NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
Whoa!
..and let their imaginations run wild.
I'm gonna make a spicy Rice Puff fried chicken.
I feel like I've maybe gone a little bit loopy on the Fruit Loops.
(LAUGHS)
They brought new life to childhood memories.
JOCK: 10 out of 10. The texture's amazing.
But the flavour's even better.
MELISSA: It's nostalgia done beautifully. Well done.
ANDY: That's flawless, mate. It's really good!
CONTESTANT: Whoo-hoo! CONTESTANT 2: Whoo!
(ALL LAUGH)
Tonight, the bottom three face an exceptional Pressure Test...
DECLAN: This is make-or-break. The pressure's on!
..with a huge twist on a nostalgic favourite.
(BIRDSONG)
(TENSE MUSIC)
Ah, here I am again.
Another Pressure Test today.
Only person in the MasterChef contest so far
to be in their second Pressure Test.
But then again, I feel like I do have a bit of an advantage.
Not only wearing the pin
but also knowing the structure of it.
(CONTESTANTS GASP, CLAP AND CHEER)
ANDY: Good morning, everybody!
Take it from me, guys, Pressure Tests, they ain't easy.
But if you survive, you're gonna be facing this competition
with a whole new set of tools in your toolkit.
That's the good part.
(GRACE GIGGLES)
Shall we get into it?
Today's Pressure Test,
it was created by a man who turned his passion into his career.
He was head chef at hatted restaurant A Tavola in Darlinghurst
for two years
before his taking creative mind literally across the road
to join the team at Gelato Messina.
(CONTESTANTS GASP)
Now with 25 stores across Australia,
he's churned out over 5,000 unique flavours.
Jesus! Ooh. Wow.
ANDY: Yeah.
Please welcome from Gelato Messina,
Donato Toce!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
DECLAN: I've got goosebumps.
I've been going to Messina for well over 10 years now.
And now I feel honoured to be working with Donato
in the kitchen, it's a privilege.
DONATO: Wow.
ANDY: Wow! (GRACE LAUGHS)
JOCK: Mate, your reputation precedes you.
I think you've got a few fans here today.
I do? (CONTESTANTS CHEER AND LAUGH)
(CONTESTANT WHISTLES)
Thank you. Thanks for having us back.
As you know, everyone,
we are celebrating all things nostalgic this week.
So, what's under there...
..is a childhood favourite.
Ooh!
It's a twist on a classic.
It's beloved all across the world.
Like a choc-top?
Alright, Donny, do you wanna show them what's under there?
Let's do it.
RALPH: What is it? What is it?
Today you're making my...
GRACE: Oh! (ALICE GASPS)
..Messinetta. ANDY: Yeah! Yes!
(APPLAUSE)
Yay!
ALICE: It's so beautiful.
For me, that's bringing me back to all those childhood parties,
having a Viennetta.
And the dish itself looks like a work of art.
Alice, what do you love the most about a classic Viennetta?
I just love those two flavours - chocolate and vanilla.
Classics done well together - nothing beats that.
Guys, get over here and we can have a try of it.
Oh, my gosh.
Just before you cut it,
I just want you to listen and appreciate the crunch of the layers
as you cut it, Donny, go on.
(CRUNCH!) (CONTESTANTS GASP)
(LAUGHS) That's like...
It's amazing. (APPLAUSE)
GRACE: It looks amazing.
But I'm thinking, OK,
there's tempered chocolate and there's gelato.
There's some chocolate sprayed on top.
There looks like there's about three elements on this dish.
That's not too scary!
Alright, let's see inside.
(GRACE GASPS LOUDLY)
(CONTESTANTS GASP)
My God! (LAUGHS)
(LAUGHS)
Oh!
Stop! No!
RALPH: Are you serious? Oh, my God!
Bro! Wow!
(GASPS)
JOCK: It's bigger than a Viennetta!
BRENT: Oh, my God, good luck, guys,
'cause, seriously, I think just building that thing
is gonna be hard.
(GIGGLES)
Alright, Donny, talk me through it, because it looks unbelievable.
DONATO: In the centre there, we've got a strawberry gel.
It's surrounded by vanilla gelato.
Then we've got a chocolate gelato.
Then around that is vanilla creme Chantilly.
And then in between,
you'll see that there's layers of tempered chocolate.
You won't get that crunch unless you temper the chocolate, right?
Like, it's so important.
DECLAN: There's a hell of a lot of elements.
I'm crumbling inside.
Thank you.
I'm definitely batting way out of any ballpark that I've played in.
This is next level. This is...this is MasterChef.
Declan, what are you scared of just looking at it?
Um, ice cream. (LAUGHS) Yeah?
