Thanks, guys. Thank you.
NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
CONTESTANTS: Aww!
..our top four received letters from home...
Sorry, guys.
"MasterChef Winner 2023 will look so good on you."
..and requests for family favourites.
"I've missed your chilli prawn pasta."
(JOCK LAUGHS) (CHORTLES)
They were eager to do their loved ones proud...
RHIANNON: Oh, my God, that tastes way better
than I used to make in Townsville.
..but got pushed to the limit.
THEO: What a task she has actually set me here.
Laure, what are you doing to me?
Their dishes wowed the judges.
ANDY: I can guarantee, that is the best version you've ever cooked.
MELISSA: It's everything that you want.
This is unbelievable. Mate, I'm so proud of you.
And Brent was the standout, winning immunity.
Well done.
Tonight...
..a massive Pressure Test
with an even bigger twist.
DECLAN: This isn't your normal Pressure Test.
This is on a whole nother level.
(RHIANNON SIGHS) Black-apron day, guys.
THEO: Ooh!
Today, stakes are super high.
Pressure Test going into semifinals.
There's a lot riding on this.
And we're so close to the end now
that I know that this is gonna be super difficult.
(JUDGES CLAP)
Hey! Hey!
MELISSA: Hey!
Morning, everyone. RHIANNON AND DECLAN: Morning.
Well, we are well and truly in the swing of Finals Week now.
And the stakes, they are just getting higher and higher.
Speaking of higher, ho!
Brent. Look at him.
Up there in the gantry, mate.
Good gig.
First contestant into the semifinal.
Mate, you can kick back and relax. Yep.
Because these three - hoo! - they're about to get put through the ringer.
Today's Pressure Test is going to really test you.
Not just because it's Finals Week.
Not just because it's been set
by one of Australia's most accomplished chefs.
But also, because in this Pressure Test,
you'll be taught to make the dish by the chef who created it.
And you'll need to remember every single step...
..off by heart.
Oh!
(HISSES)
How's your memory, Rhiannon?
When you eat something, can you remember what it tasted like?
Palate is great.
That is my memory.
Like, if I taste something, I can just go, "Yep, yep, yep, yep."
So that's what I'm really gonna have to rely on.
Absolutely.
Theo, does this play into your hands, you think?
Um... Yeah, I'm sure I'll kill it.
So...um... (OTHERS LAUGH)
Yeah. We'll, uh... We'll see.
The real kicker to this challenge
is that the chef is not about to walk through those doors.
Because today you're going to learn from him in his kitchen in Sydney!
(ALL LAUGH AND EXCLAIM) That's pretty good.
See you, Brenty. See ya!
Bye-bye. 'Bye!
(RHIANNON LAUGHS) OK. Oh, jeez! That's pretty cool.
See ya! DECLAN: See ya, Brent.
'Bye.
(MAJESTIC MUSIC)
THEO: Oh, my! Look at this. RHIANNON: Here we are.
This is so cool. (CHUCKLES) The Opera House!
I am looking around.
Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sydney Harbour.
These iconic landmarks.
DECLAN: Beautiful day. Sydney's really turning it on for us.
Really has, mate. Sure is.
And then I'm looking up at the Opera House.
Oh, look who it is!
Oh, hey! It's Peter.
Hello, guys.
Peter Gilmore! (LAUGHS)
Peter. Declan. Nice to meet you.
Rhiannon. Lovely to meet you. Nice to finally meet you.
Welcome to the iconic Sydney Opera House.
This is the home of my restaurant, Bennelong.
The Opera House is celebrating its 50th year this year.
What a perfect time for you to come and visit.
Wanna come into the kitchen?
We'd love to! Awesome.
Peter Gilmore has created
some of the toughest Pressure Tests in MasterChef.
I am so scared,
but I'm also so bloody excited to meet him.
I can't wait.
Wow!
What a cool kitchen. MAN: Hey, guys.
Hey. How you going? Hello.
Yeah, good, thank you. G'day.
Welcome to the Bennelong kitchen.
Guys, I'd like to introduce you to my head chef.
This is Rob Cockerill. Hello.
And my senior sous-chef, Mark Firla.
Hey, guys.
They're gonna help me show you the dish that you're gonna be preparing.
You're not getting the recipe. Yeah.
So you gotta remember it. (LAUGHS)
Easy.
You wanna have a look? Yeah, love to.
Let's get into it. OK.
Oh, wow!
Squid, scallops and pipis... DECLAN: Yum!
..on crispy eggplant with a XO sauce.
Beautiful. Oh, wow!
DECLAN: This dish looks so intricate.
That's a piece of art right there.
Looks amazing.
This is gonna be difficult.
OK, guys. Let's get into it. Yeah, awesome.
Alright, first of all, we're gonna cook the XO sauce.
