Original subtitles

(JUDGES GREET CONTESTANTS)

Yes! JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Bonjour!

Today is the day. It is the day.

LAURA: So the judges are standing in front of us

and they are dressed in their best.

Jean-Christophe is looking crisp.

Poh has got her Jamface apron on

and Andy is a Duck.

I'm like, "I know exactly where we're going,"

and I'm so excited.

Morning, everyone. ALL: Good morning.

(LAUGHTER)

We're gonna have some fun today. Oh, yes.

And what better way to start the day than by seeing some old friends?

JAMIE: Ooh!

Please welcome back your fellow contestants!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Argh! She's back.

Your hair!

BEN: This is so amazing. SNEZ: (SHRIEKS) Oh, my God...

I'm so proud of you.

Hey! How are you going?

CALLUM: Oh, my goodness.

There is so many people here.

It's like crazy to think this competition

started with all these people cooking in this kitchen.

We are so stoked to see you all here.

But now you've caught up, hugs and kisses,

you can head up to the gantry. (CHEERING)

BEN: Have fun, guys.

Right.

There will be two rounds today.

Ooh!

For Round 1,

we're turning the tables.

Woo! You won't be cooking.

Instead, the judges will be!

And, you three, you're gonna come over here and judge with me.

So, ditch those aprons and let's swap places.

(CHEERING)

Good luck. Good luck.

This is gonna be so much fun.

I can't wait to destroy you all.

(LAUGHTER)

Poh-Poh, last year, you won.

Are you feeling the pressure?

Ah, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

I asked the contestants to come up with three options for today's challenge.

A mystery box...

..a cloche...

..and a brief.

Together, you need to choose

which one you'd like to cook with today.

EX-CONTESTANTS: Oh.

You choose.

Um... I feel like cloche might be very specific.

And I'm scared. Go the cloche, go the cloche.

Go the mystery box!

I think briefs tend to be a bit more open.

What about the mystery box? I do love a mystery box.

You do love a mystery box. I do love a mystery box.

Do you think brief? Do you want brief?

Yes. Brief.

I'll do anything, but, yeah.

I think we're gonna go the brief. Oh!

Burn!

Laura, can you please do the honours?

I would love to.

The brief is...

EX-CONTESTANTS: Ohhh!

Oh, I like that.

Oh, OK. Alright. We're giving you 75 minutes.

The pantry and garden are open.

Would you three like to kick it off? CALLUM: Let's do it.

ALL THREE: Your time starts now!

(APPLAUSE)

Where is everyone?

Um...

..shallots.

JAMIE: Come on, Andy! LAURA: Come on, Andy!

(APPLAUSE)

EX-CONTESTANT: Let's go, Poh!

I think, like, I'm a bit serious this year.

Like, last year, I was a bit like, "You know, whatever."

But this year I'm like, "Gotta keep the title."

Surely it feels pretty good for you three

standing on this side of the benches.

Have you been waiting for this moment?

Literally for, like, three seasons' worth.

I don't think I've ever done this.

This is amazing.

So, these are your judges.

Are you looking forward to seeing what they're cooking?

CALLUM: Yeah, I think they're going to be wearing their heart on their sleeve today.

And I really am looking forward to having that window into maybe their childhood

or whatever that moment is for them. Yeah.

POH: Um, what's this on?

I'm so excited. I have actually never had Jean-Christophe's food,

so just to, like, experience all the emotions

that we're going to get throughout this 75 minutes

is going to be incredible.

Has Jean-Christophe even started cooking anything?

DEPINDER: Hey, where's JC?

Wow, look at that!

What a pleasure.

There's so much.

It's like, it's like going to a sweetshop.

You don't know which one sweet you want.

I think Jean-Christophe has forgotten that he's a contestant today.

He still thinks he's in judgement. Oh!

It's, like, 10 minutes into the cook.

And he hasn't really, like, cooked anything yet.

Thyme. A bit of thyme.

Rosemary. How can I forget my herbs?

Rosemary.

BEN: What are you making, Poh?

I'm going to make a Malaysian street snack

called rempah udang.

So, it's like banana leaf-wrapped sticky rice, dried shrimp.

Oh, sticky rice?

Yeah. Oh. I'm excited.

OK. I chose this dish for several reasons.

It's got a lot of flavour,

so I feel like it's going to leave a good residual taste.

Nice chewy texture because of the glutinous rice.

And it just really represents where I'm from.

Poh! Poh! Hi!

Hi. Thanks for coming to visit my bench.

Um, OK.

I'm going to be making rempah udang

which is like a Malaysian street snack.