(LAUGHS)
Um, yeah, and the strawberry gel, tempered chocolate...
Yeah, very uncomfortable right now.
Crack on. Get some of that in your mouth.
Thank you.
Oh, that's so yummy!
(LAUGHTER)
ALICE: I'm tasting the elements individually.
That beautiful acidic strawberry
that's like the freshest strawberries you've ever had.
Then you've got the beautiful creaminess
of the vanilla and chocolate gelato.
And then that perfect crack of the tempered chocolate.
Critical pressure points in this, what are they?
Tempering chocolate's one of them.
Does everyone know what brix is?
No.
It's another pressure point here, isn't it?
Yes. So the brix is the amount of sugar that's inside something.
And that's crucial with the strawberry gel.
If the brix is not within the range,
then what's gonna happen is it's not gonna set.
DECLAN: Onsite, getting your bricks levelled
normally means my wall has to get level.
I've never heard of...of my 'brix' level
in...in this context before.
How cool is that? Oh, mate.
You're gonna learn about that today. Yeah.
Anyway, I think the last obvious pressure point for me
is just general construction.
Yes.
It seems to me that every single element of this
needs to be done in order and kind of at the right time.
Otherwise you won't finish on time. Exactly.
So, welcome to Messina, the pressure point.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Yeah. This is me game over. Yeah.
Grace, Declan and Alice,
you will have four hours and 15 minutes
to re-create Donny's Messinetta.
The recipe, equipment and all of the ingredients are at your benches.
The dish that tastes and looks the least like Donato's
will send its maker home,
so it's time to focus.
Declan, as you know, you have that shiny immunity pin on your chest.
At any point during the cook, you can play it
and head on up to the gantry, safe from elimination.
Donato, would you like to do the honours?
Good luck. Your time starts...
..now!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
RALPH: Let's go! Let's go!
(DECLAN READS) "In a saucepan, combine strawberry puree,
"water, invert syrup."
GRACE: I'm feeling nervous,
but I'm also just trying to stay focused, stay positive.
I mean, keep reading the recipe and hopefully I can pull it off.
(READS SOFTLY) "200 of sugar..."
I'm starting with the strawberry gel.
I love science and I love baking,
so, yeah, I'm excited about this.
CONTESTANT: Good job, Alice. Good job, Alice.
Good job.
Donato, Viennetta like we've never seen it before.
Looking at all of the detail here,
talk us through the first hour of this challenge.
What do they really need to hit?
So the first thing is the strawberry gel in the centre.
You gotta make it and then you've gotta allow it to set.
It needs to be hard set, so the brix are really important,
make sure that you get right sugar elements on that.
You've gotta get your gelato started, at least the vanilla,
straight off the bat.
As soon as the strawberry's ready, your vanilla needs to be ready
because you need to start assembling that.
You have to be on point with absolutely everything.
'Cause you can't freeze faster. Yeah.
It has to go on point with the timings.
I don't think the difficulty is lost
on any of our contestants today.
DECLAN: "And 3.5 grams of 'pecteen'."
Wouldn't have a clue what 'pecteen' is.
Declan, he's got a pin. He's got a bit of a safety net there.
But do you reckon he'll use it? Ah...yes. I would.
With something like this, you don't want to take anything to chance.
No.
DECLAN: I'm making the strawberry gel.
"Continue to cook on a low heat until 65 degrees."
I've got to speak to myself out loud
because, yeah, I made that mistake in my last Pressure Test
and I missed a couple of key components.
Game plan for my pin today is, um, not use it.
Obviously, I'd love to take it with me further in the competition
for when numbers get a bit smaller.
I'm just, uh, following bit by bit,
doing what I can, and hopefully I'm going at a good steady pace,
but you never know.
I'm not turning around and looking where the girls are up to.
They can do them and I'll just focus on this.
My brix... OK.
It would be pretty awesome
to prove to myself if I can get through today's Pressure Test
without using my pin.
Right...
But a technical dessert, it's way out of my comfort zone.
Um...
MALISSA: What is this little gadget that Declan has just pulled out?
PHIL: It is called a refractometer
and it is used for measuring brix measurement or sugar measurement.
DECLAN: 45 to 49...
Gotta work quick now. Work quick. Declan, yeah, work quick.
Arr!
(LAUGHTER)
CONTESTANT: Arr, me hearty! Arr, me hearty, I see some land.
(LAUGHS)
(GIGGLES)
(ALICE MUTTERS)
This is the kind of stuff that I love to do.
I get to use a refractometer.
I get to feel like I'm a scientist.
So I'm aiming to look for anywhere between 45 to 49
on the refractometer reading.
(MUTTERS)
Mine is saying 48.
