Masterchef Australia – We Have Our Two Finalists
Ironic this Masterchef episode should be set in Canberra the week the election debate was moved because it knew it would be pulverised going up against the Masterchef final. Tonight the final three were cooking for the Governor-General and 30 guests, so a classy setting for one of the penultimate episodes of the show. I just wish George Calombaris had shaved for the evening and not been hunched over his food.
I am not the only one having problems with this as News.com.au got an etiquette expert to talk about the judges eating techniques.
Now I don’t want to take over Matt, the blogs new resident strategist, but why didn’t Claire and Adam take the chocolate fondant dessert. Whether they were comfortable with desserts or not, giving Callum the dessert course was just about handing him a spot in Sunday’s final. Christ he had cooked the said dessert a few days ago to perfection. In fact I think they should have had to randomly pick out of a hat which dish they were going to do.
Claire picked first and selected the main, which was I thought had far too many risks involved. Too many components, and if you over cook the lamb it is hard to rescue. Because she got to pick first I did not have much sympathy when it all started going pear shaped.
Part of her task was to french the lamb, and I think this is where Claire’s perfectionism set her back. She was probably trying to do it too well. Then she had to peel shallots, and broadbeans. As Matt Preston said her dish was a lot of grunt work, and would really love to know her motivation for picking it.
I immediately thought the entree was the best bet, and lucky for Adam he got it. Yes there were some tricks in it and it was time consuming, however it was not reliant on having anything cooked to perfection like Claire’s lamb and Callum’s fondant did.
Adam had a few hiccups along the way, a slow smoker, found fish bone, and burnt tomatoes, but all his issues were rectified. He did require assistance from sous chefs to plate up as they all did.
Claire also required a lot of assistance to get her plates out, and they were still late. Matt Preston mouthed “Thank heavens it is here,” as he was clearly getting sick of the harpist. George said the dish as a whole was fine, however when you examined the components some were not quite right.
Callum was in is element in this challenge, and declared it was the first time “he had felt like a chef”. A bit strange considering the show is called MasterChef. George clearly told him to find a juicer as he was squeezing the blood oranges by hand. Duh!
He is a talent cooked and very precise as they all are and the judges clearly like him. The dessert plate looked gorgeous. Unlucky for Callum, Georges fondant was over done. However Matt Preston thought his was done perfectly, but I thought his looked over done as well, it certainly did not have chocolate oozing out of it.
It was a bit of a no brainer that Claire was going, and not just because of her cooking but also as someone had mentioned on the blog the 7pm Project (or was it The Circle) had said the next person eliminated would be in the studio, which meant they had to be Melbourne based, and therefore Claire. Seriously I know the Masterchef viewers are smart and observant, however there have been so many spoilers this season on the show.
The thing that depressed me about Claire was her saying “Cooking’s my happy place, as simple as that”. Which implies she is not real happy with much else in her life. Let’s hope for her sake I am wrong.
Do I think the right two from final’s week are in the final? I think Adam deserved a spot, but not sure about Callum. A very talented cook, but the best amateur chef in Australia?
It is a real pity Marion and Jonathan didn’t make it too the final’s week, as it would have created much more suspense to see who would take out the title.
Claire is going to continue to work in food.
The press release states:
Now back at her Melbourne home, Claire is determined to turn her back on law and instead forge a career in food. She is planning a concept where she caters for Sunday lunches and wants to follow her dream of delving into food writing.
“I’ve been doing a little bit of food writing and reviews, and I just love it,” she says. “I’m looking at establishing a food column and I’m currently working on a book proposal which combines my two loves of writing and cooking. If I can do that, how good would that be?
“I’m also starting a website – www.cookingfromthehearth.co – and ‘hearth’ is the name of the restaurant I want to one day open,” she says. “The website will be all about delicate, delicious food that people love. It’ll be everything food and will also talk about a Sunday lunch concept I have.
“It’ll be more discreet than a catering company – although I’ll be doing catering by appointment as well – but one day I’ll find a permanent home for a restaurant.”
Good luck to her she was certainly one of the more technical cooks in the competition and hoisted herself on her own petard in this challenge.
UPDATE: I will have an Open Post up for the Final episode.
UPDATE UPDATE: Callum to win!!!! I came across my Masterchef Form Guide here, which I wrote early on in the season, and I emphatically state “Callum won’t win” which with my picking form so far this year, must mean he does.
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90 comments
Regarding the part about giving it away for appearing in 7pm Project is just a coincidence. Jonathan, Marion and Alvin have appeared live on the show and they are not from Melbourne. I think they picked the more popular guys to send them to Melbourne.
I’ll miss Claire. She has her detractors, but damn. What an interesting character she is! I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder to try and figure someone on reality tv out before.
Out of the three of them, only Adam deserves to be in the final. Callum? Can make a fondant. That much we know. Still, I’m with you RR – George MASHED his up to show that it was overcooked. Matt cut his more carefully, and then told us that it was perfect, without exactly showcasing the glorious ooze. When we did get to see it, it looked pretty close to George’s.
