1 ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... Welcome to hell. ..our contestants had to make... Move your bum! ..and plate... Let's go, go, go. ..40 dishes for a seven-course degustation menu. Worst day of my life! Georgia, Reynold and Jessie struggled with the task... Jessie? We're waiting! I've just lost the plot. ..and ended up in elimination. Tonight - it's one of MasterChef's most feared challenges... Five minutes for the chicken! Five. 15. Herbs! 20. ..where careless bidding... Sold! The sardines... Oh, no! ..sold! ..can bring a contestant undone. No! I thought you... I'm totally freaked out. Recipes that have worked before... There is SO much at stake. (SIGHS) Oh, crap. ..won't be enough this time. Oh, no. Stupid of me. And one of our favourites... Oh! (SIGHS) ..faces elimination. Oh, I just don't want to go home today. # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. # In my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. Supertext Captions by Ericsson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2016 REYNOLD: I know that today, I can't make any mistakes. I've got to be focused. 'Cause if I'm not focused, I'm gonna have, you know, a bad cook. I don't want to go home yet. JESSIE: I feel really mixed feelings about going up against Reynold and Georgia. It's come to the point where I think we feel like a massive family here. We're all on a really even playing field at the moment, and sometimes it just comes down to just one small thing. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) See you, guys. Thanks. Good luck, guys. GEORGIA: It'd be completely devastating to go home today. I'm realising how lucky I am to be here. I don't want to give it up. I want to fight for it. REYNOLD: Let's do this, guys. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) BILLIE: Go, Georgia! We walk into the MasterChef kitchen and I can see a podium with three lots of ingredients and three stations. It's the auction. I've seen this challenge before and have been dreading it. It's one of the hardest hurdles in the competition and it's the last thing I want to be facing going into an elimination. MATTHEW: Come on, Reynold! JESSICA: Go, Jessie! JESSIE: Looks like it's gonna be a bidding war. No points for guessing that today we're revisiting a little MasterChef favourite, which is... ..the infamous MasterChef auction. One thing's for sure - by the end of today, we will have our top six. Two of you will be part of it, and sadly, one of you won't. GEORGE: Right. Let's get down to business. There's three categories here and three choices in each category. The idea is simple. You bid for the ingredients that you want. But obviously, not with money - with time. Each of you start out with 100 minutes. The more you spend, the less time you have to cook with. One last thing - you can only bid in lots of five minutes. You got it? REYNOLD: The currency for this auction isn't money, but time, and that's invaluable in the MasterChef kitchen. So we're gonna be very strategic in our bidding today. So, over here - proteins. Chicken. Eggs. And sardines. You each bid to get one of these. If you do get it, you have to use it. Yeah? You understand? Mm-hm. We're only allowed to use one of the proteins, and looking over, my eyes are locked on the eggs. I've got to do a dessert today. I'm gonna go for that one. JESSIE: All I'm seeing in front of me is that beautiful chicken. I know how to make some knockout chicken dishes, so I'm gonna bid my heart out for it. GEORGIA: As far as I'm concerned, the key to this challenge is the protein, and the chicken looks like my best bet at avoiding elimination, so I'm going to bid on the chicken and hope for the best. So, next - root vegetables. Citrus. And nightshade. And then over here, we've got some herbs, we've got spices over here, and also, some condiments. So, what you see here is what you have to cook with. There's no pantry today and there's definitely no garden. But we're giving you some pantry staples underneath your bench - flour, sugar, butter, milk and cream. MATT: You ready? Yep. Let's get this auction under way. Let's start with the proteins. Australia's favourite, a virtual pantry all of its own - the chicken! My best chance of survival is making a dessert. So all I'm focusing on are the eggs. Alright, who'll give me five minutes for the chicken? JESSIE: I'll go five minutes for chicken. Excellent. Five minutes, Jessie. Who'll give me 10? 10 minutes for the...? I'll go 10 minutes for the chicken. Georgia's going 10 minutes. Who will give me 15 minutes for the chicken? Georgia, you're holding the chicken at the moment. Chicken's what I do best. I'm not going to give it up to Georgia without a fight. I'll go 15. 15 minutes to Jessie. The bid's with you, Georgia. Will you give me 20 minutes? GEORGE: Five minutes is nothing. Five more minutes. 20 minutes? 20 minutes. (ALL CHEER, APPLAUD) Georgia, the chicken is yours at 20 minutes. 25 minutes. 