Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week they light Welcome.
Speaker 2: Back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on
Speaker 2: this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest
Speaker 2: players in television. Each episode you will get a front
Speaker 2: row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors
Speaker 2: and casting agents, plus the talent that we see on
Speaker 2: our screens. TV Reload reloads the shows that you are
Speaker 2: currently watching and gives you a better insight at our
Speaker 2: television industry and streaming services today. On the podcast, I
Speaker 2: have two special guests from the latest series of Mastershire
Speaker 2: for Australia. I have Chris and Dolan, who were the
Speaker 2: first and second contestants to be eliminated from the competition,
Speaker 2: but they totally left an impression on Australian audiences. The
Speaker 2: competition is in its fourteenth season and this time Channel
Speaker 2: ten have served up an impressive cast of fans versus favorites.
Speaker 2: The competition is unbelievable and the food content being so
Speaker 2: is exactly why this show is just as impressive now
Speaker 2: as ever before. You can also here with today's guests
Speaker 2: that Master Sheeff Australia has a backbone to its structure
Speaker 2: that relies on building relationships rather than manufacturing drama, which
Speaker 2: is quite rare in the landscape of reality television all
Speaker 2: around the world. Today, Chris will talk about his time
Speaker 2: on the show and unpack his highs and lows. I
Speaker 2: then move on to Delan, who will talk about his
Speaker 2: insights into how he thinks he prepared for the intensity
Speaker 2: of that kitchen. However, let's get started with this week's episode.
Speaker 2: I'd like to first welcome Chris to TV Reload.
Speaker 1: I went to zero expectations, man like I didn't think
Speaker 1: I was going to get through master Sheriff hast produced
Speaker 1: some of the biggest names in food.
Speaker 3: I just decided to apply and then got the call the.
Speaker 2: First time ever. It's fans versus feverites.
Speaker 1: They don't want you to forget the moment, like how
Speaker 1: you feel the most talented team of vans that we've
Speaker 1: ever found.
Speaker 3: That has a lot to prove just because she was
Speaker 3: the first winner.
Speaker 2: These fans have been watching season after season of Mastership,
Speaker 2: and now it's their time.
Speaker 1: The kitchen has changed, the challenges have changed, the judges
Speaker 1: have changed, the whole formats different.
Speaker 2: Hi, Chris, how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm going really well, actually, or the excitement's sort of
Speaker 3: gone and now I can just enjoy watching the show
Speaker 3: as a spectator.
Speaker 2: Absolutely well. Congratulations on your time on Australian Master Chef.
Speaker 2: It was an absolute rollercoaster write for you. What specifically
Speaker 2: did you learn from your time on the fourteenth series.
Speaker 3: I learned that I was resilient. A lot of stuff
Speaker 3: didn't go right on the show, even in my successful cooks,
Speaker 3: but it's finding myself and you know, being able to
Speaker 3: stay calm and be in the moment.
Speaker 2: From the moment you turned up on the show, there
Speaker 2: was just something so incredibly relatable about you. And you know,
Speaker 2: from being an officionado of reality television, I've quickly worked
Speaker 2: out that somehow I seem to connect to the first
Speaker 2: person who leaves. I don't know what that is. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's the underdog in myself, but I think you stood
Speaker 2: out and so I think that that's pretty impressive, Todo.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Look, you know what, the support has been
Speaker 3: amazing too. A lot of people have said that they've
Speaker 3: connected with me and I was just being me, So
Speaker 3: I don't know what I was doing any different to
Speaker 3: everyone else, but really it's really cool. To hear that
Speaker 3: sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: Well, that's why you get picked to be on these shows.
Speaker 2: You know, you have to have some kind of X factor,
Speaker 2: you know. I'm so inspired by watching the food and
Speaker 2: watching the cooking every episode, But I want to know,
Speaker 2: how did you get inspired to apply for the show.
Speaker 3: I've always been around good food because my dad was
Speaker 3: a chef, so we've always had good food around us,
Speaker 3: But I never really appreciated the cooking side of things
Speaker 3: up until the first Lockdown in twenty twenty, so at that,
Speaker 3: I guess at that stage, and I was doing food
Speaker 3: photography just because I had nothing else to take photos on,
Speaker 3: and I was missing mum's food as well, So I
Speaker 3: started cooking and taking photos of that. And then Back
Speaker 3: to Win came on and I was like, oh man,
Speaker 3: this is just skipping me in all different places. And
Speaker 3: I started cooking more and I fell in love with it.
Speaker 2: And then how did you apply, like, you know, how
Speaker 2: to get onto the show? Were people watching you through
Speaker 2: the windows of your home? Did you just fill out
Speaker 2: an application process? Did someone w you in?
