Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload, the podcast last week they light Hi guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Lily, the
Speaker 1: fifth eliminated contestant on Master Chef Australia for twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: which is now on Network ten from Sundays through to
Speaker 1: Thursdays at seven point thirty. Having relocated to Sydney in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, Lily loved it here so much that she
Speaker 1: stayed meeting her partner Nick, who's obviously here in Australia too.
Speaker 1: Not one to forget her British roots, Lily is inspired
Speaker 1: by English chefs and icons, including of Jamie Oliver who
Speaker 1: was here for the first two weeks of the show,
Speaker 1: Claire Smith, Mary Berry, Julius Roberts and Thomas Straker. Lily
Speaker 1: will tell you she's an intuitive cook. Her signature style
Speaker 1: is homely, hearty, food made with love. Lily is confident
Speaker 1: in balancing her flavors and has a knack for bringing
Speaker 1: ingredients together. A perfectionist and a challenge seeker with a
Speaker 1: love for learning. I personally loved this English born participate
Speaker 1: this year. Super fun to watch and great to debrief
Speaker 1: with her story. Today, Lily will discuss everything from that
Speaker 1: chicken Maryland that was undercooked, to which contestants and judges
Speaker 1: she liked the best. We will unpack how common undercooked
Speaker 1: chicken can send you to hospital and what made her
Speaker 1: choose that dish. We will get a chance to compare
Speaker 1: the English version of Master Chef to the Australian and
Speaker 1: find out which series she actually thinks is better. We
Speaker 1: will discuss the clothing and styling of the contestants and
Speaker 1: find out why they're all wearing the same shoes. There's
Speaker 1: actually so much to unpack with Lily, so sit back
Speaker 1: and relax as we unpack the wonderful world of Master
Speaker 1: Chef Australia.
Speaker 2: Hi, Ben, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm good? How are you? I mean? This is very
Speaker 1: exciting to get picked to beyond Master Chef and then
Speaker 1: to have the anticipation of how it's all going to
Speaker 1: play out, and then to finally get to see it.
Speaker 2: Do you know what? It's been an amazing thing.
Speaker 3: I've been very very lucky to have support for both
Speaker 3: here and England, and so I feel very grateful for
Speaker 3: that and a bit kind of sort of across other
Speaker 3: sides of the world, but both all seem as interested
Speaker 3: as each other, which is lovely.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a good question to ask you because I
Speaker 1: want to know from you. Master Chef is you know,
Speaker 1: a show that's made all around the world, and I
Speaker 1: want to know what was your favorite Master Chef series?
Speaker 1: Was it the UK version or the Australian one? Before
Speaker 1: doing it?
Speaker 2: Absolutely the Australian one.
Speaker 1: What's the difference? I mean, I've never watched the UK one,
Speaker 1: but whilst I was finishing the Internet last night, as
Speaker 1: you do, I was reading about the differences of what
Speaker 1: viewers think from you know, expats that go overseas, and
Speaker 1: there are some big differences. But I want to know
Speaker 1: what you think makes us better.
Speaker 3: I think for me, whenever I watched the Australian Mastership
Speaker 3: in England, I always felt like there was more opportunity
Speaker 3: and more sort of cool things that they did, and
Speaker 3: the it seemed more creative and more experimental, and then
Speaker 3: the opportunity with sort of where they went and who
Speaker 3: they met and everything. It always just felt a bit
Speaker 3: a bit more sort of a bigger thing.
Speaker 1: Well, you know that this was really quite interesting because
Speaker 1: last year, while I was doing the exit interviews for
Speaker 1: all of your fabulous people that get de picked on
Speaker 1: the show, I got this person from the New Yorker
Speaker 1: in America asking me to do a story with him,
Speaker 1: and I did the story, and the thing that they
Speaker 1: were fascinated about in America was the caliber of judges
Speaker 1: that we get the guest show.
Speaker 2: Totally like that, you.
Speaker 1: Know, that's where we're kind of leveling up in some.
Speaker 2: Way totally, And I think that's the thing.
Speaker 3: Like Australia is so massive as well, and food is
Speaker 3: such a sort of pinnacle of its culture, and I
Speaker 3: just really felt that coming here, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: for me, I just felt the UK one never really
Speaker 3: excited me. And maybe I can't pinpoints exactly why that is,
Speaker 3: but it never really pinpointed me or grabbed me. And
Speaker 3: I also felt it never really had a following like
Speaker 3: Australian Master Chef does, which I've realized a lot more
Speaker 3: since moving here.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's meant to be. Who knows.
Speaker 3: I have watched the UK one, but the Australian one
Speaker 3: always excited me much more.
