It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast past weep their 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 insight goss on the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are 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, so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to some of the biggest names in Australian television. I want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast TV Reload, however you found it. I love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave a review or a comment on your
chosen podcast platform. This episode of the podcast, I'm joined by Phil and Grace, both eliminated from Master Chef Australia this week, and I've got to say, how could you not love them both. Phil's passionate about food, fitness and wine. Although he's born in Ireland, he did move to Melbourne twelve years ago, which is where he first sparked his love of food. If you love him as much as I do and you're not ready to say goodbye, you
can follow him on his Instagram which is Phil Conaway Underscore. Graceie, however, has a passion for food that was ignited by her family's rich Croatian heritage. Grace showcased more than her Croatian
flavors with a modern spin on traditional dishes. And if you also are not ready to say goodbye to Grace and you want to continue following her story, you can hit her up on Instagram which is Grace Jump, which is JU double P. You will hear about how Phil applied twice to get on the show and never gave up his Master Chef journey, and I hope you stick around for Grace, who also has some amazing things to say. I will ask about their highs and lows and how
they ended up on Master Chef Australia. Grace's chance meeting is actually a really fun story. Grace will talk about that foe or I probably should say fur and what she thinks could have saved that dish. Phil will talk about where he wants to take his story with food next, and which format Master Chef Australian can testants he would
like to follow in the footsteps of Plus. We will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes of Master Chef Australia, which is currently on Network ten and if you've fallen a little bit behind, you can catch up on ten Playing. Anyway, let's bring Phil into the podcast first and stick around for Grace, who will be popping in straight after. How are you Maine? Are you will?
I'm very very well in you.
Well. I'm excited because you know what, I am a big Master Chef fan, so I get very excited when I get to talk to everyone I relate.
I'm an absolute master Chef Now for you, if I favor seeing them out in public, I'm like, oh, there's so and so from Master Chef. Now I get to be one of them. It's just cool.
Who's your favorite? I should this is not even a question, but who was your favorite Master Chef contestant overall time?
I'm a big fan of can I love can Ang. It's just love his style, everything he does on the show. And Pete, who was on a couple of years ago really inspired me to follow the path. I kind of love that, like fancy food side of things, so he was definitely one that I followed. But yeah, anyone MasterChef re Lates, I just love it.
Well. You know, Kahn went on to do Australian Survivor, So would you be interested in going on Australia and Survivor following his trajectory.
I would love to follow a Khan's path. I don't know my bills for the Survivor Island if I could live in the wilderness like that, but maybe you'll never know.
You talk a bit of a risk on Sunday Nights episode, and for me, I find it really hard to work out who is possibly going to go home with some of those decisions that you made. Did you walk away with any regrets?
Definitely walk away with some regrets having left competition at the stage that I did because I felt I had so much left to give, and definitely a few sleepless nights on what I would have cooked if I had had my time again. But all in all, I'm super proud of what I achieved over the five weeks on the show.
What did you learn from Rick Stein when he turned up because you know, he's so iconic and iconic for Master Chef, and I feel like everyone that ever gets the experience of seeing him and working alongside him learn something. What was the take home.
I think from him, it's just the sense of that food and place and how it all goes hand in hand, and you can kind of see that across all the dishes. Every dish had a different story from a different part of the world. And I think he really kind of stepped up the level of cooking in the competition that day, just from his kind of wisdom and aura being in the Master Chef kitchen.
It was also interesting because with a coffee and squid with the pickled cauliflower, I was like, this is delicious. But you know what's funny is that when I'm cooking at home and I have people coming over and I have less time, I always cook something with ginger, coriander and lime because I love the smell that it creates in your kitchen. It makes it feel like, even if you're not the best chef, you know a thing or
two is that one of your favorite smells. Was that a trick that you thought you'd use?
You know it wasn't before the show, the Southeast Asia kind of thing wasn't something I had done much cooking with.
But as soon as I got on the show and started cooking with the likes of like Brand and Heel and they kind of really introduced me to that side of flavors and then I've just been obsessed with it ever since and going to restaurants in Melbourne like Sarai where it's obviously a huge focus, and I just love that level of aromats and flavors and you can do so much with such little ingredients when you treat them right.