Speaker 3: Pretty much? Someone dogged me in. So an old friend
Speaker 3: of mine actually who used to be on the who
Speaker 3: was on the show I can't remember what season a
Speaker 3: few years back, and she encouraged me to apply, and
Speaker 3: I was like, echindy me, I only have been doing
Speaker 3: this for that long. But she was like, oh, you'll
Speaker 3: be fine, and you know, got nothing to lose. So
Speaker 3: I was like, you, I suppose you're right, you know,
Speaker 3: like I'm in a good place in my life. I
Speaker 3: might as well just give it a shot. Nothing happens
Speaker 3: and no one needs to know about it. But I
Speaker 3: just decided to apply and then got the call, and
Speaker 3: then there you.
Speaker 2: Are and getting back to sort of the inspiration of
Speaker 2: the food was funny. In one of the episodes, you
Speaker 2: revealed that you had to cook with anchovies, and I
Speaker 2: immediately paused what I was watching because I have the
Speaker 2: luxury of doing it. I was watching it on catch up,
Speaker 2: and I went and bought anchovies to go and make something.
Speaker 2: Yeah with that food, I mean, is it resful? And
Speaker 2: does that really change the course of your whole time
Speaker 2: on the show, with just the choice of something so
Speaker 2: simple as anchopies?
Speaker 3: It does, just because look, for me, that was a
Speaker 3: really interesting cook because I mean, this is what the
Speaker 3: show's about, you know, like you're always in that comfort
Speaker 3: zone of choosing whatever you want to cook. I mean,
Speaker 3: this is part of the reason why I got on,
Speaker 3: because I needed to challenge myself. Obviously it wasn't the
Speaker 3: best cook. You had a couple of stumbles along the
Speaker 3: way because I was worrying about the stir fry, and
Speaker 3: then I started to smell.
Speaker 2: Some burning and I was like, whoops, the noodles.
Speaker 3: Luckily I had a second batch. You didn't change out
Speaker 3: the oil. Though I didn't change out the oil. It
Speaker 3: was right down to the wire, so I didn't actually
Speaker 3: get to taste it. Okay, So I'm hoping that it's okay.
Speaker 2: You know, when working with the producers, did they give
Speaker 2: you a sense of how they wanted your character to
Speaker 2: come across or how you were going to fit into
Speaker 2: the cast.
Speaker 3: We never really had that discussion, you know. It was
Speaker 3: just like me for me being me. So I think
Speaker 3: that's the only thing I can do, that's the only
Speaker 3: thing that I can control. I think if I did
Speaker 3: anything different, it would have come off wrong or not authentic.
Speaker 2: Do they ever say to you, let's lean into this
Speaker 2: aspect of you know who you are? That's just I
Speaker 2: always was curious about it.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm just a bit lucky in the sense that
Speaker 3: you know, like it was okay for.
Speaker 1: Me to be me.
Speaker 2: You were delivering.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I was doing all the right things.
Speaker 2: The choices in what gets shown and what happens on television.
Speaker 2: Was that interesting for you to watch it back?
Speaker 3: Yeah? It was actually just because when you're cooking and
Speaker 3: then when you're up there talking to the judges, you're
Speaker 3: in the moment, you know, and you know it's surreal
Speaker 3: you're talking to people that you've been watching on TV
Speaker 3: for the last few years. It's like every day. It
Speaker 3: was just like, oh my god, so I'm making a
Speaker 3: Christian noodle of mission in Vietnamese. Just one of my
Speaker 3: favorite things eating growing up, and just fond memories of
Speaker 3: this dish. I grew up not seeing Dad that often,
Speaker 3: but we did manage to spend time together on the weekends.
Speaker 3: We'd go every Sunday for this shop in foot Stray.
Speaker 3: We didn't know the name of the shop, and it
Speaker 3: was green, so we just called a green shop, and
Speaker 3: it was just like, I've got green shop?
Speaker 1: Did I get mess young tactic?
Speaker 3: There were certain things that I would have that I
Speaker 3: said that I didn't know I said until I watched
Speaker 3: fac and I was like, oh, Like, for example, when
Speaker 3: mal said how was your spaghetti work or how was
Speaker 3: your pastor work? I was like, yeah, I think it's good.
Speaker 3: I was like, did I say that? Because clearly, you know,
Speaker 3: I wasn't that happy with my pastor.
Speaker 2: It's one of those things though, you know, It's what
Speaker 2: happens to your mind when you're an everyday person and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden you're in front of a camera.
Speaker 2: We don't realize sort of what we're what we're saying.
Speaker 2: But also sometimes I think a lot of people don't
Speaker 2: realize how they come across to others. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I always thought about that as well, and I think
Speaker 3: for me there was also part of the reason why
Speaker 3: I was kind of nervous about coming on. I was
Speaker 3: just like, look, I'm pretty true to myself. I know
Speaker 3: who I am, but you know, there's always that degree
Speaker 3: of you know, oh you will people like me and
Speaker 3: all that sort of stuff. So that's nerve wracking.
Speaker 2: It's like therapy. Reality televisions like therapy.
Speaker 1: It is, isn't it.
