From team-based Service Challenges to the highly intricate Pressure Tests, MasterChef Australia contestants face a wide range of demanding tasks, and fan-favourite Rhiannon Anderson has revealed to Chattr which one she finds the toughest.
While some tests, such as the Themed Challenges and Mystery Boxes, require contestants to cook from memory, the Pressure Tests come with a recipe to follow. However, despite being given the steps for a Pressure Test, Rhiannon told Chattr she always found it the hardest challenge.
“I think Pressure Tests are the most stressful because you’re following someone’s recipe and you’ve got to stay in it. And for me, I’m not a recipe follower. I make up things, if you know what I mean. My brain’s a little bit chaotic. So, for me to stay in someone’s recipe for hours on end is probably my biggest struggle,” she said in a post elimination interview.
Contestants are always given a time limit for MasterChef challenges and while some can be as quick as twenty minutes, the cook time for Pressure Tests is generally hours. But, because the recipe is so complex, Rhiannon said that the time absolutely flies.
“Honestly, you’re just cooking along, and you’re running! Sometimes I stop and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I’m not even breathing’, because it’s kind of like you’re just so panicked to get everything done. It definitely gets you,” she explained.
“You walk out and you go, I have no idea what the judge has said to me. I have no idea what happened. I don’t know what I just put up as a dish, but honestly, it’s all a blur, the whole thing,” she added.
Rhiannon’s favourite MasterChef Australia challenge
While the thought of cooking a dish for judges Andy Allen, Sofia Levin, Poh Ling Yeow and Jean-Christophe Novelli with unknown ingredients may send most people into an anxiety spiral, Rhiannon is firmly not in that camp.
She listed her favourite challenge as the Mystery Box, which involves the contestant whipping up a dish from surprise ingredients chosen by the judges, or guest judge.
“I love the unknown. I love being thrown produce that I just have to do something with. To me, the Mystery Box is my absolute favourite. I love it,” she said.
We’re going to miss Rhiannon’s enthusiasm around the MasterChef Australia 2025 kitchen!
MasterChef Australia airs on Sunday at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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