I'll just get the saucepin out. The only thing I do is I put real butter.
Well, I'm a sucker for butter, so I'm not going to say no. I love butter and everything. So maybe that's what I needed. Fewd butter on top of the skull.
How do you look so good? I mean, I use butter and I need to do a couple of runs around the block just to make sure that I, you know, don't blow up.
But definitely a balancing act. Barries five days a week absolutely helps, but it's definitely a struggle.
Where did I was going to ask you where did your love of food come from.
Well, I was a real fussy eater as a kid, and my mom would cook the traditional meat and vege Irish dinners and I always had to add something different to the rest of the family. And when I was about fourteen, she was like, I'm sick of cooking two dinners every single night, so if you're having something different, you're cooking it yourself. And I was like, well, fine, I will then, and I just started cooking and just
had a love for it. And yeah, being from a small country town in the west of Barlan, it's not exactly the culinary cornerstone of the world, so I knew there was more out there in the food world. And I moved to Melbourne and then just yeah, it's hard to not get engrossed in the food scene here and it's just kind of taking over my life and I love it.
You know. I went on a holiday to Bantry in Ireland. I thought the food down there was actually quite amazing, just some of those sort of home styles on home cooks and things like that. How does that continued to influence your cooking since you come to Australia.
Yeah, I think that's probably something that I've kind of forgotten about the Irish food and stuff since I left there, and I've focused a lot more on what I've been learning and cooking here. But I did have a trip
back home last year. It was the first time I've been home in like four years because of COVID, and it was quite a sentimental trip, and I definitely took some of the learnings from being back there with me and cooking with my nand was a great cook and pastry chef and doing different tarts and breads and all the little traditional Irish dishes that unfortunately I didn't get to pull out on the show. But yeah, definitely something I want to explore a lot more of my cooking.
They bring people back on the show all the time. Maybe you'll just do it the next time that you're in the kitchen.
Yes, if they ever gave me back, I'm ready to go.
How hard is it and how hard is it for people you know looking in on getting onto this show? So was it difficult for you to apply and get onto the show? Like what was that process like for you? Yeah?
Well, I'd applied previously the year before, and I got through that final cook for the judges and didn't quite make it. So this is my second time applying, and you kind of take it for granted that you know, there's thousands of people that apply and hundreds of people that get auditioned through, and it is quite a rigorous process to even just make it on the show. It's such a great achievement and something I'm massively proud of.
And yeah, I'm kind of sad I won't get to audition again, to be honest, because it is a fun process of going through that and cooking through your spot in the show and one of what's coming next. But yeah, excited for the next chapter two.
What worked from you know the year on year, so you know you didn't get on last year and then did you trine up your game or did you see things that happen in the audition process that you may be borrowed for the second time around.
I think in a weird way, I kind of took the pressure off myself a bit in the second time doing it. The first time, I was like, this is it. I know, I'm going to be honest, like there was no way about yes, And then I didn't make it. It was quite a notch to the confidence, and I cooked for about two months after the auditions, and I found out how to even watch the series last season and took me a couple of apps to kind of get into it. And then this year I went to it.
I was like, do you know what I may get onto me? I'm just going to go cook, enjoy myself and see what happens. And yeah, I think just having that relaxed approach to it definitely helped the time.
When Big Brother came to Australia, I really wanted to do it after the first season, so I applied for the second one, got really close to getting onto the show, and then I couldn't watch the series that whole series, like everyone was talking about it and I couldn't even turn the TV on. I actually got a job at night time so that I didn't have to be at home any even risk watching any of it. Ended. The story is that I apply seventy five thousand times and
get on and win. Never give up, never give up. What about this is one of my favorite things. I Mean, if you're a super fan of a show and you finally get on, you know, what was the experience like compared to your expectations?
It was really kind of in a weird way, what I thought it was going to be. I think I was kind of gone into a being like like, oh, this might be a bit like, you know, Don't Meet your Heroes kind of a thing that you go on and it's not like what it is on TV. But when you're in there and you're cooking, like it feels like it's on TV, Like it's that clock of your head, the judges at your bench, like it's just frantic cooking
down to that last second. Like getting to go into that amazing pantry and the huge equipment shelf that they have in there.
It was.
