MasterChef viewers react to controversial decision: 'What an absolute joke'

The most recent elimination on MasterChef Australia set off a big debate among fans who questioned if the judges had made the right choice. The pressure test saw four contestants - Lourdes, Nat, Gillian and Alex - competing to recreate Liam Downes' smoked egg yolk raviolo, with four hours to plate up something that looked and tasted like his.

The race was a tense one with Alex cutting herself twice and contaminating the pasta dough, resulting in her having to start over (and come perilously close to running out of ingredients). In the end, she was able to cook an impressive meal that had the judges praising her talents.

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Nat, who won the only immunity pin on offer at the start of the season, remained calm under pressure and presented a dish that had the judges rhapsodising about her skill and how closely her dish resembled Liam's, despite the missing chicken skin.

Lourdes and Gillian didn't fare quite so well with their creations - Lourdes overcooked the raviolo and Gillian ran out of time which meant she was unable to place all of the elements she had spent four hours painstakingly making, on her plate.

Facing a tough decision, the judges debated who they should send home, ultimately deciding that Lourdes should be the one to go as she had failed to nail the main element of the dish.

Naturally, people on social media had very strong reactions to this choice, with many feeling it should have been Gillian to be penalised for serving up a near-empty plate.

"Not sure I agree with that decision," one viewer wrote on X. "How many elements were missing from Gillian's dish? Looked like quite a few compared to the other dishes."

Another fan said, "Damm Lourdes is going that’s kinda unfair when they eliminated Khristian when he had a missing Hazelnuts [sic]"

"What an absolute joke!" another raged. "Lourdes had elements on the plate and she’s eliminated #MasterChefAU."

"Gill was missing so many elements!" someone else said. "Seems ridiculous she isn't out."

Mused another, "Mmm controversial."

A different fan teased, "Imagine being sent home from #masterchefau after being beaten by an empty plate," while another still cautioned, "Oh they’ve just made a rod for their back Only have to present a couple of elements now in pressure tests."

"Turns out you can serve up half a dish and not get eliminated," another echoed.

Showing their support for the 22-year-old home cook, one fan wrote on Lourdes' Instagram, "Very unfair, cannot and should not lose to someone who only fills half the plate."

"YOU GOT ROBBED!!" another wrote.

And, on Facebook, a viewer expressed that she felt the turn of events only proved that the show is scripted.

"Well if I didn't think it was scripted before then tonight proved me right," she wrote. "A half-finished dish that only had 2 elements proved to be better than a dish that had all elements although some elements were not up to scratch."

"Yeah that’s bulls**t," someone replied. "Supposed to judge the dish as a whole I thought, not break it down to one thing."

"I must admit I did think it was a strange decision, not saying it's rigged, just a strange decision to choose an incomplete dish over a complete dish," another chimed in.

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In the end, it was this fan who weighed in on the debacle perfectly, explaining, "The judges said it was a tough decision given Gillian didn't get all her elements on the plate. However, the Raviolo was the main element, along with the sauce, and she cooked both perfectly. Lourdes had several negative elements on her plate, the star of the dish being one.

They have to judge on what's in front of them..and taste/technique will win out.. Simple!"

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