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MasterChef 2021 winner Justin Narayan crowned in epic finale
Justin Narayan has been crowned the winner of MasterChef Australia 2021 after battling it out for the title in an intense and emotional final episode.
After an epic first night of grand finale action on Monday, Justin was up against Kishwar and Pete going into the final task set by top chef Peter Gilmore.
Justin scored a huge 40 points for his savoury dish and 36 for the dessert dish, beating Pete by the tiniest of margins to take the title.
"I feel incredibly honoured and humbled to have that title and win this competition, I am genuinely going to take a week to process this and let it sink him," he said of his win.
Pete was the frontrunner going into the final cook with 53 points to Justin's 51 and Kishwar's 50, despite the fact he served MasterChef judge Melissa Leong raw quail meat, with the food critic admitting she was 'heartbroken' to have to score him just six points for the dish.
Justin crowned MasterChef 2021
Despite Pete being in the lead initially, betting agencies such as Sportsbet had Justin as the most likely winner before the final episode, with odds of $1.20, while both Pete and Kishwar sat at $7.
According to The Australian, the finale was shot on Wednesday, May 12 and went into the early hours of May 13.
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While in previous years, both chefs competing in the grand finale are filmed as winners to prevent the result being compromised and the real winner is then revealed when the finale was broadcast on TV, this year, this reportedly wasn't done to avoid torturing the runner-up who believed they may have won.
So who are the three cooks that made it to this year's finale?
Kishwar Chowdhury
Kishwar told the judges early on that it was her dream to share Bengali cuisine with Australia.
From rich, warm curries to simply utilising pink peppercorns to make a dish sing, Kishwar seemed to sail through the competition and is a fan favourite to take out the title.
"A grand finale isn't a grand finale without Kishwar; she never had a terrible cook, if she was down she would fight those emotions and climb back up again," one fan said on Twitter.
Pete Campbell
Pete was the first contestant to make it into the final three, and continues to show the judges his skills at bringing out the best in all sorts of ingredients, and his mind-blowing creativity when it comes to showcasing those ingredients.
The 36-year-old Tattoo Artist from NSW quit his corporate job in 2015 and is a self-taught cook after falling in love with food travelling across Europe, Asia and USA in 2013 with his wife.
The family were living in LA, but due to the global pandemic Pete and wife Alana decided to return to Australia and arrived back in late 2020. Without a job to return to, Pete applied for MasterChef Australia.
Justin Narayan
The judges have been blown away by Justin's ability to serve up a dish worthy of three Michelin stars one day, and a refined chocolate and potato chip feast the next.
He was the first contestant to coast into the top 10.
Being the first generation born in Australia, Justin’s Fijian and Indian heritage has always remained front and centre. His mum is among his biggest inspirations and Justin says she is hands-down the best cook he knows.
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