When it was announced that Robert Irwin would be joining the long list of celebrity guest judges on MasterChef Australia this season, fans were surprisingly a little divided. While most are excited to see the beloved Aussie back on our screens, some aren’t so sure that he’s the right fit.
“Does Robert Irwin have any culinary chops at all?” one fan questioned. “Or is he just some random celebrity they are trotting out?”
“Not sure why Robert Irwin is on MasterChef when he is not a cook,” another said, while a third predicts the conservationist will likely just say all the food is good.
However, as the feedback continues to roll in online, judge Andy Allen told WHO that fans have nothing to fear about Robert’s appearance on the show, and instead, he’ll likely surprise us all just like he did with his dancing.
MasterChef’s Andy Allen marvelled over Robert Irwin’s food knowledge
Andy has defended Robert against the critics, revealing that the Wildlife Warrior does, in fact, have a lot of knowledge about food!
“I was so surprised at the guy’s food knowledge, how much he cooks, how much he loves to eat and how much he just knows about food,” Andy told WHO.
“He has a restaurant up at Australia Zoo and so when he came on, I was like, man, you have just given Australia, especially the female population of Australia, just another reason to swoon over you. Because you can cook now, everyone knows you can cook now and you love your food and you know a lot about food, so you’re just ticking more boxes. It’s amazing.”
Andy admitted that he thought Robert would know “a little bit about the show”, but loved hearing him say that it has been a dream of his to be on it.
“He’s been such a fan of the show, and he knew about all of the challenges, like he was rattling off different challenges and all that kind of stuff. And to hear that from a guy who’s got so much going on in his life like that, every year he tunes in, he watches as many episodes as he can.
“And for him to tick off one of his bucket list items of being in the MasterChef kitchen, I was like, man, this show is amazing.”
Andy added that when Robert arrived in the kitchen, he had his signature “high Irwin energy”.
“The contestants were like me, [they were] blown away with how much he knew about food, how much he cared about food, how much he cared about Native Australian ingredients, how much he cared about sustainability, like he had so many reasons to be there in the end.”
The preview for Wednesday’s episode shows Robert admitting that he believes being in the kitchen is harder than wrestling with crocs!
He also showcased his culinary knowledge, questioning how the contestants would balance flavour across their dishes.
So, yet again, it seems like we’re in safe hands with Robert!
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