We've got 800 mils of chicken stock in here.
And I want to infuse this chicken stock
with 200g of pipis and roughly three spring onions.
OK.
The idea is it's quite a layered sauce,
so there's lots of flavours going in here.
So you have to use all your wits about you
to make this happen, OK?
There are so many ingredients in Peter's XO sauce.
We're gonna add 50g of eschalots.
Then we've got the garlic. 15g.
And then you've got about 13g of ginger, OK?
Shiitake mushrooms, 50g. And 30g, some bacon.
If the measurements are wrong,
it could throw off the balance of the whole sauce.
Now the next thing we're gonna do is we're gonna add the chilli paste.
Now, this is fermented Korean chilli paste.
Wow.
This is what is my secret ingredient...
Yum. ..in my XO sauce.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
And we actually make this ourselves. Oh, wow! Epic.
Be 30g, 32g. That smell.
Yeah. Oh, it smells amazing.
Now the time to add the stock.
Beautiful. Nice.
Lots and lots of flavour. Yeah.
The colour's amazing.
Essentially, you're gonna reduce this liquid by about half.
Alright. Yep. OK?
Trying to remember the flavours, the balance is pretty full-on.
So we've got the XO sauce simmering away there just very gently.
So we're gonna move on to making the brown butter aioli.
MARK: First of all, we need to make the brown butter.
It needs to be quite dark, otherwise you're not gonna get the flavour.
OK. Alright?
Yeah, just have a look in there now. That's what you're after.
Then we're gonna add our oil.
So we're gonna put our eggs in first and then confit garlic.
Alright. RHIANNON: Yep.
And then we're gonna slowly add in our brown butter oil.
(FOOD PROCESSOR WHIRRS)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Wow, look how creamy that looks.
We'll move on to the next thing.
OK. Beautiful.
Hey, guys. CONTESTANTS: Hey.
Rob's gonna show you the squid.
A great textural element for the dish.
Yep.
We want a beautiful silky squid noodle.
Just gonna this head.
Gently removing...the innards out.
Just making sure, keeping everything nice and intact
so it doesn't make an inky mess.
Yeah. Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
It's really important to watch every hand movement,
everything he does,
It's actually quite technical and I have to remember every single step.
Next, you're gonna cut through down to the thicker membrane.
And just pull the knife up at...at that point.
You can feel it almost with the knife.
And by doing that, you're gonna keep a nice bit of structure to the squid
but also we're gonna be able to pull this off in one hit.
Yeah.
Alright, the first is just to take that seam down a little bit
and that's gonna give you a nice purchase
to take the rest of the squid down.
And it should just come off in one go.
How long's that gonna take us?
I think that was four minutes or so. You'll be right.
Very quick. Yeah. Very impressive.
Rob just made it look so easy.
We're gonna try and get a 1mm noodle.
But there's a lot of finesse involved in all the elements.
MARK: So we're just gonna cut them horizontally, OK?
The prep of the scallops. PETER: Like that.
RHIANNON: Yeah.
Then the pipis.
What we wanna do is open them up, take them out,
'cause you're gonna be heating them in some clarified butter
to get hot for the dish.
The thickness of the eggplant.
That's the sort of diameter that you're looking at, guys.
Yep. OK.
And around about that sort of thickness.
Down to the bacon.
Best way to crisp this is in a hot pan with another smaller pan on top.
And then the peanuts.
They have this natural stripe.
And everything has been thought about
and integrated with each other.
It all looks like it's really, really intricate
and that's something that I'll have to focus on.
OK, guys, so that's all of the seafood prepared.
Crispy bacon. Peanuts.
The XO sauce, just about perfect now.
Let me show you the consistency we're after.
Oh, yep. See how that's reduced down?
DECLAN AND RHIANNON: Yeah. OK.
Glossy. Beautiful.
Exactly. Yeah.
We're going to strain it
and we're going to add a very small amount of xantana.
OK, and we're doing this just to emulsify it a little bit, OK?
There's a lot to take in.
I am chaos in the brain.
The only thing that makes me feel comfortable
and at home is the XO sauce.
Mark's gonna do the eggplant.
From that hitting the fryer,
you've got four minutes to get everything else ready.
OK. Cool. OK?
You've got the squid and the scallops.
We're gonna put them into the butter bath.
So now you need to keep moving quickly.
Put one on each plate and Rob's gonna start layering the seafood.
A little bit of squid. A little bit of pipis.
A scallop and then bacon and then we're gonna repeat that process.
So you can see all the elements on top, OK?
You've really gotta work fast in these final minutes
because the eggplant tempura will go soggy,
the seafood will be overcooked.
So that's how it ends up.
The plating is gonna be so important to this dish.
So there you go.
