Past Seasons Discussion

[Christina]

I miss having separate threads for each week. Since I watch from the US, I'm usually a day or two behind, and when I watch several at once, I get lost in the comments here because the discussion has already moved on and I'm trying to figure out if it's an episode I haven't seen or just missed. I don't really care about spoilers since I'm choosing to read the thread knowing I haven't caught up, but am getting a bit of whiplash trying to figure out what scene people are discussing. Maybe I should just pay more attention. This is the first time I'm caught up with the show and discussion.

Anyhow, I'm not too bothered by Jock, but neither Adam or Melissa say anything worth hearing during judging. Melissa says a bunch of words that don't actually offer any insight into the dish and Adam isn't very critical, either. He probably remembers being in their shoes and it makes it hard for him to say something negative. The three of them also don't seem to gel for me. I could see the former judges having cookouts together but these three come across as only showing up for filming and have no contact otherwise. There isn't much, if any, chemistry between them, making them duller to watch.

[Rosenrot]

19 minutes ago, Christina said:

Anyhow, I'm not too bothered by Jock, but neither Adam or Melissa say anything worth hearing during judging. Melissa says a bunch of words that don't actually offer any insight into the dish and Adam isn't very critical, either

[whispers] Andy, not Adam. 😉 But I agree with you wholeheartedly. 

[zibnchy]

On 4/30/2020 at 6:00 PM, TVbitch said:

Thanks to our amazing judges for letting me know that is was "banging" and "so, so, so, so, so good." 

Also in previous episodes we've gotten such great feedback as  "this dish has heaps of flavor" and "this dish made my mouth sing." (The last time a dish made my "mouth sing" I spit it back out.)

My unasked for opinion so far? Melissa is a keeper. I like her vibe. I enjoy her interactions with the cooks and she's smart enough. She'll learn the ropes. Jock is not impressing me BUT I know he has skills he's probably still got first season jitters. The issue with Laura is a real problem for him I think. Andy could honestly just not show up for work and I likely wouldn't notice.

Noticed no sign of Ice Cream Ben in the gantry on Thursday. Speculation online is that this was the first episode filmed after his arrest. I want to know what he was arrested for because I am a very nosy person. Your AU privacy laws must be way better than ours (US) because here in the US it would be all over the gossip rags. We are very nosy.

I'm very fond of Jess. In her first season she had to cook scallops and she had never cooked scallops before so she had a "great" idea to marinate them in mustard. In Mustard. The looks on the judges faces when they checked in at her bench were priceless and they quickly told her that would be a terrible idea in no uncertain terms. She was (and still is) so young and very talented and she bounced back from that mistake. She has (IMO) no chance to win so I'm thrilled to see her getting some good air time.

I am simply refusing to believe that Laura made a dish which was essentially tofu straight out of the package and a leek (cooked on the hibachi of course) with some oil dribbled over. And that it seemed she almost won immunity for that. WTF?

I know I rag on Poh but there was also no sign of her on the gantry on Thursday. Maybe she and Ben are on the lam together. 🙂

 

[Christina]

On 4/29/2020 at 4:31 AM, ppl said:

Let's get this out of way. Reynold should be banned from making cold desserts. Poh and her pastry dishes (savoury or sweet) too. Laura and her pastas. Ben with his ice creams. Amina with her Middle Eastern dishes. Simon with his vegetarian dishes. Brendan with his dumpling/noodle dishes. Chris and his meat dishes. Jess and her desserts. Reece and his desserts. Tessa and her seafood dishes. Rose and her tarts. Emelia and her desserts. Sarah T and her Southeast Asian dishes. Hayden and his protein/vegetable dishes. Khanh and his broths.

Personally, I think there is a distinction between recognizing that no matter what is placed in front of them, that cook is going to turn it into pasta, panna cotta, or ice cream and someone taking what ever is in front of them and making a Middle Eastern, Italian, vegetarian, savory, or sweet, etc. dish. The latter has a range of technique and options and to me, the former does not.

Laura branched out from pasta and made gnocchi, which is still Italian but not pasta, whereas Unger made chicken feet caramel and ice cream. 

