Original subtitles

ANDY ALLEN: This season of Back to Win has seen

some of the most incredible cooks that we've had in this kitchen

returning to take care of some unfinished business.

Callum, there's no recipe on the back.

(LAUGHTER)

Just double-checking, Andy.

We've never seen a contestant quite so strategic as Callum.

You are the only person doing a dessert in the air fryer today.

You're either a genius or you're a little bit crazy.

Maybe a bit of both.

The way Callum thinks about flavour is incredible.

Wattleseed parsnip ice-cream.

And the way he thinks about the competition is also incredible.

BEN: What page are you up to, Cal?

Just my little novel over here. Don't mind me.

I think we saw this change when we were in Qatar...

I'm cooking dough in Doha! What more do you want in life?

This is very different from previous dishes that we've seen from you.

They're not as, like, rustic and kind of all-in as this one is.

..and he started to cook with his heart more,

and less with his head.

Whoa!

WOMAN: Wowie, Callum.

He wants to see his name on that trophy.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: You are a star. SOFIA: I'm blown away.

I loved every single element on here.

Callum, you are back to win,

and it's dishes like this that are gonna do it for you, mate.

Back to win - yes, I am, today and every other day in this kitchen.

SOFIA: This third chance

at the MasterChef title means so much to Laura.

Laura has cooked amazing dish after amazing dish.

Loves her two sauces. I know!

The ice-cream is fabulous.

This velvety masterpiece.

That was flat-out incredible.

Laura, bravo. You're going to be a star one day, you know that?

Honestly, she's never been far from the front of the pack.

Oh, my goodness. The hot streak continues.

That's your best pasta I've ever eaten.

SARAH: Are you alright? We almost saw her eliminated.

(SOBS) It's OK. It's OK.

SNEZ: Don't worry about it, Lozzie.

Sorry.

You got this, you got this.

But her determination and fierce competitive spirit

have brought her all the way here.

I'm not going home today. I refuse.

The question is, will she finally take that crown?

Argh! Potato down!

I think Jamie took a long time to find his feet.

Is it a plum?

ANDY: Incorrect.

Start again. Start again.

Jamie, when something goes wrong,

the most important thing is you stay calm.

Oui, Chef.

And then that fantastic Spanish dish.

That is the perfect dish put together flawlessly from Jamie.

It actually gives me chills, it's so good.

He stuck his head out, and from that moment...

ALANA: Nice work. Jame-o.

AUDRA: Beautiful, Jamie.

..he kept flying away.

(JUDGES EXCLAIM)

ANDY: Mate, that looks so good.

POH: That is delicious.

It's so appetising and so seducing.

I am flabbergasted.

Jamie, dishes like this, mate,

they don't just win immunity,

they win the competition, in my books.

He's unstoppable.

You look like you mean business.

Yeah, man. I'm not here to go home.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Please welcome our top three!

Oh, my God!

It looks so beautiful! This looks nice.

Wow.

Come on, guys! Whoo-whoo-whoo!

Ooh.

Jamie, Callum, Laura,

you've made it to the semifinal

of MasterChef Australia, Back To Win 2025!

Yes!

Soon, one of you is going to be crowned

Australia's next MasterChef.

You are all such different cooks.

You have your own strengths, distinct styles and unique stories.

But there's one thing that connects you all.

None of you have held up that trophy.

(EXHALES)

Right, it is now or never. Let's do this.

Oh, my God.

This is the most important cook of your MasterChef career so far.

We are expecting a beautiful entree, main and a dessert

for 20 diners, plus us.

That is over 70 plates of food conceptualised...

..cooked completely on your own.

You will have four hours

before your entrees need to leave the pass.

Jamie. Chef.

You won a 15-minute head start.

Once that time is up, it is go-time for the rest of you.

This needs to be the service of a lifetime.

If you create one of the top two menus,

you will earn your place in the grand finale.

(EXHALES)

Jamie...

..your time...

..starts now!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Go, Jamie!

JAMIE: Coming up against Callum and Laura, who are MasterChef royalty,

they are phenomenal in the real world

and in this kitchen...

Alright.

..so I want any chance of beating them,

it's going to be the only way I know how -

swing hard for the fences and leave everything in the kitchen.

Work harder than them.

MAN: Wow, that's a lot of duck. WOMAN: That's a lot of duck.

Interesting.

The menu I've designed is high level of difficulty

and lots of technique,

because I don't think that I can win if I play it safe.

I really wanted to highlight specific ingredients

to really focus around three colours.

Entree, I'm doing gold, so it's going to be golden beetroots

done a couple of different ways.

For main course, I'm doing ruby,

so it's going to be duck breast, sausage and heart

served with roasted and smoked quince.

And then for dessert I'm doing my tawny dish.

It's going to be roasted cauliflower ice-cream,

some stewed apples and a little whisky cremeux.

I need to go like the clappers literally all day.

There's so much prep for my main course,

so I'm going to focus on that.

The biggest job that I have to get onto

is breaking down all of the ducks.

WOMAN: Good work, Jamie! Thanks, boss.

I'm going to leave the breasts on the crown to roast them whole

and then carve them to order later.

They're there for now.

For the leg, I'm going to turn into mince

and then stuffed into a sausage.

And duck heart, which is going to be served on skewers

and finished over the charcoal.

Let's go.

I've never pushed myself this hard.

That's it, that's it. Alright.

That, that, that, you can roast.

I want to smash it out of the park to make sure

that if I'm going into the grand final,

whoever I'm against is going to be scared.

What could go wrong?

Good luck.

Good luck, mate.

Callum, Laura,

your time starts now.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

I'm feeling so pumped.

To be back in the semifinal,

it's just such a huge achievement.

I mean, I've been waiting five years to get my redemption back.

The last time I did this challenge

was actually the finale of Back To Win,

and quite a few things went wrong.

I am just going into

today's cook with,

"Do not make the same mistakes you made last time."

My menu today is definitely an evolution of who I was as a cook

and the food that I love to deliver.

So, for entree, I'm going to do Western Australian marron.