You're gonna replicate
our XO, pipi, squid and scallop on crisp eggplant.
Amazing. Beautiful. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you, guys. Oh, that's amazing.
Oh, so good. Cheers. Good luck, hey!
Thank you. So enjoy.
Alright. It is spectacular.
Just how delicate.
Everything serves its purpose on the plate.
So there's quite a few steps
and you've gotta get all the elements right
but the presentation's very clean.
Yeah.
And then you've got all the flavours and textures.
It's an incredibly refined dish. It's so refined.
Yum. OK, guys.
I'm gonna see you back in the MasterChef kitchen.
Alright. Good luck.
Thanks, guys. See you later. Yay. Can't wait. Thank you.
See you, guys. Thank you.
JOCK: Come on in. Straight to your benches.
Welcome back. Thanks.
How was that? Awesome.
Quick trip up to Sydney. Yeah, very quick.
Hopefully you were paying close attention.
Here's how it's gonna work.
You'll have 2 hours and 15 minutes to re-create Peter's dish.
Wow.
We want four perfect plates.
One for each of us and, of course,
one for Peter, who's gonna join us shortly.
The cook whose dish least resembles Peter's...will be going home.
This is the most important cook of the competition so far.
So take a deep breath.
Focus.
And remember what you learnt.
Good luck.
Your time starts now.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
THEO: I hope my brain is good enough to remember what Peter was cooking.
You know, replicating that dish
exactly as it should be, um, yeah, is gonna be tough.
But feeling good actually. Um, I'm feeling confident.
Um, just gotta keep my wits about me today
and not let the pressure get to me.
BRENT: Go, Theo. Go, Deccy.
Fully going off your memory, this isn't your normal Pressure Test.
This is on a whole nother level.
Let's go, Deccy. Come on, mate.
But cooking with seafood,
it's definitely playing to my strong points.
First up, I'm just working on this stock for that XO sauce.
The pipis and spring onions are in that.
And now I'm just working on my mise en place.
It's absolutely crucial to remember everything.
If the measurements are wrong,
it could throw off the balance of the whole sauce.
30 mils of oil.
Have you cut up your shiitake for the XO sauce yet?
Nup. I reckon it's 30g.
30? It's too much? I don't think it's 50. That's 30.
Holy shit.
I am really good at trusting my instincts.
This whole dish hinges on whether I can remember those flavours.
We believe we have the recipe all in our heads
but it's gonna come down to, you know, taste
and making sure that you're balancing right.
So, yeah, I think we've all gotta use our instinct
in this cook for sure.
I reckon it is 50.
You reckon? Yep.
Right now, all I'm thinking about is quantities.
There needs to be 15 ingredients that go into this sauce.
Eight. Nine.
Honestly, there is just so many things
that I've gotta remember right now.
I don't wanna make a mistake.
So I'm gonna actually take my time.
You've got a lot going on.
There's squid, there's scallops, there's pipis.
But the XO sauce is, like, legit the main thing for this dish.
If you don't get the balance and the XO sauce right,
you don't have the dish.
JOCK: Rhiannon. G'day, fellas.
You have to rely on your instincts for this.
100%. And what Peter showed us. You know?
No letters and numbers on a page. Nup.
It is literally down to what you remember.
And then your instincts take over. 100%.
And I'm putting time into the sauce
because, honestly, that's where it's at.
You're exactly right. It all hangs on that sauce.
But then, also,
something that you need to be very careful and mindful of,
how much time you have.
Yeah. How fast you're moving.
You can spend all the time in the world on this sauce.
Yep.
But the seafood needs to be cooked perfectly.
Everything does.
The eggplant needs to be super crispy and delicious.
If you don't have time for everything else,
it doesn't matter how good the sauce is, you might be going home.
(TENSE MUSIC)
If you don't have time for everything, you might be going home.
Yeah. Thanks, guys. Good luck, Rhiannon.
Go, Rhi-Rhi. Where did my spoons go?
Every single element needs to be perfect.
So it's like, "OK, work at pace, work calmly
"and make sure you get everything done."
How you going, Deccy? DECLAN: Good. How are you?
Good, bud. Alright.
Today's a tough challenge.
But we all seem to be on track.
Peter was just saying, "Bring this to a gentle simmer
"and let this simmer and reduce by half."
(SNIFFS) Beautiful.
We're all helping each other out where we can.
Do you strain this, Theo? Strain what?
Do we do it to half with the stuff? We strain it twice at the end.
At the end. Deccy, have you figured out what that lemon's for?
The lemon's for the aioli. Oh, yeah.
You want a squeeze of lemon. That's a lot of lemon.
But at the end of the day, it is a competition
and I need to move on to the brown butter aioli.
Brown butter. Brown butter.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Peter really brought that butter to the edge.
It was nice and brown and then it had that hint of confit garlic in there.
