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Andy wins MasterChef 2012

Andy Allen has won Masterchef 2012 in a battle than went down to a Gaytime dessert.

24 year old Andy Allen from New South Wales has won Masterchef 2012.

He defeated 26 year old Julia Taylor from Queensland.

Andy wins $100,000, a cookbook deal and experience in kitchens at some of the top restaurants in the country.

Final scores were 76 to Andy, 68 to Julia.

The First Round was an Entree Challenge that required the three Finalists to feed 35 Masterchef fans each.

Former contestants were brought in to help Audra, Andy and Julia plate up.

But at the end Julia had 25 points, Andy had 23 and Audra had 22.

Audra’s dish was complimented by the judges but was deemed by Matt Preston to be more salad than Entree. Audra Morrice’s missed the Final 2 by just one point.

The Second Round required Andy and Julia to serve up main course capable of being “Australia’s National Dish” with their own personality.

Julia’s served up a Crusted Rack of Lamb and Andy served up a Modern Fisherman Basket. By the end of it Julia had 46 points due to undercooked Lamb, but Andy had moved ahead to 51 points including a perfect 10.

The Third Round was of course a Dessert, set to favour ‘Dessert Queen’ Julia. Both were required to create a delicate Gaytime dessert.

Final total at the end of round three was 76 to Andy, 68 to Julia.

 

“I am overwhelmed. I never thought this would happen. It just goes to show what you can do if you put your mind to something you love. For me the most important thing is to keep learning and whatever I do next that’s my priority,” Andy said.

“Now that I’ve realised how quickly I can take on skills and learn more, I just want to push myself to find out how far I can go. I’m a quick learner, any technique that was thrown at me I had to master. There was no time in the competition that I really knew what I was doing. I’m so happy with my progress.”

There were also prizes for the other Finalists. Adriano Zumbo offered Julia an apprenticeship in his kitchen. She also won $15,000.

Audra was given $5,000 for coming third.

The finale included “kitchen legends” including former MasterChef champs and renowned Chefs from across Australia and families of Andy and Julia, including her sister Katie.

This year’s season managed to rescue the brand after on-going criticism of the 2011 season.

Tomorrow night favourite past contestants return for a three week MasterChef: All Stars season.

This post updates.

17 Responses

  1. I enjoyed Masterchef but I gotta say…I agree that there is a good case for having blind judging.

    I cannot think of one reason why the judges need to know who is cooking the dish before they judge? Can anyone help me out? This is a taste and presentation test right? Unless there is some sort of favoring towards certain contestants, there is simply no reason why they need to know who cooked what.

    That my friends, would make the show much more balanced and fair. Blind tasting. Pretty simple really, and they would avoid any criticism about a “fix”.
    I liked Andy and am happy he won, but is he the best cook? Hmm. Not sure. I still remember Poh getting beaten by Julie in season 1 and thinking it was pretty silly.
    Blind judging guys…blind judging.

  2. We’ve watched it from go to whoa and only a few weeks ago thought it would be an all female final, such was their dominance (I had selected Mindy from the beginning). Would have been pretty annoyed if Audra had won. Besides the news that she had an existing food business before entering, she mainly stuck with her strong suit (Asian) and didn’t really show her already great skills had progressed. Andy on the other hand made a marked improvement and thoroughly deserved the win. Some good challenges (feeding the village) but don’t like the 3 person finale and utterly sick of the ” How are you feeling right now?”
    Have to say I loved the Coles Down Down, prices are down extended ad with Status Quo – it will be a UTube fav.

  3. To me the most alarming thing was having John Torode from the far superior and intelligent Masterchef UK,lets hope he doen’t go back and change the UK version to the Aust Version, Wasn’t refreshing to hear his candid comments, even though Matt wasn;t impressed at some, that is why UK Masterchef is better, no favourites

  4. I think the success of this years Masterchef was exactlt what they wanted to achieve. Bringing it back to basics and choosing a cast that seemed to, on the most part genuinely get along. The secret to MC in the beginning was that it was a competition with a feel good factor. The past 2 seasons were marred by bitching and overhyped back stories.
    Congratulations to Andy, he deserved to win as he improved day on day over the passed couple of weeks. What a great season.