Um, so when I was, like, in my 20s,

I was just starting to really get into food.

And one of the things that ignited it was I went back

and one of my favourite things to eat when I go home

is all the sticky, like, rice things.

There's sweet versions and there's also savoury versions,

so this one's like a really funky shrimp one.

Smell it. Yeah. So it's got dried shrimp,

all these, like, Malaysian aromatics, which I need to get cooking.

And it's like salty, sweet, spicy.

And then it's covered in sticky rice and then grilled in banana leaf.

Poh, you are the reigning champion. Mm.

Do you think those boys are pretty worried about losing again?

I don't care about what they think. I just know what I want.

What do you want? What do you want, Poh?

I'm back to win, mate.

JAMIE: Knife in hand. LAURA: You got this, Poh.

You've got this. Thanks, guys.

I'm very excited to try this.

RHIANNON: You can smell the coconut, Poh! Smells yummy.

Smells good.

This is dangerous.

CALLUM: Listen up, everyone, you've got one hour to go.

WOMAN: Do me proud!

SNEZ: Let's go, Chef. Beautiful choice, beautiful choice.

ANDRE: You'd better get moving. You've got 60 minutes.

Yeah.

Come on, Andy.

ANDY: So my childhood wasn't filled with, like, you know, beautiful dishes.

I remember walking into the Three Blue Ducks kitchen

for the very first time as a young tucker,

doing some work experience,

and that's when I fell in love with cooking in the kitchen.

(COUGHS) What is that smell?

What's up, crew? LAURA: Hi, Andy.

What's up with this? How are you going? JAMIE: What's this?

Is that...? That's pig's blood.

MAN: What?!

You alright, Loz? I thought it was.

I've got a blood phobia, Andy. Really? Well, you're gonna love this.

It's, um... I'm going to do a blood cake.

It's like a savoury cake. OK?

Which literally uses pig's blood and lardo.

A little bit of bread and cream. Hell, yeah.

Yeah. I'm here for it. CALLUM: Why this dish?

Out of anything to make you fall in love with food. Why this one?

So I just remember vividly walking into the Three Blue Ducks kitchen.

Daz was cooking away at this blood cake and I was just like,

"I am fascinated with this place. This is where I'm meant to be."

Laura, how do you feel about blood cake?

Um, I've never had it before, so I'll hold my reservations. Thank you.

But I feel like you really need to win me over with this one, Andy.

I'm nervous. Look at... Look at it.

It's gonna be delicious.

I'm really looking forward to trying it.

Thank you. (ALL TALK AT ONCE)

SNEZ: Go, Andy!

AUDRA: Oh, my God. I would eat that.

ALANA: Yeah. I'm fascinated.

It can be pretty temperamental, like,

depending how fresh the blood is,

depending on, like, how long you cook it out for,

depending on how hot the oven is.

MAN: How long in the oven, Andy? Just 15, mate.

There's a lot of variables. So I do have a backup.

OK. I've made a really thin layer

and this oven's on 150, this is 140.

Just fingers crossed it cooks in time.

LAURA: Guys, you've only got 43 minutes to go.

(THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)

Jean-Christophe's quite chaotic, isn't he?

Mate, you need all the help you can get.

Get over there!

Chef. Hello. How are you?

LAURA: Hi, Chef! What's the dish? What are we cooking?

So I am going to be making

a lamb cutlet with a roquefort mousse.

Roquefort mousse?! Wow.

I would expect nothing less

than super strong flavours from you, Jean-Christophe.

Yeah, I don't do weak. Um...

And, um, I'm going to serve it with, uh, a little puree,

which is celeriac and potatoes.

Why do you love this dish?

I love this dish because it's probably the first time

I cooked for my parents as a professional chef.

And I notice there is tears in my mum's eyes.

And she's very strong, by the way.

So is that where you get your,

"Look at my eyes, they are wet," from?

Your wet eyeballs. Yeah.

Jean-Christophe, we need perfectly cooked lamb,

silky smooth puree and just the right amount of roquefort. That's right.

And we want to cry for all the right reasons. And you know what?

I'm already very late.

I want to see you hustle!

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah!

Where's the clock?

SNEZ: 35 minutes, Chef, lamb needs to go on.

I'm so, like, mesmerised by Jean-Christophe.

He is, like, flying around the kitchen.

He's still doing stock. Come on. Hurry up.

He's talking to everybody. Is that nice?

Mm. Mm.

Stop it. You need to cook the lamb.

RUE: I'm sorry. Is Jean-Christophe going to have a meal?

I'm actually so worried about him.

Lamb! The lamb!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Poh, are you OK? Yeah.

