MasterChef Australia 2024 is definitely a stand-out season for many reasons. The 16th season brought along a new panel of judges, a butt load of celebrity guest chefs made their MasterChef debuts and they’ve kept us on our toes with a bunch of contestants randomly disappearing.
I’m not gonna lie, it’s been yonks since I’ve followed MasterChef this closely. But one thing that has amazed me the most about this season is all the eagle-eyed fans who’ve spotted the tiniest spicy details.
Throughout this season, loads of MasterChef Australia viewers noticed that some contestants had been absent from challenges and episodes. Some have even predicted their absences through the episode trailers, it’s amazing!
This year, it appears that four out of the 22 contestants have “disappeared” at one point during the show.
So without further ado, here are the MasterChef Australia contestants who’ve seemingly disappeared during Season 16 and why they vanished.
Savindri ‘Sav’ Perera
In a cute little twist in this year’s season of MasterChef Australia, the remaining contestants were flown out to Hong Kong to take a shot at gaining immunity.
The only participant who wasn’t present for the exciting opportunity was Savindri ‘Sav’ Perera.
Before the cooks took to their stations, MasterChef judge Andy Allen shared that Sav would be absent from the Hong Kong trip due to “personal reasons.”
“Look guys, unfortunately for some personal reasons, Sav won’t be able to join us this week, but we’ll be seeing her when we get back into the MasterChef kitchen,” he shared.
Although there haven’t been any official statements from MasterChef or Network 10, some fans have taken to X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit to come up with their own theories as to why Sav was nowhere to be seen.
“Serious question, but do you think they warned the contestants ahead of time that they needed passports? Cause if Pezza has never been overseas, he probably didn’t have a passport. It got me thinking if that wasn’t the case, then maybe Sav didn’t have one, which is why she’s not in HK,” one person shared.
“I can’t imagine she would have a whole week off from the show if it was [filmed] in Australia, so maybe it is visa issues?” a second viewer asked.
Some MasterChef punters were concerned that Sav was “saved” from elimination. However, this is not the case as Hong Kong didn’t feature an elimination challenge.
Sav is expected to rejoin the competition back in Melbourne in the MasterChef Australia kitchen.
Josh ‘Pezza’ Perry
Earlier in the season, fans noticed that Tasmanian butcher Josh Perry — also known as Pezza — was missing from a couple of episodes.
The contestant’s sudden disappearance sparked a social media search amongst fans, with some viewers flocking to Pezza and MasterChef‘s Instagram account asking about his whereabouts.
Soon after fans flooded the MasterChef posts, a spokesperson revealed that Pezza was absent due to his health.
“Josh Perry was unwell and absent from the MasterChef Australia kitchen for two challenges. As per competition protocol following a missed elimination challenge, Josh went straight into the next elimination challenge upon his return,” a spokesperson told Yahoo! Lifestyle.
As of writing, Pezza has returned to the competition and is still in the running for the $250,000 prize!
Lourdes Leschen
Lourdes Leschen was eliminated earlier in the season. However, towards the middle of Season 16, eliminated contestants were invited back for a redemption challenge.
One of the contestants who didn’t make an appearance was Lourdes.
Following her absence, the 22-year-old revealed that she was unable to return to the MasterChef Australia kitchen due to “an important surgery.”
“I had an important surgery that was unable to be missed,” the fan-favourite told Yahoo! Lifestyle.
Stephen Dennis
Stephen Dennis was also absent from the Redemption Cook challenge. Just like Lourdes, fans flocked to X and the MasterChef Australia‘s social media for answers on the 62-year-old’s whereabouts.
In a statement to Yahoo!, Stephen shared that he opted out of a second chance at winning MasterChef because he needed to look after his mother.
“My mother is in hospital and is very unwell,” he told the publication.
“My father passed away during Covid, so I need to support my mother and it would be unfair on my family to return to filming with this in mind.”
As we inch closer towards the MasterChef Australia 2024 finale, I reckon there won’t be any more “disappearances”. However, every time they do happen it is quite spicy.
Sending out best wishes to Lourdes and Stephen! Wishing them both the speediest recoveries.
Image source: Instagram
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