Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week. They might welcome back
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast,
Speaker 1: I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television.
Speaker 1: Each episode you will get a front row seat with
Speaker 1: content makers like executive producers, writers, editors and casting agents,
Speaker 1: plus the talent that we see on our screens. TV
Speaker 1: Reload reloads the shows that you are currently watching and
Speaker 1: gives you a better insight at our television industry and
Speaker 1: streaming services today. On the podcast, I have mastershef Australia's
Speaker 1: first ever winner and this season's latest to victi Julie Goodwin.
Speaker 1: This season we welcome back to the kitchen, the most
Speaker 1: celebrated contestant ever and while she had most of Australia
Speaker 1: banking on her second win, it was a birdcake that
Speaker 1: cooked her chances and a second trophy of the hit
Speaker 1: Channel ten TV program. Julie had the entire cast talking
Speaker 1: about her affable nature and warm presence among the competition,
Speaker 1: with everyone stating what you see is what you get.
Speaker 1: Julie has been in the jungle, on radio, in your
Speaker 1: cookbooks and many budding chefs have been in her cooking classes.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that this powerful woman cannot do? There
Speaker 1: is a moment in this chat where she talks about
Speaker 1: the similarities with Forest Gump and his life and this
Speaker 1: amazing similarities of an extraordinary story that just keeps getting
Speaker 1: bigger and better, all the while still being her humble self.
Speaker 1: We will talk about what's next, what she thought in
Speaker 1: the final cook Drinking culture in Australia, best career moments,
Speaker 1: including Kermit the Frog, and who she thinks will win
Speaker 1: Master Chef Fans versus favorites. However, let's get started. I'd
Speaker 1: like to welcome one of Australia's biggest reality TV stars ever.
Speaker 1: It's Julie Goodwin.
Speaker 2: I knew from the minute they asked me that I
Speaker 2: was yeah, I was probably gonna do it.
Speaker 1: The Sheriff has produced some of the biggest names in food.
Speaker 3: I screamed and I dropped the phone.
Speaker 1: The first time ever.
Speaker 3: It's funs versus febites.
Speaker 2: I truly feel like it's appropriate for me to not
Speaker 2: have won this time around. Julie the bottom of all
Speaker 2: of our cakes, well don't. I can say that the
Speaker 2: Australian drinking culture makes it very hard to be a
Speaker 2: non drinker.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Julie. For the first time ever, you're gone home.
Speaker 3: We're going to all leave this richer for having been here.
Speaker 1: Hi, Julie, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm great?
Speaker 1: Thank you well, congratulations on your return to Master Chef Australia.
Speaker 1: Was this a hard decision for you to agree to
Speaker 1: come back to the kitchen?
Speaker 3: It's funny. It was a decision. In my head.
Speaker 2: It was a decision that I should have made differently,
Speaker 2: But in my gut, in my heart, I was I
Speaker 2: just I you. From the minute they asked me that,
Speaker 2: I was, yeah, I was probably gonna do it.
Speaker 1: Why what was your head saying? Was your head saying
Speaker 1: maybe not well?
Speaker 2: My head was saying, are you mad? And then my
Speaker 2: head said, yes you are. And that's the problem. I
Speaker 2: spoke to my psychologist and she said, it's like you've
Speaker 2: got two broken legs and you've told me that you're
Speaker 2: going to walk the Kakoda track. So the two broken
Speaker 2: legs being you know that I've had some ill mental
Speaker 2: health over the past couple of years and I wasn't
Speaker 2: in a great space. So really, if you looked at
Speaker 2: things from a logical point of view, it didn't make
Speaker 2: much sense to put myself under that kind of pressure
Speaker 2: and be away from my family for six months. But
Speaker 2: then I just felt this little sort of fears of
Speaker 2: excitement that had been missing for a while, and I thought,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe this is just the thing that I need.
Speaker 1: I think everyone in the world who watched, everyone in
Speaker 1: Australia that's watched this series would love to be like you,
Speaker 1: which is so funny because it doesn't always demonstrate what's
Speaker 1: happening on the inside for us. So while you talk
Speaker 1: about your mental health struggles, here we are in Australia
Speaker 1: watching you, and I think we all want to be you.
Speaker 1: It's very strange.
Speaker 2: Ah oh look no, I I nobody's life is all
Speaker 2: sunshine and unicorns, you know, And if anybody's life looks
Speaker 2: like that, then you know they probably need to be
Speaker 2: asked if they're doing okay, because it's just not the truth.
Speaker 3: It's not how life goes.
Speaker 2: And you know, I love my life, but there's things
Speaker 2: that you know, things go hey why sometimes and that's
Speaker 2: just sometimes it's a little bit outside our control as well.