25 minutes to Jessie! Well done. Love that. GEORGE: Georgia, come on! Georgia, are you done? I'm done. Selling it to Jessie for 25 minutes. Going once. Going twice. Sold to Jessie! GARY: What a bargain! Yay, Jessie! What a bargain. There you go. Brilliant. What a great buy! Oh! GEORGIA: If I can't have the chicken, I'll go for a beautiful dessert instead. I know that I can do something beautiful with the eggs, so I'm going to bid on the eggs. REYNOLD: I want to make a dessert today, but now that Georgia was outbid on the chicken, I suspect I've got a battle on my hands for the eggs. We knock down the next protein - the sardines. Remember, whatever you buy, you have to cook with. Who will give me five minutes for the sardines? Georgia. Oh, no! No! Oh, my God. I just put my paddle up for sardines. No! No, I thought you... I heard "eggs", but you said "sardines". I'm totally freaked out. I wanted to make a dessert, and how am I meant to do that with sardines? I was meant to play to my strengths today. I'm an idiot. I should have been concentrating more and not caught up in my own thoughts about all the things I could do with eggs and bid on sardines. So I'm just going to go with it. Maybe there's some weird twist of fate that I'm meant to cook with sardines today. It's alright. I'll take them. I've put my hand up. It's an auction. Alright. Georgia... (LAUGHS) Yep! ..the sardines... ..are yours for five minutes. That's alright. GARY: That is rock'n'roll. That's pretty cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap! The rules are the rules, and I don't have a lot of experience cooking with sardines, but I'm going to have to own this and come up with a dish good enough to save me today. That means, Reynold, you get the eggs for free, as they're the last protein and there's no-one left to bid against you. REYNOLD: I can't believe my luck. I was ready for a bidding war, but instead, I've got the eggs handed to me for nothing! Right. So, at the end of round one of this time auction, Jessie, you've got a chicken and 75 minutes to cook it in, Georgia, you've got sardines and 95 minutes to cook it in, Reynold, you have got 100 minutes left on your board AND the eggs. So, moving on to the fruit and vegetables. We're gonna start with the nightshades. I never wanted to cook with sardines, and I've somehow ended up with them. Standing there looking at the nightshades, I know they pair really well with other fish I've cooked before. I need to make sure I outbid the other two if I have any chance of saving myself today. I'll give five minutes. OK, the bid is with Georgia. Jessie, Reynold, will you give me 10 minutes for those nightshades? Jessie doesn't want to move. Reynold? Well, you know what? That is beautiful. That is fate. Georgia...the nightshades are yours. Thank you. I'm happy with that. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) For five minutes! I've only spent five minutes and I win the nightshades. I couldn't be happier. Oh! How delicious would our next lot, the citrus, be with those chickens or those eggs? I know I'm making a dessert and I've got a curd in mind that citrus would really help. I'm going to fight for that basket. I definitely want citrus. Five. Five minutes to Reynold. I'll go 10. GARY: Yes! 10 to Jessie. Reynold's still got his full 100 minutes and I know that he definitely would want the citrus. He always says how much he would love citrus in a mystery cook. So I'm gonna try and bid him up a little bit... ..just so he doesn't have the full 100 minutes to cook. Reynold? 15. 20. 25. 25 to Reynold. I'm not giving up. Winning the citrus will make or break my dish. Jessie, will you give me 30? Nope. Going once for the citrus to Reynold. Going twice, the citrus to Reynold. For 25 minutes... ..sold to Reynold! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Jessie, come forward, and you can pick up those vegetables you wanted. GARY: For free! For free! I'm so stoked I got the vegetables for free. I'm definitely not gonna complain about that. At this stage, every minute counts. So, at the end of round two, Jessie, you have the chicken and the root vegetables, Georgia, the nightshades and the sardines, and, Reynold, the citrus and the eggs. I got the eggs I wanted as well as the citrus. Now all that's left are those spices. If I get them, I'm in for a pretty good chance to avoid elimination. Right. Last lot. We are gonna start with, I think, the most hotly contested lot of the day... ..the spices! Spices are up next, and I desperately need them to work with my chicken and root vegetables. But every bid is gonna cost me precious time, and against two of the strongest cooks in the competition, I need as much as possible. I'll go five. Five to Jessie. 10. 10 to Reynold. Another bid would take me to 15 minutes, and that'll leave me with only an hour to cook, and that's seriously pushing to get that chicken cooked to perfection. GEORGE: Ohhh! 15 to Jessie. Nice work. Georgia, will you give me 20? No. Are you sure? Yep. Reynold, are you out? Yep. Sold to Jessie! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) That was a seriously costly bid. And now I know I'm going to be facing an uphill battle against the clock to get my dish cooked in time. Right, so, we're down to herbs and we're down to condiments. It's the basket of herbs! (GARY LAUGHS) GEORGIA: Herbs are the safest bet for me to complement these sardines, so I'm out to get them. I'll give five minutes. 