The MasterChef 2023 winner has officially been crowned

After ten nail-biting weeks, the judges have crowned a winner – Brent Draper is the 2023 MasterChef champion!

In an incredible two-part final challenge, Brent knuckled down, producing two dishes that completely wowed judges Melissa Leong, Andy Allen, and Jock Zonfrillo.

Heading into the final, former contestant Brent was favoured to win by fellow eliminated contestants over his opponent and firm friend Rhiannon.

He previously appeared in the 2021 season of MasterChef, and made the tough call to withdraw from the high-stakes, high-stress environment.

At the time, Brent told the judges that mentally, he “just wasn’t there.”

Returning to the kitchen two years later, Brent revealed he was in a better place and felt ready to compete once more.

“Going home, I just needed to find ground level, I’m so much stronger mentally, physically. I’m back for myself, I’m back for all the people who reached out to me on social media and told me their stories, I’m back! It’s a new challenge for me, a new purpose. I’m here to win.”

And win he did!

Going into the finale, Brent shared his excitement about making it to the finale two with his almost 70,000 Instagram followers.

“What an absolute massive journey it’s been to get to this point here. Obviously lots of ups and downs but to get to cook in front of my family tonight is the icing on the cake for me.”

Rhiannon shared an equally heartwarming post of her own.

“STOKED to be top 2….yassss I am!! Who would’ve thought I’d be in the grand finale certainly not me!! I’m so proud of what I have achieved to be the oldest person ever to get into the MC Aus grand finale!!

In round one, Brent served up a pork dish with cabbage and salsa that left the judges almost speechless.

“This is a blindingly perfect cooked piece of pork, that has been lovingly basted,” Jock told Brent emotionally.

Andy simply applauded whilst Mel added that the dish was “perfectly executed.”

After scoring a near-perfect score of 29/30 to Rhiannon’s 25/30 in round one, Brent went on to achieve an even more impressive feat in a pressure test overseen by expert chocolatier, and MasterChef Dessert Masters judge Amaury Guichon.

Tasked with creating a chocolate pocket watch in just 5 hours and 45 minutes, Brent scored an almost perfect score to win this year’s title.

His win comes on the back of an equally exciting update in his personal life, the father of one taking to his social media in June to reveal he would soon be a father of two.

“Excited to share the next project we’ve been working on with you,” Brent captioned his post at the time.

“Baby Draper 2.0 coming soon.”