MasterChef Australia is back for season 18 and according to judge Poh Ling Yeow, it is finding its way back to what made it great in the first place.
Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli are in the judges’ chairs, with a guest lineup that covers a lot of ground, from Maggie Beer, Curtis Stone, Adriano Zumbo, Sanjeev Kapoor and Rick Stein to social media names DimSimLim, Andy Cooks, Victoria Minell of Recipes by Victoria and Lily Huynh of biteswithlily.
Robert Irwin and Jimmy and Jane Barnes are also making their MasterChef debuts this season and as if that weren’t enough, 10 has revealed that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, will be stopping by too.
Season 18 kicks off
The first episode of Season 18 aired on Sunday, April 19. The show set the scene with a nostalgia trip in the best possible way, with scenes from earlier seasons projected onto the facade of the kitchen set.
Viewers got to see the audition process woven back into the show this time around. Forty contestants were split into two groups of 20, competing head-to-head for their white aprons. A few were handed out on the spot, which set the tone pretty quickly: the standard is high and the competition is stiff from day one.
The dishes that turned heads included a plate of chicken and prawn mala dumplings, a black sesame and yuzu chiffon cake, a beautifully charred octopus and an ofada stew with plantains and Nigerian-inspired rice. Monday night’s episode 2 had a similar vibe with another octopus dish making a splash alongside a Dukkah-style lamb and an unexpected panino stealing the show.
The contestants who made it through had one thing in common – they made bold decisions and were very confident in their strengths.
Which brings us to the judge who perhaps understands that better than anyone.
Tell me your story
“I am proof that you don’t need to win MasterChef to make your dreams come true,” Poh Ling Yeow said in the opening episode, and as someone who has done exactly that, she would know.
Yeow is essentially MasterChef Australia canon herself, having been the runner up in season one, now making her way to the judge’s table for the third time. That history gives her a unique perspective on the show and how it operates both logistically and emotionally. She has watched the show grow, stumble and course correct over the years.
The stumble, in her view, came when the show chased prestige over relatability. Between seasons one and five, it escalated quickly, riding the wave of Heston Blumenthal’s multi-sensory cooking and highly technical molecular gastronomy, and somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like food people could connect with or replicate in their own kitchens.
“I felt like the show actually took a bit of a dive in ratings at that point, because people couldn’t relate to the food,” says Yeow. “I think the days of just watching it for escapism are gone. I think people want to relate to the food and be able to go to the supermarket, buy the same ingredients and cook it with their kids.”
The show has spent years since then trying to get back to something more grounded, and Yeow thinks this season is getting it right. “I think the last few years have been really successful doing that,” she says, adding that the goal now is to cast the kind of cook that people can relate to while still feeling aspirational.
What Yeow actually wants to see on the plate is pretty simple: a real, authentic story rather than a technically flawless dish cooked by someone performing a version of themselves. She is hoping this season brings food that reflects where the contestants come from and what they are made of.
“Being original is actually being yourself,” she says. “Telling your family story. It should reflect authentically what you’ve come from, what you’re made of, what you grew up with.”
“Sometimes they feel like they’re the ones that are kind of disadvantaged, because they don’t have this culture to borrow from that gives them a point of difference. But then I’ll see them dig deep, and they tell these really moving family stories.” That deep dive into their own history is what Yeow is hoping to see more of this season.
The judging panel
Yeow says she has learned a little bit of something from everyone on the judging panel, and with a team that includes Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli alongside Andy Allen and Sofia Levin, it is not hard to see why.
“I’ve learned so much from all of them,” Yeow says.
She specifically calls out Levin for her encyclopaedic knowledge of global cuisines, the product of being the most widely travelled of the group. “She’s probably eaten the most cultural cuisines of any of us. She’s very well travelled and a very enthusiastic eater. She’ll be able to pull dish names out of the bag like there’s no tomorrow.”
Allen is the one she learns from most in terms of technical precision. “He’s got a really amazing palate and he’ll be able to size a piece of steak and know exactly how long that needs to go on the pan,” she says. She also appreciates how plainly he communicates, something she admits she sometimes struggles with herself. “I tend to get a little bit tongue tied and overcomplicate things in my head. I love how he breaks it down really clearly and simply for the contestants.”
Being in the judge’s seat does not mean she has switched off the part of herself that knows exactly what it feels like to be on the other side of the pass. “There is no disconnect,” she says. “I just so fully empathise with what they’re going through, but I still have to do my job. You always have to be very diplomatic, but still make it so that they are motivated to improve.”
The art of just being Poh
There is a reason Yeow is a Golden Logie nominee and one of the most watchable people on Australian television. “I’m just really a massive dag,” she says. “I just don’t really put on any airs and graces.”
She came into the industry at 35, already knowing who she was, and has been rigorous about protecting that ever since. “I really fight hard for it. If I ever feel like I’m being asked to do something that doesn’t feel right, I won’t do it, or I’ll find a way that we can agree on that still feels like I’m being myself.”
That extends to how she thinks about her own limitations too. Yeow doesn’t really buy into the imposter syndrome narrative. “I don’t necessarily identify with imposter syndrome. It’s more that I don’t feel a belonging in positions I know I’m not great at. I don’t think it’s a feeling, I think it’s a fact. I’m very realistic and grounded about where my strengths and weaknesses are.
“I’m not an actor, I’m a presenter. There always have to be parts of your real self that are being revealed, even though you’re presenting. The trick is to make it seamless so that when people see you on screen and they interview you, there’s, like, not much of a difference.
“When I’m being asked to do something off screen, that’s the litmus I always put it through. If I did that and hopped off camera, am I being told to be a different person?”
Yeow is excited for audiences to watch this season and is confident it will deliver. “It’s going to be a really great season,” she says.
MasterChef Australia Sunday 7pm, Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm. Watch and stream on 10
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