Original subtitles

VOICEOVER: Previously, on MasterChef Australia...

What's that?

..Shannon Bennett's mystery box...

There's a couple of doozies in there.

..had some tricky ingredients...

ALI: I've never cooked a sweetbread before.

JOHN: I'm putting everything that I have on that plate.

..and an emotional outcome...

..leaving Jenn, Alvin, Max and John in the bottom four.

Tonight, they face an epic pressure test.

ALVIN: I just hope that I live to cook another day.

Who will stick it out...

I CAN do this.

..and who will be sent home?

# 'Cause you're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down

# You're wrong when it's right

# It's black and it's white

# We fight, we break up

# We kiss, we make up

# You're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down

# You're wrong when it's right

# It's black and it's white

# We fight, we break up

# We kiss, we make up

# You # You don't really wanna stay, no

# You # But you don't really wanna go-o

# You're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down. #

(APPLAUSE)

JOCK: In you come!

Come on down the front.

Grab a box, any box.

Morning, everybody. Did you miss me? Morning.

ALL: (HESITANTLY) Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

Bit of a warm reception there, isn't it?

(LAUGHTER)

Well, even if you didn't, it's great to be back.

(LAUGHTER)

And what a day to be here.

Because, of course, today is a pressure test.

So you've got a one-in-four chance today of going home.

John. Mel tells me you had a tough day yesterday.

Yeah, but I think I've put that behind me now.

I just need to bring what I know what to do and that's...

..cook good food.

Great attitude.

Yeah.

Especially coming into a pressure test on a day like this.

Lose your cool today, could be your last day here.

MEL: Today's pressure test has been set by a man

who is no stranger to this kitchen.

Over the past seven years, he's set a number of pressure tests here.

But...

..he's also cooked in them.

In fact, he's stood opposite us more times than any of you.

He is responsible for some of the most memorable dishes

ever presented in this competition.

Hot damn.

From the Forbidden Fruit...

Oh.

..to Moss.

No way.

..to White Noise.

And of course, Down The Rabbit Hole.

(ALL GASP)

From KOI in Sydney, please welcome Reynold Poernomo!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Yeah, Rey.

MAX: You can't be a fan of MasterChef and not know who Reynold is

and know how good he is and how amazing his dishes are.

So seeing him walk into the kitchen to set this pressure test,

as a fan, it's a dream, but hopefully not a nightmare.

Reynold. Welcome back, mate.

Gosh, it's good to have you in the kitchen. Thank you. (LAUGHS)

I kind of miss it. On this side.

I mean, it was fun on that side but today is something pretty exciting.

I'm pretty excited to show this dish as well.

And before we get to that scary little thing...

(LAUGHTER)

..what's been happening in your world? KOI's going well?

KOI is doing well.

We've got a new Flagship store in Sydney and so it's a bigger space.

We've got Monkey's Corner and KOI all in one big area.

Nice one.

John. You were on Reynold's season, back in season 7.

How would you describe his food?

I couldn't even touch dessert in that season

because he was just so good.

He's intimidating, isn't he? He is.

We cooked together as well. But I learnt...

Yeah, we did cook a lot together. Yeah.

Alvin, mate.

You've conquered Zumbo. That's in the past. You smashed it.

Can you conquer this man? I-I don't know.

He-he scares me, a little, actually.

You were scared of Zumbo as well.

I'm just scared. I'm just always scared!

(LAUGHTER)

Well, Reynold, mate, how would you describe what's going on under there?

Uh. It's pretty hard, even for myself.

Over the years that I've kind of learned all these skills

and honed it all together, I've put it all into this dessert.

Ouch.

Well, Reynold, I reckon we put them out of their misery.

Why don't you lift the lid and let's see what they're cooking?

Ooh. What is that?

Today, you'll be making my new signature dessert -

Noi.

CHRISTINA: So happy that I'm up on the gantry today. (LAUGHS)

I do not want to be anywhere near

Reynold's desserts unless I'm eating them.

Looks amazing.

Talk us through it.

There's a lot of components that's from a lot of signature desserts

that I've done.

Apples from Moss.

The twigs from the Rabbit Hole.

And also, er, the Muscovado tuiles.

That's from Martin Benn's.

And also, I use the same recipe for the coating and everything,

the technique of it all for the Snitch.