Thank you. You're very quiet over there.

Are you good? No, I'm late.

BEN: It's pretty hectic watching these guys cook.

I mean, they've been judging our food the whole season,

so to see them get put under pressure

and having to get their food judged by the semifinalists is quite exciting.

We're fine.

Wow. Killing it, mate. My gosh.

WOMAN: It's quite fascinating, but quite a lot of work.

Jean-Christophe. Oui!

That looks like lace. What are you doing with this?

So I'm going to be using this

and I'm going to be wiping the lamb,

the chicken mousse, the roquefort, the herbs,

and just bake it quickly at the last minute.

How long are these little lamb parcels going to take?

Well, to reduce them down a little bit in thickness,

to make sure I can get an extra five minutes from my cooking time.

You've had to do a little pivot. Yeah, but that's what it is.

Alright. Sounds like you're on top of it, though.

You've made the right changes. Good luck. Good luck.

You don't sound very convincing! "Uh, good luck."

Now, it should be resting, but obviously no time for that.

These new judges are hungry.

15 minutes to go.

(APPLAUSE)

(THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)

Let's go, Poh! Go, Poh! Woo!

You always start off so good, and then you don't.

I'm kind of starting to panic a little bit,

because I still have to make sure my rice is cooked through...

..and then I still have to prep my banana leaves,

wrap them up, and then still grill them.

JAMIE: Poh... Yeah.

I have to say, it smells amazing.

Thank you. So you've still got to wrap?

Roll them. Roll? Yeah.

And then are they finished or you have to cook them again?

I have to cook them again. Poh, hurry up. I know.

You've got this, Poh. Come on, mate. Thank you, thank you.

AUDRA: Sticky rice with, like, a spicy prawn filling.

So yum. It's so yum.

DEPINDER: And what are you doing there, Andy?

It's like a beetroot and apple chutney. Love.

Yum.

So I've got a little chutney on there.

I'm definitely going to barbecue the witlof.

I'm gonna pickle some beets.

I've got some fresh blackberries

kind of sweet-and-sour, all that kind of stuff.

I've pretty much got everything. I've just got to plate up.

SOFIA: Andy, is that the thick one or the thin one?

That's the thick one. Yes!

Oh. She's soft.

LAURA: Ooh. Oh, my gosh.

JUDGES: Oh! No!

LAURA: Andy, put that thing on it and then flip it.

(SCREECHING)

TIM: Oh, it's heartbreaking. Andy's hero element is the cake.

So if he doesn't get that on the plate,

he doesn't have a dish.

I don't reckon I cooked it long enough.

BEAU: Do you have a plan B, Andy?

I've got this backup here.

AUDRA: Are you happy, Andy? Yeah, mate.

(THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)

Three minutes to go, guys. Let's go.

Shit. Missing something! Oh. I know what is missing.

WOMAN: Allez! Allez!

I am not good.

Because now, I know I'm just under the clock.

And I think I'm late.

Chef, where's your lamb?

I want my dish to make the judges cry like my parents.

Oh, looks good, Chef.

Oh, that lamb looks good now.

30 seconds to go!

Count it with me, team!

ALL: 10, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one.

That's it!

(CHEERING)

Are you pleased?

Are you pleased? Yeah. How'd you go?

(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

Wow. Wow. Look at that.

It's gonna be hard to beat this one.

We've flipped the script today

and tasked you judges with bringing us a dish

that made you fall in love with food.

First dish we'd like to taste belongs to...

..Jean-Christophe!

(CHEERING)

Bonjour, judges, how are you?

JAMIE: Very well. LAURA: Good.

SOFIA: Very good, Jean-Christophe. Wow.

There we are.

Jean-Christophe, what's the dish?

Lamb cutlets, a roquefort mousse,

a Merlot sauce and a celeriac potato mash.

This dish is the first dish I cooked for my parents

as a professional chef.

I saw my mum with a little bit of wet eyes.

That, for me, was, like, special.

Well, it's a big memory for you.

But the big question is, how's that lamb cooked?

That's a very good question.

I have no bloody idea!

Callum, will you do the honours?

Pleasure.

JUDGES: Ohhhhhh!

(CHEERING)

Ooh, la-la-la-la-la!

(LAUGHTER)

Jean-Christophe...

..you said that this dish put a tear in your mother's eye.

I can see why.

It's bloody delicious!

(CHEERING)

Jean-Christophe, the amount of flavour

that you packed into that sauce is huge.

And even though it's big and bold

and that roquefort has that salty savouriness,

they're not clashing at all.

They're complementing each other in the best possible way.

