Karen van der Merwe (38) from Alberton, Gauteng, whom friends, family and her fellow MasterChef South Africa contestants have nicknamed “South Africa’s own Afrikaans Nigella Lawson”, was eliminated from the pressure-cooker show this week. Ironically, because of gnawing nerves and miscalculations with a food staple in her household – chicken.

Following the dramatic photo finish of the first MasterChef South Africa Season 6 team challenge, aired the week before, only seven of the home cooks’ necks were on the chopping block this week – the losing Red Team, captained by Karen.

So, team friends became foes. And to ruffle the feathers even more, the judges – Chef Katlego Mlambo, Zola Nene and Justine Drake – tasked the contestants with an extremely difficult assignment. Inside a clay pot, which the contestants had to smash with force, was a whole chicken. However, cooking a wholesome family chicken dish was not on the cards. Instead, the home cooks had to prepare a MasterChef-worthy tasting plate comprising three chicken delights for each judge. One of these dishes also had to include the gizzards. In other words, 9 dishes in total. The dreaded MasterChef South Africa clock was set at a mere 75 minutes.

An adventurous Karen decided to use chicken feet in one of her dishes. Perhaps not the best choice. Removing the skin from the feet proved a time-consuming nightmare. To make matters worse, a now-anxious Karen discovered, towards the end of the cook, that she had only two chicken feet to finesse. She had to pivot – and fast. So, the chicken feet became “chicken toes… or fingers… or whatever you want to call them”, as Karen mentioned.

Just before the judges’ tasting session, another curveball hit the contestants. The coop of seven contestants, one of whom would have their chicken sent home to roost, suddenly became six. Candice, who won the show’s precious Immunity Pin earlier in the season, believed that her dishes were not up to scratch and decided to use it to stay in the competition for another day.

In the end, the judges were underwhelmed by Karen’s presentation: “Asian chicken dumpling with a broth” as her first dish, “chicken liver pâté with cracker and sweet onions” as the second, and the third, her unsettling “panko chicken skin toes with chicken skin and nam jin sauce.”

Justine commented that, all round, her servings were on the bland side; sometimes too watery; sometimes too oily. However, Zola thought the chicken skin was “beautifully crispy with a wonderful savoury note.”

But the feet-to-toe transformation eventually meant “death by chicken” for Karen on MasterChef South Africa. If only she had realised that she had already ticked the box by having gizzards in one of her other courses, and replaced her downfall dish with a chicken thigh or breast.

In stark contrast to Karen, Josh’s experimentation with chicken feet, accompanied by his array of scrumptious fowl creations was a winning combination. A surprised Josh provided the best dish of the day.

Although she left the MasterChef South Africa kitchen, viewers will undoubtedly remember Karen for her infectious laughter, heartfelt tears, offbeat comments about her cooking… and that time she was so nervous in front of the judges that she couldn’t pronounce “geranium.”

In the next episode of MasterChef South Africa, a rice challenge awaits the remaining 14 contestants under the watchful eye of guest judge Zanele van Zyl.

MasterChef South Africa airs in its new home on e.tv on Sundays at 18:00, with simultaneous streaming on eVOD Live TV. Episodes are rebroadcast on Saturdays at 17:00, with additional rebroadcasts on eExtra on Saturdays at 20:30 and eReality on Sundays at 17:00. The series is produced by the multiple-award-winning production company Homebrew Films for Primedia Studios.

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