UNPACKED REALITY - MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA - JONATHAN

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

Ne'rebine.

Hey guys, welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for clicking and downloading. On today's episode with Jonathan, the third eliminated contestant from Master Chef Australia twenty twenty four, which is on Network ten from Sundays through to Thursdays at seven point thirty. Our guest today, Jonathan is a carpenter by trade, but his passion has always been cooking. Ever since he was a ten year old, he's been making himself dinners and meals with very early appreciation and

Hey Ben, how are I?

I'm good buddy?

How are you good? Thanks made?

How are you feeling after your Master Chef experience?

Oh?

I don't even know where to start to be honest, Well, it's a podcast.

We can speak of chat for a while. Let's debrief. Okay, where do we start with? This. I mean, like, was it stressful waiting to watch how it was going to plan on television? Did you get to watch it last night with your Nona? I mean, there's so many questions I have for you.

I think the first thing is, I suppose it's like the same with any TV really, not that I've got much experience in the industry, but you know, obviously you're so frantic, I think when you're in the moment and when you're trying to perform when you're on camera and always just kind of strive to do the best that you can.

But I think it's very easy to kind of get lost.

And then obviously in the final edits, you never really know how it's.

How it's all going to come together.

So I think, you know, when you kind of know that your episode for elimination is coming up, I suppose it's always easy to I guess get a little bit worried.

But you know, off the back.

Of watching it last night and watching it with Nona, it was it was really lovely.

It was it was beautiful really in a sense.

My partner came home, he came home from being out for dinner, and he said, because we love both watched the show, he said who went home? And he was, please don't tell me it was the hot one, And I said it was not hot one.

I'm pretty fair. Thank you. It makes me feel a bit better.

Yeah, I thought you'd enjoy that. I thought you'd enjoyed it. But you know, I know that this is going to sound really weird, but I predicted that you would go home because of a couple of quick moments last week.

Am I have?

I got to have? I gone too far down the rabbit hole with a very small moment and can you remember what I'm talking about?

Like you'd have to refresh my memory to be honest again, it's all kind of a blur when.

You're down there life.

I mean, maybe maybe they do, maybe they don't, Like I honestly don't know. I mean, they've got a stellar editing team down there. They do an amazing job, and it really is like a world class I guess production when you're down there, Like, I don't really know what I expected. It was going to be like, you know, seeing a TV at all, and then it's it's really daunting, except when when you first get down there you kind.

Of look around and there's people everywhere.

It's not yeah, kind of like I can't remember it exactly, but it was kind of like a moment where you were conscious of the camera and you were commentating on someone while they were cooking down below. But to me that was sort of like it's just a glimpse of something that was unusual from what we've seen of you up until that point, and I just sort of thought, well, they try and allow us to be okay with contestants going home on shows like this sometimes by just leaving

It easier to kind of, I guess, get very speculative with maybe whether they do leak little teachers and things in there. I mean, I think, to be honest, I'd probably have to watch it back. You know, I've been recording all the episodes, and I've got a reminder on my TV that it records every episode. So I think maybe I have to go back and watch it. I mean, if I do, I might have to give you a buzz back and oh my god, maybe you were right.

I can't remember the specifics of it, but I very clearly turned around and said to my partner, he's going to go home relatively early. They don't show something like that for no reason, I.

Guess maybe kind of like alluding to something.

Maybe yeah, And they do that with all of these shows these days, because like back in the day, you know, you go on Big Brother and you sit in the house and do nothing, like you'd burn some fish and chips. Nothing happened for the whole season, you know. And now when they're making these shows, you know, they've got an orchestra putting that music together, like it is huge and very well constructed, and nothing happens by mistake.

No, I mean, you're definitely right, and that I mean, I think it's always hard again because like when you're when you're on the side of it and actually on in the competition, you know, you don't hear any of that extra music, so obviously it's not there. And then it's only when you watch it back you go, oh my god, there's so much more that you get put into it for the drama and stuff as well, which is the craziest part.

Could you imagine? I remember saying this to Poe years ago. I think it was after she'd been on Back to Win. I was like, imagine if they played that music while you're in the kitchen, because like, you can't hear that drama music as the countdown of the clock is going. It's just que you know.

