On last night’s episode of Masterchef Australia, fan favourite Derek Lau was sadly eliminated from the competition following what judge George Calombaris said was a “disastrous” cook.
WATCH: THE MOMENT GEORGE SLAMS DEREK FOR HIS DISH
During the arduous elimination challenge, the contestants were forced to undergo a time auction challenge where they were instructed to sell off their cooking time in exchange for ingredients needed to make the dish in mind. Alongside Tessa, Tim and Simon, Derek’s winning food item was a tray of duck eggs, garlic, onions and chives.
To the judges’ dismay, he decided to cook perhaps the most difficult dish one could think of in a short amount of time – tortellini stuffed with a quail duck egg yolk and ricotta.
“The degree of difficulty putting an egg yolk into a tortellini and wrapping it? Oh my god,” a disappointed George said, urging the aspiring chef to re-think his dish idea.
“The consequences of blowing this cook are… going home,” fellow judge Garry Mehigan added.
“Look at me, look at me! That there is a disaster. This ain’t going to work,” George said moments later after returning to Derek’s cooking station. “Derek, it’s a 20 minute challenge now, go for it bro.”
Running out of time in the Masterchef kitchen, Derek scrapped his original idea and chose to make fettuccine with onion and ricotta sauce, accompanied by a slow-cooked duck egg.
Unfortunately, Gary, George and Matt Preston were less than impressed with the dish, explaining it wasn’t palatable.
Derek has since told 10 Daily that he regrets the dish he chose to cook, admitting he’d probably still be in the competition if he’d settled on cooking something sweet.
“After I got the eggs I was like, okay, maybe I should go sweet — and then for some reason I didn’t bid on the citrus box. If I had eggs, citrus and something else… I would have been fine, probably,” he said. “I was a bit shook.”
Following his elimination, many upset Masterchef fans expressed their anguish over his elimination.
“Oh no Derek, he was my fave but at least he pushes himself and always challenges his cooking unlike some of the others,” one user wrote. “Derek was not thought to be going, it was supposed to be Tim. Best of luck Derek, just don’t cook the books lol,” another added.
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