Italian food. Pizza and pasta. What’s not to love about this week? The fact that two eliminations are coming. So let’s go.
We open the episode in the house. Unfortunately, Jules has collided with a door and hurt her hip but she’s soldering on. The contestants arrive downstairs to discover a letter informing them that’s that it’s Italian week ‘and they are needed in Lygon Street for a team challenge. The contestants must decide the teams and drive themselves.
Gary welcomes them in Italian and delivers some bad news. Due to her hip, on doctor’s orders, Jules has to step out of the challenge and will go into tomorrow’s elimination. She’s not happy but she’s going to use her disappointment as energy tomorrow. Also, based on a previous medial injury Andrew has had to withdraw from the show permanently. Everyone is clearly upset but he promises to never give up on his dream and departs with cheers.
As a result of Andrew’s elimination and Jules stepping out, the teams are going to get a reshuffle. Each team will now have 4 members instead of 3. Here’s how the new teams will look:
Red: Christina, Liliana, Samira and Noelene
Grey: Pip, Neha, Lucy, and Rishi
Blue: Vern, Totem, Nicky and Kelty
Green: Emma, Daniel, Lynton and Faiza
Matt Preston is unable to judge today so Antonio Carlucci will be taking his place. Today, the teams are assigned a dish inspired by a different region of Italy that they must prepare and sell to the public from a dedicated food stall. Each team is assigned a Nonna to help guide them in this challenge. Whichever team makes the most money wins. The two teams that make the least money will be considered by the judges and the least impressive team will be sent into the elimination challenge tomorrow
Teams now have 4 hours to make and sell as much as they can. The red team are making aronchini ball while the grey team are making crostini. The green team are making fritio misto with lemon aioli and they are working well. The grey team have also delegated with Rishi on the veal. Pip and Lucy looking after the mushrooms and Neha is cutting the bread. Liliana is nervous as she’s cooking for her idol today. The blue team have seafood pasta and have already started spruiking with no dishes ready to go. Nicky is in charge of the seafood. Totum is working on the garnish while Kelty works on the sauce which is the most important element of the dish according to Kelty and takes a lengthy 45 mins.
The grey team are selling their dish for $10. The green team say $10 as well the blue list theirs for $8 while the red team are the cheapest at $6.
After only 45 mins the green team are starting to sell and its going down a treat. Rishi is a little worried that they aren’t moving fast enough.
The red team are worried about the fact their dish takes ages to do. Rishi has cooked his veal perfectly and the grey team are now the second to get their dish out and it’s selling really well.
Daniel from the green team goes around trying to steal other customers and the red team start selling their balls. With 2 hours left the only team to not have served anything is the blue team. Kelty has his sauce done. He’s now waiting on Vern and Nicky for their components but Nicky hasn’t cooked his seafood at all yet and the customers are getting impatient. The grey team are working really well and have a huge crowd.
The blue team have finally started to sell their dish and the crowd love it. The green team are almost out of aioli and they are now falling behind as Emma can’t get the blitzer to work. Meanwhile the red team are taking a while to get their balls out due to only being able to do four at a time.
With 30 minutes to go the blue the blue team have used all their pasta and Vern can’t get the water to heat up. Adding to their problems is the fact that he has also just lowered the price despite people standing there wanting to pay full price.
The green team finally have an aioli working as the judges taste their dish. Gary calls the aioli great and says the dish is a cracker. The grey team line is dwindling but after spruiking and cutting the price the customers are lining up again. The judges say it is fresh and simple and tasty and they love it.
The blue team’s pasta is finally cooked so with 10 minutes left they can start serving again. Due to the wait and to Kelty’s shock they have lowered the price again to $4. The judges noticed that the seafood was cooked perfectly while Antonio’s is a little oily. The red team are doing a last minute push for sales as the judges eat their balls. The judges say the oil is good and it’s crispy and the cheese oozes out. However they could have more flavour. The red team auction off their last few balls for over $20.After some more selling, time is called and everyone thanks their Nonnas.
It’s time to find out who won. All up the teams raised $7,991 all of which is going to charity. The team that raised $2,499 and won the challenge was the grey team. The 2nd highest total was $1,851 and that belonged to the green team. This means that either the red or blue team will face elimination. Facing tomorrow eliminations with Jules is the blue team.
