June 4, 2024 • 19 mins
Hi Guys, welcome back to TV Reload. Thank you for clicking or downloading on today’s episode with David the 10th eliminated contestant on Masterchef Australia. Which is on Network Ten from Sunday through to Wednesday nights at 7:30.
With a degree in pharmacology and toxicology to his name, David Tan’s day job is as a national clinical trials administrator. While he is committed to his important work with cancer patients on their crucial treatments, David put his profession on hold to see where his MasterChef Australia journey may take him.
Growing up in Singapore, in a food culture that underpins society, David jokes that eating is the national hobby and notes that his family of five would think nothing of driving to Malaysia on the weekend just for lunch.
I loved catching up with David today and I am sure you will enjoy our chat which is filled with his humble attitude.
- Steve will talk about his journey to MasterChef Australia and what sort of preparation he put in to his abilities including what dish he worried the most about.
- We will also unpack his international cooking and if that is an advantage to being a skilled chef.
- I will find out why he connected with Poh and who he now wants to win!
- We will also discuss the contestants who came back. Who he thought should have returned and if he knows why two of them eliminated participants were not there?
There is so much to unpack with David. So sit back and relax as we unpack his time in the Masterchef Australia.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The podcast last week Never Life.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome back guys to TV Reload. I want to
thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode with
David the eliminated contestant on Mastershef Australia, which as you
would know, is on Network ten from Sunday through to
Wednesdays at seven thirty. With a degree in pharmacology and
toxicology to his name, David Tan's day job is a
National Clinics trial administrator. While he is committed to his
(00:26):
important work with cancer patients on their crucial treatments, David
has put his profession on hold just to see where
this Masterschef Australia journey may take him. Growing up in
Singapore in a food culture that underpins society, David jokes
that eating is the national hobby and notes that his
family of five would like nothing more than driving to
(00:47):
Malaysia on the weekends just to have good food. I've
absolutely loved catching up with David today and I'm sure
you will enjoy our chat, which is filled with his
humble attitude. I will say David will talk about his
journey to mass to Chef Australia and what sort of
preparation he put into his abilities, including which dish he
was worried about the most. We will also unpack his
(01:08):
international cooking and find out if that is an actual
an advantage to being a skilled chef in the Master
Chef Kitchen. I will find out why he connected with
Poe the most and who he actually wants to win
the show. Now we will also discuss the contestants who
will welcome back last week, who he thought should have
returned full time, and if he knows why two of
(01:28):
the eliminated participants were not included. There's actually so much
to unpack with David, as you can imagine, so sit
back and relax as we unpack the wonderful world of
Master Chef Australia. Hey David, how.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Are you Ben? I'm good, thank you? How are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm doing really well. I'm also at an airport, which
I apparently you're at an airport as well, so this
is correct. Trains, planes and automobiles, we're connected.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, absolutely, and thanks for I appreciate the bit of
mixture run in time as well with you know how
transport is.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'm such a big fan of this show and have
been thoroughly enjoying your time on the show as well.
So this is the length that I go to to
not miss a It's David from Cheah.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You know, I think a lot of people who've been
watching the show had picked you as a possible winner,
and I even read at some point people were saying
that it had been leaked and it was you. What
are your thoughts on coming out of the competition at
this point?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh, look, I am just really appreciative of the whole
competition and where I'm at. I'm really proud of how
far I've come. Top twelve and then staff came back
and then got a limb, But I still take Top
twelve as it is, and look, it's it's a tough competition.
You know, it's nice that people think I had the
potential to win, and you know, really worth anyone's game,
(02:44):
and you know, where I end up is where I
end up. But I've met so many amazing people, cooked
ninety percent of dishes that I've never cooked in my
life before I got some couple of top dishes, and
so look, if that's not a win you know you
kind of appreciate that. Then, yeah, I'm just bestoked.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I love how you've You've cooked up some humble pie
for yourself today. Is it anyone's game at this point though?
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It's a competition, and every cook is someone's worst nightmare
and someone else's best, you know, best thing they could
ask for. With last night's elimination, that was Harry's fish,
you know fish. But for me, I'm not a fish person,
and I'm not a thirty minute cook person, but ask
me in the pressure tests before that four hours cook.
(03:30):
That's my happy place. But nobody else loves it. And
I would sign up for all of them if I could,
and everyone else would run away from them. So it
just depends on the competition and how the ebbs and flows,
and so, you know, you never know.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know, what I think is good though, is that
you're not a fish person, and you're you've never been
on television with that weird fish hat that he had on,
I think escaping that he's a good.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Win exactly, That's that's an absolute win. And like that
fish hat was actually awesome, the.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Thing that I picked up on and you know, you
sort of allude to this before, but cooking something that
you'd never eaten before seemed like an interesting option. Was
there something else that you feel like now you could
have cooked that was with the fish, that you could
have done that. Now you're kicking yourself that you didn't
try and do that. Maybe you tried in the past.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I'm not one to kick myself up about this sort
of things. I was very conscious with every challenge of
this is where I'm at right now. This is the
best decision I can make right now, and I'm going
to give it my all. If it works, it works.
