Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week, Neyline.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and
Speaker 2: on this podcast, I go behind the scenes with the
Speaker 2: biggest players in television. Each episode, you will get a
Speaker 2: front 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 one of the latest eliminated Master Chef contestants, Melanie.
Speaker 2: I am so excited to share this chat with you
Speaker 2: today as Melanie was super fun and she's really excited
Speaker 2: to share with you what's coming up next for her
Speaker 2: in the cooking world. A quick side note last week
Speaker 2: I did have the COVID and so I missed publishing
Speaker 2: my chat with Manoli, which I've now attached. At the
Speaker 2: end of this chat, I'm hoping to also catch up
Speaker 2: with Jen to give you guys the goss on her
Speaker 2: time in the Master Chef kitchen that'll most likely happened
Speaker 2: next week. Getting back into today's chat. Melanie was a
Speaker 2: fantastic addition to the Master Chef Fans Versus Favorites competition,
Speaker 2: and while she took last night's pressure test with Gusto,
Speaker 2: her celiac disease was a major setback. Imagine not being
Speaker 2: able to taste what you're cooking on Master Chef. It'd
Speaker 2: be like losing your voice on the Voice or not
Speaker 2: being able to nominate on Big Brother. You know to
Speaker 2: be pretty hot. However, let's get started with these chats.
Speaker 2: I'd like to welcome Melanie and then Manoli to TV Reload.
Speaker 3: They can't falter on the integrity, otherwise the show's integrity
Speaker 3: goes out the door.
Speaker 4: Master Cheff has produced some of the biggest names in food.
Speaker 5: I would love to come back and set them a
Speaker 5: gluten free challenge.
Speaker 2: The first time ever. It's funds versus feverorites.
Speaker 3: The heart and soul of the show hasn't changed since
Speaker 3: the star.
Speaker 2: In the end, the pressure got to Minoli and the
Speaker 2: favorite was sadly sent home.
Speaker 3: I knew that she was always going to use that pin.
Speaker 4: Dish that least resembles Josh's was yours, Melanie.
Speaker 5: Anyone can be eliminated in this kitchen. It's one bad
Speaker 5: cook is enough to send you home.
Speaker 2: Hi Melanie, how are you?
Speaker 6: I'm well, Thanks, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing very well. Congratulations on Mastership Australia fans versus favorites.
Speaker 2: I honestly took one look at that tuner Wellington and
Speaker 2: thought maybe all of you were going home.
Speaker 6: I think we're all in the same boat. It was.
Speaker 5: Definitely not a dishow was super king to tackle, but
Speaker 5: you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Speaker 2: Was this a huge hurdle for you? You know, your gluten
Speaker 2: intolerant and so you kind even taste the Wellington?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: Was was this too much of a hurdle for you
Speaker 2: up against the others?
Speaker 5: Well, I'm actually I have Celiac disease, so it's a
Speaker 5: little bit different from gluten intolerance. But yeah, crux of
Speaker 5: these shoes the same. I couldn't eat it and couldn't
Speaker 5: taste it. Definitely a challenge, but it's it wasn't one
Speaker 5: that I didn't expect to come across in a mass
Speaker 5: chef kitchen. I was quite mentally prepared for it, and yeah,
Speaker 5: just unfortunate.
Speaker 2: But lack of the drawer really is there any way
Speaker 2: of evening out the disadvantage. I mean, I was thinking
Speaker 2: maybe we could tie the other contestant shoelaces together. What
Speaker 2: are your thoughts?
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, if we wanted to reshoot it
Speaker 5: and that was suggested, I probably wouldn't say no.
Speaker 6: It was a huge challenge for all of us.
Speaker 5: And I mean, you know, it's very easy to say like, oh,
Speaker 5: I was disadvantaged and that's why I laughed. But I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, who knows there's every possibility that even if
Speaker 5: I had been able to taste it all, I still
Speaker 5: would have really struggled.
Speaker 6: So you know, it is what it is. It was
Speaker 6: a really hard cook.
Speaker 2: I appreciate your attitude with this. I think it's a
Speaker 2: very good attitude to have. You know, in the moment
Speaker 2: on set the clock is going, are there times where
Speaker 2: you think I simply can't do this and you feel
Speaker 2: like you just want to walk out of that kid?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: Absolutely, about every thirty seconds. It's just like I was
Speaker 5: rolling that pastry and it wasn't getting finner. I wanted
Speaker 5: to chuck through all in a way and just walk out.
Speaker 5: It's infuriating, but you know, like that's part of the challenge.
Speaker 5: Isn't it to put you under that much pressure and
Speaker 5: to see how you respond? And I think that's why
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, like I knew the
Speaker 5: dish wasn't perfect, but I was still really proud of
Speaker 5: what I put up and the fact that I got
Speaker 5: through it. Like it's really hard to be laser focused
Speaker 5: on such a long challenge and the fact that I
Speaker 5: made it through with only you know, moderate to mine
Speaker 5: and melting meltdowns was quite an achievement, I thought.
Speaker 2: I think. So, you know what I loved the most
Speaker 2: about you this week was in one of the previous
Speaker 2: episodes where Maggie Beer turned up, and you know, you
Speaker 2: were fan going so hard. You were like, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't even know how I can deal with this lady.
Speaker 2: It just was so endearing. But were you as familiar
Speaker 2: with Josh Nylon's cooking.
Speaker 6: Probably not to the same level as Maggie Beer.
Speaker 5: I mean, Maggie Beer has been on TV since like
Speaker 5: for as long as I can remember, I was watching
Speaker 5: the cook in the Chef.
Speaker 6: So there's a different level idolization, of course.
Speaker 5: But in saying that, I've been a fan of The
Speaker 5: Master Chef Show for years and Josh Nyalen has been
Speaker 5: on before, and you know, he's spoken about with such
Speaker 5: reverence and I have seen you know, I've seen him
Speaker 5: on Instagram.
Speaker 6: I see what he creates.
Speaker 5: I have a lot of respect for what he does,
Speaker 5: you know, the way he champions you know, produce and
Speaker 5: things that most people throw away. I think it's really admirable.
