It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast past leep that line. Welcome back, guys to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside goss all the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are still a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known about how our favorite
shows get made. So each episode, I've been finding guests that want to dive just that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making or they've been filming, so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast however you found it. I love hearing your feedback, so do me a favor and leave a review or a
comment on your chosen podcast platform. This chat, I'm joined by Network ten's lovable host slash judge Andy Allen, who is most notable for winning the full series of Master Chef Australia back in twenty twelve and for being a judge on Master Scheffer'sustralia since twenty twenty, which has a brand new series starting this Monday at seven thirty on
Network ten. It's no secret that the highly anticipated next season will serve up jaw dropping dishes and a feast full of flavors, but there will also be secrets and surprises up plenty. As the race for the title to Master Chef Australia twenty twenty three starts this week, I will ask Andy about the journey from contestant to being one of the hosts of the show. You will get a tease on some of those secrets and surprises as Andy doesn't spoil but slightly gives away some of the
things to expect this season. We will also find out how the judges actually try the food and if that urban legend about them always eating cold food is actually true. Plus, we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes of Master Chef twenty twenty three, which I can already tell you is a cracking series right from the start. Anyway, let's bring Andy into the podcast and I really hope you enjoy this latest episode of TV Reload. Hi Andy, how are you?
And I'm bloody great?
I'm very excited to be talking to you, big fan. I don't know if you remember this. It was the Logis after party and it was, you know, the Witching Hour. But I came up to you and started talking to you about my podcast, foreshadowing this very chat. And now here we.
Are, Here, we are. This is good. I love that we made it happen.
Another series of Master Chef. Bring it on, is what I say.
I think everyone's hanging for it, to be honest. Well that's the word on the street. It's the feel good show that kind of everyone needs, especially over that winter period. You get to meet some unbelievable people in the contestants. The food and the contestants are so relatable this year, and along with that Jeremie Oliver at one. So it's all good news.
You know. I had this journalist last year from The New Yorker ask me for quotes for an article that they were doing about Australian Master Chef. Kid you not, And it was because I was doing some of the exit interviews. They wanted to know my thoughts and I just remember this guy saying to me, Australian Master Chef is the best cookie show in the world, and he wants to know why does this series have such a good reputation.
There's a lot of reasons, to be honest, but one personal reason that I feel is a big one is what you can do with it. I look at my own story. I was an electrician twelve years ago. I filled out the application for not even thinking that I would get on at a love for food. But I didn't, you know, I didn't have that dream to open a restaurant or you know, do anything crazy in the industry.
I just want to challenge myself, and you go through the process and you learn so much about who you are as a person and who you are as a cook, and then whether you come twenty fourth or whether you come first or anywhere in between, you are given the leg up that you need to really chase your dreams. Seeing the success stories out there is just a testament to how how lethal the show can be and how important it can be in people's lives. And I suppose, you know, I'm leaving proof of what it can do.
So it is amazing to hear that story. And guys like Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey, they are the biggest advocates for MASTERSHEF Australia. They come over here and all they want to do is talk about how much the show means to them. You know, if you're get those guys over line, two of the biggest names in the whole industry, then you're going, all right, well.
I think that was what this guy was trying to say to me, was he said, I'm always blown away by the caliber of contestants, but he was saying, you know, no other cooking show has the caliber of international celebrity chefs that want to be a part of it. Usually you get like one celebrity chef that you can definitely tell has been paid like a motza to be there.
Where If you're looking at this series and you're looking at the caliber of chefs that are about to be a part of it, don't you think it's quite unbelievable that they will come along and want to celebrate it as much as they do.
Again, it just shows how much it means to people in the industry. You know. This year, Yeah, we've got Jamie, We've got Curtis Stone, We've got Maggie Beer. You know, the list goes on, and all these guys they get there and they just can't wait to be a part of it. They love the experience that they love the time that they're on show. They give everything that they've got because I know how beneficial it can be. So it still does blow me away how powerful the show is.
And every day I still look back at that twenty three year old blowke that just entered Master Chef to challenge himself and then here I am now talking to you about how bloody good the show is. So it's great.