So, I'm glad that I got it on the first go.
Good work, Alice! It looks good.
ALICE: The next step...
..I need to put my strawberry gel into a silicone mould.
MALISSA: Let's go, Alice! ANTONIO: Good job, good job.
Good job.
And the whole purpose of this is to create that beautiful construction
of strawberry gel surrounded by vanilla gelato.
Then ultimately surrounded by chocolate gelato.
So it's really important to work pretty quickly
because I want every element to set.
Blast freezer.
Good work, Alice. Very good.
DECLAN: Oop! That will do.
ANDY: It's not just any old ice-cream cake, guys.
45 down, three and a half to go!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
MALISSA: Let's go, guys! Whoo!
It's still too high.
What is it saying? It's, like, at the top.
I am struggling with the brix levels.
CATH: How do you adjust it?
I don't... It says to add more water.
I retest again.
Yeah, it's all the way.
The brix are still too high.
OK.
It's a hard start if something's happened.
Every minute in this cook matters.
Alice and Declan are already moving ahead to the next element
and I'm just stuck.
Let's go, girl! It's still too high.
Grace. Hello!
How are we travelling? Still haven't got the gel in?
I'm struggling with this little bit.
It's all the way. DONATO: All the way. Alright.
So that means there's too much sugar.
OK. It says to add more water, but I don't know how much to add.
Just add a tablespoon at a time. OK.
Not having this strawberry gel element right
would be a really good reason to send me home.
Coming down? No.
Add a bit more.
You're across what we're trying to do here?
Yeah, bring the sugar levels down. Bring the sugar down.
This strawberry gel is going to be the centrepiece of this dessert
and it needs to be in the blast chiller for a long time
in order to set.
Too much still? Too much.
OK. More water.
I cannot waste a second.
I keep adding more water in, I keep cooking it down.
Ready, Grace? Yep.
I take one more test.
Whoo! Whoa! There she goes.
(APPLAUSE) Thank you!
OK.
So, the obvious thing is... that took a while.
So now you gotta speed up. Gotta motor.
CONTESTANTS: Yay! CATH: Let's go! Oh, Grace! Oh!
Yeah. Yeah. Go, go, go, go! Move, move!
Need to motor.
Good, Gracie. Yeah, let's go now.
27 plus 22.
I'm doing my gelato now.
Dextrose.
Bloody hell! Look at this.
Leaning tower of things I've never heard of.
In this vanilla gelato,
I'm putting trehalose and dextrose and invert syrup.
If I miss one of these, it could be detrimental for the dish.
Um, it's a lot more technical,
so, you know, I'm reading this out loud to myself,
I'm double-checking everything,
you know, measure twice, cut once.
I'm reading it, I'm ticking it off.
"And pour the gelato and set aside to cool
"until temperature reaches 4 degrees."
I'm multi-tasking.
Done. Done.
I move on to my sponge
which was on the bottom of Donato's Messinetta.
Mate, early thoughts? One by one, what do you reckon about Declan?
He seems to be in pretty good place. Declan's motoring on.
He's weighed up the ingredients for the sponge already,
so it shows that he's...he's ahead.
I'm happy.
DONATO: And then Alice...
THEO: You're alright, Alice. Take your time, darl.
She's such a bookworm.
(HUMS)
She loves science. It's kinda where she's at, which is a great time.
It's...it's good.
I'm about to put the ice cream in the ice-cream machine.
I'm just whipping up my, uh, sponge.
Come on, Alice!
167.
ANDY: Grace. She had real trouble with her strawberry gel.
That was like... That was hard, wasn't it?
I was a bit worried for her.
Whoo! And that has really put her behind.
Yeah. Which is not where you wanna be.
PHIL: Oh-ho-ho-ho! OK. RUE: Oh, OK!
That is excellent! (LAUGHS)
GRACE: I'm working on my gelato and my sponge at the same time.
I have no idea if I'm catching up or not,
but I'm trying to move as quickly as I possibly can.
I need to be doing two things at once because
I've already wasted way too much time.
THEO: Good work, Gracie. Yes!
(CLAPS) Catching up. PHIL: Come on, let's go!
ANDY: You in a groove now? Yeah, I'm in a groove.
Yeah. Yeah. Good.
Have you tasted everything? Yeah.
Tasted your ice-cream base? Yep, yep.
Happy with that? I think so. Are you not?
Are you sure that everything's in there?
And if you're not sure, I'd be doing it again.
Really?
DONATO: We'll leave you to your thoughts.
(PENSIVE MUSIC)
I am feeling a little bit disheartened.
I mean, I already had some issues with my first element.
Now my gelato is not quite right.
This is a gelato challenge.