ANDY: You just gonna look at it? Get in there.

So this dessert, the main components - got two cubes.

The bottom cube and the top cube both have different fillings

with the same base - a jasmine mousse.

The mousse is a whipped ganache.

The top cube has a caramel apple.

And the bottom is a compressed orange blossom

and elderflower apple with gel.

JENN: I'm taking my time to really taste each element individually

to memorise the flavours.

The cubes have fennel, elderflower and orange blossom.

All these floral notes that accentuate

the crispness of green apple.

And I love it.

Reynold, there are so many components here -

I guess that's a pressure point itself -

but what else are the main pressure points to look out for in this dish?

The twigs. These ones are probably the hardest ones to do.

A bit more natural, almost.

If it's too thick, it'll be too heavy to even stand up.

Leaves? Pressure? The leaves are actually pretty hard.

(LAUGHTER)

This was in my pressure test that I got booted out on.

So I had to use it in this dish because it's really delicious,

so you wanna make sure it's heated up nicely

and gotta make sure you work fast.

And shape it as organic as possible.

MAX: There are a lot of different elements going into this dish

and how they play together is gonna be key.

I wanna make sure I can do this dish aesthetic justice as well.

MEL: OK, cooks, here are the rules.

You will have four hours to re-create Reynold's Noi.

The recipe and all of the ingredients are at your benches,

and of course the dish that least resembles Reynold's

will send its maker home.

Reynold, would you like to do the honours?

Sure. Guys, good luck, stay focused,

wish you all the best and your time...

..starts now.

Let's go, team.

MAX: How many pages? Seven, eight...

The recipe today is full-on so I'm nervous about everything.

Go, Alvin.

JOHN: I'm actually feeling good.

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day for me.

I just need to push through.

I know I can cook and that's what I'm gonna show you today.

Reynold and I are different cooks so I cooked with instinct

and he's all about precision.

So looking at his recipe, so far,

it's all, you know, to the gram, to the millimetre.

This is the second pressure test, so if there's anything I learned

is to sort of keep calm and not break down.

And just hope that I can do this.

Come on, man. Come on, Alvin.

Any sort of complex recipe,

you just need to tackle one component at a time.

The first thing up is the jasmine whipped ganache,

and that is almost the bulk of the dessert

because it is the filling of the two cubes.

So it's all about bringing the milk and cream to temperature

and then steeping the jasmine leaves in there

for the right amount of time.

It needs to be there. I t can't be muted.

MAX: I'm really trying to take a lot from the previous pressure test

and work at the pace that I did at the start.

"In the fridge for approximately one hour."

HARRY: Max, you taste it? I'm gonna taste it now.

It's all about working methodically during this cook.

You don't have much time to dwell on things,

so if you taste something,

if you're happy with it...

Yeah?

I think you need to tick that box and then move on to the next one.

MEL: Well, Reynold, a four-hour pressure test.

They have quite the task ahead.

In this first instance, what do they need to get done properly?

The inserts. They need to have time for it to set.

And the caramel apple - that takes time to get that colour.

If you burn it, you've gotta do it again, and that's just gonna set you back...

Wow, so we could see someone - or a few of them -

fall well behind within the first step.

If they mess up. Yep. If they mess up. Yep.

It's my first-ever pressure test.

So my game plan today is tackle one thing at a time,

do it well and just focus on that.

I'm working on the jasmine-whipped ganache.

MATT: How's it taste, Jenn?

Not very strong. Oh.

Was it strong in the mousse?

You could taste it. Yeah?

I'm not tasting any jasmine tea at all.

All I get is white chocolate so I'm a little bit worried.

How's your jasmine mousse? Mine has no flavour.

MAX: Your what? Jasmine mousse.

I pressed the leaves really, really hard.

Yeah. It added a bit of flavour.

Although my strategy today is to follow this recipe exactly,

it's still important to trust our instincts,

especially when it comes down to flavour.

So instead of redoing the whole batch...

..I quickly take a small portion back out and add more tea leaves,

reinfuse it,

you know, we really have to extract flavour here.

STEPH: Stir it, Jenn. HARRY: Get a spoon in there.

Good job, girl.

I don't really want to make mistakes in the cook

but, you know, it's still early days.

There's still lots of time.

And it's more important that I do it right,

rather than leave it to the end and regret my decision

about not redoing it.

