MasterChef Australia Season 15 Episode 11 Review: After anticipating for months, the show premiered its fifteenth season with wonderful home cooks ready to win the grand title. On the judge’s panel, we have the previous season’s professional chefs, Andy Allen, Melissa Leong, and late Jock Zonfrillo, back on the set to taste and deliver excellent critics. Surprisingly, it doesn’t stop with them because other professionals like Jamie Oliver will also be making cameos to test the contestants with their best.
The participating contestants are Adi Nevgi, Alice Han, Amy Tanner, Andrea Puglisi, Antonio Cruz Vaamonde, Brent Draper, Cath Collins, Declan Cleary, Grace Jupp, Jessica Perri, Larissa Sewell, Malissa Fedele, Phil Conway, Ralph Kahango, Rhiannon Anderson, Robbie Cooper, Rue Mupedzi and Theo Loizou.
– Disney+ Hotstar’s MasterChef Australia Season 15 Episode 11 Review Contains Spoilers –
The contestants as usual gathered in the big kitchen where they saw a huge mystery box. As much as they were excited, so was I. When Melissa Leong cracked it open, all the ingredients within the box were 2x the size. A giant-sized fish, pumpkins, mint leaves, Toblerone, an orange tree, a barrel of wine and so much more.
The judges then announced the day’s challenge using at least one of the ingredients given inside the box, the contestants have to make a fantastic dish. The three contestants whose dishes fail to impress will be sent to the next day’s biggest pressure test. Additionally, the pantry and garden will be closed hence whatever is given on the bench and inside the mega box is what the contestants have to make use of.
The timer started and the contestants picked their ingredients. Everyone started with their preparations using different items however three of them decided to go with ice cream sandwiches. Will they stand out from each other? Apart from them, only one or two cooks chose the savory side while the rest took the sweet tooth direction.
When the judges came around to check the contestants’ preparations, they were pretty doubtful about Larissa and Declan’s idea. Andy Allen gave his direct suggestion to Larissa that her sauce won’t work well with her idea. As it perplexed her, she wasted a lot of time thinking about what sauce she could prepare causing her to panic at the last moment. She only prepared three pieces of ravioli and a less amount of sauce.
Also read: MasterChef Australia Season 15 Episode 10 Review: Extremely Disappointing Elimination Round!
On the other side, Declan also received a suggestion from Melissa that his pumpkin puree just won’t sit well with his tuna. He also struggled to think of another idea and so stuck with what he planned to do. Meanwhile, Theo who is a pastry expert didn’t get his puff pastry done well. It looked partly burnt and unlayered.
The moment for the cooks arrived. Everyone displayed their dishes and the judges tasted them. Almost everyone got positive comments except Larissa, Declan, and Theo (as expected). Surprisingly, Ralph got applause from the judges even if his tart was broken. Since his dish had the perfect taste, Jock said that he doesn’t care about the tart’s shape.
Among the cooks, Ralph, Antonio, and Phil’s dishes impressed the judges the most. After congratulating them three the judges announced that Larissa, Theo, and Declan will be taking part in the pressure test where they will have to fight to stay in the show.
MasterChef Australia Season 15 Episode 11 Review: Final Thoughts
Already episode 10 disappointed me, thanks to the dumbest taste-and-tell-the-ingredients challenge. Now, the 11th episode made me sigh. When I saw the giant mystery box, I expected something great but they were just supersized ingredients. Okay, fine. I again expected that the challenge will be unique and fresh but it was ridiculous.
Basically, the contestants were asked to cook with the ingredients the judges presented. Why do they have to bring in such expensive and giant ingredients for a simple challenge? They could have kept tiny Toblerone chocolates because nothing is going to change when they place a mega-size one.
What was the exact purpose of displaying tall and grand ingredients when the contestants eventually will take only a tad bit of them to prepare the judges a dish? They would have done the same even if the pantry was open with the permitted ingredients listed to them. The crew really thought they were bringing in surprises but this mystery box and the expense it cost is purely a waste.
You can watch MasterChef Australia Season 15 Episode 11 now on Disney+ Hotstar. If you’ve watched the recent episode, let us know what you feel about the challenges given to the contestants.
Also read: Read All of Our MasterChef Australia Season 15 Reviews Here!