Speaker 2: So I think that that's just reality. But yeah, at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, I think everybody's got their
Speaker 2: ups and their downs.
Speaker 1: Did you ring Poe and ask Poe? I mean, she
Speaker 1: came second to your win back in the day, and
Speaker 1: she'd come back just a couple of years before. Did
Speaker 1: you ring her and ask her whether or not it
Speaker 1: was a good idea?
Speaker 3: I did?
Speaker 2: You know? Touched Facebook poets and I'm like, God, crazy
Speaker 2: things happening again. She's you know, she and I are
Speaker 2: so similar to each other. We're such good friends, and
Speaker 2: we've been through so much together. And she knew I
Speaker 2: would say yes, and I knew she would say yes
Speaker 2: where they asked her too.
Speaker 3: It's just I don't know.
Speaker 2: There's she's got a very similar sort of sense of
Speaker 2: wild and adventure to us, so we kind of both
Speaker 2: knew that that would be the case. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: did I touch base with that because she'd only just
Speaker 2: done it on back to win, and you know, we've
Speaker 2: both been through I'm a celebrity to get me out
Speaker 2: of here. We've both had a lot of similar life
Speaker 2: experiences that Master Chef brought to us.
Speaker 3: So we're very We're very connected.
Speaker 1: I love to hear this. I just love the fact
Speaker 1: that you guys are still friends. I think that's beautiful.
Speaker 3: We're great mates. We're great mates. She's like a sister.
Speaker 1: You're probably the most celebrated though contestant in Master Chef history.
Speaker 1: What kind of pressure did that create for you coming
Speaker 1: back in?
Speaker 3: Oh, look, the pressure that I felt. I'd like to
Speaker 3: say that I was putting it all on myself, but
Speaker 3: I'm not actually sure that's true.
Speaker 2: I felt pressure because, you know, I feel like the
Speaker 2: foundation of my life at the moment has been built
Speaker 2: on my win from thirteen years ago and all the
Speaker 2: opportunities and experiences that came my way. So really, if
Speaker 2: I get into that foundation by going on this show
Speaker 2: again and shake it, what's.
Speaker 3: Going to happen?
Speaker 2: I could, you know, if I make an absolute tool
Speaker 2: out of myself, I could lose my business. I could,
Speaker 2: you know, it could bring my whole life tumbling down
Speaker 2: that I've constructed, you know. So that is a lot
Speaker 2: of pressure, and I didn't really know how it would go.
Speaker 2: I didn't know if what they would be looking for,
Speaker 2: if I'd be looking for things that are just completely
Speaker 2: outside my knowledge and ability. So there was a huge
Speaker 2: risk in coming back. But I just thought, well, you know,
Speaker 2: nothing ventured, nothing gained, and and you know, my husband
Speaker 2: May and I have a bit of a mantra about
Speaker 2: our lives, which is, don't die wondering. So I think
Speaker 2: if I had said no to this, that I would
Speaker 2: be watching it now with a huge amount of regret.
Speaker 1: What I take from you when you're on television is
Speaker 1: your empathy and your warmth and your likability, whether tactics
Speaker 1: or traits that you knew you would need to bring
Speaker 1: to your time back in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: Oh, look, in terms of tactics and traits, I would
Speaker 2: just say trying to think clearly and be calm. No
Speaker 2: tactics in terms of how I went with the other contestants,
Speaker 2: none at all. It's just we're a bunch of human
Speaker 2: beings giving something a go, and we're in quite a
Speaker 2: unique situation, and so we all leaned on each other
Speaker 2: and I just thought that was really beautiful, and we
Speaker 2: all lifted each other up. And it was an agreement
Speaker 2: amongst us almost that we're going to all leave this
Speaker 2: richer for having been here.
Speaker 3: Whether we win or whether we don't, we will all.
Speaker 2: Leave here richer in knowledge, richer in friendships, you know,
Speaker 2: and richer inexperience than what we arrived.
Speaker 3: So that was that was all of us brought that
Speaker 3: to the table.
Speaker 1: Well, you could have, you know, come back and you
Speaker 1: know you're a past winner, and you could have been
Speaker 1: jaded or arrogant or entitled. But we saw the absolute
Speaker 1: opposite of those traits. I felt like you won me
Speaker 1: over more with your humility, even being eliminated last night.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't come back as arrogant. It's just not.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I don't think I know how to do that one,
Speaker 2: because I'm just in it. I am in a state
Speaker 2: of awe and gratitude at the.
Speaker 3: Things that come my way. I'm not an extraordinary person.
Speaker 2: I'm a very ordinary person.
Speaker 3: I'm just like anybody else. But these extraordinary things.
