MasterChef 2020: Poh finally explains oven-staring habit on The Project

Poh Ling Yeow has finally explained one of her signature moves on MasterChef this season — staring longingly into the oven.

Nothing has been more iconic this MasterChef season than the image of Poh Ling Yeow staring longingly into the depths of her oven.

Each frantic challenge, the beloved Adelaide cook — who was eliminated on Sunday — would crouch down at her workspace and peer in to the appliance, as though willing her food to cook faster.

As it turns out — there’s a reason the reality star took to gazing at her food as it cooked each challenge, and it makes a lot of sense.

RELATED: Viewers react to Poh’s heartbreaking elimination

RELATED: Mel moved to tears in emotional episode

Explaining the “method to her madness” on The Project Monday night, the season one star admitted it’s a question she’s often faced with.

Poh asserted that there was “a method to her madness”. Picture: Channel 10

“Everyone says – are you trying to make it cook faster?” she told guest panellist Steve Price, who had remarked that she’d turned him into “an oven starer” too.

“There is actually a purpose to it, because I’m watching to see if I need to crank it up,” she explained.

Poh, once more staring into a cooking appliance.

“If I see it’s browning too much, I lower the temperature again. So I’m actually watching to see how I can keep adjusting, because of course, the time frames are always a little bit unrealistic. So I am actually … I am actually doing it for a reason,” she said.

Poh — whose at times frenzied cooks became the talk of social media — went on to say she had received an outpouring of support following her shock elimination on Sunday.

Poh explains her oven-watching habit on The Project. Picture: Channel 10

“What I’m really moved by is that people really get my wackiness,” the Adelaide artist said.

“Like from the messages that people are sending me. They’re quite detailed and they do get what I’m trying to do, which is really lovely that that punches across through the chaos. Through my Captain Chaos cape!” she joked.

Viewers were in tears as Melissa Leong gave an emotional farewell to Poh after her Sardinian potato dumplings failed to impress the judges on Sunday night.

Adelaide cook Poh was eliminated on Sunday. Picture: Channel 10

“Poh, you are a national treasure,” Leong said. “Every day we could be guaranteed we’d get all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your love and all of your commitment.

“You’ve absolutely won our hearts all over again. You’ve always fought to show and represent who you are and to be proud of your heritage, and I think millions of people around the world see that and understand that and love you for that even more.”

Poh was gracious in defeat and smiled through her elimination, saying: “I’ve had such a fantastic time. It’s been such a joy to cook with these guys and it’s really humbling to be around them.”

But as Poh smiled, viewers sobbed, and thousands took to social media to praise the contestant for the joy she brought them on the show.

Viewers were devastated to see Poh leave. Picture: Channel 10.

Speaking to theSydney Morning Herald after her eviction, Poh admitted she was, in some way, “relieved” to leave the competition.

“There’s a kind of relief when you’re let go,” she said.

“You’re sitting with that pressure for so many months. But I do want to thank the people who’ve supported me and understood my madness and embraced me for who I am. I know I’m hard to watch,” she added,

“The message I want to put out there is whatever is making you feel different on the outside now, you can learn to harness that. It’s going to make you unusual and outshine the rest. Be yourself. At 46 I think I can actually lay claim to having done that.”

MasterChef: Back to Win continues Tuesday night from 7.30pm on Channel 10.