MasterChef Australia: Khanh Ong gives emotional farewell speech after being eliminated

MasterChef judge Melissa Leong, as well as many viewers at home, were in tears after a contestant’s emotional goodbye speech.

MasterChef viewers were moved to tears by an eliminated contestant’s emotional farewell speech in Sunday night’s episode.

Khanh Ong was booted from the competition after losing a fine dining cooking challenge against Reynold, Emelia and Laura.

According to the judges, the traditional Vietnamese dish of Ga Kho Gung that Khanh made “lacked finesse” and the cooking of his quail was “less than perfect”.

After being told he would be leaving the show, Khanh broke down in tears before delivering a powerful farewell message.

“It’s a sad day for me, but I feel as though there are a lot of people in the world right now who are going through so much more than what I am feeling right now,” Khanh, who is openly gay, said.

“So I just want to say that you are loved, life gets better, you have your ups and your downs … and it’s all going to work out.”

OMG I’m bawling. So beautiful @khanhong #MasterChefAU

— Jason Caddy (@jasoncaddy) June 14, 2020

#MasterChefAU Khanh...the fabulous one. The one with the 'you are loved' tees. The one with the best reactions. The one who wears his heart on his sleeves. The wonderfully gay guy we've ADORED on our screens for the past 2 months!@khanhong you will be missed❤️ pic.twitter.com/Octr3q7frk

— Neel P (Not Sarah🥕) (@neels_pandit) June 14, 2020

Masterchef is surely not going to be worth watching without @khanhong 😭 this has got to be one of the most heartbreaking eliminations ever #MasterChefAU

— AshKool (@AshKoolAs) June 14, 2020

Devastated to see @khanhong go home tonight on #MasterchefAU
You're all class, Khanh, and 100% this season's Miss Congeniality.

— RaniJollies (@RaniJollies) June 14, 2020

What the hell, #masterchefau? That ep needed a warning. I was not ready for crying Khanh and crying Melissa. It’s too much.

— Jessica Smith (@jesssmithtv) June 14, 2020

Khahn is so loved and what makes him the best contestant is that he always seems to make sure the people around him know that they are so loved #MasterChefAU

— Maya (@tweetmayatweet) June 14, 2020

With three simple words - "you are loved" - @khanhong managed to capture the sheer power of kindness during these dismal times. Safe to say, beyond his sass & bucketloads of buoyant personality, Khanh is quite the beacon of hope. What a crap time to be unable to hug #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/atgT4x6Gbu

— Sahar Adatia (@sahar_adatia) June 14, 2020

Khanh was in tears.

Melissa Leong was moved.

All season long, Khanh has been wearing tshirts with the message “you are loved” written on them.

He has previously revealed that the shirts are designed to promote Minus18, a charity that aims to improve the health and wellbeing of, and provide a safe environment for, same-sex attracted and gender diverse young people in Australia.

“It’s somewhere that I used to go to when I was younger and when I was underage,” Khanh told 10 Daily.

“There was a space where they threw events that made you feel welcomed, and I feel like that’s really important to support something that really helped me when I was younger.”

Khanh has been open about his struggles with his sexuality in the past, telling TV Week in 2018: “Being gay in our culture isn’t really a thing, so that was hard for me. You go through the first half of your life pretending you’re not gay; that what you’re feeling isn’t normal.”

MasterChef contestant Khanh Ong for started T-shirts called You Are Loved to spread love and positivity. Picture: Mark Stewart

At the start of Sunday night’s episode, the eight remaining MasterChef contestants were split into four teams of two and were challenged to cook street food dishes from around the world.

Each team had 75 minutes to create two dishes from a designated cuisine and the two teams with the least impressive dishes had to compete in round two.

Khanh was paired with Reynold and the duo were challenged to cook Chinese street food dishes, but their dumplings and fried rice failed to impress the judges and they were sent into round two along with Laura and Emelia.

In the second round, the bottom two teams had to choose a country from a map of 11 countries that have featured at Atlas restaurant in Melbourne. They had 60 minutes to cook a fine dining dish using the signature flavours of the chosen country.

The contestant with the least impressive dish would be sent home, which turned out to be Khanh.

You should be so proud of this dish, @khanhong 🧡 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/NZuHTt61Ia

— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 14, 2020

Judge Melissa Leong described Khanh’s elimination as “heartbreaking” and after his emotional farewell speech she said to him: “Don’t forget also, you are deeply loved.”

There are now just seven contestants left on MasterChef: Brendan, Emelia, Laura, Poh, Reece, Reynold and Tessa.

MasterChef Australia continues on Channel 10 on Monday night at 7.30pm