Speaker 2: Have come to pass in my life, and I will
Speaker 2: never take that for granted.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful for that from the bottom of my heart.
Speaker 1: What would you say were the most significant changes to
Speaker 1: the competition since your first experience.
Speaker 2: I think the most significant changes are actually off camera,
Speaker 2: So the fact that I was allowed to be in
Speaker 2: touch with my family throughout the process.
Speaker 3: So the first time.
Speaker 2: Around, I didn't see them or speak to them hardly
Speaker 2: for the nearly five months I was away. This time around,
Speaker 2: we were allowed to have contact. So that made a
Speaker 2: huge difference to me in terms of, you know, just
Speaker 2: being able to cope. And also we had a bit
Speaker 2: more privacy this time around. So first time around, there
Speaker 2: was twenty of us living in this house together.
Speaker 3: It was like some weird frat party.
Speaker 2: And this time around we were all in the same
Speaker 2: apartment building, but we all had our own bedroom and
Speaker 2: our own space.
Speaker 3: So that made it very very different from me.
Speaker 2: A bit more adult people, grown up and something that
Speaker 2: somebody of my agent stage.
Speaker 3: Could cope with a bit better than being in on
Speaker 3: some weird school camp.
Speaker 1: Yeah, big Brother Master Chef version doesn't sound that appealing.
Speaker 1: You'l beer like cooking all day and then being put
Speaker 1: into that house. No, thank you?
Speaker 3: Oh lord, it was awful.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about this? Because I actually think
Speaker 1: the fact that you came out, you know, I actually
Speaker 1: think that's helped you connect to audiences even more. I
Speaker 1: think if you if you'd one again, that would people
Speaker 1: be like, oh, yeah, you've won. But I think in
Speaker 1: some way it's sort of it's made us love you
Speaker 1: even more. Do you feel like that?
Speaker 2: Look, I truly feel like it's appropriate for me to
Speaker 2: not have won this time around. I also don't know
Speaker 2: that I could have coped with all the conspiracy theories
Speaker 2: around it.
Speaker 3: If I'd won again. So coming fifth actually meant that
Speaker 3: I was there until the very last week. I was
Speaker 3: in finals week, So for me, that was beautiful.
Speaker 2: But I do think it's fair for somebody else to
Speaker 2: take that on and to have those experiences and have
Speaker 2: that moment. You know, I've had that moment and it
Speaker 2: was so special and it's something I'll never forget. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I gave it everything I had. And I've always said
Speaker 2: that to my kids, you know, whether they were playing
Speaker 2: sport or whatever they were doing, whether it was schoolwork
Speaker 2: or anything, it doesn't matter if you don't win, or
Speaker 2: if you don't come first, or if you don't get
Speaker 2: top march, if you leave nothing in the tank, if
Speaker 2: it's all left out there on the field and you've
Speaker 2: got nothing left to give, then there is no better
Speaker 2: than that you can do. And there was nothing left
Speaker 2: in my tank, mate, at the end of that cook,
Speaker 2: at the end of that season, I gave it everything,
Speaker 2: absolutely everything that I had, And so I walk away
Speaker 2: feeling proud of myself, proud of my family for just
Speaker 2: telling me to go for it and for coping without
Speaker 2: me again for six months, and just richer for the experience.
Speaker 1: Well, if you read it all the comments online, I
Speaker 1: think that you've exceeded everyone's expectations with your return. Everyone
Speaker 1: seems very happy with it. You've avoided all those conspiracy
Speaker 1: theories that may have surfaced had you had one. But
Speaker 1: I feel like as an audience, we really saw a
Speaker 1: woman who has been on a journey and still has
Speaker 1: a first for life. I think that's what I've walked
Speaker 1: away with. What has your life been like since we
Speaker 1: last saw you fourteen years ago?
Speaker 3: Oh, life's been amazing.
Speaker 2: I've I still pinched myself every day as to the
Speaker 2: things that pop up because Mick and Eye jack about
Speaker 2: it that it's my forest grump life.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I just go through life meeting these amazing people that
Speaker 2: I'd never thought i'd meet, you.
Speaker 3: Know, things like my son, he's.
Speaker 2: Now he's about to turn twenty four. I had to
Speaker 2: think about that to he's about to turn twenty four.
Speaker 2: But when for his twelfth birthday, the West Tigers, which
Speaker 2: is his favorite football NRL team, I was able to
Speaker 2: take him down to a training session on his twelfth
Speaker 2: birthday and they all signed his jump up. And that's
Speaker 2: purely because I went on a reality cooking program. It
Speaker 2: doesn't make any sense, but those are the kind of
Speaker 2: beautiful things that life has put in our path ever
Speaker 2: since this happened fourteen years ago. And I've been able
Speaker 2: to write books and I've got a cooking school like radio.
