Rhiann Mead - DESSERT MASTERS - Chef / Contestant

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast last weep. They 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 on the popular TV shows that 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

To get on the show next year.

While Ryan definitely made the judges applaud in the first two episodes with her plum Blossom and Scrabble Solitaire, it was definitely that piggy bank that didn't crack that sent her home. I will find out how Ryan was selected and what kind of insights you get into preparing for these shows elaborate desserts. Ryan will share her thoughts on the judge's popularity and how Melissa and Amory have influenced

Hi, Ryan, how are you very well?

Thank you? How are you?

I'm very excited.

I just was saying to you before we started recording that I rewatched all the first three episodes again this morning. So it's you're a good company because I'm obsessed with this show me. So will you keep watching now that you're out?

Oh, one hundred percent.

I think now that the stress and pressure is off, it's a bit of relief and now I can just sit back and enjoy it with everyone else.

I can imagine what was it like to get the call to be a part of Dessert Masters, Because I mean, this is the first series. It's something that I think has been bubbling for quite a while waiting to come to the surface, and so how exciting to be asked to be amongst this cast.

The producers reached out over Instagram and I just I just couldn't believe it. When I first found out, I was just like, no, wait, no chance, it's not me. And then we went through a few zoom meetings and stuff like that, and when it sort of sunk in a little bit that it was actually going to happen, it was just overwhelming exciting.

I was I was nervous. It was like a mix of everything.

Well, I'm here to tell you that you take a lot of boxes, You're beautiful, you can cook incredible things, you speak, well, what more.

Do these producers want?

Seriously, thank you very much take the compliment. How long do you have to prepare though, for a show like this?

Do you have?

Did you have a period of time between them saying yes and then the camera's rolling.

Yeah, there was a there.

Was a short period of time, but then again it's just going into it, going into a blind almost, So during that short time, it was thinking of what pastry techniques might I need, what what might I be asked to do and then just trying to rego over everything I've learned in the past ten years or so and trying to feel as prepared as you can.

For something like this.

I found out this is a very different show, but I found out recently with RuPaul's drag Rags, they actually let them know the themes in advance before coming on the show. Do you have any idea about what sort of dishes you can prepare to make or are you just flying blind?

Pretty much flying blind?

You know, there's always I wouldn't even say a hint, and you know there's a little bit of hints dropped I guess just before.

If you've been a master chef of Fiscionado, you probably can predict some of these things, you know.

Yeah, you definitely you look at past challenges that have been set, especially around just out so you're kind of like, well, maybe it'll be in that direction, or you know, you try and think of something that'll be good good on TV, something that I'll stressed everyone out.

With these shows, there is always this idea that you know, we want to see really aspirational dishes that are impossible to make, but I also would like to see a few challenges in there that dishes that the people that are watching the show could make as well. Do you think that this show needs to always have those crazy cooks that are there, or do you think sometimes they could bring some stuff in that maybe the audiences can write down the recipe and try and do at home.

I think certain aspects of it definitely can be made at home, but I think as well, it's I think that's kind of what makes the show so exciting, seeing what everyone else can do, and you know, even for me, seeing what the other cooks could do some of the stuff I can't do, And so that's what made it so exciting for me to watch them, being like how did they do that?

How did they think like that?

And I think it's a nice it's nice showcase of everyone's talents, and I think that's something that makes it really special, as the fact that not everyone can do that, so it's it's like watching me impossible.

I love watching those things on Instagram where you see people with no cooking experience trying to recreate, you know, cakes for their kids and stuff where it's like it's a bluey cake and a cake does not.

Look like bluey. It looks more like Marge Simpson and You're Life and that makes.

It just as good, right or like comm Dome for me is one of my favorite TV shows just because it's always a disaster.

Well. I mean, these days, all these kids want is those smash cakes, you know what I mean. They don't even want to eat them, they just want to tear them apart. So maybe it's all relative.

Yeah, it takes the pressure off a little bit.

What did you think of the company that you were able to keep on this show? Was this the krem Dola Creme of pastry and dessert chefs, you know from Australia one hundred percent?

Definitely.

Going into it, I wasn't sure who I was going to be competing against, but you know, I think I got most of them right in thinking of it, who it could possibly be leading up to it, and just for me, it was when I first moved back to Australia and people like Adriano Sumboga, some Tibbles and Apollovu, they were, you know, setting the benchmark for what pastry in Australia in the world. And so for me to be competing against people I've looked up to since my apprenticeship.