  5. Personal perception does not equal ‘rigged’.

    Audra went out fair and square, she didn’t cook a hot entree which was the requirement, had it been hot Andy would have gone out.

    The day before that all she did was knock up some dressings in a signature dish challenge, her prowess was definitely on the wane.

    My perception was that the judges wanted Julia to win and were doing everything they could to drag her over the line. Thankfully it didn’t happen because her skills were not up to it which had been evident for weeks. Is she a self apopinted dessert queen? Even Audra made better desserts

  6. I was actually disappointed with the finale of MCA. The judging of the finale should be ‘blind’. The 3 blokey judges had made their preferences well known when the final 5 was confirmed – Andy pretty much winning all the challenges – knocking out all the much stronger female contestants.

    For the strongest – and frontrunner- Audra to be booted out by just one point in the first round of the finale was obvious to me that ‘The fix was in’. Matt had been especially scathing towards Audra in the past few rounds – at one stage I expected him to throw the plate of food at her and yell at her. And I believe the ‘consolation’ cash prizes were planned at the last minute so noone would accuse the judges of fixing it for Andy to win.

    Sorry – I watched the past few weeks and the amount of testorone that was leaking all over the kitchen was too much to bear at times. C’mon – 3 blokey judges, two of the final challenges based on Aussie food ie. ‘Traditional Aussie meal’ and the ‘Aussie Favorite Golden Gaytime’??? and the winner – an Aussie sparkie who grew up hunting and fishing and whose dad said he’d disown his son if he cried on national TV??? Young women – and some gay men – might flock to the shopping centres to see Andy sign his cookbook, but it won’t change the minds of thousands of Aussie blokes who think cooking is a woman’s job. Nice try Masterchef – but it won’t work.

  7. This is the first year I have ever seen a full episode of Master Chef. I’ve been watching it for the last few weeks on Sunday afternoons on ELEVEN. Haven’t seen every episode, came in about half way through the season.
    I was actually surprised to find that I found it interesting, and I enjoyed watching the contestants make these delicious and difficult meals.
    Last night was a really good finale, and Andy deserved to win.
    Ohh did anyone else see that Coles commercial in the finale ad break? It went for almost 3 minutes, no joke. Coles, even though an MC sponser still would have paid a fortune for a commercial that long right before the winner announcement.

  8. Great finale, and it was great to see a male win. I didn’t watch MasterChef as religiously this year, but was definitely hooked by the last few weeks. Shine did a good job with MasterChef this year, well done to everyone involved. Really looking forward to MasterChef All-Stars tonight!

  9. He’s adorable, well done to him, I wish Andy all the best for a very successful future. Great series of MCA this year, it is most definitely back to its best.

  10. Great finale, worthy finalists, terrific season. Congratulations to everyone involved in the show. Only criticism : The prize money is a bit lame considering the commitment involved. Main prize should defo be $250,000 (not taking away the value of the book deal and apprenticeships but it’s a massive three month run to get to the finale).

  11. Loved the finale! Glad Andy won! But the shouldnt have had 3 people in it, or atleast 3 people in every round and add up points from the start would have made it way more fairer but regardless it was an awesome season and it got back to its roots which was good to see and next season should be good aslong as they dont change too much

  12. Out of the two, Andy was the preferred winner.
    All 3 have come out winners in one way, so it’s quite nice. Even Kylie got an offer, nothing for Mindy yet though.

  13. Great finale, and even though I’ve been a casual viewer this year, I was on the edge of my seat by the end. A well-deserved victory. Hopefully Andy, having a real blokey personality will encourage more guys who dismissed the enjoyment of cooking to give it a go! He’s such a character.

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