Yeah, it was really a dream come true. And I absolutely loved it. And I said to the guys, if I could do it as a job, week in, week out, I would absolutely do it.
I don't know if your nerves can handle that much stress. I don't know. That looks really stressful with me.
Yeah, it was quite stressful. It's a lot of pressure. But I mean when the cooks go well, it's great. When they don't go well, yeah, it's pretty stressful.
Is it triggering to watch it back on the show, Like, do you find that your emotions are exactly the same as what they were on that day that you're cooking. I mean, what's that Like?
I think on the days where I didn't cook as well, like you kind of have that bit of anxiety watching it, being like, oh god, this is where I took that wrong turn. Or I can just see myself I'm not cooking with confidence and passion, and the pressure get to me and it's that thing of you know, not being in control. I can't do anything about it. You just
kind of sit back and watch it. But yeah, it is fun to watch it back and see how it all unfolds, and especially watching all my other mates cooking in the kitchen, Like, it's been so good watching everyone just happy doing what they love and cooking off a storm.
It's kind of why Master Chef is so popular, though, is because that camaraderie that is created by the type of people that they cast on this show. They are finding, you know, really good people who all share this really common interest in cooking. I think that all seems to gel very well. And were you surprised at how well you got along with everyone else and that there wasn't really any conflict.
Yeah, I was so surprised with the connections, and like even when you watch the show and say, you know, the first couple of eliminations and you see the people like, oh no, they've been eliminated, I'm like, how can you be that upset? Like you've already been there a few days.
But you do become so close so quickly, because like you live together, you go to the set together, like you're all day filming, you're cooking together, you're learning from one another, and we all have this share passion which is food and master Chef, and you bond so closely from day one and friends now from the show that I feel like I've known them my whole life. Like it's you become so close so quick.
I mean last night you probably got one of the bigger gasps though, Like when they said you were going home? Is that quite emotional to watch? I don't. I I think.
It was almost kind of validating in a way because I felt like I could have achieved more. And I went out early and a lot of the other contestants had messaged me as well, and they were like, you know, we were still so surprised when you went because you've worked, you know, so hard and had so much more ability to give to the show. So I think it kind of been me a bit validated in the sense I felt a bit crappy that I went out earlier than I would have liked, and to know that, like, Okay,
it was just a bad cook on that day. It's not you know me as a cook.
I don't know if you're going to be able to help me with this. But I was reading all the comments on the blogs yesterday and it's only becoming more and more apparent that they've dropped the theme song. You know, the hot and Cold theme song by Old Perry. Do you have you got any inside tea on that? Like? What? Why have they decided to remove that theme song? What do you know?
I don't know why, and I'm absolutely devastated. That was one of the things I was looking forward to most is seeing me running into the kitchen to your heart and your cold. But yeah, they might bring it back.
You never know, we'll make the version of home for you.
The very last day after filming, Kat and I were leaving the hotel about to get our ubers and the song just came in and the lobby and we just loved each other and we were like, what the hell was this just come on here? It's a special song.
I'm assuming you're running your own social media so you can talk to the fans that are out there that are watching the show. You know, this show is so well liked globally. Have you been surprised by how far and wide the comments have been coming into you.
Yeah, it's been crazy. It's like NonStop from every corner of the globe, from here in New Zealand, India, South Africa, back in Europe and the US. It's just been amazing to see so many people reaching out, and especially since leaving the show, like people send to me, you know, the kids so upset to see me leave, and they drawn little pictures of me in the kitchen to say,
are like all the best of the future. And I'm like, oh, these people are just so so lovely and there's so much love and support because I think people could tell that I was quite upset to be leaving, and yeah, the support it has just been massive.
But also the judges were really empathetic as well. I mean they always are. They always give a few set of taglines, but they seemed very connected.
Yeah. Absolutely, And the judges put so much time and effort in And I think they probably did feel that way with me because I started off quite poorly and they pointed me in the direction I needed to go. You know, Chuck and Andy would come into the green room. They'd give us different cookbooks and tell us what blogs we're reading and what videos to be looking up, and what we needed to work on for our own skill sets.
And they kind of see me take that on dive head thrust into the work and grow as it cooked through that competition. And it's kind of, you know, like them being our teacher and seeing us leave at the end of school term, and they do feel that connection with us.