And I feel like I'd have a heart attack if they play while I while I was in the middle of trying to do that cook. I mean, to be honest, it's already stressful enough, you know that that clock.

I mean, it's it's the craziest thing.

Like, I think the biggest learning curve for me going on the show was you know, you can you can be a great cook. You know, you can have all the inspiration in the world, but really what it comes down to is how good you are at time management. I'd suppose more than anything like And you know, as a guy, I mean, I'll speak for a lot of the male gender. I don't think too many guys are great, which now I'm management at the best of times.

Anyway, I'll sign off that.

I'll sign off on that I'm multitasking is fucking horrendous, That's all I can say. And you know, you'll be doing something in the kitchen at the same time with cooking with my one of my best friends. We love to cook together and she can do about five different things at one one time. If I add one thing in, even if it's making a crumpet, I will burn that trumpet.

And you know, I think I think that was probably my biggest takeaway from it. Then, you know, the people that do do really well in the competition either just you know, they've got nerves to steal and they don't let the pressure get to them, or they really just do have an uncanny ability to be able to zone in and you know, focus on four or five different things in such a short space.

Of time.

I mean, when you think about it, seventy five minutes for a majority of the cooks is it's not really a long time, no, And you know, like in the dishes that I was making, I think it was really lovely and also pretty crazy in a sense that you know, you're amazed at how much you can actually get done in seventy five minutes when you really, you know, bust

That you've got a chance to go on there.

But then when you're actually down on the show, you go.

Shit, I've got no time left.

Yeah, you know, you look up at the clock when it starts and you go, okay, you know, I've got a bit of a rough idea in my head, and the next thing you know, you turn around and they're telling you got fifteen minutes late.

I always say that that clock is yelling at it, you know, Oh, the clock is quiet. It's just a clock, and but it just feels like that clock is yelling at you the whole way through your cook Yeah, And I'm then like.

If it's not the clock yelling at you, then.

It's Andy, because you turn around and it'll be doing the time poles, going, guys, there's fifteen minutes, and then all of a sudden, you're looking around, going, shit, I've got nothing put together here, Like I'm going to actually have to like really really push to kind of motor on and get it done.

Well, you know, you mentioned Andy there. You know, Andy's mum being a guest I thought was quite cute. I thought that that concept was a great idea. Did you did you enjoy the themes and challenges that were in your elimination episode?

Well, absolutely I did. I mean, you know, I guess it's important to pose. It's easy enough to have really well renowned gat chefs come on the show, but for everyone that's not normally I guess for your day to day person doesn't find that as relatable as you know, the story of Andy's mum coming on and maybe not necessarily being the best cook or you know, just being a very humble cook.

I think for a lot of people.

That's a very very relatable story and very iconically Australian and a lot of ways, which you know, if that's the challenge that I went out on, you know, it's a beautiful challenge to go out on.

Well, you know, honest something for you, you know what I mean, Like, I think we got this beautiful moment with you talking about well, I mean the choice of cooking. You're not as pufferdeling, you know. I thought that was an opportunity to get that sort of storyline's happening for everybody and to tug on our heartstrings and man alive.

Oh absolutely, I mean, like to be honest, even for me watching it back last night, it was actually pretty hard to watch.

That was probably the hardest part of it.

So, I mean, it's all true, and you know, the overwhelming, I guess amount of messages and support from people that

I think it's important though, you know what I mean, Like the rarest that we can be and the most vulnerable that we can be is sometimes the best currency with connecting to other people. And even you being able to do that I thought was really took courage, you know what I mean. Yeah, I don't know if you mind me asking, but I think a lot of people that I was reading about, you know, they were saying, you know, why had you moved out of home when

Yeah, I mean, like, look, it's well, so I guess to bring it all back, like, I was raised by a single mom, so my parents weren't always together. And you know, I think in her own right, in some ways, she did the best that she could. But you know, through I guess, substance abuse and just issues with her own mental health, I ended up leaving when I was twelve.

Wow. And then I.

Moved to Sydney and lived with dad for a few years, and I guess through a similar string of events kind of you know, it didn't really end up working out there, I guess, it's the nicest way to put it. And then yeah, I was just very, very fortunate. I mean I always kind of relate my life back to the fresh Prince of bel Air.

