It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast last weep that line. Hey guys, welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Jill, the thirteenth eliminated contestant on Master Chef Australia, which is on Network ten from Sunday nights through to Wednesday nights at seven point thirty. For my guest today, Jill, food is
a love language. She has been influenced deeply by her mum and her beloved late Honor, who gifted her the use of food as a love language, as well as by her late father who taught her about intuition in the kitchen, to trust her palette and to balance flavors
and textures when preparing food with care. Jill is a Woollongong local, a very talented artist who has run her own lettering art business for eight years, creating logos, painting war murals, and we really felt a lot of her creative ambitions through her time in the Master Chef kitchen. I loved catching up with Jill, as you can imagine, I have loved reading her comments that she has received.
There's actually something quite raw and I'm filtered about our chat today and I hope you guys really enjoy it. Jill will unpack everything from losing her father to hating coffee and why being a creative is actually so important to her. We will unpack the Master Chef Kitchen in terms of how much interaction with fans they're allowed to have during the season and what she has appreciated from
reading your comments online. I will also ask Jill about the decision to use luck, chance and Circumstance games to decide on elimination challenges and what she would like to change about the competition in regards to that. We will also discuss why Harry is her choice to win and what she thinks Poe has taught the twenty twenty four alumni. There's a lot to talk about with Jill, so sit back and relax as we unpack her wonderful time in the Master Chef Australian Kitchen. Hi Jill, how are you?
Hi Ben? I'm good. Thanks, how are you?
I'm doing very well. I'm very excited to talk to you and congratulations on an amazing effort taking on the Master Chef Kitchen. But more importantly, the way in which you had connected with the judges and the contestants. I think you had upskilled there better than anyone that's been on this competition thus far.
Oh thank you. That means so much. Look, it was incredibly emotional, but it was a really nice, wholesome send off as well.
Really was, and I feel like, whenever you're having a down day, go back and read that Instagram post you posted last night after your elimination, because let me tell you, I don't know if I've read everyone's every week as clearly or as accurately as I read yours, but what people had to say about you is amazing.
Oh thank you. Yeah, it's really touched my heart and brought me back up after obviously such a deflating end to my journey. But like I said, it was really nice to read everybody's supportive comments, and it's been like that throughout the entire thing, so I feel very, very blessed and grateful to have all that.
Well, I just think that it's not always easy to feel things and let people know what you're going through, and I think that's a part of your currency, is that you're very transparent with your emotions and your feelings. But one thing I relate to a lot is that you're a hustler, and I love a hustle, you know what.
Like I am such a hustler and I have that mentality with me every day. But I also wear my heart and my sleeve, and that is my motto is hustle and heart will set you apart. And I live through that every day. You know, I'm not afraid to go out and work really hard and hustle and have some grit. But I'm also not afraid to show tears and have full transparency and share my honest feelings and emotions with everyone and anyone.
I think it's not an easy thing, you know, And sometimes I struggle with it as well, Like I think, oh, why do I have to be this person? But by being that and being genuine, by being authentic, it's your biggest currency.
I agree, one hundred percent. And I actually don't know how to be fake, and sometimes I wish I did, so I could it might be a little bit easier for me to live every day life.
You know, I'm always going to think about just while we're talking about this is I'm always going to think about the look of concern on your face as you were looking through the pantry. There was a real oh my god. I feel like I think about what I would be like on this show quite a lot, and I feel like that's the nightmare for me, is just being there and having too many options and not necessarily knowing where to go.
Yeah, that is the look of not going shopping with a go through list and not prepping for the week, and that's what will happen me. You know.
It's also really potent for me to watch your emotional speech about your father when they were trying your food, and it's interesting because you were saying that your father had said for you not to be scared and not to be fearful because he wouldn't be around to fight your battles. I wanted to add something to that because
my father didn't pass anything to me to use. But I had this dream shortly afterwards that my dad came to me in this dream and he told me that now that he is gone, that he actually would have more control over one happens to me in my life, rather than less.
And oh wow.
Over the years that kind of followed, there were some things that came down to maybe luck, chance and circumstance, I guess, but things really went in my favor, and I just chose to believe even though I've lost my father, there is this power, there's this other force now rooting for me, making things happen, and I've chosen to believe that. And I wondered whether or not for you, whether or not you feel like maybe your father's up there rooting for you for.
