MasterChef’s guest judge Curtis Stone was no match for Sarah Todd in the kitchen.

MasterChef star Sarah Todd surprised viewers by beating Curtis Stone at his own game. Photo: Ten

MasterChef star Sarah Todd surprised viewers by beating Curtis Stone at his own game. Photo: Ten

Given this year’s season of MasterChef is a Back to Win style version of the show, it comes as little surprise to see many of the returning contestants are excellent chefs by this point. But when a contestant outshines a guest judge, that’s pretty incredible.

On Tuesday night, Sarah Todd left viewers stunned after she managed to overtake Curtis Stone in his own challenge, with many fans joking that she was leading the cook instead of the seasoned chef. Sarah, Jamie Fleming, Theo Loizou and Ben Macdonald all faced elimination and participated in a cook-along with Curtis to make a dish that would usually take three or four hours in just 60 minutes.

The contestants and Curtis cooked his homemade raviolo, with lamb shank and gremolata, which he says is a “simple recipe, but [has] lots of steps”.

Sarah told the cameras that she felt “an electric pressure in the room” as they began cooking, and even as a viewer, it was a stressful cook to watch.

While the men in the room appeared to be flustered, judges Poh Ling Yeow and Sofia Levin remarked that “Sarah’s onto it” as she moved with ease, looking “graceful”.

“I have walked into the room super focused, I can’t hear anyone else in the room, other than Curtis’ voice,” Sarah said.

Soon after, Sarah actually got ahead of Curtis, leaving the guest judge looking shocked.

“I’m not only keeping up with Curtis, but I might be ahead of him actually,” Sarah said with a smile.

Later in the cook, Curtis checked in on everyone, and specifically asked Sarah several times, but she was too focused and didn’t respond, with Curtis telling the cameras, “Sarah’s totally zoned me out.”
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In an awkward moment later on, Curtis was unable to remove the lid of his pressure cooker, while Sarah did it with ease, “I’m lucky, because I use this pressure cooker all the time, I love to use old school methods for cooking my different curries and I’m a classic girl, actually,” she said, poking fun at Curtis.

When she served her dish to the judges, Sarah said she enjoyed the fast pace of the challenge, with Curtis saying their dishes looked nearly identical.

“I think Sarah’s done a fantastic job,” he added after trying it.

In the end, it was Theo who couldn’t keep up and came last, which saw him exit the competition.

Sarah Todd on MasterChef

Fans rallied behind Sarah, saying she was ‘ghosting’ Curtis. Photo: Ten
Viewers rallied behind Sarah, poking fun at Curtis, with one person writing, “It was a Sarah cook-along. Curtis was following Sarah.”

“Sarah looks more annoyed at Curtis than Curtis is with everyone lol,” another joked.

“Sarah has zoned Curtis out,” a third added.

“Stop interrupting Sarah’s cooking please Curtis,” someone else wrote. “You do your thing and let her do hers.”

“Sarah’s ghosting Curtis,” another said.

“I knew Sarah would be a winner!” one said. “Hugs, Sarah Warrior Princess!”

“Sarah is a force to reckon with!” yet another wrote.

“Curtis keeping up with Sarah…?” one viewer added.

Maybe Sarah is ready to return to the show as a judge one day?