During Monday night’s episode of MasterChef Australia, a lot was on the line. As an elimination loomed for one of the eight contestants wearing a black apron, judge Andy Allen also revealed a $10,000 twist that had every chef cooking with even more vigour.
Contestants were tasked to spotlight one out of five ‘Around the World’ ingredients in a dish.
The hero ingredients consisted of bottarga from Italy, sansho pepper from Japan, banana blossom from Vietnam, alheira sausage from Portugal, and juniper berries from Sweden.
What made things more exciting was that none of the contestants had cooked with these ingredients before, and each and every one of them had the chance to win a $10,000 Trafalgar travel voucher for a trip around the world.
Casper – who was safe watching from the gantry – was offered the opportunity to forfeit his immunity for a chance to win this travel prize.
However, he opted against the risk.
After a challenging cook, Emily was the contestant who was sadly sent home as Pat made the top dish and won the cash prize with his ‘Juniper Roo’: barbecued kangaroo with pomme puree, barbecued asparagus, pickled beetroot in gin, and juniper sauce.
Speaking to WHO about his victory, Pat discussed his plans for the travel voucher and hinted at some exciting potential life changes on the horizon.
“My partner Emma and I love to travel so it would be incredible to tick off one of our bucket list locations using the Trafalgar voucher,” he told WHO. “It might take a while to get the trip organised though with two young daughters, but hopefully, we’ll get somewhere soon!”
‘Maybe we will elope!’
When the news of Pat’s win was announced, fans were quick to congratulate the father-of-two.
“Well done Pat for winning the $10,000 travel voucher,” one fan wrote online.
“Fantastic win for Pat,” another agreed. “So deserving of the win. With a new baby, this money will surely help.”
While the money will certainly help with his young family, Pat also revealed some more spontaneous plans for the prize, as well as where he plans to travel!
“Being food-obsessed, there are a few locations I have been dying to get to, but my absolute top priority is Spain,” Pat said. “I love the style of food and flavours that Spain offers, so I would love to go there with Emma.”
“We are overdue for a wedding too, so who knows, maybe we will elope!”
You heard it here first! We might have another MasterChef wedding on our hands this year!
Pat reflects on MasterChef’s ‘supportive’ atmosphere
This isn’t the first win Pat has secured this season, as his caramel Anzac slice ice cream hit the shelves of Coles just over a month ago.
When chatting to WHO about this win, he also reflected on the whole MasterChef experience, and the “supportive network of people” that he has felt so lucky to cook alongside, helping him get far in the competition.
“I think I’ve had a couple of good cooks recently where the judges have said that they’re really impressed with what I can do and that if I keep going on the same trajectory, I can go pretty far in the competition,” Pat said. “But everyone’s so supportive.”
“From my fellow contestants there, we’re becoming this one big family, and we all just love supporting each other and helping each other out.”
Pat added: “When the cameras stop, we’re all cooking together and giving each other advice and helping each other out with dishes, and it’s just such a super supportive network of people; it’s been so good.”
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