Speaker 5: So definitely a different level of respect. Maybe not to
Speaker 5: the point of fangirling, but definitely Like he was being
Speaker 5: so nice to me when I was having a meltdown,
Speaker 5: So it was really.
Speaker 6: Quite upsetting that he'd set me such a hard challenge.
Speaker 6: But nice to know that someone you idolize is also
Speaker 6: a really nice person.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was wondering if he was like the black
Speaker 2: Crow of you know, chefs that you didn't want to
Speaker 2: see turn up. You're like, oh, no, it's him, you know.
Speaker 2: Was it a sign or did you know when he
Speaker 2: came through that you might be in trouble?
Speaker 6: Oh? Absolutely.
Speaker 5: As soon as they said what do they say, like
Speaker 5: the Finn to Gill movement or something like that, which
Speaker 5: is what you know he's known for using every single
Speaker 5: part of the fish, I was like, oh, well that's
Speaker 5: been corn.
Speaker 1: So the Wellington basically comprised of a beautiful cente cup
Speaker 1: piece of tuna, then mushroom duct cell, and then around
Speaker 1: that is a very thin beer and buckwheat crape, and
Speaker 1: then around that then the sour cream pastry, a sauce
Speaker 1: which is made using all of the bones from the tuna.
Speaker 1: It shouldn't really taste like a fish based sauce. It
Speaker 1: should taste quite meaty. And then mashed potato, because you
Speaker 1: know what's to Wellington without mash.
Speaker 6: And I hate cooking with fish. I always have. It's
Speaker 6: not my strong suit.
Speaker 5: So of all the pressure tests to do, I was
Speaker 5: really hoping for us for a dessert dish that I could,
Speaker 5: you know, maybe rely on a few more instincts. But
Speaker 5: like as it was, I was quite relieved to see
Speaker 5: just the tuna Wellington. I knew they wouldn't bring in
Speaker 5: a whole tuna for us to butcher, so I was like, well,
Speaker 5: you know, that's that is one positive to take from
Speaker 5: it all.
Speaker 2: You're like, bring back the polywaffle. That bird looks easy
Speaker 2: compared to this.
Speaker 6: That far.
Speaker 5: I was watching that from the gantry thinking like, oh god,
Speaker 5: I'd literally rather do anything, But you know that's what
Speaker 5: I mean all the pressure tests are hard, and there's
Speaker 5: really no way of comparing the level of difficulty because
Speaker 5: so much of it belongs on your comfort zone and
Speaker 5: what your personal experience is and what you like to cook.
Speaker 5: So yes, if I had done a dessert one, or
Speaker 5: even the tart one that I couldn't have tasted almost anything,
Speaker 5: I think I probably would have been more comfortable, like
Speaker 5: would have been able to rely a lot more on
Speaker 5: my instincts, whereas tuna.
Speaker 6: Is not in the budget.
Speaker 5: So it's like, you know, so far removed from what
Speaker 5: I eat and what I cook that it was. Yeah,
Speaker 5: it was definitely a new experience, but you know what
Speaker 5: a way to go having just met Maggie Beer then
Speaker 5: do a pressure test like that, like you know, go
Speaker 5: out with a bang.
Speaker 2: It kind of when it was revealed, it was just
Speaker 2: so intricate that I was like it looked like a
Speaker 2: Christmas decoration. There was so much going on in the detail,
Speaker 2: you know, and so it was quite frightening. And going
Speaker 2: back to what you said before, I mean he was
Speaker 2: introduced as he started a fin to Gill movement. I
Speaker 2: mean that's pretty crazy. If you came back though as
Speaker 2: a super chef in years to come which Melanie, of
Speaker 2: course you will. What do you think, you know, would
Speaker 2: be your pressure test, Like, what is something that you
Speaker 2: make that's quite elaborate that you think would be fitting
Speaker 2: to unnerve the chefs in the future, future master chefs.
Speaker 5: I mean, I would love to come back and set
Speaker 5: them a gluten free challenge where they have where I say, look,
Speaker 5: this is my you know, maybe don't give them a
Speaker 5: recipe and let people see how hard it is to
Speaker 5: come up with, you know, like free pastry without There's
Speaker 5: a lot of science that goes into gluten free cooking
Speaker 5: and to develop recipes like that, I have to, you know,
Speaker 5: work with and understand literally dozens of starches and flowers
Speaker 5: and use them in a way that you know, sort
Speaker 5: of tries to mimic the properties of a really simple
Speaker 5: wheat flower. And it's incredibly frustrating and difficult, but when
Speaker 5: you nail it, it's so exciting. And I would love
Speaker 5: to come back and set them a challenge like that,
Speaker 5: you know, make a dessert that's completely gluten free and yeah,
Speaker 5: I don't know, just watch the carnage because quite frankly,
Speaker 5: I think it would be quite enjoyable because I'm evil.
Speaker 2: I think I think you're onto something I reckon that's
Speaker 2: going to unnerve a lot of people. You know, Harry
Speaker 2: and Billy sort of represent two cornerstones of the competition.
Speaker 2: Do you think that they might be the strongest competitors
Speaker 2: for the final prize at this point?
Speaker 6: It's really hard to say.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think among the fans, it's really difficult
Speaker 5: to pinpoint any one person because we're all growing so
Speaker 5: much all the time, like we're just learning constantly, and
Speaker 5: so much of it also depends on what challenge we've
Speaker 5: given on any given day, you know, like we all
Speaker 5: have a very different skill set and a lot of different,
Speaker 5: you know, varying experiences.
Speaker 6: So it's hard to pinpoint a fan.
Speaker 5: As for favorites, I mean, I think we're all watching
Speaker 5: Billy with a really really close eye because we know
Speaker 5: that she obviously won the first time around. She then,
Speaker 5: you know, was offered a job by Heston, which you
Speaker 5: know is not something that any Tom Dick or Harry
Speaker 5: is going to get given, and we know she's insanely talented.
Speaker 5: So yeah, a bit of a mixed bag, but yeah,
Speaker 5: I think everybody's watching Billy.
Speaker 4: Billy, you were cool calm and collected through most of
Speaker 4: the cook and.