If this is not a dish on your menu at the cooking school,

it needs to be,

because I think for anyone walking through those doors,

they will fall in love with food instantly.

It is so wholesome and hearty

and I feel like I'M getting emotional eating it.

Well done. Thank you, Jean-Christophe!

Thank you.

(CHEERING)

Well done, mate.

Thank you. POH: Well done.

Thank you for doing that. Thank you.

The next dish we'd like to taste was made by...

..Poh-Poh!

Oh, my God. That feeling never gets old.

(LAUGHTER)

Poh, what have you made?

A rempah udang...

..which is a Malaysian street snack.

Why is this the dish

that made you fall in love with food?

I think in my mid-20s

it was the first trip I went back to Malaysia.

I just ate so much of these and it made me really sad

because it made me realise I had lost so much of my culture.

It was all really mysterious to me then,

'cause I did not know how to cook at all at that point.

And, yeah, that's definitely one of my favourite dishes.

Poh. Yes.

You're defending your title? Yes.

Let's see if this is the dish that'll do it for you.

Oof! CALLUM: Wow!

Oh! The fragrance on that, my goodness.

What I really wanted from this challenge

is to be transported to that moment.

And that's exactly what you've done.

It's so full of flavour.

It's like smacking you round the face with all of those rhizomes.

The texture on the rice is perfect.

I'll have a thousand of them, please.

(LAUGHTER)

I'm emotional, like truly emotional. It is so, so good.

It's so spicy, but it is so good.

It just shows everything that Peranakan cuisine is.

That balance, funk and salt and sweet and spice.

Um, unwrapping this banana leaf, there's just something

so caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly that just represents you.

And I think that's what MasterChef has done to you...

..is you've bloomed into somebody

who is just more themselves than anyone I've ever met.

So, thank you, Poh-Poh.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

I love you.

Yay, Poh-Poh!

Well done, lovely.

Thank you.

Next up, we'd love to taste your dish, Andy!

Good luck, good luck. Good luck, Andy!

Hey, mate. How are we?

It's a blood cake.

LAURA: Andy's definitely taking a risk.

I mean, not everyone loves the idea of blood cake. Exhibit A.

JAMIE: This should be interesting.

But he's an incredible cook...

..so I'm really intrigued to see how it tastes.

Andy, what's the dish?

Uh, so I've made blood cake today.

A little beetroot and apple chutney...

..and some blackberries.

Why did your mind go to this dish?

Uh, I remember walking into the Three Blue Ducks kitchen for the first time,

and Daz was pouring blood into this rondeau.

And I just remember having this moment of, like,

"This is where I'm meant to be if I want to learn about food."

And I never left. (CHUCKLES)

I'm sure you three understand that there's challenges

where you just have to cook that dish.

And this is that dish for me.

Alright, let's give it a crack.

I'm not gonna lie.

When you first told me what you were making,

I was not sold at all, because...

No, you were mortified. Yeah.

It is so good.

You get everything that the blood is.

But it's so sweet from all the onions and the lardo.

And it's nice so you get

those little, like, pops within the cake.

It's a banger, Andy, I love it. Thank you, thank you.

The texture on that blood cake is incredible.

It's so smooth, it's so rich.

And for such a heavy-ingredient dish,

it still sits really light.

That savouriness of the pudding.

And you couple that with the sweetness you get

in the chutney with the blackberry

and a little bit of bitterness from that witlof,

which is a great call.

It is so well-balanced, and I think if any dish

was going to convince anyone in the world to enjoy blood,

including Laura, then this would be the one.

Well done, mate. Thanks, mate, cheers.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Great speech, too. Well done, mate, well done.

Thank you.

Well done. Well done.

We loved all of your dishes.

The dish we fell IN love with...

..was made by...

ALL: Andy!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

Thank you.

Believe it or not, that's the first time

I've won this individual one. Oh, true!

Yeah, 'cause Jock wiped the floor with me every year.

(LAUGHTER)

And then this one got it last year.

So, yeah! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

It's time for round two.

You're going head-to-head in the ultimate cookoff

against Poh, Jean-Christophe and Andy.

ALL: Whoo!

It's a team relay!

Whoo!

I hate team relays.

But I can't do this on my own.

I'm gonna need some help. DEPINDER: Oh, my gosh!

Yes!

Come on down,

Theo. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

And,

Rue! (SCREAMS)

(LAUGHTER)

THEO: This is going to be good!

I think it's as plain as day to see

that I'm going to be the harsher judge than Rue today.

I'm expecting big things from you.

As a team,

you'll get 20 minutes each to contribute to an amazing dish.

You'll each have 20 seconds to hand over to your next team-mate.

