THE Coast could have its first ever MasterChef winner, says outgoing contestant Trent Harvey.

The electrician, who was eliminated from the reality cooking show tonight, is backing Noosa coffee roaster Matt Sinclair to take out the show’s eighth annual title.

“Matt was my best mate in the house. We did a lot of cooking together and have a lot of the same interests as far as food goes,” he told the Daily.

“You can tell he’s so passionate about it, more so than the other guys I think. He deserves to win.”

Harvey, 29, is confident Sinclair will pick himself up by his bootstraps after a recent tough run in the kitchen.

On Sunday night the show’s judges told Sinclair he was “in trouble” after serving up a “bloody mess” of a dessert.

He also struggled in tonight’s pressure test to recreate pastry chef Christy Tania’s monster Mystique dish.

Even Tania herself called the layered dessert, made up of 17 individual elements, terrifying.

The contestants were given four and a half hours to follow the 65-step recipe. Sinclair immediately fell behind after having to remake the first element on the recipe.

“As soon as that came out Matt and I looked at each other and we knew we were up against it for sure,” Harvey said.

“Matt and I helped each other out as far as dealing with the pressure of the show, and I’m grateful he was in there with me.”

Online bookmaker SportsBet still has high school arts teacher Elena Duggan at slightly better odds to win the show’s grand final over Sinclair.

But it would be a win for the Coast either way, with Ms Duggan having grown up in Noosa where her parents still live.

MasterChef’s final week continues tonight at 7.30pm on Channel 10.