Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Previously on Dessert Masters...

(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM)

..the kitchen was bubbling with excitement.

WOMAN: Yay!

MELISSA: We want you to make us a dish that celebrates bubbles.

So let your imagination run wild.

NARRATOR: And with a double elimination on the line...

CHRISTY: I'm gonna go big or go home.

..their dishes were mind-blowingly good.

WOMAN: Look at this!

AMAURY: There is a party in your mouth.

MELISSA: That was so much fun.

AMAURY: It's just perfectly crafted.

NARRATOR: But it was the end of the journey for Darren and Alisha.

It's been an absolute privilege to cook alongside you all, and...

..the future of pastry in this country is in safe hands.

Kill it, guys!

NARRATOR: Tonight...

..the plot thickens.

AMAURY: Are you ready?

NARRATOR: Who will be through to the grand finale

of Dessert Masters 2024?

Ooh! Oh! There's a book, Milsie.

Oh, it's the library.

The reading room's open.

JOHN: I was hoping I would make it this far, but I just

didn't know, uh, you know, when I saw the talent in the room.

I know that tonight, I just need to give my all.

I've come so far, but this is my last chance

to get into the grand finale.

Welcome to the semifinal of Dessert Masters 2024!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHTER)

Before we get to the story behind this enchanting display,

just take a second to appreciate this moment,

because you have well and truly earned it.

Kilograms of sugar, litres of cream,

plenty of chocolate and a couple of tears.

(LAUGHS)

All of that has led you to be here tonight.

You are five of the most talented pastry chefs in the country.

Now...

..it comes down to this.

This cook is the gateway to the grand finale.

(EXHALES)

Christy, what have you proved to yourself?

That...

..I still got it, that I still can do it.

You know, like, you can...

..you can be a mum,

you can be a mum again and again

and still come back and probably

become a better version of yourself.

For God's sake. (LAUGHS)

Oh.

(BOTH LAUGH)

Jana.

You came so close to winning the Coupe du Monde. Yeah.

Does that drive you to get to the finale even more?

It always drives me.

When I'm that close...

..I always want more. (LAUGHS)

Well...Amaury, it's time to hit the books.

Let's get this semifinal started, shall we?

Let's do it.

The five of you are so unique.

We know each of you have stories to tell.

And tonight, we want to hear them and taste them.

Bring us a collection of desserts

that when eaten all together tells a story,

one with a tasty beginning, middle and end.

That's right.

We want you to bring us three dishes.

(CHRISTY SIGHS)

(LAUGHS)

It could be based on a personal experience

or your favourite fairytale.

The only limit is your imagination.

We're giving you three and a half hours.

Three dishes in three and a half hours sounds like...a lot to do,

but at the same time, that crazy in me is kind of saying,

"Ooh - maybe I can do this, maybe I can do that,"

and kind of building up what I can do in my head.

AMAURY: The three of you who impresses the most

will win a spot in the grand finale.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Mel, should we do this? (LAUGHS) Let's do it.

This is the semifinal.

Hit us with your best plot.

Your time starts now!

Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God, it's real. Open sesame.

It's real, everyone.

Wow. What am I making?

What am I...what am I doing? I don't know.

Behind you. (LAUGHS)

CHRISTY: Super-ripe. Me lovey.

Coming to Dessert Masters has been a rediscovery of who I am

till tonight's cook.

So I think it's only fitting for me to tell the story

of how I become a pastry chef.

Alright. Check this out.

How I have to move to three different countries

to land myself here a spot in Australia, Dessert Master.

I think that will be an interesting story to tell.

Amaury, we finally made it. It's semifinals time.

AMAURY: I think this is one of the biggest challenge we've set so far.

They have three and a half hours and three dish to make.

I'm very excited to know what they have to tell us

with those three dishes.

MELISSA: Yeah.

Do you think it will be something more personal

or they will pick their favourite fairytale?

I wonder.

I mean, I think that that's the beauty of the brief,

is that you could tell us about a fairytale,

your favourite childhood story,

or it could be a story about who they were and who they are now.

Either way, we still get a glimpse into who they are.

JANA: I feel that the...the...

..the crying gods are... (LAUGHS)

..touching me right now, so, yeah.

Yeah, I have a lot of emotions. (LAUGHS)

I'm gonna put it all in today.

I grew up being quite a closed-off person,

like, not wanting to show that side of me,

but I felt like expressing myself through my pastry

has been kind of that little door open to really showing who I am.

And this is why telling my story is really important.

Put it like that.

Hey, Jana. Hello.

MELISSA: I'm seeing a lot of coconut-related,

uh, activity on your bench and some lime.

JANA: Yeah.

That's already making me salivate, 'cause the smell is beautiful.

(LAUGHS) MELISSA: Tell us, what's your story?

So I am creating three different dishes today.

This is based on the story of my parents.

The reason why I am here today is because of them,

and this is my way of showing my appreciation

for everything that they've had to give up

and everything that I have today.