YMMV and all.

11 hours ago, Rosenrot said:

[whispers] Andy, not Adam. 😉 But I agree with you wholeheartedly. 

I know his name is Andy and didn't even realize I wrote Adam until I saw your quote. I've constantly called George Gary, too, even though I knew he was George. I'm so consistent with my name butchering that I fully expect Melissa to become Michelle, Jock to become John, Rose to become Petunia, Chris to become Corey, Poh to become HerAgain, and several others to share the name Who?

8 hours ago, zibnchy said:

Noticed no sign of Ice Cream Ben in the gantry on Thursday. Speculation online is that this was the first episode filmed after his arrest. I want to know what he was arrested for because I am a very nosy person. Your AU privacy laws must be way better than ours (US) because here in the US it would be all over the gossip rags. We are very nosy.

I meant to say the same thing earlier! His entire life story would have been released here in the US by now, probably before Ten could even announce his departure.

[retrograde]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but: I was watching Guy Fieri tonight (he's doing a series of quarantine specials where chefs send him the ingredients for their dishes and he makes them at home with his kids while videochatting the chefs and it's actually not bad!) and it really hammered home the problem with the new MCAU judges for me.

Say what you will about Guy Fieri, but he is very good at describing the experience of eating a specific dish -- the texture, the tastes, the different components and how they work together. He gets that the point of his show is so the audience can vicariously enjoy delicious fatty food through him. It's very hard to figure out what the MC dishes are like when we only get "So much flavour!" "Bangin' dish!" 

I do like the new judges personality-wise, so I hope they get some feedback on this front.

Ben from last season responded on Reddit to the claims from the audience member that the contestants have "helpers." (He also did an AMA a few weeks ago that's interesting. Pretty salty about Gary and George!)

10 hours ago, zibnchy said:

Noticed no sign of Ice Cream Ben in the gantry on Thursday. Speculation online is that this was the first episode filmed after his arrest. I want to know what he was arrested for because I am a very nosy person. Your AU privacy laws must be way better than ours (US) because here in the US it would be all over the gossip rags. We are very nosy.

They are stronger, but usually something like this would still come out, because there'd generally be a court appearance (depending on the offense) and thus records of some kind (and Australian police departments do still leak, albeit not as badly as US ones). I guess it's possible the charges were dropped or the virus somehow interrupted things.

I too am very curious. I don't think it can be drunk driving (which he'd been busted for in the past) because that surely wouldn't be enough to get him booted. But I also don't think it can be something too morally bad, because other contestants continue to leave messages on his Instagram page (reportedly they weren't officially told why he left but surely word got around?)

Edited May 2, 2020 by retrograde

[Rosenrot]

59 minutes ago, retrograde said:

But I also don't think it can be something too morally bad, because other contestants continue to leave messages on his Instagram page (reportedly they weren't officially told why he left but surely word got around?)

But it's possible that the other contestants are as much in the dark as we are regarding the reason he was arrested, and continue to leave him messages without knowing what he did.

Personally, and I'm not basing this on anything at all, I think it's money related. Tax evation or a fraud or something. 

[retrograde]

7 hours ago, Rosenrot said:

But it's possible that the other contestants are as much in the dark as we are regarding the reason he was arrested, and continue to leave him messages without knowing what he did.

That's true. But TV set are as gossipy as any workplace and his bosses do know, so I'd expect it to get out. 

[Athena]

On 5/1/2020 at 3:59 PM, Christina said:

I miss having separate threads for each week. 

There is a process to request a new forum, but I think this show's numbers may justify it. I was not sure before because for many seasons, this show was only one thread. If there is enough demand for weekly threads again, I will try to get us a forum again. Thoughts?

I have been watching S12 as well and will share my thoughts on it later. 

[retrograde]

Ha! Hibachi grill sales up 1600% thanks to MC. 

