S12.W7 (E31-35): Best Dish Week

[Athena]

Begins Monday May 25, 2020.

[ReallyRealReality]

Looked like no one else wanted to start a new thread, so here it is

[Mellowyellow]

Ooh yaaay!!!!

Thank you!

So tell me what happened! Who is up for elimination tomorrow?

[misgabi13]

Was a relay challenge and some chefs really didn't meet the brief!

So many silly mistakes by some of my favourites (looking at you Khan with the 900 hour octopus hibachi cooking).

Jess tried her best, Poh cut off part of her finger, Laura didn't cook pasta and Reynold fucked up a pannacotta!

But I was pleased the green team won!  Well done Brendan swapping out the protein at the end to make a dish that could win!

[katisha]

1 hour ago, Mellowyellow said:

So tell me what happened! Who is up for elimination tomorrow?

Well, nobody is because they told the now socially-distanced contestants (this is the first post-COVID episode) that only one person is going home this week, so the winners of the relay are cooking a Kirstin Tibballs dessert tomorrow and two, not one of them will win immunity as a result.

1 hour ago, misgabi13 said:

Jess tried her best, Poh cut off part of her finger, Laura didn't cook pasta and Reynold fucked up a pannacotta!

Jess really redeemed herself today.  I don't know if anyone else remembers the relay challenge in her season when she was (at the time) SO bad at cooking savoury food, and her team was making a savoury dish, that I have a clear memory of her spending her 20 minutes basically doing nothing and with no clue of where to go or how to progress things.  Whereas tonight, her being on the team meant that the Blue Team had some chance at immunity because what she added to a very basic dessert made it a good one.   She also added a salsa verde to the lamb and it sounds like it really needed it with that dodgy puree.

I wonder if Laura would have cooked pasta if she'd gone first instead of third? 

And, yeah, how does a dessert "king" get pannacotta wrong?

1 hour ago, misgabi13 said:

But I was pleased the green team won!  Well done Brendan swapping out the protein at the end to make a dish that could win!

Brendan is such a sweet, lovely guy and yes, that was a great decision.  But I think Simon's dessert idea was a good one for that kind of challenge to start with, and having Emilia go second really cemented the plans for both dishes.  She's really very good. 

Edited May 25, 2020 by katisha

[Rosenrot]

7 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

So many silly mistakes by some of my favourites (looking at you Khan with the 900 hour octopus hibachi cooking).

His team was totally giving him death glares. Emelia's "TAKE THAT OCTOPUS OFF THE HIBACHI" and "so hard to watch, isn't it?" 😂 Ooh I can't. But darling Brendan to the rescue! 

It's kinda weird now as the contestants aren't hugging every two minutes. It isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I must say the air hugs were pretty adorable!

I'm slowly coming to terms with my inexplicable infatuation with Jock (and have reasoned that I've probably been indoors for WAY too long). It's actually pretty neat, 'cause I don't have to constantly worry about whether he's the next one to go home! 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Rosenrot

[xchouchoutex]

I feel so bad for Jess and Tessa they tried their best to succeed the dishes 

Is it a normal thing for people around the world to make from the small cuts of fingers a big deal like what Poh did ? because Personally when i cut my finger i clean it very quickly, cover it with bandage and continue cooking and i don’t whine about it , i feel like there is always drama about what Poh does 

[misgabi13]

10 hours ago, katisha said:

Brendan is such a sweet, lovely guy and yes, that was a great decision.  But I think Simon's dessert idea was a good one for that kind of challenge to start with, and having Emilia go second really cemented the plans for both dishes.  She's really very good. 

I forgot to mention how well Emilia did in her part of the relay!

[PepperMonkey]

Hello all my lovely primetimer friends who I never "see" anymore. It's like I've been social distancing from everything since covid protocol because I am in an "essential" industry and it's been the most insane thing I've ever seen in my life. And I'm old so I was around, when I FIRST started driving, for gas lines in the 70s and this is weirder.

But I am enjoying following your posts so much since I can't get into the new hosts and I'm not watching the show. I'm marginally interested in who wins, but not really, and, while I like Andy as a person (whom I don't know it just seems like something to say), I don't like him at all as a host/expert on this iteration. as I watched the first couple episodes and thought he brought nothing to the picnic.

Jock's okay but not my favourite. My favourite is the woman, whose name escapes me. 