My main today is 9+ score Wagyu.

I'm serving it with a smoked potato mash.

My dessert today is the yoghurt sorbet,

a Davidson plum and strawberry granita

and then all different native fruits.

So it's just about a celebration of what native Australian fruit is.

I just think this food just best represents me.

I feel like every time you cook food that is just so you in this kitchen,

it works out.

I now need to crack on to some of my dessert elements,

almost like a set and forget kind of a thing.

DEPINDER: So we're doing a yoghurt sorbet?

Yeah. Beautiful.

Today is all about not making mistakes

and just putting up exceptional food.

Yeah, I got this, I got this.

"Never give up" is all my husband,

from that beautiful letter that he wrote a few weeks back.

Every time I look at that prep list, I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I've got that written there and I'm like, "Just keep going."

I love it. Go, babes!

CALLUM: It's been 15 years since I was in a semifinal,

and I think I made, like, a chocolate fondant kind of thing,

which I feel like now would not be enough in this competition.

So the standard has stepped up a lot in that 15 years,

but I've stepped up as a cook as well,

so hopefully I can put up a menu that's going to go toe to toe

with Jamie and Laura.

I think that the flavours I cook with come from my heart,

but I think that the way that I cook in the kitchen comes from my head.

Today, I actually think that the best possible strategy

I can have is to be as restrained as possible.

I know that the biggest enemy

is biting off more than you can chew,

and I think if I have the most clever menu

in terms of easy to execute but spectacular,

I give myself the best chance of overall success.

For my entree,

I've got some beautiful SA kangaroo.

I'll serve it raw, carpaccio-style.

Lobster for our main.

First up, I'm cracking on to this dessert.

So I'm going to do a lovely blood orange olive oil parfait

with Campari granita and Geraldton wax oil.

My menu is good.

It's probably going to look simple-ish on the plate,

so I just need to make sure I execute it well.

JAMIE: Dessert first, Cal?

Yeah, got to get some stuff freezing, mate.

Oui, Chef.

'Cause I've got two different frozen elements in my dessert,

I need to get it into the freezer ASAP.

The last thing I want is to be sending up a melted dessert.

I would give my left leg to make the finale of this,

so just trying to keep the heart rate down and not get too excited.

I'm just trying to, like, stay calm, just be a little bit chilled,

uh...and, yeah, see what I can do.

Every course needs to be perfection!

3.5 hours until service!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Come on, guys! Whoo!

LAURA: I think I made enough for 55 people. DEPINDER: Yes, babes, you did.

Options are good. Options are good.

CALLUM: Alright, I'm happy with that.

Yeah.

MAN: Go, Jamie!

JAMIE: Time is going very quickly.

I can see that Laura and Callum

are speeding through their element...

ALANA: Jamie is still getting his duck thighs off for his sausage.

DECLAN: Yeah, he's doing a lot of work on that duck.

AUDRA: He's taking a bloody long time.

..but I'm still breaking down my duck for the main course.

Jamie. Hey, Chef. Jamie.

You are in the zone. Yeah.

Move quick, move efficiently and move with purpose.

That's the plan today. Lovely.

Because you have a lot of duck to prep here.

Yeah, absolutely.

The main course is ruby, so it's shades of ruby. OK.

So I'm going to do roasted breasts on the crown.

I'm using all the duck legs to make a sausage.

And then I'm also skewering some duck hearts.

So, three bits of protein from the same duck.

And then I'm serving that with a little roasted quince

and a carrot that's cooked in its own juice.

Oh-ho-ho-ho!

You have to do an entree and a dessert as well.

It's a lot of work.

Yeah, it is a lot of work, which is why I'm getting on to breaking down the duck first.

That alone...

Yeah, yeah. ..could be something that you would spend four hours on,

just that course. Oh, yeah.

I'm...

Man...

That alone could be something that you would spend four hours on, just that course.

I have spent four hours on similar dishes before

in my own kitchen... Yeah.

..but if you come in and try and play it safe,

I don't think that's going to win this competition.

Definitely. You're right.

I want to be in that grand final.

I want to be fighting it out head to head with one of these two,

and the best way I can do that is work fast, work hard,

and swing for the fences.

This menu needs to be the best one of your life.

Oui, Chef. Good luck.

Thank you very much. Good luck, yeah.

Guys, your entrees need to be hitting the pass in 2.5 hours!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

SNEZ: Smells good!

So far, I'm feeling OK for time.

I'm really trying to approach this like a marathon, not a sprint.

Really important that I can maintain my composure.

I'm very aware today that a dish that's too complicated

is not going to get done.

I actually started on my dessert

because I've got lots of things to freeze.

So I've got the blood orange parfait in the blast chiller.

I've got the granita in the blast chiller as well.

Callum's working really well.

I'll take the whole shebang.

For my entree today, I'm cooking

this barbecued kangaroo dish.

It's kind of got that Aussie flair to it.

I'm gonna freeze the kangaroo completely solid first,

and then cook it straight onto the coals

and get lovely charry-ness on the outside.

Callum's just speeding ahead. Alright.

I need to be cooking this for my main course at the same time.

So there's a lot happening right now.

I'm going to be doing a lobster tail roasted with saltbush butter.

I'm gonna make a sauce from the lobsters' heads

and some Goolwa pipis as well.

The lobsters right now are taking me a lot of time

because I want to have some spares, but I also want to make sure they're perfectly prepared,

and the vein is out on all of them,

and they're exactly in half so they'll cook at the same time,

and I think if I take this time to get this right now,

it's going to make cooking all these lobsters in service a lot easier.

Eight fours.

32. I've prepped too many.

I'm trying to make sure that I do have time to perfect everything,

because if I give the judges errors

in what's perceived to maybe be a simpler menu,

then it could be enough to send me home.

OK, great news. We are on.

All three of them are absolutely going for it.

The level of skill, the level of drive,

the level of creativity is the best I've ever seen.

Yeah! Jamie, he has taken a risk with every single course.

All of his dishes are pretty heavy on technique

and that menu is so prep-heavy.