[katisha]

Well, that was a tough watch for a Callum fan like me.  I don't have any fingernails left to gnaw but thank God he was safe! I must admit, though, I was quite surprised to see him not quite nail the brief twice in a row because "make something crunchy" and "make something gooey" are pretty clear instructions.  He's a much more versatile cook these days and does well with both sweet and savoury dishes.  In the second round especially, I don't know why he didn't make something with caramel or honey or molasses, all inherently gooey things, which DIDN'T involve a frozen element because that seemed unnecessarily risky.  

As for Dani, she's not the first contestant to go home with an unused immunity pin and I dare say she won't be the last, but from the sounds of it she was missing home and her young kids so it's probably a blessing in disguise for her.  

[Rosenrot]

 

23 hours ago, retrograde said:

That's true. But TV set are as gossipy as any workplace and his bosses do know, so I'd expect it to get out.

Hmm, true. I didn't think of that. 

DANI! Should've used your pin, gurl! The curse of Loki lives on. Can't say I'm too gutted though, because out of those five, losing Dani definitely stings the least.

I want those butties Simon made in my mouth right now. I haven't eaten bread for three weeks due dieting and I desperately miss it. 😭

Edited May 3, 2020 by Rosenrot
what are words

[Corgi-ears]

So the producers obviously devised those challenges because they've noticed, like some of us, that the new judges haven't been very good at describing dishes. So let's do two challenges that will only require them to repeat two descriptors! Plus, Andy and Jock have been saying "cracking!" a million times anyway; it's only a hop and skip away from "crunchy." Next challenge: cook us some "banging" food. 

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. I will not be taking any questions, thank you.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Corgi-ears

[zibnchy]

Whenever I see Emelia I'm surprised. I keep thinking she's a random staff person who snuck into a scene. Why does the show hate her?

What is Jock's problem with Callum? I grant you Callum was perhaps confused about the brief but Jock was acting like a dick. Or maybe I'm just extra quarantine cranky today. Or maybe Jock's a dick.

Sarah T is delightful. She literally jumped for joy. When is the last time you did that? Also her chicken looked and sounded delicious.

Isn't a chip butty made with french fries (chips)? If made with potato chips wouldn't it be a crisp butty? Has Simon ever actually had one? Also how was that dish gantry worthy? He didn't make the bread. He made plain old potato chips and he fancied up some butter. I know Simon is super nice and everyone loves him but I don't like him. (JUst a personal opinion. I tend to mistrust/dislike people who are too nice all the time.)

When is Ice Cream Ben leaving so we can get on with our lives?

Laura made pasta. Crunchy pasta with something and something else. I was holding my breath expecting her to be sent directly to the gantry.

I rag on Poh but tonight I loved her random bowl of random crunchy stuff. No drama just fun. I could be a fan of this Poh.

Were Khanh and Dani really close or was Khanh just having a moment?

So many questions.

 

[dnagirl]

Dani joins Loki in the annals of Masterchef AU history.  Oh well. 

Callum, Callum, Callum.  The judges are chewing on potato chips.  They're asking for something crunchy.  To put in their mouth and crunch with their teeth.  Not cracking crab shells.  I'm also surprised that the amount of extra coconut rum he put in his caramel didn't overpower everything with booze.

Same with you Hayden. I think even if the pappadaums were correct, we would have seen him in round 2 because his main dish was curry. Basically with a cracker.

After the promo said something like, "unexpected elimination" or whatever, I turned to Mr D and said, "Well, either Dani is going home wearing the pin or the police are going to break in during the cook and drag Ben out in cuffs."  I'm kind of disappointed it wasn't the latter.

 

[ppl]

On 4/29/2020 at 5:02 PM, katisha said:

I am probably a bit biased but even if they've been done before, it seems to me that if handled incorrectly they could be disgusting rather than good to eat, so perhaps that's why they praised her?

The flavours seemed a bit safe. I knew the dish would work when she was describing it at the beginning.

I like Sarah a lot both in season 9 and this one.

On 5/2/2020 at 1:09 AM, Christina said:

Personally, I think there is a distinction between recognizing that no matter what is placed in front of them, that cook is going to turn it into pasta, panna cotta, or ice cream and someone taking what ever is in front of them and making a Middle Eastern, Italian, vegetarian, savory, or sweet, etc. dish. The latter has a range of technique and options and to me, the former does not.

