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Eliminated Masterchef contestant weighs in on who will win this year's crown.

Former MasterChef contestant Ava Stangherlin also shares some wonderful news.

If you watched MasterChef last night, you’d know that contestant Ava Stangherlin was sent packing for her failed attempt at the classic French dish, duck a l’orange.

But little did the former Gap merchandise manager know, that this would be the best outcome for her career.

The 23-year-old exclusively told iVillage that on her ride home, she decided to call up, Tom Deadman, the head chef at Woollahra eatery Hotel Centennial and call in a favour.

“I had done work experience with him [Tom Deadman] and I wanted to ask for advice because he seemed really supportive of me. So he said come in and we’ll teach you,” she told iVillage.

But for Stangherlin, the pressure of being in a real kitchen was very intense. “I was so frightened, but I did not expect the welcoming that I received. They were just awesome and really sweet.”

MasterChef contestant Ava Stangherlin.

"I'd be there working with the the pasty chefs and making something and then the guy on processing would be like, 'Ava come over here! I'm just about to do something awesome with this snapper!' And I'd be like, 'Oh, okay. Great! Wow!' It was just not the way that everyone describes their first time in the kitchen," Stangherlin revealed.

Yet it paid off when she was offered a full time position. But Stangherlin says being in the Woollahra eatery is even more intense than being in the MasterChef kitchen. "It was very, very real. There was no you know... bakery challenge... we don't have pies to sell for an hour and a half. If you don't get your food up on time it's not okay."

"People are paying for high quality food in a fine dining restaurant, so it's not like you can just walk out and apologise and say, 'Hi I'm Ava from the Blue Team, sorry we don't have your brownies,'" she continued.

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To watch George's Masterclass from last night's show, watch below. Post continues after video...

Stangherlin certainly had her favourites on MasterChef though. "I love Matt Preston, I just think he is so intelligent and really incredible to listen to. They all have these different qualities. Watching George work is really interesting because he has this amazing ability to take one ingredient and do it in sixty thousand different ways. His brain works in a really interesting way. Then Gary is just classic and amazing. Watching him break down a chicken is like watching artwork. They're all awesome."

And who does Stangherlin think will take out the title? "There are some really amazing cooks in there at the moment. There are people like Jessica putting up that duck dish last night and packing all of that flavour into that one sauce. Even Ashleigh whose just an all rounder. I mean, Reynold, from day one is putting up restaurant quality desserts. Honestly it's tough ball, I couldn't tell you."

On her secret food shame, Stangherlin admits she loves eating anchovies straight out of the jar. "I could take down a whole jar in under five minutes. I'd be cooking in the kitchen at MasterChef and I'd get a snack jar of anchovies out while I was cooking I'd be snacking on anchovies."

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