You know, when you look back at this experience in a few years time and you think about this whole experience, what do you think will be the take home from those judges, Like what do you think will stay in your mind that will still be impacting the way you cook in the kitchen.
I think they just instilled that belief in me to just believe in myself to follow my passion. Like then you how much I wanted this and how much I loved food and wine in this industry, and how much I wanted to be a part of it. And like I said on the show, I was quite a bit lost last year. You know, I finished up with my job but in the fitness industry, and I was moving into food and wine, and I was, you know, thirty
three years old starting over again. It was a bit daunting, and I didn't know where I was going to go at the end of last year. And they kind of put that belief back into me that like, I have this ability and I'm passionate about food and I can set out to achieve these things with a bit of hard work and determination. And yeah, without them, I wouldn't be as confident and excited for the future as I am right now.
Where are you wanting to take this Master Chef experience, because you know, you've just had a bit of an up you know, have you thought about how you want to use the master Chef experience to sort of extend the way that you're cooking.
Yeah, the food and wine is obviously the passion for me, and I want to be able to marry the two if I could, I would love to have my own show eventually traveling around to different wineries and wine regions of the world and exploring how food and wine works together. And doing some education on that, and if I could follow something kind of that route will be fantastic. I would love to have my own wine bar as well one day too. That'd be another great project to work on.
But yeah, at the moment, I'm doing a bit of work in some restaurants around Melbourne on the weekends, doing some wine buying as well, and just exploring the industry as much as I can.
Yeah, I appreciate it as well. When you were leaving, you said, I'm going to go home and have a glass of wine with my wife and then I'll think about what's happening next. How was that glass of wine? What did your wife have to say?
It may have been a bottle not at last. So proud of me, of course, and it was so great for us to be able to sit back and just watch it together all on fold and just be Yeah, she's like my number one supporter and just believes in me so so much. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have even applied the second time around if it wasn't for her pushing me and believing in me as much as she does. So Yeah, forever grateful for that.
What is something from behind the scenes something that maybe we didn't see, kind of like a behind the scenes secret of what it's like to be a part of Mastership.
I think the biggest thing that got me was, you know that walk up did you do at the start of the day to that front door, that you actually do that about ten different times because they need to get all the different camera wangles on it. That was probably the one thing I won't miss from from the show is morning walk ups.
Do you have to stay doing the same walk? Like, do you ever? You know, do you try and do a bit of a fonsie at one point and they're like, no, stick to just the are they telling you what the inspiration is and what you should be thinking of to give you that you know, the intensity of walking into the kitchen and.
Now they're trying to keep you relaxed, and you know, you know, if it's a black Apron day, obviously it's a bit more of an intensity kind of move. So they'll try and keep that intense move for the elimination days. And if it's a wide Apron day, it's you know, happy and cheery, but yeah, it's continuity. You've got to
be in the same spot, walk the same way. Through and yeah, they get the different camera angles around the garden as you're coming in the morning, and yeah, it can be quite chilly on some of those mornings, and you just got to smile and pretend like it's nice and warm summer days.
Mate, it was so lovely to talk to you, fantastic to watch you on the show. I don't know what we're going to do without the eye candy, so you know, maybe the others will have to up the ante.
Maybe I might get them down and the fitness work up with me and see if we can get them up skills. Well, thank you so much for having me see you.
A fantastic chat with Phil there, and I think he really showed us his love of the show, which makes me really hope one day he'll be back in that kitchen. I must say as well, I also have a love of food and wine and I probably should be adding in that gym session. Now we've got Grace ready to pop in and I think you'll really appreciate her infectious way of talking. Plus we'll get a few behind the scenes secrets of her time on MasterChef Australia. Congratulations on your Master Chef journey.
Thank you so much.
You know, you seemed like an early favorite to me, Like as soon as the show started, I was like, Oh, this person's going to go the whole way. Is there talk amongst the contestants of how popular each of you may be to the audiences once it goes to television.
