Over the last week, fans of MasterChef have become more and more invested in the show, and, inevitably, in the private lives of the contestants they’re seeing on their screens four nights a week.
And, in a very wholesome twist, it turns out that two of the 2026 contestants actually knew of one another before appearing on the season.
However, unlike MasterChef’s Back To Win grand finalists Laura Sharrad and Emelia Jackson (who were revealed to be great childhood friends despite being five years apart), this season’s contestants were at the same high school and in the same year.
And, better yet, neither had any idea they would be competing on the show together until running into each other at the airport!
Contestants Jackie Yu and Dot McHugh spoke to WHO about the moment they found out they’d be battling it out in the MasterChef kitchen.
Did Jackie and Dot actually know each other in high school?
News of the pair’s connection was first brought up on a Reddit thread, when a fan wrote: “So funny, stumbled upon this season of Masterchef and saw two familiar faces! I was in the same year as Jackie and Dot at high school, so a bit wild to see them together on Masterchef. They were both in adjacent friendship groups, so wonder if they applied together.”
Speaking to WHO, Jackie and Dot confirmed that “the rumours are true!”
“The rumours are true! Jackie and I went to high school together at St Catherine’s in Waverley — we were in the class of 2011 together,” Dot told us.
“Yep, it’s true,” Jackie also confirmed. “I actually had no idea Dot would be on the show.”
How Jackie and Dot found out they were both on MasterChef
Jackie explained she was at Sydney airport when she spotted Dot and the truth was revealed from there.
“I found out when I arrived at the airport gate going to Melbourne and was like “Dot? What are you doing here?!””
“We were in different friend groups at school and sadly can’t recall as many fun memories as we actually have together now. My earliest memories of Dot was just that she was super smart and always did well in class!”
So, turns out the contestants didn’t plan to compete together, but instead, MasterChef brought together these high school friends without realising.
How good!
Dot and Jackie’s reconnected friendship helped their MasterChef experience
The contestants – who have quickly become fan-favourites on the show – also spoke about how their reconnection has helped them survive the pressure that comes with a show like MasterChef.
“Even though we hadn’t been in touch for years, having that shared background and knowing each other from school created an instant bond,” Dot explained. “So even after all that time, it felt really special to share the experience with Jackie. It was an instant friendship with support and so much history!”
“It’s been so nice being able to reconnect after so long,” Jackie said in agreement. “I feel like we’ve changed so much since high school and it’s nice to build a friendship as adults.”
MasterChef is known for bringing about a range of wholesome and strong relationships throughout the competition’s production.
This year is no different, except now, there’s a little more history to make those pressure tests that much easier to push through.
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