Ah, the redemption round. AKA, the third (fourth? who knows anymore) round of instant restaurants, which at this point feel like anything but "instant". Then again, they're better than those food truck episodes we had to endure last year, right? Be thankful for small mercies.
Sheri and Emilie, those kind-hearted Toowoomba besties, preface the episode by saying the usual ominously optimistic stuff – "We think we can beat Annie and Floyd, we have a really good feeling about this, wouldn't it be great if we got a score in the 80s," etc, etc.
They're making a deconstructed lamb shank and sherry pie for their main, meaning that they're trying to sex up a plain and boring pie.
Manu's not fooled.
"You take a recipe that has worked for maybe a hundred years and pull it apart – whyyy?" he wails.
Why indeed.
Emilie has never made puff pastry before, so she decides to try it out for the first time tonight, in the same way that gymnasts usually attempt an Arabian double half-out somersault for the first time ever at the Olympics.
After banging on about the importance of trying everything they make tonight after failing to do so last time, Sheri and Emilie get home one lamb shank short. Furthermore, the shanks are all uneven sizes – something they failed to check on when buying the hero of their dish at the butcher's.
Emilie rushes back down the street while Sheri "holds the fort" which involves adding some goat's cheese to the mushroom filling for their entree of crepes.
Catastrophe strikes when Sheri realises Emilie has bought normal milk instead of buttermilk, cue an awkward scene where Sheri tries to call Emilie in the car who is obliviously bopping along to DJ Snake's Turn Down For What.
It's white-knuckle stuff, but Emilie returns home with the shanks and the buttermilk, which is about as helpful as she'll be for the remainder of the night.
Our guests arrive, now a mixed bunch of both groups and the intruders. Newbie promo models (Grid girls? Cougar bourbon babes?) Katie and Nikki are back to tell us about how hot they are – "Everytime I walk around I get beeped," etc, and neurotic Kat is fretting about the friendship that Perth girls Eva and Debra have formed with Sheri and Emilie.
"I hope that doesn't transpire into unfair judging,": she says, conveniently forgetting about that time she gave Ash and Camilla a two out of 10.
Annie and Floyd introduce themselves to those who haven't met them, Annie yet again complaining about the wedding proposal that hasn't happened yet, while Nikki and Katie observe that "I could not think of people more opposite to us," which is a polite way of saying you-freaks-me-no-likey.
Katie introduces us to what she calls Nikki's "resting bitch face", referring to the apparently unintentional pout that only leaves her face when she talks, usually to tell us about how hot she is.
Sheri appears to have been taking cooking tips from her demented grandmother again, she's stuffed some spinach leaves and candied nuts under the mushroom crepe.
That misstep aside, Manu says they took him back to his childhood, which is about the highest compliment a Toowoomba kitchen could hope for.
Pete's a fan too, bar those sweet nuts. Perhaps he prefers them salty.
Annie gets her own bitch face on, bitching about the nuts and the lemon/mushroom combo and the fact that it's not what her granny would have made. #strategy
Deb and Eva gush like a busted tap. Kat reaches for her Xannies.
Back in the kitchen, Emilie is not only attempting puff pastry for the first time, she's taken a shortcut, and the dough's not rolling properly. Sheri remains outwardly calm but is clearly fraying mentally, making "jokes" about granny and Sheri both being in the pot – Sheri's cooking with sherry, geddit?!
Kate and Nikki, also part-time butchers, hypothesise about what this deconstructed pie might entail. Floyd suggests Kate and Nikki might be a threat with "all that meat knowledge", insinuating that the girls know their way around a sausage.
Out comes the lamb shank with a shortbread cookie on top, sorry, deconstructed lamb and sherry pie.
The non-pie like quality of the pie is lost on no one. The shank tastes good though. Eva says it might be the best dish she's ever tasted in this competition. Kat does a VERY good impression of Katie's resting bitch face.
The deconstructed theme continues, unintentionally, with their dessert of a rhubarb and raspberry upside down cake with creme anglais.
Emilie, who keeps making the bewildering claim that she is good at desserts, has put the oven on 220 degrees celsius instead of 180, and the cake part is dense and hard to swallow and overwhelms the fruit topping. Solution? They whip up a coulis and bung it on top. A pot of creme anglais is served on the side of this sad-looking dish.
"Do you think the creme anglais will be moist enough to make this cake….good?" Sheri asks Emilie, biting her lip.
No, answers Manu.
The flavours work well together, but that's it.
"We asked for simple food but I think you've gone a bit far with simple," says Manu.
Pete pleads for nuts again. That, or ginger.
Annie regurgitates Manu's criticisms, saying it was a more appropriate afternoon tea and giving them a four overall.
New BFFs Eva and Debra give them an eight, the other teams sixes and sevens.
Between their competitors' scores and a reasonable haul from Pete and Manu, Sheri and Emilie pull in a respectable 66, to the surprise of both of them and everyone watching at home.
That puts Floyd and Annie at the bottom of the leaderboard, but they needn't fret yet, we still have another four couples to get through before we move onto the next round, and they will still make history for being part of one of the longest series of all time.
Next up, Jane and Emma from Victoria, making more ominous promises. "Last time, everyone saw us at our worst, this time we're going to be at our best," they say, brightly. Dum dum dummm.
