MasterChef continued on Monday, with another set of hopeful chefs trying to impress judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode, but only three would make it through to next week’s quarterfinal.
As former contestants took their seats in the judging panel for the last round, plenty of fans called for the series to make a big change.
The group’s first task was to create an impressive dish from the most humble ingredients by elevating it “into something fantastic”.
“Your ingredient must be the main feature on your dish,” Wallace instructed before adding: “John and I are going to choose our two favourites.
“Those two cooks will grab their aprons and go straight through to the next round. That’ll leave four of you who will have to cook again for the remaining two aprons.”
The first task saw Lee and Shreya making it through to the next round after the two judges found their dishes to be the best.
MasterChef fans didn't approve of previous contestants being given the power to help decide who goes
BBC
The next task saw the contestants having to prepare floating islands, which Torode described as “a poached meringue perfectly formed into a shape like a rugby ball, sitting on top of a lovely creamy custard, a lovely crust of caramel.”
He continued: “The job for you today is to follow that recipe and embellish it any way you wish from the ingredients that are over here on the bench.”
The high-pressured task saw Enya and Charlie booted out, with Saffron and Pete through to the next round.
For this task, all the contestants had to impress not only Wallace and Torode but also former contestants who had been invited back.
Fans branded the judging feature 'riculous'
BBC
These included previous winner Eddie Scott and runners-up Claire Fyfe and Pookie Tredell.
The trio’s feedback would determine which of the four contestants would be sent home, and they weren’t short of criticism.
Viewers took to social media to fume that the former stars shouldn’t be given that power and complained about their feedback.
Taking to X, one wrote: “The up themselves previous winners deciding who goes through is ridiculous #masterchef.”
“How have I missed that the returning contestants get to put someone through?? Do they? #MasterChef,” another penned.
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The former stars helped Wallace and Torode decide who to eliminate
BBC
“Genuine question. Did any of those previous contestants go on to be great things before criticising? #masterchef,” a third asked.
Another complained: “These previous winners are a bit up themselves #masterchef.”
“Eddie is a bit much. I think he's forgotten that he was once in their shoes #MasterChef,” another argued.
“These former winners have only been cooking for 5 minutes, all of a sudden they think they're Michelin Star trained #MasterChef,” another shared.
In the end, Saffron was sent packing at the final hurdle as Lee, Shreya and Pete were put through to the quarterfinals.