MasterChef elimination 4

MasterChef elimination 4

Alana Harper became the fourth contestant from the Top 16 to leave MasterChef New Zealand on Tuesday 27th March (7.30 pm – 8.30 pm) on TV ONE.

And in a shock move, Andy Curran announced he was withdrawing from the competition.

In tonight’s show the Top 13 faced their spiciest challenge yet: to cook two dishes for guest chef Che Barrington from Auckland modern Thai restaurant Moo Chow Chow.

The contestants’ challenge was to not only replicate Che’s signature dish, grilled salmon on a green papaya salad, but to create a Thai dish of their own, plus perfectly-cooked jasmine rice, in just 90 minutes.
There was a catch: while the contestants were given a recipe for Che’s dish, that recipe didn’t include the exact quantities for each ingredient.

But before the challenge could begin, Andy Curran from Wellington announced he was pulling out of the competition due to a stress-related illness.

Shocked contestants were in tears, but the judges warned them that regardless of Andy’s decision the day’s least successful cook would be going home.

That person turned out to be Alana Harper.

From the start, the 27-year-old had been upfront about her lack of experience with Thai. “It’s all new to me, I don’t cook Thai food,” she told the judges cheerfully at the start of the challenge.

Her inexperience and lack of observation were immediately apparent, as she prepared her papaya in ribbons, rather than shredding it in replication of Che’s.

Che’s signature dish completed, she moved on to preparing her own creation, green prawn curry on noodles. She reiterated she was not familiar with Thai food, but she was giving it her best shot.

But she was in for a shock when she presented her dish for tasting. “I put my dish in front of the judges,” she said, “but as usual they looked puzzled.”

Puzzled didn’t describe the half of it!

“Alana, what were you thinking?” queried judge Josh Emett when faced with her version of Che’s signature dish.

“We asked you to replicate Che’s dish – which means copy it – and this looks nothing like it!” added Ray McVinnie. The judge didn’t stop there, launching into Alana’s curry and describing it as a gluey, tasteless, rather greasy noodle dish. “Like the worst takeaway!” Her rice fared no better: “It’s totally massacred!!”

Three dishes and three failures. A pensive Alana conceded that things weren’t looking very good. “I’m not looking forward to going into this elimination,” she said. “I know I’m going to get a barrelling.”

Lined up in the bottom three alongside Zee Tana and Dave McKinnon, Ray McVinnie told them that they had all performed badly that day…but that it was Alana’s time to go.

The Timaru café worker was contemplative. “I gave it my best shot,” she said. “My interpretation of Thai showed that I don’t cook it and I don’t eat it much. It showed that I went outside the box, again.”

And she was gracious in defeat. “Thank you so much for letting me have this opportunity,” she told the judges. “It was such an honour.”

“Everything went wrong for me today,” she continued. “I misinterpreted Thai in a way I shouldn’t have. And I knew right then and there that I was going.

“To everyone who supported me on the show - I hope I didn’t confuse you as much as I confused the judges! It was touch and go sometimes and I was very lucky with some of the challenges I got through with.

“Thank you for supporting me and you haven’t sent the last of me!”

ENDS
For Alana Harper’s thoughts on being evicted from the kitchen, visit the TVNZ MasterChef site for an exclusive interview: www.tvnz.co.nz/masterchef-new-zealand.

MasterChef New Zealand continues Tuesdays at 7.30pm on TV ONE.

At stake for the remaining contestants is the MasterChef New Zealand title and more than $100,000 worth of prizes.

The remaining contestants are: Andrea Bathgate (Auckland), Matt Gilray (Christchurch), Charlene McGechan (Rotorua), Dave McKinnon (Christchruch), Chantelle O’Brien( Ashburton), Tony Price ( Auckland), Ana Schwarz (Waiheke), Zee Tana(Auckland ), Brenton Thornton (Auckland), Chris Turner (Christchurch), Chelsea Winter ( Auckland).

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