Contestants from Network Ten’s Masterchef recently boarded P&O Cruises for a challenging task – cooking for almost 2000 passengers.

The cruise line invited MasterChef to film a cooking challenge onboard its latest superliner, Pacific Jewel, with the hit program’s blue and red teams vying to win the tastebuds of passengers at their traditional Sail Away party.

Each team had to produce 4000 canapes featuring four different recipes, with passengers voting at the end of the challenge to determine the winner.

To add even more pressure, the MasterChef challenge was filmed in just eight hours onboard Pacific Jewel in Sydney’s Darling Harbour as the ship was readied for a 10-day cruise to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. At the same time, 2000 passengers were disembarked and another 2000 embarked.

MasterChef judges Matt Preston and George
Calombaris on P&O’s Pacific Jewel

MasterChef’s Pacific Jewel challenge will air on Wednesday June 2 at 7.30pm on Ten.

Sture Myrmell, Vice President Hotel Operations for P&O Cruises, said there were some tense moments during the challenge for the contestants.

“Our highly experienced chefs are used to preparing daily meals for 2000 guests – it’s not easy but the MasterChef teams controlled their nerves on the day and pulled it off,”  Myrmell said.

For more information on P&O Cruises click here.