“All good things come to an end”: Who has left MasterChef Australia 2026?

Megs was the first contestant to go home on MasterChef Australia this season. In the first elimination, the cooks had to make a dish that was a window into their home lives. Megs loves to cook for people and serve up lots of food. That was sadly her undoing. Her dish had lots of elements and required her oven to be at different temperatures at different times. Sadly, her grilled prawns were undercooked and “inedible”. That led to the judges sending her home.

“I really want to thank you all, it was everything I hoped and a million times more,” Megs said on her elimination.

She was “heartbroken” but “extremely grateful”. 

No one likes being the first to go; hopefully, we haven’t seen the last of Megs in the culinary world.

Jeff was the second person to leave the MasterChef Australia kitchen in a pressure test set by legendary home cook, Maggie Beer AO.

He has applied to MasterChef numerous times over the years, to the point where his friends call him MasterJeff!

Jeff adores baking, and for his dishes to be precise. That was sadly his downfall. He spent too much time scoring the top of his pie that it didn’t have enough time to bake in the oven.

“Jeff, your dream doesn’t end now, it’s only starting, says Jean-Christophe. “You will always be a MasterJeff.”

“I’m proud of what I achieved,” says Jeff. “I’ll always be part of MasterChef.”

Belinda has always wanted to work with food. Her inspiration to join the show was the original MasterChef herself, and columnist for The Australian Women’s Weekly, Julie Goodwin!

Sadly, in episode nine, Belinda’s dish was lacking, and so the judges sent her home.

“It’s been fantastic,” Belinda said of her time. “I’ve been watching MasterChef since series one, and now I’m on the show, so you know, dream accomplished. I’ve learned that I would like to now take my cooking to another level. I don’t think you’re ever too old to start again. I’ve had eight career paths, so let’s make number nine.”

A childhood trauma (bitten by a tiger snake) led Alita to see indoors, and specifically the kitchen, as a safe space. On the season thus far, Alita took the opportunity to create South American and fusion dishes to the delight of the chefs. That was until her final cook.

In an elimination round, the judges tasked the contestants with creating a viral dish using five viral ingredients. Alita chose burrata and combined Chinese and Italian cuisines to make a dumpling lasagne. It was a dish that had promise, but sadly, the burrata melted before she could even serve it.
Her dish ended up being the bottom dish of the day.

“I loved the opportunity to push myself and to see how good a cook I really can be,” Alita said after her elimination.

“I’m going to miss this place so much, and I’m feeling content with everything that I’ve done so far. I’m really proud of myself, and I’m going to keep cooking.”

Kanika is originally from Delhi, India and grew up surrounded by Indian flavours. She made some incredible dishes, and navigating spices was a clear skill of hers.

Sadly, in the spice challenge, which also featured guest judge Rick Stein, the judges didn’t choose to taste her dish. They only chose to taste 12 dishes, and hers didn’t cut it. Maybe they thought that her dish would be excellent, but regardless, because her dish wasn’t chosen, she went straight into the next elimination challenge. In that, she had to choose to make a dish that transports the judges to one of five countries (Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Vietnam, or Mexico). She chose Mexico, and so also had to use corn as the hero ingredient. Sadly, her decision to make corn three ways faltered. Her taco dough didn’t come together, and Andy said her sauce was “one-note”; the other corn elements were lacking.

So, unfortunately, the judges sent her home.

“It’s just been an incredible journey and so much exposure to the world of food. This is not the last time you’re seeing me,” Kanika says on her departure.

But it appears that she’s a bit unhappy that her dish wasn’t chosen for the spice challenge. She took to Instagram after the episode with her elimination aired and shared that she’s suffering from what could have been:

“Still thinking I should’ve been in the gantry. Spice challenge was the one I truly felt I am build for.. hard not to wonder what could’ve happened if my dish got tasted.”

Lucy’s MasterChef journey came to an end in a cabbage-filled pressure test flurry. Although Lucy loves being thorough and following recipes, she started to fall behind. In the end, many of her elements were undercooked. 

“This has just been the best experience ever, and every time I step into this kitchen, I feel so lucky to be here and to be cooking for you guys, and I feel so lucky and grateful  to have met all of you, and I will miss you guys so much.”

She leaves with her head held high and excited for the future.

“I’m so excited to see what opens up from here. No regrets.”

Originally from Penang, Malaysia, Miin is a longtime fan of MasterChef Australia.

Sadly, in the nostalgia week, he faltered. Miin attempted to make Poh’s noodles, but the dough didn’t come together properly. And after three attempts, he ran out of time to make another batch, plus he neglected his duck, which was underdone. A major no-no in the MasterChef kitchen.

