MasterChef Australia has a brand-new look in 2024, with new judges Poh Ling Yeow, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Sofia Levin joining Andy Allen in the kitchen.
22 contestants entered Australia’s biggest cooking reality show this year, and they will be pushed to their limits in mystery box challenges, pressure tests, and group service challenges throughout the season.
As the episodes progress, contestants will start to be eliminated and their cooking dreams in the MasterChef kitchen will sadly come to an end.
They’re competing to gain valuable experience from industry professionals as well as to win $250,000 to kick-start their food careers, but only one can win.
We’ve now reached a pinnacle moment in the competition, with the final three contestants being confirmed. Josh P, Savindri and Nat are the only cooks who remain.
See who has left the MasterChef Australia kitchen so far in 2024…
Savindri Perera
30, SA, Banking Consultant
The final three cooks put everything on the line in a final high-intensity service challenge, in the hopes of making it to the final two.
Sadly for Sav, the judges weren’t as impressed with her dishes as they were the other contestants, and she was sent home.
“There’s always that disappointment because you want to get to the end but, after that cook, I felt a sense of relief,” Sav told 10Play following her elimination.
Harry Butterfield
29, QLD, Commercial Property
The final elimination challenge before the final three saw Harry’s food hero Josh Nilard enter the MasterChef kitchen, and challenge the remaining contestants to recreate an intricate seafood dish.
As the self-proclaimed ‘seafood guy’, Harry really felt the pressure to impress his hero as well as prove himself as a strong seafood cook.
Unfortunately, as Harry told 10Play, he “wasn’t trying to do [his] best, [he] was trying to be perfect,” and he was eliminated after he misinterpreted the instructions.
Mimi Wong
25, NSW, High School Teacher
As the competition had reached an all-important milestone – the top five – the remaining cooks were pushed to their limits in one of the toughest challenges yet this season.
The judges revealed five ingredients with extremely strong and distinct flavours, and tasked the contestants to create a dish that balanced one of them.
Mimi chose to utilise a bitter gouda, but she encountered some obstacles throughout the cook that meant one of the main elements of the dish, her brioche buns, were unusable.
This meant the dish wasn’t balanced and she was sent home.
Darrsh Clarke
31, WA, Management Consultant
Chef Guillaume Brahimi challenged the remaining contestants to a gruelling task: making five finished dishes.
Though he powered through the recipe early on, in doing so Darrsh sacrificed flavour and attention to detail.
The 31-year-old’s plating was inconsistent, and there was shell in his crab meat, so he was sadly eliminated.
Lachlan Whittle
34, VIC, Landscape Gardener
MasterChef’s infamous and iconic Time Auction challenge is always a difficult task for the contestants, and this year was no different.
The cooks were given 120 minutes of cooking time to bid in exchange for ingredients, and though Lachlan’s lamb kofta dish was executed really well, the judges thought it lacked cohesion and he was sent home.
“It’s a good dish but the real fault is that they don’t go together,” Andy Allen shared.
Sumeet Saigal
46, NSW, Sales Manager
The contestants were tasked with reimagining the classic ‘bacon and eggs’ in a surprise elimination challenge, but unfortunately Sumeet struggled to execute her dish.
Her breakfast naan was inconsistent and she was eliminated.
“When they revealed that it was my time to go, the most pronounced emotion that I felt was gratefulness. That’s the honest truth,” Sumeet shared following her elimination.
Alex Crisp
27, WA, Sales Representative
After winning immunity in the first round of Sweet Week, Alex didn’t have to cook again as she was safe in the competition. But she admitted that this may have contributed to her detriment.
“As much as it was cool to take a step back and not have to be under pressure every single day, it kind of played to my detriment because for so long you’re in this routine of constant pressure and stress,” she told 10 Play.
So when the contestants were tasked with replicating a technically challenging dessert with over 100 steps created by chef Hugh Allen, she struggled to perform and was sent home.
Gillian Dinh
31, NSW, Lettering Artist
Although she was so close to gaining immunity all throughout Sweet Week, Gillian found herself in the elimination challenge where she struggled due to her needing to include coffee in her dish – a flavour she’s not a huge fan of.
“It was like being slapped in the face from the start of Sweet Week to then, here you go! Here’s an ingredient that you don’t drink and never loved eating, trying, consuming,” she told 10Play.
The 31-year-old was ultimately eliminated as her dessert was over-baked.
Josh Clarke
27, QLD, Coffee Roaster
A plant-based challenge pushed the contestants to create a dish without any animal products, while still celebrating meat.
Josh C attempted to create a classic steak and jus dish using just carrots, however his reimagination fell short and he was eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen.
“Honestly, this was probably my least favourite challenge of all the challenges up until this point,” Josh told 10 Play.
Sue Bazely
58, VIC, Customer Manager
The contestants were treated to an appearance from another guest judge, this time Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone.
