'MasterChef Australia' 2017 update: The flip side of soggy gnocchi and undercooked potatoes; Josh Clearihan departs

“MasterChef Australia 2017” participant Josh Clearihan was eliminated from the reality TV cooking show after he lost a sudden-death cooking challenge against fellow participants Benjamin Bullock, Jess Butler and Michelle Lukman. Clearihan is the one who had suffered a life-threatening brain injury fourteen months ago on the eve of making the judges’ auditions (Top 50) for the 2016 series of the show.

The 32-year-old IT administrator from Victoria started the night with 10 other participants. All were tasked with a potato challenge, where they were given 60 minutes to plate up hot chips with dipping sauce. Clearihan, Lukman, Butler and Bullock produced soggy chips and were sent to a sudden-death round.

During sudden death challenge, he along with the other three contestants, were given an hour to cook anything as per their preference, as long as potato was the main ingredient. Clearihan went for a classic gnocchi with tomato and speck sauce. He tried to boil his potatoes whole and that was his first mistake.Later he cut the potatoes in half but still didn’t boil them properly. There were also texture issues when he passed the potatoes through the ricer.

Judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston sent Clearihan packing after they found his gnocchi very lumpy. The contestant was clearly disheartened and said that he had made that gnocchi 50 times in the past. Unfortunately, he failed to plate up a successful dish when it was most required. However, participating in the competition again after such an accident definitely felt like a big achievement.

“It was pressure on the day. I don’t think the mistakes had anything to do with the injury. Of course there was disappointment. It is impossible not to compare yourself to how you would have done before the injury. Multi-tasking has been an ongoing issue since the accident. I’ll have an idea and then I’ll forget it 30 seconds later,” Clearihan said after his exit, reports News.com.au.

In late 2015, Clearihan was dining at a restaurant in the Melbourne bay side suburb of Port Melbourne. A teenager, high on ice, attempted to steal his car. Clearihan caught hold of the passenger door. But the car reversed and knocked him into a pole. Clearihan lost his consciousness and hit his head on the pavement. He lost his sense of smell and had to learn to talk again.

Clearihan spent seven weeks in Melbourne’s Epworth Hospital Brain Rehabilitation Unit. However, the participant refused to blame his exit from the competition on his near-death experience.

“MasterChef Australia 2017” continues Sunday to Thursday on Network TEN, 7:30 p.m. Stay tuned on IBT AU for more updates.