All Stories FeedJulie wins MasterChef Australia
38yo Julie Goodwin has won the inaugural title of MasterChef Australia. Goodwin, from the NSW Central Coast, defeated 35yo artist Poh Ling Yeow across three challenges.
The contest has gripped a television audience attracting bumper ratings, furious media coverage and ‘watercooler status.’ The finale is expected to chart over 2.5m viewers.
The 2 hour finale was a tight race between the two women.
Watched on by the previous contestants, the first challenge was a Taste Test with a pot served up by Gary, made up of 20 ingredients.
Poh scored 11 points when she incorrectly guessed Port as an ingredient. In an identical test, Julie scored 12 points after also guessing Port. It was an indication of their competitiveness.
The second challenge was an Invention Test with a core ingredient of chicken, the same food that comprised their first ever Invention Test. Both had 90 minutes to create a dish for a total of 40 points. Guest judge Curtis Stone joined the resident judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston.
Poh’s Hainanese Chicken dish scored 33 points. Julie’s Roast Chicken dish scored 34 points.
At the end of the second round, Julie was two points ahead.
The third and final round involved a Pressure Test with an exquisite chocolate dish prepare by Matt Moran.
While Poh scored 31 points, Julie scored 36.
The final score was 75 for Poh and 82 for Julie.
“I feel happy” was all she could say as her family joined her for the triumph.
For winning the contest Julie wins $100,000 cash, a publishing deal and work experience opportunities in some of the country’s best restaurants.
Poh was also offered an opportunity to learn alongside Curtis Stone.
Applications for the second series are now open at masterchef.com.au
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Just finished watching in New Zealand, final of Masterchef. Absolutely delighted that Julie won!! Well done and congratulations. To the critics…….what we forget when viewing is that we miss the tasting of the dishes …… and we are not the experts!
Yay I am so happy that Julie won Masterchef. She definitely performed by far the best on the night and totally deserves it. A lovely lady with a great personality that we didn’t really see come out until the final episodes. Also loved the judges – thought they did a good job and were inspirational – well done to everyone, can’t wait for the next series to be screened in New Zealand.
Tonight the penultimate programme shows in NZ so I couldn’t resist cheating to see if the winner was published! What a huge disappointment.
Julie has scraped through time and again, she has a most annoying flustered approach and stresses visibly. Will that make her a good chef? I think not.
All three – Chris, Poh and Justine were more suited to being “masters” in their field. Poh’s calm approach, combined with her creativity and artistic nous certainly showed her to be far superior than Julie could ever be.
Let us hope NZ’s version is a lot less biased.
poh should have won she was unflapable, a natural and more creative.
Just watching this show in NZ at the moment. There is only two people I would even consider to be Masterchefs, and that has to be Chris and Justine.
The favoritism being shown towards Julie is downright sickening. The judges couldn’t make it more obvious. Julie should of been gone weeks ago. She couldn’t even cook a leg of lamb, it was raw and floating in blood. She bumbles around, crys, and acts like a beginner with an Edmonds Cook Book. Why would I want to buy her book. Chris is the Best for sure. I have no alliance to any of them, but I can only talk about what I can see. Too much of a soap opera for me. Bring on Masterchef UK. Julie wouldn’t of even got into the semifinals of there show.
Nicholas – Poh & Chris stayed back to finish the wedding cake as Poh was the artist who was going to do the decorative icing. They ll decided it was silly for them all to stay up when they could do very little but watch – as they all had a very busy day the next day catering for the wedding reception – something which they were all very nervous about and wanted to do well. That hardly makes Poh a martyr.
She also got to go home and practice the things she had done incorrectly while on the show (e.g. cube noodles & deep fryed meringues) – while those still in the house were battling each other in the challenges.
I think any two of Julie, Chris, Poh or Justine could have justifiably made it into the top 2. I don’t think Andre & Sam really beat Julie & Justine in the HK challenge either. I’m also not sure about Poh getting through on her chocolate mousse cake when she had recipe to study overnight .
But the judges were the judges – they got to see and taste the food first hand.
Julie well deserved to win! My only faviourite the whole way thru. I knew she would be my faviorite from the day they were advertising it on TV. She is so genuine and cooks from the heart. A real true mum!
How do you enter to win so she can cook at my house?????
i am so happy that Julie won!!
