MELANIE AND MINOLI'S MASTERCHEF DEEP DIVE!

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast last week, Neyline.

Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and on this podcast, I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television. Each episode, you will get a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors, and casting agents, plus the talent that we see on our screens. TV Reload reloads the shows that you are currently watching and gives you a better insight at our

They can't falter on the integrity, otherwise the show's integrity goes out the door.

Master Cheff has produced some of the biggest names in food.

I would love to come back and set them a gluten free challenge.

The first time ever. It's funds versus feverorites.

The heart and soul of the show hasn't changed since the star.

In the end, the pressure got to Minoli and the favorite was sadly sent home.

I knew that she was always going to use that pin.

Dish that least resembles Josh's was yours, Melanie.

Anyone can be eliminated in this kitchen. It's one bad cook is enough to send you home.

Hi Melanie, how are you?

I'm well, Thanks, how are you?

I'm doing very well. Congratulations on Mastership Australia fans versus favorites. I honestly took one look at that tuner Wellington and thought maybe all of you were going home.

I think we're all in the same boat. It was.

Definitely not a dishow was super king to tackle, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Was this a huge hurdle for you? You know, your gluten intolerant and so you kind even taste the Wellington?

You know?

Was was this too much of a hurdle for you up against the others?

Well, I'm actually I have Celiac disease, so it's a little bit different from gluten intolerance. But yeah, crux of these shoes the same. I couldn't eat it and couldn't taste it. Definitely a challenge, but it's it wasn't one that I didn't expect to come across in a mass chef kitchen. I was quite mentally prepared for it, and yeah, just unfortunate.

But lack of the drawer really is there any way of evening out the disadvantage. I mean, I was thinking maybe we could tie the other contestant shoelaces together. What are your thoughts?

I mean, you know, if we wanted to reshoot it and that was suggested, I probably wouldn't say no.

It was a huge challenge for all of us.

And I mean, you know, it's very easy to say like, oh, I was disadvantaged and that's why I laughed. But I mean, you know, who knows there's every possibility that even if I had been able to taste it all, I still would have really struggled.

So you know, it is what it is. It was a really hard cook.

I appreciate your attitude with this. I think it's a very good attitude to have. You know, in the moment on set the clock is going, are there times where you think I simply can't do this and you feel like you just want to walk out of that kid?

Oh?

Absolutely, about every thirty seconds. It's just like I was rolling that pastry and it wasn't getting finner. I wanted to chuck through all in a way and just walk out. It's infuriating, but you know, like that's part of the challenge. Isn't it to put you under that much pressure and to see how you respond? And I think that's why at the end of the day, like I knew the dish wasn't perfect, but I was still really proud of what I put up and the fact that I got

I think. So, you know what I loved the most about you this week was in one of the previous episodes where Maggie Beer turned up, and you know, you were fan going so hard. You were like, you know, I don't even know how I can deal with this lady. It just was so endearing. But were you as familiar with Josh Nylon's cooking.

Probably not to the same level as Maggie Beer.

I mean, Maggie Beer has been on TV since like for as long as I can remember, I was watching the cook in the Chef.

So there's a different level idolization, of course.

But in saying that, I've been a fan of The Master Chef Show for years and Josh Nyalen has been on before, and you know, he's spoken about with such reverence and I have seen you know, I've seen him on Instagram.

I see what he creates.

I have a lot of respect for what he does, you know, the way he champions you know, produce and things that most people throw away. I think it's really admirable. So definitely a different level of respect. Maybe not to the point of fangirling, but definitely Like he was being so nice to me when I was having a meltdown, So it was really.

Quite upsetting that he'd set me such a hard challenge. But nice to know that someone you idolize is also a really nice person.

Yeah. I was wondering if he was like the black Crow of you know, chefs that you didn't want to see turn up. You're like, oh, no, it's him, you know. Was it a sign or did you know when he came through that you might be in trouble?

Oh? Absolutely.

As soon as they said what do they say, like the Finn to Gill movement or something like that, which is what you know he's known for using every single part of the fish, I was like, oh, well that's been corn.