No, I feel like we were just so immersed in every day in like the pressure and trying to be creative and show up every day. I feel like we just forgot, well, at least I forgot half the time that there were cameras and even though they were directly in our faces. I mean, it was very much more about living in the moment. And it's only been since where we've watched the show back and we're able to sort of see who's featured and how people are perceived
on screen. I mean, everything seems so much more real when you're watching it back and you get to actually see what other people were cooking and what they were coming up with, which has been so cool.
Are you surprised by any of the responses to some contestants? Is there anyone that's coming across differently to how it was when you were there in the kitchen?
Nothing in a negative way.
I think more than anything, it's just been amazing to see people's personalities just burst on the screens.
I mean, I have loved watching Rue.
She's just divine, and seeing her interviews, which we obviously never got.
To see, has just been so hilarious.
And I guess even just seeing Brents but personality just burst again since his last season, it's just been wonderful to watch back.
Well, the Fur cook has been one of my favorites to watch. I'm so sorry that you left on this, but I'm particularly obsessed with Vietnamese d I think you even just saw me talking before about making bone broths. Yes, I'm obsessed. How familiar were you with this particular cuisine.
I have such a respect for the cuisine and the culture, but it's just not something that I'm familiar with one cooking, or two really even eating. I mean I hadn't had I think I've had fur maybe twice in my life, so neither times were memorable. So, I mean, Luke's version was phenomenal and it definitely has converted me, but having the first good experience on a black Apron day was not ideal.
Well, you know what's funny when my partner and I travel. The very first thing that he does is find out where the fur is in the area, Like we went. I went to breakfast radio for three is in central Queensland, and before he'd made friends, he knew where all the furs were.
So it's your thing.
Yeah, yeah, Well we leave the bulls, penis and the post out of ours.
Yeah yeah, that's optional.
Anyway, I just wanted to say to you if you're going to do it again. So I use a cheese cloth to strain the broth and sometimes that sort of more finer straining technique can sort of dissipate that fat because you've got to get that oily fat off the top. I also find which you didn't have the time to do, but if you refrigerated, it actually gelatinizes and the fat and the oil sort of rises to the top and you can skim it off.
Finally, it makes sense. Yeah, There's been so many things in hindsight where I'm like, oh, man, I wish I had have done this, and I wish I had grabbed a third or fourth oil filter. But I mean, just with the time pressure, because I'd made a mistake early on, it possibly could have been rectified with another hour or two, but we definitely didn't have that, so and even my go to methods, like I was thinking at the time,
I'll grab some eggs and clarify it that way. But I mean, we only had the ingredients that they provided us, and the eggs weren't part of the list, So I mean we just had to We had to do what we could, and unfortunately it wasn't enough to keep me in the competition, but nonetheless it was still a credible challenge to be part of.
Is the noise from the gantrees sometimes adding extra stress.
I think it really depended on the day the challenge. I mean I remember back to some challenges where it was just not as much pressure, and I think even my nomad cook, I remember just laughing with the and Brent who were up on the gantree and it was just fun, like we were in a high pressure environment,
but you were still able to have relationship. Mind you, on last night's cook and on any pressure test day, it always was a little bit like shut it off and just focus, and a lot of the time the judges would say to us, like you don't have the recipe.
I mean, yesterday was a little bit different.
But in other pressure tests, we didn't have the recipes, and so even when you're in the gantree and you think you're helping, you might not be anyway, So it was best to just focus in on what you were doing.
I think it's amazing that you would apply to do this sort of a show, because I think it is a big competition and you're putting a lot of pressure on yourself. You know, where did the idea for you come from wanting to apply to do this show?
Yeah?
I mean it's crazy, and I look back at the group of and think we're all just insane for.
Putting ourselves through that.
But all of it comes with a huge passion for food, so I understand why. But I actually didn't really seek this out intentionally. I was actually I just finished watching back the previous season, last year's season, and was kind of just like toying around with the idea, but never really thought, oh, I'd be able to one build up the courage to put in an application or to even
you know, have someone accept my application. But I bumped into Andy at a local cafe and got chatting with him, was just telling him how much I love the show. And he we got chatting about my business and that I work in agriculture and I married to a chef. I'm a huge foodie and him and his wife was so beautiful. They had so much time for me, and they were just like applications closed and like two days you have to apply, go home, do it right now. And it was just kind of that sign that I needed.
