Melanie exits amidst madness, missing pickles, and a medical emergency
Anything can happen in the MasterChef kitchen – especially when it’s the Top 15’s first pressure test and the MasterChef South Africa Season 5 contestants desperately want to impress a world-renowned Mzansi-born pie-maker visiting from London.
In this week’s turbulent elimination episode packed with delightful surprises, drama, and disappointment, inspirational guest judge Chef Nokuthula “Nokx” Majozi, jetting back to her home country, tasked the local home cooks to replicate her signature dish: a next-level pepper steak pie with short-crust pastry, mushy peas, pickled cauliflower, and red wine jus.
Ironically, Melanie van der Merwe (39), an avid baker from Stellenbosch, crumbled under the pressure with her attempt to duplicate the masterpiece presented by the distinguished chef heading up the famous Pie Room at the five-star Holford Dining Room, situated at London’s luxurious Rosewood Hotel.
Previously, ousted contestant Melanie, who prides herself on her baking and pastry skills, stood her ground during the launch episode’s gruelling final audition in which five hopeful MasterChef South Africa entrants were culled, leaving without the iconic MasterChef apron. She was also not in the bottom three at the last challenge, where the Top 15 cooked for the “apple of their eye”, and the winner, Naledi, received a free ticket to the Top 13. Melanie whipped up a spicy dish for her cat, Biscuit, whose name says it all.
Meanwhile, Cape Town’s “boa queen”, Tina Long, who had never made a pie before, rose to the top as the winner of the pie contest, which required meticulously following Chef Nokx’s recipe. At the start of the cook-off, Tina admitted she finds sticking to any recipe nearly impossible.
A series of mishaps and plot-thickening events experienced by several contestants during the three-hour-long showdown preceded Melanie’s MasterChef South Africa exit. Those included rookie time-management mistakes, a debacle over missing pickles, and a medical emergency.
Disciplined young home cook Shreya chopped up more than the shallots with her supersharp Wüsthof knife. Her fingers got in the way! As the medics ascertained that the cut was deep and dangerous, Shreya was rushed to the emergency room, meaning she would sit out the elimination challenge.
More chaos ensued while the contestants were multi-tasking to pull off Chef Nokx’s four-page set of instructions. Lona tried to fix his mistake of using too much wine too early and later struggled to open the pressure cooker. Tebogo’s maths didn’t add up when weighing his dough, other doughs were not chilling fast enough, and the anxious pie-makers frantically rushed between the fridge and the oven.
Amidst the madness, Tebogo nearly bumped over Refe, but something else made the accountant’s blood boil. Refe’s pickles disappeared from the fridge! Despite kicking up a fuss as she scoured around to identify the culprit behind the “Picklegate” scandal, nobody owned up. Later, Melanie confessed that she had mistakenly taken Refe’s pickles, but it didn’t help that the frenzy prevented Refe from keeping an eye on her pie. Her pie dented!
Unlike the others, Melanie also slightly deviated from Chef Nokx’s recipe by adding more wine to her jus. MasterChef South Africa judge Zola Nene and Chef Nokx raised their eyebrows and advised her to stay focused on the pastry.
As time ran out, disaster loomed for Lona, Nash, and Melanie. When taking it out of the oven, Lona’s pie collapsed on the side. But Nash’s looked even worse. Nash had no idea how to get the pie out of the tin, and by fiddling with the latch, he destroyed his potential piece of pastry art. However, Melanie didn’t even get her pie out of the tin. She had to present it like that to the decision makers – judges Zola Nene, Justine Drake and Katlego Mlambo, and guest judge Nokx – in the show’s @home tasting room.
So, when the judges reached their verdict after trialling all the pies, Nash, Lona, and Melanie were understandably called out as the “bottom three”. At the same time, Tina, Bridget, and Amo succeeded in creating the best version of Chef Nokx’s showpiece.
Amo, who landed at the bottom in the previous challenge, redeemed himself with an impressive pie. In Chef Katlego’s words: “The filling was delicious, the colour was great, and the pastry short and crisp”.
Judge Justine called Bridget’s presentation “a seascape of loveliness” and the jus “a triumph. In Zola’s opinion, Tina also fared exceptionally well for someone unfamiliar with pastry. “You have a deep understanding of flavour, and your components were very well seasoned”, Zola raved.
Even though Nash and Lona’s pies didn’t maintain their structure and were anything but perfect, the judges concluded that the pastry of Nash’s first pie ever was lovely, short, and crumbly, and the filling was up to scratch. Meanwhile, Lona’s saving grace was his mouthwatering jus.
On the contrary, Melanie’s jus didn’t count in her favour. While the judges were tasting her dish, Zola noted that taking creative license with the tried and tested recipe was an awful mistake, turning it into “just water with a sprinkle of wine.” Zola also suspected Melanie kept the pie in the tin because the pastry was raw around the edges. Still, Melanie made some tasty mushy peas.
The fact that Melanie didn’t unmold her pie in a pie challenge sealed her fate. “It is not entirely fair to others who did, “Justine told her. “You did your best, but today you’re best wasn’t good enough.”
When Melanie said her goodbyes, Chef Nokx shed a tear, encouraging her to continue chasing her dreams.
MasterChef South Africa Season 5, proudly sponsored by Pick n Pay, premieres on S3 (formerly SABC 3) on Saturdays at 19:30, with a rebroadcast on SABC 2 on Sundays at 18:30. S3 viewers can also watch it on Wednesdays at 18:00, and the episodes are available on the SABC+, the national broadcaster’s streaming and catch-up App.