Read through the steps. Did you follow the steps correctly?
I've put all of that in. Yeah.
Alice? Yeah.
Do you mind if I taste yours? Yeah, go ahead.
I'm tasting it and it's not as sweet as Alice's gelato.
So, all I can do at this point is
bring some more sugar into this gelato to hopefully save it.
Um...so I'm just working to try to bring up the sweetness.
I don't have enough time to remake it,
so I'm just gonna work at bringing those sugar levels up.
RALPH: How thin does this have to be? Oh, my God.
DECLAN: Says 3 mil. BRENT: 3 is like...
It's like... Yeah, it's like...
..um, baking paper. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much.
Taking me back onsite, smoothing off my screed.
MELISSA: This is no time to be nostalgic.
You still have three hours to go. Come on, you three!
(CHEERING) Let's go!
BRENT: Let's go, let's go, let's go!
Three hours.
Come on!
ALICE: I've got my vanilla gelato in the churner...
..my strawberry gel in the blast chiller
and now I'm putting my sponge in the oven.
MALISSA: Let's go, Alice. So you're doing so well.
I feel pretty organised.
I feel like I've got a good handle on the different elements.
Done.
(MUTTERS)
At this point, I'm ahead of Grace.
CATH: How's it going, Grace? Yeah, it's sweeter.
Getting here? Yeah.
ALICE: But I'm behind Declan.
DECLAN: Yeah!
I mean, Declan is just on cruise control.
That guy can really push his way through a Pressure Test
and it's really impressive.
I'm trying to measure myself up against him
so I don't fall too far behind.
Oh! It burns!
Ahhh!
My ice cream has churned. (BEEPING)
THEO: Go, Deccy boy, come on, mate!
"Once gelato is churned, turn the ice-cream machine off
"and transfer gelato into a piping bag."
I can now take my vanilla gelato
and pipe it into the mould.
The recipe is extremely precise.
7 mils...
And I need to measure the exact amount of weight into these moulds
in order for it to be perfectly uniform
when we build it at the end of this cook.
This part's real tricky.
Once my vanilla gelato is in the blast freezer,
I can now clean out my churner
to prepare it for the chocolate gelato.
CONTESTANT: Come on, Declan! Let's go! Whoo!
Watching what's happening in this particular Pressure Test,
there's a tale of three very different cooks
in this challenge right now.
Declan, I mean, he seems really confident.
He is pretty much bang-on time.
Churn.
"Pour back in the churner and churn for 25 minutes."
And then Alice behind him,
she is losing a little bit of time
and she should have finished her chocolate gelato already
and she hasn't.
ALICE: That's the milk for the chocolate gelato.
I'm heating it up to 45 degrees.
And then Grace... (SIGHS DEEPLY)
..I think that she's actually making up some time, which is great.
PHIL: Come on, Grace, let's go! THEO: Come on! You'll get it right.
This race continues.
And so someone who was right ahead at the beginning may end up being last.
Yeah.
CATH: Hey, Alice, do you need to get your ice cream out of there?
Yeah. OK.
Yeah, I'm gonna get that. Good on you, buddy.
Hang in there. You're all still in the race.
Two hours to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CATH: Come on, Alice. Get a move on! I know.
I've dropped behind a little bit.
Alice. Hi.
How are you feeling? Oh, my God!
I love this kind of stuff. I don't know, I feel like I'm a kid.
Do you think that having such an academic background
of paying attention to detail
and making sure that there's no room for error,
do you think that's helping you right now?
Yeah, I think so. I love solving problems. I love reading things.
I love cracking challenges. Yeah. Great.
Where's your chocolate gelato?
Um, that's steeped, so I'm gonna do that next.
Yep. OK. Alright. Get on it. OK.
Gonna finish it.
Keep moving fast. Yeah. Thank you.
I'm ready to put the chocolate gelato
into the base of the ice-cream machine.
Oh, my gosh!
Oh, gosh.
But what I've noticed is that I left the ice-cream machine on
and the vanilla gelato is frozen to the base of the ice-cream machine.
Oh!
RALPH: Oh, my God, no.
Once I finished my vanilla gelato,
I was supposed to turn the machine off...
Oh, my gosh!
..clean the ice-cream machine
and take out all the excess ice cream.
Oh, yeah, it's frozen solid, yeah. Oh, that's frozen solid, is it?
I know time is of the essence.
I need to get my chocolate gelato into the machine.
Am I behind? THEO: Just get that cleaned.
And get that chocolate one in.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Oh, my God!
ALICE: My God, it's frozen solid. Oh, that's frozen solid, is it?
Yeah.
Should I put hot water in it to get it out?
You don't want to drop the temperature down too much.
