She was definitely in the front runners (Mindy/Kylie/Audra) in the beginning.  She ended up in bottom a couple times, because there were some weird challenge twists.  One in particular was pairing everything with chocolate (contestants picked an ingredient not realizing they had to use chocolate).  Majority of people picked beets, or bacon which is pretty standard.  Amina picked cavier, which seemed like a total disadvantage.

[Athena]

On 5/11/2020 at 9:56 AM, katisha said:

Whilst I like Reynold, I think he was the main driver behind ditching Emilia's dessert idea and perhaps along with his considerable ability goes a bit of arrogance.  And Jess appears to sort of hero worship him so she was never going to talk him out of that plan!

 

I agree with you especially as someone who found watching Reynold cook in his original season like an oasis compared to everyone else. I have noticed that in his gantry comments and how he takes charge, he's become much more cocky and arrogant. It's somewhat understandable considering his talent and success, but not as keen on him as I was before. Jess went ga-ga for Reynold when he came onto her season so no surprise she would love working with him.

19 hours ago, katisha said:

Couldn't agree more. I don't honestly know the point of yesterday's challenge apart from messing with the contestants' heads.

I called the team challenge twist early on especially when Sarah T went all "I make my menus simple and straightforward" and Poh's team was... all over the place. I felt bad for Brendan especially who said he'd never been that much stressed in a team cook before. The contestants looked slightly traumatized after the whole thing. 

Haven't seen the latest episode but not too surprised about Amina given the emotional preview hint. My partner and I wondered if it would be Poh but she has many lives so I doubted it. Will be sad to watch Amina suffer and be eliminated.

Not enjoying twists week. 

 

[xchouchoutex]

Oooh i’m so pissed at Poh, it’s a shame, she’s the reason behind Amina’s leaving because of her stupid leadership, why didn’t she just let Callum be the captain, tonight i cried my eyes out 🙁🙁

Saying about Poh’s dessert not bad even though it was a disaster obviously ? I’m convinced enough that they’re pushing her to the top 3

Hayden’s was upside down they said it they know it ! I feel like i’m pissed at everyone in MC , is this normal guys ? 

Jess, i remember now why i liked her in season 10 and i think if she has faith in herself she will master desserts better than Reynold

[misgabi13]

7 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Can't read yet cuz I haven't watched elimination, but I just had to pop in and say that during the team challenge I saw Simon give Sarah a taste of a sauce, then dip the spoon back into the sauce and put it into his mouth for a taste, then put it back in the sauce.

I saw that and was so horrified that it was Simon that did it I went back and rewatched it.  After Sarah tastes it he actually flips the spoon around and dips the back end into the sauce before he tastes it.  It is really quick though!

I didn't bother rewatching Reynold!

[katisha]

9 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Can't read yet cuz I haven't watched elimination, but I just had to pop in and say that during the team challenge I saw Simon give Sarah a taste of a sauce, then dip the spoon back into the sauce and put it into his mouth for a taste, then put it back in the sauce. Later Reynold tasted his twill dough by licking the spatchula he was using to smear it onto the tray. 

EWWWWW! 🤢

[TVbitch]

Stupid elimination twist. And stupid Jock: They have to be prepared for stuff like this that happens in real kitchens. Yeah, cuz chefs always have to make super complicated desserts without recipes. 

Amina was crying in her very first talking head, so I figured she was going, but of course we still had to suffer through the Oh No Poh Might Go show. 

I feel really bad for Amina. And I'm starting to wish they had kept Gary and Matt and just put Mel with them. 

Other than that, this week is great. : D

[ppl]

I wasn't as pissed with this twist as I was with the team challenge one. This twist at least made sense. Cooking isn't just a one track mentality. Everyone cooks from recipes and smarts so that if something goes wrong with the cooking or seasoning of a dish that has been done many times, they can use what's in the kitchen to fix it.

These are All-Star contestants so the expectation is that they know how to make a mirror glaze or temper chocolate. In past seasons, there was even a checklist of what contestants must be able to do for them to even apply and tempering chocolate was on there.

Amina didn't do herself any favours by tackling the meringue shell first over the passionfruit curd. I think even if this was a regular pressure test, she still would have went home because she's not confident. When someone is not confident in doing an element, they will take more time in perfecting it. In a pressure test, taking up more time on one element impacts the rest of the challenge and they will rush to get everything else done and it will backlog all the way through until time is up.

It's still really sad to see Amina go as she was one of my favourites.

[retrograde]

Yeah that twist was dumb. 

[Corgi-ears]

"We're taking away your recipes!"

Gantry: 

ENHANCE!

