Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV.
Speaker 2: Reload the podcast last week airline.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome back to TV Reload. I want to
Speaker 1: thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Steve,
Speaker 1: the ninth eliminated contestant on mastershef Australia for twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: which is on Network ten from Sundays through to Wednesday
Speaker 1: nights at seven point thirty. Steve's experimentation in the kitchen
Speaker 1: saw him stand out to the judges, his fellow contestants,
Speaker 1: and fans of the show. His love of Australian native
Speaker 1: ingredients sits tandem with his favorite refined flavors, and we
Speaker 1: definitely got to see that a.
Speaker 3: Lot throughout his time on the show.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things about Steve was when I
Speaker 1: was trying to do the research for this interview, I
Speaker 1: found this story about how he had a collection of
Speaker 1: cookbooks and that it all started with his mum gifting
Speaker 1: him the Australian Woman's Weekly Cookbook when he was at
Speaker 1: the age of eighteen, which of course he still uses
Speaker 1: as a resource to this day, something that he really treasures.
Speaker 1: Steve is a father of two, He's got two Boys.
Speaker 1: Steve has been fortunate enough to travel the world with
Speaker 1: his work, experiencing many different cuisines along his way. He
Speaker 1: has mentioned the Japanese in French are amongst his favorite flavors.
Speaker 1: I absolutely loved catching up with Steve today and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you're going to enjoy the chat. It is filled
Speaker 1: with a very similar warmth that you saw him putting
Speaker 1: into his cooking throughout the series. Steve will talk about
Speaker 1: his journey to Master Chef and how he was nearly
Speaker 1: the first contestant ever to step into the kitchen. We
Speaker 1: will also unpack his age and how agism still plays
Speaker 1: an unfortunate card in the Australian workplace. I will find
Speaker 1: out who of the Master Chef judges have contacted him
Speaker 1: since he was filming the show, and how Jamie Oliver
Speaker 1: managed to surprise him. We will also discuss what big
Speaker 1: changes he would make if he was to step back
Speaker 1: into the kitchen, and why making your food with a
Speaker 1: little extra can help you survive an elimination. There's actually
Speaker 1: so much to unpack with Steven, so sit back and
Speaker 1: relax as we unpack the wonderful world of Master Chef Australia.
Speaker 3: Hey Steven, How are you good?
Speaker 2: Staking How about you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm very happy to be catching up with you.
Speaker 1: A little bit surprised because I kind of feel like
Speaker 1: saying this to you, but you kind of were one
Speaker 1: of the biggest characters of the season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I am a bit surprised myself.
Speaker 2: That's how it goes, I guess, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Well, your elimination to me was the most emotional so far.
Speaker 1: Was it hard not to let it out? Am I
Speaker 1: right by saying that when I was watching your face
Speaker 1: in that elimination that you were trying to hold a
Speaker 1: lot in?
Speaker 2: I was definitely trying to hold lot in because I
Speaker 2: found it very difficult because the week before that, you know,
Speaker 2: the elimination before that I was in, I was standing
Speaker 2: next to je and One and I are very good friends.
Speaker 4: Would have got a very good.
Speaker 2: Friendship from that show, from that competition, spending that time together,
Speaker 2: cooking every day, you know, our social time we spent together.
Speaker 2: And I found it extremely difficult standing next to Hugh
Speaker 2: for that elimination, and then the very next one I
Speaker 2: was in, I was standing next to Alex, who also
Speaker 2: was very close. So you know, there were three people
Speaker 2: that I'd say I was really close with and that
Speaker 2: was pezzat Alex a one and I had.
Speaker 4: Two of them in basically a week.
Speaker 2: And to be honest, I didn't want Alex to go
Speaker 2: because you know, she's young, she's given up a job,
Speaker 2: is hoping for a career, and I was.
Speaker 4: Quite upset for her. But at the same time, I
Speaker 4: didn't want to go. I was very torn.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering whether because like I just think about it
Speaker 1: from my perspective, if I were standing in your position
Speaker 1: and forgetting all of those relationships that you've built, you know,
Speaker 1: whatever emotion has been created by being a part of
Speaker 1: this show. I just wonder if anyone's ever been unconsolable,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? Like, I wonder if
Speaker 1: they've ever had to cut to a long break and
Speaker 1: pull that person together before finishing off their sendoff.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It was very difficult, I have to say, standing there.