I'm so worried about the prep on the bone. Oh, yeah.

He's had to take all of the flesh off the bone of the legs.

He hasn't even started mincing yet.

It's really starting to worry me how long

he's spending on that main course, as good as it sounds.

There's so much precision.

Yeah.

Callum - strategic.

More simple, to kind of hold out,

pull back a little bit and get a lot of the work done.

Very strategic.

Callum's menu, it's not blowing me away.

Yeah.

He does really have to nail it.

Yeah, it's so true.

Hearing how exciting

and different Jamie's menu sounds versus Callum's,

and we're so used

to seeing quite creative dishes from Callum...

Yeah.

..it does feel like he's pulled back

in order to be able to achieve all of those dishes.

So his execution is going to have to be spot-on.

Mm. Yeah.

Laura. Yeah.

She's really just going, "Who am I? What is my food?

"There you go, 20 diners."

Yeah, wow.

But with the entree,

that is going to be so difficult to get 20 marron...

Ooh la-la.

..out to the diners in perfect, immaculate form.

WOMAN: Go, Cal!

CALLUM: Alright, happy with that.

RHIANNON: Smells great, Jamie. JAMIE: Beautiful.

Alright.

POH: It's just cool to see a girl in a kitchen, isn't it? SOFIA: It's so cool!

Yeah, yeah, it really is.

Know her way around a kitchen.

OK, guys, two hours to go before the service!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ALANA: Go, guys! Go, Cal! Go, Jamie!

Thank the gods that's done.

Headspace is great.

I know I've got a lot to get done, so I'm just trying to,

like, literally keep my head down, not worry about what is happening around me,

and I'm just trying to hustle as fast as possible.

The sorbet is done. This is the Granita mix.

So I'm just going to place them into

these frozen gastro trays and into the blast freezer.

And it's like set and forget until dessert time,

which is really nice.

So beautiful.

Uh, I need to get my marron.

So for my entree, I'm making Western Australian marron

with sorrel, a native citrus gel, and green ants.

BEN: Let's go, Loz!

To cook these marron,

I want to blanch them for one minute before I crack the shells off,

and then I want to cook them over the hibachi,

just to get a little bit of smoke.

Not good.

WOMAN: What's Laura doing? She looks a bit stressed.

WOMAN 2: Yeah.

Cracking open these marrons,

I'm just finding that they are really inconsistent.

Some are coming out beautifully,

but most of them are almost pretty much raw.

I'm not sure what's gone wrong, but they're so inconsistent.

Yeah, she's really stressed.

(SIGHS)

I just don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do!

Grrrr!

(SIGHS)

I mean, if these aren't cooked, I'm just gonna cry.

So I've got my last batch of marron coming out,

and I'm trying not to let the stress of this marron get to me,

but I'm starting to almost feel like if I can't fix this problem now,

then there is no way

that I'm getting through to this finale.

But I'm not going to repeat the result of my last finale.

I just need to take a big, deep breath

and get back on track.

(SIGHS) Yeah, sorry.

I'm just thinking about how to do this.

I let them blanch for two minutes longer,

and I'm cracking into them, and they are

coming out perfectly.

You got enough, Loz? Um, when I get to counting,

I'll let you know, Jamie. Gotcha.

And I'm counting my marron after marron after marron...

There's enough.

..and I think I actually have enough.

My next issue, though, they are all cooked completely different.

I've got some that are almost cooked the whole way through,

some that are completely raw,

some that are, like, one-minute blanched,

some that are three-minute blanched, some that are two-minute blanched.

There, now, that's... That one is still...

These are, like, still raw,

but they're dead.

I need every single marron to work out perfectly,

but now there's no way that I can actually skewer them

and finish them over fire with a hibachi,

where I've got no control of temperature.

Laura! Marron. How'd we end up?

I am concerned.

Ooh. Yeah.

Yeah. Those marron, if that's not perfect...

I don't have a dish. ..you don't have a dish.

Like, remember, those details,

that has been the thing that has probably lost you

that trophy in previous times?

Yeah. This is one of those times.

Yeah, I got it, I got it. Come on, bring it on.

I can do this. Alright, they're going on a pan, babe.

BEN: Go, Lozzie!

We're gonna be smart and we're gonna win.

DEPINDER: Let's go, Lozzie. That's what we're doing.

I've decided that the most controlled way

to cook these marron is to cook them in a fry pan.

All my marron are cooked differently already,

so I now need to almost break them down

into different categories of cooked less, cooked more,

almost pretty much raw,

and make sure that every single marron

leaves this pass perfectly.

Jamie. JAMIE: Yeah, mate.

I know you are,

but I'm also worried that time's going to get you.

Yeah, mate, me too.

I've finally finished breaking down all of the ducks,

and now I can start working on the entree.

I've chosen to make my entree vegetarian

because I think it's not something

that the other two are going to think of.

I'm trying to set myself apart.

I put my smaller golden beetroot into a tray over a smoking box.

I put the creme fraiche in there as well.

I can forget about those for a little while.

Um, so I've put these beautiful golden beetroots

on the lathe to create these long sheets,

and then rolling them back up

so that they're essentially like a spiral pie.

BEN: Holy sheet!

Did you say, "Holy sheet"?

SNEZ: Beautiful, Jame-o!

You can tell Benny's back.

It's just taking some time.

Unfortunately, there's no short cuts here.

It's roll properly, do it once. MAN: Go, Jamie!

Come on, Jamie! Come on, bro!

This is impressive.

It's like a deconstructed beetroot tart

with no tart.

Wow. Love it.

It's starting to feel very real now, and you have one hour to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Oh, one hour.

Shit.

How are we doing, Cal? Yeah, OK, mate.

It's going to be tight like a tiger, mate, but...

Tight, brother. Yeah.

My entrees are cold entrees,

so I'm actually trying to get the lion's share of the work done

before service.

The oil.

Barbecue kangaroo. Need to do that next.

Bush tomato, do that.

For my entree,

I've got my bush tomato condiment and a black garlic aioli sorted.

