Justin Narayan has officially been crowned the winner of MasterChef Australia 2021 after an intense final cook off between Pete Campbell and Kishwar Chowdhury.
The gruelling season has ended on a delicious high, and after weeks of stellar performances from some of Australia’s best amateur chefs, the nation is undoubtedly feeling inspired and a very peckish.
This year, the winner receives the coveted title, national exposure and a mouth-watering cash prize of $250,000.
MasterChef’s judges Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen, have enjoyed an incredible season of mind-blowing creations.
The final three contestants were made up of Pete Campbell, Justin Narayan and Kishwar Chowdhury.
Each contestant brought their own unique flair and skill-set to the famous test kitchen.
Although they all produced countless incredible gastronomic moments, some notable dishes deserve another round of applause.
Kishwar constantly wowed in the kitchen, but her barramundi tomato fish curry was an incredible highlight. While Pete’s octopus roasted salsa looked delicious even if he caused Melissa some panic when he almost dropped the tray.
And who could forget Justin’s unique noodle taco? An easy fan favourite!
It was a nail-biting grand final episode on MasterChef.
(Image: Channel 10)Over the past decade of MasterChef, the pressure cooker environment of the show can cause people to quickly unravel.
One of the most nerve-inducing elimination challenges occurred in an immunity challenge during Superstar Week.
Elise Pulbrook and Wynona Davies both had the choice of handing over their immunity pins at any point during the cook to save themselves from being eliminated.
Fans couldn’t take their eyes off their screens as the girls increasingly buckled under the pressure.
When Elise eventually waved her hand in the air to use her pin, the room felt tense.
Wynona attempted to see the challenge through, but this proved to be a damning mistake when she was ultimately sent home – she had been considered a front-runner, which made her exit all the more shocking.
One of the most heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring moments happened between Jock and former contestant, Brent Draper, when he announced he was leaving the show because he was struggling with his mental health.
The shock moment Brent announced his news.
(Credit: Instagram)Jock has been open about his struggles with anxiety and depression, so it was incredibly emotional for viewers as they watched him comfort Brent.
In an interview with Now To Love, Brent reflected on the experience, “He’s told me he has had anxiety a lot of his life, and he opened up to me on this episode, so him sitting me down was actually really hard.”
“Because when he started to tear up, when he started to break, seeing him talk to me on that level and start to break down, I couldn’t say anything, so yeah, it was amazing but hard at the same time.”
While the contestants have inspired us, many of the cooks this year can thank their grandmothers for awakening and encouraging their love for cooking.
It felt like everyone in that kitchen had a wholesome story or food anecdote to tell about their nanas, nonas, yiayias and dadees.
“Smelling things I hadn’t smelt before, I became so curious about cooking after that.”
(Credit: Instagram)During their exit interviews with Now To Love, both Conor Curran and Minoli De Silva reflected on their grandmothers’ impact on their cooking.
“When I was cooking with my grandma in Sri Lanka, I was so young I was about 8-years-old, and she was just cooking dal and some string hoppers, it was the fragrance of the food, smelling things I hadn’t smelt before, I became so curious about cooking after that,” Minoli mused.
Conor credited his yiayia for teaching him about different ingredients, “I just remember being at her house all day and looking through her garden and not really knowing what I was picking and putting into the bowl, but it eventually became familiar.”
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