Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week an welcome back to
Speaker 1: TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast,
Speaker 1: I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television.
Speaker 1: Each episode you will get a front row seat with
Speaker 1: content makers like executive producers, writers, editors and casting agents,
Speaker 1: plus the talent that we see on our screens. TV
Speaker 1: Reload reloads the shows that you were currently watching and
Speaker 1: gives you a better insight at our television industry and
Speaker 1: streaming services today. On the podcast, I Welcome mastershef Australia's
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two most celebrated fans. It's Kama and Daniel.
Speaker 1: This season, as the fans took on the favorites, we
Speaker 1: saw some real growth from Daniel and some impressive wins
Speaker 1: from Kama. Both had some ex Both had some extra
Speaker 1: magic this season that led them to standing out amongst
Speaker 1: the crowd. Kama had an infectious shimmy Daniel with his
Speaker 1: boy nextdoor charm. What more could Australian audiences want. They
Speaker 1: may not have walked away with a big prize, but
Speaker 1: I guarantee you their names won't be forgotten. We will
Speaker 1: discuss how they got so far, their lasting relationships, what
Speaker 1: is next, and all the twists and turns along the way. However,
Speaker 1: let's get started. I'd like to welcome Kama and Daniel
Speaker 1: to TV reload.
Speaker 2: All of them. They all have fantastic skills.
Speaker 1: Musta Shaff has produced some of the biggest names in food.
Speaker 3: I was very open to opportunity the.
Speaker 1: First time ever. It's fans versus favorites.
Speaker 2: It's a really weird environment as well.
Speaker 1: Pressure test is about recreating a dish.
Speaker 4: My strategy was asking people if they were willing to
Speaker 4: teach me a few things.
Speaker 1: We've loved having you in the kitchen. Have you enjoyed
Speaker 1: being here?
Speaker 2: Surely it changed completely the way the relationships started to develop.
Speaker 1: How are your mate?
Speaker 3: How are you going?
Speaker 1: All the better for talking to you? Who's like, you
Speaker 1: know the people's prints of this season of Master.
Speaker 3: Chef, Oh stop it, but keep going.
Speaker 1: It's nice to hear a couple of compliments. But you
Speaker 1: get that close to the finale and you don't win.
Speaker 1: You know, you need a few compliments to lift you up.
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, like anyone that wants to give them
Speaker 3: to me, I'll take them for sure. Everyone loves the
Speaker 3: compliment consolation prize for not winning.
Speaker 1: I guess, well, I just want to start off as
Speaker 1: well by saying, you know, the whole Mastership experience for
Speaker 1: us as an audience was so amazing to watch because
Speaker 1: you were in it. Did you feel like while they
Speaker 1: were making this show that you were going to be
Speaker 1: such a pivotal part of the story.
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely not in the slightest.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I maybe a little bit pessimistic
Speaker 4: on the view or not, but I just didn't. I
Speaker 4: don't know, I didn't expect anywhere near what I managed
Speaker 4: to get out of the experience, you know, which is
Speaker 4: kind of a great failing because I feel like I've
Speaker 4: gained so so much from it, and you.
Speaker 3: Know, that's it. You know, you can't so.
Speaker 4: Much more for being able to go there and be
Speaker 4: selected in the top twenty four, get an apron, and
Speaker 4: then to have all this other stuff.
Speaker 3: It's just been gravy. It's been so good for me.
Speaker 3: I've loved every moment.
Speaker 1: I think with reality TV, we love as an audience
Speaker 1: a good journey, and you absolutely took us on the
Speaker 1: hero's journey of the competition. Do you feel like, in
Speaker 1: a way that you grew the most out of not
Speaker 1: just the new people to the competition, but you know
Speaker 1: even these returning favorites.
Speaker 4: Definitely, everyone that goes on the show get some level
Speaker 4: of growth, you know, and very very in different ways.
Speaker 4: I feel like for me, obviously, my cooking really grew massively,
Speaker 4: which is amazing.
Speaker 3: It was all I really wanted.
Speaker 4: But I grew so much more outside of just cooking
Speaker 4: as well, like found a level of confidence in myself,
Speaker 4: which was which was just I never expected to get
Speaker 4: from reality TV, I guess. But I feel so much
Speaker 4: different as a bloke, and you know that's that's just
Speaker 4: an amazing feeling.
Speaker 1: From watching the show. We could see that in you.
Speaker 1: Was there any theory to your mad the method to
Speaker 1: the madness, method to the madness?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I feel yeah.
Speaker 4: I don't want to, you know, I don't want to
Speaker 4: tell anyone how to skin a cat or anything. But
Speaker 4: like for me, my thought process going in was I
Speaker 4: had little goals, I guess, and they seem to have
Speaker 4: paid off for me. A lot of the growth you
Speaker 4: know in cooking I felt was it was kind of
Speaker 4: obviously the competition's there, obviously, people are like, you know,
Speaker 4: I'd love to get to the end.
Speaker 3: I want to make the finale and all that sort
Speaker 3: of thing.
Speaker 4: For me, I can, you know, hand on my chest
Speaker 4: to say that, I didn't expect that. So I didn't
Speaker 4: go in there with that expectation of trying to I
Speaker 4: didn't really go in trying to impress people from the
Speaker 4: very get go, which which is I know it probably
Speaker 4: sounds really bizarre and maybe dumb, but for me, I
Speaker 4: wanted to go.
Speaker 3: I wanted to learn. I remember a lot of the time,
Speaker 3: like a lot of people.