I've got crispy Jerusalem artichokes frying off.

Now it's time to make that kangaroo carpaccio.

I go and check on my kangaroo,

and it has frozen all the way through now.

So my plan is to sear it on the outside

to get that smoky flavour.

But I want the middle to stay frozen,

to be still completely raw on the inside...

Just starting to smell his now. It smells good.

AUDRA: Yeah, it's nice, isn't it?

..and what that means is you get the beautiful texture

of a raw carpaccio,

but there's just going to be this little hint

of kind of smoky savouriness on the outside.

My kangaroo's had a few minutes on the hot coals,

so I'm taking the kangaroo out now.

I'm going to get it sliced

because I need to start plating this.

Ah, seriously?

I'm struggling a little bit with this kangaroo

that's been frozen

and getting it right on the meat slicer.

Um, it's a little bit inconsistent.

I'm not sure why it's doing this.

Some are coming out really thick, some are thin.

This is not great so close to service.

Andy, have you done much of the old freeze something

and then grill it while it's frozen scenario?

No, never. Never done that before? Yeah...

I've seared it...

Oh, and then you roll it. ..then rolled it.

I've got my entree prep done - tick.

Let's talk about the main.

I'm behind.

I wanted to be super bold

because I think I need to be if I want to beat these two,

but I've bitten off so much

that I haven't even started on my dessert.

I'm still making sausages.

Like, this is not looking good for me.

Is that legit?

Is that all that's... It's pretty legit, mate.

I'm in a world of hurt, buddy.

Too much, Chef.

His whole menu is pretty fiddly, isn't it?

It's just minutes to go until service starts,

the diners are about to arrive,

and these guys are so far behind right now.

Laura's got unevenly cooked marron.

She needs to get 24 perfectly cooked ones.

DEPINDER: You alright, Lozzie? (EXHALES DEEPLY)

You've got Callum, who's been super calm,

but he's struggling with getting these kangaroo sliced evenly.

And Jamie hasn't even started his dessert,

still prepping on his mains.

MAN: Here they come. (CHEERING)

Look up, everyone!

Your diners are arriving! That means 15 minutes till service!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ANDY: Look up, everyone! Your diners are arriving.

That means 15 minutes till service!

CALLUM: I gotta go, I gotta go, gotta go.

15, yeah.

WOMAN: Let's go, Cal!

Shit.

We're just gonna have a little go with a knife

and see if that comes up any nicer.

AUDRA: Oh, he's actually cutting it by hand.

(SINGSONGY) This is the most stressful part of my cook.

WOMAN: There's some inconsistencies with Cal and his kangaroo.

I'm trying to get my kangaroo consistent,

every single plate, every single table.

But it's not really working out the way I want it to.

I'm at the point where I just need to plate up this dish.

OK.

So I need to slice them the best I can

so I don't sacrifice the main and the dessert here.

(THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)

SNEZ: Push, push, push! Nice, Jame-o!

BEN: He's got so much to do, man. So much to do.

I'm really worried about him.

The semifinal service starts in 10...

EX-CONTESTANTS: Nine, eight, seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

Service has started!

I feel like I've got so much work to do for my main course.

I haven't even started anything for my dessert.

But I cannot think about that right now.

I need to make sure that these entrees are perfect.

OK.

MAN: Good pace, Jamie.

I've got my beetroot pies done,

and they look unbelievable.

WOMAN: Nice, Jamie.

Alright. That, that... That's there.

That's all the elements for my entree done.

We could be in with a shot here.

BEN: Come on, Jamie. Yep. Oui.

DEPINDER: Come on, Jamie.

It's time to get these plates sorted.

I put down a little piece of the pie,

a few pieces of the perfectly cooked roasted and smoked beetroot,

some of the pickles over the top of that,

a little bit of the smoked creme fraiche.

I start to pour the vinaigrette over the pie itself,

a little bit of bee pollen,

and then some freshly grated horseradish over the top.

Service.

It is a celebration of all things golden beetroot.

And it looks stunning.

SNEZ: Oh, beautiful, Jame-o!

Looks stunning.

Can I just, like, express how excited I am for this.

Like, if I walked into a restaurant like this

off the street, I would just be like, my mind would be blown.

Yeah. Yeah. No. Absolutely.

Um, today, just watching all of them cook,

I've actually felt really moved.

You're like a proud mama duck. I really am, yeah.

I think we are just about to have

the most exciting semifinal tasting ever.

Yeah.

Oh, here we go.

Wow. Oh, wow.

Look at all of those golden hues.

Jamie's entree. Roasted and smoked golden beets,

gastrique and horseradish.

Wow. I love the look of this.

Same. He set out to do a gold dish.

I reckon he got there. Let's eat.

Look at those layers. Wow, look at that!

I know! That's so satisfying.

Oh, my goodness!

Wow! Whoa!

My God! I love it!

The cook on that pie could not be more perfect.

There's just enough bite.

Every layer is evenly cooked all the way through.

And it's allowed that dressing to filter through every layer,

so it's just so tasty.

And then there's just all these different depths of flavour

going through all the different ways of beetroot that he's prepared.

The roasted ones are really nice and sweet and earthy and hearty.

And then you've got those really sharp, pickled, crunchy ones.

I absolutely love it.

I am obsessed with that golden beet pie.

I don't think I've ever cut into an onion

that's had layers that tightly wound.

It is so impressive.

Look at them. Look at that! Just stunning.

And it's just a delight.

He's nailed the colours.

He's nailed the combination.

That lovely smokiness also in the dish.

And this very vibrant yellow colour.

It is very brave.

Nice work, Jamie. On to the main!

CALLUM: Looks beautiful, Jamie. Mate, likewise, brother.

Pleasure being alongside you, mate. Absolutely, man.

Alright. Let's do this thing.

I need more kangaroo.

The first thing that goes on this plate

is this barbecued kangaroo carpaccio.

Alright, well...

I know it's not perfectly evenly sliced,

but I've done the best I can under the time pressure.