10. Alright, 15. 15 to Georgia! Reynold, all finished? All done? Yep. Knocked down to Georgia. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Just like I wanted, I've got the same amount of time as Reynold, so I'm not at too much of a disadvantage. Now if I could just figure out what I'm going to do with these sardines. I missed out on the herbs, but at least the condiments didn't cost me any time, and hopefully I can come up with a way to incorporate them somehow. So, Jessie, you'll be cooking with the chicken, the spices and the root vegetables, and you've got 60 minutes to do it - the least time of all three contestants. Georgia, you'll have 75 minutes to bring us an amazing dish using those sardines, those nightshades and those wonderful herbs. Reynold, you will have 75 minutes as well to bring us something spectacular using the eggs, the citrus and something out of that basket of sauces. GARY: Reynold, Georgia... ..your time starts now. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATTHEW: Protect those eggs, Reynold. SARA: That's it, Georgia. REYNOLD: Today, I'm not taking any risk. I'm going to play it safe and cook what I know, and that's desserts. So, today, I'm gonna be cooking a citrus curd with a bit of sable and meringue. The curd is gonna be a frozen citrus curd and act as the centrepiece of my dish. I crack some eggs into a bowl and some lemon juice, butter and sugar into a pot. I'm making the curd the old-school way, because I want to keep an eye on it. I want to see what stage it's gonna be right for me to take it off the heat. I'm feeling pretty confident in my dish. I've just got to make sure that I've got all the balance right and that it's gonna look nice and eat nice as well. MATTHEW: Good work, Georgia. Come on. (APPLAUSE) Whoo! GEORGIA: Alright. Let's do these fish. I need to make sure that I look after them and that I'm delicate with them. I want beautiful little fillets with the tails still on. The one thing that I'm reasonably confident with is how to prep the sardines for cooking, but I've still got no idea what my dish is going to be and how to incorporate the nightshades and herbs. It's really starting to freak me out. Reynold. We know that you're good with dessert, yeah? You set a benchmark with that coconut dessert... GARY: Yeah. ..the other day. That was one of the best desserts I've tasted in...in MasterChef, since we've been on this show. Yep. You have got the perfect score. Wow! 30 out of 30 for that dessert. Absolutely brilliant. What's the dish? Uh, so, I'm thinking of doing a frozen citrus curd with meringue and sable crumb. You know, we've seen you do meringue, we've seen you do curd, you know. And I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying, what else... what else can you do? If I'm gonna survive today, I can't just plate up any old dessert. I have to come up with some kind of innovative twist to push my dish over the edge and really blow the judges away. If I don't...I'm done for. How are you gonna cook them? GEORGIA: Not sure yet. I've almost used up 15 minutes and I'm still filleting these bloody sardines. Hello. I thought I'd jump in, have a look. GEORGE: What's the dish? Um, I'm not really sure yet. I'm kind of thinking about... No! What do you mean? It's serious now. This is top six. It's all about getting into the top six. Yeah, just...I'm worried about cooking these guys. Concentrate. One dish. You've got to stand up and be seen. Yeah. 'Cause you want to save yourself. Obviously, a lot at stake. Yeah. I have sardines, nightshades and herbs and still no idea how to bring them all together in a dish. If I don't think of something fast, then I'm going home. 1 GEORGE: What's the dish? I'm not really sure yet. I'm kind of thinking about... No! What do you mean? I'm starting to lose it. I still haven't figured out how to combine my nightshades with my sardines and herbs. I'm just going to keep pushing and hope inspiration strikes soon. I just...I'm worried about cooking these guys. Don't overthink it. OK. Thanks, guys. MATTHEW: Go, Georgia. Thank you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) That one's ruined. MATT: Are you ready to roll? Yes. Reynold, Georgia, you have one hour to go. Jessie, your time starts now. GEORGE: Good luck. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Today, I'm going to cook my chicken on the crown with a nice sauce and crispy parsnip chips. I know I've only got an hour to cook and I should really be getting onto that chicken as soon as I can, but if I don't put my sauce on first, it's not going to have enough time to infuse with flavours, so I've got to get that on the go straightaway. The first thing I need to do is break down my chicken... ..and just get lots of vegetables caramelising so I can make the sauce as flavourful as possible. It's only while I'm making the sauce that I realise I'm missing some things that I always use in a sauce. So, stock is definitely one of them, but even verjuice and vinegar. I usually like to brighten the sauce with a bit of acid, and there's not really any acid