Speaker 3: But like I said earlier, it's a lot about self discovery.
Speaker 3: You don't know, you don't have the luxury of seeing yourself.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not like it's a weird thing. You know,
Speaker 3: I probably wouldn't recommend it for everyone. Get help in
Speaker 3: other ways if you need something like that. But you know,
Speaker 3: for me, it was interesting, like there's obviously things I
Speaker 3: can improve on too, you know, like the way I
Speaker 3: handle stressed. Maybe shouldn't be so nervous. Maybe figure out
Speaker 3: why my hands shake when I get so nervous. You know,
Speaker 3: this all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: When did you learn that you would be up against
Speaker 2: some of these amazing returning favorites.
Speaker 3: You know, I had already applied, right, and then I
Speaker 3: think there was like a leak. I think initially it
Speaker 3: was like fans versus food is and Julie Goodwin's there,
Speaker 3: and I was like, what, like I just a bit
Speaker 3: of my application. Maybe I should have just waited next year,
Speaker 3: because this is this is insane.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know what was really strange is throughout
Speaker 2: the production, you know, Julie at times look super nervous,
Speaker 2: you know, and all of us know her as this
Speaker 2: she's almost the face of Master Chef because she was
Speaker 2: the first winner. What was it like during your time
Speaker 2: on the show. Was she more or less as you expected?
Speaker 2: Her to be.
Speaker 3: She was everything I expected and more. I think there
Speaker 3: was no one on that show more genuine than Julie
Speaker 3: Goodwin to me, especially reconnected straight away. She's such a
Speaker 3: beautiful person. What you see on screen is absolutely who
Speaker 3: she is. You know, she's hilarious. You know she's gone
Speaker 3: through so much, but you know she's resilient and she's
Speaker 3: an inspiring person. We've seen it, even in that first week.
Speaker 3: You know she has a lot to prove just because
Speaker 3: she was the first winner, and I reckon she's delivered.
Speaker 3: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: It's great television.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It all came down to that last meal where you
Speaker 2: burnt the noodles in your Misa young. I think I've
Speaker 2: said that correctly and then didn't take and then didn't take.
Speaker 2: You didn't take the fresh batch of noodles out of
Speaker 2: the oil. And you know, first point to this is
Speaker 2: have you had nightmares? Because I can imagine that you
Speaker 2: would have you had nightmares about that cook since filming.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd be lying if I did not nightmares. But
Speaker 3: there's moments where I'm just like, you know what it
Speaker 3: feels if you gave me back thirty seconds or even
Speaker 3: a minute that that cook would have gone completely different.
Speaker 3: It didn't occur to me to change the oil there.
Speaker 2: I should have cleaned it out first.
Speaker 3: The oil is going to affect the taste of my noodles.
Speaker 3: I mean, I could leave the noodles of the plate,
Speaker 3: but the dish might be a little bit too simple,
Speaker 3: so I decided to roll with it. The issue was yet,
Speaker 3: obviously the burnt oil, so it did not occur to me.
Speaker 3: I think the mass Shift kitchen does think to you,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of pressure in there. You don't think
Speaker 3: this is the question.
Speaker 2: I think all of you must be thinking. You know,
Speaker 2: when you come out of the competition a little bit early,
Speaker 2: you know, if you had your chance over again, was
Speaker 2: there a meal that you had up your sleeve that
Speaker 2: we didn't get to see that was kind of like
Speaker 2: your hero cook that you're holding onto.
Speaker 3: There were a couple, but there was one dish that
Speaker 3: I really wanted to make. I've been playing around with
Speaker 3: more vietname is food, just because it's food that my
Speaker 3: mum cooks for me growing up, and I'm at that
Speaker 3: stage of my life where I'm now like I need
Speaker 3: to start embracing my culture more and learning from mum
Speaker 3: so does a dish called Migua, which is it's a
Speaker 3: noodle dish. It's sort of like a soup slash salad
Speaker 3: type noodle. It's really weird, like it uses a broth,
Speaker 3: but very minimal broth. It's delicious. It's like turmeric noodles,
Speaker 3: and it's Yeah, it's something I really wanted to try making.
Speaker 2: It's great to hear that you're saying that, you know
Speaker 2: that you're wanting to reinvest in seat of explore your culture.
Speaker 3: I'm at that stage in my life where I'm starting
Speaker 3: to find myself and reconnect with what's important to me
Speaker 3: or what I know now is important to me. Back then,
Speaker 3: you know, when I was a kid, it was all
Speaker 3: about fitting in. It's a different world that we live
Speaker 3: in these days, and people are much more accepting. So
Speaker 3: I feel like that's really empowering for me to embrace
Speaker 3: who I am.
Speaker 2: I grew up in the nineties, so it's like everyone
Speaker 2: had to look like the cast of friends, and then,
Speaker 2: you know, you look at the generation these days and
Speaker 2: people are just gravitating. They want to own their individualism,
Speaker 2: you know, which we never did before. You know, we
Speaker 2: were all trying to just fit in. And fly under
Speaker 2: the radar. You know, what are you going to do
Speaker 2: with this platform? You know, with great power comes great responsibility,
Speaker 2: not just for Spider Man Ben, but for chefs as well.