MELANIE: Better?

But if I'm putting it through the whole thing, it needs more.

Yep.

Hey, John. Hey, Jock. How are you?

I'm very well, pal. How are you? Welcome back.

Got a couple of things on the go. How are you feeling? Are you...?

No, it's actually under control so...

I've got basically the ganache inside the fridge.

I've got my apple caramel. Apple caramel.

And then I've got the blossom apple inserts.

That's ready to go once this is done.

And I think that's the key with this - just follow the recipe.

Well, it looks as if you're working ahead a little bit

plus paying plenty of attention here.

Yeah. So far so good. Good luck, mate. Thank you.

The caramelised apple is basically your toffee apple flavour.

And that's actually gonna go inside the whipped jasmine ganache

used in the cube.

And you have to be careful with the temperature

because if you take it too far, it can be quite bitter

and you don't want that in a caramel at all.

JENN: I finished my jasmine cream ganache

and I've popped it away to keep chilling in the freezer.

I'm so happy that I made that decision to go back

and push more jasmine tea flavour into the cream.

Good job, Jenn. Go, Jenn.

I'm only halfway with the apple.

I need to get moving.

I'm just going to try and multi-task a bit more.

Keep one eye on the caramel and the other eye on my chopping apples.

Something burning?

Jenn, how's your caramel?

Um...

..still has 13 degrees to go.

Jenn, move your caramel onto the smaller burner.

Jenn, how's things? Hey, Jenn.

Um...

..it's going OK. I'm trying to dice these apples

but I'm not keeping up with the grade of caramelisations.

What temperature do you need to get that to?

160.

And it's only at 115?

Oh, no.

Pretty dark. Yeah, it's pretty dark. It's pretty dark.

Oh, stressing out.

I'm a little bit worried about how dark it looks.

What's it smell like?

Potentially over.

(SIGHS)

One hour down, three hours to go!

(APPLAUSE) Come on, guys.

Let's go. Come on!

Who's in front? I think John's in front.

Three hours to go and John is just powering through this recipe.

Max and Alvin look like they're about the same place.

And Jenn is starting to slip behind slightly

as she's had to do a couple of elements again.

MAX: At this stage, I'm really happy

with how methodically I'm working through this recipe.

Go.

I'm up to my green apple sorbet.

The apple sorbet was actually my favourite element to the dish

when I tasted it.

It was nice and fresh and crisp,

and I think it really helped unify the rest of the dish.

It's the element that I really want to come across

as really special on my plate as well.

Beautiful, Max. Thanks, mate.

How you going, Jenn?

Good, I think. I think I'm slowly catching up, so...

Yeah, you are. It's good. Yeah.

I've redone my caramelised apples.

And now I just have to finish off

the blossom apple inserts for my cubes.

Hopefully, it's gonna be OK and I won't make any more mistakes.

(MIXER WHIRRS)

JOHN: I'm powering on.

Now I'm going to move on to building my cubes.

Food is an art form for Reynold,

and the cubes, of course, the main focus,

so I want to get this right.

I'm making sure that these ganache cubes are perfect

so I slowly work my ganache with a palate knife.

If you don't get the ganache into the moulds properly,

you'll end up having air pockets and it won't be a perfect cube.

ALVIN: Reynold's been circling me today.

You're making me nervous, standing...

REYNOLD: Oh. Sorry.

(BOTH LAUGH)

It's good and it's bad because I know that if I'm in trouble,

he's there and I can ask.

But at the same time, I can't help but feel

he's just looking at this bumbling idiot

trying to sort of cook his dessert.

Push out. 'Cause I can see there's air pockets in there.

Just give it a good push. Really?

Yep.

If not, when you unmould it, you'll get little gaps.

Ah.

So try to push out as much air as possible, OK?

Yep.

Dessert isn't one of my strengths so, techniques aside,

I just hope that I can at least bank on my flavours

resembling Reynold's dessert.

JULIE: That looks beautiful, Alvin.

Great work.

JENN: I blitz through my sorbet.

I'm finally ticking more stuff off that checklist.

I think everything is slowly starting to come together.

But, yeah, I just have to really motor.

Pick up the pace.

JOHN: So two hours have gone and I'm actually halfway through.

And I've done the sorbet

and I've also got my cubes pretty much in the blast chiller

with the different apple inserts.