I, too, noticed that Claire said “cooking is my happy place”. My concern was more along the lines of this is you in your happy place? Goddam!. Complaining that hers was the hardest dish, when she chose it was poor form, too. She clearly didn’t think it was the most difficult at the top end of the show.
I would prefer Adam to win, but still don’t think he is 1. straya’s best amada cook or even 2. the best amada cook we’ve seen this season. Pfft, this show needs an overhaul, stat.
Au revoir Claire. You are a great amateur cook but your personality didn’t match your cooking standard! Also, I recommend you attend time management 101.
Watched Jimmy on 7pm project and he is relaxed about being the curry king.
Should be a great final between Callum and Adam. Callum is the most popular and is liked by teenyboppers all the way up to grandma’s.. Callum is the rising star of masterchef and he could be the next Jamie Oliver.
Adam is the best cook and has the most credibility.
I agree with Chris Badenoch that Masterchef is rigged. More than the boxing “fight” between Danny Green and Paul Briggs.
Will they chose Adam (best cook) or Callum (rising star who can sell the most cookbooks)? Callum of course$$$
why didnt they show her homecoming and what shes been up to lately like they do for the rest?
The way they presented todays show was as if no one else in the dining room was supposed to know that the crew of masterchef was there and that the contestants were preparing their dinner.. didnt even show GG say a few words or something … it looked like it was all hush hush but surely the cameras were there so they knew… oh anyways ,, two more days and then we all are outta here…
Adam should be glad Claire opted for his first choice. In any case, I am glad Claire is gone. Callum in the final? He has improved but I don’t think he’s final two material. At this stage, who is really? Adam possibly butI think Callum will take it out, even though I believe Adam to be the better cook and I’d like him to win.
Jees, this woman is crying out for some pharmaceutical intervention, if this is her happy place then her serotonin/dopamine levels need to be sorted. Quickly.
I really struggled with the individual nature of their work in the kitchen tonight. On UK Masterchef they down tools and help each other – at the very least with plating. In this example Adam would have bid his plates goodbye and gone straight to Claire to help her, then they would have moved to Callum when mains were done. I didn’t like the ‘fly solo’ element of it.
Looked like Carrie isn’t there for Masterclass but *blank on her name* (police officer who chucked it over for her children) turns up for her first ever masterclass – a little bit embarassing, don’t you think?
I thought sculpting 70 chunks of lamb might put Claire off the idea of an actual restaurant, but apparently not. She really should have just worked a bit faster on the lamb once time started getting away form her, but careful and methodical seems to be her way.
Callum did really well. Aside from the bizarre juicing moment.
And I think MAtt P enjoyed the wine a bit more than the food at that dinner!
Bored by the amatas but gotta love the cheeky little GG – a chook with a serious ‘frock you’ attitude- not only overshadows Julia at the signing in with the canary yellow number but ups it tonight when she invites the ‘Barge Arse Brigade’ to Dinner, teases them with MC slow food dinner then pops on her skinny little Demi Moore backless number and gets the money shot. Woo-woo Jenny Craig contract post term?
I see Masterchef was doing its bit for Republicanism tonight. Seriously – harp playing, the butler ringing a gong and proudly stating “Dinner is served”, the GG who didn’t say a word to anyone on the show and was only shown at a respectful distance… it made me want to chug a beer and belch out the tune to ‘kookaburra sits in the old gum tree’ to balance out the upper crustyness of it all – and I DON’T EVEN DRINK BEER!
And poor Claire, the only one not to have a home-coming scene (not counting the returnees, who got theirs the first time they left). They seriously couldn’t fudge something together in the few weeks they had since the challenge?
Just looked at ‘welcome to my fireplace sunday carvery site’ – has a lot of tie ins with the NGO sector, and some welcome advice on quinces. I tried to find out if lamb is on the menu, but an email came back telling me to rack off
Pinto: That was Sarah who walked away from masterchef. She should not be allowed to do masterclass in my opinion.
a tussle indeed on Sunday – a novice with a twitch, and a lawyer from a minority group – oh, yeah afterwards its Masterchef final
GeelongDeano and Pinto – I agree why bother having her back.
Anonymousse – Oh yes the butler he looked like he enjoyed his 2 seconds of fame. And I loved how GG’s chef was trying to channel his inner Gordon Ramsay but just couldn’t quite appear hard arsed enough.
anonymous – I agree I still cannot quite get her.
Injera – it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure, if the final involves making something on the hop he will be a gonner.
Pollywaffle – how stunning is the GG? The only thing that is worthwhile about not being a republic. LOL about the email. I like the recipes on her site, they look very original but have to confess I got a bit bored in the Quince article, how much is there really to say about quinces.
Wurstsemmel – The judges really like Callum so may push him over the line. I wonder who the guest judge will be.
Little Petal – you could be right, maybe I just read to much into things.
Seepi – what about the way he sniffed it? I thought that a bit strange at a formal dinner.
Aussiegal – well make sure you pop back in from time to time to say hi.
Pinto – I think the sous chefs were there to help with the plating up.
I think Adam is better cook than Callum though honestly he seems to have a lot of potential (just 20 yrs old!).
Btw, Callum was my bet at the “betting post from the beginning” so part of me says : Go Callum!