“He’s taught me so much, he’ll be a best friend for life,” Pat says through tears on Miin’s elimination.

“I’m very sad, I tried my best, and today my best just wasn’t good enough,” Miin says. “It’s probably one of the best experiences of my life. I’ve made lifelong friends here, and it’s made my life richer.”

“I think my wife will be looking forward to having proper meals again when I go home,” he laughs as he says goodbye.

Olaolu came into the kitchen with the intention of sharing Nigerian cuisine with all of Australia. He served up excellent dishes from traditional Nigerian fufu and a stunning spiced plaintain cake (one of his first forays into dessert in the MasterChef kitchen). He also won $10,000 for taking out the top dish in a challenge that asked the contestants to create something that speaks to their heritage.

He went super traditional Nigerian cuisine today with Efo Riro with semolina. He was positively gleaming throughout the cook. Even though Jean-Christophe doesn’t like “sticky fingers”, he eats it the traditional way, with his fingers and says he “absolutely loves it.”

Sadly, during pairs week, his “breakfast trifle” missed the mark. He was supposed to champion coconut and pineapple in his dish. However, his fruit wasn’t sweet enough and didn’t stand up next to the whipped yoghurt. The judges couldn’t taste either of the ingredients, meaning Olaolu missed the brief.

“I’ve got some real mixed feelings right now,” Olaolu said on his departure. “It’s never nice to hear that your food didn’t hit the mark, but at the same time, I’m super proud of how long I’ve been here, and I’m so excited that I’ve learned so much.”

“It’s been cool to share some Nigerian flavours with all of Australia”

We were instant fans of Lydia (and not just because she shared her love for The Weekly and her first cookbook, which was one of ours!). The Greek mum shared her favourite family recipes on the show and had some great successes, including earning the first white apron with a grilled octopus dish and dish of the day with avgolemono.

“As painful as this is, I’m super proud of myself,” Lydia said on the show. “Hearing those positive comments about my cooking from the judges, just knowing that someone of their calibre has enjoyed what I’ve cooked his such a highlight.”

We spoke to Lydia following her elimination, and she has plenty of plans for her future. Read it here.

MasterChef Australia superfan Jack Hosking’s dreams came true when he got onto the show. He says that he has watched it for as long as he can remember and even recreated the Snow Egg at just 11 years old. As a South Australian, he of course idolised Callum Hann and has since met with and even worked with him. Callum even encouraged him to enter.

Sadly, in episode 29, Jack let the brief get away from him. The challenge was to celebrate Australian pork. However, his pork belly crackling was rubbery and inconsistently cooked. Also, Poh called his dish “disjointed” as the pork had Chinese flavours, the side salad was French, and then he added kimchi.

For this reason, the judges sent him packing.

“I’m really proud of myself to even be wearing one of these aprons is such an honour,” Jack says. “I’m walking out of these doors a better man.”

Dot joined MasterChef mere weeks before her wedding day! Over one weekend, she returned home to get married and returned to the kitchen basically the next day. 

She was a beam of light in the MasterChef kitchen and fast friends with many of her fellow contestants, most notably Pat, who worked with her on challenges. 

Sadly, it was the end of Aussie Classics week that Dot faltered. Guest judge Robert Irwin set the challenge to hero Australian native ingredients but advised restraint, as they can pack a punch. She was the only contestant to use rivermint in her doughnuts. Unfortunately, she used too much, and it was out of balance. 

However, she left with her head held high and her thoughts on a potential honeymoon!

“Thank you all for being my mentors during this,” she says to the judges. “It’s just been a dream come true to be here and to celebrate food every day and to think about food every day. Maybe not rivermint…”

“It’s been amazing, so thank you all for everything.”

Jackie was brave enough to cook a chiffon cake in the very first episode for the cake queen, Poh Ling Yeow. But she impressed the judges and scored the white apron. Desserts were her go-to dishes, but sadly, it was a dessert which sent her home. 

During Sweet Week, she and the other contestants do a taste test of ice creams. Sadly, in the second round, Jackie failed to correctly identify watermelon. In the cooking round of the elimination challenge, she decided to highlight figs and made figs with brown butter financier and orange and cinnamon ice cream with mint granita. However, the mint granita was deemed superfluous, plus the financier was undercooked.

“I’m sad to be leaving,” she said on the show. “But I’m so proud with how far I’ve come – over halfway – and I’ve done things I never thought I’d do. This has been the wildest ride, it’s been such a good time.”

But she’s already looking towards the future.