Really that's kind of what it seems like.

But you know, I was just I was given a once in a million opportunity where I had, you know, an amazing, loving grandmother that lived close by that wasn't out in the stick.

Somewhere that you know.

I just said, you've had a pretty rough run of luck, I guess, growing up, and you know, if you want to come live with me, the options there.

Wow. Thank you for sharing that, because I think it is very personal, very hard to be able to say that, and I know in shows like that they can't really they don't have all the time, you know, to allow that to be there. And and maybe again that's too raw for TV, so there's possibility of that. But I guess the best question to ask you at this point is, was you're not a proud of you watching that episode last night?

Ah?

Yeah, she was through the moon. Yeah, honestly she was stoke.

She you know, she came to me after what I kind of got into bed and she was like, you know, I've always known how you felt about me, but yeah, that was really lovely.

It was a big thank you, almost like a bit of a love letter back to her her, acknowledge her for what it is that she would have and has been able to do for you.

So oh absolutely, I mean, like, you know, if it wasn't for her, I doubt i'd still be here, to be honest.

Yeah, yeah, Well, I was wanting to ask you a few things about how the episode went down. When you're plating up the food and you're bringing the food over, was your food left to the end like the way that we saw it, was that the order that had happened in real real time?

I'd be honest, I can't even remember, Like, I mean, that's the weird thing right through the editing process, Like your dish might be first, but it gets shown last on them.

Know, and I know, you know, just the three challenges prior to that.

Again, like I might might have been like the first one to be tasted, but that only comes through as like and again, I think a lot of it is just to do with timing and things like that. For an elimination challenge it might be different, but for the most part, because there's so many contestants and things to go through, dishes that they need to feature dishes that maybe don't do so well. I think there is an element to that that does come through through the storytelling and the editing process.

I always wonder whether or not the order of who gets to serve and play up their food first whether there's an advantage in any way.

I mean, look, I think I suppose it depends on how hungry the judges are really at the end of the day.

They stuff before they come on those days, you know they've got to eat there, like don't eat breakfast, don't eat lunch here.

Well, I mean like like that, you know, I mean like for the very first cooking we were there, you know, there was twenty two of us and it was such a long day.

I mean, I don't know how much I can go into I guess like.

The backgrounds of it, but I mean, look, a lot of the days when you're there, they're incredibly long days. And I mean, like through your history being on TV as well, like you would know this.

I suppose it's not.

I suppose it's not as glamorous as the end production kind of makes it look.

It never is. I can tell you that every show, you know, people come up to you and they say, you know, what was it like to be on television? Because I and I relate it to it's kind of like watching a music video, is how it comes across on TV. But it ain't like that in real life. It is very unglamorous and there's a lot of downtime, you know, like that's.

It, To be honest, I don't.

I don't think I was really prepared for like how much downtime you do have just off the back of like you know, when you when you might do a tasting when you're watching.

It on camera.

Each tasting might only go for two minutes, like if you're lucky, but they'll go through and just say like, oh, look, it was a great dish, well done, and then it's onto the next, and onto the next, and onto the next, and then when you're actually in there in real life, you're like, oh, I've been standing here for like twelve hours, you know.

And that's the part of it you don't.

Say, like I guess for I was actually having a bit of a read on Reddit this morning, not that i'd.

Really a comments section. I think that's a dangerous place.

To be well like, So that's the thing.

I think My partner Jasmin had kind of got me onto it and she goes, have you been reading any of these? And I said, I didn't even know they existed up until the fact that the other contestants are kind of just shown me. So I was having a bit of a read and you know, like everyone's everyone's got an opinion in their own right, and that's the beauty. And I suppose the downside of the Internet is you know,

Expert, like oh, why didn't you do this? Why didn't you do that?

And I mean I always take it with a grain assault and laugh because again, like you know, Hinsight's twenty twenty.

There are better decisions that I probably could have made on the day that might have kept me safe. But you know, you've got to be.

Proud of what you do in the moment, and you've got to stick to your guns and just kind of go for it. And again, like I think for the people that can watch the show and go, oh, you know, like that's so stupid. You know, even I've been guilty of it when I've watched past seasons, going I don't know why you wouldn't do this.