Speaker 2: Have you started to think about what do you want
Speaker 2: to what you want to do, and what's next for you?
Speaker 3: Short term? For me, I want to keep cooking, you know,
Speaker 3: I've still got so much to learn, so I'm going
Speaker 3: to start looking around hopefully get some work experience in
Speaker 3: a kitchen. That's short term.
Speaker 1: I know this isn't the way you wanted to go out.
Speaker 3: Sucks being first, but had a blast. I mean it's
Speaker 3: only been a week, but I learn a lot in
Speaker 3: this short period of time. And I'm going to go
Speaker 3: home and I'm going to keep cooking and have you
Speaker 3: see me next time. I'm just going to be a
Speaker 3: better cook. You know, I don't know whether being a
Speaker 3: full time chef is for me yet figure it out,
Speaker 3: but ultimately I love food, photography, and I love writing,
Speaker 3: so hopefully, you know there might be something in media
Speaker 3: for me, or even just following that passion that would
Speaker 3: be sweet.
Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you that nothing comes easily in
Speaker 2: the industry of media, but if you build it they
Speaker 2: will come, and I think that you have a very
Speaker 2: strong talent there, so you should you should hang on
Speaker 2: to that. And I think Melissa was right. You know,
Speaker 2: she gave you a piece of advice. Don't be afraid
Speaker 2: to put your foot on the gas and give it
Speaker 2: some extra and that's probably that's probably what you need.
Speaker 3: Well, I think now I've got the confidence to do so,
Speaker 3: So you know that's sort of that sort of advice.
Speaker 3: Is that it really stuck with me.
Speaker 2: Who's your pick to win at this point of the competition,
Speaker 2: not who you might know or whatever the rumor mill
Speaker 2: might be saying, but at this point when you left
Speaker 2: the competition, who is your pick to win the show?
Speaker 3: That's a tough one, right. So when I got in,
Speaker 3: I always thought Tommy and Manoli were the strongest, just
Speaker 3: because they've just come off the show. You know, they're
Speaker 3: match fit, you know they use to the pressure, so
Speaker 3: I alsought they were the strongest. But after seeing what
Speaker 3: everyone's been doing, everyone is so strong in the favorites,
Speaker 3: so it'd be tough to go against them. But you
Speaker 3: know I'm biased too, so you can go anyway, like
Speaker 3: I'm hoping a fan will win, But it's going to
Speaker 3: be tough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's it's anyone's game at this point,
Speaker 2: because look, it's like a chooser own invention novel. One
Speaker 2: minute you're at the top of the class and the
Speaker 2: next minute you're leaving. You know, even watching Harry's standing
Speaker 2: there with you, you know, you'd be shocked watching the
Speaker 2: story arcs, you know, thinking how quickly you can just
Speaker 2: all of a sudden be gone from the show.
Speaker 3: It's good television, it's good.
Speaker 2: Telling, you know. I asked someone, I asked this to
Speaker 2: everyone who joins the podcast. What's something from behind the
Speaker 2: scenes that we didn't get a chance to see that
Speaker 2: we won't see from your making of Master Chef? Maybe
Speaker 2: behind the scenes tasty morsel.
Speaker 3: For me, the behind the scenes is more so just
Speaker 3: the hanging out outside of the kitchen, you know, like
Speaker 3: being in each other's apartments and tasting each other's food.
Speaker 3: That was like probably one of the best parts of
Speaker 3: it all, just because no pressure of the cameras, no
Speaker 3: pressure of the judges, is just people genuinely enjoying cooking
Speaker 3: for each other, and that's what it was all about.
Speaker 3: For me, that was great.
Speaker 2: Have you got who's your best friend? From the show.
Speaker 2: Can we can we.
Speaker 3: Say that my best from the show. Oh no, I
Speaker 3: can't say that. I don't know who it is.
Speaker 2: Tell me who's gonna who do you reckon? You'll be
Speaker 2: still talking to in ten years? Who will you be
Speaker 2: cooking with in ten years?
Speaker 3: You know what the beauty, the beauty of social media is,
Speaker 3: I'll be connecting with everyone. But that being said, anyone
Speaker 3: in Melbourne. You know, it's it's easier to catch up
Speaker 3: with them. So all my Melbourne people are just yeah,
Speaker 3: they're They're great.
Speaker 2: Will keep me posted because I'm a Melbourneite. So I
Speaker 2: can come to a pop up restaurant if you're doing so,
Speaker 2: because well, I'm in your audience, so I'll be there.
Speaker 1: Awesome, Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2: It was so amazing to be able to have this
Speaker 2: chat with you. And yeah, enjoy the ride.