Speaker 4: That were there, and particularly the ex contestants, were saying
Speaker 4: that in their season and in other seasons, every contestant
Speaker 4: that hangs around till roughly about the halfway mark, they
Speaker 4: have a bit of a life while moment where a
Speaker 4: switch flicks in their head and they just start together
Speaker 4: it and they just start to understand a lot more
Speaker 4: about food what they're trying to achieve, particularly in a competition.
Speaker 4: And I hearing all of that, I had just sort
Speaker 4: of had in myself this goal where I was like,
Speaker 4: I'd love to be around long enough for that light
Speaker 4: bulb moment that's kind of what I'd love to see
Speaker 4: where I can look at ingredients and understand them a
Speaker 4: little bit better.
Speaker 3: Or how I can implement them in a different way.
Speaker 3: And right at the very start. You know.
Speaker 4: Part of the reason I'm so thankful for Michael was
Speaker 4: after my first cook I did the territory tacos, which
Speaker 4: didn't seem to go down too well, but he pulled
Speaker 4: me aside and offered help. He just simply said, like, oh,
Speaker 4: I do quite a lot of Mexican I really enjoy it.
Speaker 4: Would you be interested in, you know, learning some to tears.
Speaker 4: I'll buy all ingredients, I'll buy everything. Just just come
Speaker 4: out of my room and I'll show you some things.
Speaker 4: And it was really amazing that he was willing to
Speaker 4: offer that in a competition environment. For me, it was like, oh,
Speaker 4: you know, this would be great. I can probably use
Speaker 4: that later in the competition. But I also wanted to
Speaker 4: go back home, you know whatever stay that might be
Speaker 4: a lot of us we all call for our friends,
Speaker 4: and I kind of wanted that bit of a story
Speaker 4: to be like, you know, you're like these tacos. My
Speaker 4: mate Michael Weldon showed me this technique, and from there
Speaker 4: it sort of went to like Billy McKay obviously is
Speaker 4: amazing at desserts. I wanted to, like I was a
Speaker 4: pretty terrible dessert cook and my missus has a massive
Speaker 4: suite too. I wanted to learn a cool dessert, like
Speaker 4: a pathe how she does it, so that I could
Speaker 4: come back home it's oh, Billy.
Speaker 3: Showed me this, like here's a pathe.
Speaker 4: And from there that was my strategy, was asking people
Speaker 4: to come, asking asking people if they were willing to
Speaker 4: teach me a few things and so.
Speaker 3: That I could bring it back home and use it
Speaker 3: on another day.
Speaker 4: From there, that was kind of the light bulb moment,
Speaker 4: I guess, because I found myself cooking in a challenge
Speaker 4: and next thing you know, I'm whipping out a random
Speaker 4: thing that Michael taught me or something Aldo taught me,
Speaker 4: or and that was it. Just it kind of happened,
Speaker 4: and it wasn't forced in the slightest. I wasn't trying
Speaker 4: to impress people, but at the same time it kind
Speaker 4: of it kind of just happened by me trusting myself
Speaker 4: that I had learned this somewhere down the road, and
Speaker 4: then the food ended out getting better, and I guess
Speaker 4: that was the life of moment.
Speaker 3: Things started to work and I started to understand things
Speaker 3: and look at things different ways, and it was it
Speaker 3: was incredible that I realized that myself, going like oh wow,
Speaker 3: like no, a thing or.
Speaker 1: Two sounds like you can now name drop a lot
Speaker 1: of very well known people from television in the cooking world,
Speaker 1: and that's helping you. That's helping you with the ladies,
Speaker 1: as in, that's helping you with your missus.
Speaker 4: So I like it, yeah, exactly, yeah, And you know,
Speaker 4: I've got a few cool roast recipes that I can
Speaker 4: impress one with that Julie Goodwin taught me. And it's
Speaker 4: so cool, Like I think it's such a weird thing
Speaker 4: to think back in my mindset, but at the very beginning,
Speaker 4: like constantly fearing of going home and and and doubting
Speaker 4: myself and then turning into oh I remember I saw yeah,
Speaker 4: and I guess the other thing too. This is obviously
Speaker 4: what helped me and and for other people that are
Speaker 4: looking at getting on the show in the future, you know, there.
Speaker 3: Is no one way to do things. I found that myself.
Speaker 4: I'm obviously a visual learner and a practical learner, whereas
Speaker 4: a lot of the.
Speaker 3: Other contestants are the opposite.
Speaker 4: Where they read cookbooks flat out study it and they
Speaker 4: retain that, whereas I just lacked that part in my brain.
Speaker 4: So on the gantry and watching and stuff. It was
Speaker 4: kind of like a little bit of a masterclass where
Speaker 4: I could sit there and observe what people were doing
Speaker 4: and just taking in these little bits of information and
Speaker 4: found myself doing it later on in the competition and
Speaker 4: another cour well.
Speaker 1: I could think A good question to ask you is
Speaker 1: who taught you the most in this experience. It might
Speaker 1: be an easy answer for you to have, but were
Speaker 1: the judges more influential on you walking out of it
Speaker 1: or was it the other contestants.
Speaker 3: The judges are great, I found from my experience with them.
Speaker 3: They do a really great job of.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm trying to think about this practically from
Speaker 4: my background at work, where you're training, say a recruit,
Speaker 4: and every recruit has a certain way of again like
Speaker 4: talking about the way people learn. Every recruit has a
Speaker 4: way of which they receive information better. It's a judge's
Speaker 4: job to somewhat do that for twenty four contestants, and
Speaker 4: each one of the judges have their own approach, and
Speaker 4: I can only really talk from my experience and noticing
Speaker 4: what you know, the way that they would talk to
Speaker 4: others would be different to the way that they would
Speaker 4: speak to me, but it was what that individual kind
Speaker 4: of required from the judges. You know, Jock still terrifies me,
Speaker 4: but he was kind of like the way that he
Speaker 4: spoke to me was like you know, and rightfully so
Speaker 4: with the background that he has, was that really, for
Speaker 4: lack of a better word, tough tough love, where it
Speaker 4: was information. And mel on the opposite hand, she gives
Speaker 4: that sort of emotional support where she would remind you
Speaker 4: constantly that you are capable of succeeding in this competition.
