MasterChef winner Brent Draper reveals plans with $250,000 prize money

MasterChef Australia’s Brent Draper has revealed how he plans on spending his $250,000 prize money after winning the reality show’s fifteenth season on Sunday night.

The 32-year-old former tradie, who recently announced that he and his wife are expecting their second child together, returned to the competition this year after withdrawing from season 13 to prioritise his mental health.

Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle following the finale, Brent shares that he has plenty of ideas on how he will spend his winnings.

“It's an absurd amount of money to think about what you're gonna do,” he remarks.

“Look, the wife’s laid down a law I can only buy one fun thing with it, which will be my boat because I’m a mad fisherman. So I've been allowed a certain amount of money, and then the rest will obviously go to investments and a cookbook. That’s one of the things that I want to work hard on straightaway.”

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Brent says he wants his future cookbook to be something that’s never been done before, describing it as “a tie between mental health and barbecue food”.

“I want to push the message that I've always pushed and just keep the conversation open,” he details. “If I can do it in a tasteful way, it would be such a great present to give someone who you think is struggling a little bit.

“Maybe it might have a mental health toolbox in the back, maybe stories of chefs and dishes, or just average people with stories that people can relate to and then maybe they cook a dish with me or something like that. I just want something that's very relatable and can open up a conversation. I’ve been put in this position and I need to keep pushing the fight against the stigma around mental health.”

Rhiannon's plans with her prize money

Although she didn’t win the ultimate prize this season, 47-year-old Rhiannon Anderson received $40,000 for finishing in second place.

She tells Yahoo Lifestyle she’d love to put the money towards pursuing a career in the food industry, including filming a cooking show and writing a cookbook.

“I'd love to travel around Australia and do a cooking show and promote fresh local produce and local farms,” she says. “I love farmers markets, so I'd like to put it towards doing something along those lines.

“I definitely want to do a cookbook and dedicate it to my mum. When she passed away I found a cookbook in her house from 1971, before I was born, and it had a message from her sister saying ‘We expect to see your name in print’. So it was a dream of my mum's and I want to do it for her.”

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