So I will keep reading here, but my days of waiting with bated breath for this to come back every year may be over. 

Thank the gods for the UK Masterchef shows, in every form: regular, celebrity and especially, The Professionals. 

Keep writing the great reviews, though. I really look forward. 🙂

[Mellowyellow]

1 hour ago, xchouchoutex said:

I feel so bad for Jess and Tessa they tried their best to succeed the dishes 

Is it a normal thing for people around the world to make from the small cuts of fingers a big deal like what Poh did ? because Personally when i cut my finger i clean it very quickly, cover it with bandage and continue cooking and i don’t whine about it , i feel like there is always drama about what Poh does 

On chopped or most other shows they grit their teeth, get a bandage and glove and get on with it. Now I'm curious to see how much flapping around she actually does.

[retrograde]

Laughed at the half-arsed attempts at "social distancing" -- locking 3/4 of the contestants in a small room together, Reynold and Simon standing face to face while putting on gloves, everyone walking off shoulder-to-shoulder at the end. And surely they were all touching the utensils and pot handles?

How did Brendan overcook prawns in under 5 minutes?

2 hours ago, xchouchoutex said:

Is it a normal thing for people around the world to make from the small cuts of fingers a big deal like what Poh did ? because Personally when i cut my finger i clean it very quickly, cover it with bandage and continue cooking and i don’t whine about it , i feel like there is always drama about what Poh does 

I think it's because for OHS (OSH in the US) reasons, they have to stop cooking and wait for a medic, and then probably have to do a bunch of checks to make sure there is no blood around. So I imagine you do lose a fair bit of time

[akr]

All the US cooking shows require you to stop & get cuts, bandaged up before you continue, even tiny ones, & throw away any food that might have blood on it. Occasionally (I think on Chopped), it's up to the competitors & if they don't stop they won't taste their food instead. Sometimes if it's really small a contestant will ask for just a glove, because it's quicker, but if you're bleeding more than a teensy bit inside the glove it'll be hard to work without a bandage on it, too.  

So I'm sure her reaction was about losing time, not getting a cut - especially since Sarah hadn't gotten much done & she seemed to feel she needed to make up for that. No doubt they've all cut themselves countless times & it's irritating but not a big deal unless it gets in your way.

(I love Sarah, but it wasn't her best outing. She should have kept things simpler & not chosen meat that needed that much prep. At least the ice cream was good! I worried about Simon's team, too, as soon as he chose the octopus. That so often goes wrong, & the odds of that increase in a relay.)

Edited May 26, 2020 by akr

[katisha]

37 minutes ago, akr said:

I love Sarah, but it wasn't her best outing. She should have kept things simpler & not chosen meat that needed that much prep.

Agree.  I've never frenched a lamb cutlet in my life (and think it sounds like it may be illegal...lol) but I've seen it done enough times to know it looks quite time consuming. 

[ppl]

I thought all three team starters made mistakes in the relay challenge.

Reynold's was the most obvious as he put his panna cotta mixture into a big bowl and in the freezer instead of a small amount dumped into an individual cup and in the blast chiller.

Sarah's problem was trying to do too much to the main course to overcompensate with doing very little with the dessert.

Khanh's stuff up with the octopus ended up saving the Green team. Simon's idea of cooking the octopus on the hibachi sounds like a great plan but wouldn't the cooking of the tentacle and the octopus flesh be different? Even if you have someone that knows how to cook octopus, the chance of the octopus being undercooked or overcooked on the grill seems very high.

It still seems like the judges are very biased for Simon and against Callum. The criticism of the Blue team's lamb dish as being a 'pub dish' doesn't make sense to me. By their standards, that would mean that Green team's galette dessert is also a pub dish. Also, telling the Blue team that their savoury dish was too simple while not criticizing the Green team for making what is essentially a Prawn and Salad dish in 80 minutes screams of double standards.

If Gary, George and Matt were still here, I doubt they would hand the win to a team with an overcooked protein. 

The standouts in this episode were Emelia, Jess, Callum and Tessa. All of them contributed to their team in a big way. 

[ReallyRealReality]

I can't remember, and I'm too lazy to download it again, but what was green team's required equipment?  Was it the pressure cooker?  Because if it was, they shouldn't have won since their protein was changed.  Anyone remember?

