Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week ay Light.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to TV Reload.
Speaker 1: My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go
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Speaker 1: On the podcast, I have the latest eliminated Master Chef
Speaker 1: Australia contestant, Steph. She has been well and truly deserving
Speaker 1: of her Dessert Queen's status and while she was out
Speaker 1: on a tiramasue, I think that won't stop us from
Speaker 1: craving some of her signature sweet dishes. Steph was a
Speaker 1: fantastic addition to the Master Chef Fans Versus Favorites competition
Speaker 1: and her exit from the show is proof that this
Speaker 1: is getting down to the pointy end of the show.
Speaker 1: Imagine not being able to see or taste what you've
Speaker 1: been challenged to cook in a pressure test. We will
Speaker 1: talk about what's next for her, who she thinks will win,
Speaker 1: and if that huge Master Chef clock is the root
Speaker 1: of all evil when it comes to cooking with time constraints. However,
Speaker 1: let's get started with today's guest. I'd like to welcome
Speaker 1: Steph to TV Reload.
Speaker 3: There are so many good cooks in this competition.
Speaker 4: Musta Sheriff has produced some of the biggest names in food.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that is such a tough question.
Speaker 4: The first time ever it's funds versus favorites.
Speaker 3: It's really sweet that people would recognize me.
Speaker 2: This pressure test was unlike the others. You had to
Speaker 2: rely on your instincts.
Speaker 3: I reckon He's the dark force in this competition. He
Speaker 3: brought so.
Speaker 4: Much into this kitchen, and we've loved watching you explore
Speaker 4: your food identity.
Speaker 3: I was like, you know what, let's put my own
Speaker 3: flare on this.
Speaker 2: Hi, Steph, how are you?
Speaker 3: Hi? I'm really good.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on your time in Master Chef. If you
Speaker 1: will be remembered for your time in the series, what
Speaker 1: do you think audiences will think?
Speaker 2: Ah, that's a Steph moment.
Speaker 3: Oh I'm hoping cakes, I'm hoping they'll remember all my desserts.
Speaker 3: And you know, weird and wonderful combinations like Reggiemi and
Speaker 3: Misa going together, or making a Japanese sponge cake with
Speaker 3: three layers in the first kind of elimination round. You know,
Speaker 3: those were the highlights for me. But I suspect they'll
Speaker 3: also remember things like my moth's slide, which was actually
Speaker 3: pretty funny when I look back at it, as well
Speaker 3: as forgetting vanilla in a brownie, which it's gonna haunt
Speaker 3: me for days.
Speaker 2: You can't even look at people wearing vanilla clothing.
Speaker 3: No, no, I think vanilla is going to be dead
Speaker 3: to me.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny?
Speaker 1: I feel like in Australia, no matter who you are,
Speaker 1: we use veggimite and really bizarre things. I put veggimite
Speaker 1: and spaghetti by spaghetti bolinnaise.
Speaker 2: Is that weird? Is that a faux pat?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: That would totally work because I put soy sauce in
Speaker 3: my my bolinnaise.
Speaker 1: Making you feel a lot better about it because everyone
Speaker 1: looks at me like you know, when friends come around
Speaker 1: and you're still cooking their dinner while they're standing in
Speaker 1: the kitchen and they're talking to and then you get
Speaker 1: out veggiemite and smear it into the bolonnes.
Speaker 2: You just see this look of complete discuss.
Speaker 3: But it would add like a depth of mammy that
Speaker 3: you just can't get any other way. Like I actually
Speaker 3: understand the veggimite in Bolines. We actually have a dish
Speaker 3: in my house where we actually get marmites, which is
Speaker 3: quite similar to veggiemite, and we put it in a
Speaker 3: soup and you just mix it in. Have you done that?
Speaker 1: No, but I'm going to. That's why we're talking about
Speaker 1: this vegimite. I feel like it's got other places in
Speaker 1: my kitchen, you know, And it totally.
Speaker 3: Works in a crampat can I tell you about like
Speaker 3: it works in the custard? It's really say and yeah,
Speaker 3: just drizzles from some caramel on top, and it's epic.
