Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week. Alf Hey guys, welcome
Speaker 1: back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: clicking and downloading on today's episode with Sue, the eleventh
Speaker 1: eliminated contestant from Master Chef Australia, which is now on
Speaker 1: Network ten from Sundays through to Wednesday nights.
Speaker 2: At seven point thirty, married to her high.
Speaker 1: School's sweetheart Glenn for thirty three years and together for
Speaker 1: forty three, Sue is an extraordinary mum to her son
Speaker 1: and daughter. Most recently, Sue was the head of customer
Speaker 1: experience for a building company, but when it's collapse left
Speaker 1: her unexpectedly unemployed, she was able to reassess her priorities.
Speaker 1: With the encouragement from everyone at home. Sue took on
Speaker 1: the Master Chef kitchen, and while we didn't always see
Speaker 1: a lot of her, I actually think that audiences really
Speaker 1: connected with her story. I loved catching up with Sue
Speaker 1: today and I'm sure that you will enjoy this chat,
Speaker 1: which gives a whole new Sue for us to fall
Speaker 1: in love with. Sue will talk about her invisibility. She
Speaker 1: thought of that nickname if she felt invisible in the
Speaker 1: kitchen during filming, and how she turned spotting herself into
Speaker 1: a game at home. We will also unpack the reasons
Speaker 1: why contestants this year have been falling in love with Poe,
Speaker 1: who seems to be most of my guests this year's
Speaker 1: favorite judge. I will also ask about Sue's children, who
Speaker 1: she wanted to inspire and what it meant to them
Speaker 1: to see her take part in the show. We will
Speaker 1: also discuss the behind the scenes relationship with Samait and
Speaker 1: how they bonded and kept themselves busy between filming. There's
Speaker 1: actually so much to unpack with Sue, and I kind
Speaker 1: of run out of time and didn't get a chance
Speaker 1: to ask anything about Curtistone, which I feel really silly
Speaker 1: about now. But guys, sit back and relax as we
Speaker 1: do unpack the wonderful world of Master Chef Australia.
Speaker 2: Invisible.
Speaker 3: Sue, Hi Hi, I'm very much here.
Speaker 2: I know it, but I wanted to know that.
Speaker 1: So the first thing that I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: was like, what did you make of this nickname that
Speaker 1: Australia seemed to have given you?
Speaker 2: Is that a surprise?
Speaker 4: I found it really quite funny and hilarious, and therefore
Speaker 4: I embraced it. I mean, I've got a sense of humor,
Speaker 4: I'm self deprecating, I'm not afraid to having giggle at
Speaker 4: things like that, and so I just lean into it.
Speaker 4: I quite enjoyed it, to be honest.
Speaker 1: So people felt more personal about your invisibility than other contestants.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's really funny because I was reading
Speaker 1: on a forum and people have clocked this is how
Speaker 1: much time people have. People have clocked screen time to
Speaker 1: see how long people are on the show, and you're
Speaker 1: not even at the bottom of the list. You've actually
Speaker 1: had more screen time than some other people. However, Australia
Speaker 1: is outraged.
Speaker 3: Well, Australia should know that.
Speaker 4: I'm very happy and the whole experience, you know, as
Speaker 4: far as I'm concerned, was.
Speaker 3: A positive one.
Speaker 4: So that just added a little bit more color to
Speaker 4: it if you liked honestly, you know, playing Where's Wally
Speaker 4: with myself?
Speaker 3: It's quite cool, isn't it. I was noticed because I
Speaker 3: was there some of the time.
Speaker 1: Did you see some of the Facebook forums where like
Speaker 1: people would circle you in the background, Did you see that.
Speaker 4: I caught a couple of things I tried not to
Speaker 4: look at too much.
Speaker 3: I would warn.
Speaker 4: Don't go there, you know, but the things I did
Speaker 4: see I laughed out loud and my family laughed.