Peter's was velvety and rich and silky in texture.
And that's what I've gotta bring forward today.
Taste, taste, taste.
Are you happy with that?
Beautiful.
It's delicious. It's so full-bodied and full of flavour.
How's that, Rhi-Rhi? Yum-ah!
Where's the lid for it?
I've finished my aioli. I am loving the consistency of it.
I'm loving the colour of it. Oh, that's nice, Theo.
I'm feeling quietly confident about this dish.
I've got this.
We want four perfect plates in an hour and a half.
And guess what - Peter Gilmore's in the house.
There he is! (ALL CHEER)
Hey, guys.
How you going? Hey.
OK.
These are big...big squid, eh?
Yeah, it is a big boy.
RHIANNON: Preparing the squid is a massive pressure point,
because I bloody don't know about squid.
I remember Rob saying that I needed to wipe it down.
Slippery little sucker.
Cut it down.
BRENT: That's it, Deccy.
You know your way around a bloody knife and a seafood.
RHIANNON: Turn it over.
Slice it and rip the membrane off.
Well done.
(SIGHS) Yeah, I got it.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
ANDY: Declan got it.
THEO: Alright.
Um... (EXHALES)
I'm really familiar with squid. I really love squid.
Do I pull from here?
But I'm trying to think about Rob peeling this squid at Bennelong.
And...it's just escaping me.
I just can't remember.
RHIANNON: You right, Theo?
Did you get it, Deccy? I got it. You alright?
It's just not working for me. I...
At this point I'm thinking, "Alright, I've got time.
"Just keep working on this. Just try and peel it."
I'm just not getting it, though. I can't figure it out.
I don't understand. Like, theirs come apart so easy.
I can't get this off.
Peter, this looks absolutely stunning.
Do you wanna sauce it? I can't wait. Yeah, absolutely.
MELISSA: God, it smells incredible, doesn't it?
Thank you.
There we go.
(CHUCKLES)
Talk about the sauce, Pete.
'Cause, like, I'm guessing that's a huge part.
It is. It's a massive part of this dish.
The secret ingredient there
is I actually use a fermented Korean chilli paste.
Gotcha.
And that gives it a really beautiful umami boost and a depth of flavour.
I love that. It is. It's just...
Nice little bit of a glow. Nice little bit of a glow.
Oh, perfect. Yeah, it's...
It's delicious, Pete. I expect nothing less.
Thank you.
RHIANNON: It's fiddly.
This whole dish needs to be a lot of multitasking.
You can't just be stuck on one thing
because there's only 2 hours and 15 minutes.
So while I'm prepping the scallops,
why not get some bacon on?
DECLAN: Low and slow, baby. Low and slow.
So bacon's cooking away.
XO simmering away.
Squid. Scallops. They're prepped in the fridge.
Just slicing my eggplant now.
Just really trying to work on that mise en place.
The eggplants that Peter had were about 10-13 mil thick.
I've gotta make sure they're all uniform.
But I really don't have time to muck around.
Oh!
(CHUCKLES) Oh, shit!
ANDY: Ooh, eggplant down.
Take two on the eggplants.
JOCK: I know it's been a big day,
but the hardest bit is yet to come.
You've only got one hour to go.
Come on! BRENT: Come on, guys, let's go!
(ANDY CALLS OUT) Go. Come on, Theo!
Come on, Rhi. Deccy!
Theo's still going on his squid.
MELISSA: Yeah. I'm really worried.
(SIGHS)
DECLAN: You alright, Theo? Nah.
(EXHALES)
25 minutes I've spent on this squid.
Time's passing. I'm starting to get even more stressed.
(TENSE VIOLIN MUSIC)
BRENT: Come on, Theo, mate. Just keep going. Keep pushing.
Good work, Rhi-Rhi.
RHIANNON: So I've sliced my scallops in half.
I've also gotta cook my pipis.
I've got that going. I'm onto the squid.
You know, I struggle to stay in one thing at once.
But today, you've gotta be so careful.
How's it taste, Deccy?
DECLAN: It's getting there. Hoo!
It's got that kick.
I feel like I can't afford to stand around and wait in a Pressure Test,
so I'm multitasking.
My XO sauce is bubbling away.
I've got my bacon cooking.
And I need to hit these pipis in the pan with a splash of water
so they open up a fraction.
I've got everything under control.
That bacon's sizzling.
(NORTHERN ENGLISH ACCENT) Ooh!
Couple of them are a little bit crispy.
Ooh, Deccy!
Ooh! Careful, mate.
I'm watching Declan. He's starting to make some silly mistakes.
I'm getting really worried for him.
My bacon's turned into charcoal. (CHUCKLES) So I've...
I've gotta get some more on.
Just took my eye off it.