Speaker 1: What people kind hear? Is me adding you on Instagram
Speaker 1: right now? So we can can take this conversation offline
Speaker 1: and continue the world of veggimi and where we can
Speaker 1: put it.
Speaker 3: No, I definitely started eploring that, so I never had
Speaker 3: it before before. The shares don't so don't follow me now.
Speaker 3: But no, my friend, my roomy Ali found out, and
Speaker 3: so she got me veggimi and then the first thing
Speaker 3: I did was put it in an ice cream and
Speaker 3: it's great, Like, honestly, savory desserts are the way to go.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll take your word for it.
Speaker 1: I thought I was outrageous with my spaghetti and now
Speaker 1: you're telling me to put it in my ice cream?
Speaker 1: You know? Is the pressure even harder now that you'd
Speaker 1: branded yourself, you know, something like the cake Queen. Do
Speaker 1: you wish that you know, you hadn't had that title
Speaker 1: being given.
Speaker 3: To you, you know, I think it was it was
Speaker 3: kind of that moment where you're like, oh, that's really
Speaker 3: sweet that people would recognize me as that, Like it's
Speaker 3: a lovely kind of guest. Yeah, it's a cute nickname.
Speaker 3: I definitely didn't want it to get to my head
Speaker 3: there because they never have a lot of cakes. I
Speaker 3: still don't know, so I still feel like a novice.
Speaker 3: But yeah, definitely, Yeah, I love that they called me that.
Speaker 3: But it's something I'm working towards, So that's the goal, right.
Speaker 1: I was thinking Kristen Wig and Bridesmaids. I was picturing
Speaker 1: a little logo of you, like cake baby, you know
Speaker 1: the have you seen the movie Bride'smaids or am I
Speaker 1: going on a weird tangent.
Speaker 3: I have not seen it in a very long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she has Kristin Wiggs character in the movie. She
Speaker 1: has opened a cake store during a recession, but it's
Speaker 1: this really cute cake store, which obviously she'd taken a
Speaker 1: lot of pride in. Anyway, we're talking Master Chef, not movies.
Speaker 1: I've taken on a weird.
Speaker 3: No, but like I can imagine myself doing that. I
Speaker 3: mean during COVID it was so thing to do, right
Speaker 3: to open the cake shop or to like sell cakes
Speaker 3: in the middle of like a pandemic. So I kind
Speaker 3: of get the vide.
Speaker 1: Had you actually eaten at Melbourne's Tippo Restaurant and do
Speaker 1: you think having eaten there was an advantage for people
Speaker 1: cooking in last night's pressure test?
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. So Tipo has been on my list
Speaker 3: for forever. I just never been able to get a
Speaker 3: booking and I can't seem to ever manage to walk
Speaker 3: in to get a seat as well. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: it would have been great if I had eaten there,
Speaker 3: but I think everyone goes there for the pasta. I
Speaker 3: didn't even realize they had it to miss until Andreas
Speaker 3: showed it or talked about it. So yeah, I was
Speaker 3: actually expecting a pasta pressure test when they said Andreas
Speaker 3: was coming in, and I was like, what what do
Speaker 3: you mean when not doing past.
Speaker 2: It's the curve ball.
Speaker 1: It's the curveball and reality television don't ever expect anything,
Speaker 1: you know, expecting unexpected.
Speaker 3: That's pretty much it. I was just like, ah, doing
Speaker 3: a pasta today, and then all of a sudden, mel
Speaker 3: kind of starts wafting on about about cream and like chocolate,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, wait a minute, this does not sound
Speaker 3: like a pasta.
Speaker 1: Well, Tiramasu has had so many iterations, you know, all
Speaker 1: around the world. It has taken on different forms. What
Speaker 1: do you think is like a variant to last night's
Speaker 1: cook that you would do differently because you're trying to
Speaker 1: match a dessert someone else's review of a dish, which
Speaker 1: is impossible, But like, if you were to try and
Speaker 1: make a signature Steph Tiramissou, how would you make it,
Speaker 1: Like what would be the change to the format?
Speaker 3: Well that was what I did, and that was actually
Speaker 3: my downfall because you know, I didn't put the I
Speaker 3: didn't put vanilla in the brownie, but I really don't.
