Last night, MasterChef viewers had to say goodbye to frontrunner Merran Kenworthy, after her reinvention of a classic Kiwi dish landed her in the bottom two.
Having dominated the previous challenge, in which the MasterChef candidates had to replicate Simon Wright's consommé, Kenworthy became a frontrunner and an audience favourite.
In this week's challenge however, Kenworthy attempted to reinvent a classic macaroni and cheese dish, but failed to impress the judges.
"I guess I knew right from the beginning that it was a risk," the travel company sales manager says. "I guess every time the judges came up and asked me what I was doing I guess I had that little alarm bell that went off where I was thinking 'is this a good idea?'"
But despite the challenge that sent her home, Kenworthy has had a dream ride. With an audition that blew the judges away and a series of victories, this isn't the end of her cooking adventure.
"My husband and I are building a new house which we are planning to run as a B&B business, so that's the first step. And then in conjunction with that, hopefully another little food business on the side just to keep the passion burning," says Kenworthy.
With 11 candidates left, Kenworthy has a pretty good idea of who she would like to see in the final.
"I said on the very first day that if I was standing in the finale with Tim I would be happy. He, to me, was a frontrunner right from the beginning, and I think we haven't seen the best of him yet," she laughs. "And I'd like to see Glenda go all the way as well. So my prediction is a final between Tim and Glenda." she adds.
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