Marcus is booted from Masterchef in its first elimination. Courtesy: Channel 10 / Masterchef

MASTERCHEF viewers are questioning the eligibility of some of this year’s contestants, suggesting that one standout in particular might be “too qualified” to compete in the series.

Early frontrunner Reynold Poernomo was quickly dubbed ‘the dessert king’ after Sunday night’s episode, which saw him plate up an insanely complex dish, leaving all three judges in stunned silence.

“Week two, not finals week,” Matt Preston said, shaking his head. “And you’re putting up food like this? Unbelievable, unbelievable.”

Gary Mehigan concurred. “Absolutely perfect dish, perfect. I’m absolutely gobsmacked. You smashed it, mate. Respect,” he said.

The 20-year-old Indonesian-born contestant is the son of a pastry chef and has grown up working as a kitchen hand in his mother’s Sydney patisserie Artplate. His older brother is also a judge on MasterChef Indonesia.

It didn’t take long for fans to start calling out the producers on social media for “breaking the rules” by allowing Poernomo to compete.

“You want to make us believe his mum only let him do the pots in her restaurant? This guy is more than just a home cook,” Tom Flory wrote on the show’s official Facebook account.

“His brother is one of the Indonesia master chef judge and mothers own pastry cake shop, he got a lot of skills from them,” Ranita Yapari wrote.

Leigh Hayes commented: “He should be kicked off the show. Blatantly breaking the rules. Not good.”

Last week, top 24 contestant Mario Montecuollo, 38, was booted off the show for having professional cooking experience.

The Enmore bar owner’s five months experience in a professional kitchen came to light by accident after the judges’ auditions. He was replaced by Adelaide graphic designer Jessie Spiby.

A representative from program producers Shine Australia confirmed they haven’t changed the rules for applicants from season to season and clarified the terms of the cooking competition to news.com.au. “Both Shine Australia and Network Ten take the rules of the competition very seriously with regard to cooks being of an amateur status,” the rep said.

“Producers were made aware during the audition process that 2015 Top 24 contestant Reynold Poernomo’s family work in the food industry and that his elder brother Arnold is a judge on MasterChef Indonesia. The two programs are produced entirely separately and Reynold and his family have been very transparent in sharing all relevant information.

“All parties are satisfied that Reynold meets the criteria as an amateur home cook and is 100 per cent eligible to take part in the competition.”

Shine Australia also provided a comment regarding their decision to send Montecuollo packing, saying: “As mutually agreed by Mario Montecuollo and program producers Shine Australia, Mario stepped down from his place in the Top 24 after confirming to producers following the Judges Auditions that he had been paid as a cook for a five-month period within the last 15 years, ruling him ineligible for the competition.

“Mario understands and respects the rules and wishes the Top 24 contestants well for the competition.”

The Italian immigrant’s professional past came to the attention of producers after they uncovered an article in Hospitality magazine about his Enmore venue, Bar Racuda, which described him as the “head chef”.

Although Montecuollo said this description was “incorrect as we only serve bar snacks” it prompted a more thorough investigation of his background which he revealed he’d worked one day a week in a restaurant kitchen (believed to be Spencer Guthrie in Newtown) for five months.

Poernomo won plenty of viewers’ hearts from the outset when he broke down in tears during episode one, opening up about the sacrifices his mother had made for him over the years.

Moving to Australia with his family when he was six, Poernomo admitted he had been discouraged from pursuing a career as a chef by his mum, who believes the life of a chef is too tough.

Tonight on MasterChef, this season’s dessert king will be tasked with creating a competition-worthy dish using a jaffle maker. “I haven’t used this thing before, and I have no idea what to do with it,” Poernomo admits in the promo.

MasterChef continues tonight, 7.30pm on Ten.

Reynold to deliver an incredible dish: MasterChef Watch MasterChef Wednesday night at 7:30. Courtesy: Channel 10 / MasterChef

@lainie_york has this Reynold got prior knowledge on MasterChef. So good! — ...::. (@natasha04520535) May 10, 2015

Okay, so Reynold is probably one of the best dessert cooks so far...but that a masterchef does not make. #masterchefAU — Bronwyn Cook (@broncook76) May 10, 2015