Speaker 6: That translated onto the place.
Speaker 2: Your pastry was flaky and antuck cell was stella. Overall,
Speaker 2: it was a lovely dish.
Speaker 3: You're also safe, thank you.
Speaker 2: You know. I don't know if you're following the social media,
Speaker 2: but I watched Master Chef with my Twitter and everything
Speaker 2: else so that I can, you know, read along with
Speaker 2: that new book. My favorite tweet last night was I swear,
Speaker 2: I swear that stressed Billy is calmer than most people's calm.
Speaker 2: She is the zen master.
Speaker 6: He absolutely is. And we've spoken to her about it,
Speaker 6: and she's.
Speaker 5: Funny because she says like she is stressed on the inside,
Speaker 5: but she just I don't know, maybe she's phenomenal actress,
Speaker 5: or she just knows that she needs to be, you know,
Speaker 5: calmness to do well. But whatever she does clearly works
Speaker 5: for it because she's just this very solid, focused queen
Speaker 5: every time she's in the kitchen.
Speaker 6: It's amazing to watch and to learn from.
Speaker 2: It just reminds me of the book Silence of the Lambs.
Speaker 2: Now bear with me while I go with this, but
Speaker 2: I'm like they describe Hannibal Elector when he's first introduced
Speaker 2: in the book as though, you know, no matter what
Speaker 2: he does when he's eating people or the horrific things
Speaker 2: are happening, that he's heartbeat never goes above a certain level.
Speaker 2: And I feel like maybe Billy's the Hannibal Lecter of
Speaker 2: Master Chef.
Speaker 6: I mean, maybe she's.
Speaker 5: I mean, I want to assure people she is lovely,
Speaker 5: and she does seem to get painted a bit like that.
Speaker 5: I actually sent her a screenshot of a headline that
Speaker 5: came out a few weeks ago. It was like Billy
Speaker 5: is sharpening her knives for the Master Chef kitchen or something,
Speaker 5: and I send it to her and I was like,
Speaker 5: this is ominous. But she's really great, and she's very
Speaker 5: generous with like her advice and recipes. You know, if
Speaker 5: you ask her for help, she's very happy to, you know,
Speaker 5: not just give a recipe, but also all the information
Speaker 5: around it and everything.
Speaker 6: She's very high quality.
Speaker 2: Who did you learn the most from this season, like
Speaker 2: in terms of working alongside the entire cast of fans
Speaker 2: versus favorites, you know, who was the other contestant that
Speaker 2: you learned the most from.
Speaker 5: Oh that's a really hard question because I feel like
Speaker 5: I've learned a lot of different things from all the
Speaker 5: different contestants.
Speaker 6: You know, I would.
Speaker 5: Say I spend a lot of time around Ali, and
Speaker 5: she's always cooking, and she's incredibly inventive, and she has
Speaker 5: this way about like figuring out how to layer flavors
Speaker 5: through dishes, and watching her cook and watching her think
Speaker 5: about food really open my eyes a lot.
Speaker 6: So I think i'd say.
Speaker 2: Ali, Wow, Okay, Well, I appreciate anyone who can narrow
Speaker 2: it down to one person, especially on a competition that
Speaker 2: has as many contestants as Masterships.
Speaker 5: So you know, if we have all day, I will
Speaker 5: go on and talk about how great they all are.
Speaker 2: But yeah, to narrow it. You know, who were you
Speaker 2: the most surprised to see return in the competition? I mean,
Speaker 2: the caliber of the talent this year is exceptional. You
Speaker 2: know who was it that walked through the door that
Speaker 2: gave you the biggest wow factor?
Speaker 6: Probably Sashi.
Speaker 5: Actually Sashi's name was kept under wraps, you know, by
Speaker 5: the publicity going into the competition. We had an inkling
Speaker 5: about a couple of the others. So when Sashi walked
Speaker 5: through the door, I think we all just stopped and
Speaker 5: we're like.
Speaker 6: What are we doing here, how can we compet?
Speaker 5: Like, you know, we all watched Sash in his in
Speaker 5: his season and he's like absolute dynamite and knows his
Speaker 5: way around flavors so much, and we were all thinking like,
Speaker 5: oh god, if that's what he was like when he
Speaker 5: was an amateur, how has that improves since he now,
Speaker 5: like you know, runs his own restaurant and he's had
Speaker 5: all this experience, like yeah, he Oh, he's an absolute
Speaker 5: legend in the kitchen, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: Isn't it funny how Master Chef is like this though
Speaker 2: you know, we or lose or however you compete in
Speaker 2: the competition, it doesn't take away from overall brand. Like
Speaker 2: for Sashi, maybe it would have been a struggle to
Speaker 2: come back and be a part of this show, you know,
Speaker 2: would that take away from the way in which people
Speaker 2: perceive him. But funnily enough, it hasn't changed my interpretation
Speaker 2: or my perception of Sashi at all. In actual facts,
Speaker 2: it's made me like him more because of his graciousness
Speaker 2: bowing out of the competition when he did.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think that was something that
Speaker 5: the fans were kind of told coming in. We were
Speaker 5: you know, they said, you guys must be so nervous,
Speaker 5: and it's it's obviously very daunting going up against them,
Speaker 5: But think about what these favorites putting on the line,
Speaker 5: Like they have food businesses, they have reputations to protect,
Speaker 5: and that would be insanely scary, you know, to think about,
Speaker 5: just like, yeah, you've got a brand and a reputation
Speaker 5: you know, at stake, and that would have been really
Speaker 5: really intense.
Speaker 6: But you know, like it.
Speaker 5: Didn't surprise it surprised us all that Sashi was eliminited
Speaker 5: at that point, But I think it just goes to
Speaker 5: show that anyone can be eliminated in this kitchen. It's
Speaker 5: one bad cook is enough to send you home, and
Speaker 5: I think viewers know that, so I'm not surprised it
Speaker 5: doesn't It wouldn't you know, touch his brand for that
Speaker 5: to have happened, and him being so gracious at going
Speaker 5: home in that at that point, that also didn't surprise us.
Speaker 5: He's an absolute lovely guy. He's you know, an amazing
Speaker 5: cook and an absolute gem, and he was.
