Hayden Quinn’s surprising Poh snub on The Project: ‘She’s had enough’

Ousted MasterChef contestant Hayden Quinn was full of praise for all but one of his fellow competitors on The Project last night.

MasterChef evictee Hayden Quinn threw some surprising shade at fellow contestant Poh Ling Yeow during an appearance on The Project last night.

Speaking to The Project panel after his eviction in Sunday night’s episode of MasterChef, Quinn, 34, was full of praise for those left in the competition this season.

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“This time around, it’s another level – the best of the best. You’ve got your Lauras, you’ve got your Reynolds, you’ve got your Reeces … Brendan, Sarah Tiong, Callum … all the big names are in there, and it just gets better and better. I can’t wait to watch what happens in the coming weeks.”

Notably absent from his list of “big names”: Arguably this season’s standout star, Poh. The surprise snub didn’t go unnoticed by his interviewers.

Carrie Bickmore talks to Hayden Quinn on The Project.

“I notice you left one name out there. You didn’t mention Poh?” Peter Helliar asked.

“Poh? Oh, Poh’s had enough, hasn’t she?” asked Quinn, to gasps from the panel. He assured them he was “only joking”.

“Does she use Doritos?” quipped Waleed Aly.

“Nah, she would’ve made hers from scratch,” Carrie Bickmore said.

For context: Earlier in the interview, MasterChef fan Bickmore had told Hayden she could pinpoint the exact moment things started to go wrong for him in the competition: When he used store-bought tortilla chips out of a packet in a recipe.

“I’m the common man; I don’t go around making my own tortilla chips, and I can guarantee you no-one else does,” he told her.

“No, but we’re not in the MasterChef kitchen, mate! The common man isn’t in the MasterChef kitchen.”

Haters stay mad: MasterChef favourite Poh.

Quinn isn’t the only ousted MasterChef contestant to throw a cheeky jab Poh’s way this season. Speaking after his elimination last month, contestant Harry Foster said he’d received feedback from fans complaining they’d seen so little of him and so much of Poh.

“Yeah, Poh copped a lot of flak last night; I was surprised by that. She’s been getting a lot of airtime, which is fantastic for her, but I think people are also reacting to that – they want to see less of Poh and more of some of the other guys that haven’t featured yet,” Foster said.

One of MasterChef Australia’s biggest success stories since she came runner-up in the very first series, Poh has been a surprisingly controversial contestant during her return to the franchise this season. Many fans are hooked on her dramatic race-against-the-clock cooking style – while others bemoan her abundance of airtime.