I’ve really grown to like Callum – he’s been there right from the start and has gone from being a nervous little boy to a geuine chance. I love his book idea as well. Out of the top 4 his was the one I’d
most like to buy.
Having said that, my money’s on Adam!
Pollywaffle – comment #13 ranks with Buzz’s comments from earlier in the week involving dogs
Buzz – the corgis were raring to attend tonight, but big disappointment ringing through the doggery, something about protocol at the table, dogs before but not after 8pm.
I will never have anything to do with Blinky Bill after this farce of a show is over.
At least with Claire you had original dishes.
If Adam doesn’t win, someone can Cilmi now.
The amount of food hygiene issues that happens on this show really turns me off of food.
Reason why none of the others got the choice of dessert? Obvious! They weren’t allowed, as Blinky needed what help he could get. :\
I… just can’t wait for all this nonsense to be over.
Think I can bill ch10 for the time I’ve wasted on this show?
On my competition thread, three people have picked Callum, and two Adam. So some people will be winners.
“A very talented cook, but the best amateur chef in Australia?” None of them is the best amata cook in Australia though. I imagine there are many many home cooks who have no desire to be on TV or launch sauce ranges. I know I don’t and I love to cook. At home for friends, not on TV. Anyway, happy to see Callum make final two after a long and fraught journey. It’s a real achievement for a 20yo. Also happy for Adam of course and suspect that he will take out the title. But it all comes down to those two and it comes down to the dish they cooked. lol.
Pollywaffle – ha! I used to have a corgi and cannot bear the visual!
Claire is such a pretty crier … I’m all snot, blotches, puffy eyes and irrational raving through hiccups.
RR – have to say I liked this quote from the age link re jonno:
“grinning maniacally at customers in his French bistro like a 21st-century Basil Fawlty”
buzz – I think that quote is pretty spot on.
Chunks – well Claire said she was in the house for 9 months that is a long time away from real life.
Yeah, I’m concerned about hygeine issues on this circus as well.
As it happened Sunrise produced a trivia fact this morning… that the human mouth has more bacteria in it than there are people on earth.
Now Callum seems a nice guy but he’s a double dipping serial offender. Ditto Gary. Julie Goodwin.
MasterChef will seriously lose all its credibility if Callum, not Adam, becomes Australia’s next MasterChef. If only it was between Adam and Marion. Both inventive and a bit out there. Callum cooks a fine dish but its sooo mainstream.
Just a quick note to say “thank you” for the entertaining read, almost as good as watching MC! BTW Go Callum!!!
This is what Paul the octopus thinks :
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6249712&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=118612438158532&aid=-1&id=671953131&oid=118612438158532
Matt Preston certainly appeared to be the alpha whale at the function.
I think Claire made a serious error in not asking for help with the lamb – at the very least, I bet Gary or the prep folks could have showed her a quicker, more efficient way to get through all the cutlets even if they didn’t actually do them for her. Once she sat with that forever, it was clear she wasn’t going to finish the rest of it without assistance so why not get help with the most repetitive and fiddly task?
Also, did anyone else notice that for all other eliminated contestants, the montage at their parting showed at least one superior dish (if not more) that they’d made during the competition but they apparently couldn’t come up with one for Claire?
Even since Jonathan was eliminated I’ve been betting on Adam and I still pick him to win. I admire Callum but he’s not an inventive or well-rounded cook just yet.
Injera, I agree that Claire’s comment at the end “Well, I did pick the most difficult dish” was really poor form. All the dishes had difficult elements, and to imply that Callum and Adam had it easy was, quite frankly, nasty. All the dishes had difficult elements, and her issue, as usual, was time management and not being able to problem solve under pressure. Gary gave her the biggest hint – cut the lamb and leave the frenching – and she didn’t take it.
Also, why didn’t the contestants get to meet the tiny GG? I think the GG could have done with a few chocolate fondants!
Claire Whinge-a-ton Burn-out is gone! What a bloody relief!!
I went to the pub to celebrate along with many like-minded locals who had the same no-sympathy feelings towards this strange, angst-riden woman as I have had for the last few months.
Of couse I must take this opportunity to point out, now that we have our two finalists: the winner of MC2 is gonna be diametrically opposite Julie Goodwin. I picked Aaron from the beginning, but same diff. Rigged? You betcha. Right down to the one bad choc fondant ->cue fireball -> one good choc fondant to save the day!! Yeah, Golum.
So very happy the judges didn’t fall in the end for Claire Kidman’s antics. The two G’s have to date been very susceptible to her wiles. And good on the GG for not speaking to the contestants or at all to the camera! I’m sure the MC producers tried to get her to play a role or comment on the food but she had the dignity to refuse. In fact, I bet the whole bloody idea was Rudd’s or that of one of his 20-year old “senior” advisors and the GG was going along just like she did on her tour of Africa.
Hey Matt, strategy question for you: to date Claire has put on the tears and “you just don’t undersand me” soliloquy when she knows she has cooked a weak dish and is in trouble. Tonight, her strategy changed markedly and she was all about “it was great, got it out, hardest dish”…no tears, no angst…trying to persuade the judges by making them believe it was fine when it wasn’t, she wasn’t worried so why should they be? Have a good look at her expressions/attitude in the lead up to the late-plating of the lamb and after the lamb goes out. Completely different than in previous episodes when she was wringing her hands after even a minor screw up. Interesting!