If it doesn't, it doesn't. That's just the outcome. And
so I know that I did the best I could.
And after that first cook my brain was flat, you know,
(04:36):
Like I said, I was neurologicy, spent my creativity. I
actually set my brain so if like walked out of
me and just out, good luck, you know. And so
that's all I could do. That was the best I
could do at that time. And so I can't regret.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That, No, you really can't. I mean, this is the
thing for me. So you're going to have to clear
something up, because do you prepare a certain amount of
dishes before. Like, let's say you get the phone call
you're doing Master Chef. You've been dreaming about it for
a long time. What an exciting opportunity I could imagine
if it was me, I'd start preparing dishes in categories.
I'd be like, well, what happens if they say fish?
What happens if they say yeah, what kind of plan
(05:08):
did you put in place once you've gotten the call
you're doing the show? And did you even contemplate being
faced with the fish?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
To be honest, I didn't think too much about fish
because proteins, like with red meat and chickens, I'm fairly comfortable, okay,
And I didn't think about fish because I was most
scared about desserts. Funny enough, I don't make desserts at home,
and so when I found out I was going to
get onto Martha Chef, I was just immediately all right,
start working on desserts because I've gotten no clue about
(05:36):
dessert and I know that's a bigger portion that I
have to work on. And so fish and seafreud did
even come to my mind. But I ended up cooking
quite a bit of seafruit funk the show.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, and I realized now that you said that you're
so focused on desserts, that's why you brought raspberries into
your fish dish, because you were focusing, hyper focusing on yes.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Wait, yeah, exactly, And so I was, you know, and
there's a really good stage of bringing avery into sweet
food and I really enjoyed that. And I was trying
to keep pushing the boundaries. It's like, well, what can
you bring over to the other side to make it interesting?
And you know, you got thirty minutes. You want to
do minimal prep if you can, and so I was
just trying to make smart decisions. But hey, you never know.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
You never know. Can you have phone calls like this,
You're having a phone call your auditioning, and then once
you selected, what sort of questions you're asking the producers,
because I'd want to know, do you get told that
there's going to be certain dishes coming, do you get
told if there's going to be certain chefs being a
part of it? Like what kind of preparation questions are
you trying to get out of the producers at that point?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Well, to be honest, I was just gobsmacked that I
even got the audition to be honest, and you know,
I was just like, well, what an amazing opportunity. And
the advice they said it was just look, just watch
the previous Master Chefs seasons. That will give you a
good gauge and what sort of cuisines you should be across,
what sort of timings you should be across. And that
(06:55):
was probably the best gauge and best advice that I
was looking for in the good gif.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Need to cast you because you're a good looking rooster.
They needed to, They needed to up the ante on
the attractive males on the show. So you know, you
kicked a box.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thank you man. You're too kind. You're too kind, Bamanda,
other people that were really good looking John, I mean
those are top tier guys.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well, I think you're at the top. I think you've
beaten them.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So you tell all of them, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, if you listen to the podcast, you then hear
back that I've said that to everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
No, I'm joking exactly do that.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Do you think that being from an international background can
help you in a show like this? You know, I'm
such a big fan of international dishes myself. I'm in
love with flavor combinations. I'm in love with spices, and
I think having that sort of heritage or cultural cuisine
background I think is really good prep for being on
a show like this.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
What do you think I think, look at having that
background is helpful in terms of communicating ideas, For example,
with the team really a challenge. Harry was just like,
all right to do Southeast Asians by curry, and so
in my head I've got a reference already roughly what
the ingredients look like around that sure, and so that
(08:10):
does help. And like, you know, like if you're going
to make a curry, you can generalize a curry recipe
in Southeast Asia by certain number of steps. And you know,
I was really fortunate to be in that second person,
and so I could start carrying those things up. But
in terms of cooking, I actually never learned to cook
in back home in Singapore. I only learned when I
came to Australia. And so my Asian cooking isn't that great,
(08:31):
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Ah okay, yeah, yeah. What you're telling me is that
you were very lazy when you were young. You let
your parents do all the cooking.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That is well, when you grow up in Singapore, yok,
or you eat outside you don't have to cook it
all so very I just enjoyed the fruit.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I wanted to ask you about this because as a viewer,
and I also looked online to see people talking about
this as well. I think that's navs. Don't you think, okay,
you have to give me a just opinions. Don't you
think that she should have been included in that black
Apron challenge? Do you think it was fair her to
sit it out? You know a lot of people were
debating this online, and yeah, I'm wondering what you thought
(09:07):
about that in the time. Did you think could get
down here and cook with us?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
You know, what did you think to be honest as
nerdy as people think I am, I'm also quite an
airhead and I don't really pay attention too much of
that sort of stuff. And you know, regardless of fair
not fair, it's not really relevant for me. What it's
relevant for me is what can I do? What's competition?