Speaker 3: I loved it man, Thank you. Thanks Andrew, Well.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed that chat with Chris. He was
Speaker 2: fantastic on this season and I really hope he finds
Speaker 2: his niche in the industry. But from first Out to
Speaker 2: second Out, I now have Delan, who I will bring
Speaker 2: into the chat.
Speaker 1: When I cook, I just zone out of all the issues,
Speaker 1: problems or whatever happens in the background. I've been a
Speaker 1: fan of Master Chef for many years. I even watched
Speaker 1: season one.
Speaker 2: You know, Hi, Delan, how are you.
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm you.
Speaker 2: I'm really good. And I have to say congratulations on
Speaker 2: your time on Australian Master Chef. I'm in awe of
Speaker 2: your polywaffle attempt because of your ability to stay calm
Speaker 2: during this pressure test. Where did you learn that strength from?
Speaker 1: How to stay calm? Yeah, I've been married for a while,
Speaker 1: two kids, two really young kids. I run my own listeners,
Speaker 1: dealing with employees. I think you learn a little bit
Speaker 1: from I think all of that.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe watching it because I guess in comparison
Speaker 2: to Alvin, he was losing his mind, and you were
Speaker 2: smiling and always looking like you could walk the runway,
Speaker 2: and yet you know, things were kind of falling down
Speaker 2: around you, but you still manage to have this brilliant attitude.
Speaker 1: Even though stuff was going wrong, not my way at
Speaker 1: the start. If I kept going and if I was
Speaker 1: worrying about it, it's just going to make everything worse,
Speaker 1: not better. So it was just one element that's just
Speaker 1: that tempering off that chocolate at the start that really
Speaker 1: got me behind. The temperature is not dropping, so I
Speaker 1: know I'm a bit behind now, isn't it one more degree?
Speaker 1: I won't go down? Why don't temporary properly? I'm not
Speaker 1: going to get that texture or that thickness. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to take my time with this, but like a
Speaker 1: half an hour or so. But you know, I made
Speaker 1: sure that I don't take any shortcuts. We're tempering the
Speaker 1: chocolate because that's the whole dish. If I don't get
Speaker 1: the chocolate right to the right consistency, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to have a waffle.
Speaker 2: I can imagine that there would be a lot of
Speaker 2: people trying to recreate a lot of these Master chef recipes.
Speaker 2: Do you think that this particular Adriano Zombo creation is
Speaker 2: something that people could recreate in their homes?
Speaker 1: I can think of a few people that would try
Speaker 1: to recreate it. But yeah, I reckon you could if
Speaker 1: there's a lot of ingredients. Man Like, there's loads and
Speaker 1: loads of ingredients, and to be honest, there're some ingredients
Speaker 1: that I haven't never even heard of.
Speaker 4: Pectin is the ingredient in the jam that's going to
Speaker 4: make it set, and it's a critical element in this dish.
Speaker 4: And if I don't get the jam right, I know
Speaker 4: that that's the end of the road for me.
Speaker 2: Can you yell out to the rooftop, you know, to
Speaker 2: the balcony and ask some of the other maybe more
Speaker 2: experienced chefs or maybe chefs that might possibly use that
Speaker 2: ingredient more? Can you ask them for any advice?
Speaker 1: Well, because you're under a lot of time, fresh are
Speaker 1: you don't really care what that ingredient does. Throw it
Speaker 1: in there, jack it in and then cook for that
Speaker 1: long and then let to worry about what that ingredientctually does.
Speaker 2: I loved your comment that it looked like a rat
Speaker 2: with feathers. I just couldn't stop laughing.
Speaker 1: What else are you supposed to do? Because if you
Speaker 1: don't enjoy what you're doing, and if you don't have
Speaker 1: a little bit of fun while you're doing that, there's
Speaker 1: no there's no point in life. I guess, yeah, it
Speaker 1: looks like a rat with feathers. It's okay, Dolan, have
Speaker 1: you seen mine?
Speaker 2: You're okay.
Speaker 1: I knew my marshmallow was going to be an issue
Speaker 1: because it kind of by the time I hyped him
Speaker 1: went back to the first one to spread it. It
Speaker 1: was set already, so I didn't have time to redo
Speaker 1: the whole batch, which I could have I had I
Speaker 1: had more ingredients, but I didn't want to be falled
Speaker 1: I didn't want to fall behind on time again, so
Speaker 1: I just went with it, chucked all the other ingredients,
Speaker 1: leveled them on top. But then Andy and Jock came
Speaker 1: along and said, look, it looked like more a rocky road. Mate.
Speaker 1: It does look like a rocky road. But if it
Speaker 1: tastes like Zimberest dessert, I'm.
Speaker 2: Happy, absolutely, and I love rocky road, so that would
Speaker 2: have worked well for me.
Speaker 1: I don't know whether you saw it. It was in
Speaker 1: the episode where last ten minutes I'm reading, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the shapes. There was like a diagram with like
Speaker 1: shapes and you know, some wordings on how to assemble this.
