I know logically MasterChef Australia is all about the cooking, but there’s something about the beautiful friendships that blossom in the MasterChef kitchen that tugs at my heartstrings and brings a tear to my eye.
Whether it’s the way food brings people together, the teamwork the kitchen environment creates, or the fact that I’m a big fkn sook is still to be determined. However, according to the cast of the latest season of MasterChef Australia: Back to Win, the friendships made in the MasterChef kitchen really are for life.
I’m not crying, it’s raining. I promise.
For Darrsh Clarke, MasterChef literally turned his life upside down in the best way possible. After placing sixth in season 16, Darrsh decided to make the move from Perth to Melbourne. But he certainly wasn’t alone — he moved in with his fellow contestants David Tan and season 16 winner Nat Thaipun.
As you can imagine, Darrsh says the kitchen is filled with “every bit of cooking equipment you could ever want”.
Coming back to the MasterChef universe for the second time, Darrsh has continued vibing with his fellow season 16 alum and made some new pals.
“Obviously it was great seeing the two from my season, Snez and Sav,” Darrsh tells PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I really got along with Ben, surprisingly. He’s a really top guy. I got along with Theo as well.”
Although he hit it off with Theo, Darrsh admits he didn’t think they’d be mates.
“It’s so interesting. He won’t mind me saying this but when I watched Theo on TV for his season, I came into this season being like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll get along with him’. I just don’t know what to expect,” Darrsh shared.
“He’s such an amazing dude, completely different to how I thought. I guess that’s a good and bad thing for him.”
For Theo, the biggest shock coming into the new season was that everyone was so down to earth, regardless of their followings or amazing achievements in the food world.
“I was surprised by how many people didn’t have egos coming into this, which was nice,” Theo admits, noting that it was great to meet people like Andre Ursini from MasterChef season one, whom he’d looked up to for years.
“Andre is almost a veteran in the restaurant game. To pick his brain about setting up restaurants and the way he went about things, and structured certain things, was great. I definitely learnt a lot from him and gravitated towards him a lot.
“Even Ben [Macdonald] and Jamie [Fleming] as well, they were good sounding boards for what I want to do in the future.”
Theo also had a lot of fun messing about with Laura Sharrard and Depinder Chhibber.
“Depinder was like a little sister,” Theo adds.
“She likes to joke around, we’d give it to each other. Laura as well.”
For season 15 superstars Declan Cleary, it was a joy to see Rhiannon Anderson again.
“My friendships carried through from season 15 with Rhiannon. She was the runner-up, number two. I think with the age difference, it might be a bit unexpected, but we just clicked from day one,” Declan shared.
“She’s so talented, she’s warm, she’s got hilarious energy, and we’ve just supported each other through thick and thin, like not only on the show, but off the show as well. So that’s been really special.”
Along with Rhiannon, he says he really enjoyed building steadfast friendships with Andre and Sarah Todd.
Fellow season 15 star Rue Mupedzi says that Rhiannon has been a friend to her since their season wrapped too, despite living “on opposite ends of the spectrum” in Perth and Townsville.
However, this time around, the self-confessed social butterfly said she really hit it off with everyone, but it was especially a joy to connect with people she’d looked up to, like Sarah and Laura.
Sweet, isn’t it?
To see their friendships develop, make sure you tune into MasterChef Australia: Back To Win on 10 or 10Play.
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