I'm moving on to making my chocolate twigs

and I'm actually feeling confident

because I'm familiar with chocolate work.

Basically, you just blitz the chocolate in a food processor

until you get a nice putty consistency

and you just roll it out.

When you're rolling the twigs,

you're actually crystallising the chocolate

so you're basically tempering the chocolate.

How you going? Yeah, good.

You're way ahead. Yeah?

Yeah.

Is that a good thing? (CHUCKLES) Very good.

Just make sure that everything is, like, done well.

Yeah, yeah.

How many you need, John?

I'm just gonna do a few, just in case they break.

That's very cool, John.

Working with chocolate is all about confidence.

Chocolate can definitely smell fear.

If you're scared of it, chocolate won't work with you.

Apparently, I need to get this into... What is...?

Hey, Christina? Yes?

What's putty?

Putty, it's like Play-Doh. Thank you.

Like clay. Yep.

Is that like Play-Doh? MAX: Yes. Yep.

This is taking me back to creche.

Like, when I last sort of played with Play-Doh.

Ooh, wow.

But this is whole different stakes.

This competition is really important for me.

Especially after last season, getting so close to getting an apron

and I actually realise how badly I wanted to be here

and I don't want to let that go yet.

The twig that Reynold had on his plate was really, really fine,

really thin.

Really delicate.

Um, at the moment, I've got a log.

I think I'm actually overworking the chocolate.

Oh, this is hard.

This is really difficult.

If I can just get some sort of twig-looking shapes out,

they'll have to work.

Ah, no!

BILLIE: These chocolate twigs -

I think they've stumped most of the contestants.

MAX: Oh, this is hard.

(SIGHS)

JENN: Are your twigs snapping, Max?

Yep. OK.

Watching them try to do it and not quite get there,

it's just heart-wrenching.

This is ridiculous.

Wow. This one's tough.

MAX: These chocolate twigs are a real sticking point for Reynold.

If they don't come out perfect, I could be going home.

Ooh.

But finally, somehow, I'm working this.

Happy.

The chocolate's actually obeying my hands.

And they look OK.

How have I...? How is that...that...?

HARRY: Yeah, Max, that looks really good.

JENN: How do they look?

Very, uh...

I'll comment later. (BOTH LAUGH)

Are they too thick?

Oh, my gosh.

I don't have time to redo these twigs.

I need to just work on my other elements

otherwise I won't have anything to plate up.

Hey, Max. Max. Hey, Jock.

Why do you shake the egg before you crack it?

Um, I just...like having a boogie.

No, I've heard it's supposed to let you separate the eggwhites

and the yolks easier.

Throw some salt over your shoulder, shake your eggs

and hope for the best.

Where are you at now? That's madness.

(LAUGHS) It is madness. I've never heard that before.

Yeah, so you're making the, uh, the tuile, I'm guessing?

Correct. Yes.

The leaves are such an important part of this dish.

It's the only element that gives you a bit of crunch,

so you've gotta watch out for that as well.

Yeah. Come on, Max, you got this, mate.

Cheers. Thanks, guys.

REYNOLD: How are you going, John? Good. I'm doing the tuile now.

Killing it?

Yep.

The tuile is basically a batter.

And once you've got this consistency...

..you use a stencil and a silpat

and basically spread a really thin layer with the stencil

to create the shape of the leaves.

Only got one hour to go.

(APPLAUSE AND CALLS OF ENCOURAGEMENT)

JOCK: One hour to go!

JENN: I'm really feeling the time pressure now.

I need to bring out multi-tasking Jenn.

So while my tuiles are baking, I need to coat my little cubes now.

My fingers are trembling.

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

Don't overthink it.

These cubes need to be set.

My cubes have set properly.

Opa. Opa.

I'm so happy that I've gotten to this point

and everything is coming together.

Those look really good.

Alvin's still doing his chocolate.

Alvin. Hi.

How are you going? I'm really pushing this.

Aren't you supposed to make them look like twigs, mate?

Stop. Just stop. (LAUGHS).

You've made them now. It's alright.

Next step, mate, you've gotta make the tuiles. Yeah?

Yeah, I've gotta make the tuiles.

It's so important to get the dish finished in a pressure test

because, the other contestants, they're all so skilled.

And you cannot afford any slip-ups.