Would I what's cook? Will I have to cook on
that day? And so if she was awarded an immunity
(09:33):
for elimination cook, that's awesome that you know she fought
so hard she smashed out nine dish or something crazy
like that, and she fought her way back and if
that was the rules of the show, and that's what
they decided to go with out of my cro control.
And so look, I'll celebrate for her, I'll come back
and I focus on what I have to do the
next day.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
See, David, this is how you've gotten through life so well.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I cry my herds.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Mentality, having this idea of yeah, that's I think that'll
keep you going.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Oh as a plan.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
What about with your thoughts on when they came back
and they were cooking this week, did you have a
guess on who was going to get brought back into
the competition? Did you think you knew who was coming back?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I had, I wasn't sure, And like I said, it's
anyone's games, you know. I don't know exactly on what
the metrics are that they used to judge food and
how they wait each thing, whether it's like a center
weighted average or like a you know, the average across
the board. But personally, I loved Schnezz's dish. I would
(10:37):
have loved her as a person. I love all of them,
but you know, and I we had quite a few
cooks together and as bench buddies, and I think she
just left the competition too early, and I wanted to
see her come back. You know, if I could have
swapped with her, I would have swapped with her, and
so personally, I would have loved to see that. But again,
as someone from a science background, you wait for their
(11:00):
ups to come out and then you make your conclusions after.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Fair play, fair play, you'll have to do what I'm doing.
I had the privilege of chatting to Shnaz as you
know I'm talking to you now, and then now we're
taking on Instagram and swapping dishes. I've gone out and
bought myself a like a Dutch like a French oven
is what it was called. But yeah, she keeps seeing
me it's a Dutch oven anyway. And then great, well,
I've been making these dishes now. And so as your
(11:26):
relationship with her, just like mine is with her, it's
not ended. You can still hit her up, absolutely right,
absolutely right, And she had way more to give, and
she just had.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I knew she had stuff that she didn't get a
chance to show, which is awesome that she did the
serving dish when she came back. And you know, right
after I got eliminated, we started chat out of chat
with all the people who got eliminated, and it's just
so awesome that on the other side of me, what.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
About these people that didn't come back? Because that's the
other conversation that you kept seeing popped up online. You know,
where was where was Steve? You know, was their explanation
to you guys as to we there was two of
them that didn't come back?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Do I know the honest answer, Yes, I do. I
actually I actually got no idea.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Let's call that I didn't. We'll call it.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I didn't. Yeah, we can, we can call them from
an art then, but I actually just never checked. I
was just like, oh, you know, I just got so
caught up with the moment of everyone coming back and
there's just such high energy, and then I realized, you know,
Stephen Lauders and dangers, like, oh, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I don't know. It's not my job, but the rest are.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Here and the rest are fighting for it, so you know,
I'll pay attention to what's run in front of my
eyes and where we go.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, you haven't helped me with any goss on that one,
so that's totally fun. There's a huge conversation about the
screen time of people this season, you know, is there
enough screen content for everyone? And what's your interpretation of that.
Do you think that the show should be trying to
evenly split, you know, people to make sure there's equal
screen time or do you think we just go where
the story goes? Like, how do you feel about the
(12:49):
way in which I know? I can't answer this myself.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
You know. The funny thing is I can't answer it
because I didn't edit it either more than it was
compete and so and I think what with Master Chef,
you know, you get big days of filming, big days,
and how much has shown one hour that's you know,
easily less than ten percent of the content that was filmed.
That you've got to edit and you've got to make
really crazy sharp edits, And that means I guess not
(13:17):
everyone can get equal screen time. They want to show
the highlights, they want to show the gasping moments, they
want to show where you know, maybe it didn't do
too well, and so you know that's the editors called
on how they want to edit that. And like I said,
I'll take what comes. Some people I would have loved
to see a lot more and hopefully as they stay
in the competition, they will get a lot more airtime,
so you know, until the whole season is finished. It's
(13:39):
a bit hard to say, you know, what's the airtime
equal or I don't know, but all I can say,
I'm just super appreciative of when it does come out
and that we share with each other, just like, oh,
you remember this happened that wasn't shown, but you know,
I'm rich just so glad that I got a memory
of it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, and that's a good thing as well to have
those memories. And I've been harassing everyone. It's just such
an annoying question, and you've been so diplomatic that I'm
now scared as to what your answer is going to be.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I'm from Singapore. We shake cans of everyone under Asian Switzerland.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
That's what they call it, Asian Switzerland. Well, I don't
want you to be Switzerland. I don't want any fans
sitting Who do you want to see win this competition?
