‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap: Matt gets early lead but struggles with dessert; Elena wins this year’s title by a narrow margin

“MasterChef Australia” has declared its winner for season 8, and it’s 32-year-old teacher Elena Duggan. In a three-round finale, she defeated Matt Sinclair by only two points and was crowned “MasterChef Australia” 2016. She takes home $250,000 prize money to kick off her food dream, as well as a monthly column in Delicious, a national food magazine.

Two finalists put their best cooks forward, but Elena managed to triumph over the 27-year-old coffee roaster. While Matt took an early lead with his entrée, Elena’s version of an extremely complicated dessert, called Ver jus in egg, spelled the difference and led to her victory. As a testament to her almost-perfect dessert, she earned a nine out of a possible ten from renowned chefs Heston Blumanthal and Ashley Palmer-Watts, who conceptualised the highly technical dish.

Matt has always recognised that dessert is his Achilles’ heel, despite serving a couple of “MasterChef” worthy sweet plates. It definitely showed throughout the last round, as he struggled with basic dessert techniques, such as setting the panna cotta and with tempering the chocolate. With only 30 seconds remaining in the clock, he also was clueless on how to use the nitrogen liquid. Elena found it in her heart to help Matt, despite the intense competition. However, just when he thought he managed to survive the dessert challenge, his “egg” completely split up right after the time ran out. Matt turned emotional, deeply disappointed with himself and knowing that he’s in big trouble.

It’s pretty clear at that point who won the competition. Leading by only two points, Elena was catapulted to victory, after beating Matt and 22 other amateur cooks, surviving 63 episodes and dozens of intense cooks. At the end of it all, judges George, Gary Calombaris and Matt Preston announced her as the “MasterChef Australia” 2016 winner.

The last round overrode his early lead of three points, which he got for his confit quail with corn and chorizo salsa and Pedro Ximenez sauce. His dish was deemed better than Elena’s marron two-ways with a smoked vegetable salad and oashi dressing. Both finalists were given perfect scores – a “MasterChef Australia” first – for their respective dishes. Elena prepared a twice cooked lamb with a lamb jus, macadamia puree, pickled beets and vegetables, while Matt plated up a crispy skin barramundi with brussels sprouts and a pancetta-prawn broth.

The grand finals episode somehow represented the whole “MasterChef Australia” journey of Elena and Matt. Matt proved himself a serious threat from the get-go, leading the pack in almost every challenge. He defeated a professional chef and snagged an immunity pin, and almost made history with a second one. With his consistently strong performance, the show’s followers assumed, even during the first few episodes, that he’d be the one to beat.

[READ: “‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap and spoilers: Matt and Chloe’s strong performance may indicate they are this season’s top two contenders”]

Elena, on the other hand, started slow and was mostly at the backset in the beginning of the competition. However, every time she won a challenge, she won big and managed to blow the judges away. In one episode, judge George Calombaris even predicted her to be this season’s winner.

[READ: “‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap and spoilers: Miles Pritchett’s luck runs out; judges predict Elena Duggan could be this season’s winner”]

Despite his loss, runner-up Matt was given a massive financial help to start his dream of having a food truck – he was awarded $40,000 courtesy of the new ANZ Travel Adventures card for placing as runner-up. Harry Foster, who placed third this year, also received $10,000. Elena, on the other hand, can’t get over the fact that she just won $250,000. “I’m most excited about having financial freedom,” she told Woman’s Day. “I can now set myself up and travel and do work experience at a variety of places that I admire and respect.”

Season 7 contestant Reynold Poernomo, mentor Shannon Bennett and guest chef Anna Polyviou, as well as this year’s contestants also appeared in the highly emotional “MasterChef Australia” 2016 grand finals.