Otherwise then you've got to cool it down a bit.
Yeah.
I'm pretty worried 'cause I just got distracted
with all these other elements
and the vanilla gelato is frozen to the base of the ice-cream machine.
Am I behind? THEO: Just get that cleaned.
And get that chocolate one in.
I'm desperately trying to clean that out as soon as possible
so that I can get my chocolate gelato into the machine.
Oh, my gosh! It's coming out.
It's just taking time.
This is a reminder that the smallest thing can really impact
the direction of travel in your Pressure Test.
CATH: Come on! Get a move on, sweetie!
OK.
CATH: Yeah, you've really caught up, Grace.
Oh, good! Yay!
BRENT: Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Oh, good job. Yeah, keep going.
I think I've somehow caught up.
Oh!
I can't believe that.
You can pull off anything in this kitchen.
You just need to back yourself.
I'm about to start tempering my chocolate.
The most exciting part about this dish was the sound...
(CRUNCH!) (CONTESTANTS GASP)
(LAUGHS)
..of that tempered chocolate snapping.
If I do not temper this chocolate properly...
Should've gone to the gym this morning.
..it's gonna take away from that beautiful eating experience,
so it's really important to get this right.
BRENT: Hey, Grace, happy with the temp?
Yep. You're going really good.
Thanks, Brent.
(DECLAN WHISPERS) 35...
MELISSA: Declan... Yeah?
Do you know how to temper chocolate? Yeah, I do.
And... Good luck.
As you know, this is the bit you wanna nail.
You're gonna be great. OK? Yeah. Alright. Thank you, Mel.
I've tempered chocolate at home,
so I understand, like, the technicalities
of tempering chocolate.
You want to bring it up to a certain temperature
and then you want to bring it back down.
32.
BRENT: 32? 32 is what we want.
Mate. Good job, Declan!
And then leaving the chocolate out at room temperature, it should set.
Ohh!
The finesse.
It's my favourite word today.
How much time left?
Listen up, guys, it's time to bring it home.
You've only got 90 minutes to go! Come on!
(CHEERING)
MALISSA: Come on, guys! Let's go! Whoo!
Hey, is that temped?
THEO: Good work, Gracie. Looks nice.
ALICE: The chocolate gelato's churning.
I've got to do the tempered chocolate next. I've gotta catch up.
Alright.
Done.
I leave my tempered chocolate uncovered on the bench to set
and then move on to my next step.
"Remove mould with strawberry gel."
OK. I can do that. I can do that.
It's time to start assembling the middle part of this Messinetta.
It's like a babushka doll stack.
A strawberry gel square
inside a vanilla gelato square
inside a chocolate gelato square.
The old chess game.
I've got to take out my strawberry gel.
Ain't much on.
I've got to put it in the centre of my vanilla gelato insert.
How am I going, old boy? ROBBIE: Yeah, brother.
If you want, use that pin, mate.
And then I pipe the remaining vanilla gelato around the sides
to encase the strawberry gel completely.
That's looking good.
It's like silicone. You wanna get it in every corner.
OK, yeah. Perfect. Yeah.
(MELISSA LAUGHS) Thank you for being relatable.
Just doing some grouting. Yeah.
Next time, carry a spirit level with you as well.
(LAUGHS) Yeah. Yep.
It's really important on the next one as well, the chocolate one?
Remember, perfect... Thank you.
GRACE: I'm just working patiently in this step.
I wanna make sure that I get the ice cream right through this mould.
I made those moulds myself.
Did you, really? Yes.
Ohh! Feels like an honour.
MALISSA: Looks great, Alice! Looks great!
Good job!
Tempered chocolate is done.
I'm doing the gelato strawberry gel insert now.
I know that I'm behind.
I'm having to work pretty quickly.
But I've noticed that it's hard to pipe.
Let that sit for a bit.
So I put the piping bag on the counter
so that it heats up just a little bit.
ADI: The iced vanilla gelato, it was too set.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh, I really wanna eat this, but I can't.
The chocolate gelato looks good,
except I'm noticing that it's a little bit stiff as well.
So I decide to leave that piping bag on the counter as well.
I can then pipe both as soon as they get to the right consistency.
CONTESTANT: Keep going! Keep going, keep going.
If you're not starting to assemble your Messinetta now,
you're falling behind 'cause you've only got one hour to go!
Come on, guys!
RALPH: Go, guys, let's go!
JOCK: Push, push, push!
DECLAN: I've never cooked food that's this intricate before.
Like, I walked in this morning
and, um, didn't think by any means
I'd be able to replicate the Viennetta.
10 strips.
Um, but I just wanna get all these perfect.
The tempered chocolate is what makes a Viennetta a Viennetta.