Speaker 1: Find that with international people on our reality shows. I
Speaker 1: wanted to know what sort of feelings you have going
Speaker 1: into it, because for you, what are your thoughts going in?
Speaker 1: Do you think there is any advantage or disadvantage to
Speaker 1: having an accent or being from another country.
Speaker 3: For me, that was something that just never crossed my radar,
Speaker 3: and I think all I wanted from this whole experience was.
Speaker 2: An opportunity to prove to myself that I can do it.
Speaker 3: I never thought of the fact that I wasn't from Australia.
Speaker 2: Really, I knew from watching it previously that there are some.
Speaker 3: Phenomenal cooks from all across the world who get the
Speaker 3: opportunity to be on the stage of Mastershire. I never
Speaker 3: really thought of my culture as well as being a
Speaker 3: sort of skill, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: I never really went in.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's because that is such a British thing that
Speaker 3: we always downplay everything, But I think I never really
Speaker 3: went in being like, oh, I am going to show
Speaker 3: British cuisine and I'm going.
Speaker 2: To show this.
Speaker 3: I just went in and was totally myself and did
Speaker 3: me And it's sort of in hindsight now I've had
Speaker 3: a lot of Oh, it's so English of you to
Speaker 3: be so sort of humble and all this sort of stuff,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, I'm just me and I just had
Speaker 3: a wicked time. And I never went in trying to
Speaker 3: think of my background and upbringing and my culture as
Speaker 3: a sort of skill or power play. I just went
Speaker 3: in to be like, here we go, ride the wave,
Speaker 3: but just make sure you have fun.
Speaker 1: It could also be quite cliche if you were to
Speaker 1: do things like, oh, I'm going to whip up some
Speaker 1: bubble and squeak, I'm trying to think.
Speaker 2: Of totally totally, and you'd look and I just never.
Speaker 1: Really wanted to be like that, Lily. You don't look
Speaker 1: like that to me.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to come in and be like, what's
Speaker 2: important to me? I think so much of my.
Speaker 3: Vibe as a person is like a moral compass, and
Speaker 3: I just I'm happy to make a fool of myself
Speaker 3: if it makes people laugh, and that then subsequently makes
Speaker 3: people feel comfortable.
Speaker 2: And so for me, I was like, go in, have fun,
Speaker 2: cook what you like to eat, and don't cook for
Speaker 2: other people.
Speaker 3: And don't get me wrong, it's very very hard sometimes
Speaker 3: to stay in that lane because there's so many things
Speaker 3: going on, there's so many variables, you're exhausted all those things.
Speaker 2: But I was like, just go in and do you.
Speaker 2: You know, you do better when you cook what you love. Well.
Speaker 1: I think it was great that you sort of reiterated
Speaker 1: that in the episode. I mean, you left the show
Speaker 1: with this declaration of you just doing you, I'm just dreaming.
Speaker 1: And I love that because I think that's a very
Speaker 1: important It's very simple, but it's a very important reminder
Speaker 1: to the viewer that that is important for us all
Speaker 1: to do that. But how did this show change you?
Speaker 1: And because this was filmed a little while ago, you've
Speaker 1: had some time to sort of reflect on the show
Speaker 1: and think about how to do you? How has that evolved?
Speaker 1: Like have you noticed big differences?
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, it's a really interesting question.
Speaker 3: I moved here five years ago on my own and
Speaker 3: I didn't really know anyone here, and I didn't have
Speaker 3: a job when I moved, and all those sorts of things.
Speaker 3: I was a nurse obviously from back in the UK.
Speaker 3: I knew that I would be able to get work
Speaker 3: here somewhere. But I was like, just go and do
Speaker 3: it and find out what it is that you want
Speaker 3: and what makes you tick and what makes you happy.
Speaker 3: And I've always been someone that changed something. If I'm
Speaker 3: not feeling totally in the groove, and I think, I
Speaker 3: guess I'm very grateful to have had parents growing up
Speaker 3: who encourage that and are like, we just want you guys,
Speaker 3: my brothers.
Speaker 2: And I to do what makes you happy. And that's
Speaker 2: a real sort of really ingrained in us. Three.
Speaker 3: So I guess that's what's sort of given me the
Speaker 3: confidence to be someone to just be like, just try it,
Speaker 3: You've got nothing to lose, don't expect it. But if
Speaker 3: it happens, how amazing. And that's how I've tackled this
Speaker 3: whole master chef process. I've suppressed this food idea for
Speaker 3: a really really long time. I've always had wacky ideas
Speaker 3: of things that I'd love to do.
Speaker 2: Which are a little bit off the sort of inverted
Speaker 2: Commas norm, this classic thing of.
