It would have to be every contestant’s worst nightmare – being eliminated while holding an immunity pin.
And in tonight’s episode of MasterChef Australia that’s exactly what happened to Dani Venn.
Choosing not to play her immunity pin and back herself, Dani and the contestants were told of a two-round challenge. The bottom five dishes from round one would go in to the second round and the least favourite dish would send its maker home. A safe Jess watched on from the gantry having immunity.
Round one was all about crunch with the contestants having 75 minutes to make anything they wanted from an open pantry as long as it was crunchy and delicious.
Dishes presented by Simon, Sarah T, Tracy, Reynold and Ben U were all outstanding and saw them sent straight up to the gantry, safe from elimination.
A risky dish by Dani and conceptually flawed dishes from Callum and Hayden, saw them in the bottom five along with Brendan and Khanh. It was particularly regrettable for Dani who could have avoided a 1 in 5 chance of elimination by playing her immunity pin.
Round two was a similar challenge for the remaining five contestants except this time it was all about bringing the goo. Gooey cheese, chocolate fondant, toasted marshmallow – whatever brought the deliciousness and the goo would keep them safe.
Over the next 75 minutes, Dani, Hayden, Brendan, Khanh and Callum all cooked for their lives. With such a high standard of cooks, the pressure was really on.
For Dani, her son-in-law eggs with Thai chilli jam were runny, sending her to the bottom two.
Callum joined Dani in the bottom two serving a pina colada dessert – coconut rum parfait, salted coconut rum caramel and grilled pineapple in syrup/caramel sorbet. Jock wasn’t convinced his caramel had the goo factor.
Sadly for Dani, her runny, undercooked eggs were enough to send her home, still holding on to the immunity pin.
