Where are SA’s MasterChef stars now?
Callum Hann. Adam Liaw. Sashi Cheliah. Poh Ling. Ever since it began, SA has been synonymous with MasterChef. As two more South Aussies cook their hearts out to win the 2020 season, we look at what big-name contestants did next.
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Adelaide restaurateur Andre Ursini admits he “flirted” with the idea of returning to MasterChef Australia this year.
More than a decade after he starred on the cooking show’s inaugural season, the TV juggernaut came calling again with a revamped format – called Back to Win – featuring old favourites including SA’s Poh Ling Yeow, Callum Hann and Laura Sharrad.
“I was tempted. I called Poh and she was ‘umm and ahhing’ at that stage. I thought it would have been a lot of fun,” Ursini said. “But I’ve got three children and multiple businesses … I just came to the conclusion those days are over.”
Ursini was 28 when he appeared on the show in 2009, a young chef with a passion for Italian cuisine, trying to make a career in hospitality.
After finishing seventh behind Julie Goodwin, Ursini became the first contestant to launch a restaurant off the back of MasterChef, opening the hugely popular Andre’s Cucina & Polenta Bar on Frome Street in the city in 2010.
In 2014, Andre’s won Best Italian at the The Advertiser Food Awards, and also made The Australian’s Hot 50 restaurants.
Ursini closed the venue in December last year to focus on two new ventures, his modern Italian restaurant Orso and adjacent Willmott’s Gastronomica deli in Rose Park, and Villetta Porcini, an agritourismo-style culinary experience in Mylor.
“It’s a much more serious hospitality business than Andre’s Cucina … the opportunity to build something like this in Adelaide was too much to ignore,” said Ursini, whose wife of six years Hana works with him behind the scenes. The couple also have three young children: Luca, 18 months, Isla, 4 and Rafael, 6.
“I’m living my passion, I really am. But I don’t bask in that too long, I know the mountain to climb is much higher, I’ve still got to chip away.”
MasterChef’s second season saw two South Australians battle it out in the finale, Barossa Valley student Callum Hann and lawyer Adam Liaw, in what was at the time, the highest-rating non-sporting event in Australian TV history.
Liaw said the show set him on a “different career path”, and in the decade since, he’s released six cookbooks and hosted three SBS TV shows, including the award-winning Destination Flavour.
“It’s been a really big change for me. I’m a parent with three kids, I’ve got a very different career to what I had three years ago. But it’s been wonderful,” said Liaw, who’s now based in Sydney with his family.
He’s currently filming a new SBS series called Road Trip for Good, which looks at bushfire-affected regions of Australia, including SA’s Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island.
“These areas have been hit hard and they need our help, economically and emotionally too … this show will encourage us to go visit these places but also overseas visitors to come and visit as well,” he said.
Liaw admitted he hasn’t had the time to watch a lot of this year’s season but was pleased to see his good friend Hann make the final four.
“Callum was always going to go far, he’s a fantastic cook, he and Poh and Laura have been representing SA really well,” he said.
One of MasterChef’s most popular winners, 2018 champion Sashi Cheliah, opened his first restaurant, GAJA by Sashi, on Pirie Street late last year.
The eatery, which focuses on South-East Asian cuisine with an Indian flavour, has already won approval from the public, many of whom flock to the venue to meet its personable host.
Former prison officer Cheliah said his appearance on MasterChef had given him a boost and helped him “pursue his passion” for food.
“It’s more than I could have dreamt of. I am privileged to be able to do what I do and earn a living out of it,” he said. “MasterChef has given me the opportunity to explore places and things I would have never imagined.”
Runner-up to Kate Bracks in the show’s third season, Michael Weldon doesn’t know where he’d be if he didn’t secure a spot on Ten’s cooking competition.
“It was a total game changer for me. Without MasterChef, I’d probably still be working on the driving range at the North Adelaide golf club,” he laughed.
“It gave me a career which I didn’t have at the time. I was a uni student who didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do but thought he might do some food writing … and it opened up a whole new world.
“Food was always a hobby for me and then a week into that show I was like, ‘I could cook for a living’.”
After the series, Weldon worked with former judge Gary Mehigan at his acclaimed Melbourne restaurant Fenix, before becoming head chef at Norwood’s Nordburger and various pop-up eateries around Adelaide.
He kept a close connection with Coles supermarkets – a major sponsor of MasterChef – doing cooking demonstrations interstate, then about a year ago, Weldon moved to Melbourne full-time as their product development chef.
“It’s all about running a chef’s eye over their products … using ideas and techniques from restaurants to make their food taste better,” he said. “It’s been really fun and quite an amazing opportunity.”
Last year he also picked up his own TV cooking show, Ten's Farm to Fork, starring alongside MasterChef alumni Courtney Ralston and new host Andy Allen.
Weldon’s packed schedule meant when MasterChef came knocking to appear on this year’s Back to Win season, he had little option but to say no.
“I’ve loved this season, I think it’s been the best series ever,” he said.
“I’ve questioned myself a little, ‘Maybe I should have done it?’ because it just looks so amazing. I haven’t watched it since I was on it to be honest but I’ve been blown away this year, it’s gone to another level.
“And I’m hoping Laura can win, I’ll definitely be barracking for her.”
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