Speaker 1: I've got a theory, and that is that because you
Speaker 1: sort of represent and I'm going, this is my this
Speaker 1: is my weird thought on it, but because you kind
Speaker 1: of represent the mum, you know, I think people took
Speaker 1: it personally. I think people saw you as the mum
Speaker 1: and they thought about their own mums or something like that,
Speaker 1: and they wanted more.
Speaker 4: Maybe you might be onto something there. I'm not sure,
Speaker 4: but yeah I was. I was well chuffed.
Speaker 3: To think that people were looking out for me.
Speaker 4: And caring and wanting to see more, and they got more.
Speaker 4: It came full circle and that's wonderful.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: My partner loved you, and like we're watching the episode
Speaker 1: your Final Cook and he kept saying, who does Sue
Speaker 1: sound like? Sue? Sounds like someone? And he was saying like, Asha, Ketty,
Speaker 1: do you know who actually candy in? Yeah, just from offspring.
Speaker 1: I couldn't hear that. I couldn't hear it, but I
Speaker 1: was like, have you ever been told before that you
Speaker 1: sound like someone?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, only my sisters.
Speaker 4: We've all got the same kind of voice, and yeah,
Speaker 4: so yes, but not not as sure.
Speaker 3: And she's gorgeous, so that's a compliment.
Speaker 2: Okay, take it. Take that one.
Speaker 1: Did you feel like that might happen when you were
Speaker 1: filming the show, that there was a possibility that maybe
Speaker 1: you weren't as loud as some of the other people,
Speaker 1: or there was a possibility that you might get lost
Speaker 1: in the crowd. I mean, I've got a theory that
Speaker 1: you just cooked in the middle of the cooks, so
Speaker 1: you weren't the worst cook, and you weren't the best cook,
Speaker 1: so I felt like you you just were consistently cooking
Speaker 1: in the middle the whole time.
Speaker 3: I think I put up dishes. I'm very proud of.
Speaker 4: I figured myself out while I was on there, and
Speaker 4: one of the questions I found very difficult to answer.
Speaker 4: What I always asked is what is your strength in cooking?
Speaker 3: Like what is it that you do?
Speaker 4: And I could never answer that because I I feel
Speaker 4: like I glowed trot so I'm not deep into one cuisine.
Speaker 4: I feel like I'm a big lifelong learner and I
Speaker 4: love learning new techniques, and so my cooking is technical
Speaker 4: and it's it's sort of.
Speaker 3: Across a globe trot.
Speaker 4: I cook across a range of things, and so I
Speaker 4: don't think I necessarily stood out like I probably could
Speaker 4: have if I had a real like I did Japanese
Speaker 4: food really well or something like that.
Speaker 3: So you're right, you know, yeah, I didn't have a title,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So when there's twenty two contestants, they can't show everybody.
Speaker 4: So it's really if you're if you're at the bottom, interesting,
Speaker 4: what's gone wrong? If you're at the top, Wow, what
Speaker 4: have they done? That's so amazing? And so you're right
Speaker 4: middle of the road doesn't necessarily make the cut.
Speaker 1: If you go back, you'll be like trying to create,
Speaker 1: you know, like a brand.
Speaker 2: You'd be like, I've got to.
Speaker 1: You know, hang my hat on something so that they
Speaker 1: have to pull through for the narrative. Anyway, that's too complicated.
Speaker 1: Be yourself, you know.
Speaker 4: That's it, And I think you have to just be
Speaker 4: authentic and I was, and I feel that was the
Speaker 4: right sort of way to go. And I didn't really
Speaker 4: think anything of it during the shooting of Master Chef.
Speaker 4: I just went in there, loved every minute. Literally can't
Speaker 4: fold the experience.
Speaker 1: So I felt like they were bastards for sending you home.
Speaker 1: Like I'm I've got a bit of a cold at
Speaker 1: the moment, so I feel like I'm being ruthless with you.
