MasterChef evictee Hayden Quinn defends his decision to use packet tortilla chips

MasterChef’s Hayden Quinn has defended his decision to use packet tortilla chips while making nachos on the latest season of the hit cooking show.

Appearing on The Project on Monday, the 34-year-old newly eliminated cook said he stood firm in his decision to use Doritos, calling himself a ‘common man’.

Host Carrie Bickmore said she thought that’s when his position in the competition took a dive, asking Hayden in no uncertain terms, ‘What were you thinking?’   

‘I’m the common man! I don’t go around making my own tortilla chips and I can guarantee you, no one else does,’ he responded.

When Carrie, 39, pointed out ‘the common man isn’t in the MasterChef kitchen’, Hayden said he had no regrets about his decision, despite facing backlash from both the judges and fans.  

‘I’ve got to represent the people and cook with those packet chips, and I’m sticking by it 100 per cent,’ he continued.

Fellow Project host Waleed Aly then jokingly asked Hayden if they were using Doritos in MasterChef back when he first appeared on the show during season three.  

‘Behind the scenes I was smashing them left, right and centre,’ he laughed.

Hayden came under fire last month, when he pulled a packet of Doritos out of the MasterChef kitchen to use in his nachos.

He plated up Chilaquiles Verdes with an avocado cream and peach hot sauce, and was quizzed as to whether he made the corn chips from scratch.  

‘No, they were up on the pantry,’ he responded.

The judges suggested that a homemade variety would have taken the dish to another level, alongside a hotter sauce.