MasterChef Australia's Poh Ling Yeow Defends Laura Sharrad: 'People Struggle Watching Confident Females'

Refinery29

2 days ago

MasterChef Australia 2025 has been a huge success, seeing 24 experienced contestants come back to compete for the title. Now, we're at the very end — with Laura Sharrad going head-to-head with Callum Hann in the grand finale. However, some murmurs online have put a bit of a dampener on the whole celebration, mainly aimed at Laura. The MasterChef Australia 2025 contestant has been accused of receiving "favouritism" from judges Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin, Andy Allen and Jean-Christophe Novelli, with some labelling her as a "judges' pet". The chef has been playing to her strengths — she runs a popular pasta bar called Nido in Adelaide — but viewers have also blasted her for cooking similar dishes for each challenge.
Poh Ling Yeow tells Refinery29 Australia she's "baffled" by the hate Laura has been receiving, and says any idea the judges favour the contestant is "ludicrous". On a technical level, the contestant has proven her skill in the kitchen time and time again. "The thing that shocked me the most [when I became a judge was] how stringent and fair the whole judging process is," Poh says. "I think some [part] of me was a little bit clenched going into the job, wondering if I was going to find out all these dark secrets... I arrived to find that everything is so fair and so thorough."
The biggest disconnect comes from the audience not being able to taste the food, so while Laura often serves up pasta that looks similar, the taste is never the same. "I even admit that when I was a contestant competing against [Laura] in Back to Win, I used to feel this same sentiment, because the way Laura cooks, she cooks within a wheelhouse but she's very creative within it," Poh explains. "It's a very solid and clever strategy, as opposed to someone like me who was a little bit too wild. I would be experimenting on the spot, right? And when you play that game, you have to be willing to fall from high places and understand that it's a different kind of game."
Poh carefully broaches another reason Laura has been targeted by the public this season, and it comes down to the way she has been portrayed on screen. "I think people really struggle with watching highly confident females state what they want unapologetically. And Laura has always been that, right from the beginning," the host says.
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I think people really struggle with watching highly confident females state what they want unapologetically. And Laura has always been that, right from the beginning.
Poh Ling Yeow on Laura Sharrad
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"Laura has shown vulnerability, but I think it's interesting that people only attach to the parts where she's having success, or she's having confidence, and when she's able to achieve what she sets out to achieve. There's something about that, that doesn't resonate with people, because they want to see people struggle all the time," she adds. MasterChef Australia is often looked as an "aspirational" and wholesome reality TV show, where amateur cooks can jump into the kitchen and triumph over adversity. With most of the returning MasterChef Australia 2025 cast being professional chefs, many with their own restaurants, the game this year has changed.
Poh believes there's two different strategies you can take when you enter the MasterChef Australia competition, and from both this and previous seasons, the "high risk, high reward" style of game tends to provide audiences with characters they can root for. Sarah Todd was sent home earlier this season after providing outrageous dishes, such as her savoury vanilla slice with chicken dill, cucumber gel and garlic cream, and fans lamented the loss of the cook. "Sarah Todd, right? She cooked very conceptually through the whole thing. But the thing with that I really identified was that [she was] choosing to leave legacy before competition," Poh explains. "I feel like you're playing a different game. It's like, I want to leave a mark as to what kind of cook I am, and that's more important to me than winning... Laura has always been brilliant at [being] very highly strategic, so it's no surprise that [she's] gotten to the [finale]."
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I think it's interesting that people only attach to the parts where she's having success, or she's having confidence, and when she's able to achieve what she sets out to achieve. There's something about that, that doesn't resonate with people, because they want to see people struggle all the time.
Poh Ling Yeow on Laura Sharrad
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Both Laura and Callum have been front-runners throughout the entire competition this year, and Poh thinks viewers won't be surprised by the MasterChef Australia 2025 winner. "They have absolutely been through a marathon to get here, and it is not at all sort of a surprise, so I feel like they really earned their spots," she teases. "The margins are so tiny, that it's very random in a way, it's down to micro decisions. And at this point, you've already proven your worth. Especially this season, we have made them cook their buns off."
Laura has missed out on the MasterChef Australia title twice before, so it seems like this year, she's playing hard to win. If she beats Callum in the MasterChef Australia 2025 final, her strategy of securing the title over creating a lasting legacy would have paid off. If not? She'll have to come back for a fourth time.
The MasterChef Australia 2025 grand finale airs on Channel 10, Tuesday 12 August at 7.30pm.