After months of cooking challenges, special guests, amazing dishes, and a dedicated cast of cooks, MasterChef Australia has finally come to an end for 2022. This year, Billie McKay has taken out the top spot, just beating out Sarah Todd in the final challenge.
WATCH: Billie McKay reacts to her MasterChef 2022 win
While Sarah pushed ahead in the first challenge with her sweet and savoury chicken wings, Billie turned it out in the second challenge, where the girls had to re-create Heston Blumenthal’s notoriously difficult Taffety Tart.
While Sarah put in an excellent effort, Billie’s complete dedication to perfection saw her receive three nines and one ten out of ten – taking her to a winning score.
She’s also made MasterChef history, becoming the first person in the Australian series to win the show twice.
“I can’t believe it. I am so grateful for this experience. I’ve learned so much about myself. It’s changed a lot about me, and I’m really excited about that,” she said of her win.
It was set to be a nail-biting finale when Daniel Lamble was eliminated on Monday evening, leaving two ‘Favourites’ vying for the top spot.
READ NEXT: Fans fear for MasterChef judge over “odd” detail in finale
The 2022 theme, Fans & Favourites, had 12 returning competitors re-joining the competition up against 12 super-fans of the series, who had each been inspired to cook by the original returning cast.
Although Dan put up an excellent fight, no one was surprised to see two powerhouse cooks, Billie and Sarah, going head-to-head in the finale.
Billie first appeared on MasterChef in 2015, where she won the second season.
The win opened up a world of opportunities for Billie, who then went to work at Heston Blumenthal’s London Michelin-starred restaurant, Fat Duck, for six months.
She eventually returned to work on her family’s dairy farm, and caught up in the day-to-day as she got married and gave birth to a daughter, Ada.
Billie has revealed that leaving Ada behind to film MasterChef for 2022 made the decision to rejoin the show “very hard”.
“I guess [returning to MasterChef] also came at a perfect time as well. Being a new mum, it takes up a lot of your time and you put a lot of your own hobbies even and dreams aside to make sure that child is fed and watered,” she told Refinery29.
“But I think she was at a good age where I knew I could leave her and she’d be fine. I just thought. ‘Yeah, I need to do something for myself right now’.”
Sarah Todd has also made waves since her MasterChef debut in 2014, where she finished in the top 10.
She opened her first restaurant in Goa, India, in the same year, which led to a TV miniseries, My Indian Kitchen, which aired all over the world.
She opened another restaurant in 2018 in Mumbai and has been working across various TV projects ever since. She remains greatly inspired by her time travelling and working across India.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to speak about all the dishes I’ve fallen in love with,” she said of her return to the show.
“Although I do have an Aussie accent and so may not be pronouncing them correctly, but I know I’m getting the flavours right, that’s for sure,” she told Her Story.
Congratulations to Billie and to runner-up Sarah!
WATCH: Melissa Leong talks Masterchef Australia at the 2022 TV WEEK Logie Awards
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