Speaker 1: But you know, like when you were talking to the
Speaker 1: judges and you said how much it meant for you
Speaker 1: to still be in the competition, and that how much
Speaker 1: being in the competition and doing well meant to you,
Speaker 1: and that they sent you home, I was like, this
Speaker 1: is the this is kind of cruel.
Speaker 3: Thank you for sort of feeling that for me.
Speaker 4: Look, I feel like it has to have to go
Speaker 4: go again to somebody. You know, I'm calling it my annihilation,
Speaker 4: not my own elimination. You've got to see the humor
Speaker 4: in these things. You know, I've lost nothing doing this.
Speaker 4: I've gained everything. And so were they cruel? Well, look,
Speaker 4: I did the worst cook so I had to go home.
Speaker 4: It was at least like Curtises and therefore, you know,
Speaker 4: I had to bow out, so literally I did bow
Speaker 4: as a left.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But as the Invisible Sue sort of name came up.
Speaker 1: It was funny because I brought it up on this
Speaker 1: podcast with some of the other participants. You know, some
Speaker 1: of the other contestants and they sung your praises like
Speaker 1: I remember, I can't remember exactly who it was, but
Speaker 1: one of the girls was like, I love Sue's cooking,
Speaker 1: like it's amazing, and you know, she was just really surprised,
Speaker 1: and then it sort of made me wonder, And I
Speaker 1: guess that's what most people would wonder. You know, do
Speaker 1: some contestants get more favored because they're louder or more possible?
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: Look, I mean, we're in a competition, but it's also
Speaker 4: a TV program, and I guess the most there's so
Speaker 4: much less thousands and thousands of hours across twenty two
Speaker 4: contestants and then you know, four judges and guests people
Speaker 4: coming in. There's lots of exciting things going on, and
Speaker 4: there's lots of the exciting things that don't.
Speaker 3: Make it to air.
Speaker 4: So they can only p you can choose a certain amount.
Speaker 4: And so that's just the way the mop flops, my friend.
Speaker 2: I'll take it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, that's just how it is.
Speaker 2: And maybe they can lose these judges.
Speaker 1: There's too much screen time for them, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like there's four of them now, there's too many.
Speaker 3: So fascinating. It was fascinating to watch.
Speaker 2: Did you get along with them? Because you know, it's funny.
Speaker 1: I've been asking everyone and normally I finish the podcast
Speaker 1: with this question, but I feel like it's appropriate to
Speaker 1: ask it now. But like, did you particularly connect to
Speaker 1: maybe one judge over another?
Speaker 4: I did, And you're going to say I absolutely connected
Speaker 4: with Poe. I just she is so authentic and so
Speaker 4: kind and just the perfect judge to have on there
Speaker 4: for contestants because because she she like she can only
Speaker 4: say so much as a judge, but she just I call.
Speaker 3: Her my fairy godmother because in a time of need.
Speaker 4: She just happened to pop up and she'd say one
Speaker 4: thing like you've got this, or you can do it,
Speaker 4: You've got time.
Speaker 1: You know, she was It's believable, you know what I mean, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: that's a really hard thing to do on a show
Speaker 1: when you're in that sort of position to be so present,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what he does really well. I
Speaker 1: was watching her. I don't know if you saw it,
Speaker 1: but did you see her? She was on I didn't
Speaker 1: hear the podcast, but she was recording a podcast with
Speaker 1: chrisy Swan and I just loved the interaction between those
Speaker 1: two women because those two women are very authentic and
Speaker 1: very real. And I will listen to that podcast at
Speaker 1: some point, but I just I love the idea of
Speaker 1: those two women sitting down and talking with.
Speaker 3: Somebody who's authentic.
Speaker 4: You don't feel like you need to be anybody but
Speaker 4: yourself because they are, and you kind of mirror that,
Speaker 4: don't you think?
Speaker 2: Of course?
Speaker 4: So yeah, I just so I'll just flat out say
Speaker 4: her with them, and I loved the others, but she
Speaker 4: was just special.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she's standing out because like and I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if it's been a long
Speaker 1: time for me, because I'm forty four, I don't know
Speaker 1: how long it has.