Sure, And I think that's the power in perspective, but also what absence can have, and that just also shows you, Like I said, with perspective, that presence and absence have an equal impact, and obviously you know both with you and me, even though our fathers aren't here, it's how we focus on what they do bring to us in everyday life and what we do to carry on with their spirit within, and how they can look over us and you know, what we've been brought up with or
what they've taught us along the way or left us behind, all those things carried through. And I love to be fully transparent with how I did connect with my dad when he was around, also how I can connect him with him without him sorry as well, And I think that's equally as important as each other. I mean, I'd obviously love for him to be around and to share this experience with him, but I really felt that I was able to carry his presence within me as well
as I cooked every day. Yeah, so I think it's a beautiful thing if you have enough vulnerability to be able to share that as well and be honest about it, because not only are you able to share that with people, but you're able to allow people to see that that's okay to do as well. And it's such a beautiful thing. It should be so celebrated to be able to feel all of those big emotions as well.
Just to sidestep all of that, because that's a different podcast, grief and bereavement. I was wondering, if you didn't like coffee before, you must certainly hate it now.
You know What's so funny? Within me, I should be like, you know what, I'm never having coffee again, but it fueled my fire even more to just go tackle a
coffee dessert and just absolutely nail it. That means, yes, trying more coffee, but yeah, I do hate it, and I think that actually stemmed from waking up in the morning in my family household as a child and making my mom and dad an instant coffee, and one person would have one teaspoon of next cafe or whatever the hell it was, and then my mom would have one and a half, and they'd all have different sugar and stuff and this and that, and so that instant smell
every morning of instant coffee was actually a negative connotation as opposed to something that I really enjoyed doing. So I feel like that's where it stems from. And now I'm going to have that negative experience again of smelling coffee because it's set me out of master chef obviously being vitnamere is Italian. As I talk about, I'm a perfect candidate, but I'm also a creative and I sleep very late, like I sleep between midnight and two am
pretty much every day, and that's probably being generous. So I am the perfect candidate to be a coffee drinker. And everybody that will go off and get a coffee in the morning, whether it's for work or a friend or whatever, they're always asking me because they just expect me to drink coffee. And I swear once every two days I have to say I don't drink coffee.
This is something we need to rectify.
Trust me, all of my friends think that and they try to change it, but it's never happening. Vietnamese coffee different because it's very sweet, like condensed milk and all that sort of stuff, which is why I took the inspiration from it. But yeah, that's the only real thing that I would have coffee.
Well, desserts aren't necessarily my strongest competency of food either. When I saw that, I related very hard. Before I get into why that is so hard? What did you learn from Adriano Zimbo working with him? Because Sweetweek was so crazy and those desserts were so incredible to see being put together. Was there something in particular you learned from him?
He was so generous in offering an advice or feedback on and off the screen. He's got such an empire for sweets, and he's an icon in terms of macarons or shoes and a cock and bush, even though they're also scary desert than technical and precise. He has given us some sort of connection to a story or an experience or a feeling in terms of desserts and emotions, and it's crazy how he's done that through these also
complex and difficult dishes. And I think that's what I learned the most from Adriana Zumbo is that you really do have to be able to tell a story or have this connection with deserts because they can be easily overshadowed by the complexity of it and the technicalities of the dish itself or whatever you're making. And I think that's so easy to do with deserts because we just think of it of it's a highly skillful thing to be able to make desserts and to balance this and
that and have all these techniques within it. It's so easy to forget the story and the connection of emotion through food with desserts sometimes because you've got that overshadowing. But what adrian Zumbo reminds us all is that the importance is a story and how it leaves an impact after the meal, because it's not just something that you've baked for a certain amount of time or coort a certin amount measurement in it's a story that you're left with.
It's a nostalgia. It's the new memories you're creating, and that's going to create an impact that will be remembered for life. When you walk out those doors or when you finish your meal. I finally learned that towards the end. I mean, that's what I cook with most of the time. But being a person that's not a dessert coal, I was focusing on the technique. I think that's what I brought with me after the end of that week, is that, Yeah, the story is important to have that long lasting impact.
When you're watching back, there is a lot of stories connected to it, and some people are like, oh, another sub story, another story, this and that and the other pide of like, this is what food does. This is the beauty of it. It does connect food with people or with love or emotions, and I think people accept it without noticing. Sometimes when you're watching a TV show, it's obviously more profound because they're talking about it with a drama music behind it and all that sort of stuff.
