MasterChef fans brand one contestant ‘The Eliminator’ over slammed challenge decision

On last night’s MasterChef Australia, Heat Week came to a boiling point when a fan favourite was sent home instead of one contestant who had consistently been in the bottom.

Council worker, Pat, has proven to be one of the most consistent cooks in the competition, but he was no match for 19-year-old Luke, who has lately become a pro at high-pressure Black Apron tests.

In Wednesday night’s challenge, Pat, Luke, Vinnie and Aaron had to face off in two rounds, with each of the four cooks pulling either a smoke or fire token, which would inform whether they’d use smoking or flambé to prepare their dish.

Luke created a smoky s’mores dessert and while the judges praised the idea, they didn’t love the execution, which sent Luke into round two. Pat performed better when given the flambé technique, impressing the judges with a flavour-punching seafood bisque. Sadly for Pat, Aaron also impressed with his flambé dish, which the judges decided showcased the cooking technique more, sending Pat into a cookoff against Luke.  

Luke served a refined Kingfish mosaic as Pat created a dish of grilled octopus with a romesco sauce and pickled kohlrabi, but after having to recook his octopus, the judges found that some of Pat’s octopus pieces were tough to chew, spelling the end of his MasterChef journey. Oop.

Interestingly, the judges said both of Pat and Luke’s proteins were uneveningly cooked, but it was Pat who was sent home — despite the father-of-two performing better in round one.  

Luke managing to wiggle his way out of another elimination has MasterChef fans joking about his mystical powers in the kitchen. A fan even anointed the young chef as “The Eliminator” in a Reddit thread discussing the episode.

“Just give Luke the title already,” added another.

Despite his time on MasterChef being marked by extreme highs and lows, Luke has started to endear himself to some fans. “It just goes on to show that no matter how great you are, if you fail on elimination day, you’re out. Good for Luke, he’s a dark horse,” commented a fan.

That said, there is still a vocal group of fans on X who don’t believe Luke deserves to still be on the show, based on his inexperience compared to the other contestants.

Back on Reddit, some fans have questioned the ‘fairness’ of Pat’s elimination. “The fact that Pat has so much better of a track record than Luke and goes home JUST because Luke cooked slightly better than him once is so unfair,” one commented.

But don’t worry, Luke still has loads of fans who are rooting for this underdog to come out on top.

In an interview with Chattr, Pat shared his reflection on whether he believed the judges made the right call sending him home over Luke. “If they believed my dish wasn’t as good as Luke’s, then absolutely, they made the right decision,” he curiously replied.

“I had so many incredible moments and achieved far more than I ever imagined during my time on MasterChef, so I’ll never complain about how my journey ended.”

Pat admits he had a bad feeling on the day of the black apron challenge. “Honestly, I woke up that morning with a really strange feeling. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but something just felt a little off,” Pat told Chattr.

“I was still really proud of the dishes I put up, but when it came down to Luke and me standing there with what felt like a 50/50 chance, I definitely knew it wasn’t looking great.”

MasterChef Australia airs Sunday 7pm and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.