MasterChef recap: You have to be Heston!

Kelty is in the same boat, but having worn the black around 10 times already this season, it's something he's become accustomed to. Wearing it in front of Heston is “slightly intimidating”, though he doesn't expand on why.

Samira, another black-apron veteran, isn't fazed at having to don it again, but going into an elimination with Noelene, who she calls “a friend for life”, is another story.

Assembled in front of the judges and Heston in the kitchen, I notice for the first time that Noelene's glasses are of the transitions-lenses variety. Is it to hide tears? Or daggers shot at Heston and his wretched dry ice?

The bespectacled superstar chef, sans apron to protect his impractical cream blazer, demonstrates how to make one of his signature dishes – egg and bacon ice-cream. He cracks open what turns out to be no ordinary egg – cue a chorus of ooohs from the competitors and their fellow contestant onlookers. What comes out of the egg, which has been blown and refilled, is custard that's been infused with bacon and will form the base of the ice-cream – or something like that.

Noelene, bless her, suspects they might be asked to recreate this tricky-looking dish, and sighs audibly. “How many pages long will this recipe be?” she wonders.

Heston adds liquid nitrogen to turn the custard into ice-cream, and plates it up with a slice of brioche and stick of crystallised pancetta. As you do.

Matt then throws a curve ball when he tells the contestants that today's challenge will not be a pressure test. Rather, they will be encouraged to use Heston's techniques to produce a dish of their own, with added elements of theatre and surprise.

Noelene, for one, is delighted – no bloody recipe to follow.

Rishi tells the small crew of supporters upstairs of his intention to make dumplings with some sort of dry-ice tea.

Kelty has plans that involve a hot toddy with some sort of lemon ice-cream and a drop of frozen Guinness, or something. He's worried that he won't be able to adequately “Heston-ise” his dish. He says he's freaking out, and we believe him.

Noelene gets to work on a fish head stew – her idea of theatre is these striking fishes “with their long noses and fins intact”. She's applying some sort of spice rub and it sounds quite delicious, if not very Heston.

Samira, meanwhile, has ghee and orange blossom water on her bench – she's in her comfort zone, says George. “So what's NOT in her comfort zone?” asks Heston. “Well, I'm making a volcano,” she says. Extended middle finger not required.

She tells of her plans for a “Middle Eastern volcano”, but the “soil”, made of dark chocolate, becomes an early bitter point, though unfortunately not literally. It's too sweet, see, and Heston advises her to start again lest the sweetness of the chocolate overpower everything else. Samira starts to panic.

Kelty's hot toddy is under way, and he's upped the quantity of whisky, which he thinks the judges will like. “Oh yeah, that'll wake you up in the morning!” he says, doing some sort of Irish jig. Kelty is the producers' go-to man for unbridled enthusiasm.

Rishi is taking the salted caramel craze one step further, attempting a soy caramel sauce to go with his sweet dumplings. Heston warns him of the danger inherent – it could be a taste sensation or a salty mess.

Samira's in trouble – her second attempt at chocolate soil has failed, she's a third of the way through the challenge and in her own words, has achieved nothing.

Noelene, who wants none of the smoke and mirrors stuff attempted by the others, instead wants to “jellify” her curry, which doesn't sound particularly tasty.

Kelty's put his Guinness jam in the fridge and is patting himself on the back for how well he's doing for time, but he's forgotten all about the ice-cream. He's starting to freak out. I feel like it's not the first time we've heard Kelty say this.

But he's got an idea – he's going to try to make his ice-cream with liquid nitrogen, just like the great man himself.

Samira's aborted the volcano idea, she's now leaning towards some sort of shisha-cigar creation, only she has no idea how she's going to make it.

Noelene, having blended her curry, now has to dry-freeze it, but in the rounded bowl she's been given, her jellies clump together. She starts again, but can't shake the feeling that her dish, at present, is a complete disaster.

Countdown's up, it's time to serve and all contestants have finished in the nick of time.

Rishi's first, serving his Chinese tea – the liquid nitrogen rendering it undrinkable, but aromatic – and dumplings with soy caramel. There's a long pause but Heston says he's nailed it, and the others agree.

Kelty's next, with his hot toddy tart and Guinness jam, and is making the ice-cream in front of the judges. By his own estimate, he's nailed it, and bar Heston's one criticism, that the pastry on the tart was a bit chewy, the general consensus is that he's done just that.

Samira, with her hastily devised adaptation, is next. The lady fingers sit on a bed of rose petals, from which smoke emanates, smelling of orange blossom and other heady Middle Eastern scents. The judges are uniformly impressed; George calls her a legend, but stops short of “you bloody beauty”.

Noelene then serves up her fish curry to a few raised eyebrows – a scattering of “jellified” curry balls on the plate doesn't provide the same spectacle as the previous three dishes. Worse, her fish is dry. Gary praises her for using interesting ingredients but it's blindingly clear who will be going home today.

Noelene is gracious in defeat, and Samira, choking back tears, escorts her friend to the door to say goodbye.

We learn that next week is International Food Week, which means the remaining eight are going to Dubai, where they'll ride camels and prepare Arabian feasts for important folk.

For their efforts this week, Christina and Daniel will get to fly business class to the UAE. That's what you get for impressing Heston.