I don't want two names, I don't want three. I
want one name who's left in the competition that you'd
like to see.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
To them, I would love to see them win.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's a tough one. That's like asking me what my
favorite food is.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's okay, because I'm going to move on to that
next if you don't answer this one correctly, Oh.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, you know, well I tell people when you ask
me a question what your favorite food is, it's like
asking what your favorite who your favorite child is? These
are all questions.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yes, well you know that for different reasons. But David,
do you want to know you're the favorite child? You
want to know? Come on, we we well, I.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Definitely I definitely want the favorite child. That's not a problem.
You know, I take I claim that, and my siblings
give me for that. But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
This is a this is a double barrel question. So
I'm not even just asking who do you want to win?
I want to know who you' favorite judges? So can
he help me? Yeah, let's go. We'll go with those
two questions.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Who I want to win? Okay, let's if you force
me to say one person. Yeah, I would say I
want Dash to win. Okay, because you know that when
he did that are chicken and gravy dessert? I mean
that for me was just like, you know what, you
pulled off something extraordinary here. I was really envious that
(15:24):
he pulled that off. That was inspirational for me. It's
just like I would love to pull something off like
that and so and that was like a perfect sweet,
savory dessert and it just blew my mind. And for
that reason, that's stuck in my head. And if you
had to force me to say, well, that's the one
I'm going with. But again, there's all of them. I
love all of them for different reasons, and that's just
me being diplomatic but also true.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, I like dash it and I'm really happy with
I'd be fine. I'd be fine him with him holding
up the plate at the end. Yeah, we haven't talked
much about the judges, and in previous chats I have
sort of unpacked youre but putting you on the spot
with this. We've got four very amazing people, all very
different in lots of ways with their personalities and the
way in which they appear to be relating to everyone.
(16:07):
Who did you feel you connected with the most?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
That's a tough one for me. I connected well with
Jean Crosov and Paul. If you have to choose one
who I connected a little bit more with, I would
say is Paul. She you know grew up in issues
from leisure. She understand it where I came from in
terms of the cultural contexts, but also could respect when
I deviated off that, especially in Behind and in Chicken Rise.
(16:33):
She was like, you know, this is so familiar for me,
and you've done this specific thing that's different, and I
respect that. And she could really take that on board
and also really give me good advice, you know, and
so and you know a couple of times when I cried,
she definitely gave me a hut that's on the side then,
So that from me was it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You know, David, they often talk about this about people
being very genuine, and that's sort of a bit of
a buzzword. But the thing that I recognize about Poe
and the interactions I've had with her is she's present, Yes,
you know what I mean. Like, that's where you can
see when someone's being genuine is when they're really present.
They're not thinking about what they're going to say next,
They're listening to you and they're curious.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And I think that's where Poe works the best.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, and she was really grateful that and she you know,
because it's a contestant before like Andy a bit more fresh,
and it's the first time and so you know, she's
done an amazing job. And I definitely I feel like
I connected with the boss obsessed.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
My last question ask everybody, anyone that's ever dropped the podcast,
whatever show it is, is what is something from behind
the scenes, something we didn't get a chance to see. Now,
I don't need you to, you know, ruin the whole
show and say that the desks aren't real and someone
else cooks the food for you. We don't want to
know that, but maybe something fun from.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You, like ah, yeah. Probably the highlight of my experience
outside of the kitchen is doing what we call open
and commerce. Research was a bitter with the contestants. We
would go hard on the weekends. I think there was
one weekend or one Saturday night we went to three
different restaurants with dinner in the name of research, and
(18:10):
so we.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Were just to channel ten, like, what's going on with that?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
No, that was oh personal and so maybe a claiment
on tax but you know, we're just looking for inspiration,
but being surrounded by a bunch of people who are
all very curious about food and just wanted to try
stuff and bouncing off each other with ideas that were
so fun, and we tried really amazing dishes. And when
I go up to restaurants, I tell the guys like
(18:36):
the answers yes, It's like, if you want to order it,
and you want to ask me if I wanted the
answers just yes, just order it, don't worry about it,
and we'll just have the best time. We'll talk about
food and we'll think about how the chefs has done
it and how we can bring that into the master
chef pidgin.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
David, Can I just say it has been a pleasure
to talk to you. My brain has been my brain
has left the room while we've been talking, and I
love I love people who have got logic like that.
