Fans threaten boycott over MasterChef eviction13:00 AEST Fri Jul 17 20091 hour 43 minutes agoBy Emily O'Keefe, ninemsn Melbourne's Chris Badenoch was eliminated from the show. (MasterChef) ----------------------------------------------------------- Fans are in uproar over MasterChef favourite Chris Badenoch's eviction from the show last night — but the hatted pig head roaster said he was not hard done by.
Viewers venting their fury on online forums are threatening to boycott Sunday's series finale amid claims of biased judging towards frenzied home-style cook Julie Goodwin.
PHOTOS: MasterChef, the controversies
Goodwin controversially managed to escape elimination last night, despite failing to plate up all of her three-course meal.
Threads on the MasterChef website forum titled "Boycott the finals" have so far received hundreds of posts from disgruntled viewers.
"The decision to dump Chris in my opinion is a farce full stop. This is rigged from whoa to go. I won't be watching the finale,' Paul Koda wrote.
"I agree...it is definitely about the cookbook sales not about who is the better cook!" another post read.
Others placed the blame squarely on guest judge and cookbook queen Donna Hay, who along with the show's regular arbiters Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris, booted Badenoch off the show.
"Donna Hay literally sold her soul bigtime last night," one viewer blogged, while another claimed to have burnt all of her cookbooks.
But Badenoch told ninemsn he respected the judge's decision.
"I've read the comments and I can understand where they (the viewers) are coming from, but at the end of the day the judge's didn't like the food I put up," Badenoch said.
The 41-year-old beer merchant said his offbeat style of cooking cost him the title.
"My approach is definitely a bit more unconventional than Julie — I'm sure she will sell at lot of cookbooks and that might have been a factor," Badenoch said.
Badenoch admitted there had been some confusion over what judges were basing their decision on for last night's elimination.
"I think the brief and the end result was a bit different," he said, adding that the elimination "certainly wasn't based on overall performance".
Despite fans rushing to support Badenoch after his eviction, the beer merchant has proved to be the show's most divisive contestant, with viewers regularly slamming him for his "arrogant" and "smug" attitude.
Badenoch also created headlines after fellow contestant Julia Jenkins, who is 16 years his junior, admitted romance was brewing between the pair.
Jenkins has previously said she had been on "a few dates" with Badenoch after they both broke up with their long-term partners.(Read more: MasterChef romance cuts out partners)
But Badenoch said reports of the relationship had been "blown out of proportion".
"We are just friends, we've been out a couple of times for a drink, that is all," Badenoch said.
Badenoch's elimination has left mother-of-three Goodwin and Adelaide artist Poh Ling Yeow to duke it out for the title, $100,000 cash and a cookbook deal on Sunday.