Speaker 3: I don't necessarily think a dark chocolate brownie needs vanilla
Speaker 3: because it's a bit of a waste.
Speaker 4: Yeah, BRONI was missing that crucial ingredient vanilla, and as
Speaker 4: a result, it tested all overwhelmingly eggy because the brownie
Speaker 4: was the foundation of Andres's dish. Unfortunately, that's the reason
Speaker 4: why you got home today.
Speaker 3: And then I actually I made the tempered disk really
Speaker 3: thin because I thought and what I wanted was that
Speaker 3: when you poured that hot caramel on top of the dessert,
Speaker 3: I wanted it to melt the center so that it
Speaker 3: would pull in the center. And that's why I also
Speaker 3: didn't fill the cream in the center to the top,
Speaker 3: because I wanted it to kind of have that wow
Speaker 3: moment where it would just kind of break open and
Speaker 3: melt through, so that that would have been a stepf version,
Speaker 3: and that was what I was aiming for in that cook.
Speaker 1: Well, as it all started, you know they had you
Speaker 1: can't see it, you can't taste it. Is that one
Speaker 1: of the hardest pressure tests when you have your senses
Speaker 1: being impaired like that. I mean, you can't say it,
Speaker 1: you can't taste it, so it sounds like a horror
Speaker 1: movie version of Master Chef if you ask me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean like one of the best things about
Speaker 3: pressure tests as well is that you actually get to
Speaker 3: eat a dish you didn't make and you get free food.
Speaker 3: But we didn't get that, and I think what has
Speaker 3: happened is I took creative liberties instead of taking the
Speaker 3: review a little bit more literally, I took some creative
Speaker 3: I took a yeah, I took a creative brush to it,
Speaker 3: and I was like, you know what, let's let's put
Speaker 3: my own flair on this because things are vague anyway.
Speaker 3: So yeah, my own spin on a dish. Instead of
Speaker 3: replicating it, I kind of reinterpreted it, which, yeah, oh
Speaker 3: well it is what it is. Now regrets with what
Speaker 3: I played it, Yeah, it was what it was. I've
Speaker 3: never regret to what I played it because I still
Speaker 3: think it's a really cool idea. But obviously it isn't
Speaker 3: what the dish was supposed to be.
Speaker 1: This is making me all very hungry stuff. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I need to eat a Tira missu. It's gonna need
Speaker 1: to happen in my life very soon. You're probably never
Speaker 1: gonna look at them ever again.
Speaker 3: But I love Tira Missus. I actually make a turium
Speaker 3: missuit cake and it's just like the layers of vanilla
Speaker 3: sponge and then you put like mister black coffee liqueur
Speaker 3: onto it, and then you know, like a like a
Speaker 3: salted caramel and in between all the layers with coffee cream.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I love Tira Missu. So yeah, I was
Speaker 3: kind of bummed about that.
Speaker 2: Were you freaking out?
Speaker 1: Because I mean, at this point of the competition, when
Speaker 1: you're in a pressure test and it's Alvin, it's yourself,
Speaker 1: it's Montana and Billy, was that a lineup of people
Speaker 1: that made you particularly nervous.
Speaker 3: I think anyone in the top twelve would have made
Speaker 3: me nervous, if I'm to be honest. There are so
Speaker 3: many good cooks in this competition, and even like some
Speaker 3: of the people that I loved and respected had left
Speaker 3: before me, so I knew it was anyone's game, and
Speaker 3: I knew that the smallest mistake would potentially send me home. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and that's what has just happened. You know. I love
Speaker 3: people like Sashi, Ali and Matt and even Harry who
Speaker 3: just who was eliminated just before me. Yeah, I love
Speaker 3: their food, I love their style, and so I knew
Speaker 3: it was a possibility no matter where I was and
Speaker 3: who was who I was up against that, yeah, any
Speaker 3: cook could send me home.
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting is that you've had people like
Speaker 1: Andreas last night, You've had many.
Speaker 2: Chefs who are some of the top chefs in our country.
Speaker 1: Have you learned more from the chefs that have come
Speaker 1: in for these sorts of challenges and for the themes,
Speaker 1: or have you learned more from the people you're cooking
Speaker 1: up against.