Speaker 6: Always so supportive of my gluten free food.
Speaker 5: He you know, it was chatting to me about how
Speaker 5: he could introduce glint free nand to his restaurant and
Speaker 5: he was eating my desserts and every time I told
Speaker 5: him they were gluten free, his jaw would just drop
Speaker 5: and he'd get so excited, And you know, it was
Speaker 5: that was a real highlight of you know, this season,
Speaker 5: was cooking four people I've idolized and having them lack
Speaker 5: my food.
Speaker 6: It was really really special.
Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you that I went the moment
Speaker 2: that he was eliminated, I bought four boxes of Sashi
Speaker 2: Secrets from Woolworths, just because I felt like that was
Speaker 2: my way to still be like, Sashia, I love you,
Speaker 2: it's fine, I've got my support. At any stage, were
Speaker 2: you thinking, God, this season with all of these you know,
Speaker 2: favorites coming back, this is going to be way too hard.
Speaker 2: Why I apply for this season? I might have wanted
Speaker 2: to have applied for the next one.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Look, I mean I think a few of us, you know,
Speaker 5: had those moments. It was very daunting coming up against
Speaker 5: them in a season like this. But I think it's
Speaker 5: a bit of give and take, isn't it. Like On
Speaker 5: the one hand, yes, maybe it was a harder season,
Speaker 5: But the flip side of that is like, look at
Speaker 5: the people we've now managed to meet and cook with
Speaker 5: and learn from, and they're all so supportive about what
Speaker 5: we're going to do from here.
Speaker 6: You know, Mindy wants a.
Speaker 5: Bunch of US fans to come up and do a
Speaker 5: takeover of a restaurant, and Michael's always happy to chat about,
Speaker 5: you know, where to go and where to go from
Speaker 5: here because he obviously has his own cooking show. And
Speaker 5: Julie wants me to come and do some gluten free
Speaker 5: pasta classes at at cooking school. And it's just to have,
Speaker 5: you know, to have made friends with these people is
Speaker 5: such a privilege, and I think that outweighs any negative
Speaker 5: aspects of being on this season.
Speaker 2: People are talking about the show all around the world.
Speaker 2: I was telling one of the other contestants that because
Speaker 2: of my podcasting and interviewing the Mass to Chef contestants,
Speaker 2: a journalist from The New Yorker wrote to me and
Speaker 2: asked me about Master Chef Australia and he was so
Speaker 2: surprised of the level of this competition. So it's impressive
Speaker 2: that it's getting that kind of a reception globally.
Speaker 6: Oh.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, that that's really blown my mind. I mean we
Speaker 5: got told early on that, you know, you'll be surprised at,
Speaker 5: you know, the international reaction, like apparently MasterChef Australia is
Speaker 5: you know, has a huge international following. But then to
Speaker 5: air and I started getting messages going I'm cheering for
Speaker 5: you from Switzerland and Fiji and Canada and Sweden and
Speaker 5: all these like random places, and it's just that's really
Speaker 5: blown my mind that it could reach that far. And
Speaker 5: you know, especially I think it's really exciting for me
Speaker 5: that people are even in other countries are saying I
Speaker 5: thank you for representing us as Celiacs because it's such
Speaker 5: a huge platform.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: That's been really really special and has honestly just blown
Speaker 5: my mind.
Speaker 2: Melanie. You've made it to the top sixteen, which is
Speaker 2: just so impressive. What do you want to do with
Speaker 2: this platform? I mean, you gave us a taste of
Speaker 2: things that are to come with some of the offers
Speaker 2: that have come in from some of the people you've
Speaker 2: collaborated with this season. But you know you have so
Speaker 2: much to offer, especially with your desserts. Have you already
Speaker 2: started setting up your own personal goals?
Speaker 6: Absolutely?
Speaker 5: I mean I had a goal coming into Master Chef
Speaker 5: that I've always wanted to publish a cookbook, and I
Speaker 5: actually have a publishing contract for my good and Free cookbook,
Speaker 5: so it's all happening, and yeah, like that, that should
Speaker 5: be finished. It should be released I think early next
Speaker 5: year ish. Obviously there's a lot of work to do
Speaker 5: on it, but I'm really hoping that it'll sort of
Speaker 5: be a combination of all the work I've put into
Speaker 5: in the last few years of you know, really experimenting
Speaker 5: and getting my recipe and cooking styles together so that
Speaker 5: i can share it with more people like what I've
Speaker 5: been able to do so far, and if people want
Speaker 5: to follow that and get updates, they can, you know,
Speaker 5: follow me at my Instagram at the very Hungry Celiac.
Speaker 2: I will be doing that. I'm in your audience. I
Speaker 2: will be also getting that book because I have friends
Speaker 2: that will appreciate that because I don't normally know how
Speaker 2: to cook for them when they come to my house.
Speaker 2: So thank you very much. Get the book out as
Speaker 2: fast as you can, because you can always release a
Speaker 2: second book.
Speaker 6: Are we working on it as much as possible?
Speaker 2: Who do you think is going to win the competition
Speaker 2: at this point? Not what you know now, but walking
Speaker 2: out of the kitchen when you did who did you
Speaker 2: think was going to take out the competition?
Speaker 6: Can I pick a fan out a favorite, because.
Speaker 2: Go for it. You could do it. You could do
Speaker 2: what is Julia Roberts saying, pretty woman, you can call
Speaker 2: me anything you want. This is your podcast, my friend.
Speaker 2: Pick one from each side.
Speaker 5: If I had to name a fan to take it out,
Speaker 5: I would say Ali because she has a wealth of
Speaker 5: knowledge and she just cooks some really phenomenal food. And
Speaker 5: a favorite, My money's on Billy. I think she's she's
Speaker 5: so good. She won it once and I think she's
Speaker 5: showing that she's capable of winning it again.
Speaker 2: So I don't want to say who my favorite is
Speaker 2: because I picked two favorites early on and they've both
Speaker 2: gone home, so I think that I'm like some sort
Speaker 2: of jinxed. So now people like, who do you think
Speaker 2: is gonna win Master Chef? And I'm like, ah ah,
Speaker 2: I don't want to tell everyone.
