###California Week
From Sunday 10 July at 7.30pm.
On TEN And WIN Network.
MasterChef Australia is about to get even bigger as the competition shifts to the sunny shores of California to present an exciting week of episodes.
The top seven contestants will be encouraged to dream big as they cook their way through the Golden State, visiting San Francisco, the Napa Valley, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and San Diego thanks to our partners Visit California and Qantas.
Bountiful fresh produce, innovative local chefs and ethnic influences have long inspired Californiaâs famed culinary offerings and renowned wine regions, which will be on show during the episodes, along with the stateâs awe-inspiring landscape.
Joining the MasterChef Australia judges across the week are some of the most respected chefs in the US. Two-starred Michelin chef and recently voted Worldâs Best Female Chef, Dominique Crenn, will challenge the contestants with a pressure test like no other as they try to replicate two signature dishes from her restaurant, Atelier Crenn.
Wine maker Phillippe Bascaules and head chef Alex Lovick from the Napa Valleyâs Inglenook Estate will showcase the regionâs beautiful produce with a challenge that will see one contestant fast-tracked into Finals Week.
Food truck aficionado and chef from Guerilla Tacos, Wes Avila, will inspire and mentor the contestants as they take over two food trucks to feed 200 customers with the iconic Santa Monica Pier in the background.
Plus, our very own Curtis Stone opens the doors of his LA restaurant, Maude, where three contestants will battle it out to stay in the competition.
California Week will wrap up at the historic Hotel del Coronado, right by San Diegoâs pristine beach, as guest chef and Cali-Baja cuisine expert Javier Plascencia joins Matt, George and Gary for a very special MasterClass.
I was not surprised at all that Brett was safe because like Iâve been saying Brett gets a lot of favouritsm in this competition. If it was a close call between the two teams they would clearly favour Brett. Who remembers a couple of weeks ago one week he cooked âFish and Chipsâ for an invention test (basic) and his chips werenât even crispy⌠yet avoided being put up for elimination.
Trent and Eliseâs prize would definitely have to be related to California as they are waiting until tonight to announce it. I wonder if it is going to be that they get to fly First Class to the US whilst everyone else has to fly economy.
Glad to see youâre finally on board with how manipulated the narrative in this show is!
Why has this week been billed as the toughest week ever? I mean, the immunity participant cooked against Shannon on Tuesday, and yesterday the contestants had to plate up one course (and only 10 plates at that).
Was there something tough about the week, or was it just to fit in with all the other stupid Ten branding ie California week, Heston week, that we have to see watermarked on our screens all night long?
In fact, Gary always makes a big deal about it being a new week in the MasterChef kitchenâŚa week actually has no relevance to the competition. The cook on Sunday leads to subsequent cooks on Mon and Tues, and the Wednesday cook leads to one on Thursday.
Gary said at the start that the four teams had to cater for 80 diners, so each team had to make 20 mains and 20 desserts (plus three extra mains and three extra desserts for the judges).
I assume when they say 20 plates that include the ones that the judges are having. Not that big of a deal though.
Also agree about the âToughest week everâ comments. The Pressure Test this week wasnât even that complex (compared to a lot of other ones) and last nights challenge was no more intense than any others. It even looks like tonight the elimination is just an auction for ingredients task which theyâve done may times before.
Surprised to hear someone painted a portrait of George and entered it into this yearâs Archibald Prize. Now that portrait today won the Packing Room prize.
So whoever is elimited tonight misses out on the trip to California,so 7 contestants must be going.I was correct then ,I guessed the overseas trip would be the final 6 remaining in competition.
Did Chloe have too much time on her hands I wonder? At the completion of time auction she had eggs, citrus and spreads and the longest time to cook (100 minutes) which meant she should have been able to create a great dessert. However she was overwhelmed by the occasion and made a honey mousse with orange curd, butter wafer with blackberry citrus sauce. The dish was so bad on many fronts, the result was clear cut. Matt got through but not without another wobble, this time the jus on his duck dish. Elena made another great dish with red mullet and nightshades, she had now made two of the best dishes this season - she cooked Spanish pork three ways in the elimination challenge four weeks ago.
They would fly business class to the US while other five contestants had to fly economy. Fortunately the trip was filmed before the TV premiere so they wouldnât have been recognised in the plane.