ALL: Ooh! RUE: That's not long.

Judges, who's going to go first?

Oh, this is tough. (LAUGHTER)

I think you actually, you start, you start, you start.

You sure? Andy? Yep, yep, yep.

I start? Can I, can I be in the middle?

You can be in the middle.

Far out!

Jean-Christophe is going first. Poh second.

I'm bringing it home. Andy bringing it home.

Semifinalists, who's going to kick off for you guys?

(LAUGHTER)

Callum. And then? (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

Jamie... SNEZ: I knew it.

..and Laura bringing it home. Yeah.

We've decided to turn up the heat.

(ALL GASP)

LAURA: I don't want to be stressed now.

At some point during the cook...

..we're going to throw a twist your way.

WOMAN: Oh!

The pantry and garden are open.

Whoever impresses Theo, Rue and me the most with their dish

will win all the glory.

Right, second and third cooks,

you can go and wait your turn in the garden.

Good luck. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Thank you. Yeah.

Good luck, good luck.

We're gonna win, yeah? We're gonna win, yeah?

Go, guys.

BOTH: Your time starts now!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(CALLUM GROANS)

Ice-cream.

Aww... It's a dessert? Yes!

SARAH: Two ice-creams? MAN: Double.

DECLAN: Wow!

Double! Two ice-creams? SNEZ: Oh!

Interesting. RUE: Oh, my gosh.

MAN: Oh, really? WOMAN: Three?

(CHEERING)

Oh, my God!

CALLUM: I'm doing our Neapolitan ice-cream. Yeah.

ALANA: Oh, Neapolitan ice-cream.

Today I'm going to make a concept

that everyone's heard of, Neapolitan ice-cream.

And the reason I've chosen this is because it's so easy to communicate.

I feel like, unlike Lancashire hotpot,

everyone knows what this dish is.

WOMAN: What's that, Cal?

Ah, wattleseed. MAN: Ah, yes, yes.

So I'm gonna inject some Australian flavours into it

and try and make it a little bit more nuanced

and a little bit more interesting to eat.

I'm going to do a, um,

lilly pilly and strawberry sorbet.

I'm going to do a lemon verbena ice-cream

and a chocolate wattleseed ice-cream is the plan.

It's really important to try and set the team up for success

with a dish that's easy enough to communicate,

but also easy enough to adapt with whatever this twist is,

it could be anything.

It could be time or equipment, or it could be an ingredient.

Whatever it is, hopefully, we can adapt it to the dish.

Callum. Hello, hello.

What is the dish, mate?

So you have to have a very easy-to-communicate

elevator pitch in this challenge.

And I feel like when Jamie comes in and I've got 20 seconds

and I say, "Modern Neapolitan ice-cream"

he's going to go, "I get it."

I love the idea. RUE: Yeah.

But what happens, Callum, if one of your ice-creams doesn't set?

Well, that's not Neapolitan, that's for sure.

Um, yeah, it's going to be a pretty lame Neapolitan

because I've got two layers or one layer or zero layers.

Um, so I'll be doing my best.

I mean, doing one ice-cream in the MasterChef kitchen can be a challenge.

Doing three could be madness.

Uh...

Are you counting on your other counterparts to be able to...

To pivot? ..pivot or something like that?

Have you seen Jamie and Laura cook? They're weapons.

I have. If I royally stuff it up,

Jamie can just come in and cook a steak,

start to finish and just completely change the dish.

I'm hoping this really works out for you, Callum.

I hope so too. Yeah. Good luck, Cal.

Appreciate the help.

MAN: That's gonna be hard.

SARAH: He's gonna have to get all three made.

I'm really worried, to be honest.

I think one of the pitfalls when you've got such a strong idea

is you can't adapt.

It's going to come down to whether or not

this twist fits into this idea or not.

SNEZ: Nice, Chef!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: So what I'm doing, as a Frenchman,

I'm creating the backbone of the flavours.

And then Poh can do whatever she wants to do, of course.

So I don't know actually the name of the dish,

but the only thing I know, it's gonna be duck on the menu

and some duck stock.

(LOUD THUDS) Oh! Oh, Oh!

SNEZ: Oh, my God!

JAMIE: That's you, bro.

(LAUGHTER)

MAN: Get it!

(LAUGHTER)

Like, Chef, I love you, I love you. But wow that was chaotic.

(LAUGHS)

Jean-Christophe. Hello!

Chef! Welcome to you!

(BOTH SPEAK FRENCH)

So tell me...

No, no... BOTH: You tell us!

OK, so, Chef, what are you making today?

Trying to get the flavours, a little bit of techniques.