Speaker 6: Someone else.
Speaker 2: I've ruined it for two people like I picked one
Speaker 2: and they went home, so I moved it to another
Speaker 2: one and they went home next, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: oh my god.
Speaker 6: You have the match. Put it down.
Speaker 2: What is something? This is something I ask everyone who
Speaker 2: joins the podcast. What's something from behind the scenes that
Speaker 2: we're as an audience, you know, didn't see that we
Speaker 2: won't see from your experience of being a Master Chef
Speaker 2: fans versus favorites.
Speaker 5: I think people will be surprised at how much time
Speaker 5: we all spend together, Like I don't think people realize.
Speaker 6: I certainly didn't realize.
Speaker 5: Having only watched the show, that you know, filming days
Speaker 5: can take anywhere from like eight to twelve thirteen hours,
Speaker 5: and so there are days when we do that and
Speaker 5: we're in a very into their environment and then we
Speaker 5: go home and cooked together and we eat together, and
Speaker 5: you know, then we wake up and have breakfast and
Speaker 5: coffee together.
Speaker 6: Like it's a real insular bonding environment.
Speaker 5: So all the friendships you see on screen that comes
Speaker 5: across in such a positive way, that's all one hundred
Speaker 5: percent genuine, And I think some people are sometimes surprised
Speaker 5: to hear that, but yeah, it just is.
Speaker 2: Melanie, was such a privilege to be able to chat
Speaker 2: with you today. Thank you for your time, and you
Speaker 2: were fantastic on MASTERSHAF Australia this year. So I will
Speaker 2: keep an eye out for the book and I'll be
Speaker 2: following you like the rest of Australia and your social
Speaker 2: media thanks a lot. Well, I hope you enjoyed that chat.
Speaker 2: I love Melanie's energy and I'm sure you did too,
Speaker 2: because she's just so much fun. But now we will
Speaker 2: catch up with last week's eliminated contestant, Manoli, who was
Speaker 2: an early fan favorite of mine, and we will get
Speaker 2: to unpack her time on Master Chef Australia fans versus favorites.
Speaker 2: Hi Manoli, how are you?
Speaker 3: Hi, Bejamin. I'm really really good and I'm loving that
Speaker 3: I get to see your face while I do this.
Speaker 2: To be honest, technology these days, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: this is what covid did to us, is that now
Speaker 2: we get to have these really personal experiences while we're
Speaker 2: on different ends of Australia.
Speaker 3: And funnily enough, I feel like I'm right there with you.
Speaker 6: So let's do this.
Speaker 2: Let's do this. I just was saying before to Emma
Speaker 2: from Channel ten Publicity, just for context for people listening
Speaker 2: to the podcast, that my two favorite contestants this year
Speaker 2: have just been eliminated. So now I'm not selling anyone
Speaker 2: who my favorite contestants are because I feel like I've
Speaker 2: jinxed you both out of the competition.
Speaker 3: I'm guessing Sashi was your yeah, the other one. Yeah,
Speaker 3: what a great competitor he is. He just showed, you know,
Speaker 3: the ultimate competitor vibes when he just he was like,
Speaker 3: you know what, this is all part of the MASTERSHIF
Speaker 3: process and I haven't been eliminated before, so I just
Speaker 3: had so much respect for Sashi then. But anyway, well,
Speaker 3: good ridden Sashi. No, I'm just joy.
Speaker 2: Hopefully it doesn't. You know, though, both of you walked
Speaker 2: out with some of the most emotional messages for people
Speaker 2: that follow you, and the thing that had me in
Speaker 2: tears was that quote that you said, which was there
Speaker 2: has been so much disappointment in my life, and that
Speaker 2: resonated me with me so that I was in tears
Speaker 2: on my couch because I thought of so much disappointment
Speaker 2: in my life and the times in which I felt
Speaker 2: like I just was going to want to let things go,
Speaker 2: and then to hear you and your story is so
Speaker 2: potent push yourself again and again and be so oh,
Speaker 2: I don't even anyway, and it's just such an important
Speaker 2: message for the people that are watching the show and
Speaker 2: for the people that are following your story.
Speaker 6: I agree.
Speaker 3: I think disappointment can sometimes be swept under the rug,
Speaker 3: and you know, if it's not addressed, and when the
Speaker 3: feelings are fresh, sometimes it can manifest into other things.
Speaker 3: You know, maybe you build up a guard when you're
Speaker 3: dealing with a similar kind of situation. And I think
Speaker 3: it's really important to be as vulnerable as possible to
Speaker 3: get the best out of yourself and to have.
Speaker 6: A free mind.
Speaker 3: And sitting with that disappointment yesterday in the cook with
Speaker 3: Ala Wolf Tasker, I think was so crucial in progressing
Speaker 3: from that and tackling my next venture. There was a
Speaker 3: joy cooking for you, Allah, But you're right, there are
Speaker 3: so many disappointments in life, and all I can say
Speaker 3: is just give it everything that you have in every
Speaker 3: single cook. But yeah, I'm just can sit in this
Speaker 3: for a little bit and just learn from it, and
Speaker 3: I'm really grateful for the opportunity.
Speaker 2: So thank you woman.
Speaker 4: We cannot tell you how much we absolutely love your food.
Speaker 4: There are very few cooks that have walked through those
Speaker 4: doors that can create flavor the way that you do.
Speaker 4: You've brought us so many dishes over the past two
Speaker 4: years that have just made us happy and you yourself.
Speaker 4: You're an absolute ray of sunshine. It's not gonna be
Speaker 4: long before US three, or even maybe US four will
Speaker 4: sit down in your very successful restaurant and eat your
Speaker 4: tasty food once again. But unfortunately it's time to say white.
Speaker 2: Well, Australia just loves you. Do you think that your
Speaker 2: ability to share your journey has helped other women open
Speaker 2: up and be honest about their story? I mean, what
Speaker 2: has the interactions been like from the fans throughout your
Speaker 2: master Chef, your overall Master Chef experience.
