’Junior MasterChef Australia’ contestant Ben Bolton is usually cool, calm and collected in the TV kitchen, with his cute quips and bubbly persona making him a big fan favourite this year.
But on Tuesday the 10-year-old from Victoria felt the pressure of the cooking contest as things don’t exactly go to plan during a yummy doughnut-themed elimination challenge.
The show farewelled three budding cooks, Ryan, Porsha and Etka last week in its first triple elimination.
(Spoiler alert: read on to see who left the show on Tuesday)
“I really hope it’s not me,” Ben said in a Junior Masterchef promo when judge Andy Allen reveals two contestants will be going home.
The young cook is then seen frantically rushing across the kitchen, after his mixture doesn’t look how it’s meant to.
“It’s turned into a disaster. I have to chuck it out and start again,” he says. “I’m so stressed.”
At this point judge Jock Zonfrillo steps in to reassure Ben.
“Look at me... you’ve got it,” he says, to which the blushing contestant nods.
“If I want to stay in this competition, I cannot give up,” Ben then says in a piece-to-camera, reminding viewers why they have fallen in love with his can-do personality just two weeks into the show.
Ben is one of 14 contestants aged 9-14 who were selected for ‘Junior MasterChef Australia’ this year.
And in a relief for Ben (and many of his fans) it was Phenix and Salvo who bid goodbye on Tuesday’s elimination episode.
Salvo chose to make a tuna and prawn burger reminiscent of fried seafood he ate on family holidays in the Amalfi Coast when he was younger.
While the judges Andy Allen, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo were impressed with his ability to cook seafood, Salvo’s dish wasn’t enough to keep him in the competition.
For Phenix it was an easy choice to make a coffee cake with a walnut and pistachio crumble as her dream is to own her own bakery one day.
The judges enjoyed the flavours of the dessert, however the texture of the crumble let her down.
The remaining contestants include Ben, Carter, Dev, Filo, Georgia, Laura, Ruby, Tiffany and Vienna.
Ben said his grandmother encouraged him to audition for the cooking show.
“My gran’s actually a food tech teacher, so she really taught me to cook in the first place,” Ben recently told the Bendigo Advertiser.
While one of his first dishes he ever cooked as a “five or six-year-old” was a “plate of sausage rolls made into a circle with pineapples and sesame seeds”, he said his palate has since evolved and he’s experimented with different cuisines.
Steamed bao buns with pork and pickled vegetables are now his favourite to cook.
“The first time I ate them was in Albury and I’ve been developing my recipe ever since I ate them,” he said. “My recipe definitely has changed a lot.”
‘Junior MasterChef Australia’ airs on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10.
Watch the promo for Tuesday’s eliminator episode below:
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