MasterChef Australia
Date: 2019
The one that started it all. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would end up on the show, that I had been watching for 10 years since it had first started.
It was quite funny, I remember submitting the application the night before it was due. Somehow, I got myself onto the auditions, and I still remember shivering through the first round of local auditions in Western Australia one cold winters morning. Following this, I ended up in Melbourne, cooking for the iconic Matt, Gary and George combination before securing my spot on the show in the Top 24.
What a wild ride it was, moving to another state for an uncertain number of months, relinquishing pretty much all contact with the outside world (no phone, internet, freedom to walk anywhere), as you are locked away in the world of food for your indefinite time that you are on the show. I think I was in Melbourne for approximately five and half months.
When I look back, it’s amazing the amount of effort that I put into securing my position on the show and finishing where I did. I still have photos of me measuring the size of plates for my audition dish, and photos of my progress of how my audition dish got to where it was. Then even before moving over to Melbourne, I would remember practicing every day, and even writing myself a book that was 100 pages long of all the basics and things that I had practiced.
Even whilst we were on the show, all of us would study. And I still have all of the books which I have scribbled recipes in, and scribbled down ratios and things to practice and memorise. It is truly quite amazing how much the brain can retain when you remove all of the other outside distractions. It’s also a very interesting dynamic on the show, as you are living in a house with the other 23 contestants but it doesn’t feel like a competition as to grow your cooking skills, you need to learn from others. I can happily say that no matter where we ended up, I would be friends with these people for life.
I always approached each cook to really push myself, and to me you don’t even realise there are cameras on you whilst you’re there. You just cook because that’s what you’re there to do. I pushed myself, tried different things, took risks, and ultimately took too big of a risk that sent me home.
I am grateful for this experience, and even more grateful for the platform that it has given me to launch my passion for food. It also brought me closer to my family and friends, because that is truly what food is about. Otherwise why else do we cook, if not to share. MasterChef will always be one of those periods in my life which I definitely do not regret and am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to compete in it.
