Just desserts for Ashleigh

ELIMINATED in a “devastating” dessert disaster, MasterChef’s Ashleigh Bareham is all smiles this week after starting work at her dream job at Om Nom in Melbourne alongside top pastry chef Christy Tania.

It’s a far cry from the tears and heartbreak of Monday night’s Passion Flower dessert elimination, one of the toughest seen so far this season on the show. With 12 elements and 31 steps, creator Darren Purchese rated the dish as “9.9 out of 10” in terms of difficulty.

“I think it was definitely 9.9 out of ten and maybe even a little bit more!” eliminated top eight contestant Bareham, 24, said.

“I was devastated to go and would have loved to stay but I was actually really happy with how I went in the kitchen.”

Billie McKay barely broke a sweat as she blitzed the competition with an almost perfect recreation of the dish.