Do you always know if Australian Master Chef is coming back at the end of each year and if you're always going to be a part of it? When do you find out if you're a part of an next series and if it's coming back.
I haven't really thought about that. Maybe I'll start to question it from now.
Have you signed for like a three to five year deal as long as it's rating. I mean, the reason why I'm asking you this is not because I want to know you know how much money is in your bank account, But I'm like, how exciting you know when you find out that you're doing another series. I want you to know if you go out and buy yourself a leather jacket or an expensive fry pan. You know, I'm more interested in that.
I don't really do like expensive things well in saying that a nice coffee machine, a record player, and that's pretty much as far as I tend to splurge out. But the last thing that I worry about is the money. It's for me. It's like such the ultimate hat tip to be able to be given the opportunity to be
judge on Marster Chef. You know, considering, like I've said a million times the contests in twenty twelve went out into the industry bright eyed, bushy tail, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, and being able to go out and create a restaurant group and do all the other things that I've done in the last ten years, and then, you know, three years ago, be tapped on the shoulder and said do you want do you want to give this a crack? As a judge. It's pretty
special feeling. The last thing that in Channel ten I'm probably licking their lips when I say this, but the last thing that I think about is the cash.
To be honest, you know, secrets and surprises is a really great theme. You know, what are we going to enjoy more this season. Do you think we're going to enjoy the secrets or the surprises?
I think the surprises because the surprise well actually play, Yeah, there's a good secret in it. At one as well. I'm really torn about that, to be honest, because I think the challenge on AT one, the prize that the contestant wins the first challenge in the first episode is the biggest advantages that we've ever given away our Master Chef. So yeah, that's probably all I'll say, because it is an absolute doozy and I feel like if I say
any more about that, I may give it away. So let's change the subject, please.
Well, we have to talk about it because secrets and surprises is the theme, and so I have to ask you. Are you good at keeping secrets? Normally?
I think I am until I start talking about them, Ben, so there's no questions asked. I'm bloody great at it, but I just don't want to trip up Ben. So please help your brother out here.
Well, you know what really surprises me about this series. I think, like most viewers, you think a whole new bunch of people we don't know that's a huge commitment. But I've watched episode one already. I'm very lucky to have seen it, and I already have favorites and I already feel like I know these people. Is that a strange thing to hear.
No, it's actually a massive compliment. And this is why I think Jamie was such good. Good dudes come on at one, because he is so comforting, He's really knowledgeable. Everyone has a relationship with Jamie Oliver in a non creepy way, but everyone knows him, everyone respects him, everyone
loves him. So for him to walk through those doors in the first ten minutes of them standing in the kitchen, you know, five minutes of nerves, But as soon as they got to kind of chat to Jamie, as soon as they got to hear him speak about their food, I feel like the nerves just went away and it really made the contestants open up. You get to know
the contestants from literally the first step. With twenty four contestants, like, there's just so many of them, but having eighteen this year, I feel like that's been such an advantage of this season. So No, it's not weird that you're saying that it's actually a massive compliment.
Yeah, because you think, oh, it's a huge commitment. I've seen this the show before, but I'm here to tell you. Like straight away, I was like, cac, I don't know if we can how much we can talk about each contestant, because I also love that people love to discover these people themselves. I want to leave a bit of that there.
But I immediately just loved Kak and thought that she is brilliant casting and she features quite a bit on the first episode, and I just think, where are you finding these people?
Honestly, it battles me every year, you know. I look at Cath and she's like, she's a middle aged woman, She's done so much in her life. Why now? But then I'm like, don't even bother asking that, Like she's here, just let her cook like the wind. You know, Yeah, the stories matter, but like all I care about is kind of that she's here at the moment and she's had the courage to fill out the application, leave her family, leave her loved ones, leave her job, and commit to this.
So I was really blown away by how real the contestants were from the get go. And I think that about food as well. This year. I think the food is quite relatable and quite as well, so I'm hoping that's what Australia wants to see, Like, that's what the industry is in hospitality, that's where the food's at right now. It's more about flavor and how it's put together rather than all the bells and whistles that you might add
to it. But I think it's really relatable this year in terms of the characters and effort.
