MasterChef Australia judges slammed by viewers for controversial move: 'Rack off'

With only a few weeks left until the finale of MasterChef Australia, the pressure is building as the remaining contestants battle it out for the grand prize of $250,000. Sunday night's episode featured a nail-biting test to determine the top 6 and it brought back a fan favourite challenge to do so.

The judges announced that the contestants would need to bid on the items they wanted to use with minutes - leading to a very crafty auction that showcased the sneaky skills of Sav, Pezza, Harry and Lachlan. Of course "fish guy" Harry was determined to secure the red snapper for his creation and outbid the others, although it cost him a huge 65 minutes.

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In perhaps the most devastating moment of the season, poor Harry miscalculated his time, bid 30 minutes on a basket of alliums and was left with just 25 minutes to create a dish that would keep him safe.

Masterchef fans slam Sofia and Andy

With so little time on the clock and so much at stake, you'd think that perhaps the judges might just leave him to it, but nope! In true MasterChef tradition, Andy and Sofia stopped by Harry's bench as he raced against the timer and viewers had a lot to say about it.

"Don't talk to Harry, he doesn't have time!" one viewer wrote on Reddit.

"F**king Andy leave Harry alone. He’s literally got no time," another said.

"Lmao fr- I WAS LIKE THERES NO TIME TO DISCUSS WHATS THE DISH LEAVE HIM ALONE," someone replied.

"F**KIN HELL ANDY. HARRY LITERALLY ONLY HAS 25 MINUTES. DON'T TAKE IT ALL TALKING TO HIM," yelled another.

"Come on Harry! And go away judges, he doesn't have time for this sh*t!" yet another wrote.

"25 minutes for a cook and the judges want to have a goss," added someone else.

'The edited version'

"25 mins to cook and ANDY WALKS UP TO HIS BENCH FOR A CHAT. WALK AWAY ANDY," one viewer wrote on X.

"Andy - Harry has only 25 minutes - rack off!!!!," another said.

"PISS OFF ANDY AND SOFIA," yet another person rather harshly said.

On Instagram it was more of the same with someone quipping "Harry Got 25 min and Andy comes over and wastes 5 😐."

"That was the edited version! 🤣," someone joked back.

Harry's big win

In the end (and despite yet another miscalculation where Harry thought he had eggs to work with) the 'Fish King' was safe for yet another day after his semolina-crumbed snapper with charred grilled leeks and beurre blanc wowed the judges who chose to send Lachy home instead.

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Taking to Instagram to reflect on his crazy elimination cook experience, Harry wrote, "I proved something to myself last night. The task seemed impossible, and at times I was full of self doubt. With some clear thinking, solid planning and 25 minutes of intensely hard work I made it through. The power of self belief and not giving up is something that I’m not always able to harness, but I’ll remember this lesson for a while. It’s cooks like this that make me believe that I could actually win this."

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