Who the true eggheads are "Egghead": Judge George Calombaris introduces the first half of the two-part elimination challenge. Photo: Network Ten Tonight's first challenge has been imaginatively titled "Egghead," offers George, rubbing his head for emphasis. The contestants are instructed to whisk three egg whites to soft peaks and then hold the upturned bowl above their head. If the soft fluffy peaks are done right, nothing will fall out. If the whisking's not up to scratch, there'll be - wait for it - egg on your face. Cue lots of frantic whisking until the fastest seven (I think it was seven?) to whip their eggs to perfection are safe. The three remaining are underwriter Andrew - "I'm not Ian Thorpe," he moans - opera singer Clarissa, and Mum Christina. Gary describes tonight's elimination challenge as the depths of hell. It's not really, but it's bloody hard. The pastry chef at LuxBite, Bernard Chu, is tonight's special guest, and the slowest eggbeaters are given the unenviable task of recreating his lolly bag cake, which is something like five layers of popular Australian sweets including Redskins, Spearmint Leaves and Freckles, melted, whipped and baked into a cake. It looks bloody delicious. Chu is a man of few words in his non-native language, but he's obviously been instructed by the producers to say this: "Yes, I think I'm the next generation of dessert king. It's going to take a special person to make my recipe. His cake is produced and cut into, revealing several perfectly formed, colourful layers. Everyone has a taste and makes redundant comments about the cake. It actually tastes amazing, this cake. Wow, I can feel the candy popping in my mouth. "It's like just popping a whole lot of lollies in my mouth," etc. Attempting to make the cake won't be half as fun as eating it. "Just follow the recipe, you'll be fine," says Chu. Christina confesses to never really following recipes, but throws herself into the task with gusto. Clarissa, meanwhile, is all in a fluster early on. She follows recipes, but not instructions, and despite numerous attempts from her teammates watching in the wings above to give advice, she's having none of it. She won't even listen when Gary intervenes. "I did absorb it but just don't know if I can change the way I think right now," she says, sweating up a storm. The contestants have been given 3.5 hours to make this cake, a cake that takes Bernard just one hour less to make himself. Clarissa is struggling with her Thermomix, and the kind-hearted Christina comes to her aid. "Worry about yourself, Christina," says Andrew, who confesses to want Clarissa gone. It's not hard to see why - she has a habit of bursting loudly into song at inopportune moments. She's not singing right now though, she's struggling with the spearmint leaf buttercream, and has added eggs and sugar when she shouldn't have. Chu instructs her to throw it out and start again, but she's out of eggs, and has a stickybeak at Christina's table to see if there are any she can pinch. She's caught out and reprimanded by those watching upstairs. When Christina offers her an egg shortly afterwards, I'm unsure if it's a genuine gesture or not. Clarissa spins around with mixing bowl in hand as if to whack her with it, much to the chagrin of the onlookers. The most unpopular contestant in the elimination round is now immeasurably more so. Having made the chocolate, mint cream and marshmallow layers, the contestants begin to assemble their cakes, at which point cracks appear in Andrew's green surface. "It looks like an earthquake," he laments. Gary instructs him to make a putty of sorts with more green stuff and do some repair work. Christina's the first to finish and she's done a terrific job. "I've done it, I've plated up this evil cake," she smiles. It's for my kids. She's shaking and close to tears, but happy. Clarissa, not so much. Having buggered up her mint layer, she's had to go without it. Andrew's not faring much better. "Mine looks the worst," he moans. It's cracked and dilapidated, but at least all the elements are there. Now it's time for the judges to decide. Christina's first up. "It's incredible, but it's a disaster," says George. "Where are the rings?" he asks, referring to rings that decorated Chu's cake. Christina is mortified. But the littlest judge is joking. "How proud do you think your kids would be?" asks Matt. "I think they're going to expect a cake like that for their next birthday," says Christina, crying with relief this time. Upon tasting the cake, Matt says he'd be hard pressed to choose which was Chu's and which was Christina's. Andrew brings in his cake next. He too, is close to tears, when telling the judges how badly he wants this - he wants to win. To change my life. He's 40 this year and wants to start following his passion. Which is music. Nah, it's food. The judges are pleased with Andrew's fighting spirit, but his cake doesn't tickle their tastebuds. He's overdone it with the eucalyptus syrup in the mint layer. "After that beautiful cake from Christina, it turns into toothpaste," says George. Last up is Clarissa, she of the missing layer. The camera zooms in on the soggy cake, distinctly devoid of green. But to the judges" surprise, it tastes pretty good. "I'm actually enjoying this far more than Andrew's," says Matt. Christina is voted the clear winner, her perfect layers deemed worthy of a place in the MasterChef "Wow" canon alongside Poh's spectacular croquembouche and that dude who Heston Blumenthal said he was really proud of. And though Andrew's cake tasted like crap, it was a pressure test after all and he at least completed all of requirements of the recipe. So he goes through, and Clarissa bows out, but not before one last burst of song. It's not over til the annoying lady sings.