She’s 57, from Queensland and dreams of hosting ladies lunches in her own restaurant one day.
Her name is Benita Orwell and tonight she was eliminated from Channel 10’s MasterChef Australia.
She was trying to cook prawn wontons with broth under extreme time pressure.
According to the judges, her biggest mistake was taking her eyes off the broth towards the end of the cook because the broth burnt with only minutes to go. The sauce she made as a substitute was “underwhelming“.
But some Australians are thinking her elimination has less to do with crustaceans, and more to do with the fact she’s over 50.
“Masterchef is a bit ageist I think. They portray the older contestants unfavourably,” one viewer commented on Facebook.
“Again the judges are influenced by the ‘age’of the contestant!!!! Don’t they realise that 50 per cent of their audience is over 50!!! Get real,” another said.
“Classic case of ‘Ageism’ in that decision. Benita deserved to be there to learn more every bit as much as Nicole. Elimination should be on the worst dish not the oldest person Masterchef,” one commenter wrote.
Indeed, Orwell was the oldest contestant in this year’s competition. And, earlier this week, we saw the show’s second oldest amateur chef Pia Gava, 49, sent home as well.
Top Comments
She made a wrap and sauce for one challenge! End of story!
It's always the worst dish, and Benita's was the worst - no-one can seriously think that the sauce she threw together in, what, 5 minutes, could be any good - the judges are too nice to not slag it off, but it's a long way from some of Nicole's pudding being a bit dry on Gary and George's servings (whereas it was fine on Matt's)