for me to work with today. So, instead, I'm going to use some of my spices to try and add more of a punch to the sauce. I'm going OK so far. Um... I need to get moving a little bit quicker, but I've got lots of things happening. SARA: I can see that Jessie's putting a lot of spices into her sauce, and with less than an hour to reduce it, I'm worried that they won't cook out and it could end up quite bitter. But at the end of the day, Jessie knows her way around a kitchen, so fingers crossed it all works out. REYNOLD: I'm still trying to come up with a way to make my dish really pop AND stand out. I want to take it from just another dessert and turn it into something special. But nothing is coming to mind. Looking at the condiments, there's mustard, there's barbecue sauce, tomato sauce, you know, Tabasco. I can't use any of that. Then I see balsamic vinegar, and suddenly it hits me. I can do something with that. MATTHEW: You can just pop the top off that with a knife, Reynold. No, it's alright. I only need a little bit. I can reduce that down and make that sweet, then add it to the meringue to make a balsamic meringue, while also streaking the reduction across the plate. It will complement the acidity of the frozen citrus curd perfectly and show the judges a little something new at the same time. So, I've got the curd over the heat and I've got the balsamic vinegar reducing. I finally have a dish that I think is gonna save me today AND blow the judges away. Today, I'll be making balsamic and citrus. There are two ways you can find yourself after the auction - regretting your purchases or revelling in them! 45 minutes to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Oh! Come on, Jessie! What do you reckon? Start with Georgia. Concerned about Georgia. She's, you know, pin-boning and pulling out the bones out of those sardines, but she hasn't got a dish in her mind. No. I think she's struggling to see how beautiful those ingredients are. Reynold - I'm quite confident with him. I think, you know, he's incorporating those condiments. Using the balsamic - that's clever. He's reduced that down with some sugar, so he's got a little glaze there. I don't think we've got an issue with him. What about this? She's got a lot of work to do. You know, she's sort of too calm. You need to be motoring. Mmm. A lot riding on it, isn't there? JESSIE: I've spent a lot of time trying to get that sauce right, and now it's in the pressure cooker. I can finally move on to the chicken. JESSICA: Did you need to take the wishbone out? Yes. Oops! You've got to be really careful when you roast a chicken on the crown, because it does need time to rest through. You don't want to cook it all the way through and then the extra heat overcook it, so you've almost got to undercook it a little bit and let it seep through. Do I take the neck out, you reckon? Nuh. Leave it. Now get it browning. Beautiful. SARA: Get some more oil in your pan, and then go breast, breast, top, in the oven. And remember, right up against the side, so you get the full contact with the pan. There you go. Beautiful. Beautiful. Lovely. Next one. Just a tiny bit longer. Now...Jessie, you know the deal. Clarity, clarity, clarity. Yes. Are we clear? Do we know what we're doing? Are you excited? I am excited. I'm really happy with the flavours I've got going on in my sauce, and my chicken's in. You know what my real concern is? In previous seasons, you could do traditional beautifully and it would be enough, and my concern... And it's because you've got such beautiful ingredients that we're all familiar with... Yep. ..how are you gonna make us go, "Whoa!"? We're gonna need to see more. OK. Thanks, Matt. The dish is too simple. This is a nightmare. Why did I let myself get carried away in the time auction? I very well may have bid myself out of the competition. 1 (ONLOOKERS APPLAUD) JESSIE: Matt suggested my dish needs a little something more to make it stand out against Reynold and Georgia. Noted. So I'm going to make a caramelised parsnip puree, because I think it will be a really nice flavour, something a little bit different to a regular parsnip puree that might just be something a little bit different on my dish. I'm still freaking out. While I may have come up with an extra element, I haven't got any extra time, and my chicken is still sitting there waiting to get into the oven. So I need to make this puree as fast as possible. My race against the clock has only gotten tighter. SARA: Is that puree in a position you can start blending it? 'Cause you've still got to pass it, remember. Yeah, I just looked at it before. Just 'cause the chicken's gonna take up your time in the next couple of minutes, so if that can start pureeing... Yeah, they're not far off. I don't know where Jessie's head is at. She should have had that chicken in the oven at least 10 minutes ago. She's really, really pushing it if she thinks she's going to be ready to plate up in time. What have you got? 180? 180, yeah. JESSICA: Cool. Make sure you get that sauce beautiful. Watch your pressure cooker. One minute. (CHUCKLES) (JESSICA LAUGHS) You are cooking for your place in this competition! 