MasterChef Australia proved that even border lockdowns will stop Nigella Lawson from making an impression in a kitchen.
The British chef sent viewers into a frenzy by popping up unexpectedly thanks to a full-body hologram/video call that stood perfectly next to the hosts.
Currently, Nigella is unable to fly into Australia due to coronavirus lockdown rules restricting who can come in and out of the country, with everyone entering having to do a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
But when there’s a will, there’s a way, and fans of the cooking series were delighted to see Nigella pop up for the latest series from London.
Hosting an elimination challenge, Nigella read out her delicious recipe for the wannabe chefs to take on.
First, the remaining contestants were asked to identify the ingredients to 18 different types of biscuit in 15 minutes.
Conor Curran, Brent Draper, Maja Veit, Yoyo Yang and Tom Levick were the least successful in the mission – so were pitted head-to-head in a different challenge.
Using only Nigella’s descriptions, the five had to bake a toasted marshmallow and rhubarb cake.
But viewers were enchanted with Nigella and her iconically descriptive language, saying it was lulling them to sleep.
Nigella is one of many stars making an appearance for this year’s series, with famous faces including Gordon Ramsay able to make it for filming before lockdown took place.
For Nigella’s episode, the full body LED screen allowed Nigella to call into the show live, meaning she could interact with the chefs as if she was there (even if it meant she couldn’t talk to them).
Judge Andy Allen, who was in the studio, was seen having fun with the piece of technology, offering the star a biscuit while she had a cup of tea.
Now if only we had the technology to make that work…
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