Mark my words here…that grotty a current affair will try to cash in on the masterchef phenomonon tonight, and I have not seen any promos for it as not much lures me to 9. The cynic in me says they will hack at it in a negative way….Despersate CH 9, will do anything for sum1 to watch it. fancy finishing 3rd in an origin week, if it wasn’t for that saving grace dare I say ABC would have pipped them for 3rd!!! Suffer 9 you are where you belong…rock bottom!! And here’s why…….20 to 1, homemade, hole in the wall, wipeout, endless ramsay repeats, endless 2.5 stupid men repeats, cheap news values (ie) junior just out of uni reporters, grubby a current affair, stagnant getaway, mysogynist footy shows, blokey culture, cheap imitations of 7’s hits, not giving shows a chance to grow, Chequebook “journalism” .Should I go on or is that sufficient for now?Get my drift 9?? Lets see how you will try to imitate Masterchef eh? only a matter of time
Look on the positive 9, you do have the farmer wants a wife coming back soon, and surely CBS will churn out some new 2.5 men. Oh and that other “hit” in your bare shelves will be back soon wont it, I mean Australia cant wait to be engrossed with your aussie version of Lady to laddette.
PS 9, Im available to help you as a “consultant” if you like. Ive already given you loads of free advice and ideas on how to turn around your miserable fortunes….And I dont come cheap…get rid of Eddie free up some funds and Ill do the rest for a third of his salary. Call me, well email me first.
I enjoyed every part of Master Chef Australia`s season finally program last night. It was nice to see how those two competitors fought and also showed their last minute cooking skills. Julie perhaps was the person who has shown the most skills during the final hour. On the other hand, Poh has also shown her different Malaysian Chinese cooking techniques. But Poh was not that bad to lose the competition that I think. It was seen that judges supported Julie from the beginning of the show even though she was not able to perform well in many episodes in the past. Judges had a `soft heart` for Julie. From my observation I feel that there was a `twist` in the final judgment. Pho was not honored as the first Master Chef Australia because she is not as popular as Julie and also she was given the `second chance` to join the Master Chef after her elimination. Judges probably thought it would not be a good idea to honor a person as the first Master Chef Australia who was given the `second chance`.
Sandra was missing from the final show where all other contestants were present! There was not any announcement why she was absent!
Get over it all you knockers. Julie won fairly with well cooked and obviously tasty dishes. They may not have been an oil painting to look at but they obviously were up to scratch with the taste test. Chris never evolved throughout the competition. When asked to cook out of his comfort zone he rarely was exceptional. He was way too arrogant to learn anything new. I loved the way Poh did things with her food but in the end it came down to whose food tasted better. Poh had more things wrong with the choc dish than Julie whose only mistake was a thick pastry. It was obviously a very tasty thick pastryt. Maybe if Poh had finished her sorbet earlier she may have had a tasting advantage. Maybe if Poh followed the recipe she would have faired better. From what I could tell all contestants where at some time or other offered comments and an advantage throughout the series. Julie had a vision and a motivation that never altered and she grew and learnt and battled and overcome adversity. Chris was never going to win by serving up gristle, offal and boot leather. The prize was a cookbook deal of course you are going to have to have an idea about that. Chris’ idea was not up to scratch. Good on you Julie I’ll be at your loving eating establishment on opening night and Ill definately be filling in the back of your cookbook every chance I get.
Amazing how many comments this has generated – I have watched as an outsider (mainly in finals week) not an avid fan and must admit that Julie was exceptionally lucky to get to the final – she presented a pie with no sides and soggy filling, then raw fish, then three unfinished plates and still got to the GF – sorry but this is favouritism – if she had plated that stuff in the english version she would have been eliminated – I mean raw fish in a finals week – come on 10 lift your game – the final was won before anyone entered the kitchen – during the GF the judges tasted her food and warned her of problems which she then corrected by re-making – not good form – good luck Poh, Justine and Chris – you all deserve your dreams.
Julie was given an advantage on the chocolate test. the judges told her that she had a msitake and advised her to make another sorbet as her’s waas grainy and crystallising.
Julie was so lucky to make the final 2. She came 2nd last to lucas in the pie challenge, 2nd last to julia in the malaysian challenge, and 2nd last to chris in the cookbook challenge.
Chris + Justine should’ve been the final 2, but Poh also deserved to be there as well.