Speaker 2: Been for you.
Speaker 1: But do you remember when you were at school and
Speaker 1: you always tried to do your best, so you'd look
Speaker 1: at the teacher for approval, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And so I feel like that's what I see with Poe.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like i'd be cooking and looking for
Speaker 1: that approval and she gives it, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like she actually is acknowledging what you're doing.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, that's right. And she's a judge, but she's
Speaker 3: not listen. Might not make sense to you, but she's
Speaker 3: a judge, but she's not judgmental.
Speaker 4: Does that make sense? She kind of yeah, I'll leave
Speaker 4: it at that. But she's just very Oh gosh, she's
Speaker 4: a one in a million chub of a woman.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I love her.
Speaker 4: I wish she could be my bestie.
Speaker 1: I'm sure she will be. I'm sure she will be.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it was Lachlan but who chopped
Speaker 1: his finger? And it made me think about is chopping
Speaker 1: off your finger kind of like an immunity pin? Like
Speaker 1: what happens if you have like an accident? Will they
Speaker 1: pull you out of the cook Do you know what
Speaker 1: happened that?
Speaker 4: I think it would have to be pretty severe to
Speaker 4: do that. But no, they they're on standby. It happens
Speaker 4: all the time and they work as quickly as I can.
Speaker 4: But it's not just cut burns as well, lots of
Speaker 4: burns and that sort of thing. But well, I think
Speaker 4: if you were that injured, you wouldn't be able to
Speaker 4: go on.
Speaker 3: Look at one one.
Speaker 4: One's incredible because he had really bad burns. You probably recall, Yeah,
Speaker 4: but he was strapped up and he was in there,
Speaker 4: so it's got to be pretty bad for you to
Speaker 4: not be able to cook.
Speaker 1: I just chop off my think if that was if
Speaker 1: that was a rule, I'd be like, that's a strategy.
Speaker 2: Not a good one, not a good one.
Speaker 3: Probably not a good one, not for long. Jem, you're pinky,
Speaker 3: You're pinky, not your thumb.
Speaker 2: Or something you could lose.
Speaker 1: How did you feel going into the Black Apron challenge
Speaker 1: with the Orange team? You know, did you have a
Speaker 1: sense of doom or did you think, oh god, I
Speaker 1: should have been in the other team, Like how did
Speaker 1: you feel about that? Oh?
Speaker 4: You know what, that's really interesting because when we got split,
Speaker 4: Normally when you get split into teams, you see it's
Speaker 4: a team challenge, you pull an aprint out of a bag,
Speaker 4: right a sack, and you go, oh, I hope I'm
Speaker 4: on Science Tho's team. And I really wanted to be
Speaker 4: if it was a team challenge, I really wanted to
Speaker 4: be on it with my bestie to meet. And when
Speaker 4: they split us down the middle, it was Green one
Speaker 4: side and Orange on the other, and I wasn't on
Speaker 4: her team.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 4: I think you can even see it on that episode
Speaker 4: where we look at each other and go, oh no,
Speaker 4: and so but I felt at this point everybody's good,
Speaker 4: you know, everybody. You could be with anybody and come
Speaker 4: up with be the winning team. So the end of
Speaker 4: the day, you just got to work together and not
Speaker 4: dwell on. I wish I was with this person or
Speaker 4: that person, and they're all damn good in their own right.
Speaker 4: They will bring something different to the table in their
Speaker 4: own way. So I had a fantastic team. I think
Speaker 4: it was great, but I would have loved to have
Speaker 4: been with the meat.
Speaker 2: I didn't see that.
Speaker 1: I can hear it. Isn't it cool though, that you
Speaker 1: made it this far? Like that's pretty cool, you know.
Speaker 4: Oh gosh, I keep bringing it back because yes, there's
Speaker 4: disappointment because you want to go further and further. But
Speaker 4: I honestly, it took a lot of courage for me
Speaker 4: to apply, and so when I got an audition email,
Speaker 4: I lipped my lid. I went, bloody hell, they've chosen me.
