★★★★★ 0/5

Isabella wins Junior Masterchef

12 year old Isabella has won the title of Junior Masterchef over 13 year old Jack. But another media embargo was broken in the process.

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Isabella has won Junior Masterchef.

The 12-year-old from Brisbane beat Jack by 97 points to 94 in the final, winning $15,000 for her efforts.

The night was a close battle between the two.

In the first challenge, Jack’s dish scored 41 points. Isabella scored 47 points.

For the second challenge 13 year old Jack from Tasmania cooked so well the judges decided -controversially- to award him three 11 point votes after bettering Patisserie chef Adriano Zumbo and his wild concoction: 5 green Pear Perfections.

But Isabella scored five perfect tens.

Jack wins $10,000 cash in a Trust Fund. Both contestants also won family trips to Tokyo.

The finale celebrated the joyous spirit of the season. All the contestants from the series returned for the finale, participating in a frenetic challenge with judges Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris.

But in an online upset mirroring the first season of MasterChef, the winner’s name was published in advance of the episode ending.

The Herald Sun published the winner at 8:54pm AEDT, more than half an hour before Isabella was named winner in Sydney and Melbourne broadcasts.

TEN today announced a new series of Junior Masterchef will air in 2011.

This post updates.

36 Responses

  1. what people need to realise here is that these kids got a lot of help from the judges and also off screen, extra time etc. i did enjoy the series and Sofia made me cry on Sundays show, and seeing Isabella win last night also made me cry. there i admit it!! looking forward to the adult masterchef next year. last point from me, i did not agree with the 11 out of 10 score though.

  3. @George Glass. I agree. The kids were definitely better cooks than the recent lot that went through MC 2010. In fact, I also think they were streets ahead of the adults in the first series of MC. Both Isabella and Jack were better cooks than Julie and Poh, in my opinion. Definitely more poised and collected, and more creative than Julie and Poh, that’s for sure.

  5. I reckon the kids version is better than the adult version. Also that the kids were actually better cooks than 2010’d bunch. Also the kids werent as smug as some of the adults. Now for the Isabella vs Callum challenge – i reckon she would beat Callum hands down.

  6. I can understand the 11/10 when Isabella’s dish was rated first and when they got to Jack’s dish they found it better than the original. Maybe it would be better if they judged the foods simultaneously? However it probably doesn’t make good tv..

  7. I apologise to ch10. I thought Junior MC was going to be about precocious children. But they wernt. They seemed friendly, polite and happy for each other. So if the kids are liek that next year then it will be another good series.

    From the beginning you always knew Isabella or Sophia would be in the final but Im glad to see Jack do well. Well done Isabella though you were the best cook.

  8. What a joke the scoring system was! Until the taste tests are done blind with the tasters not knowing whose dish they are tasting I’m afraid I can’t be bothered.

  9. $15,000 for the winner, $10,000 for the runner up and I think the 3rd and 4th place got $5,000. That’s only $35,000 payed in total to the stars of this show… And I wonder how much this Masterchef franchise made in profit from all of this???

  10. If a challenge is worth a hundred points, that’s the maximum. Is If you start giving more than the total points available then who knows what the competition is now out of, was it out of 110 or more? Surely they could have given Isabella 9’s and Jack 10’s. I understand why they did it for the kids, but why not go all out and give Jack 20/10 and Isabella 18/10?

  11. My phone ran hot last night after the show, one of disbelief considering the 11/10 score received by Jack.
    One sided and makes you believe it was a foregone conclusion and those rated 11 scores were to make the competition appear closer. It could have been handled better, by selecting 5 unknown judges and the challenge plate by number not by contestant.
    You have contradicted yourself, either Jack’s was the better by your own admission with the scores, or it was not! To have exceeded the chef’s own creation, he should have won hands down.
    A far better choice all round for all, would have been to have had 2 Junior Master Chiefs of Australia, male and female! But now all you have done is isolated many viewers who will see this as being rigged, just like the Japanese Iron Chef that none of us no longer watch either.
    You may be wasting your time setting up for 2011 2nd series, because if my friends and their friends are anything to go by, you have just lost a lot of viewers. One sided, favoritism, and an all round fiasco. I am out, never to be viewed again in this house.

  14. Yeah i agree the 11/10 should not ever be done again. It would’ve been better to give Jack a 10/10 and Isabella a 9/10, at least she would’ve still won.

    As for the online winner exposed. I really don’t have much concern for people who had their ending spoiled. Serves them right, if you’re wanting to be surprised by a finale ending, then don’t troll around the internet, just sit tight and watch the show. That’s what people in other time zones have to do

  15. They’re always treating those kids like the slightest bit of discouragement or criticism will push them over the edge somehow, which is to be expected I guess, but I was enraged at the 11/10’s!

    Turning negative comments into positives and giving extra time is one thing but to have 11/10 (three of them, no less!) – and for it to be considered perfectly legitimate – is absolutely ridiculous. Marion was pretty good, let’s give her 100/10! Doesn’t work that way.

  19. When I heard Adriano Zumbo would be involved in the finale I felt the kids would be scared by his new creation, and tonight I was correct. Tomorrow Adriano’s shop in Balmain in Sydney will be again swamped by customers ordering pear perfection! I sensed something was not right when George gave Jack 11 out of 10, but to have Vue de Monde’s Shannon Bennett and Matt both giving Jack 11 I thought they must be rigging! Then I saw all five judges gave Isabella perfect 10s and I thought the scoring was generous! Congratulations to both Isabella and Jack.

  22. The scoring was a bit silly… on the second dish, Jack should have got 10/10 from all the judges, and Isabella probably 9/10 from all of them seeing as her profiteroles weren’t all the same size and the green encrusting didn’t look nearly as good as Jack’s — you would think you could only give 10/10 to a dish that was perfect.

    Even so she would still have won, but at least the scoring would have made sense. You can’t just go arbitrarily scoring 11/10, that’s makes a mockery of the whole system.

  24. Wondrously good finale tonight. i enjoyed it far more than the two previous MC finales, it was just fantastic. How good were Jack and Isabella’s Pear Perfection pastries? Freakin’ unbelievable and much more technically difficult than the celebrated Guava Snow Egg in the recent MC finale. Adriano Zumbo is an evil genius!!! Those kids were truly astonishing, just jaw dropping. High fives all round to everyone involved in this terrific, crowd pleasing series. Congrats Isabella and well done Jack, you are both stars.

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