I also want to quickly clarify for people listening, it's not Carrie Anne Kenney on another series. It is a different pack.
I would probably like to see as well.
Imagine asking carry Ane Kelly to come and do a Master Chef season straight after just doing the Jungle and what's happened. She'd be like, come back in ten years.
No comment for me.
So you got really good at this. There you go. There's no surprises, no secrets. You're just going to keep your mouth shut. Now that you have done a few seasons and you've got a few seasons under your belt, have you worked out what works for you personally and sort of doesn't work on the show.
I never try and want to be someone that I'm not. One of my main roles on There Is is being an ex contestant is really to relate and be able to see things that are happening to the contestants on a daily basis, mainly what they're going through. Yes, Master Chef is a cooking competition, but it's also such a mental competition as well. Like it's it is hard, you know, I talked about being away from your family and your friends, and what people don't realize is it's filmed over a
six month period. It's not just like, you know, because we're on f ten weeks and it's just your ten weeks slot. It is such a commitment and for me, I feel like I can really relate to what the contestants are going through and also give quite relatable feedback as well. And I think that's where like Jock, Melissa and myself are such a great combination, is that we
really compliment each other. So I mate, I've kind of been through the last ten years of just trying to stay the same person that I was before I went on Master Chef, and that's kind of what I really want to stick to.
Do You watch anything back though, and you do think to yourself, Oh, I've got like a hand flick that I do that doesn't work or you know, sometimes I try and be a little bit quirky or is what I want to know is the stuff that you've worked out just doesn't work.
There's a couple of things I do. I say epic way too much. When I say like glaze something, I do the motion like I actually and I do say it glaze a lot. So there are two things that you can that you can probably look out for. I think you know the question. I think you just learn on the go, and it's not about things that you don't want to do. It's just about things that you
want to get better at. And I think the more time I've spent in the kitchen, the better I get, the more comfortable you feel, and then it just rolls on from there. I don't I don't kind of look back and go, don't do that. It's more about just looking forward to what you can do better.
It's like an evolution. You kind of then work it out like you work it out in the job.
Imagine going back and watching season one at one of George Bout and Gary and they would just be so different to who they were, you know, in the following years. It just it just evolves.
Like you say, for those guys. Yes, it definitely did seem like they evolved into a better package. But I think that the reason why you were hired for this job there isn't there doesn't need to be much wiggle room for you. I mean, you just have to be yourself.
When Master Chef started all those years ago, no one really knew what it was going to be, you know, like Matt, George and Gary were just like you know that there was there was probably not a massive thing about celebrity chefs. And not that I'm saying I'm a celebrity chef, but.
Like two, I'm going to say you, well, you can't say that, but I can say that I can call you a celebrity. You are a celebrity chef. My friend.
They're on TV wasn't really much of a thing back then, and they're kind of like, here's this new format, see what you can do with it, whereas the format is what it is, you know, And and me being modest says that there could have been a lot of people step into the role that I'm in now and it's still to be successful because the show was about the format, you know, and we're just these these kind of lucky people that get to be a part of it. So, yeah,
I think you're right. I was pretty lucky in that I don't really have to change anything. It's just about me being mate.
Do you know how hard it is to get the right people to host a show? You know, You've got to give yourself some credit there, you know, not everyone could do what you do.
Do you know the weird thing, like you talk about casting, do you know that Jock, Melissa, and myself had never met each other before we put on the show?
What? Yeah, I just assumed because, like, you know, the first time you guys all turned up together, it seems like you guys have been friends forever. And I wanted to ask you a little bit about that. What do you do to create that kind of presence on television? Do you work at the chemistry? Like do you have each other over for dinners? Like? How do you maintain or create something as authentic as how this comes across?
Yeah? It was really strange because I was questioning and as much as I knew who mel was and who Jock was, I was sitting in the room when they were like yeah, okay, so and they had I'll never forget about this laptop the guys from Enemol and it was shut and then they opened it up and they're like, this is who are going to be the other two judges and they had a photo of all three of
us there. I expected someone that I knew, you know, that I had met, like you know, because we were not long out from starting to film, there wasn't really anything that we tried to do. I suppose it really does compliment and the guys at Enemol for just knowing what works, because the first time that we'd actually met was at the Channel ten up front when we were introduced as the next three judges.