OK. Getting the duck ready.

I don't know, that's the thing.

Do you have a dish in mind... No.

..you'll end up with, or are you...? No, of course not.

So your strategy is to leave it open?

Oh, my God. Well, how can we...

Oh, my God! ..how can we possibly...?

He doesn't have a dish.

Oh, my gosh! Absolutely.

Wow, that terrifies me. I am so worried.

Oh, gosh.

It's duck bon voyage.

It's a duck choose-your-own-adventure.

Ah-la! Oh, my gosh!

Absolutely. Wow.

I was going to ask you what your strategy is.

And I don't think there is one. I don't think there's a strategy.

Maybe, maybe leaving it open... BOTH: Is a strategy.

I think you need a clear, clear plan going forward.

If you've got good flavours, you can inspire yourself,

you can improvise.

You can do whatever you want.

There is no limit with cooking. So why should I be worried?

The only thing I have to do is to make sure this tastes superb.

Good luck, Chef. Merci.

Oh, no, I'm so worried.

He's stressing me out, actually.

With a relay, it's all about, like, you know,

communication being clear.

Jean-Christophe, he has no strategy.

That's done.

It's like three different people cooking at different times

and they have to make the dish cohesive.

Their cooking styles are very different.

I am not too sure.

Five minutes till hand over.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Come on, guys, let's go.

DEPINDER: Is it rock salt? It is, right?

SARAH: Yeah, that's really rocky salt. (LAUGHS)

He's going to put it on the skin? Yeah.

We've got Callum, who is so strategic.

He's got modern Neapolitana ice-cream

and he's just going to communicate that.

Whereas Jean-Christophe, his strategy

is no strategy.

Jean-Christophe is laying the foundations.

He's got duck breast and he's got that lovely stock on the stove.

What will be interesting though, is when we get to the surprise.

Oh, my gosh, I completely forgot about that.

So this feels like maybe... Oh!

..this is good for Jean-Christophe.

Jean-Christophe keeping it open, we think it's the better one?

It's actually the better one... Yeah, 100%. I think so.

..because I feel like any time you don't know what's coming next,

you need something that you can pivot on to...

Yeah. ..and he's done that.

Well, either way we're gonna see whose strategy is gonna pay off

'cause it's time to bring in the second cook.

I'm gonna go get 'em.

Oh, gosh! It's so quick.

Callum, Jean-Christophe, I'm about to get the next cook.

Yeah, I'm ready. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Alright! Poh and Jamie, you're on!

(CHEERING)

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

You have 20 seconds to hand over.

Yes. Alright, mate.

So, native Neapole ice-cream. Yep.

The, um, the chocky one's almost done.

Yeah. Um, I've done no garnishing.

Done no finishing. What do you want me to do?

Um, make something textural? 10 seconds.

You've got your lovely stock,

which I'm hoping you can elevate it to something that you want.

OK, and what's here? Time's up, time's up!

That's straining, mate.

Let's go! Ready to go.

Alright, good luck.

Go, Jamie!

Come on, after you. Ah, thank you, Chef.

Ah.

TIM: Jean-Christophe hands over to Poh.

It's very fast and furious.

She seems a little bit confused

with the direction of the dish.

What's happening? POH: Hi.

What are you doing?

I don't know. Really? Like, not at all?

I'm going to change direction.

What direction?

I think I'm going to go a bit Asian.

At the moment, it's just a duck

so I kind of can take this anywhere.

OK. OK.

Are you going to tell me what the thing is?

No, I'm not going to give you tips.

Oh, my God. What do I want?

(PANTS)

SNEZ: Yeah, Poh! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Come on!

I'm feeling pretty frazzed, actually,

because I don't...

I don't have a clear idea.

There's stock on the boil, obviously for a sauce,

there's duck breasts.

I kind of need to drive the direction of this.

First, I'm just going to chuck some kombu in here.

WOMAN: Is that seaweed, Poh? Yeah.

I wanted something sweet,

so I've got some little longans with some sea succulents

and then, some radishes for crunch.

DEPINDER: She's gone South-East Asian.

JAMIE: So, Callum did exactly what I expected Callum to do

and decided to make not one, not two, but three ice-creams.

We're doing a native Neapolitan,

so he's done pretty much all the hard work.

Now I can just make something textural, macerate a bit of fruit,

don't screw it up. (LAUGHS)

I think the dish idea is super strong.

Everyone loves ice-cream,

but I know that there's a twist coming.

A lot of potential spanners in the work.

Like, chaos could reign.

What's the twist?

What's the twist?

(LORRY HORN HONKS) LAURA: Oh.

The twist is coming.