So a little bit going on. I gotta be a bit more careful.
Declan. Declan.
Gents, how are you going? How are you doing?
Um...I'm just purging my pipis. Yep.
XO's cooking away.
And that bit of bacon.
Are these all... Yeah, they're scrap.
They're scrap. Scrap metal.
And then these are my good ones.
You got a lot on the go. Yeah.
These are popping. Yeah.
Definitely overcooked.
An overcooked pipi could be the thing that sent you home.
If you are doing something that only takes a minute...
Yeah.
..be standing over it for a minute.
(BIRDSONG)
DECLAN: Definitely overcooked.
Overcooked pipi could be the thing that sent you home.
Just be careful, man. OK.
This was a close call. So I'm gonna work on one thing at a time.
Good luck, Declan. Keep moving, mate.
I will. Thank you. Alright. (OTHERS CLAP)
I can't afford to make any more mistakes.
I've just got enough pipis to do a second batch,
but I've gotta watch this like a hawk.
RHIANNON: Where did I put my sieve?
The pipis are done.
Gotta pull them out and then just get the little sac off the end.
I've gotta slice the eggplant.
Make sure that all four look uniform.
I'm feeling, like, weirdly calm.
BRENT: Did you do the cut? THEO: Huh?
Did you do the cut? Yeah.
And then I should be able to just pull it off, right?
Maybe if I cut a bit more here?
I'm still struggling with this membrane.
I can't peel it off. I'm, like, losing my mind on this thing.
From the demo, I remember them holding down with some pressure
and peeling back that squid.
Ooh.
There we go.
You know, I think I've got it now. I think...
I think I know where I'm going, so I try to give it another try.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
How far down did you guys cut?
Did you do it like this? That's the in...
That's the inside of it. You cut it like that and then pull?
Yeah, so hold...use your cloths and just get grip.
And then just like...just like that. So, yeah.
You've just gotta get it so you can rip it.
Mm. OK.
You just need a little bit further through. Not much, though.
(BRENT CLAPS) Theo, come on, mate.
I'm watching Theo struggling.
And at the same time, I can see the clock and it is just ticking away.
It sucks because he's looking up at me, like, you know,
I can throw him a Hail Mary and help him.
(SIGHS)
Just take a breath, Theo.
But nothing I can do up here in the gantry.
It's hard. Can't get it.
Why is this so hard for me?
(EXHALES) I'm losing patience.
I'm losing time. (SIGHS)
Why can't I get this? Everything's getting away from me.
I'm so frustrated.
Come on, mate. You can do this.
Like, seriously, just take a deep breath.
Do something else. Come back to it.
It takes 30 seconds to cook. Yeah.
Righto. Do something else. OK. Thanks.
Keep going. Keep pushing.
I start on my tempura batter.
I've still gotta chop my eggplant. Prep all the seafood.
I've still gotta cook my pipis, fry my bacon.
And it's always in the back of my mind,
that squid's still waiting for me.
BRENT: Good work, Theo.
Oh, there's a bit going on.
Oh, yeah.
Theo just can't get the membrane off the squid.
Sounds like he needs a bit of a win in some other element
in order for him to then go back with the right positive mindset
to dominate and get that membrane off.
Yeah, the worst thing that can happen for him
is the domino effect, you know?
You know when you make one mistake, you normally make three?
You see it happen so many times in Pressure Tests.
Yeah.
THEO: I feel like I'm just getting nowhere.
BRENT: Oh!
Oh, shit.
Everything's going wrong.
Have you got more pipis? Yeah.
Yeah, just ditch it.
(WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY)
You've only 30 minutes to finish off all your elements. Let's go!
Come on. Let's go, Declan! Theo. Come on, Rhiannon.
Half an hour to go and, um, I've done everything,
apart from clean these pipis.
I gotta get my tempura batter done and I've gotta peel my penis.
My peanuts. (CHUCKLES) I've gotta peel my peanuts.
So, um, I'm on a good track
and, you know, eyes on the prize.
RHIANNON: Currently I'm working on the tempura for the eggplant.
I've got all my seafood in the fridge.
I've done my aioli. My XO sauce is nearly done.
I feel like everything's gone pretty good so far.
So I'm pretty happy.
BRENT: Good work, Rhi-Rhi.
THEO: My second batch of pipis is done now.
I've got my eggplant cut up. I need to get back to this squid.
And I'm still struggling.
I'm going through so many emotions in my head.
(SOLEMN VIOLIN MUSIC)
Come on, Theo, mate. (THEO SIGHS)
I can't do it. I can't do it.
Shit!
I'm starting to get angry. I'm starting to get upset.
Waste of time.
DECLAN: You alright, Theo? RHIANNON: You right, mate?
THEO: I'm stuck in this negative feedback loop.