And what’s the deal with her website having a “.co”?? and not “.com”? This is the “new global standard”. Are we planning to escape to the UK or other offshore destination with lover boy? The website address defaults to “clairewintonburn” anyway so what’s the point?.
Later, dudes.
whingeing bore finally took some advice from the judges and cut the poor me attitude (almost). The “i did great” take seemed to work for Jimmy, so why not for her, now that she’d really and truly effed up – and she knew it.
She only wrung her hands and moaned in the past when she had done well and wanted to play the little modest me game. Now that she truly was screwed, she thought she try a bit of reverse psych. Thought she was playing the men so well, but in the end they must of lost interest.
anyway, She was right out of her league with those cutlets. Perhaps she was waiting for some male to help her, like they usually do. Alas, she only got Gary on the beans. And even he was pissed off with her not shifting her ass a bit quicker.
Bet she doesn’t get beyond a catering company.
Bloody best 2 amata cooks my #$%^ … I felt for Claire tonight with the lamb I got stuck frenching (no rude comments Buzz
) 30 kg of lamb once when cooking dindins for 150 miners by meself-did not have to do broad beans and polenta but heaps more than that. But her time management as terrible. Agree they should of mixed it up and put Gollum/Blinky on mains, Adam desserts and Nicole entree.
The farce will be complete if the apprentice wins.
Btw has anyone seen Jimmys site http://www.jimmysspicekitchen.com.au/
Just in case we forget Jimmy will be the name of the restaurant.
Where do I get my life back? Bunnings I heard someone say
On the front page of Jimmy’s website he refers to his new restaurant and instead of writing ‘of course’, it says ‘offcourse’. For his sake I hope that’s not an omen.
I agree Claire was obviously going home when she spent over two hours on the lamb then left it unfinished! She’s too slow on this stuff. Should have had the lamb and all the veges preped in an hour. I think she would have made the final if she’d pulled her finger out early.
Big mistake to let Callum have the desert but if you think about the setting of the episode then I suspect that none of them wanted any of the dishes to be wrong on the table so let him do what he’s good at. Callam has had a few disasters during the show.
No homecoming for Claire? Very odd. This was a standard part of the show. I was looking forward to it.
I would have prefered Marion vs (the early) Jonathon in the final. I prefered their performances in the show.
What’s annoying about Jimmy’s site is that it’s all done in flash.
So if you’re trying to browse there from your iPhone/iPad etc which doesn’t support it, then the whole site doesn’t work.
Strategy thoughts:
Well if there was ever any doubt that MC was a cooking show, and not a reality show, last night proved it. It really is all about the cooking…
Because none of the three people last night seemed to have any idea about strategy whatsoever.
RR was right – why would they let Callum take the fondant dish? As I’ve said before, your optimum strategy in MC isn’t to win, it’s to place other competitors in the best possible position to lose. By gifting Callum the fondant, he was through and you’re down from a one-in-three to a one-in-two chance to make the final. Sure, Callum might still stuff it, but you’ve taken his chance of stuffing it from maybe a 25%, had he taken (or been forced to take) the lamb, rather than the maybe 10% he had with the fondants.
It’s not a difficult decision. Callum didn’t just telegraph that he wanted the fondant, he put it up in lights and danced naked around it howling at the chocolate.
There are two pressure points here – deciding on the process, then deciding on the pick.
Process first.
Letting the contestants choose the process is reality TV gold for MC, because whenever they do it, they make bad personal choices, which increases the drama.
They’re more concerned about their friendships than giving themselves the best chance of moving forward. (he he, got “moving forward” into this…) Case in point was Jake, in the elimination following the cruise ship challenge. He didn’t fight to stay out. If he had said “hell no, I won’t go because I was the only one doing that job etc, and if you want me out you have to give a show of hands for each person”, he might have guilted the rest into keeping him. Instead, lemming like, he shuffled offf towards the cliff.
Marion was another, in the same elimination pick, who just took responsibility and allowed herself to be in the elimination – then used her pin!!!! To my mind, this was where Marion lost the competition. One appalling strategic choice. Had she argued that someone else was worse than her, she wouldn’t have had to use the pin, would have been able to use it after the army challenge, Aaron would have gone home against Jono and Twitter wouldn’t have gone into reality TV meltdown…
Perhaps I shouldn’t be too hard on these guys. The BEST reality TV show ever, Survivor, which is a living, evolving case study in Nashian game theory, still has strategic muppets who vote for friends rather than for themselves. And they’re only together for 30 days, unlike MC, where it’s eight months…Eight months! I’d proposed to my wife within eight months.
However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that these people aren’t marrying each other, they’re competing for $100k and the rest that flows from the publicity of winning. So, as Chopper would say, HTFU. And to quote Courtney, the only good way to leave this competition is covered in gold glitter.
