There were tears in the hallway after Cheryl and Ruth presented their last plate to the judges.
My Kitchen Rules' mother-daughter duo from Canterbury simply tried to do too much in the People's Challenge that sent them home.
Their biggest enemy was time in delivering a good meal that could have been great.
Judges and the tasting panel of Pakuranga College students, praised their use of flavours but one crucial element was lacking - the lamb.
"We were so rushed we have very little time to plate up I was doing so many things I wasn't checking on the lamb, it was just too rare," Ruth said.
The pair established themselves as tough competition early on, but when the clock counted down on Monday night they knew the dream was over.
"I think that we definitely knew in our hearts that we were going home, when we put everything up we weren't happy and we knew," Cheryl said.
"We went back from putting the dishes on the table, went into the foyer and cried," Ruth added.
While they had been pushed in other episodes this time around they failed to make headway.
It was just one bad step in an otherwise amazing journey, which they describe as the "experience of a lifetime".
Rather than walking away empty handed, they are armed with new lessons and ready to take on any challenge.
"I think it's taught us not to be too confident, I have learned a lot from my mother, we are so humbled to be a part of it - we don't know everything, but we have this passion for food and we want to share it with other people," Ruth said.
That's exactly what they aim to do when the new year rolls around - Ruth and Cheryl plan to embark on another family venture - in home catering.
The idea is to bring their services to other people's kitchen, whether it be for a party of adults, brunch or a child's birthday.
For a mother and daughter who had never cooked together before, it's overwhelmingly positive.
"We allow for each other, we work around each others strengths and we both like a clean kitchen - that's an important one," Cheryl said.
- nzherald.co.nz