But yeah, that is the beauty of food, and the beauty of Master Chef is that it really allows that to sing and sells it.
How hard was that macaron challenge? Though? Because I don't mind a macaron every now and again. It mainly begs my mum's obsessed with them, so Mum's always, you know, forcing them upon me and maybe over time I've built up a taste for it. But I find that that would be very stressful, you know. I also find having a challenge that determines who cooks that could come down to sort of luck and chance. Do you worry that that's maybe not the best way to select who has to be in an elimination cook.
Yeah, for sure, I'm not even gonna lie or sugarcoat that pun intended. I think that was the hardest thing about just entering top ten as well and trying to push beyond that, which is obviously closer to the win.
The angle for everyone at that point is that our elimination spot was determined by the luck of the door of what flavor you get, and also so many overwhelming thoughts in your head and in your gut that you've got when you're trying to guess is you know, don't second guess yourself flavors, but also looking at the colors and then try to take all the stressful, nervous feelings and anxiety feelings of knowing that you're just into a
cutthroat three person elimination, which is the first three person elimination as well for the competition. There's just so many things that it did. You have, like this looming cloud over my head beyond the hundreds of macarons that I was sharing me straight dead in the eye.
I was intimidationd well. I was really intimidated, but also was angry because I'm like luck, chance and circumstances in this environment about such a small amount of people being selected to cook in an elimination cook seemed like there's a possibility that organizing a challenge like the flavor of desserts could favor some contestants who, you know, maybe sweet is their specialty, So like organizing a challenge at that point that maybe not as dessert being your favorite thing
becomes like an inconvenience for you even more.
Yeah, And I think I would have loved that for me at the start of the week. To then progress into a challenge where you cook off for immunity rather than elimination, in my mind, that seems a lot more yeah, understandable, logical, But you know, it is what it is. It's a competition at the end of the day, and we signed ourselves up to this, so you just face it. And that's why I had to, you know, you couldn't see
it there, but I felt it internally. I didn't have such a brave face watch to go over it, but I felt it internally that I was going to power through it. I was going to battle through. And I made the promise to myself that I was going to back myself throughout that cook as much as I can because I learned so much at the end of that week that I had to carry that on but also still wear my armor that I always do.
I always think about what would you do to change the competition? Is there something that now that you've come out the other side of it, would you change something? And I guess that's my question to you. Do you think that they should take out? I mean, they're really fun and they're great television moments, like all of the tasting when you get blindfolded, all of these sorts of things, like,
it's great television. But do you think that that should determine like a bonus something else and not necessarily determine who's going to cook in those elimination corks?
Yeah, I definitely would change that.
Okay, Yeah, I hate that on the card when you know when you're leaving the restaurant, there's a little bit of advice.
Yes, I ate hid in that at all. I would not put a taste to send you into an elimination because it is fifty percent Lork. It depends on where you sit in that lineup. It depends on what flavor you get. And yes, we're supposed to know a lot of flavors, and you know we're supposed to have that knowledge, but you know, if you're getting something that's as easy as banana I was supposed to, or like peanut butter
I got. I got peanut butter first, and it was straight up like a peanut butter paste, right, But then some of the other flavors they had to put that in differently, so you're getting a different texture from the one that you did last or what someone else might get. So you might get the ingredient that it's in its raw and purest form, or you might get the other one, which is my second one, which was mint that I guess basil, and it wasn't like straight up mint of
course spread onto a macaron. So there's two differences there, and it you know, it comes down to life, but it also comes down to your knowledge. So the fifty to fifty game in about it not to send you in an elimination thing.
For me, the reason why it's so stressful is because of the way in which I make decisions in my own life. Maybe my undiagnosed ADHD, I don't know, but when I I will immediately think the answer is something, and I always second guess my first thought and go with my second thought, which is always wrong. And you'd think over time that I'd learned not to do that.
But yeah, that's where it would be really confusing because immediately sometimes you go, well, that's what the flavor is, but ah, there's a different texture to that, so I'm going to go with option two, which is wrong.
Yeah, I know, And you really have to in those TASSS challenges. You really have to listen to your gut instinct and remind yourself that you do know what you're talking about, because the minute that you second guess, the minute things start to go the opposite direction and you just second guess the whole time, and then you start bringing to other ingredients. It might be you're an overload at that point, and I think that's when you start to see, oh crap, this is where I'm going to
go wrong. If you don't know instantly, then you're not going to know, you know.
