The first celebrity contestants to get cooking in the MasterChef kitchen were Kirk Pengilly from INXS; journalist Indira Naidoo and comedian Josh Thomas. They were competing for a spot in the semi-finals and a chance at taking the Celebrity MasterChef title, which will see their favourite charity receive $50,000.

The judges explained to the celebrity cooks that their heat would consist of two rounds. The first round would see them prepare their signature dish. The winner of the first round would then choose the dish all three contestants would cook in the second round pressure test.

The celebrities donned their white aprons to prepare their signature dish in 90 minutes. Gary pulled Josh up on his messy work station, while Indira had trouble frying her polenta batons and George advised her to shallow fry them.

Kirk had been worried about overcooking his tuna steaks but in the event he was scrambling to have them done in time. After the rock star served his dish of blackened tuna steaks on celeriac mash with broad beans, Gary told him the tuna was cooked perfectly. Both Gary and George liked Kirk’s lotus root chips.

George thought Indira’s Italian meatballs with polenta batons were packed with flavour but Matt noted the meatballs were a little spongy. Josh served a Moroccan lamb tagine on couscous, as well as a saffron crème catalana. Gary and George said Josh’ tagine was tasty and well braised. Matt observed that as a crème catalana, Josh’s runny effort was a failure, but it was a success as saffron custard.

Kirk won the challenge and had to choose between two Matt Moran dishes. He chose a vanilla and fig Bombe Alaska over rabbit galantine for the pressure test dish. The contestants had one lifeline as they cooked – they could have Matt Moran’s assistance for 90 seconds, but only once.

The pressure test lasted an hour and 40 minutes. Kirk used his lifeline to ask Matt’s help with the parfait, as did Indira. Matt came to Josh’s aid when he was making the meringue for his Bombe Alaska. Both Josh’s and Indira’s meringue was too runny and wouldn’t wrap around the parfait properly.

The judges tasted Indira’s dish first. Gary said her presentation was “pretty” but she hadn’t mastered the meringue. Matt said Josh also didn’t manage to present a Bombe Alaska but he can certainly cook.

Kirk gave the judges their first Bombe Alaska and George raved about his sorbet, which he said wasn’t as sweet as the others. Kirk won the second round and a spot in the semi-finals of Celebrity MasterChef.

Stay tuned as three more celebrities go head to head in the MasterChef kitchen!