So where did they all go wrong? The optimum strategic play last night was to pick a dish you felt comfortable with, while leaving the other two with dishes they are not as good as.
How do you ensure the process favours you in this? First of all, you want to be clear in the outcome you want.
We can agree that the optimum outcome is for you to get a dish you’re comfortable with, while denying Callum the fondant.
You don’t do it the way Callum and Adam did, which was to allow Claire first pick. What you do is you is ask yourself, as I have been urging contestants to do, “WWERD? What Would Evil Russell Do?”.
Evil Russell would have immediately demanded he do the dish he wanted. Callum should have straight away said “I’ll do the fondant”. Not “I want to”, or “I’d like to”, just “I’ll do it”. At that point he’s cut down the choices for two contestants who don’t like confrontation (which, as we’ve discussed, is pretty much all the top 24).
If Adam or Claire suddenly grew a spine, then you can start the negotiation. This is, after all, negotiation strategy 101 (made more difficult by the fact that you don’t have anything to give the counterparty in return). I’m surprised most at Adam, a lawyer (and presumably, given he’s living in Japan, in commercial law), for missing this.
And if negotiation fails, then you fall back on drawing the names from a hat. Then you’ve reduced Callum to a one-in-three chance of getting the fondant. The poker strategist David Sklansky wrote that even if the cards don’t fall your way, you can consider yourself to have won a hand if you force an opponent too make a bad choice – because you have a greater expected value over time.
So Callum might still get the fondant, but you’re already a winner for having reduced his chances.
Now to the actual picks. With Adam and Callum ceding the strategic advantage to Claire, it was really no surprise that she flubbed it.
I actually wasn’t suprised Claire picked the lamb, given she’d shown herself to be a fairly handy meat cook the night before. However she’s a pretty handy dessert chef as well, so her best pick would have been the fondant, which gives her a comfortable dish and puts the frighteners up Callum.
Adam, in turn, should have also picked the fondant. Sure, Callum’s handy with pastry and might still have nailed the fish tart, but you’re increasing his chances of stuffing up from 10% to maybe 15%.
So strategic failures all around.
And in reply to CG – re Claire’s lack of tears tonight? Two things. First, I suspect my TV girlfriend knew she was gaawwwnnn and that she might as well go out with grace. Second, and this is from a strategic point of view, it wouldn’t have worked two nights in a row. Fool me once, etc.
Raver, George did shave specially for this big civic event…. a la Dr Evil style , so no one other than Gary and Matt would have noticed it.
George to Matt & Gary, dropping his dacks: “Hey fellas, check this out. Smooth as, eh.”
Based on what I saw last night, who’d wanna be GG?
Boring dinner after boring dinner.
And a head chef who looked like he’d been recruited from the AFP….Karate Chef Stephen Seagal.
Matt: Claire’s woe-is-me act worked for her the entire series, not just the last two episodes. I’ve never said or thought she was stupid. IMO she changed up her tactics in the last few hours in a desperate attempt to hang on – and when she realised (earlier in last night’s episode) that flirting with the GovGen’s top chef wasn’t getting her anywhere. I also think she picked the lamb dish because when the dishes were first presented, the lamb main may have looked like the safest choice – she had cooked it before vs. the trout tart which on first glance may have looked more complicated. But we’ll never know how much time they had to make a decision or what the true process was of allocating/choosing between the three dishes.
Interesting you should raise Survivor. If anyone remembers the abysmal disaster that was Australian Survivor, they’ll know that its failure to deliver (apart from dire production standards) was because Australians are too nice to each other to make good backstabbing, bitching, cheating viewing. You have to lock young, dumb and full of hormones youngsters up in a house and warm it like a pressure cooker with lots of booze to get any passion going. But that’s part of what makes Masterchef so popular, because we are uncomfortable with real people being nasty to each other and prefer to see that sort of thing in our soap operas.
I was fooled by Claire’s act. I thought she thought she’d done ok.
And why did we never see what did happen with the rest of the lamb? I was waiting for the moment when someone discovered she hadn’t finished it off.
She really just needed to start hacking into it, instead of doing each one slowly and carefully, but she just couldn’t seem to bring herself to do a quicker job, despite commentating all the while that she was up against it timewise etc etc.
I wonder if claire will lose all her Masterchef lingo now she is home – she really picked up on a lot of Gary-talk I noticed ‘under the pump’ ‘really have to motor’ ‘world of pain’ all seemed to become her stock phrases as well.
I would have liked to see Claire’s homecoming too. Perhaps they didn’t show one of her dishes as they were all quite subtle – mousses and panna cottas that don’t stand out in presentation. Or her chicken in masterstock.
Claire is a good cook, but I’m still not sure about the vineyard restaurant. Cooking in bulk doesn’t seem to be her thing – remember the cruise challenge when she cut the beef too thick, and then just lost it and didn’t know what to do excpet work everyone else up about how dreadful and catastrophic it was.
And the GG doesn’t look as if she eats too much at all these state dinners!