I'm then going to hit it with that bush tomato condiment as well.

The black garlic aioli goes on.

RUE: Good job, Callum!

The pickled shallot with some artichoke chips.

And we're going to hit it with a little bit of freshness

from the watermelon radish.

And finally the seablite as well.

Service, please.

Oh.

Ooh!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow! Look at this. Gorgeous.

ANDY: Looks beautiful.

SOFIA: So Callum's entree is Paroo kangaroo carpaccio,

black garlic, Jerusalem artichoke and bush tomato.

Looks gorgeous. It's superb.

To me, it's just very welcome.

It's very pretty. And it's also very interesting-looking.

I want to go for a little fossick. Yeah.

Flavour-wise, that bush tomato chilli sauce,

that, for me, is just a total A-plus,

drizzled all over that plate,

leaving that lovely slick of flavour in your mouth.

I love the shatter on his Jerusalem artichoke chips...

..and that little bite from the radish

that just kind of freshens everything up.

However...

..I feel like Callum hasn't executed that level of finesse

that is typical of putting time into a single dish

when you present it in MasterChef.

Especially a raw dish or a cold dish. Particularly.

So, I mean, I've got a combination of thick and thin pieces of roo.

I feel like it was just lacking a little bit of refinement.

I think what's happened with the roo is

he did his process a bit back to front.

So instead of searing, rolling, freezing for a moment

so that he could cut it really easily on the slicer,

he went the other way round,

he rolled it, froze it, took it out, seared it,

and then cut it when it was all already softened.

Yeah. So he didn't have any control.

And I think he ended up actually having to hand-cut a lot of that.

I just feel like the level of cooking

is just going to be so intense today

that these small, little details,

they could be the things that take a point off here

and take a point off there.

I'm worried for him.

Service, please.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JAMIE: Right, service, thank you.

CALLUM: Service, please.

(SIGHS HEAVILY)

Service is starting, and I'm looking at these marron

and I'm taking them out of the pan.

I just hope that they're cooked consistently.

I just don't know.

But I really need to get it on the plate.

This one's my most, like, intricate plated.

So, to plate up, I've got my green sorrel sauce.

It's got lots of punch and kick and silky, silky smooth.

That full piece of marron brushed with lemon myrtle butter...

Better be cooked.

..a little bit of that native citrus gel,

and I'm finishing off my dish with some fried saltbush and green ants.

Oh, my God!

Green ants, they're so sour.

And they're like zesty little pops. So good.

This is crazy. I'm in a world of hell.

So many things could have gone wrong for this entree.

If these aren't cooked, I'm just gonna cry.

I'm praying that the marron is cooked consistently.

Service, please. (THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)

RHIANNON: You're going really well. Amazing!

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Oh! POH: Oh, my gosh!

Oh, my God. Look at this!

This is Laura's menu.

It's entree,

it's Western Australian marron,

sorrel, green ants and native citrus.

ANDY: Shall we dive in?

Yeah, please. Whoa!

Oh!

Far out.

That marron! Like...

Perfect? Perfect.

Perfect? Excellent.

Perfect? 100%.

Which was such a battle for Laura.

It is the perfect way to start a meal.

Phew! What a dish!

Everything on that plate is faultless.

How she managed to turn this around,

despite all the aggravations of trying to get

that marron...

LAURA: Thanks, babes.

..cooked properly and she tried to rectify herself,

which is so hard with that tiny little marron.

This is showing how determined that woman is.

This is world, like, no joke, world-class...

..and speaks of Australian cuisine so well.

And if this is how she's starting us off,

I just can't wait for the next course. Yeah.

RHIANNON: They look great, guys, you're doing really well.

DEPINDER: Let's go, guys.

JAMIE: Entree's gone out. Um, I'm feeling OK,

but I'm way behind on my main,

and I'm way behind on my dessert.

That is a carroty carrot!

SARAH: He's doing a lot of really technical stuff.

ALANA: Amazing. BEN: Has he cooked the hearts?

No. No.

I haven't even seen him skewer the hearts.

I haven't seen them. He must have dropped them already.

I'm running out of time to get mains up.

I haven't even started on two elements yet.

This isn't going to happen.

I need to make some concessions.

No hearts.

Holy shit!

I've run out of time. I don't have time to do the duck hearts.

And the quince isn't done.

Crossing quince off the menu. Has to be.

And I really want to figure out something

to replace the quince with.

Berries.

Blackberries.

Having to take something off the plate is a big deal.

But it has to be done.

I'm carving the breasts.

They're looking fantastic.

They're rested through, super soft and bright pink.

It's like, just... Like, it almost looks undercooked.

But they are perfect.

I set myself such a mammoth task today.

But this was so much.

You got this.

I'm looking down at my dish and I'm thinking, "You've blown it."

"You have blown it."

It's still a generous piece of breast

and a little bit of the sausage with a carrot,

a little bit of vinaigrette and the jus.

It's still going to be a pretty plate.

It's just not what I wanted.

But that's what we've got. Service, please.

SOFIA: Fascinated to see this one. Same.

Oh. Oh.

Wow! Thank you.

So, Jamie's main course is Ruby -

duck, carrot, quince.

No quince, though, is it? I think it's blackberry now.

No, no quince. We've got blackberries now.

We're missing the heart skewers. Mm.

Let's eat it.

I didn't miss the hearts. I didn't miss the quince.

I was really grateful that he added that blackberry in there.

It added that tartness.

Beautiful duck breast.

And then he backed that up with the sauce that he made as well.

The duck, himself, I think he's done a superb job

to manage to get that lovely pinkness.

The skin is nicely crispy and also all the details on the slicing,

which is perfect.

I can't explain how much beautiful technique is on this plate.

And how much work has gone into this plate.

You know, not only do we have that duck

which was beautifully scored,

roasted on the crown,

smoked gently while it was on the rack,

but then we've got that duck sausage as well,

which surprised me both in texture and also in flavour as well.

It's very impressive.

BEN: Good job, Lozzie! Well done.

Great job, Lozzie!

LAURA: My entree is done.