The chocolate strips are what holds those vanilla waves together,
and the chocolate squares finish off the Messinetta on both sides.
I'm just really taking my time with this one.
I really don't wanna bugger this one up.
I've got my 10 strips.
I've got my plaques for either end of the Viennetta
and I'm happy with it, they're all perfect.
Oh, no, he's not gonna do that. He's not gonna do that.
What's he doing? What's he doing?
So the chocolate is set and he's about to put a tray on top of it.
And it's all bent. No, it's gonna snap.
Exactly.
Declan... Yeah?
You didn't read the recipe properly.
My heart sinks.
And I'm like, "Well, how? How have I done it wrong?"
See the bend on it? Yeah.
You've got two options.
Keep that.
Yeah. Or...
..start again.
Oh, OK. (DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Yeah, I'm in a bit of shambles.
No, yeah, I'll start again.
But read...read the recipe and read the instructions. They're there.
Alright. Thank you.
Any mistake in a Pressure Test
can most definitely cost you your spot in the competition.
MALISSA: It's OK. No.
ANTONIO: You just need to cut it before...
Yeah. ..it's fully set.
I haven't read the recipe correctly.
"Lay another piece of acetate on top of the chocky."
Ohh!
I was only meant to mark out the chocolate strips and squares
on the chocolate
and then weigh it down with a tray until it's set.
JOCK: Looks perfect. GRACE: Thank you.
(LAUGHS)
Setback and a half.
Re-tempering this chocolate is definitely setting me behind.
And that means less time for that crucial assembly at the end.
Bloody hell.
So this is the first time in this cook
where I'm like, "Look, maybe I might need to use this pin."
Um...
Just, like, a lot of, like, self-doubt.
Like, do I play it? Do I not?
This is make or break.
Come on, Declan! Come on, buddy! Yeah, come on!
You're doing good, Deccy! Come on! Let's go! Come on!
Classic Pressure Test where you have someone out in front,
but then everything changes.
Oh!
MALISSA: Come on, Alice! Let's go!
Oh, my gosh, the adrenaline is just skyrocketing.
I feel like I could run a marathon or sprint.
It's just insane.
CATH: Come on, Alice!
I need to finish the centre of the Messinetta.
Now it's...a bit too runny, maybe.
ANTONIO: Oh! There we go. Oh!
MALISSA: It's coming out the top. ADI: Oh, matey.
When Alice first got her gelato out and put it in the piping bag,
it was too solid to pipe out.
But now that she's come back to it, it's looking quite melted.
CATH: Come on, Alice! Get it in there! Come on!
My inserts are in the freezer. I'm doing the creme Chantilly.
Donato's creme Chantilly was basically the beautiful piping
on the sides of that Messinetta.
JOCK: Come on, Alice. Yep.
You gotta pick up the pace. Right? Yeah.
Yeah? Really, you wanna be constructing this...
Five minutes? ..in the next five minutes.
Five minutes? OK. This part's all fun and games.
This part's all fun and games?
She nearly lost that as it is.
You are actually quite evil. No.
You're very unassuming.
Dr Evil. Ooh. Yes. Ooh.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
(BLOWS RASPBERRY)
This is it. It's crunch time now.
Bloody hell.
I'm trying to take this last mould out.
Oh, shit.
And it's not working.
Ugh!
I am trying to stay cool, calm and collected.
Come on! Come on, you bastard.
But inside, I'm bubbling with anxiety.
Oh, my goodness.
It's all or nothing.
Alright. I'm sorry.
I start hacking away at this mould, just cutting it from all four edges.
I spent a whole weekend making those.
I'm sorry.
I knew I had to do this if I wanted enough time to piece it together.
Now's the time to keep your cool. 15 minutes to go!
ANDY: Come on! Let's go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Go, Declan! Whoo!
Go, Alice! ALICE: Oh, my gosh.
Well done!
Come on, Declan! Come on!
DECLAN: This suspense, it's just like next level.
Something that I wanted to get right in this Pressure Test
was being more delicate and paying more attention to the finer details
and this is something that I just can't get a grasp on.
How are you feeling? I'm just pretty upset with myself.
Why? Why? What's up?
Um, my presentation.
It's just not as neat and, like, pretty.
Where's the head at with the pin?
My mindset's probably to just use the pin, so...
"You've got the pin. Just...just play the pin."
That's where my head's at right now.
Have a think about it, mate. RALPH: Let's go!
CATH: Is he gonna play it?
BRENT: Come on, Alice, let's go! MALISSA: Come on, girls! Let's go!
Come on, Grace!
I've piped so many cakes in my time.
But now is not the time to be a perfectionist.
So I'm just getting all those wave layers down as quickly as possible.
