Amaury Guichon opens up ahead of Dessert Masters alongside Melissa Leong on Network 10
The new international pastry whiz starring alongside Melissa Leong on Dessert Masters has given a harshly no holds barred review of Australia’s national sweet treat.
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His Instagram bio simply says The Chocolate Guy – which is rather an underselling of the alchemist that is Amaury Guichon.
Each one of his intricately detailed chocolate sculptures, from life-size giraffes and the Empire State Building - complete with King Kong - to a kangaroo with a baby joey (heralding his announcement as Dessert Masters judge alongside Melissa Leong) is architectural magic.
He’s the hottest thing in pastry right now. So it’s almost impossible to reconcile this driven passionate chef with the account he gives of his 14-year-old self, who was repeatedly told he was an idiot and would amount to nothing from teacher after teacher.
Guichon believed it to his core. It took lot of rewiring to shake that. He’s grateful now for the profile he has. Not to say “look at me – look at how wrong you were” to those teachers, but to help those who also struggle in the traditional school system.
“There were very little role models for me,” Guichon says, as we chat over Zoom as he’d just wrapped filming on the first season of Ten’s deliciously sweet reality show.
“Celebrity pastry chefs just didn’t exist. I now have a responsibility to help inspire the youth that are also feeling lost.”
Guichon was forced out of school. Trades were very much looked down on – if you worked with your hands, you couldn’t possibly have a brain. As was the pastry profession. But Guichon found his passion and his place.
“For the first time, I didn’t feel like a loser anymore,” he shares.
“For many years after that, it was a lot of how can I become better? Because I liked that feeling of being worthy of something.
“But I made my peace with it at some point and checked that box in my heart and my ego, and then wanted to become the ambassador on the world scene for this industry.”
Dedication and discipline radiate from the Swiss-born, French-trained 32 year old. He half smiles when asked what are his other passions.
“Nothing,” Guichon replies, although he confesses to a weakness for ice cream and a penchant for “candies”, although he won’t keep any at home because if he opens a packet he devours them all.
“I do go to the gym regularly but I hate every aspect of it. I have to do it for my mental health and my physical health.”
He works seven days a week – “I know it sounds made up or a far stretch, but I do,” Guichon earnestly says.
If he’s not creating in the kitchen, he might be workshopping his next grand sculptural piece (it’s a half-size, 2m-long Formula One race car to coincide with the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix next weekend), or filming and editing his social media videos (he manages his own content for his 13 million Instagram and 22.6 million TikTok followers).
He’s involved in all aspects of his business, from the e-commerce, to the school, the TV shows and his book. There’s a small team of “very loyal, very efficient amazing people”.
“So I don’t have that much time for hobbies or what I would call a distraction,” Guichon explains. “I think the secret of what I’m doing, it’s very much self-sacrifice.
“And I don’t think you can do what I do, on this level, with this intensity, having a traditional normal life.”
He confesses he’s a bad son and brother, eschewing time with his family to focus on his craft.
“I don’t really have a family anymore,” he says, matter-of-factly.
“And maybe some day I will regret this. Or maybe some day I will break free and be able to focus time on other aspects.”
He’s exposed to a huge amount of talent in his Las Vegas-based cooking school, and you get the sense that Guichon doesn’t give out compliments readily. But he was suitably impressed by the talent of the 10 Aussie professionals – which includes Adriano Zumbo, Anna Polyviou, Reynold Poernomo, Kirsten Tibballs and Morgan Hipworth – vying for the inaugural Dessert Masters crown.
“There is something magic (in Australia) about the level of a professional driven by passion and commitment to the craft,” he says. “It was a happy surprise starting right from the first episode. They really set the tone for an epic season.”
He also loved working alongside Melissa Leong, whom he only met when he tasked Brent Draper and Rhiannon Anderson to replicate his “pocket watch,” an incredibly detailed – and entirely edible – dessert in the form of a watch in this year’s MasterChef Grand Finale.
“She was just so lovely. From the minute I met her I knew we would be a good match and this Dessert Master adventure really proved me right,” Guichon says.
“I think we have a strong dynamic duo with a great complementary strength. When it came to judging, we have very similar tastes. She’s just way better at phrasing with her vocabulary.”
He was not so blown away by some iconic Australia treats – in particular Tim Tams and Vegemite. Guichon doesn’t mince his words or his rather forthright review.
“I did (try a TimTam) – I think every crew member tried to get them so I did.
“Like I said when it comes to sweets, I am very picky. I don’t think it’s bad, but I don’t think it something I would snack on.”
And as for Vegemite?
“I knew it … I knew you would ask me,” Guichon says, animatedly, saying it wasn’t so much of a discovery, with Switzerland’s Cenovis a similar yeast-based spread.
Guichon’s grateful Ten has already commissioned a second series, not just so he can return and explore Australia, but because he can continue to showcase the beauty and complexity of his profession.
“Ever since I was able to have voice in this industry, I’ve been strongly showing the beauty and the diversity and everything that it takes to make desserts – no matter what type you do,” he says.
Dessert Masters, Sunday, 7.30pm, Ten
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Originally published as Amaury Guichon opens up ahead of Dessert Masters alongside Melissa Leong on Network 10
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