30 minutes to go! Come on, come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATTHEW: Good work, Georgia. Keep it going. The issues with the ingredients I've bought at the auction today are that I have very limited acidic ingredients. I'm going to use tomatoes to make tomato vinaigrette to dress my sardines. I scoop out the seeds, chop it up finely and pop it into a frypan. The tomatoes are looking good, but when I taste them, they're not acidic enough. Um... It's quite sweet... ..and it doesn't have that zestiness that it did originally. Um... All of a sudden, it dawns on me that by deseeding and cooking the tomatoes, I've removed all the acidity. Crap. It's really important that I find something acidic to add to my dish today. Really important. If my dish isn't balanced, I'll be going home. I just need to stop, take a moment and breathe. I've made such a mess. Just breathe. Alright. I run over to my basket and there's tomatillos in there. I've never used them before. I quickly peel it, chop it open, pop it into my mouth... Do you eat the skin? BILLIE: Why not? ..and it is SO acidic. Uhhhh! Sour? Found your acidity? (CHUCKLES) Yeah. I've had an absolute revelation. I can fix the problem. The tomatillo is the perfect answer for my dish and I'm really excited about putting it in there. My dish is finally coming together in my head and I can visualise it perfectly - a beautiful sardine and tomatillo salad with potato puree and potato sand. Dig deep, because there is so much at stake. 20 minutes to go. Come on! GEORGE: Come on, guys. Let's go, George! Come on, Reynold! Let's go. Come on, Georgia! Go, Jess! Come on, Reynold! Come on, Jessie! REYNOLD: I look at my curd. It's done. It's looking really hot. And I get it off the heat. I've got to freeze this as soon as possible. I put the curd into the tray... ..and I think I might have filled it up too much, and that might affect the freezing time. I'm a bit worried about the curd, but I'm just gonna put the curd into the blast chiller. Hopefully it's gonna set in time. JESSICA: Yum. SARA: Good job. Happiness? Yeah. It smells nice. It's time for the sauce to come out of the pressure cooker. I have a taste, and... ..I'm worried it's a little bit too acidic. It's taken me SO much longer than I expected. I don't have time to overthink it. I just have to keep pushing and just balance out my sauce. It just needs to reduce down to get a better texture, and then I can just finish it off with a bit of butter and a bit of cream. OK, so, what's next? GEORGIA: My sardines are in the fridge, my tomatillo vinaigrette is looking great, and I've finished my potato puree. Now to get on with the potato sand. I'm going to put some chopped-up potato into a food processor. I pulse it until it becomes nice and fine, and then take that and put it onto a clean tea towel. I take the potato out of the tea towel and put it into a bowl and start heating up my oil to fry it in. All the moisture is taken out of my potato, and once my oil's hot, I just need to sprinkle it in. You need to make sure that when you're sprinkling the potato in, that all the little tiny bits of potato stay separated, so when you pull it out, you get that fine, sandy-looking texture. It tastes really good. JESSIE: My caramelised parsnip puree is not really pureeing as smooth as I would normally like. It definitely looks a little bit grainy. But at this point, I don't really have anything else to go with it. So I'm just gonna go with that. JESSICA: And check your chicken. Yep. Checking the chicken's next. Good. GEORGE: 10 minutes to go! You've got to push, push, push! Let's go! Come on! Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Come on! GEORGIA: 10 minutes to go and it's time to cook my sardines. SARA: Good job, Georgia. I really want to take my time and treat them with total respect. I spent all that time at the start of the cook filleting them and making them look pretty, so now I've just got to cook them perfectly. The sardines are absolutely beautiful and they cook super quickly. Cooking the sardines perfectly today means everything. It basically means my spot in the competition. If I stuff this up, I'm going home. Oh, his tail fell off! I might get my chicken out. SARA: Yep. I've just taken the chicken out of the oven and I'm not really feeling too confident about it being perfectly cooked. Ow! JESSICA: Fingers don't matter now. Come on. MATTHEW: Come on, Jessie. When you get to the bottom, then you just chop through the bone. I cut into the chicken breast... How does it look? Ow. ..and it's so raw. It's nowhere near cooked. This is a catastrophe. With less than 10 minutes to go, I don't know if I have enough time to fix it. Um... Raw chicken is a guaranteed ticket home. Oh, my God! 1 JESSIE: I'm just gonna take the top part of it. I cut into the chicken breast and it's so raw. It's nowhere near cooked. Yeah, it's...bad. How does it look? It's gonna need a little bit more in the pan. Oh! Hello! Yeah, it's a bit under. Very under. I'd put a lid on it or something, too. You want to... Yeah. Trap the heat in. Just gentle now, right? You're panicking. And you've got to put everything else