And I really didn't think much of it. I put in an application and kind of just went well, Andy said to do it. I've got you know, I'm sure there's thousands of people that are going to apply, so we'll see what happens. And yeah, when I got the callback, I was so surprised, but I mean it was the best like unexpected situation to come up to.
Here.
Do we know if he actually followed it up to see and sort of helped you along in the process.
Did I don't really know.
I don't think so, actually, because when I when I did my first audition in front of the judges, I think you see on the first episode they did like a quick run through of like the judges going around Australia and finding the cast. And I remember that day Jock and Andy came to my bench for the first time.
And they're like, so, what are you cooking? Who are you? Where are you from?
And I was like, you told me to apply andy, and he had like that oh my goodness, no, my complea actually here moment, which.
Is wow, really cool. Okay, so there was no extra help from him to say considering that he had forgotten. Do you know it's really weird? And I'm gonna hate myself for saying this to you because I have hated everyone online commenting about this with you. But you were the first contestsan I saw, and I hadn't been familiarized with the theme. I didn't know what was Secrets and Surprises. I didn't know what was kids. And I saw your photo and I was like, oh, they're going They're going
with like young people or something. I thought the theme was going to be like seventeen to twenty one year olds, you know what I mean? Like, I know, this is so bad because then now I'm annoyed reading the comments with people like well, she looks like she should be in she looks so young. You know, I hate it. But did you get sick of people talking about how young you are?
I have had it my whole like teenage years plus. And look, there's not many years clearly that I've had that.
But if I saw you driving past in a car and I was a police officer, I'll pull you over because I'd be like.
That's so funny.
Now, look, especially given my current life situation being married and having step kids, that's righting a business. It's like I hear it everywhere I go. But I mean my mum raised me good. I'm a go getter, so I mean, I'm just used to it now.
I guess, Well, you're further along in life than I am. And I'm forty three. So you know, you're a wife, you're a stepmom, you're a business owner, you're a university graduate, you're a cooking enthusiast. Like as in, people you know probably don't know how far along you've come. I mean, you just maybe gave me the answer. But where has your passion for life and to get this far along come from?
Oh?
Yeah, I guess I just touched on it. I've had just the best upbringing. My parents are incredible people who invested so much in me, and I mean they've always been big supporters in what I've done. And this was no different, And then yeah, I would totally have to attribute it also to my husband. He's a huge supporter, and I mean even in the food sense, he was
such an encouragement. I didn't think I would be able to, i mean, cook as well as I did on the show, or even really you have the confidence to do it, but he was. He made it really simple and like simplified cooking. I think that that's something that people get
wrong about cooking. And I mean, I guess when it comes to detailed desserts it's a bit different then, but in essence, I mean, we go on the show every day and we get ingredients, we get equipment, and we make things taste good and it's kind of that simple. And my husband Tim really encouraged me to like just trust myself, back myself, and I just had such a good group of people around me, friend's family, and so
I can't, you know, take the credit. It's because I've got an army behind me who support me, which I would give all the credits to.
Who is this man so hanging a sex? So? Where did you find him? How did you find him? He sounds like a really good element that's been added into your life. What's the story there, I want to know.
So when I moved to Victoria, I used to live in Queensland, all my family's up there. Moved to Victoria and started working in a just a specialty coffee cafe. I was and ended up managing that cafe and he was the head chef, And so we work together for probably three or four years, and then eventually stopped working together and started dating.
And Yeah, we just shared such a passion for food.
We had so much in common, but at the same time completely different in so many ways as well. So I feel like that's often when you know couples work best, is when they can support each other in different ways.
And so, yeah, he's amazing.
He had the olive business before I was around, and so I was able to really jump in on that, and after COVID, I guess we've both ever since been full steam ahead working in that lane.
Now, when you mentioned at the start of this competition to the media that your ultimate dream was to sort of own your own land with your husband where you both can grow and farm everything on site, you know, I think all of that sounds amazing. Do you reckon that this Master Chef experience has brought you closer to being able to achieve that.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, if nothing else, it's just given me confidence that you just have a go at things in life.
And look, I got eliminated.
I didn't make it to the end, and the show was enough confidence for me to you know, have a cracket at something like that. I mean it feels like a real future down the line goal. But I mean we just have a super big passion for food and good quality of produce. We're so involved in the agricultural industry down on the Mornings to Peninsula, and so being able to expand that further from olives into fruit and vegetables and grazing animals would just be such a like life goal for me.