Emotions are running high in this kitchen tonight.

So... It's already started. MELISSA: Yeah.

So my first dish is based on the flavours that I remember

my mum making when I was younger,

so that comes from her country.

It's called East Timor.

Basically, she used to make this...

..glutinous kind of cake, steamed cake.

Yeah.

So I wanted to do my own version of it.

So I'm doing a sago pudding, um... MELISSA: Yeah.

(SNIFFS) ..dessert with a big slap of coconut.

(LAUGHS) Amazing. Well, we love coconut.

Mm-hm. So I think that that's wonderful. JANA: Yep.

So my next dish is based on... because they were refugees,

and so they kind of

went around to different countries, and one of them was Portugal,

and so I'm taking something that is really emblematic of Portugal,

so I'm working on my version of pastel de nata,

which is a custard, inside filo pastry, which I love.

Yeah? Wow. (JANA LAUGHS)

And the last country which they went to was Australia. (LAUGHS)

And so taking a bit of my French training infused in

with what is typically Australian, which is the pavlova,

but in the form similar to a mille-feuille,

with different layers, which make up a pavlova mille-feuille. (LAUGHS)

But for me, it's a beautiful story,

and I really can't wait to see it on your plate.

Yeah. JANA: Thank you. Alright.

Thank you. Thanks. You've got this.

(SNIFFS)

(SNIFFS)

(LAUGHS)

MELISSA: I know that these dishes mean a lot to you,

and we've seen you bounce back time and time again.

So you can do this. (LAUGHS)

OK? I will get it done.

Right. Thank you.

AMAURY: Whoa, whoa, whoa!

What is John doing? Pumpkin John!

AMAURY: (LAUGHS) What is he doing? (LAUGHS)

Oh.

Big pumpkin. Really big pumpkin.

JOHN: I'm gonna call my dishes Fairest of Them All.

So Snow-White-inspired today.

My strategy throughout the competition

is to embrace every brief,

uh, with a different side of pastry.

Uh...

EMELIA: Making your own mochi? Interesting.

Yeah, dog.

"Yeah, dog." (LAUGHS)

I really want to show different sides of technique and of myself.

First dish I'm gonna do is, uh, from an early scene

in the film, where she makes, uh, soup

for the seven dwarfs, so I'm gonna do, uh,

soup with a fairytale pumpkin here.

It's gonna have a whipped cinnamon caramel in the centre,

and that's gonna be topped with, uh, white chocolate flames

to resemble the cauldron where the soup is made.

I'll have the "seven dwarfs" around, which is actually

tonka-bean-and-bitter-grapefruit ice cream,

wrapped in a mochi shell.

And then we'll pour a pumpkin-and-grapefruit consomme

in front of the judges.

The next dish, uh, she cooked a gooseberry pie.

So I'm gonna do a refined version of that.

And then I'm gonna finish with the poison apple.

It's a Caramelia chocolate cremeux, sitting on a cinnamon biscuit.

Gonna have an apple sorbet

and then a glass sugar apple.

# Hi-ho, hi-ho

# Off to work we go... #

The scariest technical ability

is the sugar dome for sure,

so I need to make sure I'm in a good spot before I start blowing sugar.

Sweating. (LAUGHS)

Three into the finale

and three hours to go.

(APPLAUSE)

That was quick.

Oh, John.

Don't kill me.

# The final countdown... #

Wait. What?

Is he cutting potatoes?

That's weird.

I'm interested to know what the story is.

REECE: Today, I really would love to tell the story

of my history here at MasterChef.

So I'm doing three dishes today.

They're a reflection of, like,

the highs that I had here.

I've made all of these dishes on MasterChef previously,

but one thing I've always, like, kind of...

..thought about when I was here is,

I just didn't feel like they were super-refined.

This time, I want to show you that

not only my stuff is quite delicious

but it can be super-refined.

Hey, Reece. Hey, guys.

How are you?

What story are you telling us tonight?

So the first dessert's going to be, um, a play on

the first dish I ever made here, which was splattered on the plate.

Um, I'd love to re-create that in, like, a more sophisticated way.

Um, the second dish I want to make is a rum baba,

um, which I made for Katy Perry, um...

Oh, I love rum baba, so... Yeah, me too.

And then the final dish is a...um...

..I called it at the time... I'm not sure if you remember.

It was called a Potato Stack.

Um... I remember.

It's textures of potato. Um...

A potato? In a dessert? Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

I've never seen this before.

Well, Mel, I'm just gonna read you a little passage

of my favourite book, French Grammar.

OK. (READS IN FRENCH)

It means literally nothing.

Honestly, grammar is boring in any language. (LAUGHS)

CHRISTY: Ooh, good.

REECE: Let's cut this.

EMELIA: I'm pretty stressed about the time.

Three and a half hours, it's super-tight,

um, not a lot of time for three dishes,

so I'm trying to really work with as much clarity as I can.