Speaker 3: Like, oh, you go to university in England, that you've
Speaker 3: finished school, you go to university, you get a job,
Speaker 3: and that's that and.
Speaker 2: That's your career.
Speaker 3: I've pingponged all over the place and it has been
Speaker 3: the most amazing thing, and I've met subsequently the most
Speaker 3: amazing people. And I'm still in Australia five years later,
Speaker 3: doing a bit of a career swivel. At the moment,
Speaker 3: it's utterly sort of solidified that I'm not meant. I'm
Speaker 3: not a one trick pony, and I'm not meant to
Speaker 3: be in one lane.
Speaker 2: And all I hope is that I can encourage other people.
Speaker 3: And I do it to my friends like all right,
Speaker 3: lil we get it, Like I might change it if
Speaker 3: you're not happy.
Speaker 2: Life is so short, just change it.
Speaker 3: Yes it's scary, Yes it's daunting, but there's an element
Speaker 3: of fake it till you make it and winning it.
Speaker 3: And that's I think there's so much loveliness within that,
Speaker 3: because life is really short, and we all know and
Speaker 3: hear these awful things that happen around the world, and
Speaker 3: I just want to leave this world being like, do
Speaker 3: you know what?
Speaker 2: I had a wicked time. I made people feel good.
Speaker 3: I had fun and I tried things, and you don't
Speaker 3: I get my total buzz from being like, do you
Speaker 3: know what?
Speaker 2: I tried that?
Speaker 3: And I've met amazing people and I've filled out my
Speaker 3: life cup with some amazing memories. And if it's not
Speaker 3: meant to be, it won't be. But how cool to
Speaker 3: be able to have the opportunity to do that Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great photo to put on the wall
Speaker 1: at home. I was put in a full fun master
Speaker 1: year of Australia people walking. I know this is mine.
Speaker 2: So lucky. I'm so lucky.
Speaker 3: And I truly hand on heart. And I'm not just
Speaker 3: saying a splendor in. We truly hand on heart. Never
Speaker 3: ever thought I would get in. I applied on a
Speaker 3: total whim. Always loved food. It's always been this underlying
Speaker 3: passion of something that I've been able to talk so
Speaker 3: passionately about. And it's all I think about every day
Speaker 3: in the morning and I'm like, right, what are we
Speaker 3: going to have for dinner?
Speaker 1: My partner says to me, because he's a general manager,
Speaker 1: we both work from home, he's a very busy person,
Speaker 1: so I make his lunch. It's very you know, fifty's wives,
Speaker 1: and I get so funny just every lunch he says
Speaker 1: to me, what's for dinner?
Speaker 2: And I'm like, yeah, hey, just just do lunch.
Speaker 1: Just doing lunch for you right now, buddy. But truly
Speaker 1: we're always thinking about our next meal. I think, bully, and.
Speaker 2: I just think for me.
Speaker 3: I love that I've been very fortunate to grow up
Speaker 3: with a mum who was the sort of queen of hosting.
Speaker 2: And we were lucky to have a house where the.
Speaker 3: Door was open, and any one of us kids who
Speaker 3: had sort of mates who were at a loose end
Speaker 3: was Mums like just bring them over and would come
Speaker 3: back from work and throw together these dinner parties for
Speaker 3: her friends, dad's friends, anything like that. And so she's
Speaker 3: just this sort of seamless queen of hosting. And I
Speaker 3: think I've kind of got that from Mum that into posting,
Speaker 3: and it sounds cliche and sort of broken record energy,
Speaker 3: but it really is that bringing together of people where
Speaker 3: you can have such conversation and even if I don't
Speaker 3: know you, even if you don't know the whole group
Speaker 3: or anything like that, the opportunity to.
Speaker 2: Have conversation over a plate of food.
Speaker 3: And it just sort of drops those barriers immediately is
Speaker 3: something that I really really really adore.
Speaker 2: About it, and that's something that I want to take forward.
Speaker 1: Well, there's something about food. Don't you think about how
Speaker 1: it changes you? Like if you cook someone food, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like if you say to a mum that's been
Speaker 1: cooking forever, you know, what do you want? Why I
Speaker 1: can make you anything? And they sound don't care. Everything
Speaker 1: tastes good as long as I didn't have to cook it, bully,
Speaker 1: But there's something quite beautiful about putting your time and
Speaker 1: your energy into making someone a plate of food and
Speaker 1: then talking to them and sharing your stories. And that's
Speaker 1: where you get to borrow things from absolutely tribe, you know,
Speaker 1: the people that you've decided to connect to totally.
Speaker 3: And I've always said, like, be vulnerable, because it's allowing
Speaker 3: someone else in front of you to be vulnerable too.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what food doesn't exactly like you
Speaker 2: just alluded to. That's what I'm here for.