Did you try and reach out to anyone? I remember being asked to do a show about two years ago and they were just putting out an inquiry about doing it, and I was thinking, Oh, I just want to ring who I think is going to be doing this show, and the producer like, no, you're not allowed to talk to anyone.

I would never put myself on the same level as most of these people, so I never even thought to reach out.

You were hoping for crapper chefs.

Yeah, in a way, I could have been a bit much.

Some of these people are usually the celebrity chefs that come in to do a challenge for Master Chef, and now they're competing in the show. Do you think that they were nervous to try and swap sides of the bench.

Oh? I think so definitely.

I think that was almost sort of the blessing in my position of going and not being in there before is that didn't have that pressure of knowing I'd been in there instead a challenge and now you're on the other side creating the challenge. So I think that would be a very very stressful and I feel like you put a lot of pressure on yourself to prove yourself if you're in that position.

What about the camaraderie. I mean, I even noticed Anna was really cute. At one point she checked out on one of the chefs that was cooking right near her. I would love to know what the camaraderie was like amongst you guys during the filming.

It was incredible without sounding too cheesy, it literally feels like a family. Even though I was there for a short time and I didn't know too many of the other chefs beforehand. I feel like some really really fantastic friendships have been formed, and you know, a lot of us talk, maybe not every day, but almost every day still, and you know, we catch up whenever we're in Sydney, Melbourne, anything like that.

So it's really really special.

I wasn't expecting to sort of have these relationships or bombs after instant.

Literally, who was the most competitive, though, There's got to be someone that was fun to cook alongside, but was super competitive.

I think everyone's competitive in their own sense. If I was going to put a name to someone, probably Anna, just because of her personality. She's very in bold, she's very confident, and she's she's just so calm and funny, and I think that that makes you feel competitive because you're like, she's not stressed, she's just doing a thing, cooking.

And then I think she puts a lot of pressure on herself. Like I'm watching her in this competition, I'm like, I worry for you, Anna.

If you're not going to win this, how are you going to feel?

Yeah, I think everyone's putting that level of pressure on themselves for sure.

Yeah. True.

Well, who was the most generous that you were working alongside?

Again, I think everyone, I think just in certain situations or times or everyone is just so.

Lovely and caring.

I think Kayleen was probably sort of one of the standouts. She's just so nurturing, sweet and imagering the cook she'd come over and make a joke so you're okay. She helped me out at the end of the last challenge last night when I was going down. So that everyone is just very, very helpful, and everyone wanted everyone to do well. I think that was the best part about it. Everyone's just supporting each other.

Did you walk away learning from them as well? Like, what skills do you think you've learned the most? Coming out of the dessert Master's.

Kitchen, just a lot about the way that people work, how they sort of structure cooking times, how they use that time to their advantage. And I think a lot of emphasis have been on sort of savory ingredients included, so that for me is sort of now incorporating into my cooking, not just sticking with traditional sort of dessert ingredients.

So that's something that's had a big.

What's alike in reality?

I mean, you've probably been watching Master Chef for years and then you know, to be in that kitchen, it just looks so stressful. I guess one of the strange things about Master Chef is the music that they play, you know, along the way, sort of builds the tension. I guess they're not really playing that music for you. Why in the kitchen, probably the clock would freak you out the most.

No, it was exactly like it is on TV, and I think that was sort of one of the exciting parts for me about it. One thing I didn't sort of take into account is how big the kitchen itself is. So you're on your bench and you know, you see people running around on TV. You think, surely you can't be that under pressure to be sprinting around the kitchen, and then five minutes and I was running around everywhere.

You know, your dishes in episode one and two were like super ambitious, they were so incredible. I called you had the plum flower and the Marble Solitaire, which visually so impressive. You'd have to be happy with the commentary that you were getting on those dishes in those first two episodes.

I wasn't really expecting it to be that positive. I think I was always I'm always like prepare for the worst kind of person. And then yeah, I honestly couldn't be happier with my two cooks. Yeah, especially the Marbles episodes. Getting a lot of feedback from that, it was a big confidence boost.

I was rewinding to hear what you called that plum flower. I'm calling it the plum flower, but I was trying to listen to what you referred to it as.

Was it called the plum bottom? Is that what you called it?

Blossom?

Blossom? Okay?

I was slowing that down a few times to find out, and I was like, if it's called a plum bottom, I feel like we need to rechange the name. I'm not a blossom sounds like a much better idea on a show like this, Do you worry about starting too big? Because those two dishes were so incredible? I feel like if I was on a show like this that I'd be thinking about trying to create a journey, because we often see on cooking shows like this that they like

Yeah?

