Mark, Andy and Nick made it through to knock-out week of MasterChef: The Professionals 2015 after impressing the judges and beating nine other contestants in the first three episodes.
This round up shows the highs and lows of the skills tests in the first two episodes in the MasterChef: The Professionals 2015 series.
Episode one saw chefs Sam, Aaron and Mark attempt Monica's île flottante skills test. Gregg seemed to be terrified of the idea, and of the entire process of making a 'floating island'... 
Geordie chef Sam was up first. Fortunately, even though his
presentation wasn't particularly appetising, the judges really enjoyed the 'divine' custard, and toffee-like sauce, which helped to see him through into the next round. Although Marcus seemed particularly suspicious about Sam at the beginning...
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Throwing his ore into the competition next was Aaron from Plymouth. Working as a chef on the submarine HMS Torbay meant that he had never cooked on land before, and he was determined to show the chefs what he had to offer... 
But his lack
of pastry chef knowledge lead him to scramble the eggs inside the custard, and burn his meringues during the poaching. This skills test played a big part in Aaron being evicted from the competition at the end of the day. Trying their hand at blue steak with a peppercorn sauce was self taught pub chef Rebecca followed by Bobby and Lewis. Lewis, who originally studied psycology at university,
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was criticised for his lack of energy in the kitchen while cooking his dish. His steak was nice and blue, however it lacked flavour and the sauce, which included whole peppercorns, seemed to be a bit too much for Monica to handle, and sealed Lewis' fate as he left the show later on. Essex boy Bobby stormed into the kitchen with his favourite motto ringing in his ears,
which worked out well for him, as he commentated a step by step guide of how to prepare a blue steak, much to Marcus' delight, especially as he was going the right way about preparing it! The sauce that Bobby produced incorporated flavours of garlic and shallots, which pleased Monica, but the end result was just too thick.
However it was enough, combined with the task later on in the day, to see him through to the next round. If you didn't know what an omelette Arnold Bennett was before, you definitely would after watching the second episode of MasterChef. Due to the pressure of creating the perfect omelette, nervous Tim faltered and made a few silly mistakes quite early on in the competition, meaning that he would not be proceeding onto the next stage.
Alex, who cooks in a garden centre in London, started off by ticking all of the judges boxes! That was until his hollandaise sauce split, after adding too much butter to the mixture too quickly. Thankfully for Alex, he delivered a successful omelette Arnold Bennett, which he was praised for as a great first attempt.
Monica's sweet skills test also had the chefs stumped. Lee, a cocky chef from Worcestershire, put a bit too much on his plate when he tried to make a chocolate sauce to drizzle on top of the brandy snaps and Chantilly cream required for the task.
Lee, in the end, was chosen to leave the competition, partly due to the disappointing sauce and sugarless brandy snaps (which turned out to be tuiles) that he served up to the judges. Nick, on the other hand, was totally in his element. After working in Michelin star kitchens for six years, the sous chef knew how to tackle a brandy snap. Presenting his dish with a chocolate sauce, and brilliant presentation, Nick sailed through to the quarter-finals.