[katisha]

Even though I'm no more a fan of the overly fussy, wanky dessert pressure tests, I have always been willing to let that slide for Kirsten Tibballs because she is such a sweetheart and genuinely seems happy for the contestants when they do well.  And better a "melhito" than a steel bollard (TM @SnideAsides).

I'd say it was obvious from, oh, about five minutes after the start that Emilia was going to absolutely rock this challenge and sure enough, she did.  I had a very busy day at work today so I found her calm and unruffled way of working very soothing to watch, although I did laugh when Poh said, "Emilia, can you freak out a bit more? It's really boring watching you from up here."  Hehehe!  Khanh also tickled my funny bone when he told the judges and Kirsten that he had made a Ninja Turtle instead of a watermelon.

 

13 hours ago, ReallyRealReality said:

I can't remember, and I'm too lazy to download it again, but what was green team's required equipment?  Was it the pressure cooker?  Because if it was, they shouldn't have won since their protein was changed.  Anyone remember?

I think you might be right, but there were no disclaimers saying "And if you use it, whatever you cooked in it must be on the final plate" so that's probably why they got away with it.

Edited May 27, 2020 by katisha
Cos I carnt spel

[misgabi13]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

Even though I'm no more a fan of the overly fussy, wanky dessert pressure tests, I have always been willing to let that slide for Kirsten Tibballs because she is such a sweetheart and genuinely seems happy for the contestants when they do well.

Very true - although her desserts have sooooo many steps they all look delicious!

I agree that Emilia looked like the winner from the outset - but was happy with that.

I DO NOT understand why Simon didn't simply 'glue' back together his broken sphere (the one that actually looked like a watermelon) as it broke along the glued together seam!  Not that it would have made him the winner.

Mel's earrings tonight were a bit mad!  Very pink and HUGE!!!

1 hour ago, katisha said:

although I did laugh when Poh said, "Emilia, can you freak out a bit more?

Emilia's fake freak out at that point was the funniest part of the episode!

Whilst it was nice to see nobody go home over this Pressure Test - if only one goes home Sunday then we are back to odd numbers for any team challenges.  Or are team challenges gone due to the virus?

9 hours ago, katisha said:

Agree.  I've never frenched a lamb cutlet in my life (and think it sounds like it may be illegal...lol) but I've seen it done enough times to know it looks quite time consuming. 

Didn't one of the Master Classes show how to do this with string?  That seemed super quick?  If so Sarah forgot that class!  Or maybe it was a dream I had!

[akr]

9 minutes ago, misgabi13 said:

Didn't one of the Master Classes show how to do this with string?  That seemed super quick?  If so Sarah forgot that class!  Or maybe it was a dream I had!

Yes, Khanh demonstrated it. I suspect it takes a little practice, though. 

[Rosenrot]

2 hours ago, ReallyRealReality said:

I can't remember, and I'm too lazy to download it again, but what was green team's required equipment?  Was it the pressure cooker?  Because if it was, they shouldn't have won since their protein was changed.  Anyone remember?

The appliances they had to use were a stand mixer, a food processor and a blender (I think), though I can't remember what the green team's equipment was out of those. But no pressure cooker. I think they would've missed the brief if they were told to use it and they ended up not to. 

[xchouchoutex]

8 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

Didn't one of the Master Classes show how to do this with string?  That seemed super quick?  If so Sarah forgot that class!  Or maybe it was a dream I had!

It was Khan with a thread, and Poh did try to immitate it but she failed that’s why she took so long

[TVbitch]

I skipped the pressure test. I don't like food made to impersonate other food. I don't get it. I guess I'm not fun like that. AND I don't get white chocolate. Just, why?  

The social distancing was very hit or miss. The judges were not sitting or standing 6' apart. It seemed kind of the same degree of adherence that they had on Dancing with the Stars AU. But I do appreciate them keeping the show on the air, cuz available cookery programs are going to get as lean as venison real quick.

Shout out to @PepperMonkey! Stay safe! I read that a series of Celebrity Masterchef UK got filmed before the lockdowns, so we have that to look forward to this summer. Let us pray things will open up in time to film Professionals. 

[retrograde]

Bit anticlimactic. Amelia barely broke a sweat. Cool dish though. 

Loved Melissa's earrings. 

[ReallyRealReality]

A few thoughts on the pressure test episode...