I'm feeling totally meh on the repetition of dishes and flavours. I think every contestant should be held to a higher standard this year because it is an All Star season. 

A lot of them are making the same elements: dressings, sauces that are identical or very close to what they usually cook.

5 hours ago, zibnchy said:

Whenever I see Emelia I'm surprised. I keep thinking she's a random staff person who snuck into a scene. Why does the show hate her?

What is Jock's problem with Callum? I grant you Callum was perhaps confused about the brief but Jock was acting like a dick. Or maybe I'm just extra quarantine cranky today. Or maybe Jock's a dick.

Sarah T is delightful. She literally jumped for joy. When is the last time you did that? Also her chicken looked and sounded delicious.

Isn't a chip butty made with french fries (chips)? If made with potato chips wouldn't it be a crisp butty? Has Simon ever actually had one? Also how was that dish gantry worthy? He didn't make the bread. He made plain old potato chips and he fancied up some butter. I know Simon is super nice and everyone loves him but I don't like him. (JUst a personal opinion. I tend to mistrust/dislike people who are too nice all the time.)

When is Ice Cream Ben leaving so we can get on with our lives?

Laura made pasta. Crunchy pasta with something and something else. I was holding my breath expecting her to be sent directly to the gantry.

I rag on Poh but tonight I loved her random bowl of random crunchy stuff. No drama just fun. I could be a fan of this Poh.

I agree with all of this. I'm right there next to you on the Simon dislike bandwagon.

I enjoyed Emelia on her season so it is annoying to see her dishes being flown under the radar. If they stopped trying to turn this into the Reynold/Poh show, they could have ample time to show some other contenders.

Jock was just saying that about Callum's dish to up the suspense factor. There's no way a delicious dessert with gooey center loses to an undercooked and runny egg...no matter how hard he tries to spin it as being a runny caramel.

Potato chips on bread is the first safe dish?! Really? Oh and Simon smoked something again. Yawn.

Khanh: *doesn't know what gooey is; hears about molten lava cake; does molten lava cake*

The editors have made Poh into a forgetful, stressed grandmother with the narrative that they've concocted. Good to see they dialed back the crazy today.

Tracy has an immediately safe worthy dish and she is relegated to background noise. Ouch.

Big surprise that Brendan's wontons weren't crunchy.

[katisha]

Forgot to say last night that Melissa wore something else I absolutely fell in love with. It probably wouldn't look so good on me because she is about a size 6 (US size 2) and I'm not quite 😂 but I still want that top! 

[elizacat]

13 hours ago, zibnchy said:

Isn't a chip butty made with french fries (chips)? If made with potato chips wouldn't it be a crisp butty? Has Simon ever actually had one? Also how was that dish gantry worthy? He didn't make the bread. He made plain old potato chips and he fancied up some butter. I know Simon is super nice and everyone loves him but I don't like him. (JUst a personal opinion. I tend to mistrust/dislike people who are too nice all the time.)

 

In Australia crisps are called chips. Chips/french fries are also called chips or hot chips.

Edited May 4, 2020 by elizacat

[katisha]

There wasn't a great deal of suspense to be found in that episode, was there?  It was pretty obvious very early on that the Aqua team was having major issues with all their mains and though at first I thought it might be an attempted fake-out, only to have them fix everything, serve up three brilliant dishes and actually avoid elimination, I think the editors gave up even trying to do that because nobody would have believed it.  

I'm happy with the outcome as most of my favourites were on the Orange team but I think this challenge really showed up how helpful it is in these challenges having team members like Khanh who actually run their own restaurants, because he did a great job of overseeing things.  Tessa tried hard but she doesn't have an assertive enough personality.  I can relate because I'm not very assertive either.  If I were in a kitchen I'd be the sous chef with no desire to run the show!

With a bit of luck, tomorrow night will rid us of some deadwood.  Yes, I'm looking at you, Rose!

 

[misgabi13]

42 minutes ago, katisha said:

With a bit of luck, tomorrow night will rid us of some deadwood.  Yes, I'm looking at you, Rose!