Speaker 4: And the three of them have their own way of
Speaker 4: approaching criticism or mentorship in their own way. As for
Speaker 4: the contestants, it's really hard to say who really helped
Speaker 4: me the most or who I learned from the most,
Speaker 4: because I could pretty much name every one of the
Speaker 4: twenty three other contestants taught me something that either they
Speaker 4: went out of their way to show me or that
Speaker 4: I picked from them in a conversation that they were
Speaker 4: willing to share.
Speaker 3: So I do have to say, like, you.
Speaker 4: Know, naturally, Michael Weldon and Matt Matt Landmark.
Speaker 3: There it is, I know I was there somewhere.
Speaker 4: They were really good because the three of us could
Speaker 4: could bounce ideas and we had no shame, and if
Speaker 4: one of the ideas were bad, we would tell them
Speaker 4: that that was that bad.
Speaker 3: It's not going to work. Man, don't do that. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it was really great for those two guys and I
Speaker 3: respect them a lot.
Speaker 1: Well, what do you think that this competition has done
Speaker 1: for you in terms of where you want to go?
Speaker 1: I mean, did you go into the competition thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: if I do this, well, this is what will happen?
Speaker 1: Or have you been surprised as to what you feel
Speaker 1: like you can achieve now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think I didn't go in with any
Speaker 4: expectation coming out, and I think that that was a
Speaker 4: great thing to do because it's just my views on
Speaker 4: things that you know, if you lead with expectation, you
Speaker 4: could possibly get let down, whereas I was very open
Speaker 4: to opportunity and that having that mindset and having what
Speaker 4: has happened for me throughout the Confidence Competition, The best
Speaker 4: thing that I've gained moving forward, I think is confidence.
Speaker 3: And again my Instagram could vouch for this. I was
Speaker 3: I was a guy that.
Speaker 4: Was too shy to put up a photo of food
Speaker 4: on my story. Prior to the competition. I had a
Speaker 4: lot of self confidence issues with that sort of thing,
Speaker 4: and it doesn't discriminate, you know, I was worried. You know,
Speaker 4: A great, a great example of this was I went
Speaker 4: to Japan, came back. I fell in love with ton
Speaker 4: Koti Raman over there. I came back and obsessed on it.
Speaker 4: I couldn't find a good ramen place near me, so
Speaker 4: I wanted to learn how to make it, and I did,
Speaker 4: and that takes a long time to make, about sixteen
Speaker 4: eighteen hours sort of cook put it in all this
Speaker 4: work and made it and it was it was really nice.
Speaker 4: I took a cool photo of it in the process,
Speaker 4: naturally of making this long dish. You know, I had
Speaker 4: a few beers and gained a little bit of confidence.
Speaker 4: I was so proud of what I managed to do.
Speaker 4: I got a bit of the old but the courage
Speaker 4: to post up something online.
Speaker 3: And I woke up the.
Speaker 4: Next morning so embarrassed, like, oh no, I've put it up,
Speaker 4: and put it up and deleted it straight away, even
Speaker 4: though it was up for a whole night. I put
Speaker 4: aure up of it on read it and it got
Speaker 4: twenty five thousand likes and all.
Speaker 3: These people like that looks amazing, you know, like can
Speaker 3: you share a video? And I was like, oh, I
Speaker 3: really want to do that.
Speaker 4: I really want to record it, and you know, share
Speaker 4: a YouTube video on how I made it.
Speaker 3: You know, people are there asking that's that's a really
Speaker 3: cool feeling. And I never did it. I actually went out,
Speaker 3: I bought a camera and everything to do it, and
Speaker 3: it fizzled out. I just I just sort of got
Speaker 3: inside my head and got really really scared and I
Speaker 3: never did it. Naturally.
Speaker 4: I had all these reserves after that, like these sort
Speaker 4: of regrets going like, oh.
Speaker 3: I should have done it.
Speaker 4: I should have hit while the iron was hot there
Speaker 4: and hated myself for a little bit, I guess, and
Speaker 4: you know, fizzled out. And it's sort of is what
Speaker 4: turned into applying to master Chef was I saw something
Speaker 4: on Facebook a Master Chef you know clip, and I
Speaker 4: was like, oh man, that would be pretty cool lurk
Speaker 4: and you know, I'd love to give that a crack.
Speaker 4: And I just googled it master Chef Applications and the
Speaker 4: application was open for about another month for this last season,
Speaker 4: and I sent a screenshot of it to my partner Cassie,
Speaker 4: and I said, how cool with that be? And she replied,
Speaker 4: it would be amazing, but I don't think you would
Speaker 4: you would do it, which which really sucks. And then
Speaker 4: I sort of sat on it for a bit and
Speaker 4: we had a bad job at work and there's a
Speaker 4: car accident, and it just all hit me at once
Speaker 4: that I regretted not chasing, you know, posting a video
Speaker 4: of Rahmen. And then then this job happened, unfortunately, someone died,
Speaker 4: and it all just sort of came into perspective there.
