Which Exceptional Home Cook Will Be Australia’s Next MasterChef?
The MasterChef Australia judges’ auditions are known and loved for the emotional rollercoaster of tears, laughter and celebratory fist pumps, where food dreams are made, and this season’s instalment didn’t disappoint.
After two days of high-stakes auditions, MasterChef Australia judges Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen unveiled the 2021 top 24 contestants in a season boasting the best cooks ever and the best food ever.
From Brent the boilermaker’s middle eastern lamb shanks that Andy declared “perfect”, to Minoli’s six dish Sri Lankan feast that heralded the “biggest yes” from Melissa, to Therese’s mystical mushroom dessert that Jock boasted was “better than restaurant quality”, in 2021, MasterChef Australia is seasoned to perfection.
MasterChef Australia has searched the country far and wide, with 10 contestants representing NSW, six contestants calling Victoria home, two contestants from South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia, and a hopeful from both the Northern Territory and Tasmania who are cooking for their home state with pride.
A lawyer, a doctor, a medical student, a restaurant manager and a pharmacist are among the Top 24 who have claimed the coveted MasterChef Australia crisp, whiteapron this season.
Some of the biggest names in the world of food are set to challenge the Top 24 contestants, including the master of Middle Eastern cuisine Yotam Ottolenghi, Massimo Bottura, Queen of the kitchen Nigella Lawson, Clare Smyth, Heston Blumenthal and home-grown sensation Curtis Stone.
The winner of MasterChef Australia will walk away with a life-changing experience, the title of Australia’s MasterChef 2021 and $250,000 in prize money.