Edited May 13, 2020 by Corgi-ears

[katisha]

For the first time this week, I didn't mind tonight's twist.  It's a logical progression that if you have cooks/chefs of a certain standard and then midway through the challenge you introduce some new ingredients that they must include in their dishes, if they can think on their feet and be adaptable, this won't worry the better contestants.  I can't quite decide if Poh got away with murder by doing an entirely raw dish or whether it was an extremely smart decision on her part.  I feel similarly torn about Reece's use of the figs, which basically involved cutting them up into slices and shoving the slices underneath his scampi. I'm not sure if that really constitutes using the ingredient in the dish but others may have an explanation!

So is tomorrow night's twist just that Katy Perry shows up?

[misgabi13]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

I can't quite decide if Poh got away with murder by doing an entirely raw dish or whether it was an extremely smart decision on her part.  I feel similarly torn about Reece's use of the figs, which basically involved cutting them up into slices and shoving the slices underneath his scampi. I'm not sure if that really constitutes using the ingredient in the dish but others may have an explanation!

I was torn, until I decided it was entirely fair that they just do whatever they could to incorporate the 'surprise twist' ingredients.  I may also be swayed by the fact I want to eat every single top 5 dish I saw tonight!

Also, Go Simon!!!!

1 hour ago, katisha said:

So is tomorrow night's twist just that Katy Perry shows up?

Some sort of 'unborn child' twist I think! 

Wrote a whole paragraph, decided people might think it was bad taste so deleted it!

Just sitting here willing a giant box of those lush figs to turn up to my house!

[limecoke]

Fun episode with some really yummy-looking food though the editing made it pretty clear who would have the top dishes.  Not sure what I think about Poh's zen dish and the lack of cookery but it looked pretty.

Katie Perry is the reason I no longer watch American Idol (she's alarmingly annoying) but I'll watch anyway if only to see everyone go nuts.

[akr]

9 hours ago, katisha said:

For the first time this week, I didn't mind tonight's twist.  It's a logical progression that if you have cooks/chefs of a certain standard and then midway through the challenge you introduce some new ingredients that they must include in their dishes, if they can think on their feet and be adaptable, this won't worry the better contestants. 

I mostly agree with this, especially since the stakes were low.  I also thought it forced several contestants to come up with things they otherwise wouldn't have, or take approaches they otherwise wouldn't, which may serve them well later. (Sarah T., Reynold, Khanh, Poh, for example - but these are among the strongest cooks).  At least the ingredients were both things they could use in either savory & sweet dishes. I thought Tessa was smart to use it as an opportunity to hone her dessert-making skills & probably not worry too much about the twists or the outcome (although she's clearly fiercely competitive, & would go for the win if it was within reach). 

I hated the first two twist days, though. The first seemed unfair (although the team I thought was disadvantaged by it won anyway), & the second was just mean & unpleasant - I agree with those who said it would be one thing in an immunity challenge, but not for an elimination.  I don't watch MCAU as a game show, but as a good-spirited cooking competition (& I think fussy desserts are problematic even with the recipe).

[ReallyRealReality]

I wouldn't have minded the pressure test twist if they had just added one more twist...

At the beginning they were warned to read the recipe to the end, as usual.  The added twist should have been, buried in a paragraph on the second to last page... "Congratulations, you've found the hidden twist!  In the final plating, ONLY plate the passion-fruit pavlova, not the entree-me, and we will know you found and followed this twist.  Continue cooking as though you don't know about this little secret, and do NOT hint at it in any way or you will automatically be judged as a bottom 3... versus other's full desserts."

Hehehe... I've got a devious little mind!!!  But also, removing the recipes wouldn't have been that big a deal in the end.

[ppl]

20 hours ago, katisha said:

 I can't quite decide if Poh got away with murder by doing an entirely raw dish or whether it was an extremely smart decision on her part.  I feel similarly torn about Reece's use of the figs, which basically involved cutting them up into slices and shoving the slices underneath his scampi. I'm not sure if that really constitutes using the ingredient in the dish but others may have an explanation!

No, it was clever on her part. She knew there would be a twist coming up and trying to incorporate mystery ingredients into a tart/baking dessert would have been a nightmare. Even if the mystery box contained a protein, she could easily fit it into her carpaccio dish.

The judging itself has been very inconsistent but I think using ingredients in its natural form is valid. Sometimes the best form of an ingredient is in its untouched state depending on what dish the cook is making. I'm with Jock on this one. Reece should have put even more fresh figs onto the plate.

There's something really unappealing about Simon's dishes for me. Take this episode for example. I thought wrapping the beautiful scampi with the turnips was a crime against humanity. Why would you do that?