That is wild.
It is hard.
I always I don't know if this is an easy question or how this lands for you, but I always think, because you were a contestant and we've had so many seasons and there's been so many men like yourself on the show, do you think that there was a lot of jealousy about from other people going why did they ask him?
I don't know, I would probably say so. Like I remember I was over in Europe the time that it had kind of been announced at Matt, George and Gary we're gonna we're gonna move on and literally remember this so hard core, it's crazy. I was in Sicily in chef Bloon and it was the back end of our holiday, and I remember a lot of the articles were g ok. But I just remember seeing one article and going, there's some bloody lucky, lucky three people that are get to
a step into that role. That's exactly my thought. Not once did I go, oh, yeah, I think I'm I think I'm a shoe in for that. I think I've got a chance for that. It was literally like, holy shit, someone's going to get that job and that's so lucky for him. Good stuff.
So you didn't email them, I'll send in a bag of you know, homemade cookies like you didn't start thinking or could be me, I'm gonna I'm going to put the put this forward. You're telling me that it literally came out of nowhere and they just contacted.
You out of absolute nowhere. One of the Winning the Lottery, Yeah, one of that EPs actually slid into my instadms and said like, hey mate, when are you back from your trip? That was the first, and that he was one of the EPs on season four when I was on there, So it wasn't as if it was like a full cold DM. But yeah, DMS. It was like, hey mate, when are you back from your trip? And I was like, it took me a while to kind of write back because I was like, I didn't want to get ahead of myself.
I was like, but you still went out and drank in Sicily obviously definitely.
So it was actually funny because I didn't know want to write back, So I went out and had had a last night in Sicily, bottle of wine came back and I think I had the Dutch courage to write back and go, hey mate, like this about chef. He was like, look, mate, I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to say too much, but just let me know when you get back.
That's better than Margo Robbie sliding into your DMS as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah. Yeah, well I'm happily married. So I was definitely better than market.
Oh definitely better. Absolutely. So with these shopling nations over this series, it's really a part of reality television. It does happen every year. Are there any previous contestants that you still feel the impact from them having to leave the show.
Sashi was a big one last year. It was just so unexpected. Sashi went in as a formal winner. He was cooking some ridiculously tasty food at that point, I think he was probably a front runner. And once he got his dosa mix right, because I think it was the overnight challenge, he fermented his dos abatter, came back the next day, cooked a fish curry with the dosa, and he was really struggling to get the doso mix right on the pan. It was just like it was
just a mess. Once he got the doso mix, You're right, you were like, oh, he's sweet, Like because the guy can cook an abbit curry with his eyes closed. So then going into the tasting room and like as soon as we all tasted it, it was burnt, Like there were little black flex of you know, specs of burnt marks where it had been scraped off the bottom. And it was just so unexpected. And I don't even know if in all of the rush, and I've talked to
Sashi about this, he didn't even know either. He was just in such a frantic headspace that he just got the dosamix done, put the fish curry in the pan, and he was like, away, you go. So it was such a shock to everyone and like, yeah, I'll never forget that moment.
I'm still salty about it, to be honest, because Sashi is definitely one of my favorite contestants, not only as a contestant, but his food I buy from Woolworth. He's a promo for you, Sashi. I buy his mate. You know, the ready made kits that he has, He's got three of them and I rotate them. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with him.
He's a weapon and you know, doing such another contestant who's just gone out into the industry, and I guarantee he didn't think that, you know, he would have a restaurant and now he's just kicking massive goals down in Adelaide. You know, he's got his readymade meals. I think he was talking about something doing something over in as well. So yeah, and it wouldn't have happened if you didn't for that application.
Some of the elements of the show rely on luck and some elements rely on skill. Do you think that that balance is always right during the twists and turns of a series.