The cooks were challenged to keep up with Curtis in a brutal challenge and from the get-go, Sue struggled.
Sadly there were too many elements with issues in her dish, and she was sent home.
David Tan
30, QLD, Pharmacologist
Guest judge, celebrity chef Rick Stein, challenged the contestants to create a dish that heroed raw seafood. Having never prepared raw fish before, David admitted he was nervous.
His tuna dish with raspberries and apple puree was labelled too imbalanced by the judges, which meant he had to cook again in round two. David’s smoked salmon with couscous and fennel salads was the weakest dish and he sadly left the competition.
Savindri Perera
30, SA, Banking Consultant
A gruelling four-hour pressure test pushed the contestants to their limits, and they had to recreate an extremely technical and intricate dish by Darren Purchese.
Fan-favourite Savindri had a chaotic experience in the kitchen and she wasn’t feeling confident when she plated her dish in front of the judges.
Sav was ultimately eliminated due to her brownie being dry, and her cheesecake lacking balance.
However, in a MasterChef twist the previously eliminated contestants were given the opportunity to win back their spot in the competition. Savindri’s dish was deemed the best and she re-entered the MasterChef kitchen.
Stephen Dennis
62, QLD, Tour Guide
All of the remaining contestants partook in an elimination challenge where the judges gave the cooks a seemingly simple task: creating a dish that featured egg in an interesting way.
Unfortunately for 62-year-old Stephen, his dish didn’t come together quite as he had imagined and he was sent home.
“Going into the challenge I wasn’t worried at all, but as I went through I started having cracks come apart and I suddenly realised I wasn’t working as well as I normally do. I wasn’t as calm as I normally was,” Stephen said after his elimination.
Snezana Calic
40, VIC, Financial Services
Special guest Anna Polyviou, “the punk dessert” icon, challenged contestants to recreate an original dessert she crafted just for this challenge.
The dish was extremely intricate, and no element tasted like what it appeared to be.
Snezana struggled throughout the cook, with multiple elements needing to be remade, and although she managed to plate her dish in a way that looked identical to Anna’s, the flavours weren’t well-balanced and she was eliminated.
Juan De La Cruz Torales Villarreal
39, NSW, Board Game Designer
Last night, the cooks were put to the test during a gruelling two-round elimination.
In the first round, Juan De La Cruz got overwhelmed by the challenge and wrongly assumed his dish needed to be inspired by guest-judge Luke Nguyen’s love of Vietnamese food. The dish was not his best and in the second round he returned to his Argentinian roots and made empanadas.
Unfortunately, the flavours were lacking and his time in the competition came to an end.
Lourdes Leschen
22, VIC, Marketing Coordinator
In a tough elimination challenge, four contestants had to recreate a challenging and intricate dish.
Unfortunately for Lourdes, the youngest cook in the competition, her egg yolk and sauce were both overcooked which disrupted the balance of the dish.
The 22-year-old was sent home after the judges decided her dish was the least like the original.
Lily Davies
30, NSW, Former Nurse
A classic MasterChef challenge, the blind taste test, had the contestants relying on only their senses of taste and smell to try and identify ingredients.
Lily was named in the bottom six after struggling to correctly name enough ingredients and had to cook a dish using only the ingredients from the first round where she struggled to come up with a dish concept.
The 30-year-old former nurse said she felt “really deflated” going into the cook and was ultimately eliminated after she was deemed to have had the weakest dish. Lily revealed she had a “gut instinct” that she was going home.
Khristian Walker
26, VIC, Insurance Services
After being named in the bottom four, Khristian had to participate in this season’s first Pressure Test cookoff where he was tasked with recreating one of Jean-Christophe Novelli’s most intricate dishes.
Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, nothing really seemed to go his way during the cook, and he was sent home after the judges decided there were too many elements that weren’t up to par.
Jonathan Hooper
29, NSW, Carpenter
29-year-old Jonathan was eliminated after failing to impress the judges with his iteration of one of judge Andy Allen’s mum’s favourite dishes.
The carpenter had a bit of a mishap in round one where his cheesecake stuck to the pan and the judges struggled to get it out and he had to cook again in round two.
In the end, Sofia said the elements of his pappardelle pasta felt “clumsy” and the judges deemed he had the weakest dish so he was sent home.
Steph Griffen
28, QLD, Events Manager
After a tough challenge where the contestants had to recreate one of Jamie Oliver’s dishes alongside him, Steph was sadly sent home.
The 28-year-old’s dish had some inconsistencies and her chicken was overcooked, and unfortunately that meant she was eliminated.
James Holmes
38, WA, Primary School Teacher
James was the first contestant eliminated from MasterChef this season.
The 38-year-old from Western Australia failed to impress the judges with his squid dish which was undercooked and had conflicting flavours.
Poh described it as “one of the least impressive dishes” of the night, and with the other judges agreeing, he was sent home.
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