Pezza walking away with $40,000 after finishing runner-up on MasterChef

Tassie butcher Josh ‘Pezza’ Perry is looking to the future after the MasterChef grand finale. Find out what is next for the popular Smithton resident.

Josh "Pezza" Perry during the MasterChef 2024 Grand Finale. Picture: Supplied.

The Smithton butcher who graced television screens during his run to the MasterChef grand finale says he has mixed emotions after finishing runner-up in this year’s season.

In Tuesday’s night finale, which aired on Network Ten, Josh “Pezza” Perry lost out to Nat Thaipun after struggling to recreate a key element in a challenge where the pair were tasked to make a replica of a 112-step dessert recipe created by Michelin-star chef Clare Smyth.

Speaking to the Mercury following the finale, Pezza said that cost him the MasterChef title.

“I definitely got it wrong with the malt puff. I didn’t get it on the plate, and if you look back, that’s what hurt me,” he said.

Josh "Pezza" Perry during the MasterChef 2024 Grand Finale. Picture: Supplied.

After the first challenge of the finale, where contestants had to create a dish using black pepper, Pezza was three points behind.

“I still thought winning was achievable going into the last cook with the dessert,” Pezza said.

“The fact that the malt puff didn’t get on is something that I’ve got to live with. I had Nat with flavour and I just didn’t get that key crown and jewel on the plate there.

“And had I got it on there, it could have been a different story. But what ifs are not how we live here; you got to live by and die by the sword.”

Despite the final result, Pezza said he was still happy with his overall performance on MasterChef.

“To come second in Australia’s biggest cooking show, probably even the biggest one in the world, from where I’ve started and where I’ve grown and finished in the competition is a real credit to me.

“I never thought I’d get here, and I’m really happy with where I’m at.

“I wanted the win because the $250,000 prize money would have been nice, but I’m not going to reminisce about it.

“I know that I got beaten by Nat, who was better on the day, and that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

Josh "Pezza" Perry with Nat Thaipun during MasterChef 2024 Grand Finale. Picture: Supplied.

Pezza had become a celebrity in his hometown by the time the grand finale came around, saying that the “buzz around Smithton was unbelievable”.

“I walked up the street on Tuesday, and every window had ‘go Pezza’ and photos of MasterChef.

“People were yelling out ‘good luck’.”

Already a business owner alongside his wife with the butcher shop Perry Quality Meats at Smithton, Pezza said he was considering opening a paddock-to-plate restaurant with his runner-up prize of $45,000

“I’ve got to be really smart about what I do and whether Smithton is the right place for a restaurant; that’s the biggest thing that goes through my head all the time.

“The town is very small, and you need bums on seats all year round to make the restaurant work.”

He also said he had plans to potentially have a TV show in which he is dubbed “the travelling butcher”.

“I think there is room for it.

“Give me a car, and I’ll cruise around Tasmania and go to butcher shops or seafood places, somewhere different.

“And then I’ll cook up and show a bit of what people are doing, showcase what hard work people in small businesses put in.”

How Tasmanians have faired in previous editions of MasterChef

SEASON 2 (24 contestants):

Phillip Vakos (TAS) – 7th contestant to leave the competition

SEASON 4 (24 contestants)

Ben Milbourne – 20th contestant to leave the competition

SEASON 7 (24 contestants)

Kristina Short – 9th contestants to leave the competition

SEASON 12 (24 contestants)

Ben Milbourne (TAS) – 3rd contestant to leave the competition

Sarah Clare (TAS, was NSW in previous season S10) – 11th contestant to leave the competition

SEASON 13 (24 contestants)

Sabina Newton – 19th contestant to leave the competition

SEASON 16 (22 contestants)

Josh Perry (TAS) – Runner-Up