Who has left MasterChef Australia Back to Win 2025?

After placing fourth in Season 6, Jamie returned to the MasterChef kitchen determined to place on the podium, which he achieved!

“The last time I was on the show I didn’t get to experience the semi-final cook-off, which was my big target [for this season] from the get-go, and managed to achieve it and beat that fourth place monkey on my shoulder,” Jamie told Woman’s Day. “Plus I got the opportunity to cook against two fantastic people that just happened to beat me on the day.”

On returning to the MasterChef kitchen for Back To Win, Jamie said the competition has helped him figure out what his next move in the culinary space will be.

“The offer to come back on MasterChef came at a really interesting time because I’d made the decision to close down my venue (Alba Bar & Deli in Brisbane) a few days earlier when I serendipitously got a call from the production team,” he shared.

“When one door closes another opens, and it was MasterChef that helped me end up in Brisbane and have me the space to open my own venues. I never thought I’d be doing that twice in the MasterChef kitchen.”

And while he’s made plenty of new lifelong friends this season, there’s two contestants Jamie would love to work with again.

“I’d love to work with Andre (Ursini)… the guy’s a nutcase and I love that our energies one-hundred per cent match,” said Jamie. “I also think there’s something definitely on the cards for Benny (Ben Macdonald). I’d love to get over to New Zealand and go drink good wine, eat good food and sit by the ocean and talk rubbish with him.”

Now out of the competition, Jamie says he plans on showcasing Australia’s best fresh produce and seafood from around south-eastern Queensland.

“I love this industry because it’s as much about the people who grow, catch and plate our foods, so I’d love to tell more of these stories and be able to showcase a lot more of that.”

While it may look like Depinder’s MasterChef journey is over, she says the life-changing experience is just the start, as she’s leaving the competition with an even stronger passion for cooking.

“I’ve had the best experience this time around on MasterChef, it’s been amazing,” Depinder told Woman’s Day. “I’m so grateful coming out of this experience [in the Top 4], because I did not expect to make it even halfway in Back To Win!”

While MasterChef is technically a competition, Depinder shares that it’s been an opportunity to push herself harder not only as a person, but as a cook as well. She’s also found a new foodie family with her fellow contestants, the judges, and the crew behind the scenes.

A highlight of Back To Win for Depinder was getting to serve up a Sadya (a traditional South Indian vegetarian meal served on a banana leaf) for the judges.

“There’s something really humbling about cooking a Sadya… it reminded me of all those connecting cultures I experienced when travelling in Kerala, and it’s quite honouring to be able to cook a dish like that on a platform like MasterChef,” Depinder said.

“I was really nervous because I wanted to do it right, because I was representing such a big part of cultural richness, because it’s one of those dishes that the poorest to the richest of people all eat.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Depinder has returned home to her biggest fans, her two daughters, and will continue to run her supper club Ghar. She’s also hoping to fulfil her teenage dream of writing a cookbook.

After months of serving up incredible dishes, Kiwi chef Ben admits it was a little ironic that a single-bite challenge set by Vaughan Mabee was the one that sent him home.

But despite being eliminated, Ben has no regrets and enjoyed every second being back in the competition 11 years after he first appeared in Season 6.

“Stepping back into the MasterChef kitchen strangely felt like being home, especially with the season six guys, Jamie, Laura and Sarah,” he told Woman’s Day. “And it was extra special that four of the top six [in Back To Win] were from season six!”

Out of the 40 dishes he served up this season, Ben is most proud of his charred octopus with curried potato, caramel lardo and red pepper jus, which won him immunity in Doha.

“When you have a special challenge to take in sights of a place and put them onto a plate, it’s really difficult,” he shared. “But when you nail it, it’s super special, and I’m really proud of what I made – and I’m definitely going to make it again.”

Now back home in New Zealand with his partner Sandy and his two daughters, Ben reveals he has his cooking mojo back, and he’s ready to create some new dishes to share online.

“I’ve got a few things in the pipeline but the main thing I’m going to do is create some good food content that people at home can make to share with their family and friends,” Ben said.

“I’m going to put that all online and take it from there – watch this space!”

In a battle for a spot in the Top 5 against Jamie, Sarah challenged herself to make Pork Assiette. Unfortunately for the three-time MasterChef contestant, her three different kinds of pork didn’t resonate with the judges, and as a result, she was eliminated from the competition.

But despite the fan favourite going home, Sarah tells Woman’s Day she was thrilled to show off new ideas and cook from the heart.

