MasterChef Australia: Back to Win – A Look at the Eliminated Contestants
The latest season of MasterChef Australia: Back to Win has seen the return of some of the show’s most memorable contestants, all vying for another shot at culinary glory. With a revamped judging panel featuring Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin, and Jean-Christophe Novelli, the competition has been fierce and the stakes incredibly high. As the season progresses, talented cooks have had to bid farewell to the MasterChef kitchen. Let’s take a look at those who have left the competition so far and what they have planned for the future.
Sarah Todd (Season 6 & Season 14)
Sarah Todd, a seasoned chef and three-time MasterChef contestant, faced elimination after a Pork Assiette challenge against Jamie. Despite her best efforts, the judges felt her three pork preparations didn’t quite hit the mark. While disappointed, Sarah expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to showcase new culinary ideas and cook from the heart. She found love on the show with fellow chef Declan. Sarah plans to shift her focus from her restaurants in India to sharing her culinary creations with Australian audiences.
Snezana Calic (Season 16)
Snezana Calic returned to MasterChef: Back to Win with the goal of impressing the judges with her honest and flavorful cooking. However, an elimination challenge proved to be her undoing. After her aioli split multiple times, she ran out of time and became flustered, ultimately landing her in the bottom group alongside Sarah and Ben. Despite her departure, Snezana is proud of her growth throughout the season. She is currently working on a cookbook and dreams of hosting a television show exploring the cuisines of the Mediterranean, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia.
Alana Lowes (Season 3)
Fourteen years after her initial MasterChef experience, Alana Lowes returned to the kitchen, bringing with her years of recipe development experience. She faced a dual challenge involving horseradish ice cream and fennel seed pavlova. While the judges were impressed, the fennel seed flavor in her pavlova was deemed too overpowering, leading to her elimination. Alana considers her ginger and lemon biscuit tart with blackberry jam, diplomat cream, and vincotto ice cream, created for a challenge set by Maggie Beer, as her proudest dish. Alana is planning to return to a professional kitchen through pop-ups and collaborations and is also launching a range of ready meals.
Audra Morrice (Season 4)
Audra Morrice, who placed third in Season 4, faced elimination after a challenge that required contestants to transport the judges to another country through their dish. Unfortunately, her Spanish paella failed to impress. Since her first appearance on MasterChef, Audra has built a successful culinary career that includes two cookbooks, a catering business, and her own cooking show. She has also served as a guest judge on MasterChef Singapore. Audra is currently working on a new season of her show, Audra’s Eat, Roam, Relish, which explores global cultures through food.
Andre Ursini (Season 1)
As one of the original MasterChef contestants, Andre Ursini returned to reconnect with his passion for cooking. Although he impressed the judges, his second MasterChef journey ended after a pressure test set by Philip Khoury. Since his first season, Andre has established three award-winning restaurants in Adelaide. He plans to incorporate some of his favorite MasterChef dishes into his restaurant menus. He considers his buttermilk ricotta gnocchi in a white soy and cucumber consommé with borage oil as his proudest dish.
Declan Cleary (Season 15)
Declan Cleary, a fan favorite from Season 15, was eliminated after a Decreasing Time Versus Increasing Ingredients challenge set by Maggie Beer. He chose to create offal, beef tongue, and chicken liver skewers with a vino cotto glaze and a slaw of roasted and pickled cabbage. The judges, however, found his dish to have an incomplete taste.
Theo Loizou (Season 15)
Theo Loizou, who returned to realize his dream of opening a bakery in Melbourne, was eliminated in a cook-along challenge with Curtis Stone. He struggled to keep up with Curtis while preparing slow-cooked lamb shanks with a ricotta raviolo. Theo is now focused on making his bakery dream a reality, specializing in sourdough breads and French and Greek-style pastries.
Beau Cook (Season 4)
After a decade as a firefighter, Beau Cook returned to the MasterChef kitchen. He impressed the judges with his culinary tribute to the Anzacs. However, a reimagined spider dessert was not enough to save him from elimination. Beau is returning to firefighting and launching an all-natural hard lemon alcoholic drink.
Samira El Khafir (Season 5)
Samira El Khafir, who placed third in Season 5, admitted to feeling a sense of relief when she was eliminated, as it coincided with her husband’s birthday. During her time on the show, she was proudest of her Makloubeh dish and another dish called Diversity on a Plate. Samira plans to continue promoting diversity, multicultural inclusion, and harmony on her social media channels and to embark on food-related travel.
Darrsh Clarke (Season 16)
Darrsh Clarke was eliminated after a cheese pull challenge and a subsequent round involving a crowd-pleasing dish. His blue cheese dipping sauce lacked the desired pull, and the pistachio praline in his choux bun was too thin. Darrsh and his housemate Dave, another MasterChef alum, are launching a cookie business called Crumb Club.
Tim Bone (Season 11)
Toastie legend Tim Bone was eliminated after attempting to cook a confit duck Maryland in just 75 minutes. He will be focusing on expanding his toastie empire in Ballarat and dreams of opening his own cooking class.
Rue Mupedzi (Season 15)
Dessert specialist Rue Mupedzi was eliminated during a pressure test involving a complex dessert. Her strawberry gum emulsion split, becoming too runny. Rue will be heading to Europe to hone her pastry-making skills.
Rhiannon Anderson (Season 15)
A last-minute decision to add minced lobster to her dumpling dough led to Rhiannon Anderson’s elimination. She and her husband Dean are planning a road trip to showcase Australia’s farmers on her YouTube channel.
Jimmy Wong (Season 8)
Jimmy Wong’s journey ended after a mishap with a chocolate shell in a pastry challenge. He is looking forward to uncovering food stories and highlighting the people behind them on social media.
Matt Hopcraft (Season 7)
Matt Hopcraft was eliminated after the judges found his Bombe Alaska to have a slightly gritty meringue. Matt plans to take a break before pursuing his interest in healthy eating and its link to health.
Steph de Sousa (Season 11)
Steph de Sousa, a fan favorite, was eliminated after her fermented shrimp paste overpowered the rest of her pork belly dish.
Sav Perera (Season 16)
Sav felt the heat in a pressure test involving a Kirsten Tibballs dessert. Sav walked away as a version of Sav that’s shown up authentically and unapologetically, that has honoured her mother & her culture again & again, a version of Sav that has made new friends and isn’t so burdened by grief.
Cath Collins (Season 15)
Cath farewelled the MasterChef kitchen after burning a key component of her Japanese dish, mushrooms, on the grill.
Pete Campbell (Season 13)
Pete withdrew from the competition in episode three, sharing to his Instagram, “Didn’t even get to cook for the judges! But you know what they say… “if you have cancer you should go get chemo.