"She'll be crying and saying, 'The judges shouldn't talk to you like that, my boy'. I'm like, 'Mum, don't worry about it'."
Tana didn't think he deserved to be eliminated, saying: "I don't reckon I cooked the worst dish".
"I think I could have maybe lasted another round. The recipe would have worked perfectly - if I had executed it properly.
"I was a little bit scattered. On that day there was just too much, it overwhelmed me. It's not that I didn't cope, I just didn't pre-plan properly like I normally would."
He admitted struggling to turn his recipes into gourmet-style meals.
"If I'm going to do something like (the Korean tasting plate) it's going to be massive - not petite on a little plate, made gourmet as an entree."
Despite the setback, Tana wants to pursue a career in food.
"This has proved to me that I have what it takes ... I can handle the pressure and I think the whole way through I showed I didn't stress too much in the kitchen.
"I was pretty much just normal old me. That shows me that's where I need to be and I want to get into the food industry."
* MasterChef New Zealand screens on TV One every Tuesday night. nzherald.co.nz will chat to every contestant as they are eliminated.
- Herald online