I agree!

I got so cranky watching Rose fling those rice ball things in and out of the pot - despite Poh pleading with her to be gentle.  This on top of when Poh first said she wanted to make the dish and described it Rose nearly snarled at her about would it be good!!

Still laughing at just how bad their mains seemed to be!  It seems Italian specialist Laura/Lara??? is not the person to put in charge of Larb!

Most of my favourites were on the orange team - I just hope Poh and Simon survive tomorrow night!  Especially as they were in charge of the two entrees that were judged just as good as the other team!

Kudos to Khan though!  Really rose to the occasion and knew exactly what was going on and tasted all the dishes!

 

Is it wrong that when the promo showed that boring suburban house and said it contained some sort of surprising mystery that I thought it was going to be revealed as a brothel?  

😂😂

9 hours ago, katisha said:

I still want that top!

I totally agree Katisha - it was gorgeous!  As was tonight's frock!

[Corgi-ears]

After a while I found it hilarious how tightly packed the kitchen was with cooks and camera operators. The episode was basically:

 

[SnideAsides]

Pretty much. I know Ringwood East very well (I live the next suburb over and I've been to that Thai restaurant before) and that place is basically as cramped as that glorified hole in the wall they took over for the pizza challenge when they visited Rome in Andy's season. I'm sure that was probably designed as part of the challenge for drama and whatever, but it was a bit of an odd choice. I wonder if they'd been thinking about a suburban theme week since before the old judges left, because one of George's (now closed) restaurants is literally three minutes away on the train and I can't think of any reason Ringwood East would come to their attention unless they were planning to do a challenge there and had to change their plans on short notice, so they found somewhere in roughly the same area but still far enough away for plausible deniability if George decided to have a shitfit about it? 

[Rosenrot]

I'm just parroting everybody else now, but I'm very glad that the orange team is safe because most of my favorites - except for Poh & Simon, and maybe Tessa - were there. Khanh did well and I love him. 🥰 (And I thought it was a little endearing how he called Andy "honey".)

Rose, please go home! Poh and Simon (and Tessa), please don't go home!

I noticed that Chris had a tattoo of the Grinch on his arm, and I like him a little more now. 

6 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

I totally agree Katisha - it was gorgeous!  As was tonight's frock!

I frickin' LOVED that yellow dress she had on during the second or third episode. If nothing else, she's a good dress-up inspiration. (I sound like an old sexist, but there, I said it. 😄)  

Edited May 4, 2020 by Rosenrot

[dnagirl]

10 hours ago, katisha said:

There wasn't a great deal of suspense to be found in that episode, was there?  It was pretty obvious very early on that the Aqua team was having major issues with all their mains and though at first I thought it might be an attempted fake-out, only to have them fix everything, serve up three brilliant dishes and actually avoid elimination, I think the editors gave up even trying to do that because nobody would have believed it.  

I'm happy with the outcome as most of my favourites were on the Orange team but I think this challenge really showed up how helpful it is in these challenges having team members like Khanh who actually run their own restaurants, because he did a great job of overseeing things.  Tessa tried hard but she doesn't have an assertive enough personality.  I can relate because I'm not very assertive either.  If I were in a kitchen I'd be the sous chef with no desire to run the show!

With a bit of luck, tomorrow night will rid us of some deadwood.  Yes, I'm looking at you, Rose!

 

I agree with everything here, @katisha.  I would have eaten every dish the orange team put out, they all looked so delicious.  Khanh did a great job running the show.

[TVbitch]

That elimination was cracking me up.

Judge Number 1: That crunch! And it's delicious!

Judge Number 2: It's crunchy and delicious!

Judge Nubmer 3: It's deliciously crunchy!

Ay yi yi. I noticed today in the service challenge that the contestants were describing how their dishes should taste much better than the judges. So far the female judge is the only one making a bit of progress. 

Why were they making such a big deal about being in the SUBURBS!!! Is that like some kind of fantastical place in AU? 

[SnideAsides]

19 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Why were they making such a big deal about being in the SUBURBS!!! Is that like some kind of fantastical place in AU? 