Knew for sure we were down to 12 contestants because they chopped the opening credits and song in half.  Why do they do that?!?  This is still season 12 and those other 12 contestants should be featured for those few seconds because they helped make this season.  It will NEVER make sense to me why they omit half the cast.

I'm assuming they blasted the kitchen with a/c in order to have successful chocolate work, and that they informed the contestants ahead of time that the kitchen would be cold.  Otherwise, I'm surprised they had coats and hats in the gantry... all except Reece, who stupidly decided to wear shorts.  (*singing* One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...)

That dessert looked incredible and I would have loved the opportunity to try it since watermelon is one of my favorite foods.  However, I took issue with the straw.  Kirsten Tibballs needs to do a little more research on straws (a simple google images search of striped straws would have been enough),  Straws are NOT striped like that, they spiral from one end to the other.  Doesn't take much to change what she has, just a slight shift... or is that too difficult for these MasterChef contestants?

And finally, I'll throw in my 2 cents on Melissa's earrings.  Don't like them!  Every time they showed her, those earrings distracted me and all I could think was... one day, 20 years from now or so, she'll be getting reconstruction surgery for elongated earlobes if she keeps this up.

[ppl]

I love pressure tests as it's the only time where we ever get to see contestants out of their comfort zones.

It was such a joy to watch Emelia cook. I wonder why they treated her as if she was a robot in season 6. She reminds me of Billie, someone that just gets on with the task at hand and moves on. It's a refreshing change from the Khanh's or Poh's of this season and is very much needed. I also loved that she knows what bubble tea is! Not that Jock would know. He gave her a blank stare when she said it.

It was nice to know Brendan was the #2 choice. His mojito looked pretty good. The friendship between him, Jess and Reece was really great to see. I'm really enjoying these little friendship groups like Laura/Emelia, Jess/Reece/Brendan, Callum/Simon, Jess and everyone.

Why was Simon trying to yank the balloon from the sphere? Also, his straw looked very small.

It seemed like Khanh's green chocolate wasn't tempered properly or wasn't the right temperature and so the thick coating actually weighed the white chocolate sphere down and it broke. This is twice in a row that Khanh did things earlier than normal and ruined his dish. Does he get really anxious if he doesn't plate things early?

[katisha]

5 hours ago, ppl said:

It was nice to know Brendan was the #2 choice. His mojito looked pretty good. The friendship between him, Jess and Reece was really great to see.

I've read somewhere that they call themselves The Audreys because in their season, Jess bought them all some kind of stuffed toy (maybe a monkey) named Audrey! Very cute.

Well, I actually enjoyed tonight's episode more than I thought I would because the emotion was genuine. Khanh's story really touched me because I think we Aussies tend to forget how lucky we are to live in a beautiful and safe country, and there's Khanh being born into a refugee camp at age two.  No wonder he doesn't take our way of life for granted. I personally love that we are now such a multicultural country and I think it's really enriched Australian society (not to mention our cuisine!) but of course, a few people on the Facebook MC AU page just HAD to point out that all five finalists are of Asian descent and say things like, "It's not an Asian cooking show."  Sigh.  Predictable but still disappointing. Oh, and I also saw a couple of comments about, "No wonder those in the immunity challenge are all Asian - look at who the 'main' judge is." 🙄

[misgabi13]

25 minutes ago, katisha said:

but of course, a few people on the Facebook MC AU page just HAD to point out that all five finalists are of Asian descent and say things like, "It's not an Asian cooking show."  Sigh.  Predictable but still disappointing. Oh, and I also saw a couple of comments about, "No wonder those in the immunity challenge are all Asian - look at who the 'main' judge is." 

I don't go on the FB page for this very reason - it is full of sad, angry people who can only spew hate!

Tonight's episode had me wishing Emilia had been given her photo as well - I would have loved to have seen it!

This was one of those weird challenges that I would have liked to have eaten all the food.

I really want to try Dan Dan Noodles (as both looked amazing tonight) but I simply CANNOT eat chilli in any way, shape or form!

I've had Congee in the  past and not been a fan (maybe it was a bad version - seemed a bit watery an insipid every time) but perhaps it just needed fried doughnuts!!!

The food tonight all looked rather delicious - super happy they added a 5th person and Kahn made it!

Reece's 'victoria sponge' looked a bit nice too!

