Once relegated firmly to the foodie camp, Melissa Leong has proved she can do it all over the past 12 months, with a range of roles that have seen her venture away from the kitchen.
Granted, there was the not-quite-so-different move to co-hosting and judging Dessert Masters last year, but Leong has also branched out since she left MasterChef Australia earlier in 2023. Already this year, she has appeared on Play School, hosted the Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Week for Foxtel and examined the national healthcare system in three-part SBS docuseries The Hospital: In the Deep End.
“This year has been a total dream, to expand and evolve in ways that feel right for me,” the 42-year-old tells WHO. “I am so grateful for everything that was, everything that is and everything that is yet to come.”
With another new show in the pipeline, along with a book and a podcast that she isn’t quite ready to talk about, Leong reveals that sometimes she does set out to break the mould.
“I think it’s important for us all to see each other as multi-faceted and capable of more than we expect,” Leong says. “It’s a big life. Let’s encourage each other to grow, change and discover as much of ourselves and the world as we can, shall we?”
Of course, some of her fans might have felt like they were seeing a secret side to Leong’s life emerge when she sat alongside professional fighters Tyson Pedro and Dan Hooker to offer commentary on mixed martial arts (MMA) for UFC Fight Week on Foxtel in January. But on the contrary, she admits to having always had many different layers.
“We are all interested in many things, we are capable of so much in life and it’s about time we celebrated that in each other more,” Leong says. “Watching MMA is endlessly fascinating to me – it’s multi-disciplinary human chess with some of the best athletes in the world as the pieces on the board.”
This interest in MMA has extended to her own life, with the food critic revealing that she has taken up Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). The sport is not for the faint-hearted, and Leong has shared the repercussions of stepping into the ring for a match after she posted footage of her heavily bruised arm on social media in September.
“Gotta start somewhere!” she captioned the shot. “Thank you to everyone who rolled with me at BJJ this week. Learning comes with takeaways.”
Having been candid in the past about her struggles with mental health issues, including clinical depression and anxiety, Leong says the sport has had a positive impact on both her mental and physical wellbeing.
“I started learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu this year to help me understand ground control – grappling – better, and it’s been amazing for my brain and body,” she says. “It’s a thinking person’s sport and it’s helped me immensely with anxiety.”
Of course, food isn’t something that has gone totally out of season for Leong. She is just about to return to the small screen alongside French-Swiss pastry chef Amaury Guichon for hosting and judging duties on the second season of MasterChef spin-off Dessert Masters.
The gig is something that Leong calls “the cherry on my sundae”. The sweet family show offers professional pastry makers, confectioners and bakers the chance to win $100,000. With such a huge cash incentive up for grabs, it attracts the best of the best.
“We’re back with 10 incredibly talented professional pastry chefs who are out to prove what they can create when they harness the magic of the MasterChef kitchen, and Amaury and I have set up a series of edge-of-your-seat challenges,” she previews. “Getting to eat and judge creations made by professional pastry chefs. What tops that?”
The only thing that has a chance of stealing the show from the delicious and out-of-this-world edible creations might just be Leong’s wardrobe. Since her MasterChef debut in 2020, her colourful outfits, statement earrings and bold lipstick choices have made her a small screen fashion icon.
“I don’t think it’s possible to upstage the food, ever,” she notes. “Having said that, I am definitely a fashion girlie and I do think about what I can bring to the screen on every level, including the way I present myself.”