I kinda get it. Melbourne and Sydney are such sprawling cities (Melbourne is the world's largest by area, in fact) that "the city" and "the suburbs" are completely different entities with completely different personalities. And "the suburbs" can be further broken up into "the inner suburbs" like Flemington (where this show is usually filmed) and "the outer suburbs" like Ringwood East that represent the typical day-to-day life of most of this show's viewers. I'm still not quite sure why they used Ringwood East specifically (Thai Ute has decent reviews but nothing that would make it a must-visit, it's not a particularly scenic location, it's an hour away from where the show usually films, and it's a tiny suburb filling the gap between three larger suburbs that all would have been more logical choices; literally the railway station is its biggest landmark), but I get the appeal of highlighting The Suburbs generally.

[retrograde]

8 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Why were they making such a big deal about being in the SUBURBS!!! Is that like some kind of fantastical place in AU? 

It's the Australian equivalent of going to the Midwest. Like sucking up to the heartland (who will love it.) Australia's cultural divides tend to be more city vs suburban vs rural rather than where you live within the country itself. 

Tessa was not a good captain and kept blaming her team for not knowing enough about Thai food. 

[Christina]

I saw a link to an article saying Ben broke his silence on his mysterious exit, which in fact, says nothing at all. So, I'm still curious. 

There is this, though,

Quote

While Ungermann has yet to explain the details surrounding his arrest, he did respond to to a fan’s comment on Instagram about how his exit will be covered by the show.

“I’m actually devastated,” the fan wrote to Ungermann. “How do they edit you out?”

The former contestant replied: “That’s up to MasterChef Australia. Appreciate the support.”

The 34-year-old has appeared in the three episodes of MasterChef: Back To Win that have aired so far, and it is understood that he will be featured in the show for at least another month.

So, we can probably figure out his last episode. It also said in a different article that they decided to edit him out as best they could, and I'm even more curious.

[katisha]

2 hours ago, Christina said:

So, we can probably figure out his last episode. It also said in a different article that they decided to edit him out as best they could, and I'm even more curious.

It probably would have worked out better with the benefit of hindsight if they'd managed to boot him out tonight but he didn't deserve it on this occasion and Rose certainly did.  She's got her cafe in Adelaide and I don't doubt she makes quite good food, but she was somewhat out of her depth amongst this lot.

If Poh was always like she was in tonight's episode, I wouldn't be wondering how on earth she ever managed to come second in ANY season.  All the "faux Poh drama" (TM upthread!) only serves to make her look like kind of an airheaded scatterbrain who's got no idea about time management or being practical.  I suspect she may, in reality, be a little closer to the person we saw tonight. 

As someone who loves good vego food, I so wanted to eat that dish they were making.

[xchouchoutex]

I didn’t notice that jess was on aqua team until today , what was she doing ?

I was so relieved seeing Tessa / Amina / Simon are safe , i don’t care about the rest, However watching Poh in this elimination , there was something different about her tonight , i think she started to win me over 

Edited May 5, 2020 by xchouchoutex

[TVbitch]

I thought we were in for more Faux Poh drama when the challenge was announced and she immediately had a 10 minute talking head about how she can't taste things. But it was no faux! She get A LOT of screen time. I don't know how I am gonna feel if she win. My main concern is that she was a mentor employed by the show last season and I can't get around that. 

How can no one know why Ben was arrested? Do they not have tabloids in AU? 

 

 

[ReallyRealReality]

3 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I thought we were in for more Faux Poh drama when the challenge was announced and she immediately had a 10 minute talking head about how she can't taste things. But it was no faux! She get A LOT of screen time. I don't know how I am gonna feel if she win. My main concern is that she was a mentor employed by the show last season and I can't get around that. 

How can no one know why Ben was arrested? Do they not have tabloids in AU? 

 

 

It wasn't just the screen time, she was the most tweeted about on their Twitter page, too.  (I read that to keep up to date while I wait for the episode to become available.)  

From what I was able to read, Ben will be there until about the halfway point before his arrest.  Poh stays in longer because she was there during COVID filming.  BTW, it also results in the judge's finally get separate plates to keep them safe.