And actually going back to something that we're talking about earlier about social media, it just made me think of something, and that is is this one of the only reality shows where contestants are still allowed to have their social media throughout the show? Like are you because like a lot of reality shows, they take their social media away from participants or contestants. Are you able to interact with fans and everyone freely, like there's no restrictions on any of that during filming.
Obviously it's very different to when it's on air. But whilst it's on air, yeah, we're allowed to interact. We have certain guidelines, of course, but I think, yeah, it is very different to a lot of other shows. I'm not too sure that in the exact rules, but we're
allowed to interact. And I think that's also a really nice part of Master Chef is the audience can be a part of the experience real time and how it watches and how it resonates with people by us being able to interact and engage with our audience, and I think that that's a cool aspect. It obviously can have its pros and cons because the Internet is a wild world space.
It's a scary place to be girlfriend.
Yeah, yeah, but I think I think if you're able to get through something like Master Chef as well, you can have that strong cap on and get through the interweb. But yeah, I think the key thing there is that we are able to engage with our audience and that allows an even bigger celebration for everyone.
That's what I always think. I'm like, you're missing out on that person understanding their brand, like if you remove their ability to connect with people on social media, and maybe some of these shows are a little bit different and the type of personality is a little bit different. There's probably other factors that I'm not putting into place, but I'm always like, let that person interact with their audience, like they know themselves better than anything. You're getting some
free publicity. This this is some extra work that you don't have to do, you know.
Yeah, but let's be real, We're not going to get the people from I don't know, maths to connect with their audience in real time. But Master Chef is about celebrating the connection of food and people, so it makes sense.
There bringing in a good point there, and I really appreciate that. I have been asking everyone as well. This is so annoying. And I don't know if you've heard any of my podcasts, but I've been asking people to have there. Oh well, thank you for listening. I've been asking people who their favorite judge and who they want to win at this point? Can you help me out with those two.
I've been dreading this question, but I've been preparing myself. It's like, you know, when you look in the mirror and you give yourself this pep talk. I'm like, yep, bet, I've got my answer. I'm ready to go. Let's good, Let's rip off the band aid. You know what, everybody knows. I love them anyway, so it's not gonna hurt. It's not going to leave anyone but hurt's fine. Favorite judge
and of course love them more. But Poe hands down, and she gives you advice on and off screen and supports you through thick and thin, and she is just the auntie that everybody loves and everybody needs in their life. She is a beautiful person. And I think it also helps that she came from a contestant perspective. Twice you
know she is very successful. Regardless of being the person that came out to win, she has brought so much success upon herself from working hard and perseverance and just going through so many obstacles and coming out on the other side winning for herself. And I think that that's really beautiful and something that resonated with us a lot, and she was able to support us so much through that, so definitely.
Po and then also the fact that she put that post on your Instagram as well, so lovely, like in the comment.
I know, I honestly, I have so many things that I haven't written back to because it was very overwhelming, but I was also just dealing with it. But there's so many beautiful things that I need to get back to and so many words I have to say still. But yes, she's such a beautiful person, and that's what I mean.
She's she's so genuine, so authentic, and she always has so much heart and love to give as well at the same time, and yeah, like a part of her reminds me of myself too, is she always has this ambition, and I think that's because she's an artist as well, so I can really relate to her so she's an artist and she's she has so much love to give, but she's always such a hustler too, and she's got very much and more time in between any of her days,
which is the same as me. But you know, at the court, she still is willing to give her time to you, and that's what I do as well as much as I can.
So you're already putting your feet in those footsteps, like think about those things, those comparisons, so like where you can take this moving forward and coming from those beginnings that Poe has had herself. I think it's really powerful and there's a really strong message in that as well.
Yeah, there definitely is, and thank you. Yeah, I feel like I feel like it really made sense coming from someone like Poe as well, to remind us all the time that you didn't have to win to win, and just being a master cheff in itself was a big enough win for me. Obviously, it's deflating when you get out and your journey gets cut short, shorter than you expected, but it is still a win at the end of day. It's such a huge accomplishment to be.