Speaker 2: Who thought that coming out of a cooking show. You know,
Speaker 2: there's all sorts of beautiful things that never would have
Speaker 2: passed my way.
Speaker 3: And yeah, so it's just a constant adventure.
Speaker 1: Really well, I love being in your audience. I listened
Speaker 1: to your radio show even though I was in a
Speaker 1: different state. I just wanted to.
Speaker 3: Lovely.
Speaker 1: And I also watched you in the jungle. I saw
Speaker 1: my friend Joel Creasy the other day and I said
Speaker 1: I would be interviewing you, and he said to say
Speaker 1: hello because he's obsessed with you.
Speaker 3: He's adorable. My god, I love him.
Speaker 1: So you've met a lot of people, You've had a
Speaker 1: lot of experiences. You know, what's been your favorite experience
Speaker 1: that this whole experience has conjured up for you.
Speaker 2: Look, it's impossible to say what my favorite one is,
Speaker 2: but I would have to say that the one that
Speaker 2: kind of sums things up perfectly. Is that I got
Speaker 2: to cook with Kermitt the Frog. So while I was
Speaker 2: the resident cook on the Today Show, the producers rang
Speaker 2: me and said, oh, by the way, wear trousers tomorrow,
Speaker 2: not address because there'll be a guy underneath your kitchen
Speaker 2: bench as you cook.
Speaker 3: But I'm just like, I beg your pardon. She goes, oh, sorry,
Speaker 3: So so I didn't explain that very well. We're promoting
Speaker 3: the Muppets movie.
Speaker 2: You're cooking with Kermitt the Frog, And I screamed and
Speaker 2: I dropped the phone and it was one of those
Speaker 2: called the s phones, and it fell apart and the
Speaker 2: batteries fell out. By the time I found the batteries
Speaker 2: and got them all back together, I was crying. And
Speaker 2: so yeah, and I got to go in and the
Speaker 2: guy who is in charge of Kermitt the Frog came
Speaker 2: out and said, how I introduced himself, And as soon
Speaker 2: as I heard his voice, I burst into tears again.
Speaker 2: I have loved Kermit the Frog since I was a
Speaker 2: tiny little girl, and it was all about his song
Speaker 2: It's not Easy Being Green. So I was a bit
Speaker 2: of a weird kid, you know, And so I just
Speaker 2: really resonated with Kermit the Frog, and so that to me,
Speaker 2: it was I just couldn't believe it. I'm standing next
Speaker 2: to Kermitt the Frog. I forgot that there was a
Speaker 2: puppeteer under the bench. It was just being Kermit and
Speaker 2: we cooked white Christmas together and we talked about all
Speaker 2: sorts of things and that.
Speaker 3: You know, at the end of that, I just thought,
Speaker 3: on what planet does this happen?
Speaker 2: So if you could have told my five year old
Speaker 2: self that one day I would cook something with Kermit
Speaker 2: the Frog, I would have wet my pants.
Speaker 1: I absolutely love it. I was a weird kid as well,
Speaker 1: so I loved Kermit the Frog. Somebody who you know,
Speaker 1: when they do those Facebook things like who do you
Speaker 1: relate to the most? Or who do you look like?
Speaker 1: Or whether it's my double ganger or whether someone I
Speaker 1: relate to, I've always had Kermit the Frog in the mix.
Speaker 1: So we have that in common.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there you godless.
Speaker 1: You know, last night we've got to see you sort
Speaker 1: of talk about your relationship with alcohol, and you were
Speaker 1: saying that you're no longer drinking. Can we talk about
Speaker 1: our relationship with alcohol in this country? Do you think
Speaker 1: that we have an unhealthy culture with the way in
Speaker 1: which we drink socially.
Speaker 2: Oh look, I think that the you know, I've never
Speaker 2: been the person that steps in and says what we
Speaker 2: should be doing as a society, you know, in air quotes,
Speaker 2: because it's not my place. But I can say that
Speaker 2: the Australian drinking culture makes it very hard to be
Speaker 2: a non drinker. But I will also say that I
Speaker 2: see that changing. I see that changing. I see more
Speaker 2: sort of non alcoholic options on menus I see, and
Speaker 2: actually it's being driven by younger people. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of young people who don't go out drinking anymore. They
Speaker 2: go out for coffees, you know, or they have these
Speaker 2: wild mocktails, and so I am seeing it'll take a
Speaker 2: long time in this country for that to really tilt.
Speaker 2: But we've got a very big drinking culture in this country,
Speaker 2: and you can see, you can see.
Speaker 3: The social issues that it creates.
