Speaker 1: Listen at season eighteen of one of my favorite shows
Speaker 1: in Australia's favorite shows premiered last night on Channel ten.
Speaker 1: Master Chef Australia is back and this show Laura got
Speaker 1: me into food tech home economics, Like when it came out,
Speaker 1: I was in high school and it turned me into.
Speaker 2: A little baker boy. Like I left to bake a
Speaker 2: Victoria sponge because of it.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm really holding it against you because I don't
Speaker 3: think I've ever known you to cook anything except toast.
Speaker 2: I'm a baker, you're not.
Speaker 1: I'm a bad I did home economic miss Mooreman, if
Speaker 1: you're listening, I know how to make a victorious by
Speaker 1: wow and cream.
Speaker 2: Bring one into the studio one day. I would love that.
Speaker 1: I just might. And you know why, it's a shame
Speaker 1: that this interview was over the phone, because I could
Speaker 1: have presented it to one of the judges himself. This
Speaker 1: guy is a winner of Master Chef. He's very own
Speaker 1: season and he is back obviously last night, alongside three
Speaker 1: brand new judges. It's a very exciting season. Andy Allen
Speaker 1: joins us. Hello buddy, Hi Andy II he young.
Speaker 3: I was so okay, but I would love to know
Speaker 3: after last night, I mean the big surprise Jamie Oliver
Speaker 3: working alongside here when you were on the show yourself.
Speaker 2: Wasn't he a guest judge at the time?
Speaker 4: He was, Yeah, season four he came out the very
Speaker 4: first time. Wow, and I unfortunately I met him briefly.
Speaker 4: Fast forward ten years and I'm actually, really I'm pretty
Speaker 4: tough to say that. We're pretty good mates now, Jamie
Speaker 4: and I. He's been so supportive over the years, and
Speaker 4: especially with you know, Jock's passing last year. He was
Speaker 4: like he was like an older brother to me. So
Speaker 4: I really appreciate it. He's such a good dude.
Speaker 3: And what was it like getting back into like back
Speaker 3: into the studio, back into filming. I can only imagine
Speaker 3: with everything that happened last year with Jock that there
Speaker 3: must have been either some hesitation or some feelings around like.
Speaker 2: How are we going to do this without him?
Speaker 1: Or even coming back right?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, for me, I was I was unsure, Like
Speaker 4: I was, I didn't mean I'll be able to do
Speaker 4: it like you know, Jock and I. It was up
Speaker 4: in that in that role. We loved it so much.
Speaker 4: We loved being able to mentor contestants, and bring the
Speaker 4: best out of them, and it just didn't feel right
Speaker 4: to do it without him. But I'm really proud that
Speaker 4: I gained the courage to be able to do it
Speaker 4: because that's what Jock would have wanted. And you know,
Speaker 4: looking forward now to what I've been able to achieve
Speaker 4: with Poe, Sophia, Jean Christophe, Jamie the rest of the crew,
Speaker 4: we're all so proud of what we've done because we
Speaker 4: did want to continue that legacy that Jock left for
Speaker 4: us to run on with it, and we have. It's
Speaker 4: such a brilliant theason. I'm really proud of it.
Speaker 1: But at the core of the show, and I think
Speaker 1: it speaks to what you were saying about coming back
Speaker 1: and doing it in memory of John, that the show
Speaker 1: actually has a real life impact, and eighteen seasons on,
Speaker 1: I'm sure that's something that you guys are still very
Speaker 1: conscious of.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you're totally right, Like it's just positive energy
Speaker 4: in there, you know, like we try and build people
Speaker 4: up to be the best that they possibly can, because
Speaker 4: that's what it's all about. Like I mentioned being a mentor,
Speaker 4: that's really what we are. For the five months of filming,
Speaker 4: we are literally trying to get the best out of
Speaker 4: each and every contestant so that they can go out
Speaker 4: into the hospitality industry in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 4: And there is so many brilliant stories, you know. I
Speaker 4: mean you look at myself, like being as Sparky from Newcastle,
Speaker 4: going on the show somehow winning and now being in
Speaker 4: the position that I am. It really does like it's day,
Speaker 4: but it really does. It can make you dreams come true.
Speaker 4: And to be honest, I didn't have any dreams and
Speaker 4: look what turned out. It's been such a wild ride.
Speaker 3: I have one question around, like technically how you actually
Speaker 3: are able to judge on the show. So when it
Speaker 3: comes to all of you sitting down and taking a
Speaker 3: bite of the meal that someone's put forward for you,
Speaker 3: the meal is cold, right, Like it's takes so long
Speaker 3: with all the filming processes that surely by the time
Speaker 3: it gets in front of you is as cold as
Speaker 3: cold can be.
Speaker 4: Stone cold, stone cold.
Speaker 2: I don't know it's good.
Speaker 4: Basically what happened is, which you don't see on air,
Speaker 4: is we are kind of ferreting around the whole court,
Speaker 4: tasting everything as it's being prepared, and then once the
Speaker 4: clock finishes, we get the contestants to kind of have
Speaker 4: all of their beautifully plated food on this little red mat,
Speaker 4: and then next door to it, we actually have all
Speaker 4: of the get them to have all of the components.
Speaker 4: It doesn't actually beautifully played it or anything like that.
Speaker 4: But that's when we go around and do the hot tasting,
Speaker 4: so we get a really good idea of what's going
Speaker 4: to be good, what's going to be a bit shit,
Speaker 4: and anything in between. So like then we all break
Speaker 4: for lunch, everything goes in the fridge, We come back
Speaker 4: and we do the cold tasting, and there is still
Speaker 4: things that you do critique when when the dish is cold.
Speaker 4: Like I said, presentation is a big thing. So yeah,
Speaker 4: that's kind of how we get to the end goal
Speaker 4: of seeing who's got the.
Speaker 3: Best is So you already know that a trickerer that
Speaker 3: goes on totally the TV magic.
Speaker 2: But I love that.
Speaker 1: And I just said, we break for lunch, then we
Speaker 1: come back and we eat that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we eat it.
Speaker 4: We have twenty two dishes after lunch. There's the reason
Speaker 4: I put on six kilos not this year, because I
Speaker 4: learned my lesson for the last year. I put on
Speaker 4: six kilos, So I've seen exercising.
Speaker 1: My ass off well, but we can't wait to watch
Speaker 1: Season I Team of Master Chef premier last night seven
Speaker 1: thirty on Channel ten and ten. Play continues tonight two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty grand as well. Up for Grabs is
Speaker 1: a very very big season. The brand new judges are on,
Speaker 1: Andy Allen. Great to have you on, buddy, Sandy appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: All Right, everyone stand by. We're back after this.
Speaker 1: On the Pickup