MasterChef star Dan Dumbrell was eliminated from the competition on Sunday night after failing to impress the judges and St Peter chef Josh Niland with three rounds of cooking with one Murray cod.
It was an all-in elimination with three rounds which saw the contestants who were unable to impress moving to the next round and then the next until the judges found the amateur chef who would be going home.
MasterChef star Dan Dumbrell was eliminated from the competition on Sunday night after failing to impress the judges with three fish dishes. Photo: Ten
Fans were left sad to see Dan go home with many taking to social media to share their heartbreak. One user wrote, "Dan's the best guy there, I'm gonna miss him so much."
"Oh Dan, it was a joy to watch you," another added.
"I'm sad to see Dan go. He's a sweetheart!" someone else wrote.
Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle, Dan said he was very surprised to see the fan reaction.
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"Yeah, I was really shocked and surprised," he said. "But like, in a good way because you know I just, I think, when you join competitions like this and, you know, you pour your heart out for the nation. And you just wonder: will people like me? So I'm really glad that, you know, it came across that I was just there to cook my heart out, make such amazing friends, and I'm really happy with the reaction."
The 31-year-old also shared that he expected to go home during the cook because he just felt "very helpless".
"Oh yeah, I think during that cook especially that third-round cook," he said. "I was feeling very very helpless and I'm not usually like that in eliminations. It was very telling but I think the writing was on the wall once I plated up that laksa. I was a bit teary at the end of that cook for that reason."
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Dan said a tearful goodbye to his fellow cooks. Photo: Ten
The judges speak to every contestant while they're cooking, but Dan admitted to not really listening to what they were saying because he was so "frazzled".
"I get super frazzled in that kitchen, but I know in their hearts, they're just, you know, trying to steer you in a direction that is positive," he explained. "It's just that when you're in that mindset and you're super frazzled, it just bounces off you like, I completely was not listening to what they were saying last night.
"You know, the [people in the] gantry are also super helpful to gee you up, but when you're in that mindset, all you've got in front of you is like a half-dead Murray cod that's been hacked up, some of it's lying on your bench, and you're just like, 'Oh God, this is it!'"
When he was given the news that he'd been eliminated, Dan told the judges he'd had the best time of his life, but quickly corrected himself, saying his wedding to husband Paul was actually the best moment of his life.
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When asked how Paul felt about his time on the show, Dan revealed the sacrifice he made to come on the show, leaving just two weeks after they tied the knot.
"Paul was super stoked to have me home," he said. "I think when I told him that I was eliminated I could kind of hear the kind of disappointment but it was a slight happiness because really I had left for this entire experience about two and a bit weeks after our wedding.
"He put a lot of things on hold and held the fort at home. I think it was time for me to go and just like go back and get back into normal life, whatever that may mean."
He continued, "I think the wedding was so honestly the best day of my life, but that MasterChef experience is just so fantastic like, it's just a once in a lifetime experience that I will probably never experience ever again. Just looking back on it I can only feel so fond and there's so much fondness and so much joy that comes from it so I'm just completely stoked with how I've done and I'm just so glad to be back in reality."