Speaker 3: I wasn't expecting to receive as much support as I did,
Speaker 3: but it also I've brought out people who have never
Speaker 3: communicated with someone on Instagram before and allowed them to
Speaker 3: share their story. And I felt so lucky that people
Speaker 3: from around the world wanted to share their stories of
Speaker 3: hurt or you know, empowerment, basically anything that they felt
Speaker 3: you know, wow, like You've given me the confidence to
Speaker 3: do this and that. And I think opening up the conversation,
Speaker 3: especially about cancer, that sea word, that bloody sea word
Speaker 3: that so many people find it hard to say, including
Speaker 3: myself at times, normalizing that conversation is so important for
Speaker 3: people to stop worrying about uncomfortableness of talking about it
Speaker 3: and make it just not a thing that it's just
Speaker 3: spoken about in everyday conversation, kind of like pregnant women
Speaker 3: that might have miscarriages. You know, you realize it happens
Speaker 3: more often than not, and you never want someone to
Speaker 3: feel lonely going through some hectic experience and normalizing it,
Speaker 3: I think is the way to do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: It's really interesting about going through through something as traumatic
Speaker 2: as the loss of a family member or your personal health,
Speaker 2: is that we often tell ourselves not to feel a
Speaker 2: certain way, or we shouldn't cut, shouldn't be feeling like this. However,
Speaker 2: once we start to share our stories with other people,
Speaker 2: we realize that we are we have more in common
Speaker 2: than we don't. That's when we start to feel better
Speaker 2: about those sort of darker you know, the inner monologue.
Speaker 2: You know, we start to go, oh, it's not just
Speaker 2: happening to me, and it's okay that I feel like this,
Speaker 2: and oh isn't it normalizes the whole situation. So I
Speaker 2: take my hat off to you for that. I mean,
Speaker 2: here we are talking about master chif, but also your
Speaker 2: backstory with all of that is just so important as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a part of who I am now. You know,
Speaker 3: maybe when I was thirty years old, I was frolicking
Speaker 3: through the world without a care and felt invincible, And
Speaker 3: then you realize that maybe maybe you're not, or maybe
Speaker 3: you are. Maybe you are invincible, Like these things are
Speaker 3: a part of life. And the better your mindset is,
Speaker 3: I think, the stronger you will be through any hard
Speaker 3: hardship or anything that happens in your life. Like, if
Speaker 3: you have a strong mindset, you're kind to yourself. You
Speaker 3: start backing yourself, which Master Chef taught me to do. Honestly,
Speaker 3: the first season, I was like, oh, oh, look at
Speaker 3: that person cooking that wonderful thing next to me, and
Speaker 3: that other person cooking that, Like I can't do that.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm not a good cook. But you soon start
Speaker 3: to realize that everyone's unique. Everyone's their own food history,
Speaker 3: cultural history. Andy Allen always says he has no food
Speaker 3: history and cultural history, but that's his story, you know.
Speaker 3: So every single person, every single person's got their own
Speaker 3: life and that's what makes you so special. So running
Speaker 3: your own race is so important.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you're a superhero in my mind, Like
Speaker 2: as I'm in your audience, I think it's so amazing.
Speaker 2: And you know, you'd had the shortest break between seasons
Speaker 2: and probably you know, the hardest experience during that time.
Speaker 2: Do you think any of that's set you off with
Speaker 2: a disadvantage against some of the others.
Speaker 3: I think I think it gave me more grit, So
Speaker 3: definitely not in that sense. And I felt like I
Speaker 3: knew the judges, Mail, Juck and Andy. I felt like
Speaker 3: I was coming back into a very comfortable space. You know,
Speaker 3: when you meet someone for the first time, you're like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, am I going to remember their name?
Speaker 3: Like that familiarity was there, So that's something that I
Speaker 3: didn't have to worry about when I saw them again.
Speaker 3: So I felt like I kind of had an advantage,
Speaker 3: to be honest.
Speaker 2: So it's more of an advantage less of a disadvantage.
Speaker 2: I just also I love the interactions that you have
Speaker 2: with those judges as well. A friendship does resonate with
Speaker 2: the audience. You can feel it. I love the way
Speaker 2: that I think someone in the media already said this
Speaker 2: that Mel looks into your soul when she's talking to you. Yes,
Speaker 2: what kind of pressure was added to the competition by
Speaker 2: going up against such recognizable returning favorites.
Speaker 3: The idea that I was going to be talking to
Speaker 3: Julie Goodwin, that was the biggest fangirl moment. And yeah, Sashi,
Speaker 3: the winners of mastershid Julie, Sashi. Billy. Billy is an
Speaker 3: you like that girl does not falter. She's so good
Speaker 3: under pressure and I can see why she won last
Speaker 3: her season.
Speaker 6: She's incredible.
Speaker 3: And I was fangirling for all of a day until
Speaker 3: I realized that I was in the favorites folk And
Speaker 3: you know, Alvin was like, oh my god, no, and
Speaker 3: I was like this is so weird, Like no, no, no,
Speaker 3: your Alvin, Like you're Alvin from season two. So it
Speaker 3: was kind of mutual respect for every favorite amongst the group,
Speaker 3: and we got along like a house on fire. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Everyone had their own skills and had spent a lot
Speaker 3: of time in the INNY, so you know, you come
Speaker 3: to the competition with a lot having a lot of
Speaker 3: growth behind you. I didn't have that. I had six
Speaker 3: months with so I was off Master Chef and then
Speaker 3: I was on basically before anything could really happen. So
Speaker 3: I was amongst people who were running their own restaurants
Speaker 3: like Sarah Todd. She'd run rests like she's a powerhouse.
Speaker 3: You know, she has taken over India with her beautiful
Speaker 3: restaurants and she's so funny, she's It was really nice
Speaker 3: to see the real human side of all the favorites.
Speaker 2: Why do you think Master Chef Australia continues to attract
Speaker 2: such recognizable chefs as their guests? You know, what do
Speaker 2: you think producers do with this show that keeps the
Speaker 2: quality at such a reputable level.
Speaker 3: The challenges that Master Chefs set for both chefs and
Speaker 3: the contestants challenge them both. There there's integrity with the
Speaker 3: show and it is about cooking. And you know, it
Speaker 3: doesn't matter how good you are outside of the competition.