You have five minutes to go!
ANDY: Come on! JOCK: Five minutes!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER) Is it four?
PHIL: Attention to detail here. You got this.
GRACE: Missing even the smallest element
could be enough to send me home.
Just keep that rhythm. You're doing so good, honestly. So good.
Come on, Deccy! Let's go, mate! Come on!
DECLAN: I'm still concerned about my presentation.
But I look around and I am the only one up to spraying at this point.
If you want to play that pin, Declan, you've only got two minutes to go.
Two minutes! Come on! Come on!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
Let's go!
I don't think he's gonna play his pin.
DECLAN: Being ahead, it does give me a bit more confidence
in maybe not having to use my pin.
This is it. Are you playing it?
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
No. I won't play it! It's not at play?
I'm not playing it. Declan! Whoa!
Come on, Dec! CATH: Oh, come on! Come on!
Come on!
Come on, Grace! Come on!
This is pure panic for me right now.
I don't know how to attach this.
I still haven't sprayed it with chocolate.
CONTESTANT: Come on, Gracie! Come on, Alice!
Other one, other one.
ALICE: Declan being the gentleman that he is...
You're alright. Here. It's not working.
..he comes over and helps me with the spray gun.
This is nerve-racking.
Thank you so much, Declan.
30 seconds!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
RHIANNON: Go, Grace! Go, Grace! Get it on!
Get it on! Come on, Alice!
Come on! Get it on! Get it on!
Come on! Go, go, go! Alice!
Get it on the plate! 10...
ALL: ..9,8,
7, 6,
5, 4,
3, 2, 1!
That's it! Done!
Good job. That was so stressful.
It was!
Oh, my God.
Did you use the pin? No. It's still with me.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
I'm nervous as hell.
Good luck, Declan.
Definitely not confident I'm safe.
Here he is, the gamblin' man.
Yeah.
Today could be my day where I go home on MasterChef
and I'm the bloke who was too stubborn and didn't use his pin.
ANNOUNCER: In the mood to cook?
on 10 play.
(BIRDSONG)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Declan, how come you didn't play your pin?
The angel and the devil on each of my shoulders...
Yeah.
..like, you know, "Play it safe, you'll be fine."
But I think just, like, came down to me backing myself.
I think there's two ways this is gonna go.
One, we taste the dish, it's epic. You keep the pin on your apron.
The second is, we cut this open, something's wrong with it,
you get sent home.
We gotta taste, brother. Thank you, Declan.
DECLAN: Shit. Shit. Shit.
JOCK: What do we think about look, guys?
I mean, it looks a little rough around the edges.
But did we ever think that someone was gonna be able
to make it look exactly like yours?
DONATO: No, we didn't. It was a tall ask.
Shh!
(MELISSA WHISPERS) OK. I'm ready.
(CRUNCH!)
Yeah, baby. Yeah.
That's satisfying.
Layers look good.
So impressed with this.
From a flavour perspective, it's, like, 99%...
It does. ..to yours. It really has...
I think it's testament to the way
he's followed that recipe to the tee.
I can't pick holes in it.
The balance of flavours within everything is bang-on.
The visual - he was under the pump.
But flavour-wise, nailed it.
He made a very thoughtful decision to not play the pin
and I think that it's paid off
because the result is something he should be proud of.
Yep.
Well, look, I finished mine, so... (LAUGHS)
That kinda says something.
Me being an ice-cream fiend, I really enjoyed that.
The strawberry gel, the vanilla gelato, um, the chocolate gelato,
the tempered chocolate, the Chantilly cream,
it is all so sound.
And I'm so glad for him because this will be a jolt of confidence
that he needs.
Good luck, Alice. Go, Alice. Well done.
Thanks so much, Declan. Thanks, Gracie.
My main concerns are the form.
It doesn't look exactly like the original.
Hi, Alice. Hi.
And then that gelato that melted on the counter -
I'm just a little bit worried about that.
You started really strong.
Where did the wheels start to come off for you?
I took, um, too long trying to get my ice cream
out of the ice-cream churner to go and do the chocolate gelato.
Mm. That ate into some time.
How do you feel about sitting in front of what you've created, though?
There's the perfectionist part of me that goes,
"Oh, gosh, I can see all the things that are wrong with it."
But then the other side of me is just saying,
"You managed to plate it."
Yeah. I should be happy about that.
We'll taste now. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Alice. Thank you very much.
DONATO: Thank you.
She's a little rough. Yeah.
Interesting-looking rendition of yours.
ANDY: She went hard with the Chantilly on top, didn't she?
Listen.
(CRUNCH!)
OK. Good crack.
How do we look?
Internally, it's good.