I reckon it was rigged, and although ill still watch the 2nd season, i’ll watch with less desire and enthusiasm.
and for those who think poh had a lucky ride to the finals as she was elminated, remember that on the wedding challenge, Poh was the one that stayed up all night to make the wedding cake looked spectualar while everyone else just went to sleep.
Master chef Australia is Julie. well congrats.
oh and I forgot to add….I wasnt a Julie or Poh fan….my 2 favourites were Justine and Andre. But unlike you sour ladies I accept that its a competition and beleive Julie won fair and square. Good luck to her. I will be purchasing my first cookbook!
@newsgirl and anita…your both sad and pathetic….do you really think anyone cares if you didnt watch it out of spite? Do you feel better about yourself that you “didn’t” watch it? Just shows you are a sour sore loser just like your hero chris. Im sure ch 10 is shaking with fear because you didnt watch…Get a life love. Im sure you, just like me cant wait for the next series to roll on
Hmm not able to comment as much as i would like as I still need to watch this finals week when I get home, but Julie, seriously!? Nice girl and all but….
Sort of like Idol where who remembers the winner some time on but 2nd 3rd contestants do much better commercialy.
I would have preferred ether Justine or Chris to win – both of who had a clear passion and plan but this is what reality tv is about
Also while I was happy to have an eliminated contestant back to the show – I think bringing back the 4 they did was not in best interest of the show.
All eliminated contestants should have been given the chance to try out and the cream would have risen to the top where one could have been selected.
As it was, at least an original won.
Learn from your Mistakes Ten – I think there are many valid points put forward in this forum by viewers of your program and I would take this as an indication of the greater viewing public.
Get this right and make season 2 better than this. You have the ingredients (hah) of a great show – now just need to get it right
@newsgirl….. we all know you watched the finale. No need for the awkward “I stand by my original decision to boycott, no matter how silly I seem”.
Julie won the finale fair and square – she was just very very lucky to be in the finale. Producers pet or whatever we like to call it – she was the favorite with the judges (not a dry eye) and has won. We the viewers do not see what the judges saw – we did not have one to one with the contestants – they loved Julie and that was that. Shouldn’t have been but it was.
I am really over the whole “favouritism” arguments. Poh got a second chance in the original audition (actually went home to pick up the ingredients she needed for a second dish when the first failed to impress). She then got brought back after being eliminated in a taste test.
She failed to decorate her chocolate mousse cake at all in the final week and yet Justine was sent packing because her’s didn’t taste as good as Poh’s. She also got through to the final 2 with advantages won in 2 out of 4 challenges – won fairly I might add. Had she not been able to choose the Malaysian theme or study the recipe of the Chocolate Mousse cake the night before – would she have made it through at all?
Poh’s weakness through the whole show became evident during group challenges – she has admitted herself that she would be dangerous in a busy kitchen. She also at times chose to ignore the recipe if it suited her. This backfired on her in the final.
Poh’s strengths were her creative flair and obvious knowledge of asian cuisines.
I’m not saying Julie did everything right but she worked her butt off to improve her weaknesses and grow as a cook. I enjoyed seeing her falter and bounce back under pressure. Through it all she maintained her sense of humour and her relationships with the other contestants.
Well done Julie! No doubt many of the contestants will secure careers in the food industry as a result of what they have learned on the show. So there will be many winners.
To all these people who claim that Julie should not be there because she failed to plate up all the extra garnishes she had planned in the Donna Hay episode seem to forget that Julie was the only contestant to complete the cake with all its garnishes a couple of nights before that.
I believe Poh should win the MC.
She create the best dishes then Julie and have more creativity for food.
the final should of been Pod and Chris and you can tell that all judges are in favor with Julie.
Poh was great! She was calm and determined on what her vision is after the come back from the elimination. I believed she knew where she stands in the competition, and she carried herself very well even after lost to Julie. I love cooking, and I love Malaysian food a lot. The way Poh put them on the plate was really innovative. Traditional taste, traditional technic, modern combination, styled presentation, she make it sophisticated and brought it into different level. Well done Poh!
Pull yourself together, Chris! No matter how you felt about the result, you can’t change it. The everyone watched the show were the judges, who was performing, who wasn’t, the truth was there. Don’t let the name (winner) bring you down. Your talent worth more than that. There is a standard in a reality show competition, but those standard didn’t justified talented contestants. But the whole Australia know your food, the world food industry know your food! Someone has to be the winner, someone has to be the lucky one.