Speaker 2: So I did find it a real challenge In some ways.
Speaker 2: I was thinking, Okay, well, I'd be rather go than Alex.
Speaker 2: I would rather sacrifice my spot than her. But then
Speaker 2: I'd spent so many years, you know, thinking I should
Speaker 2: have done this on the first view and here I
Speaker 2: am now, and I thought, well, you know, like it's
Speaker 2: at my age, it's hard to get opportunities, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. People at sixty two people you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, no one likes to say it, but it's
Speaker 2: very difficult to get employed, you know, if people don't
Speaker 2: want to give you a job, not that you can't
Speaker 2: do it, but it's just the wight the world is.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you say that because I was having this
Speaker 1: conversation with a friend of mine the other day, and
Speaker 1: we are in our mid forties, and he said that
Speaker 1: he's starting to see the effects of this is the
Speaker 1: peak of my career. I have nowhere else to go
Speaker 1: from here because of my age, and it seems like
Speaker 1: that has happened far too quickly.
Speaker 3: You know, to discount one.
Speaker 1: For their age at forty four, you know, to stop
Speaker 1: them from the ridiculous. But you know, this is why
Speaker 1: I love seeing people like you on this show. And
Speaker 1: I know that then it seems like I'm singling you
Speaker 1: out for it as well. But seeing sixty as an
Speaker 1: age on this show is exciting because you're proving to
Speaker 1: people that they shouldn't just hear that conversation in the
Speaker 1: workplace wellances as far as you're going to go, you know,
Speaker 1: because you're still doing extraordinary things, you're still adding to
Speaker 1: your resume in a really powerful way that, as I said,
Speaker 1: is inspiring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I mean, that's all part of why I
Speaker 2: did the show, you know I did. When I got
Speaker 2: offered that position on Marster Chef, I was very cautious,
Speaker 2: you know, because I thought, gee, you know, like all
Speaker 2: the other people that were cooking, you know, in the tryouts,
Speaker 2: were all in their.
Speaker 4: Twenties and thirties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just wondered how I would be able
Speaker 2: to relate. You know, I knew that potentially you couldn't
Speaker 2: be gone for months, and how that was going to
Speaker 2: affect me mentally.
Speaker 4: You know, could I relate with these people?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 4: Would they accept me for what I am? So that
Speaker 4: was all part of it, and I have to say
Speaker 4: they were great. It was really good.
Speaker 2: But I wanted to prove, I guess, to myself and
Speaker 2: to people my generation that you know, I've got quite
Speaker 2: a few brands, especially after to COVID, you know, because
Speaker 2: the tourism in three were sick badly where suddenly unemployed,
Speaker 2: you know, they've been doing the same sort of thing
Speaker 2: for the last thirty years and no work, and you know,
Speaker 2: you can't just give up. You just have to keep
Speaker 2: on going. The way I look at it, you never
Speaker 2: turned out an opportunity, just take it and do your best.
Speaker 1: I think there's something really powerful in that. And I'm
Speaker 1: here to tell you as well, which I think is
Speaker 1: something off the back of what you were saying about
Speaker 1: the other younger people in the show. I've been chatting
Speaker 1: to everyone as they've come out, and I can't exactly
Speaker 1: remember who said what and how they've said it, but
Speaker 1: your name has come up more often than not when
Speaker 1: it comes to reflecting on the other participants in this show.
Speaker 1: And that is because they kept saying and now I'm
Speaker 1: putting words in their mouth because I'm sort of abbreviating it,
Speaker 1: but they said that it was really amazing to watch
Speaker 1: you because you did a lot of experimental cooks that
Speaker 1: was really impressive.
Speaker 3: Is that fair to.
Speaker 1: Say that you showed some of these young people that
Speaker 1: it's important to take risks?
Speaker 2: Well, I think so. I mean, I've stuck to my
Speaker 2: guns on my cooking. So look, a lot of the
Speaker 2: you know, they came in there, they had their their suitcases,
Speaker 2: full of cookbooks and you know, we're all cooking on
Speaker 2: the weekends together, and you know, it was a great
Speaker 2: social thing as well as a learning experience. You know
Speaker 2: a lot of them were just recreating what they're reading
Speaker 2: and learning.
