From mouth-watering main courses to nouveau desserts, the 2024 season of MasterChef Australia has already begun to serve up many standout dishes.
Guided by judges Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin, Andy Allen, and Jean-Christophe Novelli, the 22 new contestants are ready to whisk their way to the grand finale for their chance at securing the $250,000 prize.
While many of the contestants may deliver unforgettable flavour experiences, unfortunately, not every dish can impress the judge’s sophisticated palette.
As the final three contestants prepare to conquer the kitchen one final time, scroll down to find out who has left MasterChef Australia 2024 so far.
Who has left MasterChef Australia 2024?
Savindri
After being eliminated mid-way through the competition, Savindri took her comeback to the MasterChef kitchen in her stride, cooking her way to the final three of the competition.
In her semi-final challenge, Savindri’s three-course menu celebrated her love and connection to Sri Lankan cuisine, telling Ten, “I knew it was going to be a chance to showcase all that Sri Lankan food could be.”
“I wanted to lean into that but make it really elegant while staying true to the big, bold flavours I love and just really show Australia that just because you come from any of the countries in South Asia where we’re known for spices, doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of refinement.”
Despite plating an elegant and flavour-packed menu, the judges sadly weren’t as impressed with her final plating, with Savindri proudly taking home the third-place spot in the MasterChef 2024 competition.
Harry
As a big fan of seafood, Harry was delighted when award-winning seafood chef Josh Niland set the latest MasterChef pressure test.
Tasked with recreating his signature Flounder Kandinsky, Harry got underway with cooking his fish and preparing his five different sauces, working hard to ensure every detail was plated to perfection.
Despite paying close attention to the details, the time crunch of the pressure test quickly caught up to Harry, whose sudden rush at the end sadly cost him his place in the final three.
Mimi
Cooking for her place in the final five, Mimi was tasked with balancing bitter gourd into a sweet and sour slider.
While she may have created a delicate balance with her soft-shell crab and apple kimchi, Mimi’s brioche buns lacked the sweetness that the judges were after, with her final dish sadly leaving Mimi outside of the top four.
Darrsh
Fighting to secure the final spot in the top five, Darrsh joined fellow MasterChef contestants Harry and Sav for a French seafood challenge set by chef Guillaume Brahimi.
Combining ingredients such as peas, crab, caviar, and mussels, the contestants had a tedious road ahead as they attempted to recreate the meticulously crafted recipe.
With 90 peas required to dot around his final plating, Darrsh quickly realised that while he may have sped through the challenge, his focus on time sadly compromised the overall richness of flavour and presentation of his dish.
Sumeet
After another gruelling week in the MasterChef kitchen, the judges turned up the heat by announcing a surprise elimination challenge.
Tasked with re-inventing a classic bacon and egg breakfast, Sumeet incorporated her two hero ingredients into a mouth-watering stuffed naan with blue cheese.
Despite what she deemed a “deceptively simple” cook, Sumeet’s experimentation with frozen eggs resulted in an inconsistent cook throughout, leading Sumeet to hang up her apron and leave the competition.
Alex
Stepping into Hugh Allen’s pressure test, Alex was tasked with recreating an intricate Banskia Pod-inspired dessert.
With a recipe consisting of over 100 steps, Alex told Ten that her dish was “a tragedy from the get-go” and following a few technical mishaps, Alex found herself running behind schedule ahead of her final plating.
Despite plating each of the challenge elements, the judges agreed that the clumpy consistency of Alex’s mousse was not up to the current MasterChef standard.
Gillian
As MasterChef favourite Adriano Zumbo returned to the kitchen, the remaining chefs took part in a dessert challenge to secure immunity from the upcoming elimination challenge.
After narrowly missing out on taking home the immunity prize, Gillian faced another hurdle when she was asked to create a dessert paired with one of her least favourite flavours – coffee.
“Desserts aren’t my thing and coffee is not my thing. Two of my worst challenges I’m facing right now are in the top 10. Couldn’t be a bigger recipe for disaster,” she said, with her sadly over-baked dessert costing her place in the competition.
Josh
After conquering patisserie-style desserts and Michelin Star-level main courses, Josh prepared to tackle MasterChef’s plant-based pantry challenge.
Recreating a steak from nothing but carrots, Josh presented an aesthetically perfect dish, however, his flavours sadly did not meet the mark for the judges – leaving Josh narrowly outside this year’s top 10 contenders.
Sue
As the amateur chefs came to the end of another week in the MasterChef kitchen, five contestants stepped up to the bench for a cook-along challenge with Australian chef Curtis Stone.
While she may have initially felt confident after observing Jamie Oliver’s cook-along, Sue quickly realised that the challenge was far more difficult than she originally anticipated, sharing, “It was quite traumatising. It wasn’t the fun cook I thought it would be.”
Despite her best efforts to recreate Curtis’ dish, the judges agreed that her final dish had one too many issues, sadly bringing her time in the kitchen to a close.
David
Kick-starting another week in the MasterChef kitchen, celebrity chef Rick Stein tasked the contestants with creating their best raw seafood-based dish.