Guys, remember we said there'd be a twist?

Yeah.

Well, it's just arrived in the garden.

Oh, no! What is it?

WOMAN: Oh, my God, what is it?

WOMAN 2: Oh! A special delivery.

Oh, my God! (GASPS)

Oh, no. Hello. Hello.

Hello. Hey, mate. What are you carrying?

How are you? (LAUGHS) I got something for you!

Oh, awesome! Thank you, sir.

So, the secret ingredient could change everything.

Jean-Christophe might have been onto something

because if you have no clear direction,

when a new ingredient is introduced,

you can steer it into whatever direction.

Let's go, Rue. Would you like to know?

Keep your eyes away! Excuse me!

Eyes away! Eyes away! Eyes away!

I'll open the door for you. Oh, yeah? Far out!

And I'll hold one of the crates for you!

WOMAN: Oh, no! JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Oh, no!

SOFIA: One for Jamie, one for Poh!

What is it? What is it?

There you go. There's your surprise.

What is it? AUDRA: What is it?

(ALL SCREAM)

Oh, my God!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: What is it? What is it?

POH: Ginger. Ginger.

The twist is ginger.

And you need to make sure

we can really taste it in your dish.

Poh, you're going to be OK with the ginger?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think so.

It's actually OK

because I kind of took the dish in an Asian direction already,

so I quite like it.

I put some in there,

and then, I think I might make a dressing.

TIM: What do you reckon, ginger?

Yeah, I think it works. Yeah.

I've just been brought in

a beautiful bunch of fresh ginger.

I'm going to incorporate that

into some of my strawberry consomme.

I might even toast some of it off

with a little bit of my milk powder,

and then it'll be like a ginger milk crumb.

So, yeah, I'm pretty happy with that.

30 seconds to hand over, guys! Come on!

Whoo! Come on, Jamie!

Oh, no!

He's burnt it!

I need to get the duck on!

Oh, no! Chilli!

Chilli. Chilli, I want a chilli.

Come on, Poh! (LAURA LAUGHS)

(SHOUTS) Come on, Poh! (CACKLES)

Are you OK? Yeah, I'm good.

Just getting psyched. Whoo!

Here we go. Laura, Andy, you got 20 seconds!

Oh. Wait, wait, wait, wait!

Oh, my God. Get in there.

How many ice-cream machines?

(JAMIE LAUGHS)

Good luck, bro! Good luck, bro!

Ginger is the ingredient, OK? Yeah.

So, I've got some in here. Yeah.

The duck's rendering off, OK? Yeah.

I've made a little pickle, here, thing,

with wakame and blah, blah, blah... Yeah.

..a bit of chilli. Five seconds!

This is just strawberries, ginger, a little bit of raspberry vinegar.

So, that's going to extract out some syrup.

I've got lilly pillies and strawberries macerating

in a little bit of vermouth. Three!

And you have to use ginger. Two!

One! Get out of there. Come on.

CALLUM: Just make a... It's good.

(LAUGHS) You're good, mate.

(LAUGHS)

There's three ice-creams. Mamma mia!

Get it done.

OK. OK.

Just going to...

This is chaos. Chaos!

All I can see is this burnt crumb...

That was Ja... That was it.

..a giant box of ginger.

What am I meant to do with this?

These boys...

Heart failure before the semifinal.

Go, Loz! Good work, Loz!

Nice one, Lozzie!

Alright, last one off the rank. How am I going to bring it home?

I think it's going to come down to how it looks.

Tasting all the other elements,

I'm just going to fix this crumb really quickly,

add some more ginger into it,

and then, we're going to go from there.

ANDY: I need to get these in.

Andy! Andy! There is salt on the skin.

Oui, oui! Alright.

I feel alright.

We got duck breast.

We've got a sauce here, which I'm going to season.

Maybe a bit more ginger if it needs it.

And then there's this really nice pickle.

Really nice pickle salad.

RHIANNON: How's it taste, Andy? It's really good.

Gingery? Yeah.

I'm going to spike it with a little bit more.

Just balancing the sauce.

I want it to be nice and sweet, a little bit of acid in there.

Get some umami in there from the miso

and obviously have it nice and ginger-forward.

RUE: You have five minutes to go!

Come on, guys!

WOMAN: Yeah! MAN: Let's go.

(SCREAMS)

Let's go! Come on, Loz!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Come on, Loz!

You are nailing this so much better than I did. Thanks, babes.

The crumb is done, it's tasting ginger,

and the sorbets and ice-creams are done.

Oh, my God. Yum! Mm!

The strawberry and lilly pilly sorbet

is so tart and refreshing.

