Well this is it! We’ve finally made it and there are just 2 contestants left vying to be the first Australian Junior MasterChef. In a little of a surprise, Jack has made it which in our previous poll (albeit very small sample!) indicated that no one expected him to make it at all.
Isabella has stormed into the final and taken the final spot that had up to that stage appear to belong to her twin sister Sofia. She has cooked extremely well under pressure and has the right attitude for television. I suspect she will take it out.
A 2 hour episode tonight will determine the winner.
Let’s get to it.
ALL the finalists come back for the final. All look calm and relaxed. The kids are so complimentary of each other which is really nice to see.
The kids get to do a team challenge which is a team pressure test. 2 groups of five will cook off. Veal with hand made fettuccine, cherry tomatoes and aged balsamic.
What? The kids won’t be cooking. But will be telling George and Gary how to cook! This should be interesting. (If it’s not setup). Only 15 minutes is allocated for this challenge. This is going to be a lot of fun!
George is going manic whilst Gary is taking his time. In the end as expected they both finish on time. Very impressive! Making the Veal fettuccine with cherry tomatoes and aged balsamic in 15 minutes is incredible. It takes me 20 minutes to get a sandwich together!
Both dishes look incredible. Matt and Anna taste George’s. The verdict is pretty good. Matt reckons the pasta is too tough but it’s all good.
Gary’s verdict: The look is inferior to George’s but Gary’s is much better in every other area. So Team Gary wins.
Jack and Isabella enter the kitchen.
First challenge is the invention test. Need to make a dish that is hatted quality. To make this tougher, they have brought in guest judge Shannon Bennett of Vue de Monde.
Core ingredients are a choice of Quail, Veal and Scallops and Scampis.
1 hour to cook a hatted dish is going to be very difficult.
It looks like Isabella is having major issues with her dish with the setting of the jelly and custard.
Jack brings out his Tea infused Quail. The judges are very impressed. The tea infused quail is a hit.
Isabella comes in with her Scallops dish. And again the judges are extraordinarily impressed. Should be interesting to see the final verdict.
Isabella takes out the first challenge very convincingly with a score of 47 out of a possible 50! She takes a 6 point lead into the second challenge.
In order for this to happen, MasterChef brings in Adriano Zumboto cook “Pear Perfection”. Again this dish is going to be a killer to cook.
Adriano will be assisting as the kids go for it with 2 hours 25 minutes to make 5 of them.
Both do extremely well. Isabella is up first with her dish. The judges are blown away but when Jack brings his dish, you know that their comments mean that this will be close finish.
The judges reveal their scores to Jack first. He scores an unprecedented 53 out of 50 with George, Shannon and Matt Preston awarding 11/10 and Gary and Anna awarding perfect scores of 10/10.
However Isabella scores a perfect 50/50 to win the title of Junior MasterChef!
Thus ends another successful series for the Ten network. Look forward to seeing you when we continue to follow MasterChef worldwide.