Despite the judges agreeing that his flavour combinations were off, David’s tuna, raspberry, and apple puree dish was enough to get him through to the second round of the challenge.
With 75 minutes to create his ‘fishy feast,’ David decided to stay true to his classic home cooking, plating a smoked salmon dish with a side of couscous, however, the judges deemed that his overall performance was not enough to send him through to the next stage of the competition.
Stephen
While eggs may be a central ingredient in many of the MasterChef kitchen’s finest dishes, Stephen’s elimination task forced him and his fellow contestants to find a new and interesting way to showcase the culinary staple.
Despite his best attempts to plate the perfect tempura-battered soft-boiled eggs, unfortunately for Stephen, his execution fell slightly short, with the judges pointing out that only one of his three eggs had the trademark ooze to accompany the remainder of his dish.
Reflecting on his final challenge, Stephen told Ten, “You just have to have one or two bad days, and, if they’re the wrong days, it doesn’t matter. You can be the best cook and you can go home.”
Snezana
Tasked with recreating one of Dessert Masters legend Anna Polyviou’s creations, Snezana joined three of her fellow contestants in a painstaking elimination challenge.
Replicating Anna’s egg-on-toast inspired dessert, Snezana struggled to find the right balance of ingredients to recreate the look at texture of Anna’s plating, with some elements requiring her to start all over again.
While she managed to whisk her way back in time for her final presentation, the judges felt that the flavours of her dish were not up to Anna’s standard.
Juan De La Cruz
After delivering a lacklustre tuna ceviche, Juan De La Cruz attempted to redeem himself in the elimination challenge by plating a perfect serving of empanadas.
While his presentation may have been outstanding, unfortunately, his flavours and filling did not impress the judges, making Juan De La Cruz the sixth contestant to leave the MasterChef Australia kitchen.
“I was happy with the idea and execution. I think the flavours were there but I never got to try all the elements together,” he told Ten, adding, “I just loved this journey so much.”
Lourdes
Surrounded by a picturesque truffle orchard, Lourdes and her fellow contestants prepared to recreate a smoked egg raviolo.
Serving a delicious asparagus puree alongside her pasta, Lourdes initially was confident with her cooking however, towards the end of the challenge, she became increasingly concerned that she may have overcooked her dish.
Unfortunately for Lourdes, her intuition proved to be correct, with the judges deeming her dish to be too overcooked and unpleasant to eat.
Lily
Following a blind taste-testing challenge, the contestants prepared to whip up a dish based on the unique cubed ingredients they had sampled.
Opting to serve chicken Maryland, Lily began to cook each of her different elements from the mystery box. Despite keeping a close eye on her ingredients, Lily, unfortunately, plated up undercooked chicken and raw leek and was subsequently sent home.
“I said to myself, ‘If you go today, it doesn’t matter because you’ve had a lot of fun,’ she told Ten.
Khristian
After finding himself in the bottom four, Khristian was tasked with recreating judge Jean-Christophe Novelli’s Michelin star-award-winning Jack in the Box dessert.
With multiple elements to balance, Khristian was on track to deliver a stand-out dish however, his inexperience working with isomalt meant that his sugar work was overcooked and more difficult to work with.
“I would have been gutted if I was sent home for a dish I was comfortable with,” he told Ten following his elimination, adding, “I was privileged to recreate this dish.”
Jonathan
As the flavours of the MasterChef kitchen teleported back to the 1980s, Jonathan made the courageous decision to attempt to recreate a fruit salad slice after admitting that he was not confident creating desserts.
While he continued to persevere throughout his bake, Jonathan’s reimagined cheesecake sadly stuck solid to the tin, leaving him no choice but to plate his dessert to the judges while it was still in the baking dish.
Reflecting on his final challenge, Jonathan told Ten, “Instead of trying to create a better dessert, in my mind, I just thought I’d make the same thing but better… I knew it at the start of that cook. I just wasn’t feeling inspired.”
Steph
After just scraping her way through the first elimination challenge, Steph joined guest judge Jamie Oliver and four of her fellow contestants in a cook-along challenge.
While Jamie’s dish, dubbed Trevor’s Chicken, was relatively simple in nature, the celebrity chef stressed how important it was to follow each step. When it came time to stuff their chicken, Steph sadly jumped ahead of Jamie’s instructions and removed part of the breast tenderloin that was essential to keep intact.
Although she had plated a professional looking dish, her small error unfortunately cost her a place in the next stage of the competition.
James
With one week in the MasterChef Australia kitchen under his belt, James was ready to serve the judges with a standout flavour experience. Despite his best efforts, James’ squid-based dish was undercooked, leading judge Poh Ling Yeow to dub the meal one of the “least impressive dishes.”
0While he may have been the first to depart the competition, James took the kitchen as a great learning lesson.
“It’s been a privilege to be with these guys and to be cooking in front of your kind watchful eyes,” he told the judges, adding, “It’s that weird feeling of being proud of yourself, but also disappointed.”