I think, and looking back on my third cook, the elimination, I think something like that. I felt the pressure to try and do more. Looking back now, I just wish that I had have just done, you know, pleated deserve something uncomfortable with something that I know I could have achieved. But I think I was like, no, I need to do better, show show skills. That is showing that I'm pushing myself, and then maybe I'll just push myself a.

Little bit too too hard.

So yeah, I think I definitely felt that pressure, and you know, I'd done two really great cooks and I just wanted to show them that I made of more, And maybe I should have just stuck in and stuck in my lane a little bit.

You know, Melissa Leong is so good on this show, Like I am obsessed with her, and I think that she was so She's so amazing.

She's so articulate.

I love all the way in which she can pronounce everyone's names correctly, and like, it's just everything about her Uza's inspiration. Why do you think that people have gravitated towards her so much as a host of this show.

She's just so genuine and she is so personable. She cares.

It was my first time going into the kitchen, and she was just very aware of that, and she treated me like everyone else like she was just so sweet friendly. She had a genuine interest in you, and I think that shows on TV for sure. She's passionate about what we do and she's just excited for everyone.

I get to because I comment on television, I do you know commentary of all television shows. I get a lot of people coming up and talking to me about it on the street, and it's so funny. You know, you hear the same names with people going, yeah, I've seen you talk that person before. But if she really liked that in real life. But everyone I speak to about Melissa is always obsessed with her, and they just

You know, the fact that she's exactly how she is on the screen and as she is when the cameras are off.

She's so good on TV.

She's so personable, she speaks so well, and then just to have that same energy of camera is something very special.

I got a bottle that I mean Amauri Gushan. I'm going to say his name wrong. I wish I was Melissa Leon, but I'm clearly not. And I tried to slow his pronunciation of his own name down, and I was like, I'm just gonna have to say this with my Australian accent.

What do you think about him? Like?

You know what makes him so celebrated in his field around the world.

He's just so talented. He's my favorite pastry chef.

Just what he does is so exciting and it's so technical and scientific, and I think that's why so many people are attracted to it.

Because it's no one can do that well.

Very few people get through that, and just the way that his mind thinks is incredible.

That he himself he was so great in real life.

He's one of those people I wasn't expecting to be as again as genuine as he is, but he was so excited to see what we were all doing. And I think, you know someone that Kim is the top of his field in what he does. But for him to be excited by what I was doing and asking questions and showing interest, it was it was very sort of wholesome that he was just as excited about me as I was about him, and he treated everyone in the kitchen like that.

I just wanted to ask him about his apron like, I mean, sorry, he's what do he call that?

What?

It's just like, did he get that personally made to him? I mean, I feel like it's tailored just to show the right amount of bicep and peck and everything. Like do you ask, you know, Marie a question like that, or do you just, you know, just assume that maybe he gets the maide.

Yeah, I think I just assumed I was probably good him.

That I'd be the creep, I'd be the freak of the week, and just be like slowly touching his arm, and Melissa would be like, Okay, you're not longer in the competition. It's it's time to go. It's a different show, of course. So with the piggybank idea, which I thought was really fun, were you disappointed that someone else was making it, Kristen was making it at that point? Did you think, oh, maybe I should try and switch to something else, or do you just go hard and try.

And beat it?

I think then obviously she's the worst person you want to go up against with chocolate.

She's the queen of it. She's just so natural at it.

But no, I think it was Obviously I would have liked to have change shit, but I was too far, too far into the cook and I just knew I had to stick with.

What I was doing.

But again, it was she gave me some tips and advice during the cook, especially with spraying the pig, and even though it was like pig verst pig, it was very very wholesome in a way, and the fact that you know, she wanted me to succeed as much as she wanted herself to And yeah, it was obviously not ideal going up against her.

I just thought it was good television the way they rolled it out, because they showed you first you were like, I'm going to make a smash pig, and everyone's like, yet.

A great idea.

And then they go to her and she's like, I'm making a smash pig and everyone's like, oh no, oh no, this is it's not okay. I'd be looking at the backup book of ideas.

I'd be like, if anything, I was just like, I'm happy that maybe I thought the same way as her for a little bit.

So what did you think about Anna and Andy being safe as well from elimination? Were they the people that you thought in the second episode were going to win sort of that immunity for the next round.

I think that was such a difficult round to choose. Everything looked fantastic that everyone made, and you know, we taste a little bit on each other's benches, and everything tasted incredible. So I'm not surprised at all that they went through.

They deserved it. Their food was delicious.

Do you think Reynold's going to hang onto that immunity pin until towards the end, because you could see that he was certainly not going to play it last night. Do you think, because there's only one immunity pin, that he's just going to have to hang onto that for as long as possible.

