In a historic turn, season 7 winner Billie McKay became the first chef to win the MasterChef title twice. Standing strong in the Grand Finale alongside celebrated desi cuisine expert Sarah Todd, who masterfully put her love for Indian food on display. Billie won the culinary conquest – MasterChef Australia: Fans & Favourites, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, by a narrow margin of two points. Facing two massive rounds of British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal’s pressure test, Billie stunned the judges, earning her a final score of 58 out of 70, just about beating Sarah’s final score of 56.
Ensuring that her recreation of Heston’s Taffety Tart wasn’t just perfect, but almost exceeded the original, Billie re-attempted several elements of the glorious dish to up her standards. Following her incredible win, Billie said, “I felt like there was really no way in hell I would make those points back. I knew it was possible, but I knew it was going to be a massive hill to climb and I just had to make sure to do everything perfectly.”
The irony is that Billie won season 7 with Heston’s pressure test and she couldn’t have been more familiar with Heston’s sky-high standards. “Working at The Fat Duck was fantastic, but very intense and not the sort of style of cooking that I really enjoyed, so it scared me a bit and I felt like I needed a break from it,” Billie continued. “Getting that phone call to come back [to MasterChef], I dove in and I’m very, very glad now that I did.”
Maintaining her signature calm as she ran around the MasterChef kitchen, admitting she felt a bit like a duck on the water, Billie further said, “It definitely was the most stressful challenge that I faced in this season, and I think in the season I did before as well. It was the hardest dish I think I’ve ever attempted.”
Now, with a historic second win under her belt, Billie said she “Definitely will be cooking. I want to start little, something small in the area where I live on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. I’ll be looking around there and starting to do some cooking there.”
Billie took home the grand MasterChef trophy along with a prize money of $2,50,000 while Sarah was crowned the MasterChef Australia 2022 Runner Up with the judges awarding her $30,000.
Originally competing in the sixth season of MasterChef, Sarah returned to the competition having built herself a culinary empire featuring in multiple TV shows and opening two restaurants in India.
Meanwhile, Daniel Lamble, the first chef to make it into the Top 10, went home securing third place in the show with prize money of $20,000.
