Sún sets in New York
32 year old Sún Etheridge had been in lockdown in New York all week, only to be eliminated from MasterChef Australia.
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Sún Etheridge had been in lockdown in New York all week, only to be eliminated from MasterChef Australia last night.
The 32 year old Credit Analyst from Brisbane competed in a ‘soul food’ elimination challenge in a Harlem restaurant against Billy, Dani and Hayden.
While Billy’s dish was considered flawless, Sún fell into the bottom two alongside series favourite Hayden.
The four contestants had 90 minutes with no recipes to cook four dishes – BBQ ribs, fried chicken, macaroni cheese and a different side dish each. But with 10 minutes to go she realised there was no deep fryer available for her.
“It’s a really long haul and I felt a little relieved when it was all over and I honestly didn’t expect to make it this far,” she said.
In the end the judges ruled her chicken was under cooked, her potato salad was bland and her Mac cheese was underwhelming.
“On the other hand, there is a lot of regret and it will be some amount of time before I stop dreaming of fried chicken turning out differently. I was quite shocked that my chicken was undercooked and as soon as I heard that, I knew I was done. Raw chicken is a complete no no.”
But there was praise for her achievements across the series, including her meat dishes, not an easy task for a vegetarian.
As we get down to the business end of the series there are now just 7 contestants remaining.
The show is tipped to end on July 31st.
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28 Responses
@alfagirl, same here. For the first time, I do not have a fave contestant and I couldn’t give a monkey’s who wins. I have not visited the website once this season to print off a recipe. Last season and season one, I printed off umpteen recipes. This series – none. Eye rolling moments have been plentiful.
@steve, you’re right, the show and its major prize provides extraordinary opportunities and yes, contestants in the Top 24 should be able to organise themselves well, get their act together at all times, etc. However, the world isn’t that perfect and in a way, that is part of my point – that the time constraint they are constantly put under is purposely outlandish and unrealistic in order to extract maximum drama for the cameras, rather than produce good dishes. Some will excel, most will fall in a heap, but this season has not been stellar in terms of producing good food and to my mind, that has definitely affected my enjoyment of the show.
@Allie – i don’t agree with you on this one here.
If all the contestants have the same time constraint and half or more can get the job done and the rest can’t.. then that tells you something
Think about the prize of this whole competition here. It’s an amazing opportunity and it does not belong to someone who can’t get their act together, read the recipe in full and suss out the surroundings. I’m a terrible cook but yet i still know when cooking to pre heat the oven, turn on the stove pot or in last night’s case, turn on the fryer machine. If i can think that far ahead yet Sun couldn’t, then she deserved to go.
If you can’t stand the heat.. get out of the kitchen. Literally!!
Whose idea was it to have an elimination challenge between four people with only three deep fryers? That didn’t seem very fair to me.
@ Allie. I agree with you. I don’t have a favourite contestant. I have not felt the need to get hold of any of the recipes. My eyes are suffering from the constant eye-rolling I am doing. I wonder if we had seen what the contestants had cooked at their auditions we would be able to see why the judges selected them in the first place. To me it seemed that Sun lost interest a while ago and really hasn’t been trying very hard at all. I don’t have a problem with Hayden’s behaviour last night because at least he really does want to win.
Do we even know all the dishes the contestants cooked to get into the top 50? I know Alex cooked risotto and that is it!
We probably don’t need auditions but a bit of a back story would be helpful next year………Shine….if you are reading this 🙂
Since when has her name had an accent?
My understanding is since always. Seems most media left it out.
@Goonies, I agree with you to a point. Yes, the poor casting of the contestants this season is far and away the biggest problem this series. You get no argument from me there, with a couple of exceptions the contestants have been abysmal, they dynamic just hasn’t been there. They were a difficult bunch to get into, not like series one and two when contestant choice was much more interesting and livelier.
As for the time constraints the contestants are up against, I still maintain they are artificially ridiculous for the sake of drama and nothing but. Yes, that is part of the show’s charter, to have dramatic situations, stuff-ups, flame-outs, tanties, etc. However, I also thought the point of the show was to produce good food that we can all gasp at and admire. Name for me half-a-dozen memorable contestant dishes this series. You’d be hard-pressed to as they have been kept so far under the pump that the food aspect of the show has gone begging this year in favour of dramatics, schmaltz and weepy moments. As for last night’s challenge, Billy appeared to replicate it very well, but they should have been given recipes, as Soul Food is a largely unknown quantity to Australian amateur cooks.
@ Trix, SFD, Allie – As usual I agree with your assessments.
I find that the artificial stress these and other reality show contestants are under transmits itself to the viewer, and one ends up exhausted and often unhappy at the end of each episode. I note that none of you sound particularly happy with last night’s show. This is why I haven’t watched MC since the first series (or any other reality TV actually) as I have enough stress in my life and like to wind down with my TV viewing, not wind up.
But evidently the vast bulk of people get off on the suspense and conflict these competitions create, however contrived, so I think you’ll have to accept that @Goonies is right. Balanced, fair and relaxing reality TV is not a ratings getter!