I'm going to say yes, because there were a lot of instances when I was a contestant where I scraped through with a bit of luck. Either someone just did a little bit shitter than me or I remember there was a taste test and Gary had cooked this North African curry and you basically, you know, the same old thing. You'd come up, you'd grab a spoonful, you'd have to name an ingredient that was you know, thirty odd ingredients in it. You got it right, You're safe, and you
keep going. You got it wrong, and you went into the next round. And I remember we went through around a couple of times the group, and it came back to me and I was out, like I was all out of everything that I could taste or see, and I was just like, you know, absolutely breaking it going
up to the pan. And I must have like stood it around about five times, and just as Matt said, just as Gary said, may we need an answer, I flicked it around and there was this one strand of saffron, like this one little lonesome strand of saffron in it, and there was no way that saffron was even close to being in my mind or on my palate. But I was like I could not believe it. So that balance between lat and skill. Is it can make or break your competition.
As well Australian audience. As you know, we need things to be dangerous, you know, and sometimes some of those luck challenges, you know, I think that they help with the suspense of the show. Everyone who joins the podcast gets asked this question, and it's been on all I
think this is episode two hundred and forty six. I think it is what is something from behind the scenes, something that we won't see on the show that fans might really enjoy knowing about behind the scenes magic of Australian Master Chef.
The most common question that I ask is that I get our asses. Do you eat the food? Do you know the story about that?
I've been told that it's always cold, but I mean I could be wrong, like maybe it's sometimes cold, maybe it's not. But I think you're about to let us know.
If it's a toes to see how we's challenge. We obviously eat it hot because we can, but I'll give you the full rundown of how it works, just so everyone can.
Kind of go ah, yeah, clear it up for us.
So basically what happens is I know that on the screen you basically you only really see us go around to the benches and kind of question about while they're cooking and provide advice or feedback or whatever. But pretty much the whole time the cookies on, if it's a one hour cook we are going around, you know, looking tasting everything that is that is happening. So there's that
offscreen part that no one sees. But once cameras stop rolling, Jock Mellersa and myself we go around to every single bench and we tell them to have like it doesn't have to be nicely played, to have all of your elements, so your bangers, you mash and yumashi peas there for us to taste. So we get a really good idea of how everything goes together when it's hot. When they come up to then everyone goes for lunch, the amazing
art team to come and clean the place down. The dishes come out for us to taste cold, and then there's things like plating, texture, all that kind of stuff that comes into it at the actual tasting table.
I think that's really interesting because you know, one person, this is a few seasons ago, but a casting person reached out and asked me about doing Masterschef an actual factor. I posted something that I cooked without food porn. I was like everybody, I was like, take a photo of your dinner. And this person asked me. They were part of the casting team asked me to do it. And my biggest fear was, I don't know. I know I'm a good cook, but I'm not very good at my
presentation skills. So I was thinking, oh, I'd be really crap at that. But then everyone's food always looked so well presented, so I assumed that there must be a team of people that do help with the presentation after the cooks have been done.
That I can say definitely not there's there's not It must just be I would say the skill is our cameraman because they are the best in the business. But yeah, it's something that we really work hard in teaching the contestants because you know, there's one thing to play up, like like you, there's something, there's one way to play up for food at home, a dish at home, even if it is a curry, rice and number, and then there's another way to do it that would be acceptable
to go into a restaurant. It's probably one of the biggest things and learning curves that is taken really early on in the competition. So I like that. That actually makes me feel really good that you think that there's like this playoff team that like the food goes out the back and they like fiddle with it and play with it.
Like someone who comes to like you know, you know the bells and the whistles and you know it makes the wig look nice. I don't know.
The only thing is now that I've said that, does that deter you more from going?
You must I'd never do the show. I watched the show over here. I love the show's super fan. I think it's amazing, but I'd never do it. I get so much anxiety watching all of them. And you know, good luck to them all for taking part, but good luck with this series. And thank you so much for your generosity with your time today. And I think you do a brilliant job. So I'm looking forward to this series.
Thank you, Ben, I really appreciate it. Mate, No, thanks for the support, and maybe we'll have another chat at the next low GIS and we can we can for out our next chat.
You can convince me to do the next season at that point. All season two hundred and twenty five look after yourself, enjoy chatting to the media today and as I said, can't wait to watch the show.