Loved the show – loved the hype and loved the fact that the winner was not a vacuous 20 something wannabe with no class.. and no brain…whatever you think of Julie she gave up three months of her life without seeing her husband and kids to slave over a hot stove, sweat and cry in front of a sometimes hostile viewing public only to come out on top!.
To all those who claim they won’t watch it again because it was somehow rigged or lacking in credibility you will be one of the minority when this show returns for Season Two.
Yes this was reality show but the right one for this sort of economic climate – it had batllers, average looking people with nothing to lose – unlike the dreadful HomeMADE it had a heart and note there was little if any on screen bitchiness or backstage cat calls – the producers wisely left most of that out and let the contestants, the judges and the food speak for itself.
Series 2 – bring it on…I can’t wait!!!
I just wish I put some money on Julie to win. She was $26 to win and I think she even went out to over $50 to win before she made the top 6.
Anyone notice Sandra wasn’t there. Even Melissa was there who got voted off in the first week and Nick who left.
add regional viewers and they’ll be claiming 4 mil.
3.75 mil!!! What??! I love the show but honestly are our ratings for real. How many people have ratings boxes anyway. Does this make the MC final the most watched television in Australian history?
I feel a bit bad for Chris, cos I think the shows producers have made him into more of a villain than he really is.
Chris could have been making that face at any time during the finale, but the editors just managed to show it right when Julie has won.
Like the judging…smells a bit fishy to me.
According to Ten’s twitter the final pulled 3.7 million, and peaked at 4.1m. Wow!
Conspiracy theorists have been let loose again. All in the same week we celebrate the hoax of the moon landing. I think George is actually an alien and Chris is the antichrist.
Good on you Julie. I’m glad you won. You were the last person standing who had never been eliminated, so deserved your win.
Hainanese chicken, as nice as it is (it’s one of my favourite dishes because it’s so ‘clean’), was never going to be enough for Poh to beat Julie. It’s too simple a dish that many people can make, so it was a bad call by Poh there. And her attempts to present it in a fine dining manner was disastrous! Rice on one plate, three condiments on another, and chicken on another made it very awkward. I’m surprised Curtis Stone thought her presentation was good enough to warrant taking her with him to LA for a week! I also thought she would’ve added extra things to make it stand out. I’ve had Hainanese chicken rice with crispy spring onions in a food court here in Sydney, and something like that may have improved Poh’s dish with added texture and bite.
Congrats to Julie though, who simply performed better on the day, used her new techniques, and followed the dessert instructions to the letter.
It’s over now and the winner is decided so no amount of complaining is going to change anything but…….
I do think in these kinds of reality shows it would be much more fair if the judges blind tested the food (or judged the finished design of a house ala homeMADE not knowing who designed it). Then after they scored, were told who cooked or designed it!
After three months (if this is how long the show has been on) each judge has a favourite (how could they not), or maybe they believe someone deserves to win (most improved / sweetest person / most tears???) even if they were not the best (not saying Julie wasn’t').
Something to think about :O)
get a life anita
I laugh so hard at everybody with the tin foil hats proclaiming that the contest was rigged/racist because Poh didn’t win.
David, I saw your comments in the Sun-Herald and on the ABC News website, good to see your website being promoted to a wide audience.
Julie was a worthy winner. She was humble and took the advice of all her mentors.
I really was getting sick of Poh’s grin by the end of the night. She went the easy way too many times last night and paid the consequences.
I don’t buy many cookbooks, but I will be happy to have Julie’s sitting in my bookcase.
Similar to Idol though, with Poh coming second – she might actually be the winner out of this. While she doesn’t have the structured deal of work experience/cookbook/money – she may have an opportunity to eclipse the prize that Julie receives, while Julie is locked in to what she gets.
I can’t wait to find out the ratings.
Wonderful…many any congratulations…job wll done
if Poh had won how unfair would that have been..she had already been eliminated – and Julie is a way far better all round cook than Poh – Poh is
extremly limited when she chooses to cook only her national dishes. Is this
all she has learned from all these weeks – Gives us a break.
Go Julie Go..glad you beat Poh.
Just goes to show us all what we can do if we try try try..and that good old
Aussie spirit is apon us all..