The lemon verbena ice-cream is so silken.

And then, you get to

that fudgy, nutty, wattleseed chocolate ice-cream.

Callum's a genius. The man needs an ice-cream store!

Yeah, man. Nice, Lozzie. Perfect, perfect.

Check you out, Loz!

WOMAN: Beautiful, Loz!

Oh, Lozzie!

Killed it!

Inside of that beautiful little well,

I've got all those macerated strawberries,

the ginger syrup, the lilly pillies,

and on top, that salted ginger crumb.

It looks fantastic.

Is that alright? Beautiful, mate.

Looks great. How good!

30 seconds!

RUE: Come on, guys.

Come on, Andy! Allez, allez, allez!

THEO: Go, Andy!

Beautiful.

I tell you what, I'm very pleased with that duck.

Yeah. That's perfect. Well done, Andy.

Bravo!

Beautiful presentation.

Sing it with me, everybody! 10...

ALL: Nine!

Eight! Seven!

Six!

Five!

Four! Three!

Two! One!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Bravo! Bravo!

Well done!

So good.

Well done, mate! Well done.

SOFIA: Well, today was all about having fun.

We'd like to taste your dish, judges.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Go, judges!

Go, judges!

What is the finished dish?

So, we've got a pan-roasted duck breast...

..and a duck and ginger sauce.

Jean-Christophe,

is this dish you imagined when you started?

No.

(ALL LAUGH)

WOMAN: Oh! I love it!

Guys, I have to...

(LAUGHTER)

Yes, Rutendo!

For me, I feel like the longans cake

gave like a sweetness to the dish.

And you can taste the saltiness,

a bit of ginger in the sauce.

Like, you know, everything was really well rounded.

It feels like every single one of you is on this plate,

but in this beautiful, harmonious way.

You know, you've got the French technique

at the very, very base.

Poh comes in there with the Asian flavours,

then Andy who just adds in those little Australiana touches

to create what is just an absolute joy to eat.

And importantly,

the sauce was just completely potent with ginger.

THEO: The sauce is spot-on.

I love it.

There was one thing that I have to say, though.

The seasoning on the duck...

..I did get two rock salts in mine

and it's quite jarring.

(LAUGHTER)

Really big bits of salt.

Really big bits of salt.

Do you know where the exit door is?

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you, judges. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WOMAN: Well done!

Contestants!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Ooh!

CALLUM: I think the dish looks beautiful,

and it certainly looks like a Neapolitan ice-cream.

But my question is, is there enough ginger in there?

I didn't get to taste it at the end because I wasn't cooking,

so I don't really know.

But we'll have to wait and see.

Laura, so what's the finished dish today?

So, this is our native Neapolitan ice-cream.

Callum, is this the dish you envisioned

when you set out today?

Yeah, absolutely.

I really wanted to...just to cook a dish

that didn't have any rock salt in it!

(LAUGHTER)

Is there anything that you guys are worried about?

ANDY: Ginger!

(LAUGHTER)

DEPINDER: Oh, my God, Rue loves it.

Hey, I'm doing my job.

(LAUGHTER)

MAN: Good work, Rue!

Oh! Bless you!

This ball...

..it's like heaven.

That nuttiness that's in that chocolate ice-cream,

it is just so good.

The crumb, I was worried that it would be too salty,

but once you put it together, it eats really well.

The lilly pilly-strawberry,

it just adds this lovely, refreshing dimension.

And then, with lemon verbena, it is just divine,

it is so creamy.

And the chocolate is so rich.

It's like eating fudge. It's incredible.

The way you've plated it up, I think eats so well.

It's unbelievable. Really, really good.

But...

..I just can't taste that much ginger.

CONTESTANTS: Ooh.

Well done, guys.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good job. LAURA: Thank you.

ANDY: Well done, crew.

That was definitely a relay of epic proportions.

Now we have a score to settle.

(LAUGHTER)

One team produced a dish that was clearly cohesive...

..and fully loaded...

..with gingery goodness.

Congratulations, judges.

Jamie, Laura, Callum,

you've got a semifinal to prepare for!

Yeah, baby! Oh, yeah!

This is going to be one of the most important service challenges

you have ever done.

We want you to go home

and think of a back-to-win worthy three-course menu.

So, dream big, good night

and we'll see you very soon.

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night, the stage is set.

CALLUM: It's a level playing field.

We're all cooking our own food.

So, there's a lot riding on this.

These three legends

who came back to win...

LAURA: My eyes have been on

that grand final since day one.

..are ready for

the service challenge of their lives.

JAMIE: I'm here to win.

I'm going to fight until the very last plate.