Too hot to handle?

With so many past series of television's MasterChef available to be devoured, especially if you include the Australian and British versions, it never ceases to amaze me when the contestants, who claim that food is their life, genuinely seem shocked when presented with a challenge.

Culinary case history suggests this is an almost annual event.Unfortunately, though, the shock and resulting panic are about as predictable as the dishes.

Year after year we see the same challenges. Bread, pasta, offal and fish filleting, the famous pav and scone challenges and the always reliable three hour, seemingly-impossible desert ... and that's just a few.

So why this week's rabbit challenge came as a surprise to so many of our duos, mystifies me. Nevertheless, I asked last week that they bring out the pressure cookers and crank up the heat and I'm pleased to say that both helpings of Masterchef Couples on Sunday and Monday did just that.

Our daring duos were asked to prepare two rabbit dishes in 90 minutes with a fresh pasta element thrown in for good luck.

The pressure was on from the get-go with the hero ingredient of bunny catching many of our couples on the hop. So much so that, come tasting time, the judges could only put through two duos to the much coveted top six. Verena and Tanisha took top honours followed closely by high-flyers Karena and Kasey.

The remaining five couples would need a rabbit's foot for luck as they were all forced in to, the now almost overcooked, cook-off in a fight for the final spots.
Their challenge seemed simple enough. The family favourite, spaghetti and meatballs followed by the classic Italian desert, tarimisu.

Perhaps a crumble would have been better, because the time limit of just 30 minutes saw some of the budding chefs do just that. It certainly was a big ask.

The normally confident Nikki collapsed like a bad souffle leaving their fate in the hands of her daughter, Jordan, hoping her meatballs would be good enough to carry them through. Thankfully they were. The boys, Glynn and James had "dish of the day" with Trudie and Shelley rounding out the top 5.

Elimination came down to Bec and Jamie and Jack and Cerry. I had my lady-fingers crossed for Jack and Cerry. I knew it wouldn't happen, the nature of their pairing had them doomed from the start, but I loved the way they had fun and really seemed to enjoy the experience. They were like two ingredients that you would never think to put together, that ended up tasting amazing, I'm going to miss them.
So, with Bec and Jamie safe and securing that sixth place, the competition is set to get even hotter.

Too hot to handle? We'll have to wait until next week to find out. Reserve your table now.