MasterChef Australia fans have taken to social media to complain about changes to the format of this year’s Back to Win season.

Viewers have been left unimpressed with cuts to regular segments in the current series, which sees 24 past contestants returning to fight it out in the kitchen for $250,000 in prize money and the prized trophy.

Not featured this year is the popular Top 50 round and as well as some familiar challenges – and fans are not happy.

‘Does anyone miss the Top 50 week? Been rewatching season 4 lately, and I miss the Top 50 ‘Bootcamp’ styled week to determine the Top 24,’ a fan posted on Reddit on Wednesday.

‘It gave us more depth to the contestants and we can see their growth before the competition started.’

‘Yeah I won’t lie, I miss watching auditions! It was always a good introduction to the incoming contestants,’ another viewer added to the thread.

MasterChef Australia fans have taken to social media to complain about changes to the format of this year’s Back to Win season. Pictured: MasterChef 2025 contestant Theo Loizou

Viewers have been left unimpressed with cuts to regular segments in the current series, which sees 24 past contestants returning to fight it out in the kitchen for $250,000 in prize money and the prized trophy. Pictured: The 2025 cast of MasterChef Australia

‘Totally miss it,’ a third viewer said.

‘I’m…not hating the new season – great cooks, entertaining cast, nice people. But, the new season is lacking all the things I traditionally love about MC AU.

‘Namely, watching kitchen amateurs do their best to impress, and then grow as cooks and people while we watch and get to know them.

‘The two (or more) episodes of auditions, and then the helterskelter of a huge batch of people battling out to ‘actually be on the show’ was a blast. It was a great set-up to the rest of the season.’

Other fans weighed in on other format changes over recent season including the  choice of producers to drop the ‘restrictive’ challenge.

‘I fondly remember in earlier seasons (back when I was still a child) that a fair few challenges highly restricted what people were able to use or the tools in which they had to prepare the meal,’ wrote one long-time viewer.

‘Mystery box challenges come close, but I find the ‘can only use a wok to cook’ or ‘dish must use fish’ challenges to always be the most interesting to watch,’ one fan said.

‘Hope there’s more like that coming this season.’

Not featured this year is the popular Top 50 round and as well as some familiar challenges – and fans are not happy. (Pictured)

‘Yes. Just an emphatic yes,’ a viewer added to the thread.

‘Every challenge is basically ‘cook whatever you want’. I miss when they pushed contestants outside their comfort zones in every episode.’

The same viewer said they missed the ‘mystery box’ with eliminations.

‘I want them to bring back the everything mystery box,’ another viewer agreed.

‘It was always so fun to see how they could creatively cram all the ingredients into their dish in some cohesive way.’

It comes after season 16’s Savindri Perera was sent home on Tuesday after competing in a pressure test to create a realistic looking chocolate and coffee caviar tin – including edible spoon and melba toast.

The judges were left unimpressed with Sav’s attempt and sadly the fan favourite had to hang up her apron.

Cath Collins who first appeared on the show in 2023, meanwhile, was kicked off the program a second time during Sunday’s episode.