Speaker 3: If you stuff up, you stuff up. They can't falter
Speaker 3: on the integrity otherwise the show's integrity goes out the door.
Speaker 3: So I think for ye year after year, people come
Speaker 3: back to the show, People say yes, I want to
Speaker 3: be involved. People watch it because the heart and soul
Speaker 3: of the show hasn't changed since the start. It's about
Speaker 3: the food, and the challenges are hard. They're there to
Speaker 3: test you and they're there to help you grow. And
Speaker 3: the sooner you lean into the process, the easier the
Speaker 3: process becomes.
Speaker 2: Well, we need to talk about last night. So you know,
Speaker 2: the pressure test was a game of memory. So first
Speaker 2: of all, I need to ask you were you good
Speaker 2: at like memory games when you were a kid.
Speaker 3: I had to make up a story to remember remember things.
Speaker 3: But I'm quite tactical. I needed to do it myself
Speaker 3: before I remembered it watching someone do it.
Speaker 6: It's like at.
Speaker 3: UNI, I would never remember any of my lecturer's content
Speaker 3: unless I was doing it. So when I'm not doing something, yeah,
Speaker 3: I get bored a little bit. So yesterday was a
Speaker 3: very tough challenge for me.
Speaker 2: It was so hard I couldn't do it. I mean
Speaker 2: I was watching it happen. And I think that's the
Speaker 2: magic of Master Chef is we're continuously as an audience
Speaker 2: thinking what would I do in the situation? You know,
Speaker 2: how would I do this? And yeah, it just looked
Speaker 2: so impossible.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we had a false sense of security
Speaker 3: at the start of the challenge and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: ninety minutes, it's plenty of time. And then after twenty
Speaker 3: minutes of fillitting that damn Murray Cod, I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is a pressure test. I've eaten about almost a
Speaker 3: third of my time, and then the panic kind of
Speaker 3: started to set in, and I'm like, everyone's so ahead
Speaker 3: of me. It's fine, I'll keep going. I'll keep going.
Speaker 3: But that twenty minutes when it should have taken me
Speaker 3: five minutes to do that was a game changer.
Speaker 2: It's not in a good way. It's sand bagged you,
Speaker 2: sand bagged me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, the wheels on the bus.
Speaker 2: Do you think you know something I saw you say
Speaker 2: was you know Harry was always going to use her pin?
Speaker 2: So do you think that Harry considering was going to
Speaker 2: always use the pin? Do you think that Harry should
Speaker 2: have done that at the start?
Speaker 3: I remember, I remember before the cook, Harry was like,
Speaker 3: this is such a fun cook, and I was like, girl,
Speaker 3: you have a pin, like you do not get to
Speaker 3: say this, This will be a fun cook, but like
Speaker 3: read your audience, love you, but not the right time.
Speaker 3: It's you know, you have your pin. It was a
Speaker 3: competition of three for me, honestly, it wasn't about Harry.
Speaker 3: I knew that she was always going to use that pin.
Speaker 3: So for me then thinking that it was me, Sarah
Speaker 3: and Jen, it just became so much tougher.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for the three of you. I mean I did think, oh,
Speaker 2: Harry's going to use the pin, and then who's going
Speaker 2: to go out of these three people, and the pressure
Speaker 2: for you did seem to take over. At what point
Speaker 2: did you start to think, Okay, this is definitely my
Speaker 2: last cook.
Speaker 3: It was the moment when I was looking around from
Speaker 3: my noodles, the oil, the strain of the jugs. I'd
Speaker 3: put them absent mindedly around the bench, and in the
Speaker 3: moment when I needed to find it all my bench
Speaker 3: was too messy and I couldn't find it. Like they
Speaker 3: were all there, All the elements were there, but I
Speaker 3: didn't get it onto the plate. And that was the
Speaker 3: hardest part. That when I couldn't find the jug to
Speaker 3: strain the oil into, I just popped some of the
Speaker 3: pure on. But I'd done the hard work of making
Speaker 3: the noodles, making the oil, having the flowers there, having
Speaker 3: the codro there. I didn't even have to cook them.
Speaker 3: I just had to get it on the plate. So
Speaker 3: everything was there, but it just didn't make it onto
Speaker 3: the plate. And who knows, it might have been a
Speaker 3: different story, but that's the way the cookie crumbled yesterday,
Speaker 3: and a lesson in time management people.
Speaker 2: I need a lesson in time management every day and
Speaker 2: I would be really bad. But that moving away from
Speaker 2: that and just sort of talking about yourself. I mean,
Speaker 2: you arrived in Australia quite young. I think you were
Speaker 2: like six when you moved to Melbourne. And your food
Speaker 2: integrity with your culture is a huge part of your story.
Speaker 2: How important is maintaining the ways in which you've been
Speaker 2: taught how to cook?
Speaker 3: I think traditional cooking techniques is so you know, they're
Speaker 3: so important to how I cook. Ultimately, in the context
Speaker 3: of a restaurant, you know, you can't just have a
Speaker 3: it's called a thorough lippet, which means a wood stove
Speaker 3: in Sinhales, and basically they're these clay pots and there's
Speaker 3: mud and stuff covering it. But the flavor that you
Speaker 3: get from cooking on these stoves is next level. And
Speaker 3: you cook with clap pots. Unfortunately, I can't utilize that
Speaker 3: cooking technique in the restaurant. But trying to stay true
Speaker 3: to the flavors and the ethos of local produce, utilizing
Speaker 3: what's around you and SriLankan food has divertic origins and
Speaker 3: by that, it means there's a reason that every single herb,
Speaker 3: spice is combined together in a certain way. It's good
Speaker 3: for your body. It tackles different things, and I number
Speaker 3: one want to focus on flavor, but also kind of
Speaker 3: stay true to why the combinations of food were the
Speaker 3: flavor pairings exist. Yes, that makes sense.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, it makes sense. It makes sense. And I
Speaker 2: was also going to say to you that I talk
Speaker 2: to you about Darwin. Actually I went there in twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen and was really surprised with how good the food
Speaker 2: was at every place. I ate, is Darwin really underrated
Speaker 2: with what's going on. It's not the thing that I
Speaker 2: thought that I'd walk away talking about when I went
Speaker 2: to Darwin. But the food was just amazing.
