Tully, who has held it together throughout MKR despite being pregnant, was humble and gracious in defeat; telling Valarie and Courtney that "they are excellent cooks and deserve all the success".

However it was a low blow for the Queensland besties given the praise heaped on them by the judges for their Sudden Death dish of Miso-crusted Waygu beef, with marrow bone and tempura vegetables.

"Ladies that was the best dish you have cooked for me in the competition. It was delicious," said Pete. "...What you cooked us tonight was nothing short of extraordinary. And Manu and I have no doubt about how good you are and neither should you."

Manu had earlier summed it up best by saying, "it feels really unfair to send one team home tonight", but they were edged out by "the best curry in the competition".

If anything it was their attempt to "master their disaster" of char-grilled quail at their first instant restaurant that sealed their fate. Despite delivering perfectly cooked quail, an over-dressed cous cous salad sent them to their first Sudden Death and Della into tears.

"Yeah I am ready," Della tearily said. "I feel like we've got a lot more to show and today has been a tough day so I've got to put it behind me and be ready to fight."

Bouncing back, Tully and Della believed they had a secret weapon in their steak dish. "We've kept this dish up our sleeve, we need our big guns tonight against Valarie and Courtney," Della told the cameras. "We've made it for our friends and family and hopefully it's enough to get us through."

Despite being "really confident" in the Miso-Waygu steak, questions were raised from the gallery by the meat-loving boys, Tim and Kyle and Mark and Chris, about whether they were adding far too much wasabi to their accompanying mayonnaise. Sauces, it seemed, were the make or break of Della.

"I just start doubting myself, I have no doubt Valarie and Courtney have done a killer curry and I'm just shaking like a leaf. I really, really want this to be a delicious dish," Della admitted.

"...Nothing but perfection is going to beat Valarie and Courtney. The belief and fight we have is huge and we just have to keep on going and just don't let the wheels come off."

When pitted against the "tender and moist" Marsala beef shin with lentils from Valarie's good ol' family cookbook, they had every reason to be concerned.

But even 'Mumma V' wasn't immune to the pressures of Sudden Death and broke down in tears at the very end while telling her "trusty side-kick" daughter: "It's potentially the last time we cook together."

Still it was an example of how tough the MKR competition has become, with only five teams left after Karen and Ros were sent home last week.