Speaker 2: But you know, there's also a lot of responsible people
Speaker 2: who drink responsibly, and there's a whole industry around it.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of beautiful stuff around, you know, vineyards
Speaker 2: and all that sort of thing. So yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: judge anybody else. That's a decision I needed to make
Speaker 2: for my own health and well being and for the
Speaker 2: sake of my family.
Speaker 1: And has that affected your family and your friends around you?
Speaker 1: I mean, is your change to remove alcohol from your life?
Speaker 1: Is that made your life different.
Speaker 3: Made it better? It's made it better.
Speaker 2: It's not something I have to think about or worry
Speaker 2: about anymore. But in terms of my friends, like I think,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't hang with a group of big drinkers,
Speaker 2: so it's not like I've put myself on the outer
Speaker 2: with my friends at all. But also I'm not going
Speaker 2: around going well. I don't want anyone to drink near me.
Speaker 2: I don't want anybody else to change what they're doing.
Speaker 2: This is a decision that I've made, and I don't
Speaker 2: you know, I don't. I'm not one of those ex
Speaker 2: drinkers who preaches to people about the evils of drink.
Speaker 3: You know, it's each to their own, and this just
Speaker 3: had to be what I did for myself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, reform drinkers and reform smokers can be really hard
Speaker 1: to take at times, you know what I mean? So
Speaker 1: you know, oh yeah I do.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to be that person, you know,
Speaker 2: because because you know, I it took me a long
Speaker 2: time to come to that decision, and it's not up
Speaker 2: to me to rush anybody else to their decision.
Speaker 3: It is. You know, it's very personal, and every person
Speaker 3: is very different, and everyone's relationship with alcohol is very different,
Speaker 3: and it presents in different ways in different lives.
Speaker 2: So you know, having a problematic drinking doesn't just mean
Speaker 2: that you're you know, on a park bench with a
Speaker 2: brown paper bag.
Speaker 3: There's all sorts of ways that can impact your life.
Speaker 2: And I just found that it was impacting my life
Speaker 2: in ways that were not improving my lot. So I
Speaker 2: made the decision and.
Speaker 3: To cut it out.
Speaker 2: It's necessary for the medication that I'm on, and it's
Speaker 2: necessary for my own sense of well being and self worth,
Speaker 2: so it's much better for me.
Speaker 1: Well, I can hear it in your voice. You do
Speaker 1: sound happy, So you know, I think that you've invested
Speaker 1: in yourself, and that's really important. I think for lots
Speaker 1: of us to do is to every now and again
Speaker 1: put our magnifying glass over who we are and what
Speaker 1: we're doing, so that we can evolve into being better
Speaker 1: versions of ourselves.
Speaker 2: Well, id just think if there's something in your life
Speaker 2: that makes you feel guilty or makes you feel bad
Speaker 2: or makes you feel defensive, then you know, I'm not
Speaker 2: saying stop doing it.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying I have a closer look at it.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, have a.
Speaker 3: Clo look at it.
Speaker 2: If it makes you feel bad, why do you keep
Speaker 2: doing it? And if it's screwing with things, then maybe
Speaker 2: it's time to just take a step back, have a
Speaker 2: little look, and make a different choice. And the different
Speaker 2: choice doesn't have to be all or nothing. For me,
Speaker 2: it's easier to be all or nothing. I am in
Speaker 2: all or nothing person. But for others it might just be,
Speaker 2: you know, moderating things a little bit. It's you know,
Speaker 2: every person has their own their own story. But if
Speaker 2: you feel like you're not quite happy, or you're doing
Speaker 2: something that's making you not quite happy, or if everybody
Speaker 2: in your life is telling you that you're doing something
Speaker 2: that's not great, then just take a little stock and
Speaker 2: that's that's all, you know, that's all you can do
Speaker 2: really and make some decisions from that.
Speaker 1: One of the questions I love to ask people who
Speaker 1: are living in the spotlight and you've been living in
Speaker 1: the spotlight for so long, is we often read about
Speaker 1: what's written online. What's the weirdest thing that you've ever
Speaker 1: written about yourself or maybe something that's been completely untrue
Speaker 1: that you've read over the last fourteen years.
Speaker 2: But there's been so many weird things, so many like
Speaker 2: I mean, there's the obvious fake scandals like Mick and
Speaker 2: I have. They've had us divorcing a few times now,
Speaker 2: which is so, you know, we've been together for thirty
Speaker 2: three years. That's not happy. But the funniest one that
Speaker 2: just came out was you know, good old Daily Mail.
Speaker 2: They put out an article saying I'd had a massive
Speaker 2: fashion fail, which is, you know, that's fine, that's my life.