Reynold's portion sizes leaves something to be desired. Putting 2 scampi on the plate would have looked better and made the dish more balanced visually against the barbecue figs and turnip scallops.

[Mellowyellow]

@ppl the portions at Reynolds restaurant are ridiculous.

The food was great but there was barely any!!! Teeny tiny shared between people. We ended up going for dumplings in Chinatown afterwards after we dined there a few years ago.

 

[katisha]

So, the Katy Perry twist wasn't really so bad.  It wasn't so much that I enjoyed watching her per se, but the reactions of especially Reece and to a lesser extent Sarah TO her were pretty hilarious.  Reece was (and I don't think he'd mind me using this word) fangirling all over the place and Sarah seemed to have quite a crush going on.  Even Reynold seemed flustered.  And not that it matters, but Katy looked amazing in that orange dress, "with child" or not.  It isn't easy to pull off orange eyeshadow and fabric all at once but she managed it.

Also, whether Katy was there or not, I think Poh was going to win immunity anyway.

What's Katy like as a judge on Idol?

[TVbitch]

Mystery Box wasn't a terrible twist. I know I often go to restaurants, and after I order, I pull a fig out of my purse and demand it be worked into my dish. 

I guess they didn't use the footage of Poh reading a magazine. 

[SnideAsides]

Can we replace Jock with Katy next season?

[zibnchy]

Did Poh really refer to the day as a pohllercoaster? How long has she been waiting to use that one liner?

I don't think Ben was in the gantry for the cook. He showed up later for the masterclass stuff but that could have been filmed at a different time. Somebody earlier said that Katy Perry was in Australia in early March just before restrictions were put into place. So it looks like there will be some new Ben info soon. I'm more interested to see what covid restrictions will be put into place and how the cooks and judges will manage them.

I'm old and not interested in pop music so I don't really know who Katy Perry is BUT I thought she did a great job. I only know she's a Celebrity. She was obviously playing to the cameras but I felt like she was at least making an effort to act like a "normal" person and also to put the cooks at ease. I liked her. I still won't listen to her music. (I just learned *yesterday* that the theme song is a Katy Perry song. Considering that at least once per season I develop a nasty MCAU theme song earworm, I should hate her.)

Simon's dish did not look or sound delicious. IMO. Poh's dish looked and sounded like something I'd like so I'm good with her immunity.

Is Twists Week over or is Sunday's elimination still part of twist week?

 

 

[Athena]

4 hours ago, zibnchy said:

Is Twists Week over or is Sunday's elimination still part of twist week?

I believe it's part of the twist week. I use the Wikipedia entry as guidance.

[retrograde]

18 hours ago, ppl said:

There's something really unappealing about Simon's dishes for me. 

I'm vegetarian and his dishes never look appealing to me.

[SnideAsides]

Sunday is part of twists week, because apparently when they decided to fuck up the order of the weekly challenges for the contestants they also decided to fuck up the space time continuum.

Also "Poh-llercoaster" was used in season one so it may be a deliberate injoke.

[retrograde]

This is a sweet interview with Reece on what the Katy Perry experience was like. 

[ppl]

I liked Katy Perry and her quest to troll/distract the contestants. She even made Simon and Reece tolerable.

Poh did that crepe thing in a Masterclass before.

Shouldn't Reynold be able to do sorbets in his sleep by now? Even Katy recognized his food tends to be more style than substance.

Sarah's glaze on the pork looked amazing.

[Rosenrot]

"She's been singing our theme song for 12 years" doesn't exactly hold true for me as the episodes that air here in Finland have had a completely different theme song since S1, and I definitely prefer that to Hot & Cold. I wonder if Hot & Cold's the theme song only in the episodes shown in AU, and they use a different song in all the international broadcasts...?  

I don't like Katy Perry's music (and tbh, I don't trust anybody who doesn't like white chocolate 😁), but she was okay-ish as a guest judge and I definitely liked this twist better than the ones at the beginning of the week. Also, Reece was so cute fangirling! 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Rosenrot

[TVbitch]

Do shows not have to pay for music rights in AU. Cuz that would explain why when other courties air episodes they may remove the theme song. It also would explain how The Block can constantly play popular hits as background music all episode long, every episode. I think it was the same for Top Model. I would always think, how do they afford that?! 

As for Katy, it was fun, but damn, girl sure loves the camera. I think her antics would get tiring quickly. WTF with her acting like duck was some totally obscure thing like eating guinea pig or something. Reece was the highlight of the show for me. 

I was trying to think if I have every been that starstruck. Maybe when I met Dame Edna, and again when I met Spalding Gray. ....wow, I'm a geek!