[Submitted via press release]
Two more contestants handed in their aprons on Tuesday night (8 May) after four teams of two battled it out in a Amazing Race-style challenge.
The Top 13 were welcomed with another Taste Test: they had to guess which 15 of 30 ingredients on a tray before them were in an "iconic" dish: a carrot cake. The eight contenders who fared worst would go into what Chef Andrew called "the toughest Elimination Challenge yet."
No-one was fooled by the first ingredient: carrot. But plenty were fooled by the second, walnuts, including Thys, who was supremely confident, Brandon, who wasn't, and a deeply disappointed Deena. Sultanas, which weren't in the carrot cake, fooled Ilse and Manisha.
With eight contestants out, they were informed that they'd have to recreate an iconic South African dish - by taste alone. The good new was that they wouldn't be doing it alone but in pairs; the bad news - both of the bottom contenders would be going home.
The unlucky octet were then split into teams by the blind drawing of kitchen utensils; the pairs were Jade and Sue-Ann, Brandon and Babalwa, Ilse and Manisha and Deena and Thys.
Their utensils also corresponded to boxes containing instructions and maps to various restaurants around the Cape Town area, where they would taste the dish they'd have to recreate. They had four hours to get to their destinations, taste the dishes and get back to the MasterChef Kitchen, where they would have to recreate it.
Babalwa and Brandon were sent to Stellenbosch and a restaurant called VolksKombuis, where they tasted Dawid Kriel's chicken pie. Babalwa, who had been hoping for something simple, was relieved.
Jade and Sue-Ann tasted Naomi Basson's waterblommetjie bredie - a dish Jade loves.
Ilse and Manisha were dreading offal - which is exactly what they got at Eziko's in Llanga. They'd be recreating tripe (sheep lung and liver) and pap - and both were reluctant to even taste the prototype.
Deena and Thys's task seemed easier: a Cape Malay dish called Denningvleis (a sweet and sour lamb stew) from Biesmiellah in Bo-Kaap.
First back were Babalwa and Brandon (who started making pastry from scratch rather than use the already-made puff pastry); then Ilse and Manisha returned and started on their tripe; Sue-Ann and Jade were third back; and Deena and Thys were last with about an hour left.
Although it seemed that time might be Sue-Ann and Jade's enemy as they put their waterblommetjies in with the rest of their stew very late.
Then it was time for the tasting. Thys and Deena were "nearly there", despite using raisins instead of sultanas in their rice. Babalwa and Brandon's pastry contracted and exposed the chicken filling, and the pastry was as "like a biscuit" - the original dish actually used store-bought puff pastry.
Ilse and Manisha fared better, even though their pap wasn't the right consistency - possibly because they cooked it by using the instructions on the packet! Jade and Sue-Ann did put their waterblommetjie in too late, and the flavour didn't suffuse the rest of the dish.
Ilse and Manisha's tripe actually blew Benny away, and they were safe, as were Deena and Thys, who did enough to stay in the competition. Once again, Sue-Ann's neck was on the line, but once again, she survived, along with her partner Jade - and Babalwa and Brandon were eliminated.
Despite the fact that they were too adventurous in making their own pastry and this spelled their end, B and B's parting words were positive, Babalwa saying it was the beginning of her food dream, and Brandon saying that being on the show confirmed that cooking was his passion in life.