Brent Draper is just one of the exceptional home cooks battling it out on MasterChef Australia this year, but after being exposed to a COVID hot spot, he’s been forced to temporarily sit out of the show.
On Monday, judge Melissa Leong informed the contestants that the 31-year-old has been exposed to a COVID hot spot and because of that has to quarantine until Sunday’s elimination, avoiding the pressure test.
“We’ve all agreed that to make it fair for everyone, Brent must compete in next week’s pressure test no matter what, and if he survives that he will continue on in the competition as usual.”
Queenslander Brent grew up eating meat and three veg but his love of food and cooking began when he was 18-years-old and lived in a share house with roommates who didn’t even know how to turn on a stove.
“My cooking style is a bit like my face, not refined at all,” the boilermaker admitted in a trailer.
“I’m 100 per cent self-taught, I found a passion I didn’t know that was there.”
Already, Brent has earned himself a legion of fans thanks to his humble and down-to-earth attitude.
If you’re falling in love with Brent, bad luck because he’s already taken.
The MasterChef contestant is happily married to his wife Shonleigh and they share two-year-old son, Alfie.
“Being a father, this little switch just flicked,” he admitted in the premiere.
“I can’t preach to my little boy about going for your dreams, when I’m not doing the same thing.”
Brent dreams of one day hiring a camper van and travelling around the country, cooking and teaching people how to prepare quick and easy meals.
Brent first impressed the judges with his Middle Eastern lamb shanks with baba ganoush and flat bread and was moved when he made it to the top 24.
Taking to Instagram shortly after the premiere, the 31-year-old shared a photo of the moment he called his wife with the judges to tell her he was in the competition.
“This moment, deadset will go down as one of the greatest things I’ve done in my life,” he captioned the post.
“Calling my beautiful wife to show her I got a white apron, just… words cannot describe how I’m feeling right now. Still can’t believe last week I was in hi-vis and now I’m in a white apron. If this doesn’t make you wanna go out and have a swing at life, I don’t know what will! Let’s get this legends!”
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