There, absolutely absolutely, and winning I don't think is also the best thing ever either, I think that sometimes there are challenges in winning. Sometimes the runner up in these shows becomes the most successful, and that is because of if they haven't let it gazump them, it's making them work still that little bit harder.
Yeah, there's complacency in winning as well, and some people fall into that chat and some people don't. And not winning can also have its benefits too. You know, look back Australia at Idol Shat and all.
He got robbed, but Anthony Clear would tell you that he was robbed over Casey done. Anyway, this is a different podcast. You get retrospective of all reality shows at something.
Yeah, we're going to start a different episode. That's something else to cover.
I'm here for a girlfriend. I'm so into that. But you have to tell me who you want to win at this point, and this is even harder. I think this question that has become even harder as the numbers have become less. But you have to give it to me. What have you got?
I have so many people that I want to win. That's a whole different thing.
But just the one, just the one, it has to be the one.
I know how this works. I've listened to you Van.
I know, I feel it's such an asshole. I feel like I say that all the time, but you know it's it's you know, I can't remember it was. But one of the other contestants said, I guess this is why people listen as well, because it's a little ruthless and people like being a bit ruthless. And I guess you've probably enjoyed it at certain points when you've heard other people's answers when it's not you in the position.
Yeah, I loved it. I loved it, especially when Joshi, I think it was Joshi. He tried to flip in like about twelve names and he's like this one, this on this or that and then and then I got slipped in this, so I was like, whoa.
Yeay, and then I would have cut him down. I would have cut him down and said, give me the one name. Yes, I'm doing it.
You did.
You definitely did, back to the question, and so I would love all them to and of course to be very diplomatic, but I think my answer would have to be Harry.
He's my best mate in there, and he's grown so much from the very beginning, and he's just got the biggest heart as well, such a sensitive guy and so full of heart and emotions too. But he is you know, She's a beautiful man that has so much talent and so much thought to his food and understanding of not only fish but food is a whole and technique. And he's grown so much throughout the competition that I would love him to win. But I also love dush Alex.
Okay, that's enough. That's enough. I'm done.
I'm done.
You've got to love What is something from behind the scenes though, something that you can share with me that's kind of like a behind the scenes secret of your time on the show, Like, what is something from you that you thought, Wow, I really didn't know that about what it would be like to be on this show.
There is a lot of downtime. I mean, it is O, go go all the time, but there is also a lot of downtime and waiting. And I feel like that's just the kickback to everybody else waiting for me for half their life when I'm always running late to get to somewhere, and it's just paying me back to all those times, all those years. But there is a lot of waiting, and you have to be wise with your time. Whether you're studying in between or in the green room,
everybody's bloody mapping. And Alex Christy, she would take photos of people fall in a sleep and she would get everyone. But I said to her at the very beginning, you're never going to get me sleeping, because A I don't nap, and be I barely sleep.
And she never got you sleeping.
She never did. Okay, she never got me sleeping, so she got everybody else pretty much catching a nap. It's so much down time. And some people play p's and a's, which is a card game. Some people nap. Some people read books. You always typed Snares, who was reading like seven books a day. Then you'd catch me snacking and just like literally eating a slice of ham, you know, whether it was eight am or three pm, just snacking from the fridge. It's like I turn our day most
of the time on average, So there's a lot of waiting. Yeah. It is truly incredible and a huge testament to the show and to the people that are doing it.
Can I just say I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to you. And I can't remember who said it to me, but someone had said to wait too, get the opportunity to speak to Jill because they throw enjoyed their time with you. So I've been looking forward to this. It's maybe not a surprise that I've talked as much as I have with you today, but I'm in the audience and I can't wait to see what you do with this whole experience. And thank you for being so generous with your time chatting with me today.
Oh, thank you so much for having you Ben. That means a lot. I think I'm the worst at summarizing and condensing eddiething. You'll probably learn that bom my Instagram quotes to cards that I write or two letters. But I really really did enjoy this chat, So thank you so much.
Well, You're welcome. You're welcome. I said that in Marshall Hines's tone of voice, just as an Australian to leave this on.
You know, do you want me to start breaking down if angels brought me here?
Or we'll exit the podcast with that song? I'll count you in. I'm only you.
I am. I am not there on a podcast. That is one thing I cannot do.
No, No, I've got a worst singing voice. All right, I'll let you go enjoy chatting to the media and good luck with it all.
Thank you so much, Ben, thank you so much.
Lovely to chat. Take care