MasterChef Australia (series 9)
| MasterChef Australia (series 9) | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 63 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Network Ten |
| Original release | 1 May – 24 July 2017 |
| Season chronology | |
The ninth series of MasterChef Australia premiered on 1 May 2017 on Network Ten. Judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Prestonfrom the previous series returned.
This series was won by Diana Chan in the grand finale against Ben Ungermann by one point on 24 July 2017.
This season introduced the "Power Pin" in the seventh week. The pin grants the wearer an extra 15 minutes cooking time in the challenge the user chooses to use the pin until the finals.
The Top 24 contestants were announced on 1–3 May 2017. Chosen contestant Josh Clearihan was a previous auditionee from the eighth series who failed to reach the auditions when he was hospitalized in an induced coma after a run-in with a car thief. The series featured other previous auditionees: Pia Gava, Benita Orwell and Eloise Praino.
For the second round, there were no rules, with contestants cooking three identical dishes to the judges in 75 minutes. Ben's Cardamom Coffee Ice Cream with Butternut Three-ways and a Dutch Spice Biscuit impressed the judges with his creativity of his ice cream and received 28 points while Diana's Malaysian Oatmeal Prawns with Vegetables in a Creamy Sauce also impressed the judges and received 27 points. Diana took the lead with the total score of 57 while Ben got a total of 54 points.
For the last round, Ben and Diana faced the longest pressure test yet in which they have to recreate Kirsten Tibballs' Trio of Fruits dessert made of chocolate disguised as an apple, pear and mandarin. In six hours, Both Ben and Diana struggled with the final task, failing to make the sugar-crusted liquor center for the apple, which came out like a jelly rather than a liquid. In the tasting, Diana's trio of fruit received praise in flavor but the chocolate in her mandarin is thick and lacking in mandarin flavor. Ben had a better replication despite accidentally covering his pear with too much tempered chocolate. Diana scored 33 points (8 points each from all the judges except Matt who gave 9 points), tallying to the overall score of 90 points. Ben scored 35 points (9 each from all of the judges except Gary who gave 8 points), but it wasn't enough to beat Diana finalizing the score of 89 points.
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