So the Wellington basically comprised of a beautiful cente cup piece of tuna, then mushroom duct cell, and then around that is a very thin beer and buckwheat crape, and then around that then the sour cream pastry, a sauce which is made using all of the bones from the tuna. It shouldn't really taste like a fish based sauce. It should taste quite meaty. And then mashed potato, because you know what's to Wellington without mash.

And I hate cooking with fish. I always have. It's not my strong suit.

So of all the pressure tests to do, I was really hoping for us for a dessert dish that I could, you know, maybe rely on a few more instincts. But like as it was, I was quite relieved to see just the tuna Wellington. I knew they wouldn't bring in a whole tuna for us to butcher, so I was like, well, you know, that's that is one positive to take from it all.

You're like, bring back the polywaffle. That bird looks easy compared to this.

That far.

I was watching that from the gantry thinking like, oh god, I'd literally rather do anything, But you know that's what I mean all the pressure tests are hard, and there's really no way of comparing the level of difficulty because so much of it belongs on your comfort zone and what your personal experience is and what you like to cook.

Is not in the budget.

So it's like, you know, so far removed from what I eat and what I cook that it was. Yeah, it was definitely a new experience, but you know what a way to go having just met Maggie Beer then do a pressure test like that, like you know, go out with a bang.

It kind of when it was revealed, it was just so intricate that I was like it looked like a Christmas decoration. There was so much going on in the detail, you know, and so it was quite frightening. And going back to what you said before, I mean he was introduced as he started a fin to Gill movement. I mean that's pretty crazy. If you came back though as a super chef in years to come which Melanie, of

I mean, I would love to come back and set them a gluten free challenge where they have where I say, look, this is my you know, maybe don't give them a recipe and let people see how hard it is to come up with, you know, like free pastry without There's a lot of science that goes into gluten free cooking and to develop recipes like that, I have to, you know, work with and understand literally dozens of starches and flowers and use them in a way that you know, sort

I think I think you're onto something I reckon that's going to unnerve a lot of people. You know, Harry and Billy sort of represent two cornerstones of the competition. Do you think that they might be the strongest competitors for the final prize at this point?

It's really hard to say.

I mean, I think among the fans, it's really difficult to pinpoint any one person because we're all growing so much all the time, like we're just learning constantly, and so much of it also depends on what challenge we've given on any given day, you know, like we all have a very different skill set and a lot of different, you know, varying experiences.

So it's hard to pinpoint a fan.

As for favorites, I mean, I think we're all watching Billy with a really really close eye because we know that she obviously won the first time around. She then, you know, was offered a job by Heston, which you know is not something that any Tom Dick or Harry is going to get given, and we know she's insanely talented. So yeah, a bit of a mixed bag, but yeah, I think everybody's watching Billy.

Billy, you were cool calm and collected through most of the cook and.

That translated onto the place.

Your pastry was flaky and antuck cell was stella. Overall, it was a lovely dish.

You're also safe, thank you.

You know. I don't know if you're following the social media, but I watched Master Chef with my Twitter and everything else so that I can, you know, read along with that new book. My favorite tweet last night was I swear, I swear that stressed Billy is calmer than most people's calm. She is the zen master.

He absolutely is. And we've spoken to her about it, and she's.

Funny because she says like she is stressed on the inside, but she just I don't know, maybe she's phenomenal actress, or she just knows that she needs to be, you know, calmness to do well. But whatever she does clearly works for it because she's just this very solid, focused queen every time she's in the kitchen.

It's amazing to watch and to learn from.

It just reminds me of the book Silence of the Lambs. Now bear with me while I go with this, but I'm like they describe Hannibal Elector when he's first introduced in the book as though, you know, no matter what he does when he's eating people or the horrific things are happening, that he's heartbeat never goes above a certain level. And I feel like maybe Billy's the Hannibal Lecter of Master Chef.

I mean, maybe she's.

