They’re out! A comprehensive list of the contestants who’ve left MasterChef Australia 2022

Daniel Lamble

The last fan standing packed his bags after his three-course menu meal failed to keep up with Billie and Sarah – although they all struggled at points throughout.

Even though it’s sad that Daniel didn’t make it into the finale, the cook couldn’t be happier with his journey.

“I knew that I wasn’t going to make it to the final, I would have loved to be in the final don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t disappointed because it was such a mission to get that done,” he told Ten Play.

“From my perspective, I looked at the other two, and they’re so incredible at what they do… I was a little bit in awe of them,” Dan said. “I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t make it through because I accepted the fact that those two girls really deserve to be in the final.”

Keyma Vasquez

After a spectacular run on the series as a fan, Keyma’s time ended during her first elimination pressure test.

In conversation with Ten Play, she revealed she wasn’t sure what to expect from the challenge.

“I didn’t have the experience from a long Pressure Test,” she said. “I witnessed some of the toughest Pressure Tests from the gantry, they looked pretty scary and difficult to go through.

Ultimately, she was proud of everything she had achieved on the show.

“I was so proud, in the beginning I didn’t think I’d finish the dish. I was really, really doubtful of my skills in a Pressure Test and to be able to put up two different courses in that amount of time, I was like this is impossible. To look at those finished dishes, I was over the moon,” she gushed.

Julie Goodwin

We always knew it would be a hard day when we had to say goodbye to Julie. But for the MasterChef icon, her encore journey on the series couldn’t have gone better.

She told Ten Play, “I didn’t think I’d get to the top five. I knew I was heading into a situation where I’d be up against not only other winners from other seasons, but people who’ve worked in the industry for years; a bunch of talented go getters who have this passion for cooking and MasterChef.”

The cook was eliminated at Tasmania’s Lawrenny Distillery when her Whisky Toffee Pudding with Whisky Chilli Ice Cream came out of the oven burnt.

Alvin Quah

Alvin and his incredible glasses sadly missed out on making it into the top five – which coincidentally happened when he first appeared on the show in 2010.

“When I got eliminated, I was cursing myself, thinking ‘I cannot get past number six! But the more I think about it, the competition has changed and is so steep now,” he told Ten Play.

“Even though I finished in the same ranking, I think that it’s so much harder as a competition now, so I feel great. I feel like whatever I needed to do in the show I have done.”

Mindy Woods

Mindy went out with a bang during the Kristen Tibballs Pressure Test. It was a joy for viewers to watch her fly through the stressful cook with a smile on her face alongside Julie and Billie.

“It was just such a wonderful way to go home, if there’s such a thing. I just felt like I got the best of every experience,” she told Ten Play.

She also praised the “Sisterhood” on her Instagram by writing, “Last night I cooked off against these two incredible women @_juliegoodwin & @billie_mckay15. Connected through our love of food, the sisterhood was powerful.

Aldo Ortado

After an incredible journey, Aldo left the competition after putting up a good fight, but his cook just fell behind his competitors.

He shared a sweet tribute on his Instagram to commemorate his success on the show.

He wrote, “It has been an incredible ride this time around. I had so much fun and I had the chance to meet in person people that made me apply for this show my first time.

“I want to thank you all @masterchefau family you made this experience so much more special. And also thank you to all the people that shared their story and their feeing and have shown love and emotion back to me.”

Montana Hughes

MasterChef welcomed back chef Khanh Nguyen, and he brought with him one of the most difficult pressure tests yet.

Unfortunately for Montana Hughes, a few minor missteps ended her time in the competition.

“I finally started to find my groove and, to go home after just finding that confidence again was tough but… I would rather that than to go home before finding that and having a few good cooks up my sleeve,” she told 10 play.

Tommy Pham

Tommy went head-to-head with Alvin Quah during a face-off, and our favourite was sadly defeated.

When speaking to Ten Play, he reflected, “I was feeling pretty good. I had been having some really, really good cooks leading up to this point and I thought wow, I could possibly get to the end of this.”

“In hindsight, I wish I could have stayed a little bit calmer and produced a more quality dish, but I guess… hindsight is a b**ch, isn’t it?”

Michael Weldon

The judges asked their contestants to make the best “postcard” dish to transport them to another place in the world.