Speaker 4: It, which is great, you know, and they're learning the
Speaker 4: recipes off by heart.
Speaker 2: They could go into the kitchen if they had opportunity
Speaker 2: use that particular recipe. They knew it, they were comfortable
Speaker 2: with it. They could cook a beautiful meal and do
Speaker 2: something really successful. But I made a commitment to myself
Speaker 2: that it's such an important opportunity for me that I
Speaker 2: decided that I wasn't going to do that. I was
Speaker 2: going to do every dish I cooked was going to
Speaker 2: be my original. You can't google that recipe. It's my recipe.
Speaker 2: If you want to cook it, you have to get
Speaker 2: it from me.
Speaker 1: Sorry to jump in there, but you know, that's what
Speaker 1: this show should be about.
Speaker 3: Really.
Speaker 1: I mean, we are all at home books and what
Speaker 1: separates us all making you know, following a recipe and
Speaker 1: doing the bait. I think if this show is to
Speaker 1: continue to work in this space, it needs to be
Speaker 1: that level up from home cooks, someone who can take
Speaker 1: what you could normally do at home and elevate it
Speaker 1: and inspire the people at home. And I think that's,
Speaker 1: you know, the inspiration of the show is the magic,
Speaker 1: it's the currency of it.
Speaker 4: I agreed completely.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's exactly why I watched the show,
Speaker 2: because that's what I wanted to see, and I want
Speaker 2: to see people building new dishes from their own experiences
Speaker 2: in life and be experimental. And I guess, you know,
Speaker 2: in some ways, that's why although I was disappointed to
Speaker 2: go when I did, I wasn't devastated because I stuck
Speaker 2: to my guns, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: if I go, it's because the dish I made myself
Speaker 2: wasn't good enough. And I'm sort of okay with that
Speaker 2: because you know, like I can then just say to myself, Okay,
Speaker 2: it wasn't good enough, but I'll do it again.
Speaker 4: I've done it. I've actually done.
Speaker 2: It with other dishes, and I've cooked on the show
Speaker 2: which weren't as successful as I thought they were.
Speaker 4: I've actually recreated those dishes.
Speaker 2: Out of hours and perfected them, not to cook them
Speaker 2: again on the show, but to say, okay, well let
Speaker 2: me make that dish work now.
Speaker 4: It didn't work from let's make it work. So it's
Speaker 4: about the love of giving food. How can I explain this?
Speaker 3: It's about me with you.
Speaker 1: I've been saying this a lot throughout these exit interviews,
Speaker 1: and I think there's something really powerful and amazing and
Speaker 1: cooking for someone and putting good food in someone's belly.
Speaker 4: That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 2: It's that pleasure, the look on their face when they're
Speaker 2: enjoying the meal and you know you've made that, you
Speaker 2: know you've created that dish. My friends, when they come
Speaker 2: to dinner, I always call my meals. I call them
Speaker 2: my thirty second artworks, because I've said it's like a
Speaker 2: piece of art, but in thirty seconds it's gone. So
Speaker 2: I said, you get to view that artwork for thirty seconds.
Speaker 3: But they're standing at your house well pretty quickly.
Speaker 2: So you know that's what I do, I guess, and
Speaker 2: it's a pleasure I get from fooding people, giving them
Speaker 2: beautiful food.
Speaker 1: Was I right to say that you were pretty much cast,
Speaker 1: locked and loaded to do a very early season of
Speaker 1: Master Chef and then something put in a way? I mean,
Speaker 1: how many times do they circle back and ask you
Speaker 1: to do the show? Or were they waiting for you
Speaker 1: to go through the application process again.
Speaker 2: It's a funny story because my wife actually applied for
Speaker 2: me on the very first show, Master Chef number one, Wow,
Speaker 2: And I didn't know at the time. And this is
Speaker 2: when we were living in Port Douglas and we were
Speaker 2: actually out sailing one day and we're sailing back into
Speaker 2: port and my phone rings with some phone number. I
Speaker 2: didn't recognize it, and I answered the phone and someone
Speaker 2: started talking to me about, Oh, you've been selected to
Speaker 2: come and try out for Master Chef's Series one. You'd
Speaker 2: have to come to Brisbane and it'll be fantastic. And
Speaker 2: I also thinking, oh, this is some sort of hoax,
Speaker 2: And then I think my wife heard me starting master
Speaker 2: step and then I can see a waving her arms
Speaker 2: frantically going yes, yes, I put your application in, so
Speaker 2: all ready to fly to Brisbane for that? And would
Speaker 2: you believe a cyclone came through a late cyclone.