I mean, I want to assure people she is lovely, and she does seem to get painted a bit like that. I actually sent her a screenshot of a headline that came out a few weeks ago. It was like Billy is sharpening her knives for the Master Chef kitchen or something, and I send it to her and I was like, this is ominous. But she's really great, and she's very

She's very high quality.

Who did you learn the most from this season, like in terms of working alongside the entire cast of fans versus favorites, you know, who was the other contestant that you learned the most from.

Oh that's a really hard question because I feel like I've learned a lot of different things from all the different contestants.

You know, I would.

Say I spend a lot of time around Ali, and she's always cooking, and she's incredibly inventive, and she has this way about like figuring out how to layer flavors through dishes, and watching her cook and watching her think about food really open my eyes a lot.

So I think i'd say.

Ali, Wow, Okay, Well, I appreciate anyone who can narrow it down to one person, especially on a competition that has as many contestants as Masterships.

So you know, if we have all day, I will go on and talk about how great they all are.

But yeah, to narrow it. You know, who were you the most surprised to see return in the competition? I mean, the caliber of the talent this year is exceptional. You know who was it that walked through the door that gave you the biggest wow factor?

Probably Sashi.

Actually Sashi's name was kept under wraps, you know, by the publicity going into the competition. We had an inkling about a couple of the others. So when Sashi walked through the door, I think we all just stopped and we're like.

What are we doing here, how can we compet?

Like, you know, we all watched Sash in his in his season and he's like absolute dynamite and knows his way around flavors so much, and we were all thinking like, oh god, if that's what he was like when he was an amateur, how has that improves since he now, like you know, runs his own restaurant and he's had all this experience, like yeah, he Oh, he's an absolute legend in the kitchen, that's for sure.

Isn't it funny how Master Chef is like this though you know, we or lose or however you compete in the competition, it doesn't take away from overall brand. Like for Sashi, maybe it would have been a struggle to come back and be a part of this show, you know, would that take away from the way in which people perceive him. But funnily enough, it hasn't changed my interpretation

Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think that was something that

But you know, like it.

Didn't surprise it surprised us all that Sashi was eliminited at that point, But I think it just goes to show that anyone can be eliminated in this kitchen. It's one bad cook is enough to send you home, and I think viewers know that, so I'm not surprised it doesn't It wouldn't you know, touch his brand for that to have happened, and him being so gracious at going home in that at that point, that also didn't surprise us.

Always so supportive of my gluten free food.

He you know, it was chatting to me about how he could introduce glint free nand to his restaurant and he was eating my desserts and every time I told him they were gluten free, his jaw would just drop and he'd get so excited, And you know, it was that was a real highlight of you know, this season, was cooking four people I've idolized and having them lack my food.

It was really really special.

Well, I can tell you that I went the moment that he was eliminated, I bought four boxes of Sashi Secrets from Woolworths, just because I felt like that was my way to still be like, Sashia, I love you, it's fine, I've got my support. At any stage, were you thinking, God, this season with all of these you know, favorites coming back, this is going to be way too hard. Why I apply for this season? I might have wanted to have applied for the next one.

Yeah.

Look, I mean I think a few of us, you know, had those moments. It was very daunting coming up against them in a season like this. But I think it's a bit of give and take, isn't it. Like On the one hand, yes, maybe it was a harder season, But the flip side of that is like, look at the people we've now managed to meet and cook with and learn from, and they're all so supportive about what we're going to do from here.

You know, Mindy wants a.

Bunch of US fans to come up and do a takeover of a restaurant, and Michael's always happy to chat about, you know, where to go and where to go from here because he obviously has his own cooking show. And Julie wants me to come and do some gluten free pasta classes at at cooking school. And it's just to have, you know, to have made friends with these people is such a privilege, and I think that outweighs any negative aspects of being on this season.

People are talking about the show all around the world. I was telling one of the other contestants that because of my podcasting and interviewing the Mass to Chef contestants, a journalist from The New Yorker wrote to me and asked me about Master Chef Australia and he was so surprised of the level of this competition. So it's impressive that it's getting that kind of a reception globally.