I don't know how well it's gone, but I need to keep going.

And I need to nail that piece of beef.

I'm just finishing off my mash.

The leeks are done, the jus reducing,

and the timer was done, so I'm, like, 90% of the way there.

So this is a smoked potato mash.

This is one of those recipes that is or has been passed down,

passed down to Max and I when we worked at Orana.

I just like to add my own spin on things.

So I boiled the potatoes and then smoked them

with a bit of eucalyptus, um, in the oven.

My first memory of eating this mash was like,

I think at one o'clock in the morning

after a crazy Friday night service.

That was probably one of my first services in Orana.

And I just remember Jock putting this giant bowl

of mashed potato on the pass

that was all the leftover mash from the night,

and pouring all the leftover jus right into the middle of it,

and all of us just getting a spoon

and digging into a bowl of mash and jus.

Oot-lat-la!

And it is - to this day -

one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life.

And it completely changed my perspective

on how bloody good mashed potato really is.

It's now time to start carving this Wagyu.

So I take off both ends of the Wagyu and I cut that Wagyu piece in half.

(CHEERING)

BEN: Throw some up here, please.

She's perfect.

It's almost like, oozing with,

like, this beautiful, gorgeous, blushing pink colour.

That fat has marbled and melted away in there.

I'm glazing it with more of that kutjera glaze.

And it is truly perfect.

Just need to have a moment with my mashed potato. OK?

BEN: Go, Loz, that's it! That's it.

That is so good, it's not funny.

Oh, I'm gonna start crying.

JAMIE: Don't start crying. I'm gonna start crying.

This is exactly how I thought this dish would go out.

I'm, like, beyond proud. I'm so happy.

I feel like all the emotions of 12 years in this place

have just hit me.

But I think for all the right reasons.

SNEZ: Wow, Lozzie, that looks insane.

Thanks, babes. Service, please. Thank you.

MAN: How good does that look?

Just quenelling the potato.

And I'm getting very emotional definitely.

(EMOTIONALLY) Yeah. Um, I literally got goose bumps plating it,

and it's like happy tears.

It's just... Whoo!

WOMAN: Sauce me up.

Service, please. BEN: Yeah, Lozzie!

Woo! WOMAN: Way to go!

You know, I'm here to win for a lot of reasons.

Knowing how much everyone has sacrificed for me to be here.

I just want to get to the end,

to be like, "We made the right decision."

Yeah.

I'm actually getting so excited to see this.

Thank you. SOFIA: Ah-ha!

Wow.

Wow. How's the waft?

The waft on that!

Laura's main, pure black Wagyu -

marble score nine -

smoked potato and ice plant.

Look at that.

Oh, look at that fat! Unbelievable!

It's been done by a master.

Oh, yes.

I know, I know.

This is an absolute perfect main course.

I absolutely love it.

I mean, the Wagyu steak is seasoned properly.

That sauce. If it was not so many people in the restaurant,

I'd be licking my plate.

I think that puree is most probably the best puree I've had in my life.

I don't know where the hell

she learned how to make a puree like that.

I know exactly where she got it from.

Do you? (LAUGHS) Yeah.

Laura's made this her own.

Service, please.

And she's smoked the butter with eucalyptus.

I knew that there would be something

that made me tear up from Laura today,

but I didn't think it would be bloody mashed potato.

(LAUGHS)

It just goes to show you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

If you just add all these nuances that tell your story...

I, I, I kowtow to her.

Yeah, well done. She's amazing.

Service, please.

JAMIE: Come on, let's finish.

My main course was super rushed

because I haven't even started

anything for my dessert.

Nothing.

DECLAN: Jamie hasn't really done anything on his dessert.

BEN: I know, I'm really worried about him.

I knew that this would be a heavy prep

on particularly the entree and main.

I left the dessert to last because I'm using liquid nitrogen,

and everything will set pretty quickly.

We just need to get done.

Thicken up, baby.

I need to get the base for my ice-cream sorted.

SNEZ: Jamie, behind. Huh?

Oh, oui. Thank you.

Oh, shit.

The cauliflower milk has been sitting there for a fair while.

I can strain that off, make sure I get all of the bits out.

The flavours are all there.

I taste it - roasted cauliflower. Beautiful.

Whoo!

Ice-cream's done.

I get a couple of mixes up for my cremeux.

It's going to be rich with chocolate, rich with whisky,

but balanced perfectly with a little bit of salt.

DEPINDER: He's trying to get his cremeux and stuff done.

I'm gonna get them both into the blast chiller

to try and chill it down.

Two elements done for the dessert.

If he pulls this off, he's in for a chance.

Yeah? Yeah.

CALLUM: I am feeling pretty nervous

because I know that my entree wasn't perfect.

And the margins in this competition, right now, are so tight.

So, for my main course today,

I've got to absolutely knock it out the park.

There's no doubt in my mind this is my trickiest course

to execute in service.

Try to get all my ducks in a row.

Got my butter-poached calamari noodles there.

I'm happy with that.

I've got my potatoes done.

Beautiful. Just ready to come out.

My fennel's done.

Done. All done.

All the crispy saltbush there,

macadamia is there.

Got there in the end.

That lobster and Goolwa pipi sauce,

it's been ticking away gently on the stove for, now, hours.

Super intense now.

I've whisked my butter in the pan, one final strain,

and then I leave it to reduce right down.

So it's the moment of truth.

Time to check on the lobster.

So I'm using a thermometer.

I'm checking each and every one.

Happy days. RHIANNON: Nice one, Cal!

(CHEERING) Well done!

I think all the energy I've put into this course,

which is way more, to be honest, than the entree and the dessert,

needs to pay off for me.

Yeah, there's a lot riding on this.

Service, please.

OK. Oh, yeah.

POH AND JEAN CHRISTOPHE: Wow.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Oh-ho-ho!

Thank you. Thank you very much. Well done.

Callum's got some catching up to do from the entree round,

so let's hope this dish is an absolute banger.