Speaker 3: It's a bit of both, because you know, the people
Speaker 3: that I'm cooking up against, they've taught me how to
Speaker 3: do the base it's really fast and really quick and
Speaker 3: home techniques really and what the guest chefs have kind
Speaker 3: of taught me is inspiration. They've inspired me to be
Speaker 3: better and to strive for more. So there's a bit
Speaker 3: of both. I mean, the guidance that we got from
Speaker 3: people like Marco Pierre White and the inspiration and even
Speaker 3: Shannon Bennett where he kind of guided us through the
Speaker 3: cooks really inspiring, lots of neat tricks and tips, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I've just I'm grateful for the whole experience
Speaker 3: and to learn from everyone and anyone who was willing
Speaker 3: to teach me. I am a banking analyst at the
Speaker 3: Reserve Bank of Australia. But you know, I've realized that
Speaker 3: I don't have to be this financial analyst. There's another
Speaker 3: part of me who loves cooking and he loves feeding people.
Speaker 3: I love making cakes. I love making desserts. I love
Speaker 3: how it brings joy to people. You know, life is
Speaker 3: so hard as it is, and when there's a check
Speaker 3: ends of the day, you know your day is going
Speaker 3: to be better and it's not cake. It's chocolate. So like,
Speaker 3: what's better than chocolate and cake?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Cakes? Pretty much? That's me. What's what's not to like?
Speaker 1: Well, all the contestants talk about the amount of cooking
Speaker 1: and sharing of experience that's happened between filming each day.
Speaker 1: Are you a better competitor at this stage of the
Speaker 1: competition simply because you know how much time you've spent
Speaker 1: cooking together.
Speaker 3: I think I am because you do learn a lot
Speaker 3: from each other, and you learn because we're all under
Speaker 3: the same kind of pressure. You see what works and
Speaker 3: what doesn't, and you learn off each other in that
Speaker 3: way as well. But even outside of the Master Chef kitchen,
Speaker 3: just having the conversations that we had with each other,
Speaker 3: talking about food and bouncing ideas off each other as well.
Speaker 3: You know, we might someone might come up with an
Speaker 3: idea and they might just want some clvity or someone
Speaker 3: else's opinion on it, and you find that that refinement
Speaker 3: really helps. And it definitely helped with some of my
Speaker 3: cooks trying to figure out how to balance flavor and
Speaker 3: then just asking people what their opinion is. And yeah,
Speaker 3: just by sharing that knowledge and having those conversations, I
Speaker 3: found them really useful and definitely refined myself throughout the
Speaker 3: weeks I was in the Mastership kitchen.
Speaker 1: I keep saying to people that like yourself, the competitors
Speaker 1: that I've spoken to so far, isn't it amazing that
Speaker 1: you've met these people like you know, you could ring
Speaker 1: Julie Goodwin and ask her for some tips in the kitchen,
Speaker 1: or you'd be able to email Shannon Bennett. You know,
Speaker 1: some of these amazing contexts that you've been able to
Speaker 1: establish and they will be able to help you forever.
Speaker 1: It's almost like being a part of the Avengers now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, it really has been, Like I can't believe
Speaker 3: I have a direct line to Julie Goodwin. Honestly, she's
Speaker 3: such a lovely person. Everyone is just willing to share
Speaker 3: their knowledge and their experience as well. I actually messaged
Speaker 3: Dave Pint the other day because I was I just
Speaker 3: wanted some I just needed some help with a technique
Speaker 3: in terms of smoking. So he's the guy from burnt
Speaker 3: In and he responded so quickly and he gave so
Speaker 3: many tips. This industry is just people like love to
Speaker 3: share their knowledge and you just have to ask. Really,
Speaker 3: and that was one thing I definitely learned was to
Speaker 3: not be afraid to ask for help or for advice
Speaker 3: because everyone is just so willing to give it. You know,
Speaker 3: they might be the head chef of some famous place
Speaker 3: of a Michelin Star restaurant. You know. Claire Smith was
Speaker 3: so really generous with advice as well. So yeah, everyone
Speaker 3: is lovely in this industry. Everyone's really willing to share
Speaker 3: that knowledge and help out if you just have to ask.