CG : I’d believe it as Adam tells it : he and Callum are chivalrous young men who Claire has wrapped around her little finger – so ladies first (Claire can be glad Courtney was booted a few days ago) and of course Claire would not argue with that. That’s the second time in two nights Adam’s lawyerly skills have disappointed me… he’s a gentleman first, lawyer second. Thank goodness he didn’t make his case for the lamb, but he would have done a much better job than Claire. She would have wailed about trout bones no doubt.
The question should be though Matt, what would Jimmy do?
- It never was clear what they were allowed to get the sous chefs to do – none of them got help with anything except plating up, so perhaps that was the deal.
(Except claire, but that was last ditch help, at the end, when it was clear the guests would go hungry unless someone stepped in.)
That was going out with grace??! Boy, I found it disturbing. The bit where she sniped at the judges or the world, “Well, I did pick the most difficult dish.”
Then she whimpered – whimpered, it was AWFUL – on Adam’s shoulder. It was this involuntary little cry. Oh, the poor woman.
I guess, on the couch with Trev, watching all this stuff she will cry winsomely and say, It was the Editors, they set me up.
I really admired the Claire of team challenges in her role as leader – a totally other side of her. Nothing winsome or about to faint about her then.
I also found her thick-lensed daggy retro spectacles endearing last night. How come she didn’t wear them unless in a major challenge? Did she not really have to see the rest of the time?? I mean it’s not so winsomely pretty when you weep and bat your tearstained eyes at the judges if you’ve got on coke-bottle specs. Still, it’s all very odd.
Callum in the final two! Marion must be spewing! She threw away her immunity pin, and chucked Jake under the bus while she was at it, to protect ickle Cal – whose horrid zuchini flowers clagged up the works of the whole team, held them back time-wise and clagged up the innards of the P&O guests, too, I’d bet.
It is part strategy, but very few of them realised that very often in the course of the competition. So I guess that means MC3 will be chocka with strategic media whores, instead of a few good home cooks with ambition, which was why it was so nice orginally to watch.
Chunks, I didn’t even watch Australian Survivor. I should probably be sent to the reality TV naughty corner for that.
At the end of the service some of the guests were interviewed and they didn’t say much about how the food tasted, did they? I noticed they commented on how “creative” the dishes were, but that had nothing to do with our amadas, did it? The creativity was there for them to copy.
Interesting to see that in her interviews Claire has commented on the fact that it would have been nice for the judges to eat the food warm for a change. I knew there were delays between the cooking and the tasting, but her description of the cold brains dishes really turned my stomach when I read it over my morning coffee. Eeew. Sympathy for the judges? Unexpected!
Australian Survivor was classic.
Highlights included a constantly pixelated Fiona ‘no knickers’ Horne sitting aroung camp legs akimbo, plus the obvious but humorous manoeuvrings of political cynic extraordinaire David Oldfield.
Oh Sooty, thanks for reminding me about Callum being one of the Zucchini brothers. That was when Marion’s troubles started.
I’m still not happy Marion is not there in the F2 – just seeing her in the previews for masterclass made me miss her! Imagine how exciting this week would have been with Marion and Jono in the mix.
And on another totally unrelated matter – Adam’s mum has been on the MC forums explaining his ethnicity. Adam is half Chinese (Malaysian Chinese) from his dad’s side, and his mum is half English, quarter French and Indonesian. His mum lives in China, but I really hope MC goes out of the way to fly his mum and his girlfriend in Japan over for the verdict. Last year’s reunions for Julie were touching (remember weepy Manu?) but as F2 both have had time at home before Sunday, MC’ll need to do something spectacular to pull our heartstrings.
We’re not quite done with Claire…in fact the entire top twenty will be back tonight for the final Masterclar$e.
Have been following you all for about a month. Thanks, it has been great.
Have to say about Miss Manipulation – All those croc tears throughout the season for no real reason, (‘I don’t like shows of emotion’ pfft), then when she gets tossed out she can’t show any real emotion. She always came across as cold and calculating to me and I could never imagine her creating a warm environment from the heart or the hearth!
I don’t care who wins. I hope Callum does an apprenticeship and becomes a ‘real’ chef. And good luck to Adam for whatever he wants to achieve.
Thank God Will…I thought I read on Jimmys site he flashed ?
Phewwwwww !!!
I don’t know about all the grannies loving Callum – my mother can’t stand him – and him going through to the finale was a large part of a conversation with her this morning!She thinks he is a young twit who doesn’t listen when told to do something by people like George and Gary, who he should listen to. And she is still talking about the burnt custard in the army challenge.
Looking forward to seeing Jono tonight!
CG – think you’re part right here.
I agree she changed her tactics, but I actually believe that the main reason was that she knew she was gone, and it was time to think about whether she was remembered for going gracefully, or in a huff.
Best choice she made all night.
As for why they didn’t have the homecoming? Two reasons, I suspect.
1. It was only filmed a couple of weeks ago. (although I can’t find any reference to the dinner on the GG’s website).
2. Might have been a bit insenstive to have the new partner hugging her, given the publicity over the marriage.
and Fides thank you for explaining Adam’s ethnicity – wow what an interesting cultural mix!
Further strategy comments:
Don’t get me wrong here on the strategy. I think Chunks is right in saying the appeal of MC is that it does have nice people cooking, rather than strategizing.
