Masterchef Australia

Rhys Badcock has been crowned the inaugural winner of Australia’s MasterChef: The Professionals. The announcement was made at the end of last night’s grand finale episode. The 29-year-old head chef, who splits his time between Byron Bay and Broome, beat his fellow grand finalists Sarah Knights and Rhett Willis to the title, $200,000 cash and a trip around the world that will give him the opportunity to cook in some of the best kitchens.

The winner was decided after three intense rounds. In round one, Momofuku chef/founder David Chang shaped the Reinvention Test when the contestants had to choose three of his favourite ingredients to create a dish with — a random knife draw meant their ingredients were miso, eggs and chicken. Hosts and judges Matt Preston and Marco Pierre White weren’t overly impressed with the dishes they were presented with, but they loved Rhett’s presentation and gave him the early lead.

More from the grand finale when you keep reading.

Network Ten held its 2013 program launch this morning at The Westin in Sydney, inviting talent, journalists and media buyers to preview its plans for the next year. During the breakfast event they confirmed rumours of shows like MasterChef: The Professionals, which will be hosted by Marco Pierre White and Matt Preston, revealed that Puberty Blues will be back for a second season, announced a new timeslot for The Project (6:30 – 7:30 p.m., five nights a week) and unveiled a fresh line-up of new local productions and US shows, including American Idol fast-tracked over the Summer. More announced shows after the break.

After three weeks of friendly competition, Callum Hann was crowned the winner of MasterChef All Stars last night. The 22-year-old from Adelaide won $20,000 for his chosen charity, Cancer Council, the first MasterChef trophy, and was given the opportunity of cooking Peter Gilmore’s infamous Snow Egg dessert, which he struggled with in the 2010 grand finale. Aside from being a great cook, Callum showed his super likable personality when he donated $10,000 to runner-up Chris Badenoch’s charity. We caught up with Callum to discuss whether he had an unfair advantage with the Snow Egg, social media, and why All Stars was so much fun.

Congratulations on your MasterChef All Stars win! How long have you known for? I heard you filmed two winner announcements?
Yeah, that’s true. We probably filmed it about two-three weeks ago. We filmed a version where the scores were revealed and I won, and a version where Chris won, as well. So I only found out officially yesterday afternoon.

I don’t really understand how this whole double endings thing works. You have to act really excited in one, then not as excited in another . . .
It’s really bizarre. Obviously we can all cook, but none of us are particularly good actors. [Laughs] It’s a bizarre way to film television but I guess it just means they can keep the secret as long as possible, rather than just doing one and risking it getting out on Twitter or Facebook.

This is the first series of MasterChef where the contestants have had a presence on social media during the show.
It’s usually so strict and you can’t have a Twitter or Facebook while you’re on the show. If you do have one, you have to shut it down.

More from Callum when you keep reading.

Callum Hann has won the inaugural series of MasterChef All Stars! The 22-year-old was runner-up on MasterChef 2010, coming second to Adam Liaw, but was victorious in last night’s grand finale, defeating 2011 winner Kate Bracks and 2009 contestant Chris Badenoch to take home the first MasterChef trophy and win $20,000 for his chosen charity, Cancer Council.

Kate was eliminated in the first challenge, a sudden-death round that required the three grand finalists to cook a Winter family feast inspired by Maggie Beer, who was on hand for advice and also judged the tasting. The second challenge was Peter Gilmore’s Snow Egg dessert, which rose to fame after Callum and Adam recreated it in the 2010 finale. “I have a bit of a score to settle with this egg,” Callum said, and if it seemed unfair that he’d be cooking it for a second time, Chris was given the opportunity to plate it up before the challenge started, and Peter explained it would be different the second time around because the fruit was jackfruit, not guava.

