‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap and spoilers: Maggie Beer turns Japanese; some of home cooks’ biggest risks pay off, others serve epic failures

By now, contestants of Network Ten’s “MasterChef Australia” Season 8 know enough to always expect a bombshell in every episode. On June 5, the culinary competition’s episode 25 served another surprise when cooking icon Maggie Beer entered the kitchen to become that night’s special guest.

Judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston also said they are going to flip things around, putting the invention test before the mystery box challenge. The “MasterChef Australia” hopefuls had to cook their hearts out from Japanese-inspired dishes to impress not only the judges, but the 71-year-old culinary star. At the end of the cook, Zoe Konikkos’ bold move earned her a game-changing advantage.

The 31-year-old sales manager’s choice proved to be the box of failure for Nicolette Stathopoulos, Charlie Sartori and Harry Foster, who served the worst dishes of the night. The three go straight to pressure test on the next episode, unless Nicolette decides to play her immunity pin, putting another contestant on the line.

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, featuring a mammoth pressure test with legendary chef Anna Polyviou. The amateur chefs donning the black apron are instructed to replicate her extremely difficult “pink Death Star,” which consists of 74 steps to make. Time is never the contestants’ friend in the “MasterChef Australia” kitchen, but the clock will prove to be their worst enemy more than ever. A fatal mistake will send one of them home, and in the trailer, Harry Foster seems ready to throw in the towel when he says, “This is it. I’m done.”

Fans wonder whether Nicolette will be able to predict the humongous task ahead and decide to save herself by using the immunity pin. Should she choose to play it, Elise Franciskovic, who cooked the fourth worst dish last episode, will be on the firing line for elimination.

“MasterChef Australia” Season 8 recap

Upon entering the “MasterChef Australia” kitchen, the contestants already realise something was up when they didn’t see any mystery box on their benches. The judges informed them that the invention test would come up first, wherein they could use any of the Japanese-inspired core ingredients that Maggie chose: abalone, lemon grass and silken tofu.

At the mention of silken tofu, Zoe looked ecstatic, saying that she has been dreaming about cooking with the ingredient for the past few days. Her wish came true, and she expectedly lined up for silken tofu along with Miles. The others, meanwhile, decided to play safe and picked lemongrass. Zoe was in the zone, and her daring dark chocolate tofu silken cheesecake with cherry chilli jelly was deemed the best in the invention test.

For winning the first challenge, she was given the opportunity to choose all the mystery box ingredients. Zoe, who already has a specific Italian dish in mind, surprised her competitors with her selection. Her mystery box included ricotta, pork mince, thyme, chilli, garlic, tomato, and basil. Expectedly, Zoe was considered to be among the top of the pack with her version of pappardelle and pork meatballs.

Whilst most contestants decided to make pasta, Chloe Bowles took a risk by making a sweet dish. Chloe, who cried and jumped when she heard that Maggie is this week’s special guest, was too star-struck in the invention test and failed to impress. Determined to redeem herself, she pulled out all the stops to make sure her pancetta fat parfait with brik pastry, pancetta praline crumb and caramel sauce blow Maggie away. Fortunately for the 24-year-old nanny, the judges and Maggie absolutely loved her plate.

Meanwhile, Trent Harvey decided it’s time to come out from his shell. He’s quietly been in the sidelines and playing it safe so far, but he chose this particular mystery box challenge to show why he’s a worthy contender. It was a successful risk – the judges absolutely loved his pork and ricotta spring rolls with brik pastry and tomato chilli jam. Rounding up the top three who’s going to play it for the immunity pin is Brett Carter, whose ravioli with tomato sauce unanimously received positive feedback.

Over on the contestants in trouble, Elise also sought to stand out by preparing a dessert she described as thyme biscuit with a caramel parfait and salted caramel chilli sauce. However, she hit a snag when her caramel parfait – clearly under-set – collapsed by the time she served it. Parfait proved to be unlucky as well for Nicolette, as her ricotta parfait with chilli thyme and tomato was deemed a little bit chalky by Maggie.

Despite serving one of the top three dishes in the invention test, Harry failed to replicate his success on the mystery box challenge. Maggie and the judges said his take on George’s signature Jimmy’s dimmies had too much verjuice, which overpowered his plate. Charlie, on the other hand, earned negative reviews for his pork, thyme and ricotta rissoles with flatbread, tomato chilli jam and basil aioli.

In the end, Charlie, Nicolette and Harry were named in the bottom three. However, since Nicolette won immunity in a previous challenge, the judges told Elise that she might take her place, should Nicolette plays the pin.

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