{"id":517420,"date":"2026-07-09T10:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/517420\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:57:13","slug":"masterchef-judge-hits-back-at-alyona-elimination-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/517420\/","title":{"rendered":"MasterChef judge hits back at Alyona elimination complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this stage in the MasterChef Australia<\/a> competition, each elimination <\/a>has been harder and harder to watch, as we say tearful goodbyes to contestants<\/a> we\u2019ve come to know and love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday night (July 8th), Alyona Iljuhhina was, and it caused quite the divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I don\u2019t entirely disagree with Alyona\u2019s elimination, I\u2019m not happy about it,\u201d one fan wrote online.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother fave goes home! Farewell Alyona! You\u2019ve been a great contestant!\u201d another commented.<\/p>\n

Aside from admiring her talent in the kitchen, Alyona has also become a fan-favourite for another reason. After viewers witnessed a sweet hug between her and fellow contestant Petro<\/a>, the rumour mill exploded with theories about a secret romance<\/a> between the pair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Alyona now gone, how will fans be able to decode their every glance and embrace? Truly tragic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jokes aside, what fans \u2013 and guest judge Sam Aisbett \u2013 were paying attention to on Wednesday was how Alyona coped under pressure during the cook.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Alyona, this meant misreading the very first step of how to cook the mud crab, rattling her early on. After some sound advice from judges Andy Allen<\/a> and Sofia Levin<\/a> to take some \u201cdeep breaths\u201d and reset, the hopeful pushed through but while her dish was beautiful, it missed the mark in a number of other areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to WHO,\u00a0Michelin-starred chef Aisbett revealed exactly where Alyona went wrong, as well as sharing advice for how to work under pressure.<\/p>\n

Sam Aisbett pinpoints where Alyona went wrong<\/p>\n

\u201cAlyona has great energy and a good palate \u2014 she knows flavour,\u201d he told WHO. \u201cMy recipe has multiple elements that need to be followed to the T and this overwhelmed her slightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe made a few flustering mistakes early on, which meant she had to work faster to catch up,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhen she started to multitask on too many things at once, clutter built up on her station, and that\u2019s when things started to go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her nerves did not go unmissed by viewers, with some recalling that they had long predicted that she would crack under pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally I feel Alyona went out exactly as I always thought she would,\u201d one commented online. \u201cShe\u2019s always been bad at handling pressure and she was spiralling hard today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others shared that they were surprised by her fumble and subsequent elimination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Aisbett shed more light on how the cook continued to unravel, explaining, \u201cIn any kitchen environment, when clutter builds, your judgement gets clouded and you lose focus,\u201d he said. \u201cClean section, clean mind. That\u2019s how you work through pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turns out cleaning up isn\u2019t just tedious, but also necessary if you want to make it in the culinary big leagues.<\/p>\n

\"Luke,Luke was praised for his \u2018clean station\u2019 by Sam Aisbett. Credit: Channel 10. <\/p>\n

Alyona weighs in: \u2018It was incredibly intense\u2019<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Alyona revealed that the cook was just as stressful as it seemed on our screens. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredibly intense,\u201d she told WHO. \u201cIt was my first pressure test, there were so many elements and so much precision involved, and I made a mistake early that definitely affected my mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I fell behind, I think I became so focused on not making another mistake that, for a while, I forgot to trust the skills and instincts that had taken me that far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, Alyona was proud of how she \u201cnever gave up.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI had made it all the way to the final eight without doing a pressure test, so this was my first experience of that very particular kind of challenge,\u201d she revealed. \u201cI really wanted to nail it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut strangely, if I had to leave, I\u2019m glad I left on a pressure test. I think I would have found it much harder to leave because one of my own concepts or dishes had missed the mark.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AlyonaAlyona said this was the \u201chardest challenge\u201d she faced in the competition. Credit: Channel 10. <\/p>\n

Fans \u2018crabby\u2019 over Alyona\u2019s elimination<\/p>\n

Alyona wasn\u2019t the only contestant who struggled with the mud crab challenge, with Casper also finding himself in the bottom two thanks to some loose shells in his dish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCasper you have dodged a BULLET,\u201d one viewer wrote after he was marked safe. \u201cBut that was a really tough call. You really could argue for both to go, or stay \u2013 I\u2019m so sad to lose Alyona.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t expect Alyona\u2026\u201d another confessed.<\/p>\n

However, Aisbett revealed the reasoning behind this decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mud crab is the star of this dish so everything relies on how well it is cooked,\u201d he told us \u201cThe cooking time is absolutely critical and if the timing is off, it affects the overall texture of not just the crab but the entire dish.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeshelling the crab will also be part of the challenge, and I think the audiences and contestants may also underestimate how difficult that can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

MasterChef Australia Season 18: Sundays at 7pm and Monday \u2013 Wednesday at 7.30pm. Watch and Stream on 10.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFreja Newman\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Freja Newman is a Digital Content Producer for WHO Magazine, writing entertainment and lifestyle content while also contributing to the publication\u2019s social media. She loves diving deep into iconic popular culture moments, as well as all the latest trends across fashion and wellness. With a degree in Media and Communications and International Relations from the University of Sydney, Freja has written and produced content for publications like Edinburgh Fringe Review and non-for-profits like UNICEF Australia. She is obsessed with storytelling in any and every form and is constantly online, earmarking the latest celebrity news, fashion trends, and film, TV and theatre releases. When it comes to social media, mini Freja\u2019s iMovie and Video Star phase prepared her well, as she\u2019s unafraid to get behind the camera and find new and exciting ways to make digital stories a success.<\/p>\n

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