But this is where a great strategic player (think Richard Hatch’s rampage of death in Survivor one) can run amok amidst the strategic muppets, clubbing the baby seals.
You’d be a worthy winner. Whether you’d be a marketable winner is another thing.
And as for what would Jimmy do? Jimmy was no fool. He knew everyone else (at this end of the competition at least) was a better cook, so he would have stacked the deck and grinned like a maniac.
Matt: GG dinner was held on 29 June (one of the guests – SES volunteer from the Victoria bushfires) wrote about it the other day (see Spoilers thread for more details, if you wish). Heaps of time to organise and film a homecoming for Claire. Lack of one just fans the gossip.
Re Claire going out gracefully: can’t agree her change in tactics was because she made choice to go out gracefully because her comment “well, I did pick the most difficult dish” was one of the most classless statements by any contestant all season. She changed her approach and turned to some of her lawyering skills in last desperate effort to stay in her “happy place”.
CG – Not saying it WAS graceful, perhaps, but she was trying.
I actually feel for her a bit here. Can’t be easy being described as a homewrecker by the women’s mags when all you wanted to do was cook.
Alternative theory One.
Or maybe her family and friends are private people who didn’t want to subject themselves in front of 2.5 million people considering the flogging she copped on blogs/forums and mainstream media over the past 3 months.
I would certainly be doing a big ‘up yours’ if I was in their position.
Alternative theory Two.
New partner doesn’t want to been to be sticking knife into just recent ex wife by appearing on arms with lover in front of 2.5 million people. New partner is actually considering ex wife and child.
Slogan : “Your ar$e will shimmy after you’ve eaten at “Jimmy’s”
And re the Governor General – how interesting that the MC event wasn’t listed on her official program of events.
From experience, EVERYTHING a GG or Governor does is listed – it’s usually done in the Government Gazette, too.
Embarrassed or did the producers ask them not to put it up to avoid spoiling the surprise?
I suspect the latter, which makes it interesting that a TV program can dictate what the nation’s leaders do. Oh, wait…
Funny when we saw the GG was a guest. My mother-in-law used to work for her (when she was Qld Governor) and my wife was in stitches when the contestants got excited about cooking for her, because “she’s a control freak and a perfectionist”.
Matt,
The MC contestants were just cooks for an Event.
I don’t think they were the official ‘event’ per se.
Paul – the official event isn’t listed. No mention of bushfire victims, or even a dinner.
Just that the GG hosted the executive committee.
All the hoary huffing about the Hearth and no homecoming?
Go boil some bunnies,baby.
Yeah you would think it would be mentioned in the Gazette then Matt.
There have been no homecomings for the last 3 eliminated contestants-don’t think it has anything to do with relatives avoiding publicity. Jimmy would have loved it and its a fe seconds grab with whatever randoms(Courtneys first homecoming certainly didn’t make it obvious Chrissy as her partner). It is curious though.
I find the 7PM interviews the last 2 nights odd though-they have had Jimmy and Courtney standing in front of traffic and even Elmo asked if they just dump them on the side of the road after they are eliminated.
Agree with most of what Matt has said this morning(don’t always agree with his posts)
If Callum wins, I think Junior MC should be cancelled as he can be called Junior MC
For those whom might find this interesting:
http://www.gg.gov.au/news.php/view/id/322/title/statement-from-the-official-secretary
“STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICIAL SECRETARY
23 July 2010
The Official Secretary to the Governor-General, Mr Stephen Brady, says last night’s episode of “MasterChef” provided a valuable insight into life at Government House for a large number of Australians.
“While we welcome thousands of visitors every year, this was an opportunity for many more Australians to see the hospitality of Government House in action. Since Ms Bryce commenced in her role in September 2008, more than 19,544 schoolchildren have visited the House, and over 15,000 people have attended 281 official functions”, Mr Brady said.
“This is in keeping with the Governor-General’s desire to open Government House and Admiralty House to as many people as possible”, he said.
“Both Houses are part of the National Estate and belong to all Australians. The request by ‘MasterChef’ to record a program provided an opportunity to communicate the openness of the Governor-General’s homes, and the very high level of professionalism and commitment of our staff”, he said.
“The episode recorded a dinner convened by the Governor-General to thank volunteers who had provided, and continue to provide, tremendous support for the victims of the Victorian bushfires and the floods in North Queensland and northern New South Wales last year”, he said.”
Anon – the general thinking is that Jimmy and Courtney didn’t get homecomings after the eliminations “this week” because it was their second time being eliminated. Not the same case with Claire. I may have walked away early last night: did Claire even get the “blurb” about what she is up to / doing like all the others have had, including both Jimmy and Courtney round 2?
BDD: Always love your comments and sense of humour. but on a more serious note, why not showcase Claire’s “hearth” (or find one if she doesn’t have one in her home) and use the opportunity to market her chosen “brand”, new lunch business and future restaurant.
dont think the GG would want to gazette the Dinner for the Secret Society of Flagellist Gastronomes. The Callumgraphy symbol on the plate was the giveway, that he had produced the sweat, I mean sweet.
George Callumbaris.
If Callum loses he can always go work in a sweatshop.