I just have to keep motoring on.

MAX: It's now time to use these stencil leaf moulds

to create leaves out of tuiles.

(EXHALES)

Go, John. Come on, mate.

Oh, it's cracked.

So fiddly.

MAX: (CHUCKLES) This is not an easy process.

Tuiles will snap at the lightest pressure.

Ah, no!

OK.

This is not working.

I have a read of the recipe again

and there's a heat gun that's used to keep the leaves pliable

before pressing on the stencil.

No wonder it's bloody hard.

Mate, these are bloody tough.

You gotta sandwich the... Yep, OK. Yep.

The leaves have taken me longer than I would have liked.

Every single minute I can have at the end of the cook to plate this all up

is an extra minute that's just worth its weight in gold.

Now for the next challenge...

I'm aware that I am already a few steps behind.

I still have to create the tuile leaves and have to dip my cubes.

There's still a lot to go. I have to hustle.

So important to get the cubes done.

Because I know I've done a good job with the jasmine-whipped ganache

in terms of flavour.

But if I don't get them on the plate, it's nothing.

This is the main part of the dish.

So they need to be perfection.

Come on, Alvin.

What the hell?

That's not pretty at all.

Oh, my God. These are nothing like Reynold's.

Just...

It's OK, just de-mould them all.

I'm in a world of hurt.

My cubes don't even look like cubes.

Argh.

Argh.

It's not pretty at all.

My cubes don't even look like cubes.

I'm very determined to stay.

I'm not ready to go home.

I haven't really shown what I can do and what I'm capable of.

Come on!

(APPLAUSE)

Come on, Alvin, come on!

But I realise that I'm really quickly running out of time.

Now I have the pleasure - or the pain -

to create the tuile leaves.

I just hope that I can get everything done.

Yes. Go, Alvin.

Well done! Come on.

John, what you got left? JOHN: That's it.

All done? Yep. Beautiful.

Well done, mate. Come on.

All my elements are ready to go. I'm ready to plate.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have 15 minutes to go.

ANDY: Let's go. Come on!

(APPLAUSE)

Come on.

Go, John!

(ECHOING STEAM SOUNDS)

MAX: In these final moments,

I can't hear words, it's literally just noise.

(ECHOING VIBRATING SOUNDS)

JENN: The atmosphere is really tense.

There's so many machine sounds but quiet at the same time.

JOHN: I'm proud of myself for doing a complete 360

from what happened yesterday.

(MUTED HEARTBEAT)

I think in this competition, you really have to be resilient.

I can do this.

I want to realise my own dream

and this is the reason why I came back to this competition.

MAX: As the clock winds down, my hands are getting shakier.

And I haven't been able to taste the dish as a whole

but I'm so pleased with how my dish looks.

JENN: I can't believe I've made it this far.

I've got all my elements...

(EXHALES)

..and they are elements I'm happy with.

But I'm a little bit worried...

(EXHALES)

..my twigs are too fat.

And I'm just not ready to go home today.

ALVIN: My dish looks nothing like Reynold's

but I've tasted the elements every step of the way...

..and I'm almost certain that I have replicated the flavours.

I might not be as technical a cook as someone like Reynold,

even someone like Billie,

but I think we all have a different sort of part we play

and strength that we bring.

More than anything, I want to learn more.

I just hope that I live to cook another day.

Here it is, you got 10!

ALL: 9, 8, 7,

6, 5, 4,

3, 2, 1.

JOCK: That's it! (APPLAUSE)

Beautiful.

Good job, guys!

JOHN: Seeing Reynold walk in, I knew exactly what I was in for.

I just want to have fun.

But, um, it all turned out well so I'm very happy.

ALVIN: I've just seen what the others have created

and, yeah, mine's very Alvin.

Um, so, you know, we'll see what they say in there.

JOHN: I'm actually excited to serve this dish

because I know that I've put everything into this creation.

All the elements tasted really good.

Being back here today in this kitchen and not giving up,

it's made me realise why I'm here -

to really show everyone what I'm capable of.

I'm so proud of myself and I'm here to stay.

Big smile from John there, love that.

John, one thing to do, do you want to spoon some sorbet on it?

Actually, Reynold taught me how to quenelle

so I hope I still remember it.

JOCK: No pressure, then. No. (CHUCKLES)

Oh, he's still got it.