“Every time I’m on MasterChef I take it very seriously, and coming back into the kitchen, I felt like there was extra pressure as I’ve been working as a chef for over a decade,” she said.

“But in the same sense, I think that I definitely perform best when the pressure is really high and that makes me really want to push myself even harder.”

She also says she’s really enjoyed getting to see what her fellow chefs cooked up for each challenge, and getting to cook for some of the world’s best chefs – like Gordon Ramsey who her son Phoenix, 14, is a fan of!

“I always tell Phoenix who I’m meeting and he’s always like I don’t know who that is. But when I said Gordon Ramsey he just said ‘what like idiot sandwich?’, and thought that was so cool,” Sarah shared.

While Sarah didn’t win the competition, she says finding love on the show with fellow chef Declan was a win she didn’t even see coming.

“He’s the most amazing humans and we’re having the best time together,” Sarah revealed. “There’s lots of trips and experiences – and just the simple things like waking up and having breakfast together is really special as well.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Sarah will be taking a step back from her empire of restaurants in India to focus on creating new dishes.

“The first step is sharing my food more in Australia,” Sarah said. “I’ve spent so much time cooking and opening restaurants in India that it’s now time for me to come back and share it with my Australian family.”

Having bowed out early in season 16, Snezana returned for Back To Win with a goal of cooking honest and flavoursome food that would wow the judges.

“It was so intimidating stepping back into the MasterChef kitchen,” Snezana told Woman’s Day.

“When I saw who I was cooking with, I was so scared and thought what am I doing? All these people have restaurants and cooking schools, and have been cooking with different chefs for years and years.”

In the latest elimination challenge, Snez planned to blitz the first round to ensure she’d have more than enough time in round two. But her plans unravelled when her aoili split three times.

As a result, she didn’t have enough time in round two and became frazzled, and came out on the bottom against Sarah and Ben.

And while her time in the MasterChef kitchen has come to an end, Snez shared she’s incredibly proud of how much she’s grown this season.

“To be honest, I thought I was going to be eliminated first, and it took me a good amount of time to gain a little more confidence and be happy with my style of cooking, and I felt like halfway through the competition I changed and just went for it,” she said.

“I’m so proud of every dish that I did – they all have a story from my heritage or something from my family.”

Now out of the competition, Snez is working on a cookbook and would love to have a television show that would explore the Mediterranean, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia.

“My plan is to definitely stay in the food industry!”

Returning to the MasterChef kitchen for the first time in 14 years, Alana admits was daunting, but a challenge she was willing to dive into with years of experience developing recipes under her belt this time.

“The first moment I stepped back into the MasterChef kitchen, I definitely had a huge sense of nervousness and imposter syndrome… but I knew I just had to get through the couple of challenges to shake off the nerves, trust my instincts and get stuck into cooking,” Alana shares with Woman’s Day.

In a dual duel with Snezana, Laura and Sarah, Alana made horseradish ice-cream for round one and a fennel seed pavlova for round two. And while the judges were deeply impressed with both dishes, they thought the fennel seed flavour was competing with the other elements, and as a result, Alana was sent home.

Looking back on her second time on MasterChef, Alana is most proud of the ginger and lemon biscuit tart with blackberry jam, diplomat cream and vincotto ice-cream she whipped up for a challenge set by Maggie Beer.

“Andy said that was one of the best tasting dishes that he’d had this entire year,” Alana said.

“For me, putting that dish up was a super proud moment particularly as Maggie Beer, the queen of Australia’s food industry, tasted it and loved it as well!”

Now out of the competition, Alana is planning to get back into a professional kitchen through pop-ups and collaborations. She’s also launching a range of ready meals that will be available online in the coming months.

For a challenge, the MasterChef contestants were tasked with taking the judges to another country via there dish – and unfortunately for season four superstar Audra, her Spanish paella didn’t impress the judges. As a result, Audra was sent home.

Speaking to Woman’s Day, Audra said she forgot how hectic it can be in the MasterChef kitchen.

“That first team challenge we had on the show was such a lovely way to reconnect everyone back into the kitchen,” she shared.

“It’s important for me to realise that this is where it all started for me 13 years ago where I came to find out if food is something I could do for the rest of my life.”

Since she came third in season four, Audra has built a successful culinary career with two cookbooks, a catering business and her own cooking show under her apron. She’s also been a guest judge on MasterChef Singapore!