Actually,he said on Ch 10 this morn he won’t open a restaurant because he’s not smart enough. He’s been made some amazing offers from guest chefs on MC for after the show,apparently.
Everybodys Got A Hungry Hearth
Don’t Go Breaking My Hearth
I Know That My Hearth Will Go On
Hearthache Tonight.
It’s all good for Claire,CG.
If you read The Age’s recap for last night’s episode (funny, but not a patch on our Raver), there would have been big security issues with letting these amatas near the kitchens at all. Adam could have committed attempted manslaughter by fishbone. Didn’t the dear old Queen Mum have to be hospitalised for that?
Geo’s doing a live national cooking show tour – ‘
George Calombaris – Beware of Greeks burning chips….with Callum
Callum’s role- the Gomerpyle-esque sidekick, duties include : mopping Geo’s sweat, kooky laughter over the many deadspots, and running through the audience with a tray of chicken oysters to distract when Geo needs to check an ingredient and call his Mum.
The highlight would be the finale when Callum makes a giant chocolate fondant and they jump into it together as it plays out to U2′s “Its a bewt-ti-ful day,
that desert with the red ring jelly that blinky put together i couldn’t stop looking at it, the reason is i have worked in hospitals for 28 years as a nurse and it kept reminding me of a colostomy, it was freaky me out . the last 3 amatas give me nothing i don’t care who wins or who goe’s i feel flat . this is my last blog until next years masterponce , thanks for all the great quotes tata .
the kingfisher
Gags for Callum -
“Say George,how much does a Grecian urn?
“Did you make a squid out out of being a chef”?
BDD- of course Callum’s catchcry will become ” No Sweat George, Im all over it”
CG-nah don’t think you misses anything. Claire walked out the door following her montage…must admit I was transfixed by Callum whopper of a pimple on his neck which was ready to explode. Yeah I had thought the other 2 was because of the 1 homecoming per series only(did Peter get a second one?) but seems odd.Claires appearance on The Circle seemed quite muted(no conspiracy implied here so calm down Paul). I have been in 2 minds regards Claire…but don’t think she was hugely popular. Like the rest of them though: I wish her well.
They do a Masterclarse where George helps Callum to search for a juicer.
Loving the piece in The Age especially talking about the editor with the synthesizer but there’s quite a fe gems in this piece
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/masterchef-recap-adam-almost-kills-someone-20100723-10nae.html?autostart=1
Sooty #44
Claire “whimpered”? I must have missed that – priceless!
and trying to make out the easiest dish was the most difficult. I couldn’t work out why she never bothered to to try to ramp up the tempo. She seemed fixated on camera time
All that pretension – and so cheap at the end. She really was a bit of tart-let.
Matt-If you look at the programs on GG website, the dinner was listed on the 29 June. It was an official dinner to honour the volunteers.
http://www.gg.gov.au/program.php/view/id/2348/title/on-tuesday-29-june-2010-at-government-house-canberra-the-governor-general-ms-quentin-bryce-ac-presided-at-a-meeting-of-the-federal-executive-council
Notice how the Judges weren’t listed? They must have gatecrashed. :O
Kaylen-Of course they are not listed. They are only the catering staff !!!!!
Littlepetal etc. My bad – should have clicked on the “more” bit…
And Kaylen – I did notice that too!
My theory on the lack of Claire home coming, is to ensure who was the final two was not leaked. Once you have family and friends at a gathering you can always guarantee someone will leak it or the neighbours will see and leak it. What I had heard was they were keeping the finally three all together so no one could identify the final two.
Thanks for the great comments guys.
Hey Matt when Mastermind comes back on (maybe that is the new show Dicko is working on!) is your specialist subject going to be Survivor from Ep 1 to 20?
Fides – Cheque is in the mail.
BDD – you are on fire today
Thanks RR. Adelaide is on fire with hype about the two local boys..usually we’ll produce real dorks like Wes Carr or JJ as reality TV fodder.
Thanks too,to Pollywaffle and CG for feeding me some great lines.
George should cook youse some Callumari for that
b/dead dave. Didn’t know Wes Carr was from Adelaide. Can you take him back please?
Just had a thought re: MC jigging(we don’t seem to be calling it rigging anymore). They have jigged it so much we are so exhausted saying its jigged for weeks and weeks, we don’t care who wins and won’t raise but a Nicole like whimper when the winner is announced. Out of habit we will watch Masterjig finale, next year lets do something else with all those hours.
Wes was raised in Adelaide, Culinary Boner, under similar brutal social conditions to those that produced Jimmy Barnes.
librarygirl (at 51) – agree with your Mum re Callum/Gollum/Blinkly Bill. He’s blatantly disobeyed instructions on a couple of occasions, so I can’t understand why George keeps rabbiting on about him being humble and that he’d employ him at the drop of a hat (the broken record on this theme gets another play in the big article on Callum Callumbaris in the Who mag out yesterday). Something doesn’t add up here, for Callum to have got so far at the expense of better qualified contestants?
Do eliminated contestants get paid for their return performances?
Otherwise.. whats the motivation? A few of them looked less than impressed about being there.
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