POH: OK, so this is Callum's main,

and it's lobster tail roasted with saltbush butter,

kipfler potato, Goolwa pipi and lobster-head sauce.

Wow.

For him to finish his entrees,

get on to that lobster and cook it so perfectly,

you don't expect that in here.

You know, you don't expect that in a lot of restaurants these days.

And it is, like, the star of the show on this dish.

That is world-class cooking.

Service, please.

Callum had a bit of catching up to do.

And on that lobster alone,

I think he's going to do it.

Yeah. Loved every element.

I thought the combination of the dill oil

and this lobster head, pipi veloute

was just absolutely singing.

An amazing feat.

This reductions of shellfish, the pipis...

Oh, a saucy boy there, as well.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: How long it took him to do that?

Thank you very much.

And to end up with this?

My salute to him. Cheers, everybody.

You know what? I was going...

Let's do that because

this is the sauce of the sauces this season, for sure.

Chin, chin.

Come on. Getting there.

LAURA: Such hard work. Such hard work. Oh, God.

JAMIE: Come on. A bit more.

I've made a whisky caramel...

That's finished.

..and a stewed apple.

That's done, that's done.

Let's make this, a little walnut crumb.

Oi! RUE: Oh good job, Jamie.

DEPINDER: Way to go, Jamie.

That's good.

I think I'm still in with a fighting chance.

I'm putting together an entire dessert in no time

because this is my shot at the grand finale.

I take the ice-cream base out.

I get over to the liquid nitrogen.

(SIGHS)

Come on. You can do this.

I'm watching the texture change.

More liquid nitrogen.

This is working.

Yum.

It tastes massively of cauliflower.

It's unexpectedly delicious.

That's good.

This dessert is going to be incredible.

Behind.

Happy days.

Sorry.

All of a sudden, we're fighting our way back.

I run over to check the cremeux, and I put my spoon through.

SNEZ: Let's go, Jame-o! Whoo!

Oh, no!

It hasn't set.

So soft. Look at what you've done.

God!

Soft, man.

It's not good. It's not set.

Looks like chocolate custard.

I'm looking down at this cremeux, going...

.."Oh, well. Game over."

It's just not set.

This cremeux has no texture.

It's supposed to sit high and proud.

It's not set.

How do you fix it?

It's not set.

I have to make this work.

Can I get another mixing bowl, and more liquid nitrogen?

What's better than one frozen element?

Two frozen elements.

There is no point in giving up now.

I'm this close to the grand finale.

I'm in with a shot,

as long as that cremeux is set.

LAURA: My final mains have gone out,

and it's now time to solely focus on finishing off this dessert.

It's a very fun dessert,

something that's very personal to me.

RHIANNON: They look beautiful, Loz.

That yoghurt sorbet is going

to be really refreshing and quite sour.

Yummy, Loz? Looks bloody beautiful.

That strawberry and ooray plum granita is going to have

a really beautiful sweetness, but also sourness at that same time.

DEPINDER: The colour is beautiful.

Yeah, it tastes like stewed cherries. So good.

It's just all brought together with that little pop

of that really intense native currant jam.

SNEZ: What are those, Lozzie?

It's native stingless bee honey.

Oh, yum! Yum! Yep.

That stingless bee honey is quite sour for a honey.

But then you get that really luscious

strawberry gum flavour with that oil.

All the beautiful fruits are going to have that charred quandong,

which is almost like a native peach.

So, a really nice little smokiness through there,

the freshness and that crunch of that lilly pilly,

the little pops that you get from the finger limes throughout it.

Service, please.

Watching these desserts go out, they look beautiful.

Thank you.

But there is a lot going on.

I am, like, praying

with every single little bit in my soul

that everything works well together.

Service, please.

Thank you.

POH: This is Laura's dessert.

It's ooray plum, strawberry gum and stingless bee honey.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Oof!

The woman...

..is unstoppable.

Service. ANDY: She's three for three.

It's been a pretty much faultless menu.

I'm speechless. (LAUGHS)

It is actually exceptional. I've got to say that.

Everything there is well-balanced.

In fact, I cannot even possibly start

to detail what is going on between my palate,

my brain and my stomach.

I am just going to be sitting down and lick my plate.

It was just a riot of flavour.

I love how she layers astringency in desserts.

It's, like, layer upon layer of acidity,

and you think it's going to get too much,

but it just keeps you diving in for more and more.

And every layer you go in, you find something new.

She's going to be hard to beat.

JAMIE: If in doubt, liquid-nitrogen it out.

The flavours are still there.

Apple. Whisky. Cauliflower.

This is still a delicious dish.

Make this beautiful, Jamie. Yeah.

I get one down. It looks OK, but it's melting super quickly.

I just need to work quicker.

A little bit of the caramel, some of the stewed apple,

a little bit of crumble.

RUE: Keep going, Jamie.

Top it with some of the cauliflower ice-cream...

..and a little bit of salt to finish.

Some lemon. Great.

Come on, finish strong.

It is very soft.

It looks better than the puddle that it was before.

I'm confident with flavours. I'm just hoping it's enough.

Service, please.

So we have Jamie's dessert.

It's name, Tawny.

So, it's cauliflower, whisky and apples.

ANDY: Looking at the dish, I'm a bit gutted for Jamie.

OTHERS: Yeah.

You can just tell that the consistency of a couple

of his elements is just not right.

It doesn't look exactly like what he wanted,

but let's see what it tastes like.

Mm. Yeah.

Ooh, this is really hard...

..because I actually adore these flavours.

The whisky caramel,

it is really punchy with that whisky,

but it's also got this kind of marzipan-amaretto back-note to it

that I think is extremely sophisticated.

POH: Yeah.

And then it's rounded out with those walnuts.

And, you know, the comfort of chocolate and whisky

in that cremeux,

those flavours is actually an incredible match.

But the textures...

It's just... Yeah.

It's kind of like eating a dessert soup.

If Jamie had succeeded in the consistencies

that he set out to achieve,

this could have been a winning dessert for me.

I think he's done superbly well. I've got to give him that.

This mix of cauliflower...