Callum settled his score with the Snow Egg and after the two challenges had been awarded 70 out of 80 points from the judges, beating Chris’ 62. To top it off, Callum donated $10,000 of his $25,000 win to Chris’ chosen charity, The Lort Smith Animal Hospital. Congrats to Callum and to all the MasterChef All Stars contestants for winning $111,000 for charity!

Photo courtesy of Network Ten

Andy Allen is the MasterChef champion for 2012! The former electrician’s improvement throughout the cooking series saw him take out the title over dessert queen Julia Taylor in a challenge-packed grand finale on Wednesday night that culminated with, funnily enough, a dessert: Christine Mansfield's 'Gaytime Goes Nuts.' Andy, 24, stayed under the radar for the first half of the show but came out of his shell towards the end — personality and cooking-wise — and quickly became a favourite of fans and the judges. His close friendship will finals week contestant Ben Milbourne was also one of the series’ highlights. We caught up with Andy yesterday afternoon to talk about the key to his success, how much he’s grown, and what he’d cook to impress a girl.

Congratulations on winning MasterChef! How did you celebrate last night? I know you didn’t have a crazy one.
I probably celebrated during the day, to be honest. We filmed the reveal early in the morning — that was done by about 11. Then we were all in for lockdown at the studio so we had a few drinks and a BBQ, stuff like that. All my family was there, and everyone from the show was there. I ended up going out for about two beers with my mates and called it quits because I knew today was going to be pretty full on.

What do you think was the key to your MasterChef success?
It sounds really weird but my inexperience, I think. I went in there pretty raw. With the judges, the other contestants, and the guest chefs who came in, I would just soak up as much I could from what they would show and demonstrate. That definitely helped me in the end.

More from Andy when you keep reading.

Julia Taylor had a feeling she wasn’t going to win MasterChef after a case of undercooked lamb in the grand finale’s second challenge. But despite losing to 2012 champion Andy Allen, she won in other ways, receiving a surprise $15,000 from American Express and a paid internship offer from Adriano Zumbo. After a full morning of interviews, Julia had almost lost her voice by the time we spoke with her, but she powered through to give us the scoop on dealing with advice while cooking, how she was portrayed on TV, and what lies ahead in her sweet food future.

I noticed on the morning shows that you’ve lost your voice!
I’m not hungover! I’ve just been talking too much.

Congratulations on getting runner-up. I heard you went straight home after the finale but did you do anything to celebrate with your husband and family?
We were in lockdown all day on set. We filmed the reveal in the morning and it went to air at night. So we all got to hang out during the day, which was lovely, and I’ve got a party planned for Saturday night with all my family and friends. I haven’t seen quite a few of them for a few months so it will be fantastic.

At what point did you realise Andy had won?
I knew Andy had won after the second dish when my lamb was undercooked. Unless there was a very, very unlikely event that he would stuff up the dessert, and he’s too capable for that, I just said to myself, “He’s got it, it’s fine, he deserves it.”

More from Julia when you keep reading.

Andy Allen has been crowned the winner of MasterChef 2012, but how did he get there? Let’s recap what happened in last night's grand finale . . .

Round 1

The top three contestants, Andy, Julia Taylor and Audra Morrice, were set the task of cooking over 100 “hot entrees” for MasterChef fans who would be filling the restaurant. They had three hours to prep their dishes and would be given an extra 30 minutes for service. Each finalist was also allowed to choose two contestants each to help them plate up. Julia picked Mindy and Kylie; Audra chose Amina and TK; and Andy called on Ben (naturally!) and Beau.

DISHES AND SCORES
Audra: Egg net with ma hor and sambal prawns — 22/30
Julia: Seared beef with horseradish cream and turnips — 25/30
Andy: Seared tuna with cauliflower and squid ink puree — 23/30

For scoring the lowest score in the first round, Audra was eliminated. Her dish had lots of tasty elements that the judges praised, but Matt Preston noted how it had too many salad components and didn’t really meet the criteria of being a “hot entree.”

More of the grand finale when you keep reading.