Speaker 4: And then at the spot that like, you know, what
Speaker 4: if that was me, you know, and I didn't apply
Speaker 4: for my chef, I'd regret it. That Why am I
Speaker 4: so worried about stupid things of what people might think
Speaker 4: about me or my own insecurities when there could be
Speaker 4: so much more waiting for me out there, you know,
Speaker 4: I will never know what's down that road, and let's
Speaker 4: take a step. And then yeah, that's what made me apply.
Speaker 4: Kind of I've heard a little bit of your question there,
Speaker 4: but there you go.
Speaker 1: I couldn't know. I think it's it's a media answer.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good answer, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: series of unfortunate and fortunate events that always lead us
Speaker 1: to in the right place at the right time. And
Speaker 1: absolutely and even listening to you trying to unpack a
Speaker 1: lot of this, I mean, I can see where you know,
Speaker 1: the producers and the storytellers at Endemol Shine have been
Speaker 1: able to utilize your talents because you're just a very
Speaker 1: honest guy who's just wanting to do a good job
Speaker 1: and gain some experiences in life. And it's very Australian,
Speaker 1: you know, And I.
Speaker 4: Think, yeah, like I don't want it to sound corny
Speaker 4: or cheesy, but I have. I have had a lot
Speaker 4: of people no, no, no, no, well, I mean what
Speaker 4: is cheesy? I guess really like I've had a lot
Speaker 4: of messages and a lot of comments saying which are
Speaker 4: really lovely, saying just that that you know, you're you're
Speaker 4: that Australian guy.
Speaker 3: And I remember being a young fellow.
Speaker 4: Seeing you know, back in the early two thousands where
Speaker 4: it was like Australia's about having to go and we
Speaker 4: get around each other for that and I've really have
Speaker 4: experienced that and it's fullest where I can again I
Speaker 4: can wholeheartedly say that it's not that I didn't want anything.
Speaker 4: I mean, if if you know toyot or if someone's
Speaker 4: responsored me like fabulous. But I didn't go in with
Speaker 4: any expectations of that or chasing that. I went in
Speaker 4: and still do what I do because unfortunately with life,
Speaker 4: we're given as much time as we're given.
Speaker 3: There's no sort of if.
Speaker 4: Or butts with that, and I want to try and
Speaker 4: really just learn as much as I can and have
Speaker 4: as much fun and have a crack.
Speaker 3: While I can.
Speaker 1: It sees the day, you know, saying that, you say
Speaker 1: that's the day.
Speaker 3: I mean, the question is the day.
Speaker 1: And I've always wanted to ask people who do the show,
Speaker 1: is you know when you stand out like you have
Speaker 1: on the show to restaurants or job offers, or have
Speaker 1: you been asked by like a restaurant or.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I suppose to still early days, but I have
Speaker 4: been approached by a restaurant now in Melbourne who would
Speaker 4: love to hire me.
Speaker 3: That's probably the only real thing that comes to mind.
Speaker 3: You know. I've had other bits and pieces where they've
Speaker 3: offered me different products and stuff like that. But yeah, again,
Speaker 3: I guess it's on the early days.
Speaker 4: My episode is only air the other day and I
Speaker 4: guess I'm so excited to see what comes from it.
Speaker 1: I get, well, it's cold down here. You're not used
Speaker 1: to the call, No, I'm not.
Speaker 4: I like the warmth in palm trees and I'm going
Speaker 4: to probably annoy a lot of people, but you know,
Speaker 4: Terseley sunsets are.
Speaker 1: Better blown away by the Northern Territory. Like we had,
Speaker 1: Like my partner and I just went there three years ago.
Speaker 1: We had the best time and it was such a surprise,
Speaker 1: Like the food was amazing, the sunsets were amazing, the markets,
Speaker 1: type of stuff, all of that is phenomenal. It's a
Speaker 1: great way to live.
Speaker 3: It is, it is, and it's I love the lifestyle.
Speaker 3: Everyone is so crazy and they're on their own time.
Speaker 4: You know, there are things that you miss out on unfortunately,
Speaker 4: like live sports and life.
Speaker 3: You know, as much love music as you get down there.
Speaker 3: But it is. It is a really cool place to live,
Speaker 3: for sure. And I think that's it's a surprising thing
Speaker 3: to me too.
Speaker 4: After being in Melbourne for six months, well so, after
Speaker 4: being in Melbourne for quite a while, I realized how
Speaker 4: many people just haven't been to the top end, particularly
Speaker 4: in Melbourne.
Speaker 3: I've met a lot of people there that just haven't
Speaker 3: been it that want.
Speaker 4: To go, But yeah, I haven't been whereas it's the
Speaker 4: opposite up here, you know what I mean, everyone in
Speaker 4: Darwin has been to every other major city because we're
Speaker 4: so far away from everyone. And I think it's on
Speaker 4: a lot of people's listed just check out each major
Speaker 4: city while they can't, like up here.
Speaker 1: I hope anyone listening to this also goes and you know,
Speaker 1: books a trip to go there, because, as I said,
Speaker 1: it's the food, the weather, but the sunsets, it's the
Speaker 1: whole it's the whole package. It's just a really nice
Speaker 1: place in Australia that if people haven't visited, they should go.
Speaker 1: Applications are open. Have you got any advice for people
Speaker 1: who are listening to this right now? And I'm going
Speaker 1: to fill out the application.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, I think.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if if, if anyone can use my story as
Speaker 4: an example, I think, you know, go for it, just
Speaker 4: just give it. The interesting thing is that I've met
Speaker 4: since doing the show a lot of people that were
Speaker 4: in exactly the same place where I was, where they
Speaker 4: were like, oh, I'd love to give it a crack,
Speaker 4: but I don't know. I'm not that good, like I mean,
Speaker 4: like I wasn't that great. I had obviously. I think
Speaker 4: there's every cook has a strength. I think mine was
Speaker 4: I had. I definitely had something in me there. I
Speaker 4: just needed a little bit of guidance, which unfortunately I
Speaker 4: didn't have pride to master chef and and that that
Speaker 4: might be down there, down there at the show where
Speaker 4: you know you might be relatarily good enough to get there,
Speaker 4: and then you know you will you will figure out
Speaker 4: what's inside you where you can just whip up this crape.