Speaker 4: The airport closed.
Speaker 2: But the main thing that happened is we had a
Speaker 2: big landslide between Port Douglas and Cairns which used to
Speaker 2: often happen, and the road closed and just couldn't get
Speaker 2: out of town. So it was about about a week
Speaker 2: the road was closed for and I completely missed the
Speaker 2: first season.
Speaker 3: So the actually of the road sixteen years.
Speaker 2: You get out that well funnyness that may actually offered
Speaker 2: me an opportunity to do the second season. Because I
Speaker 2: rang them and told them what's happened. They said, well,
Speaker 2: that's fine, Look, don't worry, we're going we have to
Speaker 2: continue shooting, so we're happy to have you come for
Speaker 2: season two. So they told me they'd emailed me well
Speaker 2: and truly before the show the season started, so I
Speaker 2: could come for season two.
Speaker 4: And my wife's English and we're in the UK. They
Speaker 4: emailed me to my work email.
Speaker 2: Address, and of course we're in the UK for four
Speaker 2: or five weeks.
Speaker 4: Got back and.
Speaker 2: We're sitting in the lounge room and suddenly I see
Speaker 2: them advertising Mastership and I told them to my wife
Speaker 2: and I said, Jilly, I said, they said they're going
Speaker 2: to tell me all about it it she goes they did,
Speaker 2: and I said, that's weird. So I went to work
Speaker 2: the next morning and sure enough in the deleted emails
Speaker 2: was the email from mastershif no yeah, so someone was
Speaker 2: obviously on my desktop. They saw the email come through
Speaker 2: while I was on holidays and just thought, don't mail.
Speaker 4: I just deleted it so I never saw it.
Speaker 2: And then they said to me, look, there's always next year.
Speaker 4: Because I ran on the top of what happened. They said,
Speaker 4: there's always next year. But then life, I think life
Speaker 4: got in the way. You know, things got busier.
Speaker 2: It's a bit like you're saying with your friend. You know.
Speaker 2: I was in my forties and I was seeking these
Speaker 2: are my important years to make some money, make my career.
Speaker 2: And by the third year came around and just thought, no,
Speaker 2: I just can't give up work now. It's too critical.
Speaker 2: So I didn't do it. And it was only series
Speaker 2: sixteen where I thought to myself, you know I could
Speaker 2: do this again. I thought, it's my last chance at
Speaker 2: my age, I said, but I couldn't do it again.
Speaker 2: So I started to think about filling the application, and
Speaker 2: so I basically got on there and I think filled
Speaker 2: out first page and I thought, nah, I'm being silly,
Speaker 2: won't worry about it. And anyway, I didn't worry about it,
Speaker 2: and about two hours later I got a phone call
Speaker 2: from Mastership.
Speaker 4: I jumped on and they see it.
Speaker 2: It's started filling it out and they said, I noticed
Speaker 2: you know, you put details in about being in number one,
Speaker 2: you being applied for number one, and they said, oh,
Speaker 2: I'd love you to do fill out the application and
Speaker 2: come to the try it anyway. So in the end
Speaker 2: I thought, yeah, why not, I'll do it, so I did.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: I think it's really great that you've done this because
Speaker 1: I think when people look back at seasons of shows,
Speaker 1: they kind of remember certain people. And I know that
Speaker 1: this will sound strange to you because you're watching it
Speaker 1: through that your your own lens, your own self critical lens,
Speaker 1: and you know, however it else did you see it?