Yeah, I think if that was me in that position, you hold onto it as long as possible.

Although I would have used it last night for sure.

I think that it's so hard to tell you you have great days, you have bad days, and you never know when he could use it. You never know what could go wrong in a cook But I think you know, you look at what he's done so far, honest, you know, he's Reynolds for a reason. He's well known for being a expert on Manstershire for a reason. So I would be surprised if he ever needed to use it because it's just that good.

Well, he's in a lot of the banners for the show, a lot of the promo stuff, so like he's got a lot of pressure on himself, so you know, good luck to him.

Yeah.

I was going to say, you know your resume in Sydney are working with Peter Gilmour being the head of Pastriot along and now at the Charles what advice do you have for chefs wanting to work their way up the ranks amongst the worlds. You know, we've got some of the world's most incredible dessert chefs here in Australia. Is it important to have a mentor? Is that something that you chose to do? Like, how how do people follow along in the sort of path that you've gone in.

I think you just need to find the right workplace for you, you know. I absolutely loved working with Peter Gilmore and the chefs who were working with him as well. I think everyone wanted to be there for the same reason. And you know, Peter's through the way he thinks everything, everything like that.

It was just I was so interested in investor to learn.

I went in act as a demi chef and then left running the pastry section.

And I think it was just a natural.

Progression because if you're that passionate, you care that much, you're that interested, I feel like it eventually sort of leaves that way. Yeah, I think you just got to you just got to stick to it and love what you do, and eventually a good thing has.

Come from one.

I think you've got to follow your passion, you know. I think that you know, if you're genuinely interested in something, it shines through And I think it's important for people to find something that they truly love and follow it. I mean, that's their place to shine. Definitely, who's your pick to win? That's one of the last questions I'm going to ask you, not what you know now, so you can't ruin anything for me because you're probably all talking.

So I think just.

By looking at the past two challenges, and you did so well in both of them. And I think the way that he cooks, his style is very very different to everyone else's and you know, he uses interesting flavors, and I really like how confident he is being. You know, he mentioned in one of the episodes, how you know this is his style, his confident in the way he cooks, and I love that. And I just think judging by the past three episos of past two episodes and then having immunity, and he's definitely.

Wanted to watch, Okay, well, I think I might have him. I might have my eye on him as well. So I think that's actually you know, you mentioned at the end of the show how this series has reignited some passion in you. You know, what's life been like since you wrapped this show? You know, have you been able to achieve things that you might not have been able to achieve had you not had this experience.

I think so for sure.

I think it's just gotten me a little bit more creative, trying not to get stuck in and stuck in my comfort zone. And I think that was one of the biggest lessons learned from last night's episode, is you know, I just want to keep practicing, learning new skills, up skilling, and so I think that's that's something.

And I think that's reflected on my work a lot.

And I think I've got more confidence than I had before, and so I was just trusting my trusting my got a bit more.

So.

Yeah, I think it's still still early days, so we'll see seeing the next few coming weeks, but I think it'll be a very very positive effect.

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Well, everyone who joins the podcast get asked this questions. My last question, which is, what is something from behind the scenes, something that we wouldn't see, you know, not necessarily behind the scenes secret about mastership, but maybe something that happened to you along the way with your experience in the kitchen.

Any one of the most memorable things was, you know, in between filming and just hanging out in the green room and just talking to everyone and you know, everyone's nervous, everyone's on the same page, and then just sort of the conversations are happening there and I think.

That's where like friendships are born stuff like that.

So I think that that for me, like behind the scenes was just a really really nice time.

That was something I wasn't expecting.

I was just expecting to go in and cook and sort of that bit you get judged to go. But I think, yeah, some of the most memorable moments are hanging out in the green room just like laughing, talking all about.

It was really nice.

I think it's amazing because, like think about it now, if you're ever struggling with certain dishes, you've got all their phone numbers, you'd just be oh, Adriano Zumbo mid a hand, what do you got to say about this? You know, or even just taking photos of what you have done and ask for their commentary on them as well.

It's nice to have a nice little group now that you know you can reach out and ask for hell for advice or anything like us.

I just think Kristen Tibbles would be I'd be asking her over for dinner all the time. She looks like someone good to have a wine with.

It's fantastic. Ryan.

I just want to say thank you so much for your generosity with your time. I am absolutely obsessed with this show, so I probably need some help. But yeah, good luck with everything, with your with your talking, and I look forward to maybe seeing what you do next.

Ye, thank you very much, thank you