So you know, this has been really a real treat
to be able to chat with you and unpack your time.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Thank you, Yeah, I really appreciate you. Thank you for
your time as well.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Thanks David. I have to run. I'm literally, David, I'm
cool and get a airport in Queensland and I'm on
the front, the front lawn out the front and people
security of walk past me. People have walked past with
their bags. I'm sure they think that I'm the most
bonkers person to be sitting here, my entire podcast gear
on the lawn. But yeah, this is what I'm.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I'm just landed in Alice Springs and going to ut
outside the airport and so wow, here you go.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Okay, well I'll send you a quote of what I
look like and then you can say photo with the
rock when you get there.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
That's good, Red Rock, take care of lookup. See you
have a good one.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Bye now
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The podcast last week Never Life.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome back guys to TV Reload. I want to
thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode with
David the eliminated contestant on Mastershef Australia, which as you
would know, is on Network ten from Sunday through to
Wednesdays at seven thirty. With a degree in pharmacology and
toxicology to his name, David Tan's day job is a
National Clinics trial administrator. While he is committed to his
(00:26):
important work with cancer patients on their crucial treatments, David
has put his profession on hold just to see where
this Masterschef Australia journey may take him. Growing up in
Singapore in a food culture that underpins society, David jokes
that eating is the national hobby and notes that his
family of five would like nothing more than driving to
(00:47):
Malaysia on the weekends just to have good food. I've
absolutely loved catching up with David today and I'm sure
you will enjoy our chat, which is filled with his
humble attitude. I will say David will talk about his
journey to mass to Chef Australia and what sort of
preparation he put into his abilities, including which dish he
was worried about the most. We will also unpack his
(01:08):
international cooking and find out if that is an actual
an advantage to being a skilled chef in the Master
Chef Kitchen. I will find out why he connected with
Poe the most and who he actually wants to win
the show. Now we will also discuss the contestants who
will welcome back last week, who he thought should have
returned full time, and if he knows why two of
(01:28):
the eliminated participants were not included. There's actually so much
to unpack with David, as you can imagine, so sit
back and relax as we unpack the wonderful world of
Master Chef Australia. Hey David, how.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Are you Ben? I'm good, thank you? How are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm doing really well. I'm also at an airport, which
I apparently you're at an airport as well, so this
is correct. Trains, planes and automobiles, we're connected.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, absolutely, and thanks for I appreciate the bit of
mixture run in time as well with you know how
transport is.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'm such a big fan of this show and have
been thoroughly enjoying your time on the show as well.
So this is the length that I go to to
not miss a It's David from Cheah.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
You know, I think a lot of people who've been
watching the show had picked you as a possible winner,
and I even read at some point people were saying
that it had been leaked and it was you. What
are your thoughts on coming out of the competition at
this point?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh, look, I am just really appreciative of the whole
competition and where I'm at. I'm really proud of how
far I've come. Top twelve and then staff came back
and then got a limb, But I still take Top
twelve as it is, and look, it's it's a tough competition.
You know, it's nice that people think I had the
potential to win, and you know, really worth anyone's game,
(02:44):
and you know, where I end up is where I
end up. But I've met so many amazing people, cooked
ninety percent of dishes that I've never cooked in my
life before I got some couple of top dishes, and
so look, if that's not a win you know you
kind of appreciate that. Then, yeah, I'm just bestoked.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I love how you've You've cooked up some humble pie
for yourself today. Is it anyone's game at this point though?
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It's a competition, and every cook is someone's worst nightmare
and someone else's best, you know, best thing they could
ask for. With last night's elimination, that was Harry's fish,
you know fish. But for me, I'm not a fish person,
and I'm not a thirty minute cook person, but ask
me in the pressure tests before that four hours cook.
(03:30):
That's my happy place. But nobody else loves it. And
I would sign up for all of them if I could,
and everyone else would run away from them. So it
just depends on the competition and how the ebbs and flows,
and so, you know, you never know.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know, what I think is good though, is that
you're not a fish person, and you're you've never been
on television with that weird fish hat that he had on,
I think escaping that he's a good.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Win exactly, That's that's an absolute win. And like that
fish hat was actually awesome, the.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Thing that I picked up on and you know, you
sort of allude to this before, but cooking something that
you'd never eaten before seemed like an interesting option. Was
there something else that you feel like now you could
have cooked that was with the fish, that you could
have done that. Now you're kicking yourself that you didn't
try and do that. Maybe you tried in the past.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I'm not one to kick myself up about this sort
of things. I was very conscious with every challenge of
this is where I'm at right now. This is the
best decision I can make right now, and I'm going
to give it my all. If it works, it works.
If it doesn't, it doesn't. That's just the outcome. And
so I know that I did the best I could.
