Yahoo Lifestyle 
MasterChef: Surprising theory emerges as contestant misses Hong Kong trip
Fans are concerned after noticing that Savindri ‘Sav’ Perera was absent from Sunday night's episode.
For the first time since season nine in 2017, MasterChef Australia has travelled overseas to film a very special themed week. Sunday night’s episode saw the remaining contestants fly to Hong Kong for a week of cooking challenges, however, one person was noticeably absent.
Judge Andy Allen announced at the beginning of the episode that Savindri ‘Sav’ Perera, who was eliminated earlier in the season but managed to cook her way back into the competition, was unable to travel to Hong Kong due to “personal reasons”.
“Look guys, unfortunately for some personal reasons, Sav won’t be able to join us this week, but we’ll be seeing her when we get back to the MasterChef kitchen,” he said.
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Yahoo Lifestyle can confirm that Sav won’t be appearing in Monday and Tuesday night’s episodes, but will return for Wednesday night’s episode when the rest of the cast is back in Australia. There will also be no eliminations during the Hong Kong episodes, with contestants instead cooking for a chance at immunity.
Why isn't Sav in Hong Kong?
Viewers first started questioning whether Sav would be travelling to Hong Kong last week after noticing that she didn’t appear in any of the teaser videos.
“What happened to Sav?” one person asked, while another added, “I hope all is ok with Sav”.
“I’m so panicked rn I can’t see Sav in any of the Hong Kong trailers,” a third wrote.
Meanwhile, one fan posted a theory on X that Sav may not have been allowed to travel to Hong Kong due to her Sri Lankan citizenship - although this hasn’t been confirmed.
“It's possible that Sav is an Australian permanent resident who still holds a Sri Lankan passport, in which case her ‘personal reasons’ could be a lack of passport privilege,” the viewer shared. “The visa process for Sri Lankan citizens to visit Hong Kong is complicated and expensive.”
The season of missing contestants
This isn’t the first time a contestant has had to miss out on a challenge due to personal reasons, as Stephen Dennis told Yahoo Lifestyle that he decided not to return to the kitchen for the second-chance cook because he needed to take care of his mother Dahlas.
“My mother is in hospital and is very unwell,” he said. “My father passed away during Covid, so I need to support my mother and it would be unfair on my family to return to filming with this in mind.”
Lourdes Leschen also told Yahoo Lifestyle she was unable to return for the redemption cook due to an operation, saying: “I had an important surgery that was unable to be missed.”
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Meanwhile, Josh ‘Pezza’ Perry had to sit out of two episodes earlier this month because he was ill.
“Josh Perry was unwell and absent from the MasterChef Australia kitchen for two challenges. As per competition protocol following a missed elimination challenge, Josh went straight into the next elimination challenge upon his return,” a Network 10 spokesperson told Yahoo Lifestyle.
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