“I loved judging because I felt like I brought something different to the piece because I’ve been in the contestant’s situation before and knew what was going through their minds so I could support them in ways others couldn’t… and I see that a lot pf that nurturing side in Poh,” Audra said.

“It’s also a difficult task to judge because it’s all about not breaking anyone’s spirit and providing warmth and encouragement.”

As for the guest judges on Back To Win – Audra really loved getting to show off her cooking skills for Maggie Beer, Junda Khoo and Nornie Bero.

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Audra is busy working on a new season of her show Audra’s Eat, Roam, Relish on SBS Food – which sees Audra exploring the world and it’s cultures through food.

“We’re researching the next series and we’ve got a couple of options up our sleeve, so stay tuned!”

As one of the OG’s from the first season of MasterChef, Andre Ursini stepped back into the competition to reconnect with his love of cooking – which he found again!

While he impressed the judges Andy, Sophia, Jean-Christophe and Poh, who competed alongside him in 2009, Andre’s second MasterChef adventure was ended by his performance in a pressure test set by Philip Khoury.

“Going back on MasterChef was a lovely full-circle moment,” Andre told Woman’s Day. “It’s a very different competition now than it was back in 2009, so I didn’t know how I was going to go in that environment.”

Since his first season, Andre has built an extraordinary culinary career with three award-winning restaurants in Adelaide under his apron. Now that he’s out of the MasterChef kitchen, Andre says he’ll be returning to his businesses, and will be adding some of his favourite MasterChef dishes to the menu.

“The dish I’m most proud of is the buttermilk ricotta gnocchi in a white soy and cucumber consommé with borage oil I made for the Cooking for Nonna challenge,” Andre shared.

“I wanted to push the boundaries of contemporary Italian cuisine, and I got it across the line as the top dish! For me it wasn’t just a spectacular dish, there was a social and cultural commentary there as well.”

For season 15 favourite Declan, a Decreasing Time Versus Increasing Ingredients challenge set by Australia’s culinary queen, Maggie Beer, was the task that ultimately sent him home.

For this challenge, Declan chose to make offal, beef tongue and chicken liver skewers glazed with vino cotto and a slaw of roasted and pickled cabbage in the hopes of placing in the top ten of the competition.

Unfortunately for Declan, the judges thought his dish had an incomplete taste, and as a result, he was sent home from the competition.

“Walking through those MasterChef doors took exactly 20 seconds of courage,” Declan said on Instagram after his elimination.

“I had no idea where it would lead, but I knew I’d regret not giving it a crack.”

His girlfriend and fellow MasterChef contestant Sarah Todd also jumped on social media to celebrate Declan’s achievements on the show.

“You’ll be so missed in that kitchen, by me, and by everyone watching along at home,” she wrote.

“But this is only the beginning of your food journey.. and I can’t wait for all the belly laughs still to come.”

In a cook-along elimination with Curtis Stone, Theo struggled to stay in-sync with Curtis as they prepared slow-cooked lamb shanks with a ricotta raviolo, which ultimately saw him eliminated from the competition.

After first appearing in season 15, Theo came back to win to realise his dream of opening up his own bakery in Melbourne.

“Coming back into the MasterChef kitchen was like coming home, it was a funny feeling,” Theo told Woman’s Day.

“When I got into the kitchen and saw who I was up against, I though this is going to be difficult… it was quite a shock to the system when I realised how good some these contestants really are.”

As his second time in the MasterChef kitchen comes to a close, Theo is proud that he nailed cooking dolomades, which is a staple in his family.

Now that he’s out of the kitchen, Theo is busy making his dream bakery a reality, which is set to open in the next few months.

“I’m currently building the bakery space so it’s all guns blazing, so hopefully I’ll be at farmers markets very shortly,” he revealed.

“It’ll specialise in sourdough breads, and a limited amount of French and Greek-style pastries.”

Unlike many other contestants back to win on MasterChef, season four’s Beau stepped out of the kitchen and into burning buildings and bushes -but after a decade of being a firefighter, Beau decided to jump at the opportunity to be back on the show.

While he admits it was daunting going back into the MasterChef kitchen, he’s wowed the judges several times, especially with his culinary tribute to the Anzacs which combined rosemary tuille black tea run and raisin ice cream, Anzac biscuit crumb and plum jam.

“The Home Among The Gumtrees dish was my first top dish, I never did that on my first season, so that was a really special moment,” Beau told Woman’s Day.

Unfortunately for Beau, a reimagined spider that featured a cola-flavoured granata with vanilla ice cream, rum, stewed sour cherries and a roast macadamia crumb was not enough to save him from elimination – which didn’t phase him.