Good stuff. Beauty, John. Thanks, mate.

Thanks. Enjoy.

What do you think of that, Reynold?

Looks pretty good.

Twigs are nice. Got natural shape. REYNOLD: Twigs are nice.

Do the honours, Reynold. Get into it.

Nailed it.

MEL: I mean, from here, you can see the shell is...

Is very thin. Yes. It's good.

It's really good.

The chocolate twigs were really well done.

Yep. Especially watching him make them.

It was pretty easy for him, to be honest,

and you said it was one of the hardest elements to get right.

Beautiful, fine work with the chocolate round the outside.

The tuiles were beautiful and crunchy and crisp.

The inside of the caramel apple is actually quite nice.

The apple's like, fully compressed.

Sorbet's really nice and bright.

Really refreshing.

I'm really heartened by how John took on this challenge today

as being a really positive thing.

When you're presented with a dish that looks like that

after four hours, in this crazy place...

..I think John has to be commended. For sure.

JENN: I'm really happy with my decision to go back

and push more jasmine tea flavour into the whipped ganache.

And that I did my caramelised apple again.

However, I'm worried about whether my twigs are too fat.

Potentially, I could be the one going home today.

enjoy another serving or savour past seasons at:

Look at the concentration.

ANDY: Yeah, there's a lot going on there.

Jenn. MEL: OK, Jenn. Softly does it.

There it is.

First pressure test out the way.

Yeah, I can't believe it. (LAUGHS) I've done it.

And made it through.

Despite remaking everything that you did,

you still got a finished complete dish up.

I'm really proud.

I would have never thought something this beautiful

could be given birth to by my hand.

Alright, why don't you stick the sorbet on it and then we'll taste?

Yes.

There you go, Jenn. Thanks, Jenn.

We'll taste it now. Thank you so much. Nice one, Jenn.

Thank you. (GIGGLES)

The chocolate twigs are... pretty heavy.

Yeah, they're logs. Chocolate branches.

Yeah. Branches.

Lucky to be holding up, actually.

Couple of trees. Um... Oh. There you go.

The inside's quite nice.

Yeah.

I think she's done an absolutely amazing job.

Beautiful jasmine flavour through it.

I love that sorbet.

I mean, that in and of itself, had a great amount of acidity

to give it that lift and that refreshment.

I actually really like the way she treated the apples.

Even though they're slightly a bit too big,

they're actually not overcooked, the caramel apple.

The flavour's there, you can taste the caramelisation.

The apple blossom insert is delicious.

Super fragrant and light and bright.

The little tuile, the flavour is really nice.

The obvious - the twigs are quite big.

Things, though, like the twigs being a little bit too thick,

yes, it's a cosmetic thing but it's also about balance of flavour.

The chocolate's quite bitter and so when you get a little bit of that,

you really only need a small amount of it.

I think all in all, um, a really, really great effort.

And a pressure test when you've got a one-in-four chance,

nobody's safe, at the end of the day,

but if I look at it from a flavour perspective,

I'm super happy with it, so...

..it's not perfect but I still think she's in a strong position.

MAX: I'm not sure if I've replicated all the elements

enough to keep me safe today

but I've replicated them to the point that I'm happy with.

The thing that I'm most proud with on the plate

is that green apple sorbet.

I've done my absolute best, which is the only thing you can do here.

Hi, mate. Hello.

Max. Max.

Yay.

Take a seat.

And breathe. (LAUGHS)

So at the end of back-to-back pressure tests,

are you feeling more confident or less confident?

Um...

Yeah, it's a good question.

So it looks... I'm really happy with how I did.

There's obviously a bit of polish that comes with being a professional

and doing it countless times.

Flavour-wise, I was trying to reference

back to what I tried before the cook

and I'm really happy with the flavours.

Great. Thanks, Max. Thank you.

REYNOLD: I quite like the plating on this one actually.

Mm. It's nice and compact.

Everything's there. Yep.

Shall we break into it? Should we try it?

I think we should. Yeah. OK.

Um, the jasmine...

I don't really get that punchy kind of fragrance throughout.

It just tastes like...

Mm, cream. ..cream.

Other than that - the chocolate's nice and thin.

The sorbet is good.

I think some pluses and some minuses for me. Yeah.

The caramelisation on the apple, it's just really not there.

