‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap and spoilers: Brett rules first salvo of season’s toughest week, uses age as advantage over other contestants

A daunting mystery box challenge set the tone for the toughest week on “MasterChef Australia” Season 8. In episode 46 that aired on July 3, the remaining nine home cooks pulled out all the stops to make sure their dishes would bring them to the next stage of the competition.

In a surprising turn of events, underdog Brett Carter managed to surpass the other frontrunners this season, dominating both the mystery box challenge and the invention test. Unfortunately, three contestants failed to impress judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston, leading them to the upcoming pressure test that would further trim down the number of “MasterChef Australia” hopefuls.

Spoiler Alert! This article contains "MasterChef Australia" Season 8 spoilers. Read only if you want to know more about it.

Network Ten posted a sneak peek of Monday’s episode, focusing on the next elimination challenge. Since it’s the toughest week, the competition calls for the toughest chef, Peter Gilmore. Dubbed as the king of pressure test, he returns with another masterpiece that Mimi Baines, Theresa Visintin and Trent Harvey struggle to reproduce.

The trailer hints that two contestants will perform, showing Mimi and Theresa’s faces. However, for one, it will be the final curtain. Based on the teaser, Trent could be the one in danger of going home. Going head to head with the two female strong home cooks could prove to be his downfall, and his first pressure test may just be his last.

“MasterChef Australia” Season 8 recap

The top nine contestants of this season walked in to the kitchen, unsure of what lies ahead. The judges informed them that the upcoming episode’s mystery box challenge is unlike the others – instead of having to use only one ingredient, they have to use everything to create a dish. When the contestants lifted their boxes up, they saw corn, dates, pork belly, onion, apples, cinnamon, rum and condensed milk.

Expectedly, all the “MasterChef Australia” hopefuls brought their A-game to make sure their dishes will be called out for the top three. Everyone was shocked when Brett’s dish, sticky pork with smoked corn puree with apple, was named the winner of the mystery box challenge. He managed to outperform Mimi Baines and Harry Foster, two of the leading contestants this season. George even said Brett could win the competition.

As the winner of the mystery box challenge, Brett received the advantage of picking the inspiration for the invention test. The judges scoured previous seasons to search for the toughest dishes, and they gave Brett three options to choose from: apricot chicken, earth and cactus. Brett chose to play to his advantage and picked the 70s classic dish, apricot chicken. His competitors – who were mostly from the next generation – were completely stumped.

When the 60 minutes in the clock began, the contestants rushed to work on their dishes. Buoyed up by his win in the mystery box challenge, and being quite familiar with the inspiration, Brett confidently prepared his ingredients. Over on the other benches, young home cooks Harry and Elise Franciskovic displayed maturity beyond their ages and shared Brett’s grace under pressure.

The same thing could not be said with Mimi, who struggled from the get-go. Despite her restaurant quality-dish in the mystery box challenge, she had a difficult time coming up with a concept for the invention test. She was running to and forth like a headless chicken, and George said he’s worried about her. Mimi heeded the judges’ advice on the cooking method of her chicken, but she hit another snag – her cauliflower puree tasted weird, but she lacked time to make another one and decided to make use of it.

The judges also expressed concern over Trent’s dish, questioning whether it’s going to have the level of sophistication that the competition is asking for at this stage. It was Theresa, however, who struggled the most with the challenge. Apart from having no idea what apricot chicken was, she was unable to manage her time wisely. With three minutes remaining in the clock, Theresa was devastated to find that her chicken, which was cooking from the sous vide machine, came out raw. To salvage her chicken, she pan fries it in the hopes of cooking it through. When the time was up, Theresa knew she was in trouble and broke down in tears.

At the end of the cook, Brett was called first up at the tasting bench. His couscous with apricot puree and seared chicken roulade earned rave reviews from the judges, who commended him for the sophisticated-looking, modern and tasty dish. The other stand-out dishes belonged to Elise, who made sous vide chicken breast with charred apricots and crispy skin, as well as Harry, who plated up sous vide chicken with couscous and apricot and port jus. Later, the three were announced to be the makers of the top three dishes and have a chance to grab the next immunity pin.

However, the joyous mood in the kitchen got dampened when it was time to announce the bottom three contestants. The judges said Trent’s hot and sour apricot chicken curry with apricot flatbread and yoghurt was okay, but not good enough at this stage of the game. Mimi, on the other hand, who served apricot chicken leg with cauliflower puree and apricot sauce, failed to replicate her success from the mystery box challenge and got negative feedback about her dish. Theresa got criticised as she expected, as the judges commented that her sous vide chicken with apricot jus and leeks had nothing but flaws.

As a result, the worst three dishes belonged to Theresa, Mimi and Trent. The trio will have to be back to black and compete in an extremely difficult elimination challenge the next day.

Find out what happens next on “MasterChef Australia,” and stay tuned for episode spoilers. “MasterChef Australia” Season 8 airs every Sunday to Thursday at 7.30pm on Ten.