Speaker 4: I totally get it when you see people like Reynald
Speaker 4: without like what was that the rabbit Hole dessert and
Speaker 4: you look at that and go, I can't make that.
Speaker 3: I still can't make that, and I did pretty well.
Speaker 4: So yeah, don't let the people like Rental the robots
Speaker 4: who are bloody amazing cooks scare you, because you know
Speaker 4: it just comes down to how well and how tasty
Speaker 4: you can make your.
Speaker 3: Dish, and you know there are a lot of people
Speaker 3: out there that can do that. They just got to
Speaker 3: just give it a crack. Absolutely well.
Speaker 1: I think there's something in all of this chap for
Speaker 1: a lot of people out there, master chefs and people
Speaker 1: that may want to take part of the show. Something
Speaker 1: I ask everyone who joins the podcast is what's something
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes, something of like a little secret
Speaker 1: from your time, oh shaft.
Speaker 4: I wish we could put a montage together all of
Speaker 4: the stuff that we did behind the scenes. There's you know,
Speaker 4: you see in the show reflected so well, how close
Speaker 4: all it contest and to.
Speaker 3: Get with each other because we are spending such a
Speaker 3: long time together, we go for always sort of say
Speaker 3: adversity songs, you know, create strong bonds of friendship, and
Speaker 3: it really had and not to say Master Chef's adversity,
Speaker 3: but you know, going through all that stress, you know,
Speaker 3: there were a few different little things that we did
Speaker 3: at our accommodation.
Speaker 4: There was a period there where we you know, it's
Speaker 4: common knowledge that we were locked down and we did
Speaker 4: like the Zoom meeting and we did a quiz together.
Speaker 3: And that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 4: And Julie Goodwin's iconic jewelry that she makes, you know,
Speaker 4: she was doing our classes. On our days off, we
Speaker 4: all got to go down and make little jewelry pieces
Speaker 4: for our loved ones, which got a little I made
Speaker 4: a little friends Japanny necklace for her, and you know,
Speaker 4: there was another thing there where the contestants did a
Speaker 4: we acted our own Master Chef episode out So I
Speaker 4: dressed up as Zandy and I think Jen dressed up
Speaker 4: as mel and we judged we're all filming different parts
Speaker 4: of the episode of There's all these little things behind
Speaker 4: the scenes that just that there was so much fun
Speaker 4: and we really grew so quiet.
Speaker 3: Julie did a karaoke night one night we one of
Speaker 3: our nights off.
Speaker 4: She she got a little microphone and you know, I'm
Speaker 4: a big fan of karaoke, so well, they had this
Speaker 4: sort of pride the microphone out of my hands because
Speaker 4: I just kept singing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, what's the bang? I mean, Julie Goodman's gonna
Speaker 1: pump out.
Speaker 4: O her and I sung Islands in a Stream by
Speaker 4: Dolly Parton. That was that was really cool. That was
Speaker 4: a special moment. She sung another song. But she's got
Speaker 4: a really good voice. Hey, a really good karaoke boye.
Speaker 4: So she's the master ul Trade she Oh no, it's
Speaker 4: kind of annoying, Like I wish I was Jollie Goodman.
Speaker 1: Don't we all?
Speaker 3: Well? Mate?
Speaker 1: It was just so good to be able to catch
Speaker 1: up with you and unpack your season of Master Chef
Speaker 1: fans versus favorites with you. It's been an absolute joy
Speaker 1: to watch and your contribution to the show was fantastic.
Speaker 1: So I think, like a lot of Australia, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll be in your audience and waiting to see what
Speaker 1: you may do next. I did read something online this
Speaker 1: morning saying that you might do some outdoor camping cooking
Speaker 1: thing of me, and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd love to. Yeah. So if anyone wants to
Speaker 3: give me a TV show.
Speaker 1: I think you know what, my friend, I think people
Speaker 1: would watch.
Speaker 3: No. Thank you very much, Benda on A pleasure was
Speaker 3: all one. I had a lot of fun. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That was a really fun chat with Dan. But now
Speaker 1: we have another celebrated Master Chef contestant from this year
Speaker 1: joining us. I love this woman and I love a
Speaker 1: good shimmy. So let's bring in Kama to the podcast.
Speaker 1: Hi came, how are.
Speaker 2: You very well? Thank you, Ben, Hi you.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to be having this chat with you. You know,
Speaker 1: you have been fantastic throughout this series to watch. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I can't be more excited as I am
Speaker 1: to be able to have this conversation and unpack your
Speaker 1: time on Mastership.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to be here as well. I mean, obviously
Speaker 2: to be talking openly about what happens behind the scenes
Speaker 2: and with the show with you. It's really incredible.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations. I wanted to start by saying how much
Speaker 1: I love a shimmy.
Speaker 2: Jimmy all the way. Well, that's the only way to
Speaker 2: go through this fantastic experience. I mean, with all the
Speaker 2: pressures you had on told I mean, dancing is a
Speaker 2: fantastic way to decompress.
Speaker 1: I guess absolutely. I don't know if you know this,
Speaker 1: but it was my catchphrase on a reality show ten
Speaker 1: years ago, and so wherever I go people say to
Speaker 1: me shemmy, and I'm like, oh, that's how they know.
