The challenge itself was remarkably unremarkable. There were no butting of heads, no rivalry for team captaincy and no major disasters. It was all rather ho-hum.
Team Red seemed under-cooked from start to finish, while teams Blue and Yellow managed to maintain a rolling boil throughout the challenge. In the end, flavours aside, Team Yellow took the win, making the most dough on the day.
Now it was Judge Josh's chance for a helping of free publicity, as dinner and a "masterclass" at his Queenstown restaurant were served up as the prize. Overall, I was left hungry for more and couldn't wait for the main.
Back in their pairs, our budding chefs were tasked with a two course affair. Put a modern spin on a kiwi classic of their choosing followed by the perfect, albeit predictable, Pav. Despite it being a regular challenge in past Masterchefs, there were the usual gasps of shock and horror coming from those who claimed they had never cooked one in their life.
Again, the challenge was uneventful. No chopped or grated fingers, no real personality clashes or melt-downs and no one got burnt.
No surprises, though, when the supremely confident mother and daughter duo of Nikki and Jordan found themselves at the bottom -- thanks to an incredibly salty jus. The popular pair did manage, however, to stave off elimination.
With Kasey and Karena taking top honours for the second week in a row, with their fancy take on the humble boil-up and Jamie and Bec placing a close second, the almost-desperate-for-approval pair of Jenn and Elizabeth had to be content with best Pav.
Like the Kiwi element of the challenge, two teams remained flightless and it was up to the judges to ruffle their feathers even further.
Jack and Catherine and Melanie and Cerry found themselves facing the chop, but two of them would be offered a lifeline if they agreed to sacrifice their team mate and form a new duo. I felt like I was watching The X Factor, and Simon Cowell's clever engineering of a new group. It didn't work for me ... sorry and just came off as a tasteless attempt at creating shock value.
Waffle got his doggy bag, though, in the form of bones. I hope the cast out remains of Catherine and Melanie don't get stuck in his throat.
It looks like Jack and Cerry have been left with a bitter taste in their mouths and the other contestants were left reeling. Guess I was wrong ... burn victim count: two.
It's going to take more than 10 minutes under cold water to recover from this.