(THUMPS BENCH)
I've put in so much work in this competition,
that it comes down to this, and it just keeps playing on my mind.
Take a deep breath, mate.
Take a deep breath.
The more you struggle,
the more your emotions are gonna get the better of you
and you're just not gonna get the right result.
Righto? Yep.
Theo, I'm telling you right now,
if you don't get out of this headspace, you'll go home.
Theo, I'm telling you right now,
you have to take a deep breath.
You have to park your emotions... Yeah.
..because that is what will send you home.
Not the squid, not anything else but your emotions.
So deep breaths.
And this will happen, but it won't happen the way that you're going.
Thanks. JOCK: Good luck, mate.
Come on, Theo. You got this, bro!
Being in a bad headspace sucks and it's hard to get out of it.
But I've gotta try.
(EXHALES)
DECLAN: My XO sauce is at the consistency that I want.
I strain it through a chinois,
really pressing out as much of that flavour and aromats that I can.
I add a pinch of xanthan gum.
I really wanna keep an eye on stirring this
so it doesn't all split.
Let's go, Rhi-Rhi.
Feeling good? Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I'm going OK.
Yep? Yep.
I'm straining the XO sauce.
Looks good, Rhi. Yeah.
Looks...looks really vibrant.
Tastes really nice. Yeah?
Yeah. Tastes like his?
Yep. Yep?
It's got the nice after-kick.
I put a pinch of xanthan gum. I whisk it in.
And at this point, I'm just motoring.
I've got to batter my eggplant.
Eggplant needs to be super crispy.
I've gotta get the peanuts on.
Get my seafood cooked in the butter bath and plate up.
(CHUCKLES) Not much.
(THEO EXHALES)
Right.
Theo.
You need a hand? You good?
Good? Oh, yeah.
If you like, mate. Don't feel like you need to, though.
Alright. Good? You've made the cut.
Yeah. Alright.
So just start back a tiny bit.
A legend. Mm.
Absolute legend.
This is the side we flip, yeah?
Yep. Yep. Yeah. Then peel this side.
So just work from the corner first.
It's...
The first bit's the hardest part, yeah?
Taking time, showing him how to do it.
OK. Alright.
So see that? Yep. Alright.
Now keep pressure there and pull back.
Alright. Thanks, buddy. OK.
You got it.
Don't push too hard with this. OK.
And with this hand, keep it flat across.
Oh, yeah, OK. Yeah? And now move back there.
Keep moving up, keep pulling.
Nice, bro.
You're right. Keep moving and wiggling and pushing.
Yep. Thanks, buddy. Legend.
Can you see?
He's just shown him how to do it.
Well done, Declan. You're a legend.
That's big, mate.
THEO: Declan, he's such a legend.
Come on, Theo. You got this, mate.
MELISSA: He'll get there.
You got it, Theo?
Yeah, it's coming, yeah.
ANDY AND JOCK: Come on, mate. BRENT: Let's go, Theo. Come on!
ANDY: That's it.
I start peeling back the squid and it's coming.
BRENT: Oh, my God!
Slowly, slowly, I'm finally getting it.
And... Oh!
(GASPS)
Yes!
Boom! Whoo!
I finally pull off that damn membrane.
RHIANNON: Go, Theo! Thanks, Deccy. Thanks, mate.
You're a legend, mate. Thank you. RHIANNON: Oh, that's awesome.
I lost a lot of time on that damn squid.
I've got so much to do.
I'm running out of time.
No matter where you're at, it's time to think about plating up.
15 minutes to go!
(JUDGES CLAP)
DECLAN: Bada bing, bada boom!
Peter's dish today was so tender and delicate.
So much is riding on the cook of this seafood,
so it has to be bang on.
THEO: I'm worried because there's so much finesse
that needs to go into this dish, but I don't have time.
How long have I got, Brent? Uh, you got...um...
Eight. Eight minutes.
I am so far behind.
I'm working triple speed right now.
I'm just going for it.
Shaking like a leaf.
Let's go, mate, come on.
Thanks, brother. Let's do it.
Let's...
Guys, you've only got three minutes left.
Go for it! Come on!
Three minutes!
DECLAN: The plating is so important to this dish.
On my eggplant, I'm going squid, scallops and pipis,
with some little bits of bacon.
And then I'm finishing it off with seven squirts of the aioli
and time's running out.
30 seconds!
Ooh. Look at that.
Beautiful XO sauce.
RHIANNON: I'm pouring my XO into jugs.
Get 'em in, get 'em in, all of 'em.
It smells amazing.
But then...
Far out, mate.
How you going, Rhi-Rhi?
I've just realised the sauce has split.
Oh, man,
I can't fix it.
It's too late.
Here it is. 10...
JUDGES: 9, 8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3,
2, 1.