Speaker 1: You know, that person must have watched that show. But
Speaker 1: then when you started doing the shimmy, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I love this. It's being brought back
Speaker 1: all over again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think we need more to me
Speaker 2: in our lives.
Speaker 1: Well, what has it been like, I mean, what is
Speaker 1: the highlight of making it to the top four.
Speaker 2: The highlight, I guess is their really really quick growth
Speaker 2: you get at that end of the end of the
Speaker 2: space in massa chef because it's like an accelerated growth.
Speaker 2: I feel that you have to push a lot harder
Speaker 2: and obviously all all of the people that stays at
Speaker 2: that top they also put each other. So the growth
Speaker 2: is amazing. But also the friendships. I guess that not
Speaker 2: even top four, I will say top six, it changed
Speaker 2: completely the way the relationships started to develop around. We
Speaker 2: had so much support going on between each other. I mean,
Speaker 2: having Julie, Alvin, all of them that were fantastic at
Speaker 2: the end of the show, and it can be more
Speaker 2: prateful because without them, none of us will just have
Speaker 2: made it because it's so stressful honestly, but behind the
Speaker 2: scenes we just all hack and hold each other in love.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that's the reward for the viewer. I mean,
Speaker 1: Mastership is the longest running series in Australia. You know,
Speaker 1: by the time we come to the end and crownded winner,
Speaker 1: we're up to sixty episodes, which is a lot of TV.
Speaker 1: But I think by the time we get to and
Speaker 1: have you had committed, we feel like we are friends
Speaker 1: with you. You know, I can only imagine how you
Speaker 1: must feel with the connection with the final six and
Speaker 1: with the final four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, completely. I mean I've been having messages of people
Speaker 2: saying that they've been crying along all the last week
Speaker 2: with me. That's fantastic that I can. I'm able to
Speaker 2: actually come across the screens and then show a little
Speaker 2: bit and share that love and that and those emotions
Speaker 2: that actually happened during the day, and the editors that
Speaker 2: are you know, so skillful putting together the show and
Speaker 2: being able to showcase what happened, what actually happens. But
Speaker 2: it is a lot more intense in at this end
Speaker 2: totally because we're feeling it. I mean, it's really intense.
Speaker 1: Last week. I loved the idea of having a home
Speaker 1: kitchen and a challenge. You know, I love when it
Speaker 1: gives us as an audience something to relate to. Do
Speaker 1: you enjoy being able to see relatable things happening on
Speaker 1: Mastership that audiences connect with more completely.
Speaker 2: I feel this season, especially all all the dishes we're
Speaker 2: able to put up, they've been more closer to the
Speaker 2: to the audience in a way that we've been doing simple,
Speaker 2: simple cooking, but elevating flavor. So it's been the aim
Speaker 2: to probably approach the audience in a more relatable way,
Speaker 2: so people can actually go and have a goal at
Speaker 2: any of the recipes, I guess, but still being skillful
Speaker 2: enough to bring technique, but at the same time being
Speaker 2: rustic and simple enough for due to actually have a goal,
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: I mean you even said it in your words last
Speaker 1: week as well about rustic food. Do you think that
Speaker 1: people love to see more rustic food that we can
Speaker 1: make at home, you know, instead of seeing the food
Speaker 1: that is near impossible to make.
Speaker 2: I think the thing about rustic food is it has
Speaker 2: a soul and a deep level of connection with the
Speaker 2: basic of that particularly cuisine and showcases the food in
Speaker 2: a different level, and it doesn't really straight from what
Speaker 2: is the core of the the cuisine. So when you
Speaker 2: put up rustic foods, rather than being ugly or messy,
Speaker 2: it's flavorful. So I think aiming for those rustic food
Speaker 2: it's just elevating the cuisine and being ast as possible
Speaker 2: to the guisine itself.
Speaker 1: You know, when Julie left the competition last week, do
Speaker 1: you think that someone else became the biggest competition? I mean,
Speaker 1: who stood in Julie's place at that point? As in
Speaker 1: your mind, someone who's going to take out the competition.
Speaker 2: I feel that at that point we all were kind
Speaker 2: of gravitating amound the same level of skills, so I
Speaker 2: could feel anyone could be in my competition. But if
Speaker 2: I have to say, I was really impressed with Sarah,
Speaker 2: I feel that towards the end, she was really really
Speaker 2: you know, showcasing finding skills and creating flavoring in a
Speaker 2: really interesting way, and going outside her comfort zone as well,
Speaker 2: and showcasing that she could do more than her original
Speaker 2: flavors in the beginning of the show, I mean, showcasing
Speaker 2: Japanese cuisine as well and doing it great. But all
Speaker 2: of them, they all have fantastic skills. And in order
Speaker 2: to who is, kind of honestly, I'm on shore because
Speaker 2: even Daniel, he's crossed so much during the show and
Speaker 2: I can definitely see him winning. But also Billy, I mean,
Speaker 2: she's great, It's fantastic in technique, and I think all
Speaker 2: of us we've just been equipped with amazing skills throughout
Speaker 2: the show.
Speaker 1: So yeah, anyone, anyone, And I mean those two goals
Speaker 1: they could be sisters. Like they're about the same height,
Speaker 1: they're about the same size, and they're just so beautiful
Speaker 1: and they've made it all the way to the end.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's quite quite amazing. Was there anyone making
Speaker 1: any of those comparisons to the two of them while
Speaker 1: the show was being made?
Speaker 2: Well not really, I think because we all had a
Speaker 2: particular you know, personality. I guess we all have our
Speaker 2: kinks and we are so different, but at the same
Speaker 2: time we relate in the same level of you know,
Speaker 2: cooking in terms, so that's our connection through food, but
Speaker 2: not really that we didn't have anyone similar in personality.
