The MasterChef Australia 2026 Grand Finale finally arrived on Sunday (August 9th) after months of high-pressure challenges and shock eliminations.
In the end, Vinnie was crowned the winner of this year’s competition, leaving Petro to cheer on and congratulate his friend and fellow contestant.
However, to stop the final result from being leaked, two different endings were filmed, meaning both Vinnie and Petro didn’t know who the final winner would be until they watched it live on their screens.
While the hit cooking show has been produced using this format for quite some time now, there is still little known about what it’s like behind the scenes. Speaking to WHO, MasterChef Australia judge and alumnus Andy Allen revealed how much the “finale is a beast of a day”, and what it takes to keep the magic alive.
Allen said everyone’s attitude was ‘one team, one dream’
If you’ve ever watched a MasterChef Australia Grand Finale, you’d know that the celebrations go big – meaning there is confetti, and lots of it!
While this makes for great television, Andy confessed to the impractical reality of having to film such big winner announcements back-to-back after a long day of filming.
“The finale is a bloody long day,” he admitted. “The finale is a beast of a day. It’s normally some crazy five-hour pressure test and so we’ve been in there in the wee hours of the start of the day, and then the wee hours of the morning.
“So everyone’s, like, ‘The quicker that this confetti gets back in those cannons, the quicker we get back to business and the quicker we can enjoy a beer at the end of the night.'”
“It’s crazy because if you’ve seen the confetti go off, that s–t goes everywhere,” he told WHO. “It’s all hands on deck to mop up all of the confetti, make sure there’s not a skerrick in sight, and put it back into the cannons.
“Everyone’s got the same marks and the same positions and it all just goes again, and then the confetti goes off again.”
Andy added: “We want to lend a hand, and everyone’s one team, one dream.”
‘There was a sombre tone lingering in the air’
Despite the air of teamwork and camaraderie Andy mentions, Top 2 contestant Petro revealed that the atmosphere wasn’t completely light-hearted, giving WHO a different perspective on the vibes of the day.
“The atmosphere was interesting, for me at least,” he confessed. “I think having the family in the kitchen, knowing it was going to be the last cook and everything was coming to an end, it felt more serious.
“There was a sombre tone lingering in the air.”
For Petro, this feeling just proved “how much this competition has meant to [him]”.
“I was so fortunate to be part of something that I had dreamt of since watching season one,” he added. “It meant the world to be in that final cook.”
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