Speaker 1: I'm reading this and a kid, you're not. There's nothing
Speaker 1: processing in my mind. So I'm reading it. There's nothing.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't understand what I'm reading. It's like
Speaker 1: i'm reading a different language. I can read it, but
Speaker 1: I can't understand what it says. That's how mentally exhaust
Speaker 1: I was. I'm my forgiving. I'm reading this and like,
Speaker 1: nothing is going to my head, so I have to
Speaker 1: step back, take a moment, drink bit of water, calm
Speaker 1: myself even more further, and then go looked around and
Speaker 1: I can see people are doing it. I'm like, all right, cool,
Speaker 1: that's how that's how you do it. And not both
Speaker 1: in myself, but I was. I was quite happy with
Speaker 1: the dish I presented in the end.
Speaker 2: I mean, I just couldn't believe it. I was watching
Speaker 2: it and I was thinking, this guy is just so calm.
Speaker 2: But you know, it brings me to a good point.
Speaker 2: There is an almost amount of production on this show.
Speaker 2: How distracting is that kind of production when you're cooking.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it is, Yeah, it is. It is a distraction
Speaker 1: because you'll have people talking to you. You'll have the
Speaker 1: game tree people talking to you, the judges coming up
Speaker 1: to you. Because you want to be you know, put
Speaker 1: your head down and then you know, read the recipe
Speaker 1: and then make sure those elements are working right for you.
Speaker 1: But then if you look up and answer a question,
Speaker 1: you know, something might burn or something might set. But
Speaker 1: it is a distraction, but you have to I mean,
Speaker 1: it is. It is part of the show. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like if you're just there looking down
Speaker 1: and working and going home, how people are going to
Speaker 1: connect with you? Know what I mean? So I get it.
Speaker 1: I get that part of it. So you just have
Speaker 1: a roll with it, multitask, be cool with it. Just
Speaker 1: just all the above.
Speaker 2: How long after those cooks are you doing those pieces
Speaker 2: to camera?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Straight after because you want to capture them. I mean,
Speaker 1: they don't want you to forget the moment, Like how
Speaker 1: you feel like it is that you I don't know
Speaker 1: as a viewer me, I connect with them thing, oh
Speaker 1: like my dish was going bad, and when they say
Speaker 1: my dish was going bad, I feel it in their
Speaker 1: voice that the concern they have or when they were
Speaker 1: super happy, you can feel it in their voice. Right,
Speaker 1: So they capture they make sure they doesn't you don't
Speaker 1: sleep on it, and then come back and give something
Speaker 1: totally different.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess you can't sort of lose that feeling.
Speaker 2: And also, fans versus favorites is you know, just such
Speaker 2: a daunting process. When did you learn that you would
Speaker 2: be up against some of these amazing returning favorites.
Speaker 1: It was announcing media duly good when Michael Alvin and
Speaker 1: Sarah Tide. I think those who were announced, so we
Speaker 1: kind of knew before I was selected. I knew that
Speaker 1: they were there, and I was super excited. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god. All the other names we didn't know
Speaker 1: up until we were We got our aprons and we're
Speaker 1: just standing there and one, two, three, they just kept
Speaker 1: walking in and we just believed. So Sash, You're like, what.
Speaker 2: Was there anyone that wasn't there? Did you have any
Speaker 2: favorites that that you were expected to be there that
Speaker 2: weren't they?
Speaker 1: Look I really like Pete from last year, okay, you
Speaker 1: know back to when they had they got Simon back.
Speaker 1: You know, he was runners up, and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh here Pete Kishra, you know, runners up, they might
Speaker 1: come back sort of thing, some unfinished business. Unfortunately they
Speaker 1: weren't there. But all the others that came through like amazing,
Speaker 1: amazing human beings. I love them a bit.
Speaker 2: I wondered if they brought back Khan after doing Survivor,
Speaker 2: whether or not he'd get the two shows confused.
Speaker 1: We had many jokes about this kid coming back from
Speaker 1: Survivor and like, treating imagine that, how wasn't the show
Speaker 1: would be.
Speaker 2: Put those two shows together, and I think you've got
Speaker 2: something there, Oregon. There's some some interest in that show.
Speaker 2: You know, Julie Goodwin is getting a lot of love
Speaker 2: on camera and people are tweeting a lot about her
Speaker 2: during the show, and a lot of people saying that
Speaker 2: they need to keep her in the show to keep
Speaker 2: the ratings. Do you think that, being a champion of
Speaker 2: her magnitude, that she's getting any special treatment.
Speaker 1: Julie is Oh, they call it the og, you know,
Speaker 1: like she is the queen of Master Chef, And I
Speaker 1: don't think Master Chef Kitchen doesn't work like that, Ben,
Speaker 1: because you know, it's worst dish off the day goes home.