Speaker 2: There was so different.
Speaker 1: Shouldn't compare people, never compare people.
Speaker 2: Really, but like we come from all different you know,
Speaker 2: levels of paths and different life paths, and it was
Speaker 2: fantastic that having all that diversity was still connected in
Speaker 2: a profound way.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that Daniel is the only you know,
Speaker 1: fan still in the competition? Why do you think he's
Speaker 1: made it so far?
Speaker 2: He is amazingly How do you say that he copes
Speaker 2: with pressure pretty well? I think he's very good at
Speaker 2: pivoting when he needs to. And I don't know if
Speaker 2: that has to go with him being a five fars
Speaker 2: a fireman. I don't know if that's something that that
Speaker 2: definitely gave him the skills to manage pressure in a
Speaker 2: way that he could pivot when he needed to. But
Speaker 2: I feel that from my own experience, I mean, the
Speaker 2: Massachi kitchen is a lot more than just cooking. It
Speaker 2: just tests you your levels of making, your decision making,
Speaker 2: and it's sometimes not just to the cooking, but the
Speaker 2: decisions you make in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: I think you were the quiet achiever. You know what
Speaker 1: helped you get so far in the competition? Do you
Speaker 1: think Ooh?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think for me it was just being
Speaker 2: open to experience and learning along the way, and being
Speaker 2: humble enough to receive feedback, come back, think about and
Speaker 2: reflect about what they told me, and then work on
Speaker 2: my skills and excel myself. Every time. I wasn't comparing
Speaker 2: to anyone. I was just comparing against my own expectation
Speaker 2: of what I wanted to achieve in the competition. So
Speaker 2: for me, it was just every day just making it
Speaker 2: better than the previous day against myself. So it was
Speaker 2: a race where I had to back myself a lot,
Speaker 2: you know, overcome self doubt, overcome like mindset, a lot
Speaker 2: of mindset. I did a lot of meditation to be
Speaker 2: able to cope with the pressure and the anxiety because
Speaker 2: there's a lot of you know, I guess pressure involved
Speaker 2: in in the environment. But at the same time, I
Speaker 2: think it's just being open to the whole experience.
Speaker 1: I love with Master Chef that you know, who's got
Speaker 1: the best resume or who looks the best on paper
Speaker 1: isn't going to be always the person who wins the
Speaker 1: pressure tests. You know, we saw people like Sashi go
Speaker 1: home or you know, Julie Goodwin's gone home. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, who the best person on paper isn't always
Speaker 1: the one that wins, and I think that that is
Speaker 1: an enjoyable part of Master Chef. Do you think at
Speaker 1: times it can be a little unfair.
Speaker 2: I think it's not unfair because I think the competition
Speaker 2: doesn't test how good of a cook you are. It
Speaker 2: tests so many other skills. I believe, like all of
Speaker 2: them are amazing cooks. They do amazing stuff, and when
Speaker 2: we're out of the show and tasted their food, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's amazing. They're all fantastic cooks. But then you're in
Speaker 2: the competition and you're testing all their abilities, like reading
Speaker 2: a recipe, reading a recipe fast enough, not making mistakes
Speaker 2: and making decisions the only way so you can cope
Speaker 2: with you know, fast paced environments, and then it's a
Speaker 2: really weird environment as well, and you have to be
Speaker 2: able to chut down the whole environment and concentrate as well.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot involved that is not necessarily cooking.
Speaker 1: I followed the show on Twitter as it's happening because
Speaker 1: I watched Master Chef Live with the rest of Australia
Speaker 1: and I love when the celebrity chefs get revealed. You know,
Speaker 1: they get so much love, and last night, you know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of love for Matt Gilmore. Who's your
Speaker 1: favorite celebrity chef that joined the competition that you got
Speaker 1: to work alongside with.
Speaker 2: I must say Claire Smiths, But then I got Petter Gillamore,
Speaker 2: and I think it's two different levels of enjoyment with
Speaker 2: both chef. I think Claire because of her career, I
Speaker 2: mean impressive and to have an international chef coming here
Speaker 2: and she she was my idol. But then with Peter Gilmore,
Speaker 2: I got to connect in a different level. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's so genuine and every time he came to my bench,
Speaker 2: he was just really really genuine in terms of give
Speaker 2: it as I think at some point I felt he
Speaker 2: wanted to jump in and help us because he really
Speaker 2: wanted us to succeed. So to be able to have
Speaker 2: a chef that has that level of mentorship and genuine
Speaker 2: approach to you, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: I can't believe I just got his name wrong as well.
Speaker 1: I was like trying to rattle my brain, Peter, Peter Gilmot,
Speaker 1: Peter Gilmot, not back Gilmot. I was like, this was
Speaker 1: his name again, because I mean, a lot of these
Speaker 1: chefs to me, because I'm not in the food world,
Speaker 1: you know, they're not as big a deal for me.
Speaker 1: And so I apologize to the kitchen gods up there
Speaker 1: for getting his name wrong. But I want to know,
Speaker 1: why do you think so many renowned chefs, so many
Speaker 1: recognizable names, are so willing to join the Master Chef
Speaker 1: competition and have their guest appearance. You know, why do
Speaker 1: you think this show attracts so many amazing chefs.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're not trained, but at the same time,
Speaker 2: I think we inspire them so much as well. Because
Speaker 2: there's I said, told me, there's a different it's a
Speaker 2: different environment, and to be creative in such a chuirt
Speaker 2: amount of period, it's a skill.