Speaker 3: There's so much beautiful produce and it lends itself to
Speaker 3: tropical food, you know, Southeast Asian food. There's a huge
Speaker 3: tie Vietnamese Cambodian community up in Darwin, so the food
Speaker 3: is epic. Like the mark, did you go to the
Speaker 3: markets on Saturday Sunday?
Speaker 2: Of course, I'll think great, Oh, that was one of
Speaker 2: the best things we did.
Speaker 5: I go to the.
Speaker 3: Market on the weekend, get a whole buckets and buckets
Speaker 3: of produce, and then that's what I cook in the
Speaker 3: restaurant because it's grown locally. The food is fan fantastic.
Speaker 3: A lot of people don't know that. When I moved.
Speaker 3: Before I moved to Darwin, I was like, oh, Darwin,
Speaker 3: it's like crocodile Dundee, But it's not. It's nothing like that. Well,
Speaker 3: there's a little bit.
Speaker 6: There's a little bit.
Speaker 2: Of that, a little bit of crocodiles, yeah, and some
Speaker 2: of the locals do a little bit.
Speaker 3: Of crocodile yeah, but there's so much more.
Speaker 2: Who is going to win the competition so not what
Speaker 2: you know now, but when you walked out of the
Speaker 2: competition at this time, who did you think was going
Speaker 2: to take it out?
Speaker 3: From the beginning, I thought Billy. So when I left
Speaker 3: through those doors, I'm like, I want Billy to win
Speaker 3: this because she just is not phased under pressure.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny about you, yeah about Billy, is
Speaker 2: that Billy's now my favorite to win. And I just
Speaker 2: started this chat by saying, I can't say who my
Speaker 2: next favorite person to win is because what Sashi left
Speaker 2: it was you and now you've left. Now I'm saying Billy,
Speaker 2: and I just am like, no, I can't jinx this
Speaker 2: board woman.
Speaker 3: No, do not jinx, Billy, do not jinxx album stinks,
Speaker 3: Julie like they're my peeps. I just love the idea
Speaker 3: that a past winner will win again and just show everyone.
Speaker 3: Oh can you imagine if Billy's like, see you later, suckers,
Speaker 3: like I've won for the second time. That's five hundred thousand,
Speaker 3: shouldn't my pocket? I'd be like, yes, Billy, woohoo.
Speaker 2: Yes, Billy, take me out for dinner. Something I ask
Speaker 2: everyone who joins the podcast is a little behind the
Speaker 2: scenes question. So what's something that we didn't see as
Speaker 2: an audience that we won't see that you can share
Speaker 2: from behind the scenes of your time on Mastership Astray
Speaker 2: Fans versus.
Speaker 3: So this is actually from last season and I thought
Speaker 3: it was oh fans versus face.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna tell you too.
Speaker 3: Actually, so from last season. Pete is a tattoo artist, right,
Speaker 3: and he ended up as a joke drawing a picture
Speaker 3: of Justin's face as a tattoo and stuck it on
Speaker 3: the picture of Sashi. You know, it had all the
Speaker 3: winners photos up on the wall in the green room,
Speaker 3: so we stuck Justin's face on Sashi's face, and I
Speaker 3: feel like it was like a self fulfilling prophecy where
Speaker 3: Justin ended up going to win because we did it
Speaker 3: from like such an a We were like, haha, Justin,
Speaker 3: imagine if you want, imagine if you want. And then
Speaker 3: he ended up winning and we were like, oh shit, damn.
Speaker 2: Shot shot everyone in the foot manifested it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, manifested it. And in fans and favorites, it's probably
Speaker 3: just the level of ridiculous conversation that happens behind the scenes,
Speaker 3: and it's I think Julie's probably my favorite so on screen,
Speaker 3: Julie is a darling and she's very quick witted and
Speaker 3: she's quick with the punches, but man, she can throw
Speaker 3: a one liner. She's like that, yeah that. I think
Speaker 3: she's the oldest out of all of us, but she
Speaker 3: is the most not cut throat, but she's got the
Speaker 3: most not potty mouth. Oh, I don't know where I'm
Speaker 3: going with this. I think I'm trying to be too pc.
Speaker 2: Just tell it us bad, I'll cut it out.
Speaker 3: Just tell me O, no, no, no, it's not bad.
Speaker 3: But Julie was the funniest. She had She you know,
Speaker 3: she she could get down on anyone's level with the jokes.
Speaker 3: She she's so much more than what everyone sees on TV.
Speaker 3: And she's just she's literally just the kindest, best human
Speaker 3: being on the planet.
Speaker 6: And I think I want everyone to know that.
Speaker 3: Also, Alvin hates birds. Sorry Alvin.
Speaker 2: Three three behind the scenes stories, you know, Manifestation, Julie
Speaker 2: Goodman's bloody mouth, and Alvin hates birds. That was.
Speaker 3: Gonna hate me? Oh gosh, all right, yeah.
Speaker 2: I will say I absolutely have enjoyed your story thus far,
Speaker 2: outside of the kitchen and inside of the kitchen, and
Speaker 2: like a lot of Australians, I will be continuing to
Speaker 2: follow your story. So I wish you wore the best
Speaker 2: of black moving forward, and maybe they'll call you back
Speaker 2: for another Master Chef next year.
Speaker 3: Oh you know what, Yeah, just save me a spot,
Speaker 3: just regular, and then I'll also plan my next elimination
Speaker 3: to my fourth elimination. I'll chat to you again twelve months, no.
Speaker 6: Muss time, yeah yeah, schedule it.
Speaker 2: In the day until you win. That's all it is.
Speaker 2: And I'm in your.
Speaker 3: Audience for that, that's right, Yeah, never give up, never
Speaker 3: give up? All right?
Speaker 6: Got it?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Benjamin.
Speaker 2: Chatting with you today, so thank you for joining us
Speaker 2: on TV. Reload and I'll let you get back into
Speaker 2: your kitchen.