Speaker 2: And it was all about this pair of orange pants
Speaker 2: that I bought online and I poked fun at myself
Speaker 2: on Instagram.
Speaker 3: But I wore all throughout mastership.
Speaker 2: I wore all different jewelry like knives and forks and
Speaker 2: pizzas and fried eggs and all sorts of stuff. Well,
Speaker 2: I wore this tiny spoon necklace and they wrote an
Speaker 2: article of fe Now we all know it's just one
Speaker 2: of her pieces of food jewelry, but some viewers have
Speaker 2: said it looks like a snuffspoon rugs.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Oh my god. I'm sorry it made
Speaker 3: me laugh because it made me think about a pair
Speaker 3: of earrings that my nan gave me when I.
Speaker 2: Was a young girl, and she said, I got to
Speaker 2: these beautiful palm leaf earrings and they were marijuana between
Speaker 2: me Nana and her palm leaf earings and me and
Speaker 2: me little coached necklace of a walking talking drug and billboard.
Speaker 1: It's so funny that how people who watch television and
Speaker 1: people who idolize people, we investigate everything and we can
Speaker 1: turn the most simplest things into something ridiculous without necessarily
Speaker 1: knowing the truth.
Speaker 3: It's amazing to me.
Speaker 2: It's amazing to me what theories gets about it, and
Speaker 2: you know what people assume and what they think, and like,
Speaker 2: I can't go into it with people online because you
Speaker 2: just you start that conversation and all the conspiracy theorists
Speaker 2: come out of the woodwork. So but I read some
Speaker 2: of it and I go, wow, that's so far from
Speaker 2: the truth, you know. You know, things like there were
Speaker 2: some people that said I've signed on for Mastershift because
Speaker 2: I had a guaranteed win. No, And there was others
Speaker 2: that said that I signed on, that they made me
Speaker 2: sign on for at least X number of episodes and
Speaker 2: that I would be out as soon as my contractual
Speaker 2: obligation was up.
Speaker 3: Also, no, you know, we all just I'm the.
Speaker 2: Same thing saying that we were there to compete and
Speaker 2: that was the deal that it was all. It's all
Speaker 2: above board. You know, it's all above board. And I
Speaker 2: don't think a showl like Master Chef would last for
Speaker 2: fourteen years as a bit of a that kind of
Speaker 2: show if there was all that kind of machinations going on.
Speaker 3: There's just not.
Speaker 2: But yeah, online is a funny old world. You don't
Speaker 2: want to live there too much because it was screwed
Speaker 2: with your head.
Speaker 1: I like to say that you've sold magazines and you've
Speaker 1: brought people to the Daily Mail just your face being there.
Speaker 1: You know people are going to buy into that. You
Speaker 1: know you've been helping them sell those publications for years.
Speaker 2: Well, can I tell you if you go to some
Speaker 2: of those articles, all you'll see is a hastily snapped
Speaker 2: paparazzi photo and an article that describes your outfit four
Speaker 2: different ways. There is absolutely no substance to it. And
Speaker 2: what I've learned about magazines is that they can make
Speaker 2: stuff up from the ground up, and unless you have
Speaker 2: a massive money behind you, you can't do a dam
Speaker 2: thing about it so they can put on the front
Speaker 2: edge of the paper my marriage is on the rocks
Speaker 2: and ride an article about it. And there's nothing I
Speaker 2: can do about it without suing them. And I don't
Speaker 2: have the resources behind me to take on those big publications.
Speaker 3: I just don't.
Speaker 2: So I've just I've just got to hope that the
Speaker 2: people who know me know better and the people that
Speaker 2: don't know me don't matter, and just get on with malash.
Speaker 1: You know, have a sense of humor about it. It's
Speaker 1: like what I always say to people, you know, if
Speaker 1: you take it too seriously to ruin your life. So
Speaker 1: you just got to laugh it off. Talking about your
Speaker 1: final episode making it to top five. You know you
Speaker 1: picked the dessert. Did that spell doom for you? Like?
Speaker 1: Did you think it would have been different had you
Speaker 1: picked something else? In that kind of lottery of associating
Speaker 1: what people were doing.
Speaker 2: I would have in the scheme of things, I would
Speaker 2: have picked assert as my fourth preference out of four choices.
Speaker 3: But no, I didn't actually think, well that's the end
Speaker 3: of me.
Speaker 2: The longer I thought about it, I actually thought whiskey
Speaker 2: lends itself to desserts, probably more easily than it lends
Speaker 2: itself to vegetable.
Speaker 3: So you know, at the end of the day, and
Speaker 3: that's the same all through the competition.
