Grace Jupp

Having been hand selected by the judges, 17 brand new talented home cooks arrive at the MasterChef kitchen for the very first time.

It’s Mystery Box day, and upon arrival, our home cooks are greeted by an enormous Mystery Box, the biggest ever in MasterChef history, marking the start of Big Week.

Continuing Big Week, the contestants enter the MasterChef Kitchen and find it empty with a plinth at the top of the room.

Three anxious contestants arrive to face the biggest Pressure Test ever mounted at this stage of the competition.

Nostalgia week continues when our contestants find themselves in suburban Melbourne for today’s service challenge – in an old school Chinese restaurant.

Today’s classic MasterChef challenge raises the question of what is more important in this kitchen: time or ingredients?