Celebrity MasterChef’s Nick Riewoldt says pain over AFL Grand Final loss still there

Nick Riewoldt was “extraordinarily anxious” going into the Celebrity MasterChef final. Now he reveals why winning may help him overcome deeper footy battle scars.

Nick Riewoldt has never been as nervous as he was in the MasterChef kitchen, not even in all his 17 years and 336 games of AFL with St Kilda.

“That’s no exaggeration,” the affable Fox Footy host said ahead of Monday’s Grand Finale of the celeb version of Ten’s flagship cooking show.

“In the days in the lead up to begin filming, I was extraordinarily anxious about it.

“It was the first time I felt that way since playing and I was always a very nervous preparer before pretty much every game of football.

“It was part of my motivation to do (Celebrity MasterChef), to get out of my comfort zone again.

“And I felt that stress before pretty much every cook, which was nuts because there weren’t really any ramifications for me if I messed up. We weren’t there to promote ourselves or carve out a career in hospitality.”

Nick Riewoldt is humble about his chances of winning the Celebrity MasterChef grand finale. He's one of the final three contestants along with Tilly Ramsay (left) and Collette Dinnigan (right). Picture: Supplied.

Nick Riewoldt will battle it out for the title of Celebrity MasterChef on Monday night. Picture: Ten

The 39-year-old wasn’t alone in his anxiety. All the celebs – including his last two rivals for the Celeb MasterChef crown designer Collette Dinnigan and Brit TV star Tilly Ramsay, daughter of renowned chef Gordon – were on edge in the green room before a cook.

“It would manifest in hilarious ways,” Riewoldt said. “Someone would turn on music and some of the bigger personalities in the room would choreograph dances. There’d be singing. Tilly would get people to make TikToks.”

Riewoldt had another motivation to sign up for the show – the winner takes home $100,000 for their chosen charity, in his case Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision, a foundation set up in honour of his sister Maddie, who died in 2015 after she lost her five-year battle with aplastic anaemia.

“Maddie was a really big fan of MasterChef,” Riewoldt said. “She was a proper foodie and experimenter in the kitchen. She would have absolutely dined out on the fact I’m on MasterChef and she would be rapt with the fact that I’m competing in her name.”

Riewoldt said appearing on the show was a great opportunity to raise awareness for the foundation nationally, regardless of whether or not he walks away with the prize money.

Nick Riewoldt and his wife Catherine pose for photos at the 2017 Brownlow Medal ceremony. Picture: Luis Ascui

He has played in two AFL Grand Finals – three if you count the replay of the 2010 infamous drawn match against Collingwood. He’s yet to win one. Would winning Celebrity MasterChef ease that pain?

“Ha! I wish. It’s over a decade ago since I competed in a grand final but the emotional scar tissue is still there,” Riewoldt laughs.

While he has been one of the firm favourites since day one in the kitchen. Riewoldt is humble about his chances of beating Ramsay and Dinnigan.

“(I never envisaged making the Grand Final) I’ve definitely surprised myself by making it this far,” he said.

Riewoldt would love to watch the Grand Finale with his fellow celeb competitors who forged tight bonds during filming. It’s impossible, quite apart from border closures, given the father-of-three is in the States for business and catching up with his wife Catherine’s Texan family. His older sons James and William are enrolled and loving school after missing so much in the past two years in Melbourne’s six lockdowns.

Riewoldt will settle for watching with his family and messaging his MasterChef mates in their WhatsApp group chat. And despite all his nerves, he’d love to head back into the reality kitchen again. One day.

“It completely exceeded my expectations of the experience,” he said. “I played sport for a long time and was part of some incredible things as a teammate but that was truly one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.”

Celebrity MasterChef Grand Finale, Monday, 7.30pm, Ten