The 30-year-old, who had shown early promise in the reality cook off's second series, was relegated to the bottom three after over-doing the garlic when both teams were set the task of making pesto from scratch.

“I was just too worried about getting the pesto to look right, and making a cup of it, that the whole taste-as-you-go thing went out the window," Roulston said.

“I went into panic mode.

''I tasted it at the end of the 10 minutes we had to make it...but it was too late to do anything about."

Her inability to distinguish mint from spearmint in a "Name That Herb" segment guaranteed her elimination ahead of Daniel and Sharnee.

She said later she was kicking herself over the error.

“I can’t believe I stuffed up something so simple. It shouldn’t have been a problem for me – I cook with herbs and I grew up on acreage with a herb garden.

“Clearly my nerves got the better of me and I couldn’t pull myself together.”

The red team was forced into the pesto challenge after earlier failing to impress the judging panel, including top chefs Tetsuya Wakuda and Guillaume Brahimi, with their attempt at French cuisine - despite closely following the advice of fellow master and cookbook author Michel Roux Snr.

Roultson, who entered MasterChef after the shock of turning 30 and because she "wanted people to think I've done amazing things", said her MasterChef exposure had landed her a job testing recipes for a health website.

“[It] has definitely given me a new direction, which is what I needed.”