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Julie wins MasterChef Australia

Julie Goodwin has been named Australia's first MasterChef after beating Poh Ling Yeow by 7 points.

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jg38yo Julie Goodwin has won the inaugural title of MasterChef Australia. Goodwin, from the NSW Central Coast, defeated 35yo artist Poh Ling Yeow across three challenges.

The contest has gripped a television audience attracting bumper ratings, furious media coverage and ‘watercooler status.’ The finale is expected to chart over 2.5m viewers.

The 2 hour finale was a tight race between the two women.

Watched on by the previous contestants, the first challenge was a Taste Test with a pot served up by Gary, made up of 20 ingredients.

Poh scored 11 points when she incorrectly guessed Port as an ingredient. In an identical test, Julie scored 12 points after also guessing Port. It was an indication of their competitiveness.

The second challenge was an Invention Test with a core ingredient of chicken, the same food that comprised their first ever Invention Test. Both had 90 minutes to create a dish for a total of 40 points. Guest judge Curtis Stone joined the resident judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston.

Poh’s Hainanese Chicken dish scored 33 points. Julie’s Roast Chicken dish scored 34 points.

At the end of the second round, Julie was two points ahead.

The third and final round involved a Pressure Test with an exquisite chocolate dish prepare by Matt Moran.

While Poh scored 31 points, Julie scored 36.

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JULIE WINsThe final score was 75 for Poh and 82 for Julie.

“I feel happy” was all she could say as her family joined her for the triumph.

For winning the contest Julie wins $100,000 cash, a publishing deal and work experience opportunities in some of the country’s best restaurants.

Poh was also offered an opportunity to learn alongside Curtis Stone.

Applications for the second series are now open at masterchef.com.au

126 Responses

  1. I just wish I put some money on Julie to win. She was $26 to win and I think she even went out to over $50 to win before she made the top 6.

  4. 3.75 mil!!! What??! I love the show but honestly are our ratings for real. How many people have ratings boxes anyway. Does this make the MC final the most watched television in Australian history?

  5. I feel a bit bad for Chris, cos I think the shows producers have made him into more of a villain than he really is.

    Chris could have been making that face at any time during the finale, but the editors just managed to show it right when Julie has won.

    Like the judging…smells a bit fishy to me.

  7. Conspiracy theorists have been let loose again. All in the same week we celebrate the hoax of the moon landing. I think George is actually an alien and Chris is the antichrist.

  9. Hainanese chicken, as nice as it is (it’s one of my favourite dishes because it’s so ‘clean’), was never going to be enough for Poh to beat Julie. It’s too simple a dish that many people can make, so it was a bad call by Poh there. And her attempts to present it in a fine dining manner was disastrous! Rice on one plate, three condiments on another, and chicken on another made it very awkward. I’m surprised Curtis Stone thought her presentation was good enough to warrant taking her with him to LA for a week! I also thought she would’ve added extra things to make it stand out. I’ve had Hainanese chicken rice with crispy spring onions in a food court here in Sydney, and something like that may have improved Poh’s dish with added texture and bite.

    Congrats to Julie though, who simply performed better on the day, used her new techniques, and followed the dessert instructions to the letter.

  10. It’s over now and the winner is decided so no amount of complaining is going to change anything but…….

    I do think in these kinds of reality shows it would be much more fair if the judges blind tested the food (or judged the finished design of a house ala homeMADE not knowing who designed it). Then after they scored, were told who cooked or designed it!

    After three months (if this is how long the show has been on) each judge has a favourite (how could they not), or maybe they believe someone deserves to win (most improved / sweetest person / most tears???) even if they were not the best (not saying Julie wasn’t’).

    Something to think about :O)

  13. David, I saw your comments in the Sun-Herald and on the ABC News website, good to see your website being promoted to a wide audience.

    Julie was a worthy winner. She was humble and took the advice of all her mentors.

    I really was getting sick of Poh’s grin by the end of the night. She went the easy way too many times last night and paid the consequences.

    I don’t buy many cookbooks, but I will be happy to have Julie’s sitting in my bookcase.

    Similar to Idol though, with Poh coming second – she might actually be the winner out of this. While she doesn’t have the structured deal of work experience/cookbook/money – she may have an opportunity to eclipse the prize that Julie receives, while Julie is locked in to what she gets.

  15. Wonderful…many any congratulations…job wll done
    if Poh had won how unfair would that have been..she had already been eliminated – and Julie is a way far better all round cook than Poh – Poh is
    extremly limited when she chooses to cook only her national dishes. Is this
    all she has learned from all these weeks – Gives us a break.
    Go Julie Go..glad you beat Poh.
    Just goes to show us all what we can do if we try try try..and that good old
    Aussie spirit is apon us all..

  16. I said I wouldn’t watch the final after the disgraceful Donna Hay episode, and I didn’t.

    I wasn’t surprised though that Julie won. I can’t comment on what actually happened because, as I said I didn’t watch it, but all I can say is I predicted Julie would win it and I was right.

    I really didn’t care who won the competition as long as it was fair….and going by comments here, it appears many believe it wasn’t. If Julie is to be crowned “matserchef” then where does that leave truly wonderful cooks, Justine and Julia? You may not have liked Chris, but remember editing can make someone likeable, or not. He was a very good cook. As good as Justine or Julia? Who knows, but I believe he was a damn side better than Julie.

