Out of the frying pan . . .

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MasterChef competitor Jonny Trevathan watches his demise with Luggate Hotel manager Becs Leonard last night but says his television career is not all over yet. Photo by Mark Price.

A burnt pork chop and a mediocre salad have ended Tarras farmer Jonny Trevathan's run on television cooking show MasterChef but there is a ''but''.

After watching his demise with friends at the Luggate Hotel near Wanaka last night, Mr Trevathan said the production company that made MasterChef wanted him to star in another programme.

And in keeping with the bearded sheep, beef and venison farmer's laid-back approach to television, Mr Trevathan professed not to know what the new programme was about except that he would be filmed at home in Tarras and it would happen in the first week of next month.

Last night, in an out-of-character move, the Luggate pub switched its television sets from the cricket - with New Zealand poised on 60 for one - to the cooking show so patrons could watch their local celebrity.

Mr Trevathan did not give the game away, and when he became one of the four eliminated from the show there were just a few quiet handshakes and the odd ''good on ya, mate'' from his friends.

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Jonny Trevathan with Luggate Hotel manager Becs Leonard. Photo by Mark Price.

He admitted coming unstuck with the pork chop when he thought he had it cooking in the oven, but the oven was not on.

''The light was going; the fan was going but nothing else was happening.''

And the salad, described by one of the judges as ''mediocre'', had wilted in the heat of the kitchen.

Mr Trevathan said he had not expected to get as far as he did in the competition and was happy to return to farming.

''I'm used to producing the food and what I produce I cook at home for other people, and they seem to enjoy it. That's the main thing.''

Mr Trevathan's main cooking show legacy may well be his comment the previous week: ''I like to cook meat, except for chicken. To me, chicken's like a ladies' meat, so it's more of a vegetable.''

Last night, he put pork ''almost'' in the same category as chicken.

''It's a white meat as well so - I'm a red meat man.''

He does not know the outcome of MasterChef but is picking David and Kelly as real contenders and Elliot as a wild card.

- mark.price@odt.co.nz [3]