In the elimination that would decide this season of MasterChef Australia’s Top 10 on Wednesday night, contestants were tasked with a pressure test that fans believe was way too out of reach for even the best home cooks.
However, isn’t the point of MasterChef to really challenge the chefs, to push them outside of their comfort zone and see who has what it takes to leave their home kitchen, and enter the professional culinary world?
Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m one of the biggest chocolate fans around, but attempting to make a dish from a chocolate master like Kirsten Tibballs…well, that’s another story entirely.
In the final episode of Masters Week, four contestants – Luke, Aaron, Emily, and Grace – were tasked with replicating Tibballs’ Chocolate Iris, following a recipe with over 100 steps in just under four hours. After a valiant effort, it was Grace who was sent home, just shy of a Top 10 spot.
Fans divided over ‘crazy’ chocolate challenge
MasterChef has certainly set some almost ‘impossible’ challenges throughout the years – from technically difficult dessert pressure tests from the likes of Adriano Zumbo to catering for a full-on wedding.
Despite this, when last night’s chocolate pressure test was promoted and premiered, viewers had a gripe with the challenge, arguing that it was way too difficult for a competition of this level.
“They are just Home Cooks and they are supposed to cook something that even most people wouldn’t even try to make,” one fan commented online. “That’s ridiculous in my opinion.”
“Crazy expecting them to make this,” another wrote. “Would love to see the judges try to do this.”
However, not everyone saw the difficulty of the challenge as a bad thing.
“I knew Kirsten Tibballs (I love her) would give them a brilliantly difficult challenge,” said one. “But this is unbelievable! Who’s going to get through and who’s going home? I can’t wait to watch and see!”
“Every MasterChef season there’s intricate desserts to replicate and fancy chocolate work,” another fan offered in response to critiques. “If they haven’t got a desserts background, hopefully they practiced at home first.”
Kirsten Tibballs responds to fan criticism
However, in a chat with WHO, Tibballs said that the challenge was not nearly as difficult as it may have seemed.
“I think part of what intimidates people about chocolate is the fear of the unknown,” she said. “Chocolate isn’t something that’s taught extensively, and it has a reputation for being difficult to work with.”
She added, “The reality is that if you understand the fundamentals and follow the steps, it’s much more achievable than people think.”
Grace’s big regret about her elimination
Unfortunately for Grace, the pressure test marked the end of her time in the MasterChef kitchen.
“I was really watching to see whether the contestants followed the instructions and paid attention to the details,” Tibballs explained of the elimination. “Chocolate has a funny way of exposing shortcuts. The moment you skip a step or think you know better, that’s usually when things start to unravel.”
Meanwhile, Grace admitted to making the very mistakes Tibballs warned against.
“I honestly was just having so, so much fun,” the young cook told WHO. “On the day you have to look at it from an ignorantly blissful perspective because there’s no going back. I knew my entremet wouldn’t be perfect on the inside, but I was hoping that my external presentation and taste would be enough to get me over the line.”
“Every piece of advice that you get going into a pressure test is along the lines of ‘just keep going’ and ‘when you think you can’t move any faster, double your speed’, so I was only looking forward!”
She continued, “I think if I had slowed down, I would’ve lost momentum. I was also just having the best time getting lost in the craziness. I definitely worked as hard as I could to stay focused, I just wish I had read to put the cremeaux in the blast chiller, not the freezer!!!”
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