Oh.

Absolutely, that that's really blown my mind. I mean we got told early on that, you know, you'll be surprised at, you know, the international reaction, like apparently MasterChef Australia is you know, has a huge international following. But then to air and I started getting messages going I'm cheering for you from Switzerland and Fiji and Canada and Sweden and all these like random places, and it's just that's really

Yeah.

That's been really really special and has honestly just blown my mind.

Melanie. You've made it to the top sixteen, which is just so impressive. What do you want to do with this platform? I mean, you gave us a taste of things that are to come with some of the offers that have come in from some of the people you've collaborated with this season. But you know you have so much to offer, especially with your desserts. Have you already started setting up your own personal goals?

Absolutely?

I mean I had a goal coming into Master Chef that I've always wanted to publish a cookbook, and I actually have a publishing contract for my good and Free cookbook, so it's all happening, and yeah, like that, that should be finished. It should be released I think early next

I will be doing that. I'm in your audience. I will be also getting that book because I have friends that will appreciate that because I don't normally know how to cook for them when they come to my house. So thank you very much. Get the book out as fast as you can, because you can always release a second book.

Are we working on it as much as possible?

Who do you think is going to win the competition at this point? Not what you know now, but walking out of the kitchen when you did who did you think was going to take out the competition?

Can I pick a fan out a favorite, because.

Go for it. You could do it. You could do what is Julia Roberts saying, pretty woman, you can call me anything you want. This is your podcast, my friend. Pick one from each side.

If I had to name a fan to take it out, I would say Ali because she has a wealth of knowledge and she just cooks some really phenomenal food. And a favorite, My money's on Billy. I think she's she's so good. She won it once and I think she's showing that she's capable of winning it again.

So I don't want to say who my favorite is because I picked two favorites early on and they've both gone home, so I think that I'm like some sort of jinxed. So now people like, who do you think is gonna win Master Chef? And I'm like, ah ah, I don't want to tell everyone.

Someone else.

I've ruined it for two people like I picked one and they went home, so I moved it to another one and they went home next, and I was like, oh, oh my god.

You have the match. Put it down.

What is something? This is something I ask everyone who joins the podcast. What's something from behind the scenes that we're as an audience, you know, didn't see that we won't see from your experience of being a Master Chef fans versus favorites.

I think people will be surprised at how much time we all spend together, Like I don't think people realize.

I certainly didn't realize.

Having only watched the show, that you know, filming days can take anywhere from like eight to twelve thirteen hours, and so there are days when we do that and we're in a very into their environment and then we go home and cooked together and we eat together, and you know, then we wake up and have breakfast and coffee together.

Like it's a real insular bonding environment.

So all the friendships you see on screen that comes across in such a positive way, that's all one hundred percent genuine, And I think some people are sometimes surprised to hear that, but yeah, it just is.

Melanie, was such a privilege to be able to chat with you today. Thank you for your time, and you were fantastic on MASTERSHAF Australia this year. So I will keep an eye out for the book and I'll be following you like the rest of Australia and your social media thanks a lot. Well, I hope you enjoyed that chat. I love Melanie's energy and I'm sure you did too,

Hi, Bejamin. I'm really really good and I'm loving that I get to see your face while I do this.

To be honest, technology these days, I mean, I think this is what covid did to us, is that now we get to have these really personal experiences while we're on different ends of Australia.

And funnily enough, I feel like I'm right there with you.

So let's do this.

Let's do this. I just was saying before to Emma from Channel ten Publicity, just for context for people listening to the podcast, that my two favorite contestants this year have just been eliminated. So now I'm not selling anyone who my favorite contestants are because I feel like I've jinxed you both out of the competition.

I'm guessing Sashi was your yeah, the other one. Yeah, what a great competitor he is. He just showed, you know, the ultimate competitor vibes when he just he was like, you know what, this is all part of the MASTERSHIF process and I haven't been eliminated before, so I just had so much respect for Sashi then. But anyway, well, good ridden Sashi. No, I'm just joy.