on the plate and that at the last minute, and it's got to be amazing. Come on, Jessie! Come on! Come on, Jessie! Come on, Jessie! Hot. I just hope this works. You did all the buying, but it's now time for you to sell something back to us - that beautiful dish. Five minutes to go. Come on! Have you checked your sable, Reynold? REYNOLD: Yeah, it's almost there. Getting there. Cool. I've got all my elements done and I go to get my frozen citrus curd out of the freezer. This is gonna be the centrepiece of my dish, so it's got to be perfect. The moment I look at it, I know something's wrong. I filled the dish with too much curd, and now it's not frozen in time. Top six is so close, and that's my goal. Things have to be right today. I'm completely lost. The centre is still quite soft. Oh, my God. It's not gonna work? Um... Nuh. Nuh. It's just semi-frozen. Uh, it's stupid of me. I'm just trying to figure out, what can I do? Should I still go with the original plan, or just change it up? Hey, how's it looking, Reynold? I just didn't get it frozen enough. Yeah. Taste the frozen outside. Taste the inside. Understand the difference that cold makes. OK. Yeah, that's really acidic. (SIGHS) Oh, crap. The curd not freezing has totally thrown the balance of the acidity my dish needed. It's far more acidic than I wanted and I don't have time to freeze any more. I can't believe I've done this. I've let myself down so close to the end. (SIGHS) It's tiny mistakes like that that sends you home at this stage in the competition, and I've still got so much more to prove. Keep it going, Reynold. BILLIE: Come on, Reynold! Whoo! You know how to cook! I'm not ready to go home. I'm not ready to give up. I do want to keep playing. I do want to keep pushing. The curd not freezing, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm just gonna have to pipe it onto the plate as is and hope my other elements are enough to save me - especially that balsamic meringue. GEORGIA: I've got my potato elements cooking, but then I think of fish and I think how nicely butter and fresh herbs go together. So I'm going to make a herb butter to add to my dish. I'm adding that on to complement the sardines and the rest of the dish. And just to add that little bit of finesse, I'm going to finish the dish with a sprig of dill on top at the end. SARA: I'm actually really surprised that Georgia's making a butter sauce for her sardines. She's only just counteracted all that oiliness and richness from the sardine with her vinaigrette. Adding a herb butter might cancel that out and land her right back at square one. Two minutes to go! Two minutes! GARY: Come on! GEORGE: Come on, guys! Come on, push, push, push, push, push! Come on, Jessie! Beautiful. Get it on the plate, Jessie. Come on. I've left the chicken till the absolute last minute and I can't wait any longer. It is on the edge and I just hope that it's perfectly cooked. 30 seconds! That's it! Come on! 30 seconds! MATTHEW: Good work, Reynold. (ONLOOKERS APPLAUD) Good work. Good work. I'm adjusting the sauce right up until the last minute, trying to balance out this bitterness. It's not coming together like I'd hoped. I'm adding a bit more butter and cream and just hoping for a miracle. Ten seconds! Nine! JUDGES: Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it! Time's up. Oh! Pfft! Well done! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I forgot! There's this dill sprig and I missed it. It just would have made the dish look that little bit more pretty. Sardines isn't what I wanted. This could be the very last time that I cook in the MasterChef kitchen. I really am hoping that I've done enough today. How'd you guys go? Alright. (SIGHS) Yeah. I just forgot something then. My dill to go on top. (CHUCKLES) I'm massively worried about that chicken being cooked, along with whether I was able to counteract the bitterness in the sauce. Just one of those could be enough to send me home today, let alone both. I think what has to be said at this point in the competition is good cooking's not enough - it has to be great cooking. Otherwise you're gonna go home. And, you know, seeing what they've cooked - lots of surprises, but I think there's some mistakes that we're gonna find... ..straightaway, I'm sure. Shall we get the first dish in? Yep. REYNOLD: My balsamic and citrus has not turned out like I planned. The curd failed to freeze and has potentially thrown the balance of flavour in my dish. The only thing that might save me is that balsamic meringue. Reynold. 30 out of 30 one day. Disaster the next. Where are you with this dish? Are you back up the top or are you still down in that trough? Oh, honestly, I don't know. Um... Today was definitely a tough cook, 'cause you're putting yourself on the plate here. There was... And there's consequences, which is even more... (SIGHS) I don't know. It just... it means a lot for me to do sweet. 