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Cleo cut from MasterChef

A costly mistake of the MasterChef rules has led to an early favourite being eliminated from the game.

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There were shocked faces in the MasterChef kitchen last night as one of the early favourites, Cleo Kerameas, was eliminated after a costly mistake.

Kerameas, 45, breached the rules -twice- by cooking two pastry dishes at once, which placed her in the bottom three.

After George Calombaris told her she could not cook both a ganache and toffee at the same time, she stopped work on the ganache. But once she had completed her toffee she resumed her ganache dish, instead of starting it again from scratch.

“I thought I was following the rules but because of the high anxiety of the challenge, none of it sunk in – it was a total brain snap,” says Cleo, who was judged only on her sponge and custard to be fair to other contestants.

“I misunderstood the instructions; I obviously heard the rules but I didn’t hear them. If I had focused more and not been in such a ‘zone’ then I would’ve been fine.

“When the judges actually told me I needed to stop the toffee and ganache, I was so perplexed – it was a total misunderstanding – because I didn’t comprehend exactly what they were saying at first.

“As an executive assistant I follow instructions every day of my life – and on this occasion I really needed to and I didn’t. My normal job requires that I multi-task, but that multi-skilling in this pressure test was to my detriment.”

It wasn’t the first time a MasterChef favourite had been unceremoniously dumped from the show. Last year’s Marion Grasby left viewers shocked when she was cut. She was followed by Jonathan Daddia. In 2009 Poh Ling Yeow and Justine Schofield were given a lifeline to return, but there are no second chances in 2011.

“My first reaction was complete shock to be eliminated,” says Cleo. “What I produced was quite good. I was disappointed in myself and I feel that I’ve let myself down. I wasn’t ready to go home and I reckon my cooking could’ve got me further, but in the end, the pressure got to me.”

Amended.

31 Responses

  2. This years series is definitely not compulsory viewing. Some of the challenges are ridiculous, the show is is over produced and the judges now see themselves as TV stars rather than chefs. I have had enough of Dickensian George with his disgusting eating habits, the Oscar Wilde foppishness and posing of Matt and the oversized ego of schoolmaster Garry. They have become caricatures rather than characters in a cooking competition.
    The problem is there is just not much else to watch except for Channel 7 at 8.30 this Sunday night. Now let’s hope DWTS is finished by 9.00 at the latest.

  3. I get that she didnt follow the rules but I thought they still could have tried her toffee. She did finish that. It was more the fact she started the ganache.

    But the thing is and this is what totally bugs me about MC is agin we didnt see everyones dishes. Also it was meant to be who made the best sponge, custard, toffee and ganache. We didnt find out whose was the best. We only found out Sun got the best caramel.

  4. He deserved to be booted . Cleopatra cheated and that’s that. Imagine they had kept her in, then the rest of you whiners would have had a sook. He was just as bad as John and both deserved what they got.

  5. They’re more stricter this year….

    I say it’s fair. She broke the rules -Twice-

    Sun and peter stuck to the rules….Even though their dessert’s were disastrous.
    But with them it was their weaker points. And they’ll probably learn from this lesson and study up desserts. (Includes Kuma) Giving them another chance.

    If they fail desserts next time they’ll probably most definitely be in the firing line.

    If Chloe didn’t break the rules. I think Peter would have gone.

  7. Don’t get bogged down in the whys and wherefores…just look at my very first comment and it is blindingly Obvious what will happen here. Cleo will be chosen by the judges as the contestant who deserves a second chance. They do it every series…

  8. There’s been several contestants who have broken the rules but the judges where gunning for Cleo. They should have voted someone out based on their cooking. This show is starting to suck big time.

  9. Look, it’s sad when your favorite gone. She’s one of the more capable cooks too, and I like her style and presentation skill.

    However, rules are rules. The judges pulled here up once, and I think that is enough. They could have let her multitask and then use that to get her out, but they didn’t. They gave her second chance, and she still blew it.

  12. As i said in the other column, i am over this show. They obviously do not want the best cook to win, they might as well toss a coin to see who wins. Kuma should of gone home without a doubt, but not to worry i will not be watching anymore.

  16. Rules are rules I guess, but they let go one of the best cooks on the show. The rubbish Peter put up last night should have seen him eliminated from those chosen as the bottom three. Sun was damn lucky too.

  19. Cleo really blew it and Sun has been copping moost of the flack on the facebook page. Sun however followed the directions and also produced one of the elements of the day, yes she was lucky it worked but it did work. Cleo even when given a clue she was not working to rule still got it wrong, the pressure must be amazing on the floor, I am sad to see her go, I really liked her style !

  20. Hi David, you actually have the sequence the wrong way round. The final section of par 3 should read “she stopped work on the ganache. But once she had completed her toffee she resumed working with the ganache, instead of starting it again from scratch.”

  21. That is the problem with these high pressure challenges, in the stress of the moment I imagine it would be very easy to misunderstand the instructions. I was sitting at home watching it and I didn’t really get the gist of George’s explanation of the rules at first. Then again, George’s garbled way of expressing himself is often difficult to understand. To be honest, I don’t get why they weren’t allowed to multi-task with that particular challenge. It just made the whole thing more stressful and prone to disaster, as was proved by Sun and Peter’s dismal performances.

    I get where Cleo is coming from with her explanation, as I worked as an Executive Assistant for a number of years and it is a multi-tasking role from the time you sit down at your desk in the morning till the moment you clock off. I’m not at all surprised that she began multi-tasking with the challenge as it really does become second nature for EA’s to do umpteen things at once.

  22. They all cooked their custard as their sponge was still cooking. Could’ve also been resolved by just telling her she needed to start the ganache again. Suppose there would’ve been less drama then.

  23. This was such a crappy decision. Cleo was one of the few who has been consistently okay. They didn’t explain the ‘rules’ very thoroughly. They were all cooking custard while their sponges were in the oven: why couldn’t they make ganache while their toffee was cooking? Didn’t make sense. Plus why didn’t George tell her to start the ganache from scratch when he pulled her up instead of gossiping about it in the corner with Matt? So now Cleo’s gone and the likes of Sun and Peter and Kumar who can’t seem to produce much at all get through. Pretty low on the scale of annoyingness but still annoying.

  24. Yeah debate in our home. We though after George stopped her, he could have reinforced that the ganache needed to be started from scratch again.

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