And after that first cook my brain was flat, you know,
(04:36):
Like I said, I was neurologicy, spent my creativity. I
actually set my brain so if like walked out of
me and just out, good luck, you know. And so
that's all I could do. That was the best I
could do at that time. And so I can't regret.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That, No, you really can't. I mean, this is the
thing for me. So you're going to have to clear
something up, because do you prepare a certain amount of
dishes before. Like, let's say you get the phone call
you're doing Master Chef. You've been dreaming about it for
a long time. What an exciting opportunity I could imagine
if it was me, I'd start preparing dishes in categories.
I'd be like, well, what happens if they say fish?
What happens if they say yeah, what kind of plan
(05:08):
did you put in place once you've gotten the call
you're doing the show? And did you even contemplate being
faced with the fish?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
To be honest, I didn't think too much about fish
because proteins, like with red meat and chickens, I'm fairly comfortable, okay,
And I didn't think about fish because I was most
scared about desserts. Funny enough, I don't make desserts at home,
and so when I found out I was going to
get onto Martha Chef, I was just immediately all right,
start working on desserts because I've gotten no clue about
(05:36):
dessert and I know that's a bigger portion that I
have to work on. And so fish and seafreud did
even come to my mind. But I ended up cooking
quite a bit of seafruit funk the show.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, and I realized now that you said that you're
so focused on desserts, that's why you brought raspberries into
your fish dish, because you were focusing, hyper focusing on yes.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Wait, yeah, exactly, And so I was, you know, and
there's a really good stage of bringing avery into sweet
food and I really enjoyed that. And I was trying
to keep pushing the boundaries. It's like, well, what can
you bring over to the other side to make it interesting?
And you know, you got thirty minutes. You want to
do minimal prep if you can, and so I was
just trying to make smart decisions. But hey, you never know.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
You never know. Can you have phone calls like this,
You're having a phone call your auditioning, and then once
you selected, what sort of questions you're asking the producers,
because I'd want to know, do you get told that
there's going to be certain dishes coming, do you get
told if there's going to be certain chefs being a
part of it? Like what kind of preparation questions are
you trying to get out of the producers at that point?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Well, to be honest, I was just gobsmacked that I
even got the audition to be honest, and you know,
I was just like, well, what an amazing opportunity. And
the advice they said it was just look, just watch
the previous Master Chefs seasons. That will give you a
good gauge and what sort of cuisines you should be across,
what sort of timings you should be across. And that
(06:55):
was probably the best gauge and best advice that I
was looking for in the good gif.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Need to cast you because you're a good looking rooster.
They needed to, They needed to up the ante on
the attractive males on the show. So you know, you
kicked a box.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thank you man. You're too kind. You're too kind, Bamanda,
other people that were really good looking John, I mean
those are top tier guys.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Well, I think you're at the top. I think you've
beaten them.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So you tell all of them, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, if you listen to the podcast, you then hear
back that I've said that to everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
No, I'm joking exactly do that.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Do you think that being from an international background can
help you in a show like this? You know, I'm
such a big fan of international dishes myself. I'm in
love with flavor combinations. I'm in love with spices, and
I think having that sort of heritage or cultural cuisine
background I think is really good prep for being on
a show like this.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
What do you think I think, look at having that
background is helpful in terms of communicating ideas, For example,
with the team really a challenge. Harry was just like,
all right to do Southeast Asians by curry, and so
in my head I've got a reference already roughly what
the ingredients look like around that sure, and so that
(08:10):
does help. And like, you know, like if you're going
to make a curry, you can generalize a curry recipe
in Southeast Asia by certain number of steps. And you know,
I was really fortunate to be in that second person,
and so I could start carrying those things up. But
in terms of cooking, I actually never learned to cook
in back home in Singapore. I only learned when I
came to Australia. And so my Asian cooking isn't that great,
(08:31):
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Ah okay, yeah, yeah. What you're telling me is that
you were very lazy when you were young. You let
your parents do all the cooking.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That is well, when you grow up in Singapore, yok,
or you eat outside you don't have to cook it
all so very I just enjoyed the fruit.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I wanted to ask you about this because as a viewer,
and I also looked online to see people talking about
this as well. I think that's navs. Don't you think, okay,
you have to give me a just opinions. Don't you
think that she should have been included in that black
Apron challenge? Do you think it was fair her to
sit it out? You know a lot of people were
debating this online, and yeah, I'm wondering what you thought
(09:07):
about that in the time. Did you think could get
down here and cook with us?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
You know, what did you think to be honest as
nerdy as people think I am, I'm also quite an
airhead and I don't really pay attention too much of
that sort of stuff. And you know, regardless of fair
not fair, it's not really relevant for me. What it's
relevant for me is what can I do? What's competition?
Would I what's cook? Will I have to cook on
that day? And so if she was awarded an immunity
(09:33):
for elimination cook, that's awesome that you know she fought
so hard she smashed out nine dish or something crazy
like that, and she fought her way back and if
that was the rules of the show, and that's what
they decided to go with out of my cro control.