We're all guilty of it. I mean, that's the magic of this TV show to a point is that we are to sit at home and to relate to the person think we could do it better or you know, and that's when good TV happens, is when you're sitting on your couch and you're yelling and you're going, Jonathan, you know, why are you making a slow cooked ragout? It's not enough time? You know what I mean? Those sorts of things is kind of the magic of Master Chef in a way.

You're absolutely right, and you know, like Jesse, I guess going back to that. You know, like when I was reading for these comments, I thought, like, you know, the other thing that like these people aren't saying is you know, like you're cooking day in, day out under like the most intense pressure that you've ever been under when it comes to cooking a meal, and then you've got such long days that it actually it really is, you know, quite emotionally and physically draining the hours in the time.

And you know, breeze through the day and it's fine.

And then you know, when you compare it to all you're doing is really going down there and doing a seventy five minute.

Cook in one day. The days were so much more exhausting, of.

Course, of course, Yeah, I don't think people realize as well that the emotional pressure that you're putting on yourself. And for anyone out there that's done these reality shows that says that, oh, you know, I just forgot the cameras were there, it's kind of a bit rude to say that, because I mean, it's impossible you're always going

That well, that that's exactly right. And you know, I think.

Even even from previous seasons, like I've been in contact with Declan and then you know, like rounding something really nice message last night, just out of the blue, and

Well, I think that's the bond. That's the reason why if you've ever been on a show, like if you've been on Master Chef, you're in the Master Chef family and you may not have been on the same season as the other person, but they understand and relate to you in a way that no one else can, and it bonds you together like a family.

Absolutely.

When someone from a previous season says to you would love to catch up and talk about it, you don't even have their exact experience, but you totally get it and you are connected to them for life. It's weird, yeah, it is.

It's a really it's a really.

Bizarre, I guess, unusual, yeah, kind of feeling, because it's like, Oh, here's someone that you know, I've only ever seen on TV, I've never spoken to in real life. I never thought, through watching previous seasons, I'd ever speak to you in real life, and yet you know, here you are sending me a message out of the blue, just going oh mate, like I hope you're.

Doing all right.

Yeah.

You know, I always hear if you want to chat, or you know, you want to collaborate with doing food ideas or you know, it's awesome. It really is just such a great environment.

I love it. I love it.

Well.

I'm running out of time, and I literally have asked you probably about twenty percent of the things that I could have asked you today. But sort of wrapping this up, I am asking everyone, who do you want to win? Maybe not who you think is going to but do you have someone that you were cooking there with that you hope takes the competition? Now?

I mean, like for who I hope to win, I would have to say one.

He was my roommate down there, and I.

Think in a previous interview that I'd done, they said, you know, do you have any kind of behind the scenes stuff?

You know?

I think watching that episode back last night, after they announced the news that I was the one that was getting eliminated, you kind of see like a little cut scenes in his face. It just like started to burst into tears. My heart rewants at back. But you know, the friendships that I guess you make on the show, like we were talking about before, you know, it's all very real, and you know, I guess we lucked out. You know, we were in the same audition process together.

That's a friendship for life. That's the best friend that will be there. But just before we go, the one thing I ask everyone who joins the podcast is what is something from behind the scenes, something that we didn't get a chance to see. Well, maybe like a bit of a funny anecdote from your time on the show.

Okay, I've got one for you. Actually, this is something that did always used to crack me up.

Maybe it's like it's not a knowledge I guess through everyone but Harry and is.

Sam pellegrino water. I don't know, but I hate mineral water. I can't stand it.

And literally that kid would carry around a bottle of sam pellogrino everywhere that it went.

And it used to absolutely slay me.

I know, it's just absolutely so bizarre, but I used to find it was so strange that We've gotten too so many deep chats about it where he would try and convince me that it was the best thing in the world.

And I'm sorry, I have to disagree. I think it's disgusting.

Well, fair play to you. We're all allowed to have our own tastes. That's fine, absolutely mate. Can I just say thank you so much for your generosity with your time and chatting with me today and sharing your story. I really appreciated it, and you know, I look forward to being in your audience and seeing you know what you do next.

Awesome. Look, I really appreciate the time today as well.

It's been great chatting with you.