‘I'm a sucker for pain': MasterChef winner hits the jackpot on third attempt
Congratulations! How are you feeling? Honestly, amazing. It is the most surreal feeling, waking up a winner. Being able to achieve a goal that I've had for so long is a very, very special one.
How long ago did you film the grand final episode? Production wrapped up a few months ago. So I've been keeping my mouth zipped shut. It was so hard. The only person that knew, other than myself, was my husband Max, and we were getting questions coming in from everywhere: our parents, siblings, friends, work colleagues, business partners, everyone wanted to know. We did film two endings, so we just kept saying: 'I'm going to find out on the day.'
It's wild that you film two endings – one where you win and one where you don't. Did you have to practise your happy and sad face? I'm grateful I don't need to use that [sad] face ever again! But it is really hard. The winning and losing speech are similar in the weirdest way because you've already achieved so much just getting there. It is hard to find the right words as well, when everyone is looking at you and wanting you to say the most incredible things, and you want to make sure you thank everyone.
You've been a finalist three times, does that mean you have held the MasterChef Australia trophy three times, but had to fake it twice? That feels quite cruel. The original season I did [in 2014], we had two endings. The first Back to Win [series in 2020], we didn't. So I've experienced it all. I've held a trophy twice, technically, but only won once.
How hard was the final Pressure Test, where you had to recreate the floral dessert by Philippine pastry chef Miko Aspiras? I saw you swear when the curtain dropped to reveal it ... I'm pretty sure they stopped filming when I was trying to say a word that starts with F and ends with K! Even watching my reaction last night, I was like: 'What is happening? This is insane.' I was terrified because this [dessert] is going to decide my fate in this kitchen. But it was so delicious.
Of the three finals you have competed in, which one has been the most difficult? The first one was hard because I was so young [Sharrad was only 18] and I didn't have the experience. And the second time around was really hard because it was COVID, so our families weren't there. [Winner] Emelia [Jackson] and I weren't meant to hug, but we did because it was like 'I haven't hugged someone for months'. But I definitely think this was probably the hardest. Going up against Callum, he's one of the best cooks MasterChef has ever had as a competitor. And the [Pressure Test] dish was truly hard. It was a 4½-hour cook - an absolute marathon.
You are mad. Why would you put yourself through this level of stress three times?
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It's really not normal. I'm a sucker for pain. I've said I'm not going back as a contestant, I'm hanging up my apron, I'm retiring. And then last night, I was like: 'Oh my god, it looks so fun. I would love to go back just for one cook.' And then I'm like: 'No, you're going to give yourself a heart attack.'
I loved that you said on the final episode that being a mum to 15-month-old Florence had really changed your perspective on cooking.
There are so many things that hold people back from achieving their goals. And sometimes it's not achievable. For me, I had a five-month-old baby, and I was like: 'What am I doing?' I breastfed full-time through the whole season, until two weeks before the end. But I wanted to show Floss you can do whatever you want to, if you put your mind to it. She also started her solids journey while I was filming.
Those solids must be pretty good when your mum is on MasterChef Australia. She was eating all the things I was practicing with. One day, she had marron and my husband's trying to take a photo of her, and I was like: 'Don't, people are going to think that we're such snobs feeding a nine-month-old baby marron.' But it did get the shellfish allergy test out of the way.
You have faced all three sets of judges on the show – Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston in season six; Jock Zonfrillo, Andy Allen and Melissa Leong in season 12 and now Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Allen, again, in season 17 – who is the most intimidating? That is a hard one. I feel like the OG boys, back in the day, were pretty intimidating. I saw a video online the other day of Gary calling a dish disgusting. That's brutal. But I think that was a very different style of TV back then.
Did any of the judges have a 'tell', like in poker, where you knew you were on a winner? Jean-Christophe always struggled to keep the emotion in. He'd always come over, mid-cook, and he'd be tasting something, and Andy would be there, trying to build the jeopardy – 'Are you going to pull this off?' – and Jean-Christophe is there smiling and tasting the sauce and saying, 'Oooh, that's delicious'. And Andy's like: 'You're not meant to say what's happening!'
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What was the first thing you cooked once you were out of the MasterChef kitchen? Please tell me it was a cheese toastie? I consumed so many cheese toasties while I was in the green room [while filming]! It was a bowl of pork sausage ragu pasta. It was nice to have my brain switch off completely from like: 'Oh, do I have to practice this?' You think about food in the weirdest way when you're on the show, you dissect everything. So to go back to home cooking is so nice.
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