[Rosenrot]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

but of course, a few people on the Facebook MC AU page just HAD to point out that all five finalists are of Asian descent and say things like, "It's not an Asian cooking show."  Sigh.  Predictable but still disappointing. Oh, and I also saw a couple of comments about, "No wonder those in the immunity challenge are all Asian - look at who the 'main' judge is." 🙄

Puke. People can be disgusting. 

I feel like I need to put on my little tin foil hat now, but I just read a heated online argument about how S1 was "rigged" because Poh was more deserving of the win than Julie (and they had some valid points about how badly Julie did in some of the challenges and yet it was always somebody else who went home instead of her), but Julie was more marketable plus they didn't want to give the win of the first MCAU to a person with Asian background. And then when S10 was ending, there were the rumors that Ben B. was only in the finale because they didn't want to have a finale with two non-Australian natives there, thus omitting Khanh. I don't know if it's true, but it made sense to me at the time, because Ben sure as F wasn't in the finale because of his cooking skills.   

I'm not sure what my point is, but I'd be interested to hear you guys' thoughts about whether that's believable at all or just some silly conspiracy.

(Sorry about the OT!)

Edited May 27, 2020 by Rosenrot

[SnideAsides]

10 hours ago, ReallyRealReality said:

Knew for sure we were down to 12 contestants because they chopped the opening credits and song in half.  Why do they do that?!?  This is still season 12 and those other 12 contestants should be featured for those few seconds because they helped make this season.  It will NEVER make sense to me why they omit half the cast.

However, I took issue with the straw.  Kirsten Tibballs needs to do a little more research on straws (a simple google images search of striped straws would have been enough),  Straws are NOT striped like that, they spiral from one end to the other.  Doesn't take much to change what she has, just a slight shift... or is that too difficult for these MasterChef contestants?

To be fair, there's a valid reason to cut people out of the credits this season.

Also, straws can have multiple designs. There was nothing wrong with the way they looked..

[seltzer3]

On 5/25/2020 at 9:55 AM, katisha said:

 

Jess really redeemed herself today.  I don't know if anyone else remembers the relay challenge in her season when she was (at the time) SO bad at cooking savoury food, and her team was making a savoury dish, that I have a clear memory of her spending her 20 minutes basically doing nothing and with no clue of where to go or how to progress things.  Whereas tonight, her being on the team meant that the Blue Team had some chance at immunity because what she added to a very basic dessert made it a good one.   She also added a salsa verde to the lamb and it sounds like it really needed it with that dodgy puree.

 

That actually was Michelle from S9 not Jess  (Poor Sarah, as she always go before a trainwreck contestant).  Jess was on a relay team that did ice cream (actually all the relay teams in S10 did desserts).

The pressure test was kind of underwhelming as Emelia crushed it.  Also, what do they do with the leftovers?  There was a ridiculous amount of use of white chocolate compared to the actual end product.

[xchouchoutex]

Emelia : **I’m the worst person to have on the gantry* she absolutely represents me 😂😂

[katisha]

6 hours ago, seltzer3 said:

That actually was Michelle from S9 not Jess  (Poor Sarah, as she always go before a trainwreck contestant).

Oh, of course it was - thanks for reminding me!  I think I've conflated the two contestants in my mind because both were very young and far preferred making desserts.

1 hour ago, xchouchoutex said:

Emelia : **I’m the worst person to have on the gantry* she absolutely represents me 😂😂

I think I understand why Emilia's been seen as a stone cold bitch based on her season.  The nature of these shows is that if you happen to be quieter or shy or introverted, you don't come across as immediately likeable and once you've been put into a box based on some camera reactions, it's hard to escape it.  It's been really nice to see Emilia's true self coming out this time around.

 

[ReallyRealReality]

9 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

Tonight's episode had me wishing Emilia had been given her photo as well - I would have loved to have seen it!

You're in luck.  Emilia posted her photo on Twitter and MasterChef retweeted it.  She also responded to a few comments, including one from what looks like her mom(?).

 

8 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

To be fair, there's a valid reason to cut people out of the credits this season.

Also, straws can have multiple designs. There was nothing wrong with the way they looked..

Have to agree to disagree.  This is a season of returning all-star (for the most part) contestants.  A lot of favorites went home, like Amina, who should still be represented in this season's credits.