Speaker 3: That's what it's all about in my view, and I
Speaker 3: think master chef, there's so many people who have different visions,
Speaker 3: which is so amazing, and things that I would never
Speaker 3: have thought of, things that I would never be able
Speaker 3: to cook, and that imposter syndrome and all of those
Speaker 3: things that you experienced through it. But actually I went
Speaker 3: in and I was like, the food that I love
Speaker 3: is simple, homely, good food. And yes, I didn't necessarily
Speaker 3: do that last night, and I was so creatively blocked.
Speaker 3: I've still done me throughout, and I've done my style,
Speaker 3: and my style is okay, And I think that's what
Speaker 3: I've learned from the whole process is my style is
Speaker 3: okay and people love it, and if they don't, that's
Speaker 3: okay as well.
Speaker 1: That's okay too. You know, I love loved that you
Speaker 1: said the word moist on national television and I have
Speaker 1: to talk to you about this because it's in my
Speaker 1: circle of friends that my girlfriends say, do not use
Speaker 1: the word moist or panties in a conversation with me.
Speaker 1: I was off the table, so it's a known thing
Speaker 1: amongst my people. Don't say it.
Speaker 2: There's a tea at the end of it in England,
Speaker 2: so moist. I'm mortified is that word?
Speaker 1: Though? As to like, is that a okay? Great?
Speaker 3: That's why you've made me blush because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: I've gutted, You've brought.
Speaker 1: That half literly, You've done it. You've done it now.
Speaker 2: I disappointed all of us. Shocker.
Speaker 3: I had a shocker and I got oh. I mean,
Speaker 3: those interviews are so hard and you struggle for words
Speaker 3: sometimes because you're like recounting things. You're trying to think
Speaker 3: about all all the sort of variables within the cook
Speaker 3: what's happened, what went wrong?
Speaker 2: What went, well, all those things.
Speaker 3: You're trying to make sure that you can describe something appropriately,
Speaker 3: and I just felt like it clearly in that moment,
Speaker 3: I was to apologize the half of my whole family.
Speaker 1: No, it's iconic. Now it's iconic. It's all right. No, yeah,
Speaker 1: well maybe maybe not to everyone. People probably listening to
Speaker 1: this and thinking that we're strange because they're like, what's
Speaker 1: wrong with this word?
Speaker 3: But you know anyway, no, we all know, we all
Speaker 3: know that that.
Speaker 2: Is a trigger, and no, it goes on.
Speaker 3: But I went there, so here for it, here for
Speaker 3: a good time, and a short time.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: I've always find that the taste test challenge really stresses
Speaker 1: me out as a viewer. And I saw the plate,
Speaker 1: I mean I saw the table of cubes, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god. This to me because my
Speaker 1: ADHD brain means that I would taste something and know
Speaker 1: what it is. But my brain always tells me to
Speaker 1: go with option too, do you know?
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you know what I mean? Like totally?
Speaker 1: But then you did well with you. I mean you
Speaker 1: had been on a licorice and those two were quite easy.
Speaker 3: I mean licorice I was thrown because you never you
Speaker 3: know that. Well, that's what I said. So I initially
Speaker 3: was in my head thinking aniseed or have they crushed
Speaker 3: aniseed and put it into some sort of weird texture.
Speaker 2: And then I took a while on that one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I just.
Speaker 3: Took a while because I was like, if I say licorice,
Speaker 3: are they going to be like, no, that's wrong. We
Speaker 3: wanted aniseed or something. So I took a while and
Speaker 3: then I just had that completely nostalgic memory to my
Speaker 3: dad in the car growing up on long journeys would.
Speaker 2: Have licorice all sorts.
Speaker 3: I think they're in English, like, no, that's here, he's
Speaker 3: got them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, h well, it's very common here in Australia, I believe,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's another one of those in my community.
Speaker 1: But fathers were bought licorice on Father's Day. It was
Speaker 1: like you buy them so fries and licorice. So that's
Speaker 1: my relationship with this with it, so it's quite hilarious.
Speaker 3: And I remember, yeah, I remember like picking off the
Speaker 3: yellow and the sort of pink sides and giving Dad
Speaker 3: the black licorice. And I just remember then as I
Speaker 3: got older, being like, oh, I'll just try it. But
Speaker 3: it is weird and it always smells weird. And then
Speaker 3: that was the nostalgic memory that made me be like,
Speaker 3: commit to licorice, lole and just say it.
Speaker 2: But you have to have that in the space about
Speaker 2: twenty seconds. So it's tricky.