Speaker 2: You know, you have things thrown at you that I saw,
Speaker 2: ingredients I've never even heard of before. But at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, it's just a bunch of ingredients
Speaker 2: that get turned into something that you eat. That's how
Speaker 2: I chose to look at it. It'll have a taste,
Speaker 2: it'll have a behavior, it'll have a texture. How does
Speaker 2: that work with the other things here that.
Speaker 3: I have to work with?
Speaker 2: And that's just kind of how you've got to think
Speaker 2: on that show because some of that stuff I've honestly
Speaker 2: I've never heard of sheer koji, I've never cooked rainbow cray.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: There are also a couple of times where you had
Speaker 1: to recook throughout the competition, you know, which another pressure
Speaker 1: tests you had time to do. Was that kind of
Speaker 1: a clue that one day you might not have enough
Speaker 1: time that that might be the reason why you would
Speaker 1: be sent home?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Look, always, every single time I'm in one of those
Speaker 2: pressure tests, whatever, I know that you've got to hit
Speaker 2: the ground running. You cannot faff around because if something
Speaker 2: goes wrong and you have to redo it.
Speaker 3: That is going to take you right to the wire.
Speaker 2: So I always tried to leave myself enough time, but
Speaker 2: I just didn't have enough time last night. It's one
Speaker 2: of those things I sort of likened to when they say,
Speaker 2: you know, you've got three hours.
Speaker 3: To do this task.
Speaker 2: It's like getting up at seven in the morning and
Speaker 2: having have it done by ten. You know, three hours
Speaker 2: sounds a long time, but it's really not.
Speaker 3: It flies.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I wish i'd had time to redo my cakes.
Speaker 2: Having said that, I actually probably my decision making was
Speaker 2: not at its peak in that moment, because I actually
Speaker 2: decided that it would be okay tocent.
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone's burnt a cake. Before anyone who's made
Speaker 1: a cake has burned a cake. Could you not have
Speaker 1: maybe done what we've all done at home and try
Speaker 1: and cut off the burnt bits, or try and shave
Speaker 1: down off the burnt bits? I mean, did you think
Speaker 1: about doing that? Well?
Speaker 3: I kind of did.
Speaker 2: I cut all the edges off to make all the
Speaker 2: pieces uniform, and as I looked at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the cave, even as I looked at it last night,
Speaker 2: there was only one part that was quite dark, and
Speaker 2: oh my god, when I saw what the judges got,
Speaker 2: I think I think they got the only.
Speaker 3: So that was just the way the cookie crumbled.
Speaker 2: So yes, I could have shaved the bottom of I
Speaker 2: had tasted it, and I didn't think it was necessary.
Speaker 2: But that was obviously an incorrect judgment on my part.
Speaker 2: And that's you know, that's at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: What.
Speaker 3: Brought that to an end? You know, And that's how
Speaker 3: our stories all end.
Speaker 2: It's either a massive disaster or it's a small incorrect
Speaker 2: decision or a small poor judgment.
Speaker 3: And that's what got me yesterday was just a bit
Speaker 3: of poor judgment.
Speaker 1: And what's going to happen next, you know, after coming
Speaker 1: back and doing Master Chef all over again, what do
Speaker 1: you want to do with this next chapter of your life?
Speaker 2: I think for the next chapter, I'm going to wait
Speaker 2: and see what presents itself.
Speaker 3: It's I have no solid plan. I'm going to keep
Speaker 3: running my.
Speaker 2: Cooking school, and I'm going to keep loving my granddaughter
Speaker 2: and spending as much time with her as I can.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to breathe in and out and just
Speaker 2: see what flows my way and then make decisions as
Speaker 2: to what I do.
Speaker 1: And a lot of reality shows have placed, you know,
Speaker 1: fans up against favorites these days. Do you think that
Speaker 1: new contestants versus celebrated contestants is a good concept for
Speaker 1: Master Chef or do you think, you know, if they
Speaker 1: do something like this again, it should just be as
Speaker 1: straight all stars.
Speaker 2: I think that there were unique difficulties in putting fans
Speaker 2: versus favorites. I think they were navigated the very best
Speaker 2: way that they could do. And I actually said, when
Speaker 2: I was asked to go on it, how are you
Speaker 2: going to make this fair? Because obviously half of us
Speaker 2: have year's experience in hospitality and have do not how
Speaker 2: are you going to make it fair? And so it
Speaker 2: was explained to me that, you know that actually they'd
Speaker 2: be cooking against each other, and we'd be cooking against
Speaker 2: each other for much of it, and when we'd go
Speaker 2: into pressure tests, it wouldn't be it would be half
Speaker 2: and half. And you know, so I think they made
Speaker 2: it as fair as they could possibly make it. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I do think it was a difficult format to bring
Speaker 2: fairness and to bring the perception of fairness as well.