Speaker 1: What I really appreciate is the community of master chef.
Speaker 1: I think that's why Australian audiences like it so much.
Speaker 1: That we get to tap into your community and we
Speaker 1: get to sort of feel like we're a part of it.
Speaker 1: Do you think that that's a part of the reason
Speaker 1: why Master Chef has been on television in Australia for
Speaker 1: so long.
Speaker 3: I definitely think it is. You definitely see that on
Speaker 3: TV that people have obviously bonded. That will quite a
Speaker 3: close bunch, because when anyone gets eliminated, you can see
Speaker 3: the devastation in everyone else's face. I know I cried
Speaker 3: in everyone's elimination except my own, but yeah, I was
Speaker 3: just so gutted to see people go because we got
Speaker 3: so close so quickly because of the nature of the
Speaker 3: show and you know, all the pressure that you have,
Speaker 3: it is to an extent. I think I used to
Speaker 3: I laughed when I was an audition that we kind
Speaker 3: of went through this trauma bonding together. It doesn't sound great,
Speaker 3: but it was just that joint experience of going through
Speaker 3: something hard together. I think it really connects people and
Speaker 3: it brings it brings people close, and you can see
Speaker 3: that on TV in how we interact and how we
Speaker 3: cheer people on, and I think that's what people see
Speaker 3: when they see the show.
Speaker 1: Steph, I can't imagine in my life ever laughing at
Speaker 1: someone saying trauma experience brings people together. But I was
Speaker 1: giggling then. I'm sure people listening to the podcast are like,
Speaker 1: he's mad, but all right. And I think that the
Speaker 1: experience of Master Chef unlike any other competition based reality show.
Speaker 2: It is absolutely about the food.
Speaker 1: It's not about throwing anyone under a bus, and I
Speaker 1: think interesting for me, I'm talking to people from other
Speaker 1: competition based reality shows at the moment and it's just
Speaker 1: the complete opposite. So I guess that's why Master Chef's
Speaker 1: at the top of the ratings.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, it's definitely more of a community thing. You know,
Speaker 3: you're kind of all in this together. It's a shared
Speaker 3: experience and so you get really close with everyone. It's
Speaker 3: a celebration of food and different food aspects, like whether
Speaker 3: you're savory suite, whether it's curry, or whether it's something
Speaker 3: more modern as well. There's just so many dimensions to
Speaker 3: food and so we celebrate all aspects of it, and
Speaker 3: I think that's what I really love about the show
Speaker 3: and getting to talk to everyone about it too.
Speaker 1: I need to ask you about this clock though I've
Speaker 1: not asked anyone else yet, but I feel like you're
Speaker 1: the right person that clock that's in the Master Chef kitchen.
Speaker 1: How loud is it and how much? How annoying is it?
Speaker 1: Because I see it ticking as a viewer and it
Speaker 1: stresses me out. So I just want to know how
Speaker 1: loud is it, how annoying is it?
Speaker 3: You can't hear it. I wish you could, but you can't.
Speaker 3: And so I also feel like that clock is sporadic
Speaker 3: because you know, sometimes you're like, oh, I've got time,
Speaker 3: and then the next minute you know you've only got
Speaker 3: five minutes to go. So yeah, no, it's huge, and
Speaker 3: thank god it's that big because as a like half blind,
Speaker 3: but yeah, no, it's that clock is scary. And as
Speaker 3: soon as you walk into the kitchen, the first thing
Speaker 3: you look at is the clock because you want to
Speaker 3: know how much time you have left, and you want
Speaker 3: to know that it's working because and that it's not
Speaker 3: rigged in some way, because it's, like god, time flies
Speaker 3: so fast in that kitchen. It's actually not funny.