I don't want to make any mistakes.

So my story today is

kind of about how this kitchen really shaped and moulded me.

I really want to pay homage to how much I've grown and evolved

in this kitchen.

So the beginning of my story is based off

the first thing I ever cooked back in 2014.

I want to get up there and cook and show them what I can do

so that I can get my own apron.

Right. Hello.

Hello. Is that a panna cotta?

EMELIA: That IS a panna cotta, George.

A de-moulded panna cotta.

And that's the way I like my panna cottas.

EMELIA: And that was a lemon panna cotta with bay leaf.

And it just had a lot of elements in it,

so I'm refining it today, I'm pulling it all back,

to do a little lemon-and-bay petit gateau,

really simplified and a lot more of who I am today.

Next.

Financiers.

The second is a hazelnut financier, which is my Back to Win chapter.

And then the third element in my story is about where I'm at now.

Um, I do lots of baking at home with my babies. Lots of cookies are made.

So I'm actually making a cookie.

I want this to be elegant and refined

and really represent who I am today and what I love making.

I'm very inspired by the books. I think I'm gonna write a poem today.

My poem is going to be really the tie

that brings these three petit fours together.

Happy.

Whoo!

I'm absolutely buzzing.

In the semifinal. I can't believe it.

# Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh... #

But only three of us are gonna be through to the grand finale.

I don't want to go home.

(LAUGHS) Yeah, I know. I can taste the grand final.

Um...I've never achieved anything like this, so I...

..I really... I really want to make it through.

It's definitely been intimidating, you know,

being in here with such big names.

These are people I've been following for years.

Emelia and Reece are playing this really humble game, like,

"Oh, I'm just a home cook,"

but actually absolute weapons.

What Jana's doing over in Paris is, like... (LAUGHS) ..I can't...

..I couldn't even imagine doing things like that.

And Christy, all the success she's had in Melbourne.

And, you know, I'm just, like, the little guy from Melbourne. (LAUGHS)

# Hi-ho, hi-ho

# Skippa-dippa-dip-ba-bo

# Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, duppi-dup... #

Hey, John. JOHN: Hello.

Is this how you work out, John?

Pumpkin lifter? (LAUGHS) Exactly.

MELISSA: What's going on?

What story are you telling us? I'm gonna tell Snow White.

Snow White? Ooh! Snow White. Yeah.

MELISSA: We all know Snow White as a story.

What are the dishes?

First scene with food, she cooks the dwarfs soup,

so I'm gonna symbolise, uh, the dwarfs running to the cauldron.

I've got my pumpkin consomme cooked and cooling.

I've got, uh, two types of ice cream that symbolise the seven dwarfs.

What's the next dish? The next dish.

She cooked a gooseberry pie.

So I'm gonna do a refined gooseberry tart.

MELISSA: Nice. JOHN: And I'm gonna use, uh, Cape gooseberries.

And then... AMAURY: Third and last?

The last, the poison apple, of course.

It's gonna be...it's gonna be, uh,

like, caramel-and-apple ice cream...

Yep. ..with a little bit of sourness...

MELISSA: Nice. ..and then a glass sugar apple on top.

OK, so you're inflating sugar? Nice. Yes.

AMAURY: So that's...that's the last aspect of you we haven't seen.

Yeah. AMAURY: It's Sugar John.

Sugar John. MELISSA: Sugar John.

JOHN: To be honest,

biting this off in the semifinal is such a big risk.

But I know if I can pull this off,

I'm gonna have a really great chance of being in the grand finale.

Bring us a story we can't put down. Two hours and 30 minutes to go!

(APPLAUSE)

Feel like I'm working on five different things at once, but...

..I'm working on my rum baba for my second dish.

I'm trying to get the potato infused to the milk for my third dessert,

and then...my first dessert has a frozen element,

so I'm working on that at the moment.

The first dish I'm making today is called the Splat.

This version is a mandarin chiboust which has a macadamia crumb,

a beetroot caramel and a mandarin granita.

I finished off my frozen element. It still needs to be decorated.

I've done my caramel, granita's freezing, so, like...

..first one's cold, second one's a hot dish.

And the second dish I'll be making is my rum baba.

The elements will be my rum-soaked hot baba

with a hot chocolate mousse and a beautiful creme fraiche cream.

Hey, Reece. Hey. How are you?

Tell me, what did Katy Perry thought of your rum baba?

She had a little dance and, um, made some origami.

Reece, this makes me feel like this.

(LAUGHTER)

You're the tits, Reece.

(LAUGHTER)

Will you be the tits tonight?

You're the judge of that. (LAUGHS)

Let's hope so. I hope so.

Go, Johnny. Whoo!

CHRISTY: I love those.

Whoo!

Hi, Christy. Hello, guys.

Dying to know, what are you cooking this evening?

I'm taking you in Christy's adventures around the world...

MELISSA: Love it. ..in three desserts.