I said I wouldn’t watch the final after the disgraceful Donna Hay episode, and I didn’t.
I wasn’t surprised though that Julie won. I can’t comment on what actually happened because, as I said I didn’t watch it, but all I can say is I predicted Julie would win it and I was right.
I really didn’t care who won the competition as long as it was fair….and going by comments here, it appears many believe it wasn’t. If Julie is to be crowned “matserchef” then where does that leave truly wonderful cooks, Justine and Julia? You may not have liked Chris, but remember editing can make someone likeable, or not. He was a very good cook. As good as Justine or Julia? Who knows, but I believe he was a damn side better than Julie.
As Julie stated in the paper this morning, “before I can open the doors of a restaurant, I really need to do training and get more education about the industry, how to be a good cook in a restaurant, rather than a home”
Well that says it all. Puddle Pie, uncooked chicken, collapsed lamb, un finished meals …she really needs help!
As for season 2…well, I’ll watch but won’t be quite as enthusiastic or devoted because it is reality TV after all and could end up again a bit of a farce…just like series 1.
still seems to be largely sour grapes here, the person I liked didnt win either but there is no point storming about the show being rigged, it’s reality t.v who can honestly say they didnt expect it????
I agree with Anita. We religiously watched the show each week but this last week has been a sham. Julie didn’t even plate up everything but still managed to oust Chris. Why? Because her cookbook idea as better! It’s masterchef, not Mastercookbook. The requiremant was for good plating up that would look good for a book and Julie’s was sad. If her food tasted better than Chris’ than that should have been the reason but the judges said her cookbook idea saved her. What rubbish!! Of course Chris isn’t happy! I really liked Julie but I’m no longer her fan. Justine and Chris were consistently better and more accomplished than Julie, and it wasn’t convicing why Poh lost. The judges warmed to Julie and showed favouritism, unfairly giving Julie help and she still didn’t derve 9/10s. I will go to Julie’s restaurant!!She shouldn’t have been in the final.
This series started with a lot of integrity and honesty but has left a very bad taste in my mouth. Hang your heads in shame mc judges and channel ten!!
To all the miserable whingers out there, you know the ones who threatened to boycott watching the finalecos your favourite didnt get through to those who had a mass sook at chris’demise, to those who bad mouthed every one of julie’s moves,to those who claimed the show was rigged, claimed it lost its credibility heres an idea I will offer you for free. Don’t watch it next year. So we don’t have to read about your misery. Congratulations Julie, and Thank-you Network 10 for this gem. Cant wait for season 2 to roll on
I agree with Annoyed! I think it was all rigged too. Personally, I don’t think either Poh or Julie should have been in the finals. Poh only seems comfortable with Asian dishes, which may be well and good, but surely to be Australia’s Master Chef, she should be good at all sorts of cuisine. It seemed to me that she was a favourite given unfair advantage, right from the first show. And Julie may be a good cook, but she ain’t no chef.
Last week I wasn’t sure, I thought we had no way of knowing if Chris should have won, without being able to taste his dishes, (they did say it was bland) so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. But now I am convinced! Firstly, they gave Julie extra help by telling her that her sorbet was grainy, giving her a chance to try again. That was an unfair advantage for starters. Plus, the main part of the dish should have been the tart, which they all agreed Poh had nailed.
Also, something else I was wondering about (for both Poh and Julie) What kind of recipe book could they possibly write? They are both amateur cooks, following other people’s recipes. Even if Julie becomes a chef, it will be years before she gets to be good enough to invent her own recipes.
I think to even pretend to some fairness, the final judging should have been a blind test, the judges scoring the dishes without knowing who made them. Of course that means they shouldn’t have been hovering over them while they were cooking, offering advice etc.
I was often flabbergasted how little these contestants knew! I am no chef by any means, but I still knew what a meat grinder looks like, how to temper chocolate (or have heard of it – Julie said she has never heard of it before!) how to lift the skin of a chicken to put stuffing under it, to roll out pastry on baking paper to prevent sticking, etc. And although it is possible that given the circumstances, I may have overcooked the fish, I know I would have known if it was still raw! I could go on and on with lots of other examples of surprising lack of knowledge. Another thing I just thought of – I know that putting chocolate in the fridge is not a good idea. Nor is not following the recipeprecisely for such a technical dessert.