[Christina]

14 hours ago, katisha said:

As someone who loves good vego food, I so wanted to eat that dish they were making.

It's called khandvi and isn't difficult to make, it's just a bit of time consuming mixing the batter. I've made it twice and think it's over complicated for the end product. Also, I'm a lazy cook.

[akr]

13 hours ago, xchouchoutex said:

I didn’t notice that jess was on aqua team until today , what was she doing ?

She made a tamarind sauce - for the fish, I think.

Edited May 6, 2020 by akr
to delete the non-Jess parts of the quote

[xchouchoutex]

I just read this on twitter 🤣🤣

[katisha]

I very much enjoyed tonight's episode because we actually got to hear both Tracey AND Emilia speak!  I was starting to wonder if I'd just imagined they were on the show because of their invisibility so far.  And it's even better that they made the top three dishes along with Amina who, as I said, I far prefer this time around because she's just a bit less...I can't find quite the right word but "strident" is close!

I have to ask those of you saw Reynold's season this: did he always have the demeanour and skills of a professional chef?  Because even when he messes up (or does the Reynold version of messing up, which is not doing something entirely perfectly), he's always ready with his dishes on time, he's always calm and the other day I took particular note of his knife skills when he was cooking a savoury dish and, again, they were a level higher than pretty much any other contestant.  I do recall there was some controversy about him even being allowed to be a contestant because he was seen as being too qualified and I must admit I can totally see why.

[Athena]

4 hours ago, katisha said:

I have to ask those of you saw Reynold's season this: did he always have the demeanour and skills of a professional chef?  Because even when he messes up (or does the Reynold version of messing up, which is not doing something entirely perfectly), he's always ready with his dishes on time, he's always calm and the other day I took particular note of his knife skills when he was cooking a savoury dish and, again, they were a level higher than pretty much any other contestant.  I do recall there was some controversy about him even being allowed to be a contestant because he was seen as being too qualified and I must admit I can totally see why.

Reynold was a favourite because he was always very talented and his calm demeanour. He did have a couple of instances of genuinely messing up in his season but he stood out overall. His chef skills have improved a lot I noticed and he was always one of the better ones. Reynold being a contestant was controversial because his mother and brother are both professional chefs. His mother teaches it and his brother was a Masterchef Indonesia chef judge at some point. Reynold was studying in finances or something when he was in S6, but he admitted he didn't like it and preferred food. However, he implied his parents wanted him to be in a non-food industry. Reynold is in business with his brothers to open Koi. He definitely had a leg up in opening up a restaurant because of his family and industry connections. 

[zibnchy]

I'm starting to really dislike Jock. FF thru almost every one of his interactions with the cooks. Barely listen to what he says while judging. Hope he gets eliminated next.

Poh is winning me over!

Multiple instances of finger licking tonight. I didn't even finish the episode because I'd been spoiled on the results but also the finger licking grossed me out.

Think I'm in a bad mood today.

[Mellowyellow]

Not a fan of Jock either. There's something about him I don't like that I can't quite pin point. Perhaps it's the blatant favouritism of Laura.

I think Melissa is fantastic. Eloquent and comforting when the contestants need it but in a very composed way. Big fan!

I was skeptical about Andy but he's good natured and makes for pleasant TV. I think he'll grow as a judge.

Turf Jock and bring back Matt Moran!!!

 

[zibnchy]

27 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

Not a fan of Jock either. There's something about him I don't like that I can't quite pin point. Perhaps it's the blatant favouritism of Laura.

I think Melissa is fantastic. Eloquent and comforting when the contestants need it but in a very composed way. Big fan!

I was skeptical about Andy but he's good natured and makes for pleasant TV. I think he'll grow as a judge.

Turf Jock and bring back Matt Moran!!!

 

 

Matt Moran is an excellent suggestion. I like him. As an aside, I Wonder if we'll get any Bake Offs this year. Wouldn't they normally be filming those about now?

Agree with you re: Melissa. She's a winner. I did not expect to like her so much. Nice surprise.

Honestly, Poh would probably make a pretty good judge. Poh, Melissa and Andy?