That's it!
(EXHALES)
Thanks, buddy. Take a deep breath.
Thanks, mate. All good. Did a good job.
Thanks, mate. Love ya. Thank you.
RHIANNON: Got it done, mate.
THEO: Nah, didn't.
You did a good job.
Don't be angry at yourself.
Yeah, it was tough. Lost my cool halfway through the cook.
Um, yeah, it was really difficult.
I'm happy with the flavours.
Um, the...XO sauce is really nice.
Um, I didn't get it...the finesse I wanted to in the end.
Everything that is on there is good.
Um, you know, I missed the flowers and a few of the peanuts.
I certainly hope this is enough
to keep me in the competition, but who knows?
Yeah, it was tough.
Good luck, mate. Thanks, guys.
Yeah, you got this, buddy.
Whoa!
Theo. Hey, guys.
Hey, mate. Hey.
Hi.
Big day, huh?
Yeah.
You had your highs and lows there, for sure. Talk me through that.
Yeah, um...
I lost my cool. Um...
(SOFTLY) It's OK.
NARRATOR: Get inspired by our fabulous home cooks.
(EMOTIVE MUSIC)
(SOFTLY) It's OK.
Theo, don't be too hard on yourself, mate.
We're all human. We're all under pressure.
Having to do new things like that.
So it's not unusual to, you know, get a bit flustered or...
Yeah.
I think seeing what you do up there
and, you know, being inspired by it all.
Like, I wanna open a bakery
but I think it's taken on more than that now.
Like, I get goosebumps even now just talking about it.
Like, it's, yeah... It's love.
There's just so much - as you saw in today's cook...
JOCK: Yeah.
..so much passion inside me, um...
Alright, mate. It's time. We're gonna taste it.
Thanks, Theo. Well done. Thanks. Thanks.
There's obviously a few things that are wrong in this dish.
I think the problems he had with the prep
has really affected his final result.
Couldn't agree more.
The seafood's undercooked, particularly the squid.
Undercooked eggplant, peanuts, flowers, both missing off mine.
It's a shame because had he not have lost it
with himself preparing the squid,
I feel as if that cost him a lot more than just time.
Yeah, unfortunately, yeah.
Yeah, it was...it was hard to watch Theo there for a bit.
Yeah. Um...
You know, you never wanna see someone go through that
to the point where they're... they're so upset with themselves.
In saying that, there's a lot of problems here.
You know, he's done it all, apart from the peanuts and the flowers,
but nothing is really perfect.
Mm-hm.
And that's where he might be in trouble today.
Good luck, mate. Good luck, bro.
DECLAN: I'm inspired by what Peter, Mark and Rob have done today
and I can definitely see myself following that food dream.
Declan. Hello.
How are ya?
Hi. Very good, thank you.
Thank you.
You're, like, peaking.
(LAUGHS) I am.
I think just seeing the boys and Peter in the kitchen,
it just really opened up my eyes to the possibilities.
I could definitely see myself in a kitchen like that.
I've always, like, thought,
you don't work a day in your life if you enjoy what you do,
and I love food and it can definitely take me places.
You know, you definitely had an air of confidence about you.
Let's hope that this tastes like a chef from Bennelong
put it on the plate.
Thank you, guys. Enjoy. Well done, Declan.
JOCK: Well done, mate. Thank you, Peter. Thanks, Jock, Mel.
ANDY: Looks pretty good. Alright, put the sauce on.
Yeah.
Actually, you know, every component's lovely.
The sauce is really lovely and the seafood's really well cooked.
The pipis especially. I'm glad he did them again.
MELISSA: I agree.
Overall, um, the flavours are pretty damn good.
He's done a pretty reasonable job, that's for sure.
One thing that I love about your food
is that it is so delicate, precise, romantic, beautiful.
And it's a really tall order to ask someone to try and replicate,
but I think that he, you know, did a really incredible job.
I loved how soft and delicate the eggplant was,
compared to the crunch on the outside.
Beautiful seafood.
And in the XO...is...is gorgeous.
It had that warm glow that you want...
Absolutely. ..out of it.
So I thought it was great.
He's come in from day dot and said he's a seafood guy and it shows.
The squid, the pipis, the scallops, all cooked perfectly.
Look, it's not hard to be inspired by you,
let alone in your kitchen with your team.
Yeah, it sparked his imagination of what he could do himself.
I think we all witnessed Declan find the thing
that he came to the MasterChef kitchen for.
You know, that's such a beautiful thing to see.
RHIANNON: I cannot believe that the XO sauce split.
Go, Rhi-Rhi. Good luck, Rhi-Rhi.
Thanks, guys.
I'm gutted. I'm so gutted.
Here she is. Hey.
Hello. Hello.
Here you go, Peter. Thank you.