Even paging thru google's images, I didn't spot any horizontally striped straws, so for 'realism', they SHOULD be spiraled.

[katisha]

As soon as we knew that tonight's immunity challenge would involve being inspired by a fairytale, something which goes so much better with sweet dishes than savoury dishes, I knew either Reynold or Jess would be making the winning dish.  And fair play to Reynold because that dessert did look amazing and certainly met the brief.

Nothing much else to add except that it seems this season, the former judges have become a joint Voldemort.  They're not mentioned or shown in old footage - it's kind of weird (although it is quite likely to do with Gary and Matt's new show commitments/contract issues. 

 

[MadMiniaturist]

I'm so glad that I get to see more of the "real" Emilia this season. I always thought that she was somewhat of a bore and rather cold. Hardly! She's really likable and funny!

So impressed with Jess. She's a wunderkind! It's funny, but after the judges were praising her dessert, they cut to Poh and I saw her shoot a death glare. Methinks she may be a wee bit jealous??

Quote

 

 

[couchcelery]

Never commented before but Reynold's dessert compelled me to. I once had an Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea on a trip to London but nothing was as memorable as what he presented. Wow. I just wish I had a better idea of how the flavors melded together, because the new judges are just so awful at explaining what they're tasting besides whether they like it or not. 

The only full season I've watched was the one when Sashi won (and on a marathon after the season was over because there was so much outrage on Twitter over "fried fish at the finale!!!" that I got curious) so I have no preconceptions about contestants who weren't on that season. Never understood why Reynold was so highly estimated - plating skills solely does not a chef make - and wasn't impressed until now.

Jess, who I had dubbed "the annoying dessert teenager who keeps crying" on her season, has grown so much! I think her dish just needed more time.

Also, it was refreshing to see a tofu bloom on a Western cooking show. Kudos to Poh. Those are super fragile and break easily.

Loved this challenge. Conceptual starting points seem the most interesting.

[TVbitch]

Reynolds dessert was cool, but I wasn't really getting "tree" from his chocolate work. I guess I thought it would be standing up. It looked more like a shrub on a fallen log. 

I think Brendan might be the next to go. 

Are the contestants still living together? 

[katisha]

13 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Are the contestants still living together

I think they have put them up in separate apartments - I read that somewhere.

[katisha]

All I have to say about tonight's elimination is...NOOOOO! 😢 😢

[Mellowyellow]

26 minutes ago, katisha said:

All I have to say about tonight's elimination is...NOOOOO! 😢 😢

I don't have the will to watch anymore

Loved that person. Adored that person.

😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫

 

[misgabi13]

Well that was just bloody sad - and several cooks who should have gone home were on the gantry!

[misgabi13]

Still can't work out if Sunday is last week or this week!

There were so many lesser cooks on the gantry than Jess!

Although I am happy Simon was safe.

I just want to eat Poh's dish!

.... and possibly a modified version of Brendan's as I don't like chilli!

Why on earth did Jess pick Carrot and Raspberries??????

So many of those ice cream flavours were just WRONG!!!!

Then at the very end of the show with what we have to look forward to Gordon is back - Yay!!

 

[katisha]

36 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I don't have the will to watch anymore

I will still watch but it won't be the same.  Sigh. 😞

I hope this cheers you up a little, @Mellowyellow.

1 minute ago, misgabi13 said:

Why on earth did Jess pick Carrot and Raspberries??????

Couldn't agree more, @misgabi13.  She made it so hard for herself right from the get go.

[Niuxita]

GodfuckingDAMMIT. That was really hard to watch. 

I knew the writing was on the wall pretty much since the promos announced Sunday's elimination as "the most heartbreaking" one and that shot of Jess right when she breaks down after she's eliminated AND YET I refused to believe it and made up this whole story in my head about how it was probably Khanh or Brendan because they were well-loved and sweet enough for them leaving to be "heartbreaking", plus they wouldn't show a shot of the actual eliminated contestant crying in the promo, right??? Sigh. 

From her reaction, I got the impression she's one of those people (me included) who does not deal well with failure. The way she said "I'm devastated I only made it halfway through the competition" reminded me of the way I dealt with not being good enough when I was at school. Ugh, my heart.

55 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I don't have the will to watch anymore

Same. After this I feel like the competition is Reynold's to lose, so what's the point?