Speaker 1: Imagine if all of you were cooking and looking down
Speaker 1: at your food, you don't realize that you know, Andy's
Speaker 1: just got up on a ladder and spun the.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, and you wouldn't really you wouldn't notice that
Speaker 3: as well, because you're so concentrating. You're concentrating on what
Speaker 3: you're doing. I like, someone might have their food on fire,
Speaker 3: and I really wouldn't know because I'm just like, I
Speaker 3: have my own thing to deal with. I block everything out,
Speaker 3: Like I think there was one time where yeah, something
Speaker 3: caught on fire and I didn't know and I was like,
Speaker 3: what what do you mean that happened? Yeah, So it's
Speaker 3: been lots of fun watching it as well, because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: I did not realize someone else was having that much issues,
Speaker 3: that many issues.
Speaker 1: Good to know there's no smoke detectors in there going
Speaker 1: off good tonight?
Speaker 3: Well, if there was, that burnt ends one would have
Speaker 3: just been the constant fire alarm. I think luckily I
Speaker 3: was next to Dan with no little firefighter.
Speaker 1: I'm sure one of those boys would pick you up
Speaker 1: and carry you out out of the kitchen.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you would have been there, and I hope.
Speaker 2: So can you tell me? Can you tell by now?
Speaker 1: Because you've obviously been in the competition for so long
Speaker 1: and so many people have gone home, and so many
Speaker 1: pressure tests have happened. You've either been up on the
Speaker 1: gantry but can you tell by now who the person
Speaker 1: is going home? Because there's some telltale signs, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't know whether there's more whispering amongst the chefs
Speaker 1: and pointing, or there's sweating a lot or swearing. You know,
Speaker 1: is there any way for you to be able to
Speaker 1: tell or is there telltale signs in the kitchen to
Speaker 1: who's going home?
Speaker 3: No, there aren't. And it's probably why pressure tests are
Speaker 3: like the great leveler, because you can never tell what's
Speaker 3: going to happen or who's going to have the bad day.
Speaker 3: It's a yeah. I mean the caliber of cooks in
Speaker 3: this kitchen is in this season in particular as well,
Speaker 3: it's just incredible to have small mistakes like to like
Speaker 3: forgetting to cut your cake your small cake slices in half,
Speaker 3: or even like forgetting something like vanilla could send you home.
Speaker 3: I think it just is a testament to hell, well
Speaker 3: everyone cooks and the skill and level everyone has in
Speaker 3: this competition.
Speaker 1: Is the competition at this stage just really super hard?
Speaker 1: Is it anyone's game? Or more importantly, can anyone at
Speaker 1: this point go home?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Who do you think is going home? Next?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I reckon. Ever since Sashi went I was like,
Speaker 3: anyone can go home, and that was that just showed
Speaker 3: the level of cooking that's happening in the kitchen, right,
Speaker 3: So I thought Sash. Personally, I thought Sashi was going
Speaker 3: to be at the finals because I was a big
Speaker 3: fan of him in his season and he's such a
Speaker 3: good cook and he's such a lovely person too, So
Speaker 3: when he left, I was like, well, it's anyone's game
Speaker 3: at the stage, so I'm going to be as surprised
Speaker 3: as anyone else if one of my favorite people leave.
Speaker 3: So if Billy doesn't make it to the end, I'd
Speaker 3: be shocked. Yeah, God, I can't imagine that. But she's
Speaker 3: been in a couple of pressure tests before too. It
Speaker 3: just shows that it's anyone else's game.
Speaker 1: Well we've seen so, I mean, just before we move on,
Speaker 1: I need to say Sashi I thought was going to
Speaker 1: win the competition again, and mainly because I'm of my
Speaker 1: own interaction with him, like I buy his products, I
Speaker 1: am so aware of him outside of Master Chef now,
Speaker 1: So I just thought the fact that he was back
Speaker 1: in the competition, and because of my love of him,
Speaker 1: I thought he's definitely going to be there right to
Speaker 1: the very end. So that was the Ricky Lee moment.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you understand that reference.
Speaker 3: But oh yeah, oh yeah, that.
Speaker 1: Was the Ricky Lee moment of Master Chef for me.
Speaker 1: And I was just really devastated. But I was grateful
Speaker 1: to have a chat with him, and I feel like
Speaker 1: I've told him that I love him in eighties food
Speaker 1: and that's what That's all that matters. Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I think my number one restaurant for when I
Speaker 3: go to Alilaide is to go to Gaja because I'm like,
Speaker 3: I need to eat more of Sashi's food. Probably the
Speaker 3: one regret I have was that I didn't get to
Speaker 3: eat enough of this food.
