The first semi-finals challenge was the mystery box. The contestants lifted the lids of the boxes to find lamb, chocolate, coffee, potato, orange, beetroot, mint and spinach. They had 45 minutes to cook a dish using some or all of these ingredients.

Kirk Pengilly cooked pepper lamb with citrus and beetroot salad. Gary loved the salad, but George said the lamb was a little undercooked and chewy.

Michelle Bridges presented her orange soufflé crepes with chocolate sauce. Gary said while the sauce was great, the dish wasn’t cooked. Matt told Alex Lloyd his mint crusted lamb, which he served with potato gratin, was beautifully cooked.

Simon Katich served balsamic lamb with skordalia and wilted spinach. George told Simon he had blended the skordalia so much that it had activated the starch in it. Gary said the lamb was undercooked.

Rachael Finch's mystery box dish was chocolate fondant with orange and mint syrup. Gary told her it wasn’t a great chocolate fondant but a good chocolate pudding. The chocolate mousse with espresso brûlée and orange and mint salad cooked by Eamon Sullivan met with great approval from the judges. Eamon won the mystery box round.

Eamon had to choose two core ingredients for the invention test, which would see the contestants cooking in pairs. He picked Kirk as his partner and then paired Alex with Simon and Rachael with Michelle.

The theme was Christmas and Eamon selected seafood and summer fruits as the core ingredients. The semi-finalists had to finish a main and a dessert in 90 minutes.

Before plating up, Simon had trouble unmoulding his panna cotta. He finally managed to, but then with seconds to go, the panna cotta collapsed into a puddle after Simon drizzled coulis on them.

Simon said later his vanilla panna cotta with brandy and berry coolis looked “depressing” when he took it up to the judges. Gary said Alex’ baked snapper, which was served with prawns, baked potatoes and beans, was cooked perfectly, although it could have had more flavour. Matt was displeased the prawns still had their intestinal tracts, while George said although the collapsed panna cotta tasted good, it didn’t look “sexy”.

Kirk had made snapper fillets with mango and avocado salsa and Eamon served a pavlova stack with brandy cream and summer fruits. Although he disliked the “disgusting” lettuce garnish on Kirk’s plate, George loved the salsa and said it was a beautiful dish. Matt enjoyed the meringue of the pavlova stack, which although thin, was still chewy in the middle.

Gary cut open Michelle’s baked snapper with Christmas stuffing to find it was undercooked, which he said was a shame because it looked fantastic. Matt loved Rachael’s steamed puddings with brandy cream and berry sauce, declaring it “a knock out dish”.

The judges told Kirk and Eamon they were through to the next semi-final, as was Rachael and Michelle. Alex was also through but Simon was sent home.

Stay tuned as the contestants try to handle the heat in a five star hotel kitchen!