Hopefully it doesn't. You know, though, both of you walked out with some of the most emotional messages for people that follow you, and the thing that had me in tears was that quote that you said, which was there has been so much disappointment in my life, and that resonated me with me so that I was in tears on my couch because I thought of so much disappointment in my life and the times in which I felt like I just was going to want to let things go, and then to hear you and your story is so

I agree.

I think disappointment can sometimes be swept under the rug, and you know, if it's not addressed, and when the feelings are fresh, sometimes it can manifest into other things. You know, maybe you build up a guard when you're dealing with a similar kind of situation. And I think it's really important to be as vulnerable as possible to get the best out of yourself and to have.

A free mind.

And sitting with that disappointment yesterday in the cook with Ala Wolf Tasker, I think was so crucial in progressing from that and tackling my next venture. There was a joy cooking for you, Allah, But you're right, there are so many disappointments in life, and all I can say is just give it everything that you have in every single cook. But yeah, I'm just can sit in this for a little bit and just learn from it, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity.

So thank you woman.

We cannot tell you how much we absolutely love your food. There are very few cooks that have walked through those doors that can create flavor the way that you do. You've brought us so many dishes over the past two years that have just made us happy and you yourself. You're an absolute ray of sunshine. It's not gonna be long before US three, or even maybe US four will sit down in your very successful restaurant and eat your tasty food once again. But unfortunately it's time to say white.

Well, Australia just loves you. Do you think that your ability to share your journey has helped other women open up and be honest about their story? I mean, what has the interactions been like from the fans throughout your master Chef, your overall Master Chef experience.

I wasn't expecting to receive as much support as I did, but it also I've brought out people who have never communicated with someone on Instagram before and allowed them to share their story. And I felt so lucky that people from around the world wanted to share their stories of hurt or you know, empowerment, basically anything that they felt you know, wow, like You've given me the confidence to

Yeah, I think.

You know.

It's really interesting about going through through something as traumatic as the loss of a family member or your personal health, is that we often tell ourselves not to feel a certain way, or we shouldn't cut, shouldn't be feeling like this. However, once we start to share our stories with other people, we realize that we are we have more in common than we don't. That's when we start to feel better about those sort of darker you know, the inner monologue.

Yeah, it's a part of who I am now. You know, maybe when I was thirty years old, I was frolicking through the world without a care and felt invincible, And then you realize that maybe maybe you're not, or maybe you are. Maybe you are invincible, Like these things are a part of life. And the better your mindset is, I think, the stronger you will be through any hard hardship or anything that happens in your life. Like, if you have a strong mindset, you're kind to yourself. You

Well, I think you're a superhero in my mind, Like as I'm in your audience, I think it's so amazing. And you know, you'd had the shortest break between seasons and probably you know, the hardest experience during that time. Do you think any of that's set you off with a disadvantage against some of the others.

I think I think it gave me more grit, So definitely not in that sense. And I felt like I knew the judges, Mail, Juck and Andy. I felt like I was coming back into a very comfortable space. You know, when you meet someone for the first time, you're like, oh my god, am I going to remember their name? Like that familiarity was there, So that's something that I didn't have to worry about when I saw them again. So I felt like I kind of had an advantage, to be honest.

So it's more of an advantage less of a disadvantage. I just also I love the interactions that you have with those judges as well. A friendship does resonate with the audience. You can feel it. I love the way that I think someone in the media already said this that Mel looks into your soul when she's talking to you. Yes, what kind of pressure was added to the competition by going up against such recognizable returning favorites.

The idea that I was going to be talking to Julie Goodwin, that was the biggest fangirl moment. And yeah, Sashi, the winners of mastershid Julie, Sashi. Billy. Billy is an you like that girl does not falter. She's so good under pressure and I can see why she won last her season.

She's incredible.