Speaker 1: Regardless you're Julie Goodwin or if you're Delive, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: It's you know, if she's there because she can cook
Speaker 1: and her dishes and unfortunately she was in that pressure
Speaker 1: test last night because her dish proofs day didn't work out.
Speaker 1: It's just like that, you know, if I didn't use
Speaker 1: the hibbachi, for instance, in my for my cook, who knows,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have gone into the pressure test. So things
Speaker 1: like that, Ben, Like it's really you can't really unlike
Speaker 1: other shows I think you can't really script somehow someone
Speaker 1: cooks or how it comes across.
Speaker 2: So you can't you can't fake that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Do you think that fans versus favorites, now that you've
Speaker 2: competed in it is unfair in the kitchen because you know,
Speaker 2: the fans coming back against these returning contestants, I mean,
Speaker 2: they've kind of understood the experience, is it. Do you
Speaker 2: think it's an unfair competition.
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of speculation about that in
Speaker 1: the media, like that's but again, I have to say,
Speaker 1: some of these faves, like Julie, Alvin, even Michael, they're
Speaker 1: coming back after my god like years and years like Julie,
Speaker 1: say forty after forty years and stuff. You know, it's
Speaker 1: the kitchen has changed, the challenges have changed, the judges
Speaker 1: have changed, the whole formats different. So it's it's really
Speaker 1: hard for you to be like knowing, I don't they
Speaker 1: know how to be. But even we saw Alvin and Julie,
Speaker 1: they still feel the pressure. So I don't think that's true.
Speaker 1: The fans came hungry. The fans are hungry, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, So that's maybe that's the reason we
Speaker 1: got selected as the twelve of these fans because we
Speaker 1: were really hungry to get in there and compete.
Speaker 2: What made you want to take part in this show?
Speaker 2: I mean, how did you get cast?
Speaker 1: It was COVID. I was at home. We couldn't go out,
Speaker 1: we couldn't eat at we couldn't travel, so had to
Speaker 1: recreate all these things. I didn't even go to the
Speaker 1: next suburb to my parents' house to eat my mum's cooking,
Speaker 1: so we had to recreate every single thing at home.
Speaker 1: So I was cooking every single day, multiple times a
Speaker 1: day sometimes, and from that it's just spraled, and I
Speaker 1: just kept on posting on social media, just went nuts,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, why don't I just I wast all
Speaker 1: by my wife? And why don't you just applied mastership?
Speaker 1: It'll be fun, Like you know, he was doing Lockdown.
Speaker 1: We didn't know how long Lockdown's going to go for.
Speaker 1: And then one after another, I just kept going through
Speaker 1: the process, getting through the stages, and I went to
Speaker 1: the zero expectations man Like, I didn't think I was
Speaker 1: going to get through because there's so many other good
Speaker 1: contestants out there as well. But maybe there saw something
Speaker 1: that in me that they liked and here.
Speaker 2: I am, well, I think you've got an X factor.
Speaker 2: I mean, you really did cut through, which is amazing
Speaker 2: to say. I mean there's just so many people at
Speaker 2: this early stage of the competition, but yet you still
Speaker 2: had such a strong presence. You know, if you had
Speaker 2: your chance over again, is there a meal that you
Speaker 2: had up your sleeve? It didn't get a chance to see.
Speaker 1: There's so many Sri Lankan dishes that I wanted to
Speaker 1: cook showcase the judges. I knownly does a lot of
Speaker 1: Shri Lankan cooking, but the way her where the way
Speaker 1: she cooks was the way I cook different. You know,
Speaker 1: you can have the same cuisine, but you'll have one
Speaker 1: hundred different ways of doing it. And also I really
Speaker 1: want to learn a bit more, get into a bit
Speaker 1: more of desserts as well, like you know, not as
Speaker 1: crazy as zoombo is it, but you know, showcase a
Speaker 1: little bit of that side of me as well. But again,
Speaker 1: no regrets. You know what happened has happened. And look
Speaker 1: now I'm excited to be on social media and showcase
Speaker 1: that dishes. I will, So I'm really excited to jump
Speaker 1: on social media and then yeah, I'll be putting out
Speaker 1: a lot of cool content out there.
Speaker 2: I'm in your audience, let me tell you. And you know,
Speaker 2: I guess that's a good question to ask you. I mean,
Speaker 2: what are you going to do with this platform? I
Speaker 2: always say with great power comes great responsibility, not just
Speaker 2: for Spider Man but for chefs as well. You know,
Speaker 2: what are you going to what do you want to
Speaker 2: add to social media? Like, what is it that you'd
Speaker 2: like to be able to do coming off the back
Speaker 2: of this show.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna it's just for me, like showcase my heritage.
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be a lot of Sri Lunkan inspired dishes.