Speaker 3: And as soon as you're blindfolded, you feel like you've
Speaker 3: lost your sense of taste, smell, hearing everything. I couldn't like,
Speaker 3: you totally feel like you do not know where you are,
Speaker 3: and you keep your blind pods on when you sit
Speaker 3: back down. So anyone at home who's thinking that you
Speaker 3: can sit down, take your blind polls off, No, honey,
Speaker 3: they are on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then that's also quite disconcerting, you know, to
Speaker 1: be in that state for such a long time, because
Speaker 1: like we're watching these things on these shows, it always
Speaker 1: seems like it's happening in real time when it's not.
Speaker 3: We were for hours, hours, and we did really well,
Speaker 3: like we did really really well, like we were going
Speaker 3: for a long time.
Speaker 1: There's an article today about the pumpkin you know, like
Speaker 1: they're like, how did she not get pumpkin right?
Speaker 3: That's so easy so far, and then needs to be
Speaker 3: kind to everyone now, Oh, I know, but the world's
Speaker 3: full of ourselves.
Speaker 1: We know that we do know that. The thing that
Speaker 1: I feel like every year I would want to take
Speaker 1: to task over this is I like this challenge. It's
Speaker 1: great TV. Don't you think it's a little unfair as
Speaker 1: to who that it determines people to be in a
Speaker 1: final cook? Because I believe this challenge has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with luck, you know, the luck of you
Speaker 1: being able to get foods that are easy like avocado.
Speaker 1: Everyone's going to get that, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And then a little bit, you know, but how dare
Speaker 1: they then, you know, have a game of luck that
Speaker 1: leads you to an elimination. You know, I think that
Speaker 1: could be very unfair. Did you think about that at all?
Speaker 1: Do you think it's unfair? Or am I crazy?
Speaker 2: No? I don't think you're crazy at all. I think that.
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess for me, when you sign up
Speaker 3: to Master Chef, you know that you're going to get
Speaker 3: curballs here, there and everywhere, and you just go and
Speaker 3: the flow and it was amazing. And I've always one
Speaker 3: thing I will say about myself is that I've always
Speaker 3: got had a very good palette, and I've always judged
Speaker 3: that like Mum and I growing up and used to
Speaker 3: go out and we'd like sit at.
Speaker 2: A restaurant or whatever, and Dad would be like, what
Speaker 2: are we eating?
Speaker 3: I'm going to be some sauce or something, and Mum
Speaker 3: and I like, I can taste this, and I can
Speaker 3: taste that, and that's like cool.
Speaker 2: I can just taste like salad dressing.
Speaker 3: Tastes great, and Mom and I like nitpicking every single
Speaker 3: ingredient that they would have put in. And so I've
Speaker 3: always really backed myself on my palette and so I'm
Speaker 3: not a.
Speaker 2: Big like recipe user.
Speaker 3: I use recipes a lot for inspiration and visuals because
Speaker 3: I'm not the most sort of visually pleasing, like plating
Speaker 3: sort of person.
Speaker 2: So I use recipes a lot for that. But I
Speaker 2: will taste because I.
Speaker 3: Go and always back my palette and friends say that
Speaker 3: they're like, oh my god, I would never have tasted
Speaker 3: that and whatever. So I was just really excited to
Speaker 3: have the opportunity to do a taste test and I
Speaker 3: was like, great an opportunity to just go for it,
Speaker 3: back myself and see what happens.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can do that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: because you know, for me with music, I'm about ten
Speaker 1: to twenty years behind. I have to hear Pusic a
Speaker 1: thousand times to have a connection to it. I can't.
Speaker 2: Yeh.
Speaker 1: You know those people that can buy the New Tailor
Speaker 1: Swift CD and say five stars, it's brilliant, Like.
Speaker 2: To me, I'd not like that either, like white.
Speaker 1: Noise to me for everything when I hear it the
Speaker 1: first time, I couldn't tell you a pop song from
Speaker 1: hearing a pop song.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I'm very similar as well with my brain being
Speaker 1: able to determine flavors. And I loved cook and I
Speaker 1: use all of the flavors and I think I'm good
Speaker 1: at it. Yeah, But to be blindfolded and then to
Speaker 1: guess what they were, I don't think.
Speaker 2: That's really od.
Speaker 3: And like you can see last night how difficult it is,
Speaker 3: like with one and the Lemon, Like it's really difficult.
Speaker 2: It's not easy. And yes, it might seem obvious.
Speaker 3: To the viewer and people are like, well, obviously it's
Speaker 3: going to be lemon, or obviously it's gonna be pumpkin.
Speaker 2: Like you say, no, actually, it's really really difficult.
