The MasterChef South Africa Top 6 takes over an iconic restaurant before crucial culling commences.

Chef Bertus Basson jumps in, and the judging comes with a twist.

Since the sizzling-hot fifth season of MasterChef South Africa started on S3 (formerly SABC3) in July, the home cooks competing for the coveted title and the R1 million prize money have acquired invaluable skills. However, have they reached the high standards required to take over a top-notch professional restaurant?

In this week’s challenge, the remaining six contenders head off to Clara’s Barn, the oldest barn in the Western Cape, on the picturesque wine farm Vergenoegd Löw near Stellenbosch. There, they are joined by the renowned chef television personality and restauranteur Bertus Basson.

Besides Clara’s Barn, Chef Bertus’s successful multiple-award-winning food establishments comprise Chorus, Eike, Kantien, Spek & Bone, Geuwels and De Vrije Burger.

With Chef Bertus and two of the head chefs at Clara’s Barn at their side, the Top 6 are divided into two teams of three – the blue team with Chanel Brink, Nabila Shamshum and MasterChef South Africa’s last male home cook standing, Lona Rode, will be up against the red team’s Bridget Mangwandi, Penny Rider, and Refe Dimbaza.

While each team will be tasked to prepare two courses as part of a delectable four-course elevated South African dining experience, there’s a delightful twist to this week’s judging process. MasterChef South Africa’s esteemed judges and restaurant patrons will swipe their unique MasterChef credit cards on a Yoco Card Machine to determine the winning team.

However, another surprise awaits the victorious trio: they will each receive R50,000 cash, courtesy of Yoco, in the last team challenge before contestants are culled every week in gruelling elimination challenges leading up to the 23 November MasterChef South Africa Season 5 final.

Who will receive this R50,000 for the big prize at the end of the season?

The MasterChef South Africa kitchen is equipped with products from: @home, Beko (appliances), Durbanville Hills Winery, Edison Stone (Wüsthoff knives), Setamono Hibachi (grills), Chef Gear (aprons and chef jackets), My Butcher’s Block, and Mervyn Gers (bespoke crockery). Among the other sponsors are LED Lighting SA and YOCO.

MasterChef South Africa Season 5 airs on S3 (formerly SABC 3) on Saturdays at 19:30, with a rebroadcast on S3 on Sundays at 18:30 and SABC 2 on Wednesdays at 18:00.

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