Speaker 1: And I love food from all around the world, so
Speaker 1: it's just it's just given my two cents, showcase how
Speaker 1: I interpret that sort of food, and they're gonna be
Speaker 1: like that, a lot of cool fun stuff because I
Speaker 1: like to have a little bit of fun. You know,
Speaker 1: there's no point off just like talking mumbling and here's
Speaker 1: the recipe, you go cook for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be me. What you see right now
Speaker 1: is what you're gonna get there as well. Sorry, And
Speaker 1: my son loves cooking as well, so I might get
Speaker 1: him involved a little bit. He's only four years old.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, the long term goal ban is basically
Speaker 1: to open up a cafe with tre Luncan inspired food,
Speaker 1: coffee and cocktails because my wife is an absolutely amazing
Speaker 1: genie is making cocktails. So that's like a twenty four
Speaker 1: month plan. And in the meanwhile, social media and working
Speaker 1: on a few pop ups currently which will happen soon.
Speaker 2: Well, you know what's also really exciting is that you
Speaker 2: know your son is four years old. This show's been
Speaker 2: on television for fourteen years. So the long plan is
Speaker 2: that when he's eighteen, so in fourteen mis series, he
Speaker 2: could come on the show and avenge your time.
Speaker 1: I wasn't would that be? How do you think that genius?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've worked it out for you. You know,
Speaker 2: the last question I ask everyone who well, actually, no,
Speaker 2: I've skipped something. Who is your pick to win the competition?
Speaker 1: Wooh, that's like, that's a tough question. That's a really
Speaker 1: tough question.
Speaker 2: It's a good way for me to ask this. So
Speaker 2: not what you've heard as a rumor, not what's happened
Speaker 2: after you've the show has finished now, but like at
Speaker 2: this point of the competition, when you exited. Who did
Speaker 2: you think was going to win?
Speaker 1: Look, I had I had a lot of I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I want to I want a fan to win.
Speaker 1: You know, I have you guys, and I win. There's
Speaker 1: so many great cooks there, that's that's you wouldn't believe
Speaker 1: how good they are, you know, like Dan, there's so
Speaker 1: much potential. Ali like amazing, amazing cooks. Even like if
Speaker 1: you look at the faith side, it could be anyone's game.
Speaker 1: She's coming back, he's he's hungry. He wants that second
Speaker 1: title in that trophy. And just like he had two pins,
Speaker 1: the two immediate pins in his season, he goes, I
Speaker 1: want two wins under my belt. And you've got smiling assassin.
Speaker 1: You got which is Billy? I call a smiling assassin?
Speaker 1: And Jules you know she's got she's got.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not a horse race. You've got to
Speaker 2: pick one. You're like, you've just picked you.
Speaker 1: I cannot pick one. I cannot. I am sorry, it
Speaker 1: is it is difficult. It's like you asking me to
Speaker 1: pick lunch place to go for lunch.
Speaker 2: Well, Well, something that I ask everyone who joins the
Speaker 2: podcast is you know what is something from behind the
Speaker 2: scenes that we didn't get a chance. You know that,
Speaker 2: we didn't get a chance to say that we won't
Speaker 2: see from the behind the scenes of your master Chef experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, first day I met Sashi, I told him, by
Speaker 1: the way, Sashi, I messaged you last year about I'm
Speaker 1: applying for mass chef, any advice that you can give me?
Speaker 1: And I kid you not. It had gone into one
Speaker 1: of the hidden folders in his Instagram. He hasn't even
Speaker 1: seen it, and we he was like, he was super humbled,
Speaker 1: but he was super embarrassed. He was so funny, you
Speaker 1: were super embarrassed. I'm like, by the way I messaged you,
Speaker 1: So imagine are you messaged someone and then you later
Speaker 1: and you're like, hey, by the way I messaged to you,
Speaker 1: you didn't reply back, what's going on? Just like I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry. Then he showed me like then we went
Speaker 1: through we tried to find that message. It wasn't there.
Speaker 1: It was literally wasn't there. But it doesn't matter. Like
Speaker 1: after that, we just after that conversation, we just we
Speaker 1: just connected.
Speaker 2: That is the best. I love that I've done that
Speaker 2: people before, and I've had it been done to me
Speaker 2: as well, where someone's come up and said I asked
Speaker 2: you to host a charity event or you know MC something,
Speaker 2: and I've been and I've given the bub kiss. It's
Speaker 2: an easy thing to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I understand it now because I'm getting
Speaker 1: those kind of messages now and I haven't had a
Speaker 1: chance to look Kevin. And then you know Sasha being Sasha,
Speaker 1: you know restaurants after restaurant and yeah, or and mate,
Speaker 1: who has time?
Speaker 2: Who has the time? I have to say thank you
Speaker 2: so much for your time coming on the podcast and
Speaker 2: chatting about your time on the show. I could talk
Speaker 2: to you forever about your Sri Lankan food. And I'm
Speaker 2: going to be following everything that happens on Instagram and
Speaker 2: trying to recook it. And when I send you these
Speaker 2: messages asking for help check the other folder.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Benjamin, thank you so much, like it's such
Speaker 1: a pleasure talking to you.