Speaker 1: But I think that people are going to remember you
Speaker 1: from this show more than anyone else. There's just something
Speaker 1: quite real about you. And it was kind of funny
Speaker 1: because like when they first started seat of introducing you
Speaker 1: like almost like a little crocodile Hunter person from Queensland,
Speaker 1: I thought that's TV magic because that didn't really bode
Speaker 1: well with me at the time. I thought, No, there's
Speaker 1: something more more than that. There's more. There's more than
Speaker 1: the shark tooth on the necklace, definitely, And I think
Speaker 1: people won't remember you as that package, that crocodile Hunter
Speaker 1: package or whatever they were trying to do. I think
Speaker 1: people are going to remember you for your heart and
Speaker 1: your ability to take risks and show different food.
Speaker 3: And I think that's something to be proud of.
Speaker 4: Oh look, and I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, like I think I look, I'm
Speaker 2: so happy with what I did. Funny enough, I was
Speaker 2: talking to my wife about it this morning. I'm saying, look,
Speaker 2: I didn't. I just didn't stick with any genre of food.
Speaker 2: I was happy to do anything, and I think that's
Speaker 2: becoming rare, you know, Like I think people in the
Speaker 2: show tend to be you know, they either do their
Speaker 2: tie or they do their their Indian, or they do
Speaker 2: their you know, South American or and they don't experiment enough.
Speaker 2: And you can carry a long way with that, but
Speaker 2: you know, in life, I think in real life, you
Speaker 2: need to take the chances and experiment with different things
Speaker 2: because you know, you'll never know, I mean with food,
Speaker 2: you'd never know you might love it. I mean, I
Speaker 2: didn't cook a lot of Indians until I married an
Speaker 2: english woman and suddenly she demanded Indian because that's like
Speaker 2: the second cuisine. And initially I started doing like everyone
Speaker 2: else does and buying the pre mixed sources and things
Speaker 2: like that, and I thought, no, you know, I can
Speaker 2: do this, So bought all the spices and just read
Speaker 2: thought myself, and now I cook Indian once a week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can.
Speaker 1: Cook good Indian food is huge for me. I love
Speaker 1: it and cooking it yourself, if you can do it well,
Speaker 1: is a real skill.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, my wife seems to think I'll do the best.
Speaker 1: Indian now, so because your wife is at though, because
Speaker 1: my partner loves to tell me that I cook really well,
Speaker 1: and that's just so that I do it and that
Speaker 1: he doesn't happen.
Speaker 4: No, no, not really.
Speaker 2: Well, I do all the cooking anyway, I always have,
Speaker 2: so I don't think she really needs to do that.
Speaker 2: I think I think my Indian is pretty good.
Speaker 4: I'll get pretty good feedback from my friends.
Speaker 2: They all tell me that our house is the best
Speaker 2: restaurant on Bribe Island, so I love it.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: It'll be remiss with me not to ask a few
Speaker 1: quick questions about that final cook.
Speaker 3: I mean, but I was curious to know about Andy
Speaker 3: and Poe.
Speaker 1: What's it like working alongside these two chefs that have
Speaker 1: been contestants in the show. Are they more accessible to
Speaker 1: you being first time cooks in the Master Chef kitchen
Speaker 1: because they've done it, and are they able to help
Speaker 1: you in a way that's more relatable.
Speaker 2: It's interesting, It's an interesting comment. So Andy's quite an
Speaker 2: interesting character. I would say Poe was definitely more accessible
Speaker 2: than Andy, and he was nice enough, you know, and
Speaker 2: good with feedback. But Poe I walked out thinking I've
Speaker 2: got a friendship rather than a judge who was really
Speaker 2: easy to get along with. But then John christa an
Speaker 2: amazing man, very passionate. I don't think I've met someone
Speaker 2: so passionate about food in my life. Passionate to help
Speaker 2: to teach the guide, to give you advice, you know,
Speaker 2: Like I think the judges, it was a good mix
Speaker 2: because I think, you know, we had two judges really
Speaker 2: that were very good at exhibiting their passion, Poe and
Speaker 2: Jean Christoph. And then we had Sofia at Aley who
Speaker 2: were very good at grounding you giving you good advice,
Speaker 2: you know. So it was actually a very good mix
Speaker 2: because you couldn't have them all the same. It wouldn't work.
Speaker 2: You needed that mixture of personalities. And also, of course
Speaker 2: there's a very mixture in taste between the judges which
Speaker 2: also can be interesting when you're cooking, you know, because
Speaker 2: you're trying to cater I guess to their taste buds
Speaker 2: as well as do.
