Former MasterChef favourite Brent Draper reveals why he’s returning to the show

Former contestant Brent Draper has revealed why he is returning to the cooking competition after his shock exit to prioritise his health.

Former contestant Brent Draper makes a triumphant return to MasterChef as one of the joyful surprises this season.

Chatting exclusively to NewsCorp ahead of the cooking competition’s Secrets & Surprises launch, the former tradie – who quit the show in 2020 recognising he needed to prioritise his mental health – had to sit with the decision for a week when producers first came calling.

Brent was at the tip of WA, partway through his round-Australia trip in the bus he’d renovated, and wasn’t sure he wanted to leave the idyllic nomad life.

“But then I thought ‘I’ve got some unfinished business here’,” Brent said, adding he’d seen his doctor and psychologist regularly since leaving the show.

Brent Draper, who abruptly left MasterChef 2021 due to his mental health, is one of the surprises this season. Picture: Ten

“I’ve done all the hard work mentally. I’ve got my, sort of, toolbox and I understand now what I went through. I understand anxiety, and I’m a different person for that experience, that first season of MasterChef.

“There’s a book that’s half-written and I’ve got to finish that off.”

Crippled by anxiety and convinced he was dying, the former boilermaker shocked viewers when he asked to leave the high-pressure kitchen midway through a cook in 2020.

It’s the first time in the show’s history that a contestant had voluntarily left.

At the time he said “the light had gone” from his eyes, he was missing his wife Shonleigh and son Alfie, and barely slept in the weeks before his abrupt departure from the show.

Brent Draper with his family, wife Shonleigh and son Alfie, after leaving MasterChef to deal with his mental health. He says it's important other men speak up about their mental health issues. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Brent says he was overwhelmed with support on social media as viewers reached out with their own experiences with anxiety and grateful he’d been so willing to publicly share his private battles.

“That was another reason why I did come back, it was an amazing platform to show people that one minute you can be struggling every day and you can be down and almost out, but then, you know, you can do the hard work and do the things that light you up and come back and give it a crack.

“I was doing it for those people who told me their stories. Those people who are struggling and can see no way out.

“I thought what an amazing way to show people that you're not defined by your lowest moments. Get back on the horse and giddy-up.”

Brent admits, though, it was a mixed bag of emotions walking through doors again to the famed MasterChef HQ.

“I tell you what, there were so many emotions, but it was also like excitement. And then it was absolute terror,” he shares.

“And then all of a sudden I remembered clearly the moments of where I had left the last season and I just had to face those little demons first.

“Then just wiped them away, and then there was the excitement at seeing friendly, familiar faces, and then seeing some new faces. It was an exciting, terrifying, amazing moment.”

MasterChef judges Andy Allen, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo with his worry beads. Picture: Ten

He’s loved reuniting with the judges – Melissa Leong, Andy Allen and especially Jock Zonfrillo, who’s been open about his own battles with anxiety, always clutching worry beads during filming and memorably handed Brent his own set when he left.

Brent and his family have now resettled on NSW’s northern beaches, mindful that Alfie turns five next year, and they needed to “stop gallivanting around Australia” and sort out school for him. He’s continued his work as a digital content creator for brands, and as a national Coles ambassador developing recipes for the retail giant.

If he does succeed in this second tilt at the MasterChef title, Brent would buy some land in rural SA and run an Airbnb, with some camping grounds, where he would welcome and cook for travellers.

MasterChef Australia, returns, Monday, May 1, 7.30pm, Ten

Originally published as Former MasterChef favourite Brent Draper reveals why he’s returning to the show