Pity, really.
@ Goonies, today we agree, strange old world, lol !
@Goonies, totally agree that the dynamism of the contestants is just not there this year. And don’t get me wrong – I love a bit of drama! But it’s just felt relentless this season and imho has resulted in some pretty trashy food being slopped on plates.
@ Trix, SFD, Allie “I am so, so over the beat-the-clock challenges that only lead to highly stressed, blubbering, teary, borderline psycho contestants producing remarkably average food.”
Isn’t this the whole point of the show and television in general? I don’t watch to watch 8 people cooking calmy and precisely all smiles and sunshine – how boring!
I love it when Dani has a royal stuff up and falls to pieces or someones dish gets reamed for being inedible. Yes it is a bit meaner this year but if we change everything it won’t even be the same show.
I still say contestant choice has been the biggest problem this year.
PS Billy was able to replicate the ‘nuanced flavours’ so point is moot.
I felt really bad for Sun when she went into lockdown. We didn’t get to see enough of her cooking IMO. But she should have been more organized and I didn’t like what Hayden said to her, he was acting like such a diva.
Allie & Trix – totally agree with your comments about the time constraints effecting the feel of the program. It’s almost painful watching the poor contestants who, in normal circumstances, would most likely put up beautiful dishes if only they were given an extra 15 mins or so. I would not have continued to watch this series if it had not known one of the contestants, Alana. She’s still in so I’m still barracking!!!!
I didnt have a problem with what Hayden said to Sun. Hayden as soon as he walked into the kitchen saw 3 deep fryers only. He was right Sun should have been more organised. But i reckon tension was running high so he probably didnt mean to snap. Alhtough I couldnt believe it when she almost threw her chicken in with Haydens when his was cooking.
It was probabaly Suns time to go. She hasnt really been a standout and she couldnt even complete a potato salad.
@Trix, I agree with you. I am so, so over the beat-the-clock challenges that only lead to highly stressed, blubbering, teary, borderline psycho contestants producing remarkably average food. I have opined in other threads that the contestant food this season has most definitely lacked the wow factor, as compared to seasons one and two when sensational food was produced regularly. The reason for that is the idiotic way the challenges have been structured. To produce really good food,amateurs like this cannot be hassled and stressed to within an inch of their lives. They need to be in a more nurturing, less stressed environment. The time constraints placed on them are too unfair. Take last night – 90mins to prep and cook four dishes and that is without recipes. Ludicrous and not quality TV. I really hope the new production company for MCA review this series with a fine tooth comb and tweak it considerably. Whilst it has rated, it is nowhere near the standard of seasons one and two in terms of being must-see TV. They have a Rolls Royce of a reality format here but stupid challenges and bad casting has seen it look more like a broken down Holden Astra this year.
Pity Sun will miss out on the vegetarian dish but she has been the weak link….
Anybody else noted the increase in quality of dished being put forward as we get closer to the end? Still an enjoyable watch for me.
Johnson, I knew Sun was leaving ahead of time (I work in the media) and checked her URL at about 2pm yesterday – there was nothing.
Haha, Billy is a fried chicken expert! He and the other food bloggers are often out looking for the best (Korean) fried chicken in Sydney! And from memory he is pretty adept at BBQ ribs too!
I wonder if we were to go back in time and view episodes from the first series we’d be shocked at how much the program has moved towards high stress, supercharged cook offs where precision and finesse come second to just finishing. I for one am becoming really tired of seeing crazed, semi-psychotic cooks literally running around kitchens trying to complete tasks. I know the world of professional cooking is highly charged but the series has become so much less about the food and some ‘wow’ moments and so much more about the personalities, the conflict, the fear …
Hayden, really didn’t like your p*issy diva attitude last and I am sooooo tired of Dan’s drama.
Sad to see Sun go last night but she was the weakest link but not by much.
Billy rocks !
Absolutely ridiculous challenge last night. Soul food is virtually unknown to the average Australian’s palette. There was no way they were going to be able to replicate the nuanced flavours of this kind of food on the fly. Billy must have a very well developed palette, that’s all I can say. I really liked Kenneth, the chef at Sylvia’s, he seemed a really nice bloke, but it was a silly, unfair challenge. What a wasted trip for Sun. All that way just to be “locked down” then eliminated.
It was expected that Sun was going to be eliminated. She clearly did not shine throughout the competition. Although she was one of my favourite to win she just didn’t stand out as a real contender to win.
It’s a shame that Sún won’t get to cook for the Dalai Lama, as her being vegetarian would have made something amazing as his 2 requests are the dish must be vegetarian and it must come from the heart.
I don’t agree with the lockdown idea. As go to New York and be told you’re in lockdown would be real disappointing.
Yay for Billy!
I feel bad for Sun though having to “compete” against Dani. Even worse, wouldn’t get to meet Dalai Lama next week.
Sun has since started her food blog, sunetheridge.com. Her first post was dated July 1, which means the site had a soft (and secret) launch before she posted a message to welcome new visitors yesterday when her elimination went to air.