MasterChef Australia is sizzling up our screens, but a challenge on Sunday night’s episode has sent fans questioning the fairness of the show.
In the challenge, the contestants were given 60-minutes by guest judge, Andy Hearnden, to cook their ‘ultimate breakfast’, but they were told the judges would only taste the ’12 most appealing breakfasts’ that were served.
After a stressful cook-up, Aaron Kher was selected as the winner for his congee, which Andy Allen picked as ‘dish of the day’, while Alita Harvey-Rodriguez, Dot McHugh and Kanika Gadyok all served up standout dishes to save their spot in the competition.
However, the dishes that didn’t pass muster, along with all the other dishes that weren’t even tasted, have sent their cooks into a potential early goodbye to the competition.
“I’m afraid, everyone else: you are up for elimination,” judge Jean-Christophe Novelli announced.
The challenge immediately drew ire from MasterChef fans, who questioned how the contestants who didn’t even have their dishes tasted could end up being eliminated.
It’s so unfair that they are only tasting 12 dishes when it results you you being in elimination #MasterChefAU
— Cara (@CLGreality9) May 3, 2026
The trouble with only tasting 12 dishes is what if the other dishes doesn’t look good but tastes great? This method of judging needs to get in the bin! #MasterChefAU
— ð”»ð•’ð•« ðŸ¯ðŸ… (@dcpchiu) May 3, 2026
I don't like it this year where not everyone gets tasted. #MasterChefAU
— Tez (reading P. J. Tracy's THE DEEPEST CUT) (@TezMillerOz) May 3, 2026
Some fans have even raised suspicions that this kind of challenge lends itself to favouritism. Considering only a select group of dishes are picked, the judges might be more inclined to pick the contestants whose storylines have been dominating the season.
Is anyone else not loving the "we'll only taste the 10 dishes we like the look of best" thing more than once? Because they seem to taste the same people's dishes again and again? #MasterChefAU
— anonymissjane (@anonymissjane) May 3, 2026
@MasterChefAU: People have been calling for blind taste testing for over a decade now. When are you going to start doing that for every challenge so there's no (percieved) bias? #MasterChefAU
— Martin (@anonimouse75) May 3, 2026
Sick of the judges playing favourites! #masterchefau
— Mark (@kramsirrom) May 3, 2026
This isn’t the first time that only a select group of dishes were tasted in a preliminary elimination. Almost every season, this sort of challenge is held, and the same criticism is levelled at it.
After all, is it really fair to just judge a book by its cover or a dish by its appearance? Hidden in the meals that were not tasted could have been the episode’s best dish, but no one would be the wiser. Make it make sense!
The call for MasterChef Australia to go back to blind tasting
To quash any favouritism allegations, there have been growing calls for MasterChef to go back to the foundations of the show, which involved blind tastings of contestants’ dishes.
“The big discussion is about fairness,” posted one Redditor in 2026. “If the judges don’t know who cooked the dish, the favouritism accusations disappear.”
This is a nostalgic nod to the show’s earlier seasons, where contestants would remain in the kitchen while their dishes were delivered to the judges by professional waiters. How charming, right?
Fans have argued that this strips away the unconscious bias that inevitably creeps in when judges watch a popular contestant struggle or a frontrunner excel during the cook. When a plate is served anonymously, the judges’ critique would focus solely on the flavour, technique, and presentation, rather than any ‘narrative’ around the person who cooked it.
MasterChef Australia airs Sunday 7pm and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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