Speaker 1: Is it all you can taste? Is it all you
Speaker 1: can taste? Because you were like egg planted I mean
Speaker 1: with the eggplant, and you didn't get that one right,
Speaker 1: and I what eggplant in me would be very hard
Speaker 1: because that particular food, I think tastes different to the
Speaker 1: way it's presented exactly.
Speaker 3: That's one thing with the eggplant, which was annoy Raw
Speaker 3: egg plant has no taste and no smell, and so
Speaker 3: I was just trying to pick at this fixed skin
Speaker 3: on one side, and I was like, I know this,
Speaker 3: I know this, and I just can't get it. And
Speaker 3: then the more worked up you get in your own head,
Speaker 3: the harder it is. And that's why I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm just going to say something, and they were like,
Speaker 3: you sure.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, but I just have to commit.
Speaker 3: But I think a lot of the stuff doesn't really
Speaker 3: sort of taste properly what it's like. And I think
Speaker 3: if it can they said, like, if it essentially, if
Speaker 3: it can be in raw form, it will be. And
Speaker 3: so for things that have to be cooked or cured
Speaker 3: or whatever, they're completely unseasoned, and so often not and
Speaker 3: maybe often and I don't know, but maybe often not
Speaker 3: necessarily in season.
Speaker 2: Either.
Speaker 3: Banana I had was actually really chalky and it wasn't
Speaker 3: like a fresh banana.
Speaker 2: Like you've just taken out the peel. It was like a.
Speaker 3: Grab a green banana from the supermarket and wait for
Speaker 3: it to be nice in three days time. It was
Speaker 3: like really chalky, weird texture and I.
Speaker 2: Couldn't really get a huge hit of banana straight away.
Speaker 2: So you've really got to go up there and.
Speaker 3: Just not rush because maybe certain things aren't in seasons.
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, it's great TV and
Speaker 3: it's an amazing challenge and we did really really well
Speaker 3: as a group, and I think, I mean, look at
Speaker 3: David the tuna whisper a squeaking tuna in his ear.
Speaker 3: It's just the way that people get around things is amazing.
Speaker 3: And it's yeah, it's I can't even tell you how
Speaker 3: hard it. It's like Sofia coming up and scaring me
Speaker 3: by going like boop, and I was like, what, Like
Speaker 3: you just don't You're so all over the place, You're like.
Speaker 2: Where am I?
Speaker 1: Very true? Very true. You know, my best friend and
Speaker 1: my partner they're so fussy about chicken, and I pulled
Speaker 1: chicken Marryland all the time, so I was watching you
Speaker 1: do that, and I've got various recipes I do with this.
Speaker 1: But you know, my partner and my best friend. They
Speaker 1: want their chicken to be really juicy. Where this sounds
Speaker 1: gross because everyone's going to be like, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1: But I love my meat dry. I liked my meat
Speaker 1: because I think it's an aversion to once my mum
Speaker 1: cooked like a coal's roast chicken didn't cook it properly,
Speaker 1: and it made me sick. Right now, I'm just like,
Speaker 1: the dryer the chicken, the better, Like I'll tell the
Speaker 1: kernel AFC, just leave it in there for an extra
Speaker 1: bit of time. But it frightens me about cooking people
Speaker 1: raw chicken. And do you think it's more of a
Speaker 1: myth about getting food poisoning from chicken or do we
Speaker 1: need to be as careful as we are?
Speaker 2: No, I think for sure you need to be careful.
Speaker 3: And I think I just made a stupid decision by
Speaker 3: doing a Merryland in that time.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I was just all over the place.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to know neither.
Speaker 3: Oh, I just I cannot tell you how blocked I was,
Speaker 3: genuinely going into that cook off the back of that
Speaker 3: really long taste puss and then being like the pantry
Speaker 3: it's very well stocked, those one hundred ingredients, yes, but
Speaker 3: there are.
Speaker 2: Some key credentials that aren't there. And I just so stumped.
Speaker 2: I was so tired.
Speaker 3: I could not shake the kind of like writer's block,
Speaker 3: I imagine, like I just could not shake that, and
Speaker 3: I was really like getting I was starting to get
Speaker 3: a bit in my own head. And then I was like, no,
Speaker 3: little just like carry on, like, yes, the idea might
Speaker 3: not be the most amazing, and it's not, sort of.
Speaker 2: It was just a silly mistake. And that's what happens.
Speaker 3: In this show, is you don't have your best cook
Speaker 3: and you will probably go home. And I'm okay with
Speaker 3: it because I'd had good cooks and stuff. If I
Speaker 3: hadn't had any good cooks in the kitchen, i'd be
Speaker 3: really gutted. But I'm okay with it because I've had
Speaker 3: the most of it. I'm so fortunate. And I made
Speaker 3: just a dodgy error. But I looked tired and I
Speaker 3: felt tired and shake that.