Speaker 2: With your friends.
Speaker 3: Oh I was. I was utterly devastated when he left,
Speaker 3: Like it was. It was hard and it was really
Speaker 3: painful to watch.
Speaker 1: We've seen so many great cooks this year. If you
Speaker 1: had to pick a person that has already gone home
Speaker 1: to come back for another series, who would that be?
Speaker 1: I mean, Master Chef does bring people back, and we've
Speaker 1: seen some amazing fans really this year, like that have
Speaker 1: really stood out, which is hard to do up against
Speaker 1: some favorites that have are so recognizable. You know, if
Speaker 1: you had to pick someone to go back that you
Speaker 1: think has been the standout performer that's already gone home.
Speaker 2: Who would that be?
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that is such a tough question because
Speaker 3: I love all the people who have gone home, like
Speaker 3: Matt Ali, Harry, mel Jen, God, they were so good,
Speaker 3: even Max and Chris Ah. But if I had to
Speaker 3: pick one, you know, it would have to be my roomy.
Speaker 3: It would have to be Allie. Missus Stona is an
Speaker 3: amazing cook and the way that she thinks of flavor
Speaker 3: and combining that with technique and then just bringing her
Speaker 3: Scottish heritage to everything as well. It was really cool
Speaker 3: to watch and I was privileged enough to eat all
Speaker 3: her food, and yeah, her food is tasty, and she
Speaker 3: definitely had a lot more ideas and I was gutted
Speaker 3: for her when she left, So I'd definitely love to see, like,
Speaker 3: if they could bring her back, that would be great,
Speaker 3: because she didn't deserve to go, so Ellie.
Speaker 1: She also was an amazing communicator. I found like I
Speaker 1: didn't notice it as much during the show, but when
Speaker 1: I had the chance to have her on the podcast,
Speaker 1: I was really blown away with her ability to tell
Speaker 1: story and to relate to people.
Speaker 2: It was actually quite amazing.
Speaker 3: It is, and she's got so many stories as well. Yeah,
Speaker 3: she was telling me how she her husband had worked
Speaker 3: with Marco in the past, and I was like, what
Speaker 3: was like that would have been an epic moment if
Speaker 3: you were there. I love her and I love her
Speaker 3: food and her style, Like she has her plating as well.
Speaker 3: It's just always on point and it's always so pretty
Speaker 3: and you just want to eat it, but then you
Speaker 3: don't want to wreck it because it's too It just
Speaker 3: looks too good. Yeah. I have a lot of photos
Speaker 3: of her food because it's just it was amazing.
Speaker 1: I just want to hang out with her. I want
Speaker 1: to I want to ring her up and I wanted
Speaker 1: to be my friend.
Speaker 3: Oh she is so fun to hang out with. Yeah, No,
Speaker 3: she's wild. She loves a martini, so like she will
Speaker 3: be there with you and she'll drink those martinis and
Speaker 3: she'll she'll be a blast. She is a blast to
Speaker 3: hang out with.
Speaker 1: I didn't think you were going to make me like
Speaker 1: her more. But mentioning of the martinis, Yes, this is
Speaker 1: a hard question for you.
Speaker 2: But who do you think is gonna win?
Speaker 1: Not what you know, because you might know more, but
Speaker 1: like who do you think is gonna win Master Chef
Speaker 1: Fans versus oh Dan?
Speaker 3: So I reckon he's the dark force in this competition.
Speaker 3: He has grown by leaps and bounds since the beginning.
Speaker 3: I think at the beginning we all thought, what's he
Speaker 3: doing with that taco territory taco? And then you know
Speaker 3: he he just loves to learn and he's not afraid
Speaker 3: to ask for help. I taught him so much and
Speaker 3: he learned it so fast. In terms of desserts, like
Speaker 3: I taught him how to make a krempet, how to
Speaker 3: make a sponge, and he picked it up so quickly,
Speaker 3: and he kept trying and trying. And that's the thing,
Speaker 3: Like he practices so much, and he tries different things,
Speaker 3: new techniques, new flavor combination. He's working his ass off,
Speaker 3: and I really kind of admire him for that, because
Speaker 3: he's refining himself, he's refining his food. He's finding his
Speaker 3: style as well, which is kind of modern Australian, but
Speaker 3: even more Northern Australian, which has a little bit more
Speaker 3: of those Asian kind of flavors coming through it too.
