The episode centers on a challenge to "put themselves on a plate," where contestants had to create an elevated dish based on a childhood memory triggered by a photograph found in their Mystery Boxes.

A Mystery Box Challenge where the remaining 18 contestants must create a dish using the "humble ingredient of an apple". Contestants are tasked with thinking of the "apple of their eye"—someone special in their lives—to inspire their dish. The winner of the challenge receives immunity from the following week's elimination and gets to watch from the gantry.

Each of the 20 contestants opens a mystery box to find a photograph from their childhood. They must create and "elevate" a dish inspired by that specific childhood memory to a MasterChef standard.