Cheaper than a plane ticket. Fantastic.

Yeah. What's the first dish?

So the first dish is gonna be an Indonesian dish,

inspired by a treat...dessert called es campur.

I'm gonna sort of put it into, like, a petit gateau form.

It should have all of the components that you get - you have the fermented cassava, you have the

avocado,

you have the jackfruit, you have the gula jawa,

which is the pure coconut, sago, and a little bit of jelly in a coconut mousse.

Like, I've got my passport out. Where are we heading next?

The next will be France.

So, I'm gonna pull a Mont Blanc.

Very traditional French dessert.

It comprises of a crunchy meringue shell,

vanilla Chantilly cream with chestnut cremeux.

And this is sort of my take on it.

Yeah. Yeah.

This is the first dish that I was trusted, and trusted in,

when I was working at the Ritz.

I'm really looking forward to this because it is

one of my favourite French traditional dessert.

OK. Yeah. Where are we going next?

Uh...we're going to Australia. Let me guess. Lamington.

Yeah.

Your take on the lamington. Ooh! My take on lamington.

For real? For real. No!

Yeah! I...I swear I guessed it.

Boom!

If I can make my Australian husband fall in love with my lamington,

I hope I can make you fall in love...

MELISSA: OK. ..with my lamington as well.

Thanks so much, guys. Good luck, Christy. Thank you.

It would mean a lot for my family if I could survive tonight's cook

and go to the grand finale.

It justifies all the hardships that we've done together as a family.

If I could win the Dessert Master,

it would mean absolutely the world for me.

It just, like, reset everything.

It, like, brings back the Christy who just started this 15 years ago,

that, like...I want to go back to that little girl and said...

.."You can do it."

Don't let this be the final chapter.

One and a half hours to go!

(APPLAUSE) Whoo!

EMELIA: How you going, John?

Yeah. Not bad. (LAUGHS)

You? Yeah, good.

I've got my pie elements ready to go,

cheesecakes and all my pastries ready.

I'm about to move on to the sugar work.

I need to take a deep breath here.

(SIGHS)

In the pastry world,

the poison apple in Snow White is really iconic.

Just checking the temperature here.

Ah, the old finger test.

I have a really high standard that I want to produce.

Sugar John really needs to come out and fight

to make it to the grand finale.

It's looking good, but I know this is make-or-break.

This was a disaster.

This is the hero item of my story today.

I need this to get through to the grand finale. I know that.

John? What's going on? Hi, Chef.

Uh...making a nice polished sugar apple.

(TRILLS LIPS)

Without that sugar apple, you have no dessert, right?

I have no dessert. No third pastry?

That's right.

You got this, John.

JOHN: Time is slipping away now.

It's starting to get the best of me.

I'm feeling really frantic.

But I need to snap out of it.

I need...get my head in the game, calm down and breathe

and really get this done.

Wow. They're really going for it.

Of course, there's this underline of wanting to go to the grand finale,

but I think before anything, they really want to tell us the story.

MELISSA: I think by telling us those stories

that are so near and dear to them and who they are,

there's so much emotion spilling out of the books onto the benchtops.

The one that gets me the most is Jana's.

MELISSA: Yeah.

AMAURY: Doing an ode to your parents who self-sacrifice their whole life.

MELISSA: I think that really, if she can draw on that emotion, it's gonna

bring out some beautiful dishes in her.

JANA: Right now, I'm working on my third dish, which is pavlova.

I've got the meringue inside the oven.

And I'm going to make my passionfruit-mango-and-yuzu curd,

which is gonna be a layer in my pavlova as well.

I'm thinking about Christy and...

..the similar story of...of travelling around the world and...

..becoming who she is through that growth, of being born in Indonesia

and then going to France and...

..you know, and learning to become a pastry chef there,

before coming to Australia and... and falling in love with

this incredible country.

CHRISTY: This is gonna be the base of my lamington.

It is not the ordinary lamington.

I'm gonna soak it with, uh, coconut panna cotta

and raspberry jelly.

I know you've been a big part of Emelia's story.

I cannot wait to see how it translates into the plate.

MELISSA: She has had this relationship with this kitchen

over a decade,

and in that time, she has discovered who she is as a creative,

and she's still discovering who she is now as a mother.

EMELIA: It's cookie time, third dish.

I'm making, um, little chocolate sables,

like a bitter chocolate short cookie, really thin.

I'm gonna sandwich it with a passionfruit pate de fruits,

and then, um, I'm gonna pipe around it a tonka bean ganache.

I'm also really excited to see what you think of Reece's potato dish.

AMAURY: It's super-uncommon.

I mean, it's something that do not belong in the realms of sweet.

So...I'm excited to see

how he incorporates it and translate and read perfectly sweet.

REECE: I'm working on three dishes at the same time, so...

..I finished off my mandarin frozen chiboust.

What am I doing?

Rum baba. I want to soak one.