“I never felt the threat of elimination, it just wasn’t something that was on my mind,” he said. “I don’t have a reputation to maintain like a lot of the others.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Beau is back fighting fires and is also launching an all-natural hard lemon alcoholic drink in early July.

“Wildpoint is going to be my big passion project,” Beau shared.

“We’re fermenting it naturally here in Central Victoria and it’s going to be a gamechanger for the industry because all the competition mixes vodka with cordial – and we’re handcrafting ours.”

He also revealed that he’d love to work with Declan Cleary down the track as well.

“I saw a lot of myself in Declan, he’s a larrakin and comes from a trade background, so I look at him like a little brother,” said Beau.

“I’m excited to hang out with him now he’s down in Melbourne and just be mates.”

Season five’s Samira admits she’s felt a sense of relief when Poh, Sofia and Andy announced she’d been eliminated from MasterChef – as it was her husband’s birthday and she wanted to get home and celebrate with him.

The 39-year-old who came third in 2013 told Woman’s Day that she was initially nervous to step back into the MasterChef kitchen after a 12-year absence.

“I thought I had a really great poker face, but watching the first episode [of Back to Win] I’ve discovered I don’t,” Samira revealed.

“I was so anxious stepping back in and it was written all over my face. It was very surreal and nerve-wracking being back in the MasterChef kitchen.”

During her time in the MasterChef kitchen, Samira is most proud of Makloubeh, which hit a million views in just 14 hours during Viral Week, along with a dish that didn’t end up airing.

“My proudest dish is what I called Diversity on a Plate which took techniques from Mexican, Italian and Middle Eastern cuisines to form a dish that represented all three in one,” Samira said.

“It was a beautiful dish and the feedback was amazing, and I think it would’ve been a big hit.”

Now that she’s out of the competition, Samira shared she’ll be continuing to promote diversity, multicultural inclusion and harmony on her social media channels, and is planning to do some food travel in the future.

“Food travel is the one thing I didn’t do over the last 12 years,” Samira explained.

“Now that my children are older I’m able to do it, so I want to travel and promote food culture and history.”

To round out Viral Week, social media superstar Andy Cooks tasked the MasterChef contestants to create a jaw-dropping cheese pull – with the bottom five dishes going into a second round to create a crowd-pleasing cross-section of a dish of their choosing.

Unfortunately for season 16 star Darrsh, his blue cheese dipping sauce lacked the pull the judges were looking for in the first round, while the pistachio praline stuffed inside a choux bun he made for round two was too thin.

“I was looking forward to the idea in my head, but unfortunately, it didn’t execute,” Darrsh told 10 Play.

“Every millimetre that it could have risen was a chance that I could stay, but there just wasn’t enough space in the choux. I did try and plate it up as best as I could and try to pivot, but it wasn’t enough.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Darrsh and his housemate Dave, who is also a MasterChef alum, are taking on the cookie business with their business Crumb Club in the coming days.

“We’ll have three classics and three wild cards to rotate,” Darrsh said, noting some experiemental flavours include chicken and rosemary.

But his favourite at the moment is lemon cheesecake.

“I’m so over cookies right now because all we do is eat them every night, but that one I could eat over and over again!” he shared.

“I’m very excited for Crumb Club and hope to see everyone at the launch.”

Toastie legend Tim Bone bit off a little more than he could chew by trying to cook a confit duck Maryland in just 75-minutes. Unfortunately for the boy from Ballarat, this decision saw him eliminated from the competition.

Speaking to Woman’s Day after leaving the MasterChef kitchen, Tim said he’s extremely proud of what he achieved in his second season.

“I think MasterChef was harder this time around,” he shared. “Last time I just flew by the seat of my pants and didn’t know what to expect and it was all really exciting and fresh.”

“This time was a little more relaxing, but I think I put a lot more pressure on myself this time because coming back [into MasterChef], your reputation is on the line and you’re also cooking against chefs who have had their own restaurants and cooking shows for years… the standards were high and I got in my own head.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Tim will be focusing on continuing to build his budding toastie empire in his home town of Ballarat… and he has big plans!

“Now that I’ve been eliminated, all my efforts are going to go into the shop… I just feel so blessed that I can make toasties for a living and I have MasterChef to thank for that,” Tim said.

“I’ve got dreams to do a dessert toastie, I’ll start offering soup with my toasties over winter and I’ll start offering more ready-made meals.”