'Cause it's what I want to do. If it's not good enough and if I go home, it's... it's tough. (SIGHS) That curd. Has it thrown the dish? 1 (MATT SIGHS) That curd. Has it thrown the dish? You know, this is the problem this year, when we've got so many good cooks, that it is one wrong element on the plate, something that doesn't quite set that can send you home. Because you had everything you wanted, yeah? You had the citrus... Yep. ..the eggs and the condiments, and a good amount of time. Yep. So, really, no excuses. Yeah. Oh... (SIGHS) What's wrong, mate? I don't know. I just... I just want to do... I just want to do good. Just, I don't know. This competition's a lot of stress, a lot of pressure. It's just, yeah... (SIGHS) I just don't want to go home today. 10 weeks ago, your mum told us she didn't want you to become a pastry chef. And here you are now. Putting up some of the best desserts this competition's seen by ANY... ANY competitor. I hope this dessert that you've put up will keep you in this competition. Yep. 'Cause it would be a big loss if you went today. Reynold, I think it's time for us to taste. Thank you. Thank you. Everything's good. Everything plays into the other ingredients' hands. I love the balsamic, and I think that's what ties this dish together. You know, I eat that and I keep thinking lemon meringue pie. You know, that meringue, citrus. Yeah. I think the...the curd lets it down, though. Everything else is good. But the balsamic just kind of gives a little tap to the curd back into line. But I think it's a really good dish, and I think we were concerned - you know, 30 out of 30, probably the weakest dish yesterday - where Reynold was gonna go next, and for me, he's nudging up towards the top of the scale rather than way down the bottom. Yeah. I love Reynold because he's young and he thinks outside of the box and... he's really pushing the... HIS boundaries, which is great, and it...when you think about how old he is and the fact that he hasn't had any professional training, he's really, REALLY good at what he does, and I think this guy is gonna be an amazing pastry chef. And we're gonna watch him, aren't we? Because we know that in the future, he's gonna be doing some stuff. GEORGIA: I think I've managed to knock together a pretty decent sardine dish for the judges. I've not cooked much with them, but I'm hoping it's enough to keep me in the competition. What is the dish? It's grilled sardines with a tomatillo and tomato salad, a potato sand and herb butter. Georgia? Last time I ate sardines was in Greece. The guy was 83. Yes. In a restaurant called Two Doors. And they were spectacular. That's a... They're big shoes to fill, I guess. Bit of a surprise getting those sardines? For some reason, I just... heard "eggs" and put my thing up. But maybe it was some weird way of fate putting me... (CHUCKLES) ..in the hands of the ingredients that I got, so... Yeah, I mean, you're a good cook. Whatever you produce is...is good. Yeah. But sometimes it's exceptional and surprising and wonderful. Yep. And let's hope that today is one of those days, and not just good. 'Cause I actually don't think good is gonna be good enough today. Georgia, we're gonna taste. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, what is that? Is it olive oil or is it buttery...? I just think it's butter. Simple sardines grilled - they're already fatty and they're oily and they've got flavour. So, I was wondering, how are you gonna do this dish without that lemon? And she's done it with the tomato. Well, it's really the tomatillo, isn't it? The tomatillos are so acidic, almost like lemon, and that's a smart move. She went through, she tasted everything, and the tomatillos against the fattiness of the sardines is absolutely delicious. I love it. I think it's really good. I'm really pleased that what I'm eating is a really tasty, delicious dish, with oiliness from the fish, and then obviously, the balance with the tomatoes and tomatillo. So, I think she's done a fabulous job. Especially since she didn't even know what the dish was in the first 10 minutes! (CHUCKLES) Um...for me... ..I'm not so sure about the butter dressing. You know, I sort of don't... don't think it needs it, 'cause it's such a bright dish. Right. Let's get the next dish in. JESSIE: I'm not sure about my chicken and the sauce. I'm just hoping that I've managed to get them right. Cool. Do you want to pop the sauce on, do you? Yes, please. Today, I've made roast chicken cooked on the crown with caramelised parsnip puree, parsnip chips and a sauce on the side. How'd you go? I think I did OK. I'm not 100%, like, over the moon with it. But I'm happy that I've got a dish up, 'cause time really went really quick for me today. Are you going home? I think I could be in trouble for going home. I'm...I'm just worried that it's not enough. I know that I definitely don't want to go back to my old world. Do you think you've come a long way? I do think I've come a long way. Mmm. Good. Yep. I think you have too. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Jessie. Thank you. What do you think, boys? Look, you know, if you want a roast chicken dinner, you want it to be golden, and that dish is all about golden, isn't it? But we've come to expect more than just the breast cooked on the crown. Yeah. Even if you've only got 60 minutes. I'm concerned about this chicken. 