Philip Vakos

MasterChef 2010 kicked off with the top 50 contestants cooking a BBQ dish of their own choosing.

The contestants each cooked their signature dishes but were judged by their fellow contestants, not the judges. The women tasted the men's dishes and voted for the best three.

Some of the contestants headed to Sake restaurant to learn how to make agedashi tofu and tuna sushi with chef Shaun Presland.

The six contestants who won Top 24 spots cooking against Matt Moran were treated to a Masterclass with him in ARIA's kitchen.

For their first team challenge, the contestants took over two Italian restaurants in Sydney. The team who made the most money by 9pm won the challengeand it was up to the customers to decide how much they would pay for their meals.

The first challenge was a series of kitchen prep tasks. The final task saw Marion, Daniel, Adele and Courtney cut salmon fillets of the correct weight andtheywere given their Top 24 aprons.