and it gets spicy in the kitchen in the run-up to the final!
Due to live sporting events, MasterChef South Africa Season 5 moves into a new premiere timeslot on S3 (formerly SABC3) for the remaining four pressure-cooker episodes.
From Saturday, 2 November, until the final, during which the winner of the popular competition will scoop R1 million, the show will be screened on S3 on Saturdays at 20:30 instead of its original timeslot at 19:30. The rebroadcasts remain on Sundays at 18:30 on SABC2 and Wednesdays on S3 at 18:00.
After many rounds of gruelling cook-offs trying to impress the show’s esteemed judges – food connoisseurs Zola Nene, Chef Katlego Mlambo, and Justine Drake – six contestants are still fighting out in the MasterChef kitchen to be named Mzansi’s new MasterChef.
The contenders include MasterChef South Africa’s last man standing, Lona Rode from the Eastern Cape, who recently relocated to Cape Town. Among the five ladies who are all forces to be reckoned with behind the pots and pans are the show’s youngest and oldest contestants, 20-year-old Bridget Mangwandi, a student at the Unversity of the Free State and Jozi’s Penny Rider (65).
Meanwhile, the Thaba N’Chu-born wild card Refe Dimbaza, who returned to the MasterChef kitchen after being eliminated in the Top 10 round, has fully grabbed the opportunity to redeem herself. Durban-born Chanel Brink and Nabila Shamshum, a young educator and school secretary with an Afrikaans and Arabic background, are also cooking up a storm to serve scrumptious dishes that will take them to the final.
Although it’s been a rollercoaster ride for all these home cooks, oscillating between the top and bottom rungs of the show’s culinary ladder week after week, some have already experienced the sweet taste of winning big.
Lona was victorious in two challenges, boosting his bank balance by R100 000. Courtesy of YOCO, Nabila and Chanel also won R50,000 each during last week’s restaurant takeover at Chef Bertus Basson’s famous restaurant, Clara’s Barn. Furthermore, Bridget nabbed a beautiful Beko two-door fridge.
This week (Saturday, 2 November), the Top 6 don their black aprons for a spice odyssey, after which one will go home. Guest judge Chef Vusi Ndlovu will task them with whipping up African cuisine with Jollof rice and fish.
Chef Vusi has extensively travelled the continent and shares the diverse African flavours he encountered in different countries at a restaurant with a twist – MLILO “Fires of Africa in the Time Out Market in Cape Town.
Jollof rice has served Bridget well throughout the series, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy for her this time. Who will create a dish Chef Vusi and the judges will rave about, and who will be sadly eliminated?
MasterChef South Africa Season 5 is proudly sponsored by Pick n Pay, where fresh ingredients take centre stage, and is produced by Homebrew Films for Primedia Studios.