Melissa Leong reprimands Sabina for being too hard on herself

When one contestant lost faith in themselves on MasterChef, Melissa Leong worked her magic to make sure they don’t lose hope.

After losing Depinder in the last elimination challenge when the MasterChef contestants were in the Northern Territory, the team is back in Melbourne.

Mel welcomes the contestants home after an amazing couple of days away, and reveals that Wednesday night will be a Mystery Box challenge.

Unfortunately for Sabina, who is a huge frontrunner on the show, she overcooked her lamb and the judges tell her so.

“A lot to love about this dish,” says Jock. “Only negative for me is the lamb, it’s a touch over cooked. Maybe a little past medium. That’s my only negative.”

Instantly, Sabina’s face drops.

Sabina is incredibly hard on herself, and the judges notice. Picture: Channel 10

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“Don’t be disappointed,” says Andy. “I can see it in your face straight away, this is a very good dish. Quite simple but so sophisticated on the palette.”

Mel interjects. “You’re really clever. The smoked ricotta is brilliant.”

However, Sabina still looks incredibly disappointed, which earns her a stern talking to from Mel.

Mel gives Sabina a stern talking to. Picture: Channel 10

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“You’re hard on yourself, and I can see you going down your shame spiral at the moment. Stop it please. Because you really have earned your place to be here. Keep cooking this well, it’s just down to these little details.”

Listening to Mel, she raises her chin and smiles.

After her words of encouragement, Sabina's mood lifts. Picture: Channel 10

The contestants lifted their lids to find seven ingredients - including milk, lamb loin chop, black peppercorns, blackberries, white onion, bay leaf and verjuice. Andy informs them that this is the dreaded ‘Everything Box’, which means they must use all of the ingredients under the mystery box in their dish.

Andy tells them not to get ahead of themselves because they have one more ingredient to throw into the box and it’s come straight from the farm. Farmer John enters carrying a box of purple cauliflower.

The contestants have 75 minutes to create a dish using all eight of the ingredients in the Mystery Box and all the regular under bench pantry staples. The cooks of the three best dishes will compete in tomorrow’s final immunity challenge for MasterChef 2021.