Fan favourite and three-time MasterChef Australia competitor Laura Sharrad isn’t just ‘back to win’, she is building a legacy for her daughter, Florence.
“When I first said yes to returning, I didn’t actually realise the impact it would have on her,” Laura, 30, tells TV WEEK. “She’s going to watch it one day and be like: ‘How young was I when you did this? How did you make this happen?’”
Laura was on maternity leave when she got the call to return to the MasterChef kitchen for a third time. It was an opportunity she simply could not pass up, despite the logistical stress of moving interstate with a newborn while running several businesses.
“The biggest struggle was definitely being away from [husband] Max,” Laura recalls.
“Florence was in Melbourne for filming with me, while Max had to stay in Adelaide. I was still breast-feeding. It was just chaos.”
Despite the chaos, it’s not a decision Laura regrets at all. And husband Max – who she met in 2015 while working at the late Jock Zonfrillo’s restaurant, Orana – was in full support.
“Max was so supportive. And Florence has gained 23 aunties and uncles from filming,” Laura gushes. “You can’t do the show without the support of your spouse or partner or whoever you’ve got around you.
“You really need that to be able to go on a show like MasterChef.”
As for what it was like returning to the kitchen without Jock who she worked alongside for two years, it was “painful” but made easier by the fact that the new judges were familiar faces well equipped for the job.
“I have had all three sets of judges now which is wild,” she exclaims. “It was really weird because the last time I was in the MasterChef kitchen, Jock was there. But to have Poh there who I have competed against next to Andy was actually really special. It was a little bit daunting though because Poh knows my food and I feel like she’s going to be my harshest critic. And then Jean-Christophe and Sophia are absolutely fantastic.”
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