Yeah, I'm in Melbourne, so I'm coming down to get some oil. Just don't you.
Know.
The series was given the theme secrets and Surprises, which I guess you didn't know before you know, getting on board. What would you say was the biggest surprise?
Do you know what? I actually would say?
The no recipe With last night's episode, I mean there was lots of like Jamie Oliver coming on, blew my mind. I had no idea and that was so epic. But I think because it was day one, we were like, they're going to do something big. I didn't expect it to be that big, but like, and with that anticipation that it was going to be a big day, I was just so focused on their pressure test to read this recipe and when they told us it was fur and I was like already, just because I had no
idea how to cook this thing. I was just like, Okay, follow the recipe, you'll be good. And when they dropped that surprise, I was just like so blindside advice.
It's just just so many ingredients though, you know. And that's the reason why I mainly prefer to go and have a foe out because it's sometimes cheaper to do that, to go and have them do it, because there is so many elements. Whilst I enjoy the fiddliness of it myself and I like to make my own bone broth because I know it's got like all the nutrients and things in it. Yeah, it's such a bitza, you know what I mean.
And I also feel like it's something that is perfected over decades, and it's why Luke's version was one that was handed down to him and It's not something that I think I would be able to perfect over the next year or so. It would take me a lifetime. And I think that that's what made it particularly different.
It was like, I've got no cultural experience with these ingredients, let alone I've never made this before, and even like you said, there's so many ingredients that go into it, so it does require a lot of time, a lot of effort. And I was kicking myself the other day at the supermarket being the rice noodles on sale for ninety cents, going why didn't they give all the noodles?
That was the thing that freaked me out. So I make my own foe, but never have I made my own noodles, And so when I saw that you had to make those fricking noodles, I was like Because when it first was revealed, I was like I could be on this show, Like I couldn't have my spin on this. And then when they were like, make the noodles, I was like, no, make the noodles, No way, I'm not doing that.
I got to a point in the in the challenge and they showed it that we all had multiple attempts, and it was just the most bizarre thing. I mean, I don't really make pasta, but I was like, okay, think about pasta, Like, just think about how you can make this work. And I got to a point where I was like, now this is not happening, Like this
is so impossible. And so I remember going over to the right side of my bench and putting together all my garnishes because I was like, well, I know I'm going to get down to last second and I won't have time to do my garnishes, and I don't want to think about these stupid noodles.
And I was getting all like.
And so then took a moment to breathe and went back and eventually got it. I think I ended up getting them through the kitchenate attachment in like the last twelve minutes or something.
So it was so.
Rushed, you know, I tell people when they come over for dinner at my house, I'm like, I made this from scratch, but I never make my own pasta, I mean my own sources, you know, Like, yes, exactly. Yeah. So anyway, I'm with you. I'm with you. You know what I was going to ask you because of your Croatian background and some amazing cooks, especially we got to see some of your amazing cooks at the elimination last
night that you did throughout the season. What was your favorite thing that you've brought to the competition in regards to the cook.
Like my favorite dish?
Yeah? What did you What'll be the most proud of? Because I remember when we first learned about you, you know, you talked about your Croatian background, talked about some of the heritage cooking that you have with your family, but then you also went on to make some amazing things throughout the series. I just was curious as to what.
Yeah, I think like Episode one was really like how signature dish was really cool because that was such a such a deep Croatian dish that had so much of my family, you know, heritage in it. But what was really exciting for me was the rick Stein challenge. And I was really nervous that challenge coming off the wind with Nomad and still being in the elimination from missing the previous one, and I just wanted to cook a
good dish that day. And I also felt like, you know, oh, I can't go off such a high to such a long so I was putting a bit of pressure on myself. But I ended up making this squid dish with an ivosauce and it was like it was so yummy and I was so stoked with it, and it was I hadn't really had too many chances just based on the briefs of the challenges to bring out another Croatian dish, and so when I was like when I heard that squid was the feature, I was like, yes, this is
what I'm ready for. This is so close to home, and so that that was a really fun, fun cook Still.