And I was fangirling for all of a day until I realized that I was in the favorites folk And you know, Alvin was like, oh my god, no, and I was like this is so weird, Like no, no, no, your Alvin, Like you're Alvin from season two. So it was kind of mutual respect for every favorite amongst the group, and we got along like a house on fire. Yeah. Everyone had their own skills and had spent a lot of time in the INNY, so you know, you come to the competition with a lot having a lot of

Why do you think Master Chef Australia continues to attract such recognizable chefs as their guests? You know, what do you think producers do with this show that keeps the quality at such a reputable level.

The challenges that Master Chefs set for both chefs and the contestants challenge them both. There there's integrity with the show and it is about cooking. And you know, it doesn't matter how good you are outside of the competition. If you stuff up, you stuff up. They can't falter on the integrity otherwise the show's integrity goes out the door. So I think for ye year after year, people come back to the show, People say yes, I want to be involved. People watch it because the heart and soul

Well, we need to talk about last night. So you know, the pressure test was a game of memory. So first of all, I need to ask you were you good at like memory games when you were a kid.

I had to make up a story to remember remember things. But I'm quite tactical. I needed to do it myself before I remembered it watching someone do it.

It's like at.

UNI, I would never remember any of my lecturer's content unless I was doing it. So when I'm not doing something, yeah, I get bored a little bit. So yesterday was a very tough challenge for me.

It was so hard I couldn't do it. I mean I was watching it happen. And I think that's the magic of Master Chef is we're continuously as an audience thinking what would I do in the situation? You know, how would I do this? And yeah, it just looked so impossible.

Yeah, I think we had a false sense of security at the start of the challenge and I was like, yeah, ninety minutes, it's plenty of time. And then after twenty minutes of fillitting that damn Murray Cod, I was like, oh, this is a pressure test. I've eaten about almost a third of my time, and then the panic kind of started to set in, and I'm like, everyone's so ahead of me. It's fine, I'll keep going. I'll keep going.

It's not in a good way. It's sand bagged you, sand bagged me.

Yeah, yeah, the wheels on the bus.

Do you think you know something I saw you say was you know Harry was always going to use her pin? So do you think that Harry considering was going to always use the pin? Do you think that Harry should have done that at the start?

I remember, I remember before the cook, Harry was like, this is such a fun cook, and I was like, girl, you have a pin, like you do not get to say this, This will be a fun cook, but like read your audience, love you, but not the right time. It's you know, you have your pin. It was a competition of three for me, honestly, it wasn't about Harry. I knew that she was always going to use that pin. So for me then thinking that it was me, Sarah and Jen, it just became so much tougher.

Yeah, for the three of you. I mean I did think, oh, Harry's going to use the pin, and then who's going to go out of these three people, and the pressure for you did seem to take over. At what point did you start to think, Okay, this is definitely my last cook.

It was the moment when I was looking around from my noodles, the oil, the strain of the jugs. I'd put them absent mindedly around the bench, and in the moment when I needed to find it all my bench was too messy and I couldn't find it. Like they were all there, All the elements were there, but I didn't get it onto the plate. And that was the hardest part. That when I couldn't find the jug to strain the oil into, I just popped some of the

I need a lesson in time management every day and I would be really bad. But that moving away from that and just sort of talking about yourself. I mean, you arrived in Australia quite young. I think you were like six when you moved to Melbourne. And your food integrity with your culture is a huge part of your story. How important is maintaining the ways in which you've been taught how to cook?

I think traditional cooking techniques is so you know, they're so important to how I cook. Ultimately, in the context of a restaurant, you know, you can't just have a it's called a thorough lippet, which means a wood stove in Sinhales, and basically they're these clay pots and there's mud and stuff covering it. But the flavor that you get from cooking on these stoves is next level. And you cook with clap pots. Unfortunately, I can't utilize that

No, no, no, it makes sense. It makes sense. And I was also going to say to you that I talk to you about Darwin. Actually I went there in twenty nineteen and was really surprised with how good the food was at every place. I ate, is Darwin really underrated with what's going on. It's not the thing that I thought that I'd walk away talking about when I went to Darwin. But the food was just amazing.