Speaker 2: So but I do think that they succeeded as much
Speaker 2: as you can in a format like that. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I like to see back to win where it was
Speaker 2: all familiar faces, but I also love to see all
Speaker 2: new faces, you know. I love that process of getting
Speaker 2: to know a new room full of people and seeing
Speaker 2: what they can do and watching their personalities kind of
Speaker 2: shine as the show goes on. So whatever comes next,
Speaker 2: I'll be watching, I'll be glued to it.
Speaker 1: Who do you think will win at this point? Now
Speaker 1: you know, before people left, do you have any idea
Speaker 1: who you think will take it out?
Speaker 3: Do you know what?
Speaker 2: I think it would be incredibly foolhardy to pick a winner.
Speaker 3: We've seen through the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Like we were all shocked as when Fashi went home,
Speaker 2: and I think, to me, that's been the moment in
Speaker 2: the competition where we all just went, oh God, anything
Speaker 2: could happen here, Anything could happen here. So I think
Speaker 2: out of the four people that remain, any one of
Speaker 2: them could take it out, and any one of them,
Speaker 2: anyone who's still there at the end of the competition,
Speaker 2: has fought tooth and nail.
Speaker 3: To be there and deserves to be there.
Speaker 2: And I'm thrilled for whoever does make it all the
Speaker 2: way to the top.
Speaker 1: Well, as I've spoken to everyone who has come on
Speaker 1: the podcast, we've all talked about you because everyone has
Speaker 1: loved being there in the kitchen with you. They've loved
Speaker 1: seeing you in there. You know, it has been the
Speaker 1: ultimate Master Chef experience to be able to be in
Speaker 1: that series with you standing alongside them. So that must
Speaker 1: be pretty amazing for you to know.
Speaker 2: Ah, it's beautiful, and that's just a really lovely thing
Speaker 2: to hear. Thank you, And I feel so much love
Speaker 2: and fondness for all those people, and it's really lovely
Speaker 2: to know that they feel the same way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well so funny. I mean, you could go back
Speaker 1: in there and be like Julie Goodman. Ah, she's a
Speaker 1: piece of work. You don't know what she's like behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, but everyone was the opposite. Everyone's just like, oh,
Speaker 1: would love her, or they want to just share what
Speaker 1: they learned from you that we didn't see, Like do
Speaker 1: you know that Julie plays an electric guitar and you
Speaker 1: know she's got the best playlist out of anyone. You know,
Speaker 1: it was so beautiful to be able to hear such
Speaker 1: loving you know, insights into the way in which you
Speaker 1: connected with everyone Oh.
Speaker 3: That's so beautiful. Thank you.
Speaker 2: I've had some beautiful messages. You know, we've all stayed
Speaker 2: in touch and people, you know, we've all we all
Speaker 2: get in touch with whoever's eliminated on a particular night
Speaker 2: and just make sure that they're surrounded by their loved
Speaker 2: ones and doing okay.
Speaker 3: And you know, there's there's.
Speaker 2: Truly and honestly a sense of family amongst that group of.
Speaker 1: People, which I love. The last question, Julie that ask
Speaker 1: everyone who joins this podcast is what is something from
Speaker 1: behind the scenes that were as an audience, did not
Speaker 1: see something that we won't see from your experience back
Speaker 1: on Master Chef kind of behind the scenes secret.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, behind the scenes, we had great scenes.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of scene, a lot of dance
Speaker 2: and oh gosh, Alvin teaching us how to bootscoot, came
Speaker 2: and showed us some Venezuelan dance moves. Gosh, we were
Speaker 2: we were kind of semi writing and musical, so we
Speaker 2: would bust out just so some inappropriate moments. One of
Speaker 2: my favorite behind the scenes things was I made everybody
Speaker 2: a fake immunity pin. And actually in one of the eliminations,
Speaker 2: they tried to play the fake community pin so that
Speaker 2: never made it to end, but that was fun.
Speaker 3: It lightened up a very brief hard moon.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm looking forward to Master Chef for Musical, can't
Speaker 1: wait for that to come out.
Speaker 3: It's a work in progress made, but it's going to
Speaker 3: be hilarious.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that there's lots of Austrains, including myself, that
Speaker 1: would love to be there and be in your audience,
Speaker 1: and Julie, I will forever be in your audience and
Speaker 1: I absolutely love watching you in anything that you do.
Speaker 1: You have some magic that I don't even think you understand,
Speaker 1: a currency that connects to us as an audience, which
Speaker 1: is amazing.
Speaker 3: So thanks, thank you for your beautiful words. I really
Speaker 3: appreciate it.