Speaker 4: A good dish.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's interesting though when you're getting these people
Speaker 1: with different personalities trying your food. And someone the other
Speaker 1: day was trying to put out like a bit of
Speaker 1: a MythBuster about master chef and that the food can
Speaker 1: be tried as you're cooking by those by those judges,
Speaker 1: so that it's not reliant on just you know, tasting
Speaker 1: the food. When they finally get at was there any
Speaker 1: opportunity that they could try, because I mean, you only
Speaker 1: made enough eggs to really played at the very end,
Speaker 1: so there wasn't it.
Speaker 2: No, So it's a catch twenty two situation in the
Speaker 2: kitchen because.
Speaker 4: You've got limited time, and you really do have limit.
Speaker 2: I mean most of the dishes you were cooking, or
Speaker 2: certainly dishes that I were cooking at home, I would
Speaker 2: take twice the time to cook those dishes, you know,
Speaker 2: just because I've got.
Speaker 4: All the time in the world.
Speaker 2: But in the kitchen you can't. But you can't cook
Speaker 2: a simple dishes quick and easy, because that's the quickest
Speaker 2: and easiest.
Speaker 4: Way to end up having.
Speaker 2: They did come around and taste components of your dish,
Speaker 2: so they walked around, you know, and taste bits and
Speaker 2: pieces as you were cooking. You didn't really get any
Speaker 2: feedback from that period, So I guess that for them that's.
Speaker 4: Important because you know, they don't want to give away
Speaker 4: how you're going.
Speaker 2: And although they gave us advice, they didn't tell us
Speaker 2: how to cook our dishes. There was no information regarding, oh,
Speaker 2: you should do this or you should do.
Speaker 4: That to improve the favor.
Speaker 2: You know, you made your own decisions in that kitchen,
Speaker 2: and they didn't really discuss how to improve the dish.
Speaker 2: They did taste it, so they weren't getting I guess,
Speaker 2: a certain feel to how that dish might be. But sometimes,
Speaker 2: you know, certainly in my case, I'd end up with
Speaker 2: such a small amount of food they couldn't taste it,
Speaker 2: you know, like the eggs. So I did have planned
Speaker 2: an extra egg to try at the bench and see
Speaker 2: how it works with the source.
Speaker 4: But I break that egg peeling it, so and I didn't.
Speaker 2: I just didn't have time to do multiple eggs.
Speaker 4: You just don't have the time.
Speaker 2: You can do possibly one extra egg and if that
Speaker 2: egg breaks and it doesn't work well, then that's your
Speaker 2: opportunity gone. And you know it doesn't get checked until
Speaker 2: the end, So yeah, it's a cash twenty two. Do
Speaker 2: you have a bit extra so they can taste things
Speaker 2: while you're cooking, you know, mixed the fire to see
Speaker 2: what it's like. But then you don't finish the dish
Speaker 2: because you've tried to do too.
Speaker 4: Much or do you just do enough? You know, So
Speaker 4: that's a.
Speaker 2: Competition, and you know all competitions you have to make
Speaker 2: that judgment call.
Speaker 1: But if you got back for an All Stars, would
Speaker 1: you try and do that more?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 1: Do you think there is a priority in making sure
Speaker 1: that there's enough sort of to the side for the
Speaker 1: judges to be journalized in your cooks?
Speaker 2: I think it's really important because yes, I probably would
Speaker 2: more than I did in this show because the times
Speaker 2: that I was not successful, you know, like I wouldn't
Speaker 2: say UNSECX. Well I was unsuccessful obviously with the egg dish,
Speaker 2: But I think if they could have actually tasted that
Speaker 2: dish the way it was meant to be, I think
Speaker 2: I would have still been there. Because there was other
Speaker 2: dishes that didn't work on that day. For example, you
Speaker 2: know Pez's to flay that just didn't work.
Speaker 4: It was completely flat.
Speaker 2: I mean, it wasn't a tooo flay, but he had
Speaker 2: all the flavors on the plate, so I guess I
Speaker 2: could taste what that concept could have been rather than
Speaker 2: not taste what it could be. And that's where it
Speaker 2: was the difference, I guess between him and me.
Speaker 4: You know, like there.