I just grabbed my rum babas out of the oven. They look so good.

I'm really happy with them.

I'm just gonna let them soak in a rum syrup.

So I'm just trying to...

..juggle.

It is chaos in this kitchen at the moment. It's really manic.

Oh, my God.

There's a lot to do -

like, a lot to do.

Working on, um, the potato cream now.

The third dish I'll be creating tonight is a potato dessert.

It's the last dessert I ever made on MasterChef,

which got really amazing feedback and gave me a lot of confidence.

I call it, like, a Potato Stack.

Some fried potato.

Underneath that is a potato creme,

a raspberry granita.

There's a little bit of beetroot in there.

And on top of it is a smoked salted chocolate ice cream.

I want to re-create that today

in the most elegant way.

Instead of using potato chips,

which I made by, like, mandolin potatoes and cooking them,

I'm making wafers myself from scratch.

Um, I'm making a really beautiful creme diplomat with potato,

um, and I'm going to, um,

try and bring life to it by adding ginger

and, um, rosemary to the dish,

so it enhances the flavours of the dessert

but doesn't, like, taste like potato.

Things are getting serious in here.

30 minutes to go!

(APPLAUSE)

CHRISTY: That's...really flies, man.

Before doing the lamington,

my sponge is done, I...I take it out of the oven.

Oh, my God.

And...

..ah... (SIGHS) ..it's just too thin.

Oh, shit.

It's not going to be able to absorb all the coconut panna cotta.

It's gonna taste like biscuit, not gonna taste like sponge.

Sorry, guys.

I'm just gonna put it here.

I...I cannot fix this.

I really need this to be able to tell my Australian story.

I have no other choice. I just have to redo it.

I'm not feeling good about that, but...

..that's what we do as chef.

We fix...we fix things. We fix things.

Feeling very stressed.

I'm blowing sugar for my glass sugar apple.

And it's not working.

They're just collapsing in my hand.

And I'm starting to get really on edge here.

If I don't absolutely nail this apple,

it's gonna cost me my ticket to the grand finale.

Look at this.

There you go.

Boom!

Now you can smile.

JOHN: Took me a while to warm up,

uh, but I got there in the end, so...

..happy now. (LAUGHS)

I feel like I'm OK. I haven't really stopped to think about it.

But I...I think that's OK.

I start to assemble my...

..mille-feuille pavlova,

and the layers are looking great.

What is missing, though,

is something which is gonna really bring it all together.

For the three dishes,

I'm currently working on a little plate for my desserts to sit on.

I'm going to create a wave out of sugar. (LAUGHS)

Why I've picked a wave is because, in my parents' journey,

what connected all these countries was...

..water.

Water has a lot of meaning to me.

It's continuous.

It is always moving.

And it's, like, renewal.

And I feel like this represents exactly what they have been through.

I need to curve my plate,

and...which I need to take off right now.

And then I need to...

Ooh! Doesn't want to come off.

I slowly go in to pull it,

and I suddenly realise...

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

..it's solidified.

And as I'm pulling it...

(SNAPPING)

..snap.

(SNAPPING)

(SIGHS)

(SNIFFS)

(SNIFFS)

(SNAPPING)

JANA: There is less than 15 minutes to go

and I've shattered my sugar wave.

(SNAPPING)

I'm feeling bewildered.

Don't let it shake you.

Don't let it shake you. Alright?

OK. Just keep going strong. OK, cool.

If you need to, just take a moment and breathe.

Yep. Yep?

(SIGHS) Yep.

This is really all-or-nothing.

You can do this. OK? (LAUGHS) I can do this.

OK.

I just need to make it again.

The plate is essential in my dish

because it brings together the desserts

in the way that will tell my story.

My parents deserve that.

It's up to you how this story ends!

10 minutes to go!

AMAURY: Come on, guys! (APPLAUSE)

Oh, my goodness.

CHRISTY: OK.

Run, run, run, run, run, Christy!

EMELIA: I'm at the stage

where I'm about to assemble my first little lemon cake.

OK.

I didn't even frost.

I DO think it's much better than my first time here.

(LAUGHS) So good.

24-year-old me would be very proud.

Now it's time to dip my financiers in the Rocher chocolate.

I'll finish it with a whipped praline ganache

and some tempered chocolate garnish.

And then I'm going to pipe a tonka bean ganache

into my final dish, my chocolate tonka passionfruit cookie.

This is the time. This is the moment.

Yes. (EMELIA LAUGHS)

AMAURY: Damn.

Damn, girl. AMAURY: Damn, girl.

I'm so excited to read my poem to the judges,

'cause I feel like it brings it all together.

It tells my story.

Oh, now you decide to be OK.

I take my second sponge out.

It's looking good.

I'm, like, "Oh!"

This huge sigh of relief.

This is the sponge how I want it.

I'm glad I redid it again.

Uh...

..now I just have to assemble them.