Speaker 1: One of the things I loved about the last episode
Speaker 1: that you were a part of was I loved hearing
Speaker 1: that you said that you felt like there's more out
Speaker 1: there for you, and I think it's amazing that you
Speaker 1: know you will now go on your own journey and
Speaker 1: feel just that much more prouder and have that little
Speaker 1: bit more confidence. What have you been cooking up? Like,
Speaker 1: what do you think is going to be something you're
Speaker 1: going to take on next?
Speaker 2: Obviously when you get this far, you get fire up
Speaker 2: with ideas and all the motivation that the churches gave me.
Speaker 2: I definitely want to continue with my cooking journey. So
Speaker 2: I'm passionate about sharing Latin and Caribbean food and toocase
Speaker 2: in my heritage, sharing my story. I mean, and it's
Speaker 2: been such a wonderful experience to do that in Master Shift.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, I feel that I have
Speaker 2: like a little bit of responsibility to continue that because
Speaker 2: I feel Australia hasn't seen Latin American food in its
Speaker 2: widest and beautiful diversity that it is. I was able
Speaker 2: to do just a little bit of that in the show,
Speaker 2: but I feel that there's a lot more and I
Speaker 2: do want in conversations to join a couple of restaurants
Speaker 2: here in Merran and set up a menu with them
Speaker 2: and collaborate with another one and try to have some
Speaker 2: people to come over and try their food. And I'm
Speaker 2: thinking in you know, taking Australia into a journey throughout
Speaker 2: those wonderful flavors that we haven't met. I think it's
Speaker 2: an amazing opportunity to educate people about my food and
Speaker 2: happy and excited about it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be following you on Instagram and stalking
Speaker 1: you at whatever restaurant you will be at, so I
Speaker 1: will be in your audience. You know, the applications are
Speaker 1: open for a future Master Chef season already, which is
Speaker 1: very exciting. What advice do you have for future applicants
Speaker 1: who may want to come on Master Chef?
Speaker 2: Well, break up for he journey, I guess. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's amazing, but there's a roller coaster. You have
Speaker 2: to be willing to go through the pressure and the
Speaker 2: bobs and and lows, I guess. But by all means,
Speaker 2: go and apply. Just prepare yourself for a wonderful experience.
Speaker 2: Learn the basics, learned flavor more than recipes. I guess
Speaker 2: and then understand how to prepare a dish from scratch.
Speaker 2: I guess, not not just you know, memorizing recipes is
Speaker 2: not really useful. I guess, and cook with your hearts.
Speaker 2: That was what I did. Just you know, pour out
Speaker 2: your soul, open your heart to the experience and you
Speaker 2: do wonders.
Speaker 1: That's such a rich experience. And I mean the judges
Speaker 1: bring so much the competition as well. I mean, out
Speaker 1: of those judges who managed to who taught you the most.
Speaker 2: All of them, But I think Jock obviously it was
Speaker 2: pretty pretty helpful in terms of cooking skills. But on
Speaker 2: the other hand, Melissa was very inspiring and constantly encouraging,
Speaker 2: so I think she really supported me along my personal
Speaker 2: journey throughout the whole competition. But all of them, they're
Speaker 2: just bringing something different to the show and to the contestants,
Speaker 2: and they have a lot to offer us in terms
Speaker 2: of learning and growth.
Speaker 1: Something I ask everyone who joins the podcast is what
Speaker 1: is something from behind the scenes that were as an
Speaker 1: audience didn't say that we won't see that you know
Speaker 1: happened for you or you saw while making Master Chef
Speaker 1: Fans versus favorites, we have.
Speaker 2: Such a wonderful time behind the scenes. I think we
Speaker 2: will put music sometimes and we will look like like
Speaker 2: people that have been drunking for a while. But it
Speaker 2: was just the exhilarating moment of enjoying that little moments,
Speaker 2: a little break and dancing and goofing around. So that's
Speaker 2: that's a wonderful part of the story, Masterschef, that we
Speaker 2: get to mingle and banter and have a wonderful time
Speaker 2: behind the scenes as a family.
Speaker 1: What happens though, when you say we saw you shimmy away?
Speaker 1: What happens when you go through the doors? Like, once
Speaker 1: you've shimmied away, when you're at the other side, what
Speaker 1: happens to you there? Do they do they take you
Speaker 1: back to the hotel? Where do they do they send
Speaker 1: you home? Do you have do you have to do
Speaker 1: they have a fareweld drinks for you? Like what happens
Speaker 1: after someone is eliminated?
Speaker 2: It really depends on what's next on the following day.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we had like for me, we had a little
Speaker 2: bit of a chat with each one of us. Obviously
Speaker 2: it was it was just a few of us left
Speaker 2: in the apartments. I didn't get to go home because
Speaker 2: I had to be back to the next episode. So
Speaker 2: I'm going from the kitchen to the game free and
Speaker 2: I never left, which is fantastic. But yeah, those two
Speaker 2: last days, I was exhausted in the games, just cheering
Speaker 2: them up. But there's moments where we do our farewell
Speaker 2: party for some of them, and yeah, it depends really
Speaker 2: the best of the channel and what's next during the week.
Speaker 1: Well, I've just had so much fun chatting with you,
Speaker 1: and thank you for your time on the show. You
Speaker 1: were so fantastic to watch.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Vannie. It is so fun to just meet
Speaker 2: you today and you know, have a have a talk
Speaker 2: about what happens in this chair.
Speaker 1: Well, look after yourself. I'll follow you on Instagram. You'll
Speaker 1: see me sitting in your restaurant sometime soon.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ben Oh, it was so nice to meet you.
Speaker 2: Have a lovely day.
Speaker 1: Yeah you too, mate,