Speaker 2: Wasn't enough egg yoak to go into the sauce to
Speaker 2: make the sauce complete, so they couldn't really taste what
Speaker 2: it could have been like. And they couldn't taste what
Speaker 2: it could have been like on the bench because I
Speaker 2: didn't have the X egg.
Speaker 1: But I'd like to bring this sort of stuff up
Speaker 1: on the podcast because I know people who are going
Speaker 1: to go on the show do listen back and pick
Speaker 1: out some tips and write like a.
Speaker 3: Bit of a Dorsier on what needs to work.
Speaker 1: And I think that really was what might have separated
Speaker 1: you and might have had you out of the competition,
Speaker 1: even though you were a big personality and someone who
Speaker 1: had had achieved probably more than some of the other
Speaker 1: people that are still left in the show, you know,
Speaker 1: So I think it's a key thing to highlight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, But it's a competition, you know, and it's
Speaker 2: like all competitions when you get to the pointy end
Speaker 2: of the competition, you know, like just one small mistake
Speaker 2: that lets you down. And if it's a mistake on
Speaker 2: the wrong day, you know, like if that cook had
Speaker 2: been the day before, I wouldn't have gone home the
Speaker 2: next day.
Speaker 4: I could have done a great cook.
Speaker 1: I have been asking everyone so just very quickly, we'll
Speaker 1: do this and you have to only pick one, which
Speaker 1: is very scary, but can you give me your favorite
Speaker 1: judge and can you give me who is left in
Speaker 1: the kitchen who you would like to see?
Speaker 2: When I have to say my judge was Poet because
Speaker 2: she's hung from the same roots, you know as the
Speaker 2: other contestants, and she's done so well with her career,
Speaker 2: and she's always got a smile on us, you know,
Speaker 2: like she's just a kind hearted person.
Speaker 3: I'll take it. And our contestant, I'd love.
Speaker 2: To see Alex win because she's such a last person
Speaker 2: and I really think she needs to win, you know,
Speaker 2: she wants to have a career in the industry, and
Speaker 2: I think it's important and I'd like to see how
Speaker 2: let's win.
Speaker 3: It's a good one. I'll take it.
Speaker 1: And the last question I ask everyone who joins the podcast, Steve,
Speaker 1: is what is something from behind the scenes, something that
Speaker 1: we didn't get a chance to see, kind of like
Speaker 1: a behind the scenes secret from your time in the
Speaker 1: Master Chef kitchen.
Speaker 2: That's a chippy one here. I was surprised our friendly,
Speaker 2: our approachable, and what a sense of humor Jamie Oliver has,
Speaker 2: you know, I was very surprised that he's just down
Speaker 2: to a bloat that enjoys a good laugh like all
Speaker 2: of us, and he enjoyed having a laugh in us
Speaker 2: and making a joke for things.
Speaker 1: I wonder how many contestants have ever tried to like
Speaker 1: email him or keep in touch and ask him to
Speaker 1: come around to their place, like next time you're in Queensland,
Speaker 1: come around.
Speaker 2: He certainly said some messages to me about the show
Speaker 2: and push my best you know, and say as John.
Speaker 4: Christoph and so as Coe.
Speaker 2: They've all been very kind and approachable, so you know,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, you know, eacham you
Speaker 2: wants to come out of a holiday and bribe you on.
Speaker 4: He's welcome at Mayass.
Speaker 1: It's starting to sound very inviting. I think anyone listening
Speaker 1: to this podcast at the moment is would like an
Speaker 1: invitation there.
Speaker 4: Oh it's a beautiful place to live. It's a beautiful place.
Speaker 3: Amazing.
Speaker 1: Look, Steve, I have thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you today.
Speaker 1: I think that you're an amazing person. I think you
Speaker 1: should be super proud of this whole experience on Master Chef,
Speaker 1: and I think I feel like finishing this by saying
Speaker 1: I don't feel like Australia has done with your story.
Speaker 3: I feel like we will see you in that.
Speaker 1: Kitchen again, or something's going to happen, and.
Speaker 2: I hope so I hope something happens because I don't
Speaker 2: want to go back to croc andiles.
Speaker 3: There's more to you than that.
Speaker 4: Thanks very much, have a nice day.
Speaker 3: Yeah you too, mate,