For 14 weeks, six nights a week, we were glued to Channel 10 every night at 7.30 to watch Master Chef. Last night Adam Liaw, a 31 year old media lawyer became the second Australian Master Chef. Before the winner was announced, Adam said he was used to coming in second all his life which made it a sweet victory for him. He won $100,000, a cookbook deal and guaranteed media celebrity.
Twenty year old Callum Hann was runner up. He was a favourite among many - he would get so nervous, his hands would shake violently and I expected him to fold at any moment, but much to everyone's delight, he hung in there and made it all the way to the final. Both contestants were asked to identify some cooking ingredients and probably because of his youth, Callum missed out on three - he couldn't identify bocconcini, guava and hollandaise sauce. But at the end of the show he was offered a three-month apprenticeship at judge George Colombaris's Melbourne restaurants.
There were so many good cooks on the show but judge Matt Preston said that Adam won because he was "highly skilled" and had "an intellectual approach to food". Whatever that means, I think he was just a damn good cook.
The Ten Network series was watched by an estimated 4 million people, making it the most successful local TV program ever. Both finalists were from a field of 7,000 applicants. For the final dish, they were allocated 3 hours to make a difficult desert called a "snow egg" made with guava and custard apple with ice cream encased inside a crunchy meringue egg. While Hann's dish was awarded three 8's and one 9 from the judges, Liaw received all nines which made him the winner.
Sponsors must be laughing all the way to the bank.
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