Sadly, the former Season Three cook struggled to keep in control of his operation even after trying to redeem himself previously that week.

Talking to Ten Play, he spoke about how returning to the show was more stressful than his debut.

“It was probably more stressful this time around because I knew what I was doing,” he said.

“Last time was a stab in the dark, it worked out. This time I know a bit more about what I’m doing, so that was me putting pressure on myself, to be honest.”

Steph Woon

In her final challenge, Steph was tasked with recreating Andreas Papadaki’s ‘Tipomisu’ without ever seeing a recipe.

“When they told us it was a dessert and we wouldn’t get to taste it and we had to read the review I was slightly terrified,” Steph told 10 play. “When it comes to cooking on the fly and recipes, I tend to just wing it which is not great in a pressure test!”

It was only by the end of her cook did the ‘Cake Queen’ realise she had forgotten to add the vanilla bean to her brownie.

“I didn’t think anyone made mistakes so, to forget something I knew was going to put me in trouble, even if it was a minor thing. I’ve seen people go home when they’ve forgotten a small element, so I wasn’t surprised, especially when everyone else had pretty smooth cooks on the day as well.”

Harry Tomlinson

MasterChef’s fan favourite left the kitchen after she chose to cook with flounder instead of a more flavour filled fish.

While reflecting on the experience with Ten Play, she revealed she knew it was her time to go.

“I think I had been struggling for a few weeks to find my balance again, and, when we had Marco week, it really solidified what I wanted to do for myself within food, but I just wanted to not stuff up in front of him basically,” she shared.

Harry impressed the judges from day one in the competition, but that ultimately caused more worry for her than confidence.

“To have three cracking dishes straight off the bat… I think everyone thought it would make me feel super confident in myself, but it actually did the opposite. I knew there was no way I could stay at the top of the pack the whole time, and that the only way was down, it was really scary,” she said.

Matt Landmark

Matt didn’t stick his Messina landing when he missed one detail in the ice cream restaurant’s head chef Donato Toce’s gelato creation.

Before heading home, he told Ten Play that he must have missed a line in the recipe because he didn’t notice his mistake until after he plated his dish.

“That must have been one line in the recipe that I just missed, which is what sends me home,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but it’s not like everything turned to disaster, so I can handle that better.”

Ali Stoner

During the Green Wall Taste Test, Ali let “doubt” get the better of her when her dish failed to inspire the judges.

“Unfortunately [that] didn’t work out for me, and I’m such a perfectionist I think it really got me into a bad state,” she told Ten Play.

Despite taking the loss in her stride, she felt disappointed about leaving after progressing throughout the competition.

“I had been running so well and just really feeling like I was starting to enjoy myself, I was cooking great dishes and had a number of successes,” she said. “And then to go and have that go a little bit pear-shaped on me really did affect me.”

Melanie Persson

A pressure test is no easy feat, and last night Melanie couldn’t quite conquer chef John Inland’s Tuna Wellington without tasting the whole dish due to her gluten intolerance.

“I always dreaded a pressure test to be quite honest,” she told 10 Play. “I don’t like following recipes and… obviously there’s the added pressure of knowing it was quite likely something would be glutenous in the challenge and I wouldn’t be able to eat it.

When asked if she felt the challenge was unfair considering her food intolerance, she replied, “I never really thought of it as unfair to be honest… I know they can’t change the entire format of the show for me.”

Jenn Lee

A surprise elimination round saw the hopeful chefs have to perfect two rounds of cooking in just 90 minutes. But unfortunately, the tough challenge was too much for Jenn, who wasn’t used to whipping up dishes quickly.

“To be honest, this was my biggest fear,” she told 10 Play. “My style of cooking is quite heavily reliant on time, I love using time to develop flavour, a lot of my ingredients are quite simple but you get the flavour from time.

Even though her journey ended, Jenn was proud to share Taiwanese food with Australia.

“Having this opportunity to show the rest of Australia what Taiwanese food really is and how amazing it can be has been absolutely amazing and it made me really proud and humbled,” she said.

Minoli De Silva

Week three of MasterChef has became a chopping block for favourites. Minoli returned after her stint on the show last year with much hype from fans, but when she was tasked with recreating Alla Wolf-Tasker’s summer cucumbers with Murry cod without seeing the recipe, she couldn’t get herself over the line.

