Masterchef 2014

Tonight's heat was far stronger than the opening night. Even the former champions back for the judging were better. I think I want to marry Natalie and honeymoon in Tim's macaron shop. Star anise flavoured beetroot puree does not go well with chocolate fondants. Kate's nose ring makes it look like her nose is running.

Greg and Holly out. Holly arguably hard-done by but JT makes the final call and it was obvious it was mainly Gregg championing her.

Far stronger this week. Once more, you have to wonder how well maintained is the equipment in the Masterchef kitchen with more than one contestant having undercooked meat and under-chilled desserts.

Michael was perhaps an eccentric choice for the third place, and both Sofia and Oliver can count themselves unlucky as they'd probably have qualified last week.

Rani going to get away with doing curries all the way to the final.

Same a couple of years ago - Italian woman did (go on, have a guess) Italian dishes and blagged her way to the final too.

It's supposed to be about cooking, not re-enforcing national stereotypes (the contestants and the politically correct BBC)

Ping and Jack through. Rani did yet another curry and although this time her presentation had improved, it was not enough to disguise her lack of versatility or even ability to properly cook each component of her dish.

Interesting to see that judge Daksha's presentation has improved vastly since she was a finalist all those years ago.

The cat in the hat. What word rhymes with hat and best describes Dave, the primary school teacher who wears a cloth cap to cook, but won't get asterisked out by the forum software? ****? Prat? Not chef anyway; probably not hygienic either.

Theo is hardworking and versatile, not just Greek (or just Indian like Rani or just Thai like Deirdre the vet). No fireworks yet though.

Third (?) quarter-final: ravioli 2, pork nil. Theo the fast worker and Luke the mad robotics engineer go through.

Luke for me can't win until he stops telling the judges he is doing it for a laugh. The winner will be someone who wants to open a restaurant.

Only one through from the last quarter-final: Sophie.

Megan's fish and apple curry unsurprisingly did not tickle the judges' taste buds and maybe Masterchef came a year or two early for her. She has a great palate but needs to eat out more, which is perhaps not easy on a student's budget. Maybe that should be the consolation prize: a week in London eating lunch and dinner at different Michelin-starred restaurants each day.

Tim's deconstructed duck a l'orange was pretty but raw. Edd's nightmare continued which is odd since in the first round he was the best of the lot: his nerves destroyed him, unless he only knows two recipes.

Sophie is through to the next round but she has not shown she is any more than a good home cook and does not seem to be improving.

Next week should be more interesting with the start of the competition proper.

Restaurant kitchen time at the Caxton Grill ( http://www.caxtongrill.co.uk/ ) with head chef Adam who was recently in Masterchef: the Professionals.

Ping on lobster was the star of the show, followed by Jack (panna cotta) and Theo (chocolate orange) in that order. Michael and David both had nightmares with beef and halibut.

Michael and David cooked grouse; Michael's was better. Theo's fish soup was shoddy. Jack's pigeon (first time cooked) was OK. Ping left Asia for French fish and again did best.

The cook leaving us today is ... Theo. It's a shame in a way as he had a pleasant, self-effacing sense of humour and a good work ethic.

And on Clare Smith (of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay) in giving each contestant a sous chef minder (though on CS's case, she had about 50 on standby, and that was on the Professionals series!).

Oh, come to think of it, Chef Adam Handling @ the Caxton Grill was himself a finalist on Masterchef: the Professionals, so maybe that explains it.

I'd not be too surprised if he picks up a Michelin Star next year, based on what we saw.

I thought Adam was remarkably patient with David who demolished the £250 fish and then overcooked the fillets and repeatedly failed to carry them six feet to the pass while still warm. Theo (chocolate) and Michael (beef) both started badly but recovered for a strong finish. Michael made the same mistakes over and over again.

Anyway, I want first dibs on marrying Ping.

Ironically, Marcus Waring himself seemed warm and cuddly last night.

What a turnaround! The final knock-out round had eight great plates of food.

But on a day (the first day!) of high standards, the two who'd made even small mistakes paid the price. David the sauce-meister went because for the second time running, he'd made a mess of the sauce. Dani again had thrown too much at the plate, despite previous warnings. (He might have helped himself slightly by using a larger plate!) In addition, his focaccia (pizza-like bread) was undercooked.

Semi-final week.

Wednesday: feeding the Eastenders cast -- Ping wrote prep sheets (sort of timetables/recipes) for her team. In the other team, captain Luke faffed around, and Robert and Angela excluded him from their pow-wow over the gravy. Robert nominated Luke as team leader, and it is possible he was setting him up for a fall, but Robert was sent home.

Thursday: cooking at Hever Castle under chef John Campbell. Followed by the leftovers invention test: cooking from scraps. All stayed in the contest.

Ping still looks better than the rest. Michael and Luke partly redeemed themselves. Angela's presentation gives rustic a bad name.

Ping will win ....they just want to get her into bed

Eek. Finals week. 9 o'clock this week.

One to go home tonight. Cooking for Michelin-starred chefs, then an invention test, then the weakest two have a cook-off to decide who stays.

please post who gets kicked off as no tv tonight or tomorrow

many thanks for posting result....thought Angela was the weakest when it came to presentation of dishes.