    As Julie stated in the paper this morning, “before I can open the doors of a restaurant, I really need to do training and get more education about the industry, how to be a good cook in a restaurant, rather than a home”

    Well that says it all. Puddle Pie, uncooked chicken, collapsed lamb, un finished meals …she really needs help!

    As for season 2…well, I’ll watch but won’t be quite as enthusiastic or devoted because it is reality TV after all and could end up again a bit of a farce…just like series 1.

  17. still seems to be largely sour grapes here, the person I liked didnt win either but there is no point storming about the show being rigged, it’s reality t.v who can honestly say they didnt expect it????

  18. I agree with Anita. We religiously watched the show each week but this last week has been a sham. Julie didn’t even plate up everything but still managed to oust Chris. Why? Because her cookbook idea as better! It’s masterchef, not Mastercookbook. The requiremant was for good plating up that would look good for a book and Julie’s was sad. If her food tasted better than Chris’ than that should have been the reason but the judges said her cookbook idea saved her. What rubbish!! Of course Chris isn’t happy! I really liked Julie but I’m no longer her fan. Justine and Chris were consistently better and more accomplished than Julie, and it wasn’t convicing why Poh lost. The judges warmed to Julie and showed favouritism, unfairly giving Julie help and she still didn’t derve 9/10s. I will go to Julie’s restaurant!!She shouldn’t have been in the final.

    This series started with a lot of integrity and honesty but has left a very bad taste in my mouth. Hang your heads in shame mc judges and channel ten!!

  19. To all the miserable whingers out there, you know the ones who threatened to boycott watching the finalecos your favourite didnt get through to those who had a mass sook at chris’demise, to those who bad mouthed every one of julie’s moves,to those who claimed the show was rigged, claimed it lost its credibility heres an idea I will offer you for free. Don’t watch it next year. So we don’t have to read about your misery. Congratulations Julie, and Thank-you Network 10 for this gem. Cant wait for season 2 to roll on

  20. I agree with Annoyed! I think it was all rigged too. Personally, I don’t think either Poh or Julie should have been in the finals. Poh only seems comfortable with Asian dishes, which may be well and good, but surely to be Australia’s Master Chef, she should be good at all sorts of cuisine. It seemed to me that she was a favourite given unfair advantage, right from the first show. And Julie may be a good cook, but she ain’t no chef.
    Last week I wasn’t sure, I thought we had no way of knowing if Chris should have won, without being able to taste his dishes, (they did say it was bland) so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. But now I am convinced! Firstly, they gave Julie extra help by telling her that her sorbet was grainy, giving her a chance to try again. That was an unfair advantage for starters. Plus, the main part of the dish should have been the tart, which they all agreed Poh had nailed.
    Also, something else I was wondering about (for both Poh and Julie) What kind of recipe book could they possibly write? They are both amateur cooks, following other people’s recipes. Even if Julie becomes a chef, it will be years before she gets to be good enough to invent her own recipes.
    I think to even pretend to some fairness, the final judging should have been a blind test, the judges scoring the dishes without knowing who made them. Of course that means they shouldn’t have been hovering over them while they were cooking, offering advice etc.
    I was often flabbergasted how little these contestants knew! I am no chef by any means, but I still knew what a meat grinder looks like, how to temper chocolate (or have heard of it – Julie said she has never heard of it before!) how to lift the skin of a chicken to put stuffing under it, to roll out pastry on baking paper to prevent sticking, etc. And although it is possible that given the circumstances, I may have overcooked the fish, I know I would have known if it was still raw! I could go on and on with lots of other examples of surprising lack of knowledge. Another thing I just thought of – I know that putting chocolate in the fridge is not a good idea. Nor is not following the recipeprecisely for such a technical dessert. 🙂

  21. MasterDisaster Julie wins MasterChef Australia – what an absolute farce!!! … Does anyone seriously believe the final Invention and Pressure tests were scored fairly??? … Funny how they never showed Julie cutting into her chocolate pastry cake, like they did Poh… Probably because Julie’s was harder to slice through, because the pastry was too thick, and they wanted the audience to think she did a great job with it, worthy of the 9’s she got from all the judges… Well they sure didn’t fool me, nor the fact they always scored Julie last, so they could have their triumphant ending, with Julie winning, when the final score was revealed… The judging was so obviously staged to favour Julie, like it had been though the entire final week, so the end result utterly lacks credibility, and the entire series lost the integrity it started with in the end… A truly unworthy winner, considering the cooking talents of other contestants, unfairly eliminated because of her, like Chris, and I definitely feel like I wasted my time watching the show from start to finish with this dud end result…

  22. what a finish to a great season of MC although i wanted Poh win.i think it was a little unfair because of the advice that got given to julie and why didn’t the judges say or do anything about Poh when she was putting the chocolate cigar in the fridge and not putting it in the oven for 5 seconds but i guess thats why they have editing

    great show, great season,great contestants and judges

  23. What a joke! Julie never deserved to be in the final let alone win, jesus effing christ. Heck, if i’d known a trip to LA with the sexy curtis stone was the runner up prize i would have thrown the whole thing ~ lucky Poh!

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