To build my lamington, I pour a coconut panna cotta on it

and top with the raspberry jam

and just keep repeating the layer

until I got the size that I want.

I'm finishing my lamington right now.

Considering that...

..I have to redo my sponge,

um...it came out nice,

so the decision to redo it again

was absolutely a good decision.

Three minutes to go! Allez, allez, allez!

(APPLAUSE)

Whoo! AMAURY: Come on, guys!

JOHN: I've tasted the pumpkin soup.

Seasoning is perfect.

I've got my ice cream dwarfs around the cauldron.

It's how I pictured it, so I hope it's enough to get me through.

For my gooseberry tart,

managed to write, uh, 'Amaury' and 'Mel' on the plate, so,

hopefully, that's a nice touch.

I did manage to get everything done.

It was just, uh...

..a lot more stressful than I expected. (LAUGHS)

I've just put the sugar apple on.

It looks amazing.

Book yourself a one-way ticket to the grand finale! One minute to go!

(APPLAUSE)

JANA: The very last minute is just a...

..I...I can't even explain it.

It's like...it's like a hurricane has just, like, run through.

(SIGHS)

I've had to redo my wave.

It's looking great.

I gave it all I had.

Time's up in 10...

MELISSA AND AMAURY: ..nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four, three,

two, one!

AMAURY: Time's up!

(APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHS)

Look how dirty I am.

I love you. I love you too.

You're amazing.

REECE: I'm really happy with all the elements.

They're flavours that I know and I trust,

and it probably isn't, like,

a really French thing

to put vegetables in desserts, but...um,

I'm excited for Amaury to try it.

CHRISTY: They're all my favourite desserts.

It's just that I have never done three of them

in three and a half hours.

So...I'm happy with my dishes.

Those dishes tell the story that I would like to tell.

I just hope they are enough to put me to the grand finale.

AMAURY: Hey, John. Hello.

MELISSA: Wow.

(WHISTLES)

MELISSA: John. Tell us a story.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

So...first scene in the film,

the seven dwarfs gather around, uh, the cauldron...

..and enjoy soup

Snow White has prepared for them.

This is a pumpkin consomme,

bitter grapefruit ice cream, in mochi, white chocolate flames.

Second food scene of the film -

she bakes a gooseberry pie.

The almond sweet paste,

uh, candied Cape gooseberries down the bottom,

and green, uh, kiwi,

uh, as they used to be known, Chinese gooseberries.

And she writes 'Grumpy' on top.

So I didn't want to call anyone grumpy.

(MELISSA LAUGHS)

JOHN: So... Wise. (JOHN LAUGHS)

(CLEARS THROAT)

And then, of course... MELISSA: (GASPS) Wow!

..to symbolise the evil queen...

..the apple.

It's cooked Granny Smith apples and made an ice cream,

caramel chocolate cremeux and, uh, the glass apple.

MELISSA: You...have this

really affable, kind of bashful demeanour about you,

but I know behind that is someone

who has such a strong sense of conviction and killer instinct.

JOHN: I think you're absolutely correct.

The fun part of it is what's...

..the glory of it, I guess, but...

..it's hard work, and it's dedication and discipline and...

..sacrifice

and long days and long nights.

Could you see yourself lifting that trophy on grand finale evening?

I would love to be lifting that trophy.

MELISSA: Yeah.

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, John.

Ready?

Yes.

MELISSA: It's so thin. AMAURY: Mm-hm.

That's what you want with sugar.

This is a real dessert with character.

Starting with the first one.

I love the chewiness of the mochi

that surrounds perfectly the ice cream.

The consomme, the little soup on the bottom, is just right.

I love that he's really hitting us with so many different texture,

finishing by the tuile.

Perfect, thin, snappy, crunchy.

The tart, that was playing the role of the pie,

I thought was utterly charming.

So you see the two layers of the golden and the regular kiwi

that are masking that lovely cheesecake beneath it,

which was airy but rich at the same time.

And the crown jewel,

the sugar apple, the deadly apple.

MELISSA: I'm not that surprised that that apple

looked the way that it did, because he dedicated

a huge amount of real estate during the cook

to getting that particular part perfect.

He made the right choices at the right time

to give us a series of dishes

that I can find zero fault in.

This is, uh, elevated, and it takes...

..it takes a little bit of thinking to actually appreciate it,

but it's completely flawless.

Feel like I got the world's biggest tray. (LAUGHS)

You do. (LAUGHS)

Reece, what's the story?

REECE: This is the story of my time on MasterChef.

The first dish here is the first dish I ever made

on MasterChef in 2018.

I called it the Splat dessert.

Um, here is the dish that I made for Katy Perry.

(MELISSA LAUGHS) REECE: Um, it's my rum baba.

Then we finish with the Potato Stack.

The whole point of me wanting to create this today is to

show to you guys that

every element of what I've done before may have been great,

I just didn't have the skill or the vision to plate.

