The Block fans divided over bizarre 'MasterChef' challenge: 'Confused'

If you thought The Block was just a home renovation show with a touch (or maybe a lot) of drama, then think again. Viewers tuning into Wednesday night’s episode were left baffled upon seeing the five teams forced to cook a meal for the show’s hosts Scott Cam and Shelley Craft.

This week’s challenge saw the contestants travel away from the construction site to go fishing on Phillip Island, before returning to the angling club and doing a combined weigh-in. Up for grabs was “one of the biggest prizes ever” on The Block, a $120,000 Bar Crusher fishing boat that they will sell as part of their house on auction day.

While best mates Ricky and Haydn managed to catch the heaviest fish and thought they had won the prize, the teams were then told that the challenge winners would be decided with “a good old-fashioned cook-up”.

“You guys are gonna clean and cook your catch and serve it up,” Scott Cam explained. “This is going to be a blind tasting. We’re gonna have no idea who cooked what meal. We will come up with the meal that we liked the best, and that team will take home the Bar Crusher.”

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House 1’s Jesse and Paige cooked fish en papillote with roasted potatoes, House 2’s Courtney and Grant kept with their ‘Moderterranean’ theme and made barbecue fish with Maltese capsicum salsa, House 3’s Ricky and Haydn kept it simple with grilled fish and chips, House 4’s Kylie and Brad served fish in a butter, lemon and garlic sauce, and House 5’s Kristian and Mimi prepared baked King George whiting with lemon, garlic and parsley.

The show’s editors weren’t afraid to poke fun at the fact that the challenge was something different for The Block and played Katy Perry’s ‘Hot N Cold’ - aka the original MasterChef Australia theme song - during the episode.

Scott also made reference to the Channel 10 cooking competition when welcoming guest judge and fishing expert Lee Raynor to taste the meals.

“Lee, welcome to MasterChef - I mean, The Block,” he said with a laugh.

Fans 'confused' by unique challenge

Viewers were understandably puzzled by the cooking challenge and took to social media to question whether it was something that normally happens on The Block.

“This is my first year ever watching The Block. Why are they cooking? What is this, MasterChef? I'm confused,” one person wrote.

“Just tuned in… omg now The Block is like My Kitchen Rules,” another added, while a third remarked, “Thought this was a reno show, not a cooking contest”.

“Seriously, what happened to this show? Where did the renovation challenges go?” someone else replied, followed by a different user who questioned, “Why am I even watching people fishing and cooking?”.

“If I wanted to watch a dumb fishing show, I’d be sitting with my husband,” one fan joked, with another writing, “‘I hope there’s more fishing content in my favourite building show’ said no one ever”.

“FFS. I don't even enjoy watching MasterChef judges do their thing. Now we have to sit through a builder critiquing food?” someone else commented.

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However, plenty of people said they enjoyed the “fun” challenge and understood why the show would feature something different.

“They are promoting local businesses with opportunities and ideas for tourists to the island. These are great challenges,” one fan shared.

“It was for the fishing boat for the driveway, so I think the challenge of catching and cooking fish was perfect,” another said.

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