Speaker 4: I can't believe it.
Speaker 3: Why, Like I'm knuck at a special.
Speaker 4: And so from there, really every step further was gold
Speaker 4: for me. I felt like I'd won every day that
Speaker 4: I went back into that kitchen, and it didn't matter
Speaker 4: whether I was wearing a black apron or a colored
Speaker 4: apron or whatever. I was just in there, living my
Speaker 4: best life. And I couldn't want the spot off my
Speaker 4: face until last night. So it really felt like I
Speaker 4: could hold. I really could see myself picking up at
Speaker 4: the trophy because every day I went in and I
Speaker 4: came out again alive.
Speaker 3: I thought, oh, why can't I do tomorrow? Why can't
Speaker 3: I do the next book? Why not?
Speaker 4: So I gained a lot of belief in myself, and
Speaker 4: each person around us gave each other courage, and that
Speaker 4: was really nice because as a group, your your competitors.
Speaker 3: So everyone's so.
Speaker 4: Kind legitimately kind to one another when they do a
Speaker 4: great cook and they get, you know, to stand on
Speaker 4: the gantry, or they do a bad cook and they're
Speaker 4: going into a black aprin cook. So ah, man, I've
Speaker 4: never experienced anything like that in my entire life. And
Speaker 4: I doubt that I have a will unless I go
Speaker 4: back to wind, which I hope I will.
Speaker 1: Wonder maybe you will, maybe you will, And there are
Speaker 1: other things. You know. It's strange because the sense of
Speaker 1: being on television gives something like this a heightened sense
Speaker 1: of importance. But there are other things in our world
Speaker 1: that all can do, you know. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what I try and say to people a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: because people be sort of living in the past with
Speaker 1: their experience, where it's important to acknowledge it and feel
Speaker 1: proud of it and then look for new story.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, wouldn't agree more. And that's
Speaker 3: sort of what I'm going through now, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's disappointment, but at the same time a lot
Speaker 4: of And that's why talking to somebody like you was
Speaker 4: great because you do this synopsis of it and you go, wow,
Speaker 4: that was really cool. But that's like, I didn't go
Speaker 4: on there to be famous or a celebrity or anything
Speaker 4: like that. It was really about me. I don't want
Speaker 4: to die wondering. I've wanted to go on that show.
Speaker 4: I've played a long at home since season one. Wow,
Speaker 4: and every.
Speaker 3: Year I thought, oh gosh, how cool would that be?
Speaker 3: But I've got to go back to my corporate job
Speaker 3: on Monday sort of thing.
Speaker 4: And so for me now, I'm not going back on
Speaker 4: into that corporate life. That has broken the that's a
Speaker 4: circuit break for me.
Speaker 3: I now can I'm not thinking of retiring.
Speaker 4: I should be I'm thinking of what can I build
Speaker 4: in a life that surround I'm surrounded by food and people,
Speaker 4: and so that's the win. You know, it's not about
Speaker 4: you know, being a celebrity or anything like that, or
Speaker 4: being on TV.
Speaker 1: Well, who wants to be a celebrity anyway, because I mean,
Speaker 1: you'd know this because you get recognized when you're on
Speaker 1: a show like this, and it's not the same thing
Speaker 1: as what you think it would be. Like I remember thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to be like you know when you're young.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, oh, I wonder what it's like to
Speaker 1: have people look at me like that. And then when
Speaker 1: it happened, I remember it was like, after a week
Speaker 1: or two, I actually loathed it. I give me back
Speaker 1: my anonymity.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean, Ben, I'm not going to
Speaker 4: have that problem. I don't think anyone's going to recognize me,
Speaker 4: you know what.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: I'm going to try not to cry with this because
Speaker 1: this is and you're like, what are you going to
Speaker 1: ask me? But I wanted to ask you about what
Speaker 1: your children's thought, because I loved that moment on the
Speaker 1: show where you were talking about showing your kids that
Speaker 1: they can do things and I think that resonated with
Speaker 1: a lot of people. You hear it in my voice,
Speaker 1: I just cry. I'm a very in emotional person.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean hearing you say that it makes
Speaker 4: me my love Alice Waiver. Yeah, this is my this
Speaker 4: is my little trigger point when I asked about that.
