Young Masterchef contestant Jess Liemantara was eliminated on Sunday night after she failed to impress the judges and viewers with her messy dessert.
At one point her sugar sculptures caught fire, while her grey ice cream was described by viewers as the colour of “over washed gym jocks’. Once were white, now a murky grey”
The 19-year-old left the competition is good spirits, leaving Sashi Cheliah and Ben Borsht through to the finals.
‘What an absolute journey it has been I never thought I’d make it this far in the competition. Cannot believe I’ve cooked over 50 times. I cannot put into words how thankful and grateful I am to be mentored so wonderfully by the judges,’ Jess said in an Instagram post.
‘From starting off as a messy cook to a more organised cook is just the best teaching I received. Having learnt so much in this journey I am so thankful,’ she added.
The trio has 90 minutes to cook whatever they wanted and Jess chose to create a desert creation which eventually led to her to demise.
Some viewers took to social media to lament: ‘Jess can cook desserts, not so certain about the finer points of planetary bodies’.
As the youngest of this year’s MasterChef Australia contestants, the Melbourne waitress has had to deal with some of the harshest criticism on social media.
“It’s really hard not to look at the haters, and it does put you down,” she admits. “But you have support from the MasterChef family who say, ‘Don’t look at it.’ It’s really gut-wrenching.
“But being on the show is such a great opportunity. You have to forget about what other people say.”
Jess was caught up in controversy last month when judge Matt Preston tasted her fried sandwich before she’d finished making it.
Some viewers labelled it “cheating”, but Jess explains that’s what the judges do.
“I didn’t really think he was breaking the rules,” she says.
“For the judges to really know which dishes to taste, they have to taste each individual element. They taste bits and pieces to then say, ‘Oh, are you sure about that?'”