Tim also dreams of following in fellow MasterChef alum, Callum Hann, and opening up his own cooking class for adults and kids in Ballarat.

“I think kids learning to cook is such a great skill… so that’s the dream.”

The queen of desserts from Season 15, Rue crumbled in the latest pressure test in the MasterChef kitchen.

Guest judge Blayne Bertoncello tasked the crew to recreate his Variations of Sourdough and Strawberry with Elderflower and Balsamic dessert, and all was going well until Rue’s strawberry gum emulsion split and became too runny.

Reflecting on her second series on MasterChef, Rue told Woman’s Day she’s glad she came back for the ‘baptism of fire’ the show provided.

“The second time around was hard because of the other cooks. I was cooking against people that have been out of the MasterChef kitchen for years and years… but I really held my own against them,” Rue shared.

“My proudest moment this season would have to be the dessert I did with Depinder for the French challenge… that was such a great moment that did our team proud and was called out to be the dish of the day.”

While she’s not entirely ruling out coming back for a third stint on MasterChef, Rue said she’ll be getting some more experience under her belt before returning to the MasterChef kitchen.

Later this year, Rue will be heading to Europe for six months to master the art of making pastries.

“The goal is to go to France, create some amazing food, eat some delicious treats, explore Europe and then come back to Perth,” said Rue.

“I’ll be working in pastry for six months to a year to get a bit more experience so that when I come back, I can establish something of my own in Perth like maybe a dessert bar or patisserie bar!”

A last minute decision to add minced lobster into the dumpling dough for her wontons was the death knell for Rhiannon Anderson’s second series of MasterChef Australia.

Cooking for guest judge Josh Niland, Rhiannon initially felt super confident creating an Asian-style beef broth and lobster wontons, but became rattled when the minced lobster split some of the wontons as they hit the plate.

Speaking to Woman’s Day, Rhiannon said she’s incredibly proud her efforts this season.

“I’m just so proud that I got to go back on the show with my health issues to be honest, and push through,” the Season 15 runner up shared.

“It was a struggle and I was very sore and swollen every day but I pushed through, and I’m so happy with what I achieved and the dishes I put up.”

While her bestie from Season 15, Declan, was back in the kitchen with her again, Rhiannon says she’s picked up a few new best friends on Back To Win.

“Sarah Todd has become one of my complete best mates and I absolutely adore her… I’ve already got Declan and he’s one of my besties anyway!” said Rhiannon.

“I’d love to work with Sav, Steph and Andre again too, there’s just so many amazing people this season.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Rhiannon and her husband Dean are planning to hit the road to showcase Australia’s farmers on her YouTube channel.

“We’re hitting the road in November and our first stop is Tasmania where we’ll be for two months,” Rhiannon said.

“Then we’ll head to South Australia for two months, then WA for four months and then all the other states for two months each… so a minimum of 14 months on the road!”

It’s been a decade since Jimmy Wong lost a pressure test set by Nigella Lawson in season eight, and now a mishap with a chocolate shell for a sculptural Balloon Puppy cake has taken him out of the running for Back To Win.

But despite ending up with “roadkill” in last night’s challenge set by renowned pastry chef Steven He, Jimmy said it’s been an honour being back in the MasterChef kitchen.

“The magic you feel when you step into the MasterChef kitchen is unparalleled to anything that’s happened in my life,” he told Woman’s Day.

“To have the opportunity to come in here with 23 other amazing chefs is also just a thrill.”

While he didn’t have his sister Theresa competing alongside him this time around, Jimmy has found a new collection of culinary cousins.

“We’ve got so many incredible MasterChef alumni that are here as well, so I’ve found a lot of foster sisters that were looking after my back,” Jimmy shared.

“Audra [Morrice] and Alana [Lowes] are two amazing human beings that have been a big part of my journey… they have such incredible skills in the kitchen, and as friends, I’ve had such rich experiences with them.”

While his journey on MasterChef may be over for now, Jimmy said he’s looking forward to getting back to uncovering the stories of food, and the incredible people behind the world’s best dishes for his fans on social media.

Season seven alum Matt served up a Bombe Alaska to honour the Anzacs, while also nodding to his past as a dentist in the Australian army for seven years.

Unfortunately though, the judges thought the meringue component of the dessert had a “slightly gritty” texture, sending him home in the process.

Speaking to Woman’s Day, Matt said he’s proud he returned to the MasterChef kitchen and put himself out there again.