Speaker 1: You're very polite, but you know, I thought you looked
Speaker 1: fine and I.
Speaker 2: Was so tired and just could not shake the But
Speaker 2: that's reality.
Speaker 1: I think they cook you too. I mean the cook
Speaker 1: being the operative word. But you know, I think they
Speaker 1: do make us, make you in a certain state to
Speaker 1: make good television as well, so.
Speaker 3: Many variables with master Chef like you, Paul, you know,
Speaker 3: like you've got such long days, you are out of
Speaker 3: your comfort zone, all these things, the uncertainty, you never
Speaker 3: know what's next. But that's why you do it, and
Speaker 3: that's what you know you're signing up for. And it's
Speaker 3: a resilient test and check a lot of the time.
Speaker 3: But we're surrounded by great people, We're very well supported.
Speaker 3: But that day just I could not get out of
Speaker 3: my own head and I couldn't be like I couldn't
Speaker 3: think how I would normally think in that kitchen.
Speaker 1: Watching Stephen's narrative that he'd stuffed up his dish, you know,
Speaker 1: enter stage to this episode. Is that how it felt
Speaker 1: in the kitchen at the time, or is that just
Speaker 1: how they do? They go, Okay, we don't want it
Speaker 1: to be so obvious that Lil's going home, so we're
Speaker 1: going to just make this big storyline out of Stephen's
Speaker 1: being wrong. Like what did it feel like in real time?
Speaker 3: I mean, so when you're I found anyway, Like personally
Speaker 3: when I was cooking, I was just in my own zone.
Speaker 3: Unless I was like having fun or interacting with someone
Speaker 3: next to me or people on the gantry. And I
Speaker 3: remember in that cook, I was so sort of foggy
Speaker 3: headed that I wasn't really sort of doing much other
Speaker 3: than just trying to get through this sort of abrid
Speaker 3: dish that I knew I was serving up. And I
Speaker 3: just suddenly, towards the end just heard these complete gasps
Speaker 3: and saw Steve was right in front of me, and
Speaker 3: I saw this sort of plate hovering on the edge
Speaker 3: of the bench literally about to drop to the floor,
Speaker 3: and I just thought, oh my god, bless him. And
Speaker 3: it was like silent in there. So no, that was
Speaker 3: absolutely how it was.
Speaker 1: And have a turn around though. I was like, you
Speaker 1: left a couple and they looked disgusting, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want that.
Speaker 2: No, he's a very very clever cook, that man. Oh
Speaker 2: I know, very clever cook.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can tell that. You can tell that also
Speaker 1: from his story as well.
Speaker 2: Sure, lovely, lovely man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he does seem like that. It's always really interesting,
Speaker 1: you know. Everyone last night was just on this how
Speaker 1: do they serve the food hot to these judges? And
Speaker 1: I don't know why. Last night the viewers really stayed
Speaker 1: with this. Maybe they were about the merryland cooking, maybe
Speaker 1: because you know, with chicken, if you leave it out
Speaker 1: for a little bit longer, it will continue to cook
Speaker 1: a little more. But there was a lot of dialogue
Speaker 1: about it. Are you serving them hot food or are
Speaker 1: you serving them cold food? What's going on there?
Speaker 3: So I think there's a factor of mass chef that
Speaker 3: a lot of people at home probably don't realize and
Speaker 3: I obviously didn't realize until I did it is the
Speaker 3: amount of logistics behind the scenes, so we don't like
Speaker 3: the viewer doesn't always see that. They try to think
Speaker 3: the judges come around to our benches and try things,
Speaker 3: mid cook and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: They can so well.
Speaker 1: I mean something on the internet about a red plate.
Speaker 1: Is there a red plate that do you put your
Speaker 1: food to the side and they can taste off the
Speaker 1: red plate?
Speaker 2: No, there's no red plate.
Speaker 3: But over time, like if you're depends on it's all
Speaker 3: dependent on what you're making. And this is why it's
Speaker 3: another variable and that you have to be quite clever
Speaker 3: with what you make because there's so many things that
Speaker 3: you want to be able to, like, you've got to
Speaker 3: factor in one. But I actually hate open pantry stuff
Speaker 3: because I'm like, that's too much choice. I love a
Speaker 3: mystery box and I love a team challenge, Like I'm
Speaker 3: a team person and I love a mystery box because
Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, this is what I've got.
Speaker 2: What can we rustle up.
Speaker 3: It's like a Sunday night rade before you're going on holiday,
Speaker 3: you know, we're just like, I'm just going to clear
Speaker 3: this out and I'll make something really nice, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to open up the pantry or in England.
