In a two-round challenge, the chefs had to create a jaw-dropping cheese-pull, with the five least impressive dishes going into round two.

Opting for a flavour-first approach, Darrsh used blue cheese in a dipping sauce to accompany his buffalo chicken tenders, and despite adding mozzarella and tapioca starch to hopefully enhance the signature stretchy pull the judges were looking for.

Unfortunately, the pull didn't quite work, and his sauce was also missing the punchiness of the blue cheese, putting him in round two alongside Samira, Ben, Callum and Andre.

In round two, the judges wanted to see the 'perfect slice', a crowd-pleasing cross-section in a dish of their choosing.

"I was a bit disappointed after round one," Darrsh told 10 Play, adding, "Going into round two... I felt confident. I've done choux pastry many times, and a couple of weeks earlier, I had just done a whole bunch of Paris Brest for a service challenge.

"I was looking forward to the idea I had in my head, but unfortunately, it didn't execute."

While making his choux pastry dough, Darrsh quickly noticed that it was thinner than usual, and, as he piped it out ready to go into the oven, it wasn't holding its shape.

"It did cross my mind to restart and, in hindsight, that would have been the best option. But as it was in the oven, there was a moment where I thought I'm not going to be able to put anything on the plate," he said.

"Every millimetre that it could have risen was a chance that I could stay, but there just wasn't enough space in the choux," Darrsh continued, "I did try and plate it up as best as I could and try to pivot, but it wasn't enough.

"I felt like I let myself down more than anything because I know how capable I am in desserts."

Darrsh's original plan was to create a choux bun filled with pistachio praline stuffed inside a larger choux bun filled with an orange blossom pastry cream. When the choux didn't rise properly, he had to pivot and find a different way to plate it. But the cook on the pastry was off, and ultimately it was enough to end his time in the competition.

"I wasn't surprised," he admitted, adding that he knew Samira's dish had an added element of pressure that required her to flip her Maqluba out of the pot in front of the judges.

"I could hear the judges cheering as she flipped it out of the pot, and I think from then on I was like, alright, the writing is on the wall," Darrsh said.

Having just competed in Season 16, Darrsh said it almost felt like he never left the MasterChef bubble, after moving in with two fellow contestants from his season -- David and the Season 16 winner, Nat.

"It's probably only now that I actually get a chance to be like okay, now regular life," Darrsh laughed. "I jokingly said to some of the other contestants that I might take next year off MasterChef," he joked.

"Even though it was daunting going up against some well-respected chefs in the industry, coming straight off Season 16, I remember how it felt to just fall short towards the end, and I really thought I could go far," he continued.

Despite being back in the kitchen so soon after his original season, Darrsh returned with a lot more confidence in himself and his approach to the competition.

Having the experience of his first season so fresh in his mind, Darrsh had reflected on all the ways he could have cooked more strategically or approached briefs in a more calculated way.

"There's such an easy trap you can fall into with MasterChef, which is to overcomplicate things," Darrsh explained. "So much of it comes down to, what are some really basic flavour combinations and textures you can put together. That's what I was focused on, being smarter as a cook.

"Yes, you're there to learn to cook, but the biggest element is knowing what to cook when. There are so many things you could cook if the brief is ‘use coffee’ or ‘use an orange’. Knowing what to cook on the right day is half the battle," he continued.

Establishing himself as a dessert and pastry whiz in Season 16, Darrsh returned wanting to show a more refined side to his cooking, as well as a more thoughtful approach to flavours, which he showed right from the get-go with one of his favourite dishes he cooked this season, his Native Australian S’mores.

"One of my favourite cooks in general -- even though I found myself in the bottom three -- was the Surf N Turf with Josh Niland," Darrsh said. "I was really happy with where my mindset was at, to push the boat out as Andy would say, and do something a bit crazy.

"Even though I didn't pull it off 100 percent, I was really happy and it was so cool just being near and talking to Josh Niland and seeing his whole ethos around food."

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Darrsh and housemate and MasterChef alum Dave are launching Crumb Club, taking on the cookie business and launching with a pop-up at Co.Bake Space in Richmond.

"We'll have three classics and three wild cards that rotate," he said, adding that the wild cards will be truly experimental, "like a chicken and rosemary or foie gras... you'll have nostalgic ones, and weird and wacky ones," he continued.

With their launch just days away, Darrsh said he does currently have a favourite. "We do have one on our menu at launch, lemon cheesecake, and that tartness from the cream cheese and the lemon -- I'm so over cookies right now because all we do is eat them every night, but that one I could eat over and over again.

"I'm very excited for Crumb Club and hope to see everyone at the launch."