There's so much beautiful produce and it lends itself to tropical food, you know, Southeast Asian food. There's a huge tie Vietnamese Cambodian community up in Darwin, so the food is epic. Like the mark, did you go to the markets on Saturday Sunday?

Of course, I'll think great, Oh, that was one of the best things we did.

I go to the.

Market on the weekend, get a whole buckets and buckets of produce, and then that's what I cook in the restaurant because it's grown locally. The food is fan fantastic. A lot of people don't know that. When I moved. Before I moved to Darwin, I was like, oh, Darwin, it's like crocodile Dundee, But it's not. It's nothing like that. Well, there's a little bit.

There's a little bit.

Of that, a little bit of crocodiles, yeah, and some of the locals do a little bit.

Of crocodile yeah, but there's so much more.

Who is going to win the competition so not what you know now, but when you walked out of the competition at this time, who did you think was going to take it out?

From the beginning, I thought Billy. So when I left through those doors, I'm like, I want Billy to win this because she just is not phased under pressure.

You know what's funny about you, yeah about Billy, is that Billy's now my favorite to win. And I just started this chat by saying, I can't say who my next favorite person to win is because what Sashi left it was you and now you've left. Now I'm saying Billy, and I just am like, no, I can't jinx this board woman.

No, do not jinx, Billy, do not jinxx album stinks, Julie like they're my peeps. I just love the idea that a past winner will win again and just show everyone. Oh can you imagine if Billy's like, see you later, suckers, like I've won for the second time. That's five hundred thousand, shouldn't my pocket? I'd be like, yes, Billy, woohoo.

Yes, Billy, take me out for dinner. Something I ask everyone who joins the podcast is a little behind the scenes question. So what's something that we didn't see as an audience that we won't see that you can share from behind the scenes of your time on Mastership Astray Fans versus.

So this is actually from last season and I thought it was oh fans versus face.

I'm gonna tell you too.

Actually, so from last season. Pete is a tattoo artist, right, and he ended up as a joke drawing a picture of Justin's face as a tattoo and stuck it on the picture of Sashi. You know, it had all the winners photos up on the wall in the green room, so we stuck Justin's face on Sashi's face, and I feel like it was like a self fulfilling prophecy where Justin ended up going to win because we did it from like such an a We were like, haha, Justin,

Shot shot everyone in the foot manifested it.

Yeah, manifested it. And in fans and favorites, it's probably just the level of ridiculous conversation that happens behind the scenes, and it's I think Julie's probably my favorite so on screen, Julie is a darling and she's very quick witted and she's quick with the punches, but man, she can throw a one liner. She's like that, yeah that. I think she's the oldest out of all of us, but she is the most not cut throat, but she's got the most not potty mouth. Oh, I don't know where I'm

Just tell it us bad, I'll cut it out.

Just tell me O, no, no, no, it's not bad. But Julie was the funniest. She had She you know, she she could get down on anyone's level with the jokes. She she's so much more than what everyone sees on TV. And she's just she's literally just the kindest, best human being on the planet.

And I think I want everyone to know that.

Also, Alvin hates birds. Sorry Alvin.

Three three behind the scenes stories, you know, Manifestation, Julie Goodman's bloody mouth, and Alvin hates birds. That was.

Gonna hate me? Oh gosh, all right, yeah.

I will say I absolutely have enjoyed your story thus far, outside of the kitchen and inside of the kitchen, and like a lot of Australians, I will be continuing to follow your story. So I wish you wore the best of black moving forward, and maybe they'll call you back for another Master Chef next year.

Oh you know what, Yeah, just save me a spot, just regular, and then I'll also plan my next elimination to my fourth elimination. I'll chat to you again twelve months, no.

Muss time, yeah yeah, schedule it.

In the day until you win. That's all it is. And I'm in your.

Audience for that, that's right, Yeah, never give up, never give up? All right?

Got it?

All right?

Thank you so much, Benjamin.

Chatting with you today, so thank you for joining us on TV. Reload and I'll let you get back into your kitchen.