“I really want to dive headfirst into food and into baking, and I want to make sure that I don’t waste this opportunity.”

She was originally the fourth person to leave, but she cooked her way back in episode 30. Sadly, just seven episodes later, Bella was back at the bottom and went home on a steak challenge.

Bella has a huge passion for baking. In the episode before her original elimination, she cooked one of the best cakes that the judges had, but it was a team task, and overall, their meal was found lacking. In the elimination round, she decided to make an entremet, but the time pressure got to her, and there were flaws in every element of her dish.

“Cooking with this amazing bunch of people has just been so inspiring, I’ve enjoyed every moment,” Bella said on that elimination.

“I know you are going to be a superstar,” says a teary Poh. “And I want you to promise me that you’re not going to let this moment define you, it’s what you actually do after this,” she says before asking for a hug.

“I’ve learned so much from this experience,” Bella said afterwards. “Poh made me promise that this is only the beginning and I’m going to keep that promise.”

However, in episode 30, Bella, along with other contestants, returned to the MasterChef kitchen for a second shot. She was successful with an intricate dessert. She followed up that performance with numerous interesting flavour combinations (fennel ice cream!), but she faltered in a steak challenge. Curtis Stone was in-house to teach the crew about how to butcher and cook steak. It’s not one of her strengths, and she also wanted to set herself apart from the pack. So, she decided to make a cold noodle broth with soba noodles and cooled grilled steak. Sadly, there was too much sesame oil in the broth, and the steak was underdone.

“I feel so lucky,” says Bella of the opportunity to come back. “This is not the last you’ll see of me for sure.”

Grace’s MasterChef journey came to an end after Kirsten Tibballs’ daunting chocolate iris pressure test proved one challenge too many.

She started happy and confident, ready to take the challenge on, but made critical errors throughout the three-hour pressure test.

Grace initially forgot to add gelatin to her white chocolate cremeaux before accidentally placing it in the regular freezer rather than the blast freezer, leaving it without enough time to properly set. Later, she realised she had omitted half the sugar from her flourless cake after it had already gone into the oven.

Those small mistakes snowballed during assembly, with the unset cremeaux affecting the clean layers required for the intricate entremet. While the judges praised the outer appearance of her finished dessert, they felt the internal layers and textures strayed too far from Kirsten’s original creation.

“I just really loved challenging myself,” Grace said after her elimination. “I’ve just learned so much from everyone and from you guys, and I’ve had the best time.”

“I’m obviously crushed to be leaving this close to the top ten, but I’m leaving on a really incredible note. I’m leaving this competition with so much knowledge and so much love.”

Mum of four, Hannah left her home life for a chance at her dream of being a chef. She created some incredible dishes, from after-eight doughnuts in an airfryer, to her hamburger pie that is stocked in Coles supermarkets across Australia. 

During Knock Out Week, in the knock knock fridge challenge, she opted for Jean-Christophe’s French fridge and decided to make chicken with beurre blanc. However, she spent so much time on her beurre blanc that everything else on her plate was bland in comparison. That landed her in the elimination challenge. Wherein she chose to make a mussels seafood pasta dish. Sadly, she didn’t properly clean her mussels, and they were inconsistently cooked. So, the judges send her home. 

“To do this experience it’s been just so amazing,” Hannah says. “To meet everyone here, to do life with them for as long as I have, to be able to bring food to you guys, it’s amazing. You can’t actually put words to it.”

Emily has been surrounded by food since she was a child. Her grandfather opened one of the first Chinese restaurants in Dubbo! Her parents also ran a restaurant. Currently, she is a youth worker and teaches the importance of cooking as a life skill. Although she came onto MasterChef as a savoury cook, she also really impressed the judges with her dessert skills.

Sadly, her MasterChef journey came to an end in episode 45. After making it to the top ten, she faltered in a challenge to hero an unusual ingredient. She chose to hero banana blossom and served up Filipino spring rolls. Sadly, the banana blossom flavour wasn’t evident, so she missed the brief, and the judges sent her home.

“I’ve learned so much about myself, my resilience, the fact that there’s so much more for me to learn,” Emily said on her elimination. 

“I feel as though everyone was always willing to give me a lot of feedback and teach me. There’s no other place like MasterChef.”

Born in Russia (then the USSR) and raised in Estonia, Alyona wowed the judges with her creative use of beetroot, fennel and rhubarb in the MasterChef kitchen. She created some very unique dishes and made it all the way to the top ten.