“The competition has evolved so much over the last ten years and the quality of the people coming in now is just phenomenal,” he shared.

“I look at some of the contestants from the recent seasons like Darrsh and Rue, and the food they were cooking in their seasons is far ahead of the stuff we were doing ten years ago… the calibre of people in there now is super high.”

Now out of the MasterChef kitchen, Matt says he’s going to take a break before heading into his next adventure.

“Food [for me] has been this journey around healthy eating and how that links to our heath, and as a healthcare professional I think that’s really important,” Matt told.

“I look at someone like Alice Zaslavsky who has spent a lot of her time encouraging people to cook more, eat healthily, so I’d like to do something along those lines.”

Initially pegged as a top contender in season 17 of MasterChef Australia, fan-favourite Steph de Sousa’s instincts for fermented foods let her down in the ‘One Inch Cube Taste Test’.

“It was so much fun and I just loved every second of it,” the 52-year-old told Woman’s Day.

“It’s so nice to be able to get in the MasterChef kitchen and cook again, make some good food, meet some fun people and just enjoy the experience!”

In the pressure test, Steph cooked a pork belly dish with a celeriac, green apple and fennel coleslaw and finished off with a caramel sauce.

With no fish sauce, the Air Fryer Queen used a fermented shrimp paste instead, which the judges said overpowered the rest of the dish.

“I really love strong, funky flavours, I love fermented food and I really enjoyed my dish,” Steph says.

“It’s just the luck of the draw, isn’t it? A bad cook on the wrong day.”

Sav sadly felt the heat in the pressure test on a Kirsten Tibballs dessert. The 31-year-old took to Instagram with a post recapping her experience.

“The funny thing about the @masterchefau kitchen is that even when you don’t want you to call the curtain, your body and mind will remind you that sometimes, you just need to walk away. Was I going to exit giving up? No way – the one thing I’ve not done in this kitchen is give up on myself. Doing two seasons back to back is a special kind of madness though — and I’m one glad I said yes to.

“Today I conducted myself & walked away in a way that would make my parents and my loved ones proud. My mum was not a quitter, neither am I, and I am so very proud of myself. I spent a lot of time last year afraid of taking pride in my successes — and maybe this is who I’ve become after MasterChef: a person unafraid to be proud of herself. A person who firmly knows her life’s work is in food.

“As chaotic as that was, there really is no shame I have going home on a @kirstentibballs dessert. It was an honour to have a chance to attempt this incredible recipe. My congrats to @foodie_ben@sarahtodd and my season 16 homie @darrshclarke. You guys did so well today

“As always, all the love to @pohlingyeow@andyallencooks@sofiaklevin and @jeanchristophe_novelli for all the warmth I’ve been given all through last year and this time around. How lucky we are to have you four across the bench.

“I walk away as a version of Sav that’s shown up authentically and unapologetically, that has honoured her mother & her culture again & again, a version of Sav that has made new friends and isn’t so burdened by grief.

“I am grateful, proud & I can finally unclench,” she finished.

In the first elimination episode of the season, Cath farewelled the MasterChef kitchen after burning a key component of her Japanese dish, mushrooms, on the grill.

Sadly, the burnt taste overpowered the rest of the dish, jeopordising her chance at taking home the trophy.

The 54-year-old took to Instagram on her departure, “Devastated that I have gone out on a dish that I love…cooking at home is so much easier with a glass of wine in my hand?

“Proud that I was brave and went back to MasterChef knowing how hard it was going to be.

“Grateful for meeting the MasterChef legends that I now call family…good luck everyone, I can’t wait to see what you do.

“I’m even more grateful for my beautiful family and friends. Thank you darling Brad, Alex, Abby & Ted?”

Pete put up a good fight in season 13 of MasterChef Australia, coming second in his nail-biting competition.

The 40-year-old shared a shock diagnosis with Woman’s Day that he had been bravely battling Hodgkin lymphoma, causing him to withdraw from the competition to undergo chemotherapy.

“The diagnosis was a complete shock. Given I had no other symptoms and felt completely healthy, I asked (kinda begged) the doctor if I could start treatment after the competition,” he shared.

“She told me I’d possibly die and that’s when the severity of the situation really hit me and replaced the disappointment. From there I just wanted to start treatment as soon as possible and get better for my family.”

Pete withdrew from the competition in episode three, sharing to his Instagram, “Didn’t even get to cook for the judges! But you know what they say… “if you have cancer you should go get chemo.

“A massive thank you to everyone messaging and checking in, you’re all so nice X”