I thought from the visual,

you could already sort of tell

it wasn't quite as dark as it needed to be.

I like the flavour of the tuile but the texture is a little soft.

Yeah.

The impression was nice but, yeah, the texture was sort of missing.

And I think, Jock, as you mentioned

when we went to go and visit, you know,

it's the only element of crunch on the dish

and it is quite crucial that that texture is correct.

Sorbet was the highlight and it shouldn't be that way.

This ate like a dish that is -

you know when you have those dishes that is more style over content.

When you look and you go, "Oh, it's super fancy."

You eat it and it kind of doesn't taste of much.

It's one of those ones and I'm really left wanting more

throughout each element bar the sorbet.

Are we worried? I think we are.

I think we should be.

I mean, as far as the dishes go that we've tasted today,

that's the one that least resembles yours so far. Yeah.

In terms of flavour, definitely. I agree.

JENN: You've got this, Alvin.

I'm not happy.

It's such a visual dish.

You know, people have been sent home for less.

The only thing I can just bank on are my flavours

but I don't know whether it's enough to keep me in.

Alvin. Alvin.

JOCK: Alvin. ANDY: Alvin.

Do you wanna put the sorbet on? And then we'll taste.

There you go, guys.

Thank you, Alvin. MEL: Thank you.

REYNOLD: Thank you. Thanks, mate.

OK. Let's call a spade a spade -

she does not look like yours.

(CHUCKLES) I guess we should just...

..crack into it and taste it. Yep.

I'm genuinely surprised. It's delicious, it really is.

It's not meant to be a subtle dessert, it's meant to be... You're not subtle.

The flavour's meant to be, like, floral, fragrant,

taste the jasmine, taste the blossom, the caramel,

and then get that hit of refreshing apple, that's what he did.

The texture of the apple within each disc

had that really nice, sort of, you know, crunch to it.

Beautiful caramelisation, the caramelised apple,

beautiful freshness in the other cube.

And also, the texture of the jasmine mousse, it was light, it was airy.

The sorbet, the texture and the flavour was the closest to yours.

Flavours are...are amazing.

It just looked shocking.

It didn't look anything like yours.

Today, we tasked the four of you

with re-creating a dish by Reynold Poernomo.

Look, I didn't make today's pressure test easy, did I?

But I hope you all had fun and some of you actually really surprised me,

and of course, I really hope that you've learnt a thing or two.

Righto, gang, the good news is, two of you excelled today.

And are in no danger of going home.

John.

And...Jenn.

You're safe. Well done.

You can join the others. (APPLAUSE)

JOCK: Well done, Jenn.

Alvin, Max, obviously, it comes down to you two.

Alvin, your dish looked nothing like Reynold's. (CHUCKLES)

But today, you proved that looks can be deceiving

because it tasted delicious.

Max...

Although it looked very much like Reynold's dish...

..there wasn't enough finesse involved.

Both dishes left us wanting in different ways

but when it came to this,

we all agreed that taste trumps appearance.

And that's why, I'm sorry, Max, you're going home.

(EXHALES)

It's, um...

..been a long dream and...

..uh, thank you everyone for making me realise that dream

and thank you for having me. It's been...

Yeah, it's been incredible.

Mate, you've persevered to get here, you know?

We've seen you last year, you came back again this year,

you got through,

you've shown incredible perseverance and resilience

and that's gonna set you up in whatever you choose to do next, mate.

It's been a pleasure having you in the kitchen.

But for now, it's time to say goodbye, buddy.

Thank you very much.

I'm devastated to be leaving this early.

Being part of the MasterChef competition

has been a pipedream of mine for years.

The growth that I've had in my food over the last three, four years,

auditioning for the show,

only gets greater and greater.

Hugs and kisses.

(APPLAUSE)

Give it up for Max, everybody!

It's been a long road for me to get to my position in this competition,

and it hasn't been easy

but I couldn't be more pleased with where I am standing.

VOICEOVER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...

All the way from LA, it's Curtis Stone!

..a very special guest...

I have to admit, I had a bit of a crush on him last time. (CHUCKLES)

..rocks the MasterChef kitchen...

Let's go, guys.

..with a huge service challenge.

MEL: It's fast food versus fancy food.

WOMAN: I'm scared to think

of what they're gonna throw at us today.

Captions by Red Bee Media