MasterChef Australia 2022: From Julie Goodwin, Billie McKay and Sashi Cheliah to a TikToker, firefighter and a dentist
Twelve fresh-faced foodies including a TikToker, an osteopath and a firefighter will face off against a dozen of the best chefs ever seen in MasterChef. Meet them all.
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Twelve fresh-faced foodies including a TikToker, an osteopath and a firefighter will face off against a dozen of the best chefs ever seen in the popular television kitchen when MasterChef Australia’s 14th season heats up this month.
Alvin Quah, Sarah Todd, season three runner-up Michael Weldon and the OG MasterChef queen, Julie Goodwin are among those returnees who will be feeling the intense pressure to succeed.
Here we meet all the returning favourites and the fans set to feel the pressure in the MasterChef kitchen:
FAVOURITES
Julie Goodwin
Season 1 winner
Strengths: I’m coming back with many years under my belt of cooking, teaching, and writing recipes. My life has revolved around food and my strength in the competition is all of that life experience.
Why she’s back: I’m coming back after a tough couple of years health-wise. I want to re-set, to fire up my passion again, and to find out what’s in store for the next chapter of my life.
Billie McKay
Season 7 winner
Strengths: My time management and staying calm under pressure.
Why she’s back: Simply, a gut feeling. I don’t necessarily believe that saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way is the way to go, more so saying yes to those that feel right. It was such a fun, positive, enlightening experience in 2015, so to be able to try it again is pretty special.
Sashi Cheliah
Season 10 Winner
Strengths: I have a lot of experience cooking in a professional kitchen now. Spending so much time in the food industry has given me a lot of knowledge.
Why he’s back: The last two years I’ve been focusing a lot on keeping the business afloat and as a result, I’ve neglected my food curation creativity. MasterChef is the best opportunity to push myself, to learn and to become inspired again.
Aldo Ortado
Season 10
Strength: My focus and the fire inside me to prove to myself that I can win this competition.
Why he’s back: I think during my first MasterChef experience I didn’t give 100 per cent. This time I want to see how far I can push myself.
Alvin Quah
Season 2
Strengths: Understanding flavour profiles particularly when it comes to Asian cuisine.
Why he’s back: I truly believe that the competition has the capacity to inspire – aside from a second chance at winning – that is why I am doing it again. To inspire a whole new generation of cooks.
Christina Batista
Season 5
Strengths: I’m good at interchanging ingredients when something isn’t available.
Why she’s back: I had the most wonderful experience the first time around. This is my second chance to achieve my dream of entering the food media industry in Australia and Portugal.
John Carasig
Season 7
Strengths: I always cook by memory, feel and taste. I rarely use cookbooks.
Why’s he’s back: After being stood down as a flight attendant, this was a great opportunity to get back into cooking.
Michael Weldon
Season 3
Strengths: It’s definitely the versatility I have in my cooking. I’m a bit of a jack of all trades but master of none.
Why he’s back: Mainly to see if I could still compete in the kitchen again after 10 years. I have some unfinished business with the trophy. Hopefully I can go one better this time.
Mindy Woods
Season 4
Strengths: My years of experience in the food industry, creating food, menus and understanding what customers value.
Why she’s back: To share the love I have for native Australian food and the history, stories and culture connected to it.
Minoli De Silva
Season 13
Strengths: My obsession with driving flavour into anything I make – that will help when I’m limited by the available pantry ingredients.
Why she’s back: I didn’t really get a good shot at it last time. I have learnt so much since I was on last season. I feel calmer and ready to just have so much fun this time around. It’s when I cook my best.
Sarah Todd
Season 6
Strengths: Working well under pressure and thinking on my feet. As I say to my son, life is about filling our backpacks with as many tools and knowledge as possible which help build resilience and best equips us to take on any situation.
Why she’s back: Two reasons – firstly, because I have grown and developed so much since Season 6. secondly, I am so thankful for the experience which catapulted me into the food industry. I believe I have the skills to take me to the end.
Tommy Pham
Season 13
Strengths: I’m still in game mode. I only left last season, so I’m MasterChef kitchen ready!