And so look, I'll celebrate for her, I'll come back
and I focus on what I have to do the
next day.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
See, David, this is how you've gotten through life so well.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I cry my herds.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Mentality, having this idea of yeah, that's I think that'll
keep you going.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Oh as a plan.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
What about with your thoughts on when they came back
and they were cooking this week, did you have a
guess on who was going to get brought back into
the competition? Did you think you knew who was coming back?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I had, I wasn't sure, And like I said, it's
anyone's games, you know. I don't know exactly on what
the metrics are that they used to judge food and
how they wait each thing, whether it's like a center
weighted average or like a you know, the average across
the board. But personally, I loved Schnezz's dish. I would
(10:37):
have loved her as a person. I love all of them,
but you know, and I we had quite a few
cooks together and as bench buddies, and I think she
just left the competition too early, and I wanted to
see her come back. You know, if I could have
swapped with her, I would have swapped with her, and
so personally, I would have loved to see that. But again,
as someone from a science background, you wait for their
(11:00):
ups to come out and then you make your conclusions after.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Fair play, fair play, you'll have to do what I'm doing.
I had the privilege of chatting to Shnaz as you
know I'm talking to you now, and then now we're
taking on Instagram and swapping dishes. I've gone out and
bought myself a like a Dutch like a French oven
is what it was called. But yeah, she keeps seeing
me it's a Dutch oven anyway. And then great, well,
I've been making these dishes now. And so as your
(11:26):
relationship with her, just like mine is with her, it's
not ended. You can still hit her up, absolutely right,
absolutely right, And she had way more to give, and
she just had.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I knew she had stuff that she didn't get a
chance to show, which is awesome that she did the
serving dish when she came back. And you know, right
after I got eliminated, we started chat out of chat
with all the people who got eliminated, and it's just
so awesome that on the other side of me, what.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
About these people that didn't come back? Because that's the
other conversation that you kept seeing popped up online. You know,
where was where was Steve? You know, was their explanation
to you guys as to we there was two of
them that didn't come back?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Do I know the honest answer, Yes, I do. I
actually I actually got no idea.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Let's call that I didn't. We'll call it.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I didn't. Yeah, we can, we can call them from
an art then, but I actually just never checked. I
was just like, oh, you know, I just got so
caught up with the moment of everyone coming back and
there's just such high energy, and then I realized, you know,
Stephen Lauders and dangers, like, oh, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I don't know. It's not my job, but the rest are.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Here and the rest are fighting for it, so you know,
I'll pay attention to what's run in front of my
eyes and where we go.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, you haven't helped me with any goss on that one,
so that's totally fun. There's a huge conversation about the
screen time of people this season, you know, is there
enough screen content for everyone? And what's your interpretation of that.
Do you think that the show should be trying to
evenly split, you know, people to make sure there's equal
screen time or do you think we just go where
the story goes? Like, how do you feel about the
(12:49):
way in which I know? I can't answer this myself.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
You know. The funny thing is I can't answer it
because I didn't edit it either more than it was
compete and so and I think what with Master Chef,
you know, you get big days of filming, big days,
and how much has shown one hour that's you know,
easily less than ten percent of the content that was filmed.
That you've got to edit and you've got to make
really crazy sharp edits, And that means I guess not
(13:17):
everyone can get equal screen time. They want to show
the highlights, they want to show the gasping moments, they
want to show where you know, maybe it didn't do
too well, and so you know that's the editors called
on how they want to edit that. And like I said,
I'll take what comes. Some people I would have loved
to see a lot more and hopefully as they stay
in the competition, they will get a lot more airtime,
so you know, until the whole season is finished. It's
(13:39):
a bit hard to say, you know, what's the airtime
equal or I don't know, but all I can say,
I'm just super appreciative of when it does come out
and that we share with each other, just like, oh,
you remember this happened that wasn't shown, but you know,
I'm rich just so glad that I got a memory
of it.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, and that's a good thing as well to have
those memories. And I've been harassing everyone. It's just such
an annoying question, and you've been so diplomatic that I'm
now scared as to what your answer is going to be.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I'm from Singapore. We shake cans of everyone under Asian Switzerland.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
That's what they call it, Asian Switzerland. Well, I don't
want you to be Switzerland. I don't want any fans
sitting Who do you want to see win this competition?
I don't want two names, I don't want three. I
want one name who's left in the competition that you'd
like to see.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
To them, I would love to see them win.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's a tough one. That's like asking me what my
favorite food is.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's okay, because I'm going to move on to that
next if you don't answer this one correctly, Oh.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Well, you know, well I tell people when you ask
me a question what your favorite food is, it's like
asking what your favorite who your favorite child is? These
are all questions.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yes, well you know that for different reasons. But David,
do you want to know you're the favorite child? You
want to know? Come on, we we well, I.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Definitely I definitely want the favorite child. That's not a problem.
