Masterchef - Shannon Bennett Judges - Courtney Leaves the Kitchen

Even though Courtney was one of my favourites and it was sad to see her go, inventiveness was not her strongest suit, so her departure last night was not a stunning surprise.

What was fantastic was seeing Shannon Bennett judge as he oversees one of the best French restaurants in Australia - Vue de Monde. One of the sad things about living in Sydney is not being able to make excuses to go to his Melbourne restaurant as often as I would like. It was good to see him in the kitchen, although I thought that he and the other judges seemed to be unnecessarily helpful for a finals week elimination round?

Adam complained that the Jimmy selected ingredients in the Mystery Box - chickpea flour, lentils, garam masala, chilli, lemon, muscat, gorgonzola, ginger and tomatoes - were difficult to transform into a French meal for Shannon but I thought they just required a bit of imagination (especially given the fact that everyone seemed to have access to staples of flour, butter, eggs). In fairness, Adam showed imagination with an egg and soubise dish and candied tomatoes for dessert. Claire, Callum and Courtney also managed at least one French dish. Shannon appeared to be impressed.

Favourite moment? Matt Preston referring to Garry and Shannon as Gazza and Shazza. Does that make him Mazza or Matza?