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MasterChef Australia (season 3)

MasterChef Australia
(series 3)
Country of origin Australia
No. of episodes 86
Release
Original network Network Ten
Original release 1 May (2011-05-01) – 7 August 2011 (2011-08-07)
Season chronology
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Series 2
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Series 4

The third series of MasterChef Australia premiered on Sunday, 1 May 2011 at 7:30 pm on Network Ten. Judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston returned from the previous series and were joined by Matt Moran. The third series was won by Kate Bracks who defeated Michael Weldon in the grand finale on 7 August 2011. The second part of the series' final (episode 85, "The Winner Announced"), attracted an audience of 2.74 million viewers, making it the third most viewed episode of any Australian television series of 2011, only beaten by the final episodes of The Block (3.09 million) and Australia's Got Talent (2.98 million).

The third series of MasterChef Australia brought some changes to the format of the show. Joining the judging panel as a regular guest was chef Matt Moran. A twist used in past series of the show to bring back eliminated contestants for a second chance was dropped for series 3.

While the weekly routine was mostly unchanged, there were some small differences in series 3.

Sunday night's challenge were not restricted to a Mystery Box Challenge and an Invention Test, with Team and Offsite Challenges also used.

The Tuesday night challenge was modified: now known as an immunity challenge rather than a celebrity chef challenge, the standing of the opponent varied, with anyone from a home cook to an apprentice or a well-known chef appearing. The rules varied slightly from week to week, but typically the contestant(s) were given a recipe and a time advantage but neither competitor had knowledge of what they were about to cook until just before the challenge started.

Eliminations on Thursdays were no longer decided by taste tests; final challenges were based on cooking.

The opening week of MasterChef Australia saw 50 contestants competing for the 24 positions in the main competition. Twenty-six were eliminated:

The full Top 24 were revealed on Sunday, 8 May. At the first Top 24 challenge, it was revealed that Paul had quit the competition due to work commitments and Alex, who had been eliminated in the Top 50 portion, was entered as his replacement.

Michael
86 points
to win


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