 

[Rosenrot]

3 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

Turf Jock and bring back Matt Moran!!!

I'm thinking "turf Andy and bring back Matt Moran!" 😄 

Bummed that Brendan didn't make it to top 3. 

[katisha]

7 hours ago, zibnchy said:

Agree with you re: Melissa. She's a winner. I did not expect to like her so much. Nice surprise.

Although she made a rare fashion misstep in the episode last night! After all the pretty bell sleeves and great colours I am not sure where that strange beige sack came from! 

[retrograde]

Nice to see Amina do something really great, and nice that the show acknowledged Tracie and Amelia's existence for once.  

Is Andy going to declare how much he doesn't like cake/sweets while chowing down on cake/sweets every episode?

The Coles they went to was not "just down the road" from where this was filmed! They were in Wantirna and the supermarket was Glen Waverly. They definitely didn't walk there as implied. 

 

[SnideAsides]

42 minutes ago, retrograde said:

The Coles they went to was not "just down the road" from where this was filmed! They were in Wantirna and the supermarket was Glen Waverly. They definitely didn't walk there as implied. 

I mean, the basil dude mentioned he was from Elwood and the blue cheese was labelled as though it was made in Blackburn, so I'm assuming none of the "locals" walked to that street either.

But my favourite part of this is Twitter was all "that place looks too posh to count as a suburb!" when... like, Wantirna is definitely better-off than the surrounding area, but it's still only two suburbs away from the Thai restaurant from the other night. And I mean, yeah, they're big suburbs and this was at the far end of Wantirna from Ringwood East, but still.

[katisha]

Jeez, that challenge tonight deserved three weeks of immunity in my view, not just one lousy day.  You don't normally see individual service challenge like that until around top 5 level.  I'm very happy Amina won but I agree that the other two probably deserved some sort of consolation prize like maybe a small advantage in the elimination round. 

Amina's got such an interesting background for this show.  I keep on pigeonholing her into the Middle Eastern dish area but of course she's half-Korean too.  You don't often find that particular blend of cross-cultural expertise!

 

[misgabi13]

46 minutes ago, katisha said:

Jeez, that challenge tonight deserved three weeks of immunity in my view, not just one lousy day. 

You are so right Katisha!  That was a challenge and a half!

For one glorious second there I thought they were going to give them all immunity!  But no!

As a passionate lover of Bulgogi (and a tragic that keeps trying to make it herself) I'm just pleased Amina won - purely due to bulgogi goodness!

I noticed Chris had no hat again tonight - but the preview for Sunday has the hat back again!

PS:  Mel is the most elegant eater I have ever seen!

PPS:  I want to know where to buy her 'Sun Kissed' sun hat from last night!

[Corgi-ears]

 

16 minutes ago, misgabi13 said:

PPS:  I want to know where to buy her 'Sun Kissed' sun hat from last night!

Here, were it not out of stock.

[SnideAsides]

I adore Amina and I'm super happy she won, but also it's funny how the show went from "What's your favourite type of Thai food? I like northern Thai food most" in one of Melbourne's most lower-middle-class suburbs to "It doesn't have to be Japanese, it just has to be Asian" in one of Melbourne's richest suburbs within the space of three days.

[Corgi-ears]

If you describe a dish as one that "screams" "restrained elegance," then can it really be said to be restrained?

The editors really had to rub it in, huh, showing Tracy setting a paper towel on fire and then giving us the now-literal MCAU logo bursting into flames? 

The cooks are reacting with so much (faux-)horror in the trailer for Sunday's challenge that under the cloches must obviously be the severed heads of the eliminated contestants.

[dnagirl]

19 hours ago, katisha said:

Although she made a rare fashion misstep in the episode last night! After all the pretty bell sleeves and great colours I am not sure where that strange beige sack came from! 

But that hat though...I want that hat!

Haven't watched tonights episode yet, so no comment yet.

[limecoke]

I’m behind in watching so forgive me but I just have to say that I am still gobsmacked at potato chips on toast being this “amazing”, gantry-worthy dish.  Really? Seriously?