'No one had a clue': MasterChef star reveals truth behind 'frustrating' editing snubs

Fans of MasterChef this season have been baffled by a series of bizarre editing snubs that have seen crowd favourites disappear from episodes for whole episodes and sometimes more, and now a former contestant has weighed in on how the cast are feeling.

It turns out the chefs know about as much as the audience does about how much air time they can expect, and could be just as frustrated.

Eliminated contestant Courtney Roulston tells Yahoo Lifestyle that during the challenges every contestant is assigned their own producer and filmed an equal amount, meaning they had no idea that some would be chopped from the edit completely.

“I don’t think anyone had a clue when we were filming, who was going to be featured in what episodes,” she says, adding she has no idea why some get more air time than others.

“It’s definitely the editors’ choice as to who they want to put on,” she says.

“For some reason, they just like to keep focusing on a couple of people and I guess that’s a question only they can answer.”

Fans complain as favourites snubbed

Fans have complained about favourites Poh and Reynold being given too much air time while others are barely spotted for weeks at a time.

Poh, in particular, was the subject of much ire as some began to dub the series the ‘Poh Show’, frustrated with the lack of people being showcased.

Just one of many to mysteriously disappear was Sarah C, who fans noticed was not present at one challenge with zero explanation.

In the end, however, the mum was revealed to have simply sat out of the challenge after the team had one extra cook.

Not all absences were explained, however.

Tracey Collins suddenly cropped up as the leader of a group challenge this week, after weeks of not being seen at all, with some fans even mistaking her for Courtney, unaware she was part of the competition at all.

“A lot of people are getting frustrated with it,” Courtney admits, but says the show does it’s best to give everyone their time.

“I imagine the guys that are still in the competition, I guess it would be frustrating for them but they would know that if they’re still in there that they’re going to get a lot of air time,” she says.

“It’s hard to feature 24 storylines.”

Courtney back in the kitchen with recipes for kids

Courtney was booted from the competition early after a technical difficulty saw a pressure test dished up incomplete, but says she was happy with her brief stint on the show, and the amount of air time she was given.

She says despite the show being ‘as stressful as it seems’ it hasn’t kept her out of the kitchen, with the chef now partnering with Coles for their ‘Kitchen Garden Program at Home’ initiative for kids, parents and teachers.

The program is with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, a program run in many schools across the country which encourages kids to learn to grow and eat their own produce, and the at-home program features some of the chef’s favourite healthy and easy recipes.

The chef has barely had time to catch a break after leaving the competition, blowing fans away when she shared her ‘hectic’ post-elimination interview schedule on social media at the time.

Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com.