I mean, when was the last time I saw cauliflower in a dessert?

Never. Never.

But I think it's missing something a little bit more in texture.

And this is something I'm not sure.

I'm super stoked and proud that Jamie took the risk.

The flavours going on here

has probably exceeded my expectations.

You know, there was no use him coming into the dessert course

and cooking something quite safe.

So, I think it all comes down to Callum's dessert.

Yeah, absolutely.

You are on the home stretch, mate.

Keep it up.

CALLUM: I've got blood-orange olive oil parfait

just about to come out of the freezer.

The granita is done, and I'm ready to start plating.

There's no doubt that this dessert is the most restrained, I suppose,

dessert I've served in this competition so far.

I've got that blood-orange olive oil salted parfait

in the bottom of the plate here.

It's got such a beautiful creamy texture,

and that Geraldton wax oil that goes on next

adds this really nice kind of herbaceousness,

aromatic, really distinctive citrusy type flavour.

And then, that Campari granita,

it tastes really, like, bitter

and sweet and super fragrant, as well.

It's just such a clean flavour profile.

Service, please.

And it's very balanced when you eat it all together.

But...

..the problem, potentially, with my dessert today

is that it's only got a couple of elements on it.

I'm just concerned that this dish is too simple.

Then it could be enough to send me home.

Service, please.

Oh...

..whoa. Thank you.

SOFIA: Oh, my... ANDY: Looks beautiful.

(WHISTLING) ..God.

Callum's dessert, we've got Pendleton blood orange,

olive oil parfait,

Campari granita, Geraldton wax.

(WHISTLES)

Fully Geraldton wax.

It's going to be for the first time that I shall not give a verdict.

And you know why?

You're busy. (LAUGHS) Because I am busy

enjoying this fantastic dessert.

Honestly, this is crazy.

All the ingredients are absolutely the best marriage.

It's the most amazing dessert that I had for a very long time.

It's that flirtation between the bitterness

of the Campari granita and that, like, smooth sweetness

of that creamy, creamy, creamy parfait.

And then, to add those natives in,

that kind of eucalyptus,

lemony Geraldton wax

and just those slightly sugary... Yeah.

..native limes -

it just made them really jammy.

And that is just honestly such an immaculate dessert.

The parfait!

The parfait melted my brain.

It was so delicious.

I don't think I've ever had such a perfectly textured...

No. ..iced element.

It's nearly creamier than ice-cream. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it is. Yeah.

It's so dense. It was like eating butter.

Yeah. I don't know what to say.

That was perfection to me.

Yeah.

You know what's amazing?

There is nowhere in Australia that we could taste that plate of food.

Nowhere. That is...that is such

a product of the talent that we foster here.

Like, I actually feel really moved.

It's such a beautiful plate of food.

CALLUM: Service, please. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LAURA: Service, please. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JAMIE: Service, please. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Wow, that was awesome. Yeah. Well done, guys.

Emotional. Hoo!

Yeah, it's pretty special, hey? Yeah.

We have never

had a semifinal like that.

That was unbelievable.

Over 70 plates, three courses.

The three of you were in fine form.

We could not be prouder.

Well done. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

You were cooking for a spot in the grand finale.

If you wanted in, your menus needed to be utterly flawless.

And the first person that we're sending through...

..brought us three courses that were immaculate.

It was a clean sweep...

..a world-class entree, eye-wateringly good main,

and a dessert that has set a new bar for Australian cuisine.

It absolutely sealed the deal.

It gives us great pride to say,

welcome to the finale, Laura!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

How are you feeling?

I'm speechless.

Like, I'm never left speechless.

I'm so, so, so grateful.

Like, I loved every single minute of that.

And I am just so proud of the food I put up.

And I just can't believe I did it.

I can't believe it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Oh, my God.

Right. Callum, Jamie.

There's only one spot left in the grand finale.

This was a close one.

But ultimately, it came down to your third course.

Your dessert.

One of you brought us a dish

that could be described in one word...

..perfection.

It was well worthy of a place in the grand finale.

And it was made by...

..Callum! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Well done, bud.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE CONTINUES)

How are you feeling?

Ah, I'm really chuffed to be in the finale,

but it's, like, at the expense of this guy.

It doesn't...it doesn't quite, like, feel as good

as maybe I'd hoped, but, um...

Yeah, I think the friendships we've made over the course

of the last few months, I want to reserve happiness

for, um, maybe a little bit later.

But, yeah, I think this is a moment to celebrate how good

this guy's been in the competition so far.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Thanks, mate.

I always thought to beat either one of these two,

I had to absolutely swing for the fences in both technique

and flavour and concept.

POH: Yep. And that's what I did.

Yep. And, you know,

I think I missed the mark a little bit.

But as a concept, that whole menu,

like, the excitement that I felt from you guys,

the excitement I felt writing it,

that was pretty phenomenal.

And I'm very proud.

You did absolutely the right thing.

They were excellent dishes.

That little fire is definitely lit.

And that's absolutely the food that I want to showcase,

and, you know, showcase great producers from around the country

and really highlight what they have to offer.

So, I can't thank this process enough.

But to share this experience with these two?

Amazing.

Well, Jamie, you can go join your friends now.

Give it up for Jamie, everybody! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Laura and Callum...

..you are our grand finalists

for 2025!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

So good. Oh, man.

Bit weird. I know.

Soon, one of you is going to be named

Australia's next MasterChef.

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night...

ANDY: This is the biggest showdown in the history of MasterChef.

They are both at the top of their game...

..and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on that trophy.

LAURA: I'm here for the title.

The only option this time around

is to win.

CALLUM: I'm going to be hard to beat.

I'm ready to go out there

and win this thing.

Strap yourself in.

Oh! (EXCLAIMING)

What?

This grand finale

is gonna be a wild ride.

(JUDGES EXCLAIM)

ANNOUNCER: Love what you see in the MasterChef kitchen?

Now you can do it yourself with the MasterChef At Home cookbook.

Head to the website

or scan the QR code.

Captions by Red Bee Media