MasterChef fans baffled by 'weird' detail during episode: 'What happened?'

MasterChef fans were left confused by Monday night’s episode, after fan favourite Poh Ling Yeow arrived in the kitchen with the season’s first mystery box challenge.

While Poh’s challenge proved to be tough, providing the home cooks with just pantry staples, viewers were fixated on one strange detail — half of the cast appeared to be missing.

Many took to social media to question what had happened to the show, with one saying that the season felt ‘disjointed’ due to the edit. “This season is weird, no idea what’s happening — think they are chopping bits out — can’t get into it,” they wrote.

“Where are all the contestants? Am I missing something,” a baffled fan added.

“Been trying to find out what’s happened too! Where are they all?” a third chimed in.

“I missed the first week in favour of Lego Masters, what’s the go with the fact that there’s only [seven] contestants but only been one elimination so far? Are they grouped?” another asked.

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It turns out that eight contestants had Covid during filming so the crew had to keep them isolated. Instead of putting filming on hold, the contestants have been divided into two groups.

This could put an end to some of the contestant’s MasterChef journey earlier than they thought, with each group having a higher chance of being sent home during elimination rounds.

Judge Melissa Leong explained their absence briefly at the start of the show, but viewers who missed the beginning had no clue as to what was going on.

“Welcome to a brand new week in the MasterChef kitchen. As you can see, a couple more contestants are missing today. Covid strikes again. But, in lighter news, you guys have survived your first elimination!!” she announced.

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Viewers were wondering what would happen if more contestants caught Covid, with some making jokes about the strange situation on social media.

“Can’t wait for week six when they just give up and get the kitchen fitted with quarantine tents to cook in,” one person quipped.

“We’re gonna get to the point the three judges are going to have to cook off against each other thanks to Covid lol,” another added.

“So is the group just going to keep getting smaller from Covid?” a third wondered.

“Dropping like flies!” another remarked.

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