After getting eliminated, she spoke to Ten Play about her experience. “It was just a mess at the end, and my heart was broken that I was serving one of my favourite chefs food that I wasn’t happy with – especially her food!

“That completely broke me, at the end, I was just shattered,” she shared.

Sashi Cheliah

Sashi is one of MasterChef’s best of all time, which is why tears of disbelief filled the famous kitchen when he was eliminated. Although he put up a good fight, the overnight fish curry challenge undid his progress in the competition.

In conversation with Ten Play, the chef was in good spirits when he remembered what went wrong.

“I did not realise, it was a surprise for me,” Sashi said. “I put the fish in the curry sauce about six or seven minutes before plating up and then put the dosas together with it.

“One thing I failed to realise was the flame was pretty high, so the fish was cooked perfectly but the bottom bit of the pot got a bit burned and that flavour has been infused throughout in the curry. I didn’t realise until the verdict was given.”

Ultimately, even though his peers were beside themselves, he wasn’t so concerned about his early exit.

“Funny thing was, I was pretty chill about the elimination, I was going around consoling everyone like ‘Don’t cry, don’t cry,'” he said.

“When you cook, you know whether it’s a good cook or a bad cook. If something happens, I know it’s my fault, nothing else to blame.”

Christina Batista

Christina gave her rendition of Tarts Anon’s Gareth Whitton’s smoked pecan and butterscotch tart, but her fate was sealed when she served it slightly undercooked to the judges.

After she was eliminated, she told Ten Play that she thought the cook would go smoothly. “At first, I thought, oh okay! It’s a tart, I can do that! I’m not big on cooking sweets generally but like, okay… it’s a tart!”

However, she knew it was her time to go when she compared her tart to the other competitors.

“I had a feeling that it was going to be me,” she said. “Seeing the other boys’ tarts, I noticed mine had sunk in the middle a little bit… once I heard Matt and Dan had done a good job, I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling that it was going to be me.” Said Christina.

John Carasig

John was the first Favourite to leave the competition during a challenge involving eggs.

“I was actually confident, when I saw that one egg I thought I’ve got a few dishes I can actually do — it’s something I always cook with anyway, savoury or sweet. I felt quite confident going into that elimination,” John told 10 play.

“I just knew that I still belonged in the competition and I really wanted to stay and make sure I did my best on the day,” he said.

Despite his confidence, John’s lemon tarts just weren’t up to scratch, and a botched batch of meringue meant that one of his main elements didn’t make it to the plate for the judges.

Max Krapivsky

When one of MasterChef’s best cooks ever, Reynold Poernomo, walked through the doors the contestants knew it wasn’t going to be an easy day. Each cook gave the Noi their best shot but sadly Max couldn’t quite make it over the line.

Max took to Instagram to reflect on the experience. He wrote, “22 does happen to be my lucky number, and to go out 22nd in the year 2022 is something I am so proud of.

“I’m so lucky to have been given a second chance at my Masterchef dream after coming so close last season. Thank you so much to the production team, crew and judges @masterchefau . You have helped me cross off a bucket list item.”

Dulan Hapuarachchi

During a marathon challenge, Dulan Hapuarachchi rushed his way through a Polly Wanna Waffle, sadly ending his time in the MasterChef kitchen.

“I wanted to show the judges what I can do, I feel like I wasn’t able to because my time was pretty short,” Dulan told 10Play after his exit aired.

“But the worst dish of the day goes home, that’s just how it works in MasterChef. Everything happens for a good reason, so I just have to believe that!”

Chris Tran

The very first elimination round of the season saw Chris Tran, one of the fans, leave the MasterChef kitchen after his Mì Xào Giòn failed to impress the judges.

Despite his time cut short, Chris told 10Play that he still managed to get the most out of the experience after going from the top four competing for immunity down to finding himself battling in the elimination cook.

“It was the feeling of the highest highs down to elimination, which I guess is the lowest low,” Chris said. “I just had a really efficient time on MasterChef. I kind of experienced the whole thing!”

This year, MasterChef fan favourites will compete against a fresh batch of home cooks.