Speaker 3: So he's definitely one I would love to see towards
Speaker 3: the final and I'm just definitely for him.
Speaker 1: It's interesting that you say that because a friend of mine,
Speaker 1: who has worked as an executive at a major network
Speaker 1: about reality television and has been a part of reality
Speaker 1: television since it started, said, you know, people that go
Speaker 1: on the biggest journeys, people who learn the most in
Speaker 1: front of the audience being Australia watching the show, they
Speaker 1: are the ones that you deserve to win these shows.
Speaker 1: So yes, they probably are some more experienced cooks and
Speaker 1: you know, probably have been more successful in lots of
Speaker 1: other ways and be at that position at the start
Speaker 1: of this competition. But because he has gone on this journey,
Speaker 1: I think that we feel like he deserves it more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely feel that for him. I mean not
Speaker 3: just as a friend, because I've just I've been privileged
Speaker 3: to watch him grow and I think anyone in my
Speaker 3: position who has seen that growth just admires him for
Speaker 3: it and just wants him to do so well. So
Speaker 3: I'm definitely cheering him on for the rest of the
Speaker 3: season because I think he's got a lot in him.
Speaker 3: He's got some really cool ideas and I'm hoping he'll
Speaker 3: pull him out.
Speaker 1: I am right there with you and you know something
Speaker 1: I ask everyone that joins the podcast, is what's something
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes, something we didn't see that we
Speaker 1: won't see that you know, it's a bit of a
Speaker 1: behind the scenes secret from maybe your experience or masterschef.
Speaker 3: Oh, behind the scenes, I think it's how much bonding
Speaker 3: we do offset and the shenanigans we kind of get
Speaker 3: up to as well. I don't think anything's gonna get
Speaker 3: shown in that respect I took. If you ever follow
Speaker 3: my Instagram, I have a lot of behind the scene photos,
Speaker 3: pictures where we're just lying about, but also of wine
Speaker 3: nights and karaoke and just us hanging around and chatting
Speaker 3: and having fun. I remember one master class we actually
Speaker 3: had a little dance party before we went in, just
Speaker 3: because someone brought it in the stereo and had their
Speaker 3: music playing. Julie Goodwin has an epic playlist to kind
Speaker 3: of like pump things up and yeah, lots of fun
Speaker 3: behind the scenes.
Speaker 5: Like Julie Goodwin has an epic playlist and whenever she
Speaker 5: is in charge of the music, it's like, oh my god,
Speaker 5: this is the best.
Speaker 3: Like she should be a DJ, got.
Speaker 2: As a backup.
Speaker 3: That's a side hush, like I I would subscribe.
Speaker 1: Steph is so amazing to be able to have this
Speaker 1: chat with you. You know, congratulations on your time on
Speaker 1: the show. As I said at the start, you were
Speaker 1: fantastic to watch and you know, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of Australia will be in your audience to see what
Speaker 1: you do next. If people want to follow you on Instagram.
Speaker 1: What's your Instagram name?
Speaker 3: So it's just my name at Steph boone. Yeah. I'm
Speaker 3: hoping to make a few announcements in the coming months.
Speaker 3: I'm just trying to line up a few pop ups
Speaker 3: and hopefully I'll get to where I want to go eventually,
Speaker 3: which is to open my own place. So definitely watch
Speaker 3: my space and hopefully I'll have good news to share. Well.
Speaker 1: I'll be sliding into your dams mainly to talk about
Speaker 1: VEGGIEMI though, to talk about what we're doing with Veggie
Speaker 1: min Oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah, let's let's let's do that because it's
Speaker 3: definitely an underrated thing, right, it's not just for tost
Speaker 3: in my opinion.
Speaker 2: I agree. Thank you so much for your time. It's
Speaker 2: been such a fun chat
Speaker 3: No worries, Thanks for having me