OK. I think we'll taste. REECE: Thanks, guys. AMAURY: Thank you so much, Reece.

Enjoy. MELISSA: Thank you.

AMAURY: Do you want to do one, I do the other one?

MELISSA: Sure.

AMAURY: Oh!

Oh.

Where...uh, is it missing...

..the syrup?

Like, is it missing the soak?

AMAURY: A rum baba, you should be able to go through it

with no resistance.

MELISSA: Oh. (SIGHS)

Maybe some of the pressure of the semifinal has gotten to Reece,

because I can taste it in every single dish,

and I'm heartbroken for him.

We'll start off with the chiboust and the granita.

I feel like there are just too many sweet and savoury elements competing,

and they haven't been tamed quite so successfully.

Moving on to the rum baba.

I remember it to be syrupy, generous,

and I'm not getting that here.

All the alveol within the sponge should be gorged with syrup.

It should be rich. Yeah.

It should be strong in flavour.

There is no flavour.

MELISSA: And then... (SIGHS)

..the potato dessert.

The potato tuiles are soft.

It's like a soft meringue.

It wilts under the touch of the cutlery.

The other dominating factor in this dish is the ginger,

which is sharp, and it's...

..definitely present.

It's so present, in fact, I can barely taste potato at all.

NARRATOR: Don't miss a delicious moment of Dessert Masters.

Watch full episodes on 10 play now.

MELISSA: Wow.

Let's start with the story of this dish.

This is the journey of my parents

as refugees.

So the first dish

is a representation of something that my mum got from East Timor

which she still makes for us.

It is a sago pudding.

So from East Timor, where do we travel next?

(LAUGHS) We're travelling to Portugal.

I am revisiting the pastel de nata.

From Portugal, we're taking a little voyage to Australia,

where they've been for more than 40 years.

I've decided to revisit the pavlova with layers of coconut mousse,

mango-and-passionfruit cremeux and meringue.

Thank you so much. AMAURY: Thank you, Jana. Thanks for this opportunity.

Thank you.

AMAURY: I love the transparency and the curve on the sugar display.

MELISSA: I am almost glad she broke it to remake it,

because I think the complexity in the colours melding together...

Mm-hm. ..gives almost a more dramatic...

Yeah. An extra dimension. ..kind of effect.

Mmm.

What I love about these dishes the most

is that they feel

so much warmer, so much more personal,

than a lot of the desserts we've seen from Jana.

Starting off with East Timor, with the sago pudding,

it's just a celebration of coconut

in many textures and in many, many layers.

Moving on to Portugal, that custard is really silky. It's really rich.

I think the orange gives a really lovely dimension to...

..to the custard itself.

The Australian dessert, the emblematic pavlova,

is definitely the freshest out of them all.

The meringue, because of the shape and the thickness,

it's perfectly dry at core, but...

..I think the pastel de nata is a bit on the sweet side.

MELISSA: Yeah.

Hey, Emelia. EMELIA: Hello.

AMAURY: What's the name of your story?

The name of my story is A Poem of Petit Fours.

So the first is the lemon and bay leaf,

and it is a gentle nod to the very first dish I ever cooked

in the MasterChef kitchen.

The second is my hazelnut financier

with a whipped hazelnut praline ganache,

and that is a nod to my time during Back to Win.

And then the third is the...

..passionfruit-and-tonka cookies.

And it represents...

(EMOTIONALLY) ..me now.

I feel like...

..a bit of a poetry recital.

What do you say? (CLEARS THROAT)

(LAUGHS) (SNIFFS) OK.

(READS) This is the story of a little girl

who dreamed of becoming a pastry chef.

Life had other plans, so MasterChef came next.

Then wedding cakes came singing.

"Raspberry, white chocolate," said the bride.

But something was missing. She wasn't filled with pride.

So she went back to win. She practised and found her groove.

She timed it so perfectly, making her next big move.

This is the story of a young woman

who dreamed of becoming a pastry chef.

(SNIFFS)

And while her training was lacking, she put it to the test.

(SNIFFS) So she took on the titans,

she went swinging with punches,

in the hopes she could join them and impress the judges.

(SNIFFS)

This is the story of a young mother of two,

showing her babies nothing can stop you.

Love it. EMELIA: Thanks.

We can't wait to taste this. Thank you so much.

Thank you. MELISSA: Thank you. Enjoy.

Bro. Mmm.

It's so fantastic. (LAUGHS)

This is so good.

Mmm.

Starting with the lemon mignardises.

The sable is baked to perfection.

You see the colour here.

It has the perfect snap, the perfect bite on it.

The lemon mousse is so soft.

You...you can feel it when you bite into it.

It's like biting into a little cloud.

The hazelnut financier is so rich yet so light.

The flavours is so straightforward.

I really, really like it.

My favourite has to be the last one.

Often, pates de fruits are very sweet,

uh, but this has just the perfect texture, and it pairs so well

with the tonka whipped ganache and the crunch from the chocolate sable.

