MasterChef Australia 2024 has stumped a bunch of viewers over the past few weeks, after four contestants randomly vanished from the show. Mimi Wong, who was sadly eliminated on Sunday night, says she’s actually “super grateful” for how production handled absences during the show.
If you need a refresher, Savindri ‘Sav’ Perera didn’t make it to Hong Kong week due to “personal reasons”, Josh ‘Pezza’ Perry missed a few episodes earlier in the season due to sickness, Lourdes Leschen didn’t compete in the redemption challenge due to an “important surgery”, and Stephen Dennis skipped the same challenge to take care of his unwell mother.
Mimi Wong has shared some MasterChef Australia secrets after being eliminated. (Image: 10)
Mimi tells PEDESTRIAN.TV that all the MasterChef Australia absences are handled with care, heaping praise on the producers.
“There’s a lot of transparency about stuff like that in terms of competition fairness, which I think the show does really well. They check in on us and make sure that we’re all agreeable and we all are happy with the process of the competition before following through,” she says.
“So [I’m] definitely super grateful for the way that we’ve been treated in the competition in terms of absences and things like that.”
Savindri ‘Sav’ Perera was missing from Hong Kong week. (Image: 10)
The season 16 cook also lifted the lid on some of the behind-the-scenes goss.
“One of the best memories I have of this experience is just Darrsh and Harry being the biggest pranksters of all time, and they were just messing around with the flow of the competition,” she says.
Apparently, Darrsh and Harry were determined to “lay traps” for production staff, so they could trick them into revealing top-secret info about where the cast were travelling, or what challenges would be coming up.
“Obviously, [they] failed every time,” she laughs.
Mimi Wong’s ‘disappointment’ after not making MasterChef Australia’s Top Four
Mimi’s final cook was a bit of a disaster. The cook is known for taking risks, and on Sunday night, everything went wrong. The contestants were tasked with using an “extreme ingredient”, with the Carolina Reaper Chilli, Époisses cheese, a Monk Fruit concentrate, Umeboshi Sour Plums and bitter gourd on offer.
Not gonna lie, I was devo when Mimi left the competition. (Image: 10)
She set out to make a soft-shell crab slider with bitter gourd and apple kimchi slaw, but had to pivot when she accidentally killed the yeast in her brioche bun. Mimi then decided to make a sushi roll, but the rice wasn’t able to cook quickly enough.
Finally, she served up a soft-shell crab don bowl, with bitter gourd, apple kimchi and a yuzu mayo. The judges weren’t pleased with the dish, saying she really needed the sweetness of her failed brioche bun to balance out the flavours.
Mimi's soft shell crab don 🦀😆 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/j7mmYa5A7v
— MasterChef Australia (@masterchefau) July 7, 2024
Mimi tells PEDESTRIAN.TV she’s replayed her cook in her brain over, and over again. She’s had “regrets, pain and disappointment”, but has come to peace with her MasterChef Australia journey.
“Looking back at what actually happened during the cook, I’m very proud of the decisions I ended up making. I was very proud of my poise, and I was really proud of staying in the game for every second that counted,” she says.
“There were many points in the competition where I felt like giving up and I didn’t have anything left to keep pushing… so to have dished out the dishes that I have, it was [actually] a massive relief for me when I heard my name.”
She says in the end, she’s glad that she applied for this experience and managed to see it so far through. But if MasterChef Australia comes calling again? She’ll be back in a heartbeat.
MasterChef Australia airs Sunday through to Wednesday at 7:30 pm AEST on Channel 10.
Feature image: Network 10
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