Can't get past the caliber of these chefs that are so well known that come on to us this show here in Australia, and you could see the look in their face as well that this show is so well put together and that they're enjoying their interactions with each of you contestants, but also with the other judges as well. They're the host of the show, you know, And I thought that the judges do a great job of connecting
with each of you contestants every episode. Do you think that they have a really tough job though, in making sure that they've given everyone the right amount of attention?
Yeah, totally.
I mean they're all huge challenges and some challenges are really quick as well, and so they might have to Like I think it was day two, they had to get to eighteen benches within a fifteen minute cook, and fifteen minute cook was a fifteen minute cook and there was no fancy camera work. It's exactly how it appeared on the show, and so the judges had to run to our benches.
I don't remember.
I think it was Jamie Oliver and Andy came to my bench and I was just like, Noah, so frantic, and they're just like, okay, quickly tell us all the things. But they did their best always to share time and advice with us. And I remember being so amazed at Donado from a Missina, just how kind he was coming on, Like all of the guests were phenomenal, but particularly Dnado. He just had so much advice afterwards to share an encouragement and it was so uplifting. I mean, some of the chefs came in.
I was like, oh my.
Goodness, these people were incredible and scary and I didn't even like I just didn't think I could be in the same room as them, but they would just humble themselves down to our level, and you know, they at some point in their life had been in our position to some extent, and it was beautiful to see the humility that they carried, both the judges and the guest chefs.
You know, just before you left, you mentioned that you wanted to make your boys proud. So I'm curious to know what has the experience been like watching the show back. I'm assuming that you're watching it each episode with your family. Were your boys proud?
Yeah, they definitely are. I mean, Harlan's the youngest, he's seven, and he he just thinks that he's like got the coolest family, and he tells everyone. I mean everyone at school knows that Harlan was on TV. And he's a bit more shy, but he's also just loving it so much. But I mean, it's really fun. They've brought the master Chef language into their house, and Harlan's my new biggest food critic. He you know, takes the judges, you know, could take them on any day.
He's got for you ready tonight. Yes, you know it's going to be difficult.
Exactly exactly.
Snack time, you know, comes with its own set of challenges and pression now, but no, it's just been great they've been. It's been really fun to be able to share this with kids, because it's great to share it with friends and you know, my husband.
But there's just something so fun about mom's on TV.
But also feeding your kids. I think there's something about that as well.
It's amazing to be able to equip young kids with their own knowledge of food and knowledge of nutrition. And like, my boys are the best eaters, and people are always like, how do you like your kids pick up Brussels sprout and broccoli and they love it, like they love every green and every vegel. I mean, Wolfgang will eat any cint of He will eat anything. He would like that fur, he wouldn't blink nite the bullspeas. He's ready to go in for anything. They're so adventurous with food, but it
comes down to education and I love that. I love that they're so adventurous and creative when it comes to food, and I think that that's going to really serve them in life.
Well, something I ask everyone who joins the podcast is this last question, which is what is something from behind the scenes, something that we wouldn't have seen watching the show, but kind of like a behind the scenes secret of what it was like to be, you know, in the Magic of Mastershire Australia.
I think what was really fun was watching how all the contestants sort of dealt with a big day, Like every day was long and every day was super draining on your body and your mind. And some contestants would go home and they would be like like Phil, Oh my goodness, I don't know how he does it. He was just a superstar. He would go home every night, he'd make like eight gels. He would like make pathes and Mooses and suv and anything that was in the
fridge and Amy and thereon. Brent and I would just usually go and get Chinese down the road and just go.
Oh my goodness, what a day.
So I think just watching how different people dealt with the pressure was really interesting. But I mean everyone had to do something because we were we were in it together, and yeah, hats off to the people that were able to keep going.
Into with you.
I'd be different. I'd be Chinese food, face down, I'll see.
Exactly masks and getting getting as much sleep as possible.
Yeah, one hundred percent. The face masks particularly. I just want to say thank you so much for your time chatting with me this morning. I thought you were so fantastic on the show, and I think quite aspirational for you know, lots of people to be watching you on the show with your story, so you know, I think a lot like a lot of us, I think will be in your audience.
Oh, thank you so much. It was so lovely to meet with you and chat with you this morning.