Thanks for that pic, katisha. Brilliant!!

[zibnchy]

50 minutes ago, Niuxita said:

GodfuckingDAMMIT. That was really hard to watch. 

FFS -- these people have been cooking together and breathing on each other and tasting each other's food for weeks (or months) -- somebody give Jess a hug!

I cried.

If Reynold goes on to win this I'm going to be really disappointed.

Edited May 31, 2020 by zibnchy

[xchouchoutex]

Watching jess leaving made my day even sadder, i didn’t expect it at all and i don’t know if i’ll continue watching the season 😢😢

[TVbitch]

Damn. I avoid all spoilers, so I thought they were pointing toward Callum going home, since they actually gave him some air time and even an "at home" vignette! I was really frustrated with Jess during this cook. First round, she features an ingredient she doesn't even like and a flavor combo she has never tried before. I was like, girl, why? Second round, she was being so sloppy with her cook, but I thought for suer she'd pull out one of her freaky fabulous dishes. She didn't. Maybe she got a bit over-confident that she could just make anything work cuz she seemed to have that magic last couple cooks. She was the worst on the day, but damn. 

I think that is the first time we have seen Simon utterly lost, but Jock did pressure him at the end to add more coffee flavor, then he got dinged for having too much coffee flavor. 

The judges did a bit better this episode. They seemed to be having some unscripted fun moments like Jock being dazed by Reese's calm tarragon tweezing. Also, Jock is Italian??? Why does he have an Irish accent? 

I hope y'all, stick around, there are still good cooks to root for.

[Athena]

47 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

The judges did a bit better this episode. They seemed to be having some unscripted fun moments like Jock being dazed by Reese's calm tarragon tweezing. Also, Jock is Italian??? Why does he have an Irish accent? 

Jock's last name is Zonfrillo. His dad is Italian and he is Scottish from his mum's side. He has a Scottish accent. He bangs on about Italian food a lot. 

Haven't seen the ep. Not looking forward to it. Sigh. I hope Callum wins. He's very grounded and competent. Wouldn't mind if Emelia to take it. Most others are unlikely to get it into the top 3. I'm over Reynold and Poh.

[retrograde]

Boooo! I was really liking Jess this season. She was an actual underdog to support, while most of the remaining contestants are professionals now.

Meanwhile, I assume Ben Ungermann's lawyer will be asking that he get a sentence of time served -- having suffered enough at the indignity of being kicked off the show before a wacky ice cream challenge. 

[ppl]

Khanh should have been in round 2. Using bay leaf near the end was only added as an afterthought and should not have been rewarded.

So glad to see Tessa's dish being well received. I actually thought her ice cream dish was the most creative. Everyone else seemed to play it somewhat safe like using a flavour combination that works for one ice cream and then using an uncommon ingredient for the 2nd one.

I will miss Jess. Her 2nd cook seemed out of sorts. It's like she was sabotaging herself by adding the orange and the huge numbers of chocolate elements over showcasing the raspberry and carrot. Anyway if you would have told me she was top 10 material in week 2, I would have said not a chance but I would have said the opposite if you asked me again 2 weeks ago! She has truly grown leaps and bounds and I think she has a way better palate than Reynold. 

Some statistics ahead: Reynold is the frontrunner in terms of placement so far. He has been called safe in round 1 of every elimination. The next best are Brendan, Khanh and Laura, who all have been in the bottom 5.

[ReallyRealReality]

15 hours ago, TVbitch said:

The judges did a bit better this episode. They seemed to be having some unscripted fun moments like Jock being dazed by Reese's calm tarragon tweezing. Also, Jock is Italian??? Why does he have an Irish accent?

You really didn't ask that, did you?!?  His accent is Scottish.  Every Asian on the show has an Australian accent.  Accents are based on where you are raised, what you hear and learn to speak as a child.  Even if you're raised in a home that speaks another language, turn on the TV or walk out the door and you are surrounded by it.  Go to school and you must learn to speak the local language.  I know it can be shocking sometimes, I was quite floored by it the first time I watched a Big Brother AU series and heard a perfect Aussie accent coming from Nobbi.  😄

I haven't caught up on a couple episodes yet, the last I saw was the fairy tale one.  Not really in a hurry to catch up now that I know Jess is gone.  I'm steadfastly holding onto hope that Tessa makes it far, along with a few others.