Tassie seafood queen Sabina Newton wins MasterChef Curtis Stone immunity challenge

Tassie young gun Sabina Newton is proving she’s a force to be reckoned with in the MasterChef kitchen — winning the series’ “biggest ever immunity challenge” as she reveals what’s next in Hobart >>

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TASSIE young gun Sabina Newton is proving she’s a force to be reckoned with in the MasterChef kitchen this year — winning the series’ “biggest ever immunity challenge” on Thursday night.

The 22-year-old’s success was even sweeter, given it was her first immunity challenge she has won a place in this season — meaning she is safe from this Sunday’s double elimination and officially in MasterChef’s Top Eight.

Tasmania's Sabina Newton, 22, won MasterChef's biggest immunity challenge in history. Photo: Network 10

For the challenge, contestants had to keep up with esteemed chef Curtis Stone as he cooked his Roast Chicken with Fondant Potatoes and Marsala Sauce live from Los Angeles on a big screen.

“I was pretty nervous but it was also super fun,” Sabina told the Mercury.

“My family and I always make roast chicken so I was really lucky we ended up cooking a roast chook in my first immunity challenge.”

MasterChef's biggest immunity challenge was for the contestants to keep up with chef Curtis Stone. Photo: Network 10

She said it was pretty daunting keeping up with Stone.

“It was super hard. He’s a butcher by trade, so he completely deconstructs his chicken and it’s super technical; I’ve never seen a roast chicken done in so many ways,” Sabina laughed.

Other than a blond potato, Sabina’s dish was perfect and judge Andy Allen praised her single-minded approach to the cook.

Fellow judge Melissa Leong said her chicken was succulent and nicely seasoned, and every part of the chook was beautifully done.

And Jock Zonfrillo said Sabina’s chicken oyster was perfectly cooked, and there was a nice amount of sauce to her mushroom marsala.

Not only did Sabina save herself from this Sunday’s dreaded double elimination, she also won $10,000 courtesy of Coles and told a recipe of her making will be published in the Coles Magazine.

Sabina won $10,000 worth of Coles groceries. Photo: Network 10

Ms Newton won her place in last night’s immunity challenge by impressing the judges in Wednesday night’s mystery box challenge — making a dish inspired by their family.

The Tassie cook impressed with a “perfect” seafood stew, made with snapper and mussels she said reminded her of family fishing trips back home.

“I think I’m still crying from that episode,” she laughed.

“It was really special having my family there in spirit after being away from them for months.”

Now back with her family in Tasmania, Sabina is still working towards her goal of opening a ‘sea to plate’ restaurant “somewhere in Hobart or the east coast”.

Tasmania's Sabina Newton, 22, won MasterChef’s biggest immunity challenge. Photo: Network 10

“I definitely want to have a restaurant in the future but not sure how long it will take — I’m aiming for the next five to 10 years,” Sabina said.

“For now I’m just trying to get as much work experience under my belt as I can to keep building on the skills I learned on MasterChef.”

She said during her time on the show, aside from “connecting really well” with the three judges, she loved sharing the kitchen with some of the guest celebrity judges.

“First of all Josh Niland who is leading the globe in how he uses fish — I looked up to him a lot before I went on MasterChef — it was awesome to be able to cook for him in the fish challenge,” Sabina said.

“The other person I loved working with was Alla Wolf Tasker when we did the garden challenge in Daylesford — she was awesome, so enthusiastic, her ethos about food was something I really admired.”