(SIGHS)
Rhiannon, flying to Sydney to stand in Bennelong
with the Peter Gilmore, what was it like?
Epic. And, like, I'm legit stoked.
(LAUGHS) Like, that was...
I feel like I've just lived all my MasterChef dreams at once.
Aww.
Let's talk about this dish here. Yep.
And the cook.
I had a vision that I have the tweezers
and I was gonna beautifully place the flowers at the end.
And you went, "Hoo!" (LAUGHS) Yeah, pretty much. (LAUGHS)
Get 'em on! OK, so we'll taste now.
Thank you. Thanks, guys. Enjoy. Well done.
Thank you. Thanks, Rhi. Well done.
Thank you.
Alright.
All pour?
Oh!
Oi!
Completely separated.
Ooh, this one's, like, super oil slick.
Oh, wow. You got a really split... Mm.
Completely separated.
Ooh, this one's, like, super oil slick.
(TENSE MUSIC)
One of the things that Rhiannon is very good at
is balancing a sauce.
It tastes like yours, it smells like yours,
it just doesn't look like yours.
Yeah, for me, the sauce is...is not emulsified properly.
But I agree with you, the flavour's right.
The eggplant was crisp, which I think is really important.
And I think the seafood was cooked really well.
Rhiannon, I think, pounds flavour into food
like no-one else in this kitchen.
But because that sauce isn't emulsified,
it just doesn't give you that beautiful satisfaction.
I hate this part.
Well, team.
Peter Gilmore is renowned
for setting some of the toughest Pressure Tests in this kitchen.
Peter, how impressed were you with what you saw from these three today?
Oh, it's super impressive.
The fact that you only saw that dish being run through once
and you come back and you did it all in the one day.
You should all be really proud of yourself.
Today you had to trust your palate, your instincts
and, most of all, your memory.
You had to bring us a dish that mirrored a master's.
And one of you, awfully close.
The cook of that dish
and the first contestant going through to the semifinal today...
..is Declan.
RHIANNON: Yeah! Well done, buddy.
Yeah! (LAUGHS)
(JOYOUS MUSIC)
Whoa, he's gone already. I don't even get to talk to him.
(ALL LAUGH)
Bloody hell.
(WHISPERS) Oh, good luck, buddy.
Theo, Rhiannon...
..unfortunately, both of your dishes had flaws.
Rhiannon, your XO sauce was split.
But...
..your seafood was cooked beautifully.
And the flavours of the dish, as a whole, were well balanced.
Thank you.
Theo...
..you spent a fair amount of time on that squid today.
And unfortunately the dish suffered as a result.
Both your eggplant and your seafood were slightly undercooked.
And it's because of that,
I'm sorry, Theo, that you're going home.
Fair enough.
Oh, buddy.
(MURMURS)
(SOFTLY) Get over there.
(WHISPERS) Well done, buddy.
JOCK: Oh, Theo.
Throughout this competition, you've blown us away time and time again.
You've brought us some of the best bread that we have ever seen.
But it's not just your dough skills that got you this far, mate.
It's things like the slow-roasted lamb shoulder,
the peri-peri squid, the kangaroo tacos.
I could go on and on and on and on. Thanks, mate.
How would you describe your time here in the MasterChef kitchen?
Yeah, um... It's been a wild ride.
The passion from bread spilled over into the passion for food
and that's probably why, you know, I came undone today.
You know, he's... he's an angry little Greek...
(OTHERS LAUGH) But...
But that's what you love about him.
I tell you what, if I could ever find a passion
like he has a passion for bread,
um, yeah, I'll...I'll be a lucky man.
You guys are all amazing. Amazing people.
Like, really, you know, Declan helping me out today with the squid.
You know, like, you didn't have to do that.
Theo, mate, for now, it's time to say goodbye.
Fair enough, guys. Come on, brother.
(OTHERS CHUCKLE)
Well done, mate. Yeah, thank you.
Thanks, guys.
Well done, mate. Thanks, mate.
I've got so much passion and so much drive in me to succeed after this.
All the best! I'm gonna miss you.
You're so amazing.
(OTHERS CLAP)
Give it up for Theo, everybody! (ALL CHEER)
What I'm gonna do after this is gonna be something epic.
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...
Curtis Stone! (ALL CHEER)
..a MasterChef favourite returns.
He sets a delicious challenge that's not for the faint-hearted.
You guys are gonna have to keep up with him.
Ooh! DECLAN: Oh-oh.
And... CURTIS: Stop messing around.
CONTESTANTS: Yes, Chef!
..competing for a huge advantage
in the semifinals...
Is everyone keeping up? No.
..the stakes...
Oh, man! ..are massive.
DECLAN: I've probably screwed up
the main element of today's dish.
Captions by Red Bee Media