You know, I take I claim that, and my siblings
give me for that. But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
This is a this is a double barrel question. So
I'm not even just asking who do you want to win?
I want to know who you' favorite judges? So can
he help me? Yeah, let's go. We'll go with those
two questions.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Who I want to win? Okay, let's if you force
me to say one person. Yeah, I would say I
want Dash to win. Okay, because you know that when
he did that are chicken and gravy dessert? I mean
that for me was just like, you know what, you
pulled off something extraordinary here. I was really envious that
(15:24):
he pulled that off. That was inspirational for me. It's
just like I would love to pull something off like
that and so and that was like a perfect sweet,
savory dessert and it just blew my mind. And for
that reason, that's stuck in my head. And if you
had to force me to say, well, that's the one
I'm going with. But again, there's all of them. I
love all of them for different reasons, and that's just
me being diplomatic but also true.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Well, I like dash it and I'm really happy with
I'd be fine. I'd be fine him with him holding
up the plate at the end. Yeah, we haven't talked
much about the judges, and in previous chats I have
sort of unpacked youre but putting you on the spot
with this. We've got four very amazing people, all very
different in lots of ways with their personalities and the
way in which they appear to be relating to everyone.
(16:07):
Who did you feel you connected with the most?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
That's a tough one for me. I connected well with
Jean Crosov and Paul. If you have to choose one
who I connected a little bit more with, I would
say is Paul. She you know grew up in issues
from leisure. She understand it where I came from in
terms of the cultural contexts, but also could respect when
I deviated off that, especially in Behind and in Chicken Rise.
(16:33):
She was like, you know, this is so familiar for me,
and you've done this specific thing that's different, and I
respect that. And she could really take that on board
and also really give me good advice, you know, and
so and you know a couple of times when I cried,
she definitely gave me a hut that's on the side then,
So that from me was it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You know, David, they often talk about this about people
being very genuine, and that's sort of a bit of
a buzzword. But the thing that I recognize about Poe
and the interactions I've had with her is she's present, Yes,
you know what I mean. Like, that's where you can
see when someone's being genuine is when they're really present.
They're not thinking about what they're going to say next,
They're listening to you and they're curious.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And I think that's where Poe works the best.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, and she was really grateful that and she you know,
because it's a contestant before like Andy a bit more fresh,
and it's the first time and so you know, she's
done an amazing job. And I definitely I feel like
I connected with the boss obsessed.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
My last question ask everybody, anyone that's ever dropped the podcast,
whatever show it is, is what is something from behind
the scenes, something we didn't get a chance to see. Now,
I don't need you to, you know, ruin the whole
show and say that the desks aren't real and someone
else cooks the food for you. We don't want to
know that, but maybe something fun from.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You, like ah, yeah. Probably the highlight of my experience
outside of the kitchen is doing what we call open
and commerce. Research was a bitter with the contestants. We
would go hard on the weekends. I think there was
one weekend or one Saturday night we went to three
different restaurants with dinner in the name of research, and
(18:10):
so we.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Were just to channel ten, like, what's going on with that?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
No, that was oh personal and so maybe a claiment
on tax but you know, we're just looking for inspiration,
but being surrounded by a bunch of people who are
all very curious about food and just wanted to try
stuff and bouncing off each other with ideas that were
so fun, and we tried really amazing dishes. And when
I go up to restaurants, I tell the guys like
(18:36):
the answers yes, It's like, if you want to order it,
and you want to ask me if I wanted the
answers just yes, just order it, don't worry about it,
and we'll just have the best time. We'll talk about
food and we'll think about how the chefs has done
it and how we can bring that into the master
chef pidgin.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
David, Can I just say it has been a pleasure
to talk to you. My brain has been my brain
has left the room while we've been talking, and I
love I love people who have got logic like that.
So you know, this has been really a real treat
to be able to chat with you and unpack your time.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Thank you, Yeah, I really appreciate you. Thank you for
your time as well.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Thanks David. I have to run. I'm literally, David, I'm
cool and get a airport in Queensland and I'm on
the front, the front lawn out the front and people
security of walk past me. People have walked past with
their bags. I'm sure they think that I'm the most
bonkers person to be sitting here, my entire podcast gear
on the lawn. But yeah, this is what I'm.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I'm just landed in Alice Springs and going to ut
outside the airport and so wow, here you go.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Okay, well I'll send you a quote of what I
look like and then you can say photo with the
rock when you get there.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
That's good, Red Rock, take care of lookup. See you
have a good one.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Bye now
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