It's definitely a different texture.
It's a little bit icy. Don't know if you're picking that up.
I have to commend Alice for finishing.
It wasn't looking like she would finish at all.
So I'm glad that she did.
But where this sits in comparison to yours is...
..is a little further away than I'd like.
Yep.
It just didn't eat anywhere near as beautifully as yours.
Definitely the gelato is really dense.
Yep.
And I think that's come from melting it again
and all of the air has gone out of it.
And it's actually quite gummy. Mmm.
Technically, everything was there, but she didn't...she didn't feel it.
She wasn't tasting it.
When you pick up a piping bag
and the gelato is literally pouring into the mould,
that something in you would go,
"Hang on a second, this might not be right."
DECLAN: Good luck, Grace. Good luck, Gracie.
Thanks, guys.
I know that my vanilla gelato is going to be
the most scrutinised element in this dish.
I tried to fix my vanilla gelato,
but ultimately I've missed a step or I've mis-weighed something.
And this is probably going to send me home.
You have a few problems along the way. Talk us through them.
So, I had some issues with the sugar levels in my strawberry gel
to start off with.
And I... Next would have been gelato?
Yeah, my gelato. So, something happened there which...
I mean, I'm sure I'll read back the recipe tonight
and maybe the light bulb will turn on.
But I didn't want to give up.
I'm incredibly proud of you that you got this up.
With that, we're gonna taste it now. Thank you.
Ohh!
DONATO: I don't think this is gonna be great.
Oh, I'm so nervous about this.
Ready?
(CRUNCH!)
Chocolate work sounded solid.
God, you know what? It's not that bad.
Looks pretty good. It's held.
This eats rather well. Mmm.
That strawberry's quite sharp and bright.
Yep.
I am so happy for Grace.
Look, I'm not ecstatic about the visuals here, do you what I mean?
But the strawberry in the centre is delicious.
The gelato is beautiful. It's creamy.
The creme Chantilly is lovely.
Chocolate...
(CRUNCH!) ..beautifully tempered.
Overall...
..it's pretty close to yours. Yep.
The vanilla, like you said, the fix she did on it fixed it.
Yeah.
The gel, she got it right. It's perfect.
I can't really fault her on the textures or the flavours.
It's just the construction.
I didn't expect that.
Like, honestly. No, no.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Donny, how was it watching three amateur cooks
attempting your dish?
Oh, it was tough. It was tough. (LAUGHTER)
Sorry! (LAUGHS)
You finished, and, for me, that was impressive.
Let's give it up for Donato Toce!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
JOCK: Today the pressure was on.
And for one...more than others.
Declan.
You had a pin and you didn't play it!
Yeah. But you didn't need to.
Oh!
'Cause, Declan, your Messinetta was so similar to Donato's in taste,
there's no way we could send you home.
Oh! Congratulations, mate. You're safe.
(DECLAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Oh!
I can't believe it.
The pin lives to see another day and I'm safe.
So, it comes down to Grace and Alice.
Alice, even though your chocolate was very nicely tempered,
the texture of both your gelatos was a little bit off.
OK.
Grace, you battled through the cook today
and the end result was not that pretty either.
But, you know what,
pretty is overrated when it tastes as good as yours.
Every element on that plate was bang-on in terms of flavour.
And that's why you're safe and I'm sorry, Alice...
It's alright. ..you're going home.
Thank you so much. Congratulations. Well done.
MELISSA: Alice, this is the toughest cooking competition in the world.
Making it this far in this place is a huge achievement.
You are an incredible woman and a talented cook.
Thanks, Mel. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Wherever you land in the world of food after this,
whatever shape your food dream takes, we know that you will excel at it.
Thanks, Mel.
I agree. Thanks.
But now it's time to say goodbye. Thank you.
I'll miss you.
ALICE: MasterChef has made me feel for the first time
that anything is possible.
You just need to open the door. I feel like I've just opened the door.
Mel, you're gonna make me cry,
but thank you for everything you've ever said.
You've taken a great sacrifice to be here. Make it count.
And at the risk of quoting 'Casablanca',
it's the beginning of a beautiful relationship
and that beautiful relationship is with food.
'Bye, Alice! Love you!
Give it up for Alice, everybody! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...
Full-nostalgic Chinese takeaway place.
..it's a good old-fashioned Service Challenge.
THEO: It's so nostalgic to me. It's crazy.
Let's move, let's move, let's move!
Backs! Backs! Backs! Backs!
Alright, alright, let's go, let's go!
CATH: Oh, no!
There's real people coming!
I forgot about that.
But can they conquer the classics
of an Australia institution?
I'm here for the win, so I'll do whatever.
Captions by Red Bee Media