Canberra boy Simon Toohey is still smiling after being eliminated from MasterChef Australia. Back to Win, just missing out on a spot in the top 10.
He was eliminated this week, a "naked broccoli" dish his undoing, making him the 13th contestant eliminated from the show, which sees former competitors across the last 11 series return for another shot at glory.
"It's disappointing and it's never a nice feeling to not make a great dish, but in the scheme of things, it works out positive," the ever-optimistic Simon said, on Wednesday.
Born and raised in the national capital, the former Canberra Grammar student, now living in Melbourne, did back-to-back MasterChef seasons, reaching the grand final of the 2019 series and ultimately finishing third.
He felt proud to compete against other former contestants such as Poh Ling Yeow, Callum Hann and Hayden Quinn.
"It's crazy, the level of cooking," he said.
"There are people who have had their own restaurants and had the most amazing cooking careers in kitchens and it's tough because you're going against those people and I haven't had a professional job in a kitchen at all."
He was able to laugh about his final challenge, creating a dish that showed what Australia meant to him.
"I thought I hit the brief perfectly, because who didn't grow up with mushy broccoli?" he said, with a laugh,
Post-MasterChef, Simon, 33,is working on his latest Sustainable Earth Network, which include posts on YouTube, focusing on using whole ingredients and fighting food waste.
"It's all about celebrating the plant environment and vegetables and fighting food waste and minimising plastic and focusing on everything we can to create a really positive food environment," he said.
"We've got the talent to create change in Australian food and I want to be the voice of that."
Simon said he wanted to bring some events to Canberra.
"We have to, yes," he said.
"My partner Georgia has never seen Canberra, or where I grew up, so we're be talking to some restaurants about maybe taking over the kitchen and confirming that closer to the event.
"There's also a really good cooking school over near Fyshwick way which my good friend is involved with that we'd like to do something with and also the ANU rooftop garden is something I've love to get on board with as well."
And he will be watching the outcome of MasterChef. Back to Win, saying the new judges Melissa Leong, Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo had brought amazing chemistry to the 12th season.
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"The old judges really solidified one of the best reality shows, and the best cooking shows, in the world so it really was a hard task to get these three new judges to pick up where the others left off," he said.
"But they have and they've nailed it. Mel speaks so beautifully about things and is so passionate. So are Andy and Jock. As a trio, they couldn't have found anyone to do a better job."
- MasterChef. Back to Win is on WIN Television.