Speaker 3: They're the most beautiful children.
Speaker 4: They've really had struggles and they're adults now and the
Speaker 4: roles have reversed. So I think for me, I went
Speaker 4: through life I suppressed a lot of things I wanted
Speaker 4: to do, and I didn't follow I didn't go after
Speaker 4: my dreams. I kind of I think I just wanted
Speaker 4: to do the normal stuff, whereas really I'm not wired
Speaker 4: that way. And so for my children, I've always said
Speaker 4: to them, whatever you want to do, I don't mind
Speaker 4: what your grades are. Just try your best, and whatever
Speaker 4: you want to do in life, I will back you.
Speaker 4: And so they started saying that to me. You know,
Speaker 4: they said, Mom, you go do this. You've always want
Speaker 4: to do this, and you go do this. And so
Speaker 4: that chokes me up because it's a lovely thing to
Speaker 4: raise children. And then they tune around and they kind
Speaker 4: of roll first a little bit, and they're look them
Speaker 4: out for you now.
Speaker 3: Beautiful.
Speaker 2: It's so beautiful.
Speaker 1: But I mean it comes back to that saying of
Speaker 1: what you put in two things.
Speaker 2: Is what you get out of it.
Speaker 1: You've raised these babies and you know they're yours, and
Speaker 1: you've put so much into it, and so when it
Speaker 1: comes back, it's so powerful.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, threw Barrymore, you know on that show where she's
Speaker 1: like crying with every guest and holding.
Speaker 2: Them leave them alone through very much.
Speaker 1: I had so many questions and I had to ask you,
Speaker 1: and I've just running out of time. I wanted to
Speaker 1: know about a stone and so much more and like
Speaker 1: what happened in that final cook. But you know, I
Speaker 1: have to say, I just enjoyed talking to you about
Speaker 1: all the things around it.
Speaker 2: So I have to finish this podcast.
Speaker 1: And the question I ask everyone is what is something
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes, something that maybe we didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to see, you know, like a behind the
Speaker 1: scene secret, but for.
Speaker 3: You, life in there was brilliant with for me. So
Speaker 3: she was my roomy.
Speaker 4: And we decided because you know mumsy obviously, and we
Speaker 4: decided we turn our place into like a haven. So
Speaker 4: we moved all the furniture out we bought. We bought
Speaker 4: goldfish we named the goldfish and Gil. We bought candles,
Speaker 4: We had plot plants and whiteboard markers that we would
Speaker 4: write words of affirmation on our new wardrobe doors, you know.
Speaker 3: And it was just wonderful.
Speaker 4: So my life in their locked away with her was
Speaker 4: just like you know, having sort of a little haven
Speaker 4: away from home.
Speaker 3: It was wonderful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but a break for you as well, like a
Speaker 1: life break, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Yes, correct, exactly, that's a mate.
Speaker 1: I'm not really rooting for se Meat, to be honest,
Speaker 1: So I guess we'll have to keep watching to see
Speaker 1: what happens.
Speaker 3: You will, you will have to.
Speaker 1: But so can I just say so lovely to chat
Speaker 1: to you about your experience on this show, and thank
Speaker 1: you for being so generous with your time and sharing
Speaker 1: your story. I love chatting with you.
Speaker 3: Too, Ben, and thanks for being a fan. Somebody watched
Speaker 3: so closely.
Speaker 1: Watching it all, I think, so I had like maybe
Speaker 1: another fifty questions that I could have possibly asked you, so,
Speaker 1: you know, and I love it anyway.
Speaker 2: You enjoy chatting to the video, enjoy yourself, Appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Bank h