IIRC on the showâs last overseas trip, all contestants flew business class.
Iâm not so keen on the time auction. I feel that it restricts the contestants a lot and can put some at a big disadvantage. The two that struggled the most (Matt and Chloe) were the ones who had the tougher ingredient combinations to work with.
A few weeks ago I thought Chloe was shaping up to be one of the strongest cooks in the competition, however the last couple of weeks she didnât seem to be what she was earlier in the season. She seemed very down and flustered lately too personality wise - I wonder if something had gone on behind the scnenes (in her personal life or maybe sickness) that had her zone out of the competition a bit.
With a spot to finals week up for grabs on Wednesday and only one elimination on Thursday, the contestants would have had three chances during California Week to cook their best (tonight to Tuesday).
God I hate it when Gary always tells the contestants to hustle on in. If you wanted the contestants to be standing in front of you three seconds earlier, than just arrange for your producer to let them approach you three seconds earlier.
Or, if the intention is to make the contestants appear energetic and enthusiastic at the start of a ânew weekâ in the MasterChef kitchenâŚwell, it doesnât work. Itâs annoying. Stop it. Theyâre not five years old, and neither are your viewers.
So anyway, Trent flies over to California after being the best cook last week. Matt says his dish, if not for one blah element would have been the best dish of tonightâs round, winning him the advantage. Gary squares all that up by telling us he hasnât found his identity as a cook. Yeah, right. Stick to a consistent storyline guys. Just because you donât know how to âpaintâ him as a winner (as you did with mumsy Julie and Kate), donât criticise him for nothing.
As for Mattâs inspired ribs dishâŚhe picked chocolate. What on earth was he going to shave that on to if the other contestant didnât pick the ribs? The judges would have loved to pick it all up with their fingers, and orgasm, and lick their fingers, already without even knowing how it tasted, but even they couldnât eat a rib in a flat bread and had to put it down multiple times - anyone else would have been criticised; âhow are we meant to eat this?â.
I notice Matt always feels the need to tell us how âstokedâ he is with his dishes, or how pleased he is with how something has turned out. Itâs feeding into a narrative where the judges then look silly if criticising him. Heâs very manipulative. Plus, Iâm sick of seeing the bolts in his ears. Yuck.
Matt is clearly the best cook left and the most consistent contestant this year. He fully deserves to win this season, so donât know what you are seeing.
Really? The judges themselves last week questioned how heâs been cooking recently. That is, theyâre concerned at how after pumping him up as a potential winner because of his good narration skills, heâs now deflated. Nothing like a bit of an over-reaction to some ribs in flatbread to fix that thoughâŚ
Garyâs comment to Trent that the latter had not found his identity in mystery box, was ironically the catalyst for Trentâs winning dish in the invention test. Back in Melbourne, Trent won only two invention tests and the first only came in week 6.
It was a good idea for contestants to each pick an item for their mystery box. Wish it could also apply for a mystery box back in the MC kitchen.
I noticed the judges only started tasting the dishes in invention test at sunset. In April, the sun set in San Francisco after 7.30pm local time and there were couple of days in early April when the temperature hit the mid 20s, so the producers might have decided to start the invention test sometime after 5pm to avoid the heat. There were about 100 people watching the cooking but by the time of tasting, most of them had left.
According to the schedule in TV Week, there will only be two eliminations next week, on Monday and Wednesday, meaning four contestants would have made it to grand final week. MasterClass has been scheduled for next Thursday, July 21. With The Bachelor starting on Wednesday July 27, we could have a semi final on Sunday July 24, another semi final on July 25, then the grand final on July 26 to ensure a seamless transition.
I completely agree that Matt has been the most consistent this season and would be a very deserving winner. I also think Elise has shown a lot of growth and is a strong contender as well.[quote=âFiretorch, post:619, topic:366â]
Plus, Iâm sick of seeing the bolts in his ears. Yuck.
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Bolts? They are just earrings. Comments like this just show you will find anything to pick on.
Yeah we havenât had a âfinals weekâ where a contestant is eliminated every night like the earlier seasons for 2 or 3 years now. It will definitely be 1 elimination in California, 2 next week, and then the following week Sunday elimination, Monday elimination and finale on Tuesday.