Why he’s back: I just can’t get enough of it! Also, free ingredients to cook with and people to clean up after me is nice.
FANS
Ali Stoner
Artist
Strengths: I am hoping that my experience and knowledge will be a strength.
Inspiration: My cooking genes definitely came from my mum. She is a fabulous cook, my brother and I are both keen cooks and our times as a family are very much spent eating together.
Jenn Lee
Dentist
Strengths: Staying positive and resilient, and continuing on doing my best no matter what.
Inspiration: My mum. She has cooked so many delicious homemade meals for us including some of my earliest, favourite food memories. I have loved food ever since I was born.
Chris Tran
Marketing Advisor
Strengths: I’m a team player and thrive when working collaboratively with other people which is great for the team challenges.
Inspiration: Food has always been an important part of my life. Dad was a chef and mum is a brilliant home cook.
Daniel Lamble
Firefighter
Strengths: I can handle pressure pretty well.
Inspiration: It’s putting on a good meal for the people that I love that motivates me to cook. There are, however, lots of chefs I admire; Gordon Ramsay, Matty Matheson and Heston Blumenthal, to name a few.
Dulan Hapuarachchi
Financial Analyst
Strengths: My food comes from my heart. I’m here to represent Sri Lankan food.
Inspiration: How people loved the food my parents and sister would cook, and how it made them happy. I want to impress, make people happy and also learn a skill.
Harry Tomlinson
Barista and coffee roaster
Strengths: I hope it’s my intuition. I’ve always cooked from feeling, not recipes and this flexibility will hopefully get me far in the competition.
Inspiration: My belly. Every time I got to eat something new, all I wanted to do was learn how to make it myself.
Keyma Vasquez Montero
Stay-at-home mum
Strengths: My knowledge about Latin/Caribbean cuisine and flavours – hopefully I get to show the judges and the world the beautiful flavours of my land.
Inspiration: My mum and grandma were always in the kitchen and from a very early age they involved me. Watching them cook and then listening to food conversations in the table was super inspiring.
Matt Landmark
Secondary teacher
Strengths: I can definitely cook proteins well (not well-done!), and I’m excited for service challenges.
Inspiration: I draw inspiration from all the beautiful food I eat, and scroll through on Instagram. My partner Tamara is the one who supports my cooking, and who I cook for!
Max Krapivsky
Osteopath
Strengths: Practising for the last four seasons is a huge strength – I’ve been in the longest warm-up of all time.
Inspiration: My father (John) and my grandmother (Rita). My dad had me in the kitchen helping him from when I was five. However, my real love for cooking came when I moved out and had to cook every day. I just couldn’t get enough of it.
Melanie Persson
PhD Student
Strengths: I’m adaptable and open to experimenting. Those qualities have been an essential part of learning to cook without gluten. I hate the idea of simply avoiding traditionally “gluten-heavy” foods such as noodles, pasta, or dumplings, and would much rather take on the challenge of converting those foods into forms I can eat and enjoy.
Inspiration: Primarily, my mum, but also my Swedish grandmother who passed away when I was a teenager. I do remember spending lots of time with her when we were able to visit, making cardamom buns, chocolate pudding, and Swedish meatballs.
Montana Hughes
TikTok Influencer
Strengths: My food knowledge – I like to have a good understanding about all different aspects of food, including the make-up of different cuisines, techniques and how to pair flavours.
Inspiration: I actually attribute a lot to MasterChef Australia for sparking that passion inside me. I became obsessed with the season where Billie McKay won and would get nervous when it would come on because I knew I so badly wanted to do it one day.
Steph Woon
Banking Analyst
Strengths: My cakes and desserts.
Inspiration: Not being able to easily get Japanese styled cakes in Australia pushed me to learn how to make them myself. The MasterChef Australia family have also been a huge inspiration over the years, from Poh Ling Yeow to Billie McKay, Reynold Poernomo, Jess Liemantara and Therese Lum, to name just a few.
MasterChef Australia returns Easter Monday, 7.30pm, Ten
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Originally published as MasterChef Australia 2022: From Julie Goodwin, Billie McKay and Sashi Cheliah to a TikToker, firefighter and a dentist
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