1 I'm concerned about this chicken. Give it a cut. So much depends on that sauce, doesn't it? It's really been the season of the sauce, this one. Yeah. Great sauces have saved people. Yeah. Average sauces have sent people home. I tell you what - it smells good. We've sent an awful lot of people home over the years on... ..undercooked chicken, and this chicken is absolutely perfect. You can see it when you cut it - absolutely sheer. No sense of a granular kind of texture, which is beautiful. So, she's done that really well. Great golden colour on the skin. For me, though, there is a bitterness in that sauce... Yeah, no. ..that is a problem. It's lost its subtlety and its vibrance and its freshness. I think it's not the right flavour, I think, to go with it. This is delicious food, and for me, it's simply how this dish sits with the other two and which dish has the more negatives, and that's the one that's gonna send their maker home. That's an interesting tasting. Yeah, it is, innit? But a big decision for us. Yeah. What a pleasure. Like, an absolute pleasure. And to sit in on the cusp of finding out who our top six are, just every single one of those dishes - just really tasty, really delicious. And I don't want to send anybody home, but I know who it's gonna be for me. So do I. Yeah, so do I. I'm not surprised you're looking nervous. There's so much on the line. And today was all about saving yourself, but more importantly, putting yourself into the top six of MasterChef 2015. The reality is, with the quality of the cooks that are standing around you, that great food is simply not enough to keep you in. It has to be exceptional. All three of you had problems today in that cook. But in the end, you've all pulled it together and put a beautiful dish on the table. One of those stood out for us for its clever, creative integration of ingredients. Reynold, we loved that balsamic and citrus, and that's why you're into the top six. Well done. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I'm so proud of you guys. GEORGIA: Well done. Reynold, you've got to keep pushing the envelope, and you deserve to be standing over there, so off you go. Thanks, Gary. Well done. Top six. I've avoided elimination. I'm happy that I've redeemed myself from yesterday. So, it's down to you, Georgia and Jessie. There's only one place left in the top six. One of you is about to go home. Georgia, those sardines were beautifully cooked, and pairing them with the acidity of the tomatillos was clever. But... ..adding a buttery sauce with all that oiliness that was already on the dish wasn't smart. OK. Jessie... ..that chicken was perfectly cooked on the plate. However, the dish lacked some originality. But the kicker was that that sauce had a bitterness at the back of the palate, and I'm sorry to say, that's why, Jessie, you're going home. I'm sorry. I knew it. Good luck, babe. (SNIFFS) You're gonna make me proud. Well done. (SOBS) Georgia... ..join the rest of the top six. Jessie, I think one of the ways that WE know when we're doing well is when we look at a contestant like you and we look at how you've grown during this competition. I'm thinking back to power apron week... It is just absolutely smashing! Wow. Well done. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Not only did you win the power apron, but then you also went on and three times you cooked for immunity and had this brilliant run. And that is really rare in this competition. Lots to love. You know, we think that you're a cracking cook, and we think also you have a real future... Thank you. ..in this industry. And you said to us that you wanted to maybe try and work with Duncan Welgemoed. While I was out the back, I gave him a ring. This is his number. He wants you to ring him as soon as you get to Adelaide. Oh, that's amazing! (ALL LAUGH, EXCLAIM) Thank you! (APPLAUSE) Thank you so much, Matt. Thank you. My pleasure. There you are. Thanks for everything. Can I say thank you to you as well? Yeah. Sorry to see you go. I really appreciate all your feedback and everything. It's been amazing. Thank you. (CHUCKLES) Thanks so much. (SNIFFLES) Jessie, thank you, but I'm sorry to say, it's time for you to leave the MasterChef kitchen. Thank you. Thanks so much for everything. I really appreciate it. Thank you. See you, guys. (SOBS) I'm gonna cry even worse! (ALL LAUGH, SOB) REYNOLD: Good job. I'll see you. (ALL CHEER) I've learnt so much while being on MasterChef. I actually feel really, really proud of myself for getting to number seven, and it's further than I ever thought I would go. The first person I'm gonna call is Duncan from Africola, and hopefully start heading towards my future dream of my warehouse venue. ANNOUNCER: Next time... ..Marco Pierre White is back. Nervous? Yes. Good. But this time, he's not their mentor. Playtime's over. He's here to push them to their limits and beyond. "Yes, Marco!" Are you struggling? No. Kind of circling us like a great white shark. Then why are you shaking? With 120 guests to feed, there's no room for mistakes. First order! Three duck, one prawn! WOMEN: Yes, Marco! And as the tension builds, who will deliver and who will crack under the pressure? Able 2016