Speaker 2: The ladder, and I'm going to just work out what
Speaker 2: the hell I'm going to cook.
Speaker 3: Whereas with the open pantry, I just walk in there
Speaker 3: and I'm like I'm paralyzed by decisions because there's so
Speaker 3: many things I can do. So yeah, no, totally. So yeah,
Speaker 3: you've got to be quite clever about what you make
Speaker 3: and all that sort of stuff. But there's I mean,
Speaker 3: I think like there's some cooks. Initially there's twenty two
Speaker 3: of us, so it's going to take a while. It
Speaker 3: might not be piping hot, but there's a lot of
Speaker 3: logistics behind the scenes to make it all happen, and
Speaker 3: so I think that's where credit goes to the crew,
Speaker 3: who are.
Speaker 1: Phenomenal and it's a big show to put together, like
Speaker 1: they do such a hot job, I mean the whole thing. Actually,
Speaker 1: you know people also on one of the Facebook groups
Speaker 1: they're going on about the music and about how the
Speaker 1: music is just so over the top.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny because obviously we don't have that when
Speaker 3: we're there.
Speaker 2: So I'm listening and I'm like, oh, they've really gone
Speaker 2: like and you're like suddenly you're like, I've got my
Speaker 2: heart in my mouth.
Speaker 1: I love that. There was the season where they were
Speaker 1: like singing the Hot and Cold theme song by Katie
Speaker 1: Perry the whole season they were imagining it, and that
Speaker 1: was the year they scrapped that is the theme song. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is such a delight to talk to you. I
Speaker 1: have to quickly ask you my two questions that I've
Speaker 1: been asking everyone. Who would you like to see win?
Speaker 1: So not who, not who you think is going to win,
Speaker 1: but who you'd like to see. And then you've also
Speaker 1: got to tell me your favorite judge out of the
Speaker 1: four of them. And I know that's hard, but you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to do it.
Speaker 3: They're both hard, I judge wise, well does Jamie Olive
Speaker 3: account because that was a.
Speaker 1: Real Now we're getting came out of it. We don't
Speaker 1: want to know about, but we already know we want
Speaker 1: the four.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I would. Oh god, they're all fun and
Speaker 2: they're all different.
Speaker 3: I love Gankrosov because he's just the most kind hearted,
Speaker 3: lovely man but also very funny and makes really funny
Speaker 3: comments about like England and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: But also Sophia gave me real like big sister.
Speaker 1: No, we don't want to know about the rest of them.
Speaker 1: I've already picked yours. You can't do it it well,
Speaker 1: you too, and sorry, and they can test the winner.
Speaker 3: I think there's a couple of who could absolutely get there,
Speaker 3: the sort of Trelank and Spice Queen.
Speaker 1: That's your peak. I've only got one and they're not
Speaker 1: going to listen to the podcast, and if they do,
Speaker 1: just tell them that you had brain frog. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to set you up with this question because everyone
Speaker 1: I think people want to know about this. But every
Speaker 1: episode of my podcast, this is episode four hundred and six,
Speaker 1: so it's a long time of asking the same question.
Speaker 1: What is something from behind the scenes. I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask that, but can you talk to me about the clothing,
Speaker 1: because last night I could see that all the clothing
Speaker 1: was so well blocked. Is there a story about how
Speaker 1: you're all dressed and just however you want to put
Speaker 1: that into your own words?
Speaker 3: No story on how we have to dress other than
Speaker 3: sort of avoiding brands and stripes because they go all stroby.
Speaker 2: I always just went for.
Speaker 3: My lovely colored shirt because I was like.
Speaker 2: At least I'm comfortable.
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, no stripes, which is my whole wardrobe
Speaker 3: is like striped T shirt, so I have to get
Speaker 3: into the.
Speaker 2: Color block shirt.
Speaker 3: Okay, but yeah, stripes strode on camera, so yeah, no
Speaker 3: real And then are really glamorous steel to cupped kitchen
Speaker 3: shoes that we all wear and love you'll see us
Speaker 3: all looking like we're in clog, but yeah, kitchen shoes
Speaker 3: that we have to wear for safety. And then I'll
Speaker 3: love that you can wear what you want as long
Speaker 3: as there's no super visible brands and that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: Amazing, Okay, enjoy chatting, Like, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: taking the time chatting to me today. It was such
Speaker 1: such a chat, such a lovely you, and I'm thank
Speaker 1: good morning. So yeah, oh.
Speaker 3: You're very sweet, well lovely to meet you so to speak,
Speaker 3: and thanks so
Speaker 2: Much for your time as well, really appreciate it.