MasterChef viewers left confused after fan-favourite 'disappears'

MasterChef viewers were left confused during Wednesday night’s episode when a fan-favourite contestant seemingly disappeared from the show.

While four of the top five contestants met judges Melissa Leong, Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo at Australia’s largest cactus garden in Strathmerton at the start of the episode, Rhiannon Anderson was nowhere to be seen.

Fans were first alerted of Rhiannon’s absence on Wednesday morning when MasterChef shared a photo on Instagram with just Theo Loizou, Cath Collins, Brent Draper and Declan Cleary to promote the episode.

“Where is Ri?” one person commented, while another added, “What happened to Rhi? Did I miss somethin' here”.

“Why isn’t Rhiannon cooking,” a third replied, followed by someone else who guessed the 47-year-old had “left” the competition.

Viewers also took to Reddit to question if the photo was a “mistake” and accidentally revealed the top four for season 15.

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However, Melissa Leong actually explained Rhiannon’s disappearance at the beginning of Wednesday night’s episode.

“Unfortunately Rhiannon isn’t feeling well today so she won’t be joining us, which sadly also means she’s out of running for the immunity challenge tomorrow,” she told the remaining four cooks.

Half the cast goes missing

This certainly isn’t the first time this season that a contestant has vanished mid-season, with more than half of the cast missing during the show’s first mystery box challenge back in May.

Viewers were baffled by the fact there were only seven contestants cooking despite the fact there had only been one elimination.

“Where are all the contestants? Am I missing something,” one fan wrote, with another tweeting, “Been trying to find out what’s happened too! Where are they all?”.

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“This season is weird, no idea what’s happening - think they are chopping bits out - can’t get into it,” a different user replied.

Melissa Leong explained at the beginning of the episode that eight contestants had tested positive for Covid during filming so the crew had to keep them isolated.

“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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