Just two episodes before her elimination, her juniper berry ice cream put her in the top two dish spot. Sadly, her eclairs in episode 46 were stodgy, and that landed her in an elimination pressure test. Michelin-starred chef Sam Aisbett’s recipe for a wobbly crab salad flummoxed Alyona at the beginning, and she had to redo certain elements before she ran out of time, resulting in some aspects of the dish, like its dressing, not making it to the plate. 

“I’m just so grateful for all this experience; honestly, I’m overjoyed that I came so far”, she says on her elimination. “And so happy I met all of you guys. I honestly am going to miss you so much.”

“Your creativity will be missed the most,” Andy says to her before she leaves.

Pat first wowed the judges and earned his white apron by making a roast dinner with a twist. Immediately, he proved that he knows how to cook and he knows how to work with flavours.

Throughout his time on the show, he had incredible highs, like getting no notes from Maggie Beer on his pie, to getting his ice cream stocked in Coles across the country. In fact, Pat was one of the favourites to win, but sadly he faltered in his final challenge. He was put head to head against Aaron to flambee a dish and chose to make a bisque in 45 minutes. The judges agreed it was tasty, but didn’t have the “depth” that bisque requires. In the second round, he and Luke battled for their spot, and while both dishes had issues, Pat’s had more.

“I’m ready to go home to my girls,” Pat tells the judges through tears. 

“Being here, I achieved more than I ever thought I would, learned so much about myself and my skills and what I can do in the kitchen. I could not be more thankful for having this experience. But I am excited to go home, because that’s my favourite place on Earth.”

This season’s youngest contestant made it to the top six before his larrikin attitude got the best of him. Luke made it through numerous elimination challenges by the skin of his teeth; often pulling out Hail Marys and attempting dishes he never tried to create before.

A challenge set by Sofia landed him in elimination. The task was to celebrate a specific ingredient; he chose yuzu (an ingredient he’s not familiar with) and attempted to make a yuzu crepe cake (something he hadn’t done on the competition before). However, he wasn’t able to get enough juice out of the ten yuzu fruits he had. But both Poh and Andy pointed out that there were plenty more yuzu fruits available, and Andy told him that he should take responsibility for not walking up and taking more when he needed it. It wasn’t good enough in his eyes.

And then in the elimination challenge, set by Jean Christophe, he had to make a mother sauce. However, he didn’t start making his sauce until the final 20 minutes. His resulting dish of roasted rack of lamb had a thick unrendered fat cap, and unsurprisingly his sauce was unbalanced. So, lucky Luke’s luck finally ran out.

 “It’s been a lot of fun,” Luke says. “I’m just really grateful for the opportunity and the way you guys look after us. It’s such an awesome experience, and I’ve made some friends for life – which is a real pleasure.”

Annabel ended up being the last woman standing in the 2026 season of MasterChef Australia. She made it to the top five and was one of the favourites to win. Her final challenge, which was set by Poh Ling Yeow, started off strong, but she soon ran out of time. Her three Malaysian snacks looked good, but two of the three had major flaws. So, the judges sent her home.

“It’s such a bittersweet experience today to design that challenge and see one of you go,” Poh tells her through tears. ‘It’s been so wonderful to get to know you and see you flourish in the kitchen.”

Despite being sad to leave, Annabel is already thinking about her future in food.

“I am going to go back to work as a nurse because I actually have been really missing it,” she says. “But…I’m going to have a tough conversation with my boss,” why? To drop down her hours. “I’m going to become a nurse chef!”

Casper (not the friendly ghost, although that’s for sure his nickname) moved out of his home at 17, and that kick-started a love of cooking to sustain himself.

In an emotional challenge, Casper went up against Vinnie and Aaron. Each of them received a letter from home and an ingredient which they had to hero in a dish. Casper’s was grapes. It was a tricky ingredient to celebrate as its flavour can be subtle. He decided to make a dessert, which only added to the difficulty of highlighting grapes. He made a variety of grape ingredients: pickled, raw, granita, in a cremeux, but it wasn’t enough. The dish’s balance was out of whack.

“The journey isn’t over yet. I think it’s only just up from here,” he says. “All good things come to an end.

Third place goes to Aaron Kher! The chef-hopeful was supremely talented, plating up dishes that frequently blew the judges’ minds; like his tomato salad dessert, which he did a version of in the semi-final.

In that final challenge, Aaron came so close to getting into the Grand Finale. Sadly, his choice to have too many competing sauces cost him his spot.

But he has a lot of promise for his future; in fact, Jean Christophe asked that they stay in touch as he wants to help him succeed.

“It may not have gone my way today, but it just goes to show the potential is there,” Aaron says on his elimination. “I’m really excited for what’s to come. The sky’s the limit.”