I mean...home run.

She did it.

I feel so lucky to have met Emelia a couple of years ago,

and even then, she was impressive.

There are dishes that I can never get out of my mind.

Those dishes have a new set of friends.

Because these are unforgettable.

Go, Christy.

CHRISTY: I'm happy with my dishes, so...

..if this is going to be my last cook, I'm going out

literally putting my heart on a plate.

CHRISTY: Hi.

What do we have here? Whoa!

AMAURY: Nice.

MELISSA: Wow.

AMAURY: I would love to hear this story.

CHRISTY: This is my story from Indonesia to France to Australia,

but I would like you to have it backward.

I'd like you to have the lamington first, because

that's the person you know.

Then I want you to move to the Mont Blanc,

because that's the Christy that was still very guarded,

by technique, by flavour.

Comprises of the chestnut,

Chantilly, meringue and blackcurrant,

and to finish it with Indonesia, actually,

because that's the person you probably have never met.

It is where I started, the...the curious little girl,

who wants to see what she can be in the world of...

..sweet, yeah.

It's basically a coco pandan mousse.

I have a caramelised jackfruit with mango,

avocado and fermented cassava cream,

and on top of it, I have a coconut/pandan jelly fill.

Thank you very much, Christy. CHRISTY: Thank you.

We'll taste. AMAURY: Thank you, Christy. Thank you.

MELISSA: Ooh.

Talk about sexy.

Look at it dance.

(LAUGHS)

(WHISTLES)

This is very sexy as well.

MELISSA: Mmm.

I rather enjoyed

getting to know Christy through her dishes.

That is...

..an A++ lamington.

It's an unmistakable flavour profile,

it makes me proud to be Australian,

and it was a fantastic way to start.

Moving to Paris, as a Mont Blanc lover,

this one did not disappoint.

It is everything I love about Mont Blanc.

The texture are all soft and creamy.

The meringue shell is perfectly baked,

the blackcurrant, with the acidity of balance,

the richness of all the elements -

this is a very well executed Mont Blanc.

MELISSA: And then to Indonesia, the es campur.

It's just a dish of textures.

It's also a dish of unapologetic tropical aromas.

And I...I think it's a lovely glimpse into

who Christy was when this all began for her.

Her love of sweets is very obvious in a dish like this.

That semifinal was one for the history books.

Those dishes were a window into who you are as chefs and as people.

And we loved what we saw.

For three of you,

the next time you set foot in this kitchen,

it will be the grand finale.

Amaury and I have made our decision.

AMAURY: The three of you

going to the grand finale of Dessert Master 2024 are...

..Emelia... (LAUGHS)

..John...

(APPLAUSE) Thank you very much.

..and...

..Christy!

(APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHS)

Reece, our Cakeboi.

Every time you enter this kitchen, you leave an even better cook.

How are you feeling?

Really honoured that I got to show off a lot of stuff

that I like to make and what I like to do back home.

Of course, like, to work with you guys has been...

..a dream, and...

..these people, like, they already know what...

..they mean to me - like...

..I've had such a blast.

Jana.

You are a force to be reckoned with.

You've proven that in every single cook.

Your parents must be so proud of what you've achieved...

They would be. ..in this kitchen, and outside of it. Mm-hm.

And so are we. JANA: Thank you so much.

I think I've cried enough tears today.

(LAUGHTER)

But, um... it was an amazing experience.

I took so much away from it, from all these people,

some awesome friendships as well,

and I can't wait to see the final.

(LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)

JANA: My cup feels full... (LAUGHS) ..after this competition.

I'm very proud with what I've done.

And I believe that I have really represented myself

to the best that I know how.

Emelia. John.

Christy.

You three are not here by accident.

All of you produced epic dessert trilogies we could not put down.

The next time you set foot in this kitchen,

one of you will be named Australia's next Dessert Master!

I can't believe it. I've done it. I'm in the grand finale.

(SIGHS) Can you believe it? (BOTH LAUGH)

JOHN: This is right up there

with some of my biggest career achievements.

I know both Emelia and Christy are absolute weapons in the kitchen,

their flavours are spot-on, so...

..this is gonna be the toughest cook I've done yet.

NARRATOR: Next time on Dessert Masters...

EMELIA: As far as grand finales go,

this is the biggest.

..a massive finale...

MELISSA: Adriano Zumbo, Kirsten Tibballs

and our Dessert Master, Gareth Whitton!

..inspired by iconic Australian colours...

I never used this technique before.

JOHN: Taken a big risk here.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh!

My green dish is a total flop.

WOMAN: Don't stress. You're amazing.

..will have our cooks...

Wow.

..going for gold.

AMAURY: It is so stunning.

MELISSA: I can't stop smiling. It's so good.

AMAURY: It's definitely grand-finale-worthy.

NARRATOR: Who will be crowned

Australia's next Dessert Master?

Captions by Red Bee Media