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
MasterDisaster Julie wins MasterChef Australia – what an absolute farce!!! … Does anyone seriously believe the final Invention and Pressure tests were scored fairly??? … Funny how they never showed Julie cutting into her chocolate pastry cake, like they did Poh… Probably because Julie’s was harder to slice through, because the pastry was too thick, and they wanted the audience to think she did a great job with it, worthy of the 9′s she got from all the judges… Well they sure didn’t fool me, nor the fact they always scored Julie last, so they could have their triumphant ending, with Julie winning, when the final score was revealed… The judging was so obviously staged to favour Julie, like it had been though the entire final week, so the end result utterly lacks credibility, and the entire series lost the integrity it started with in the end… A truly unworthy winner, considering the cooking talents of other contestants, unfairly eliminated because of her, like Chris, and I definitely feel like I wasted my time watching the show from start to finish with this dud end result…
what a finish to a great season of MC although i wanted Poh win.i think it was a little unfair because of the advice that got given to julie and why didn’t the judges say or do anything about Poh when she was putting the chocolate cigar in the fridge and not putting it in the oven for 5 seconds but i guess thats why they have editing
great show, great season,great contestants and judges
What a joke! Julie never deserved to be in the final let alone win, jesus effing christ. Heck, if i’d known a trip to LA with the sexy curtis stone was the runner up prize i would have thrown the whole thing ~ lucky Poh!
Great result to a good 1st season. Julie is a deserved winner with an appeal that should see her succeed after the show
Come on, David; I know you’re tempted to add that close-up shot of gloomy Chris near the end. That was the shot of the season.
hey chris was an a**hole, a pig, an arrogant up himself loser!!! just go look at the poll david put up and see the results!!! julie served up a restraunt style chicken dish where poh served up a simple dish that looked simple, julies desert was much better than pohs although poh’s was better looking. the fact is the producers dont want a chef opening up a restraunt that hasnt got the skills so she obviously gets a tick in their book! julie is also the mum just like our mums who cook us dinner every night and she did great!
I must confess… I missed this Classic Piece of Australian Television…
Wonder if Hillsong had anything to do with this?
Julie should not have won! THe only fair test was the first one…and how can they give Julies dessert 9/10 when she didnt even nail the chocolate tart which was the main dessert of the dish.
Dont get me wrong, picking Julie meant the teary great ending Masterchef wanted. From the minute Donna Hay, came to judge the last 3, I think that Julie became the winner. She is a great cook but no masterchef!!! Even her answer to winning Masterchef gives her away!!!! This is not her dream….she just wants to cook now with what she knows and not really wanting to go any further.
I think it is an insult to all chefs to call her Masterchef after all the years of training and sacrifice they have put in their craft only to give it to somebody who is not willing to take it further. It is suppose to be a big steping stone to a career in food industry, not en end to it! What a waste!!!! Shame on Matt, George and Gary!!!!
Next year, these 3 judges should not be judging the Finale as they are too close to the contestants and they have their favourites. It should be 3 guest chefs from the show!!!! Let it be fair and go to a chef that will actually take it further!!!!
Did Julie deserve to win the prize? Yes as a person and mum.
Doe she deserve to be called Masterchef? Nooooo:(
I love you GuanoLad, perfect answer
Loved both the top 2, although I personally preferred Poh, but I’m not going to cry “rigged” over it.
I just realised that this show has truly succeeded. The fact stupid people are crying foul because their favourite didn’t win shows the passion we poured into this show; the fact we actually care about the results. Of course it isn’t rigged and that anyone who thinks that it is is just ignorant, but at least their making their destructive and misguided voices heard publically
Well done TEN and Masterchef – success!
Apparently Im the only one who said they were not going to watch tonights episode and did….
Absolute rubbish.
Australia we should hang our heads in shame if thats the best we have to offer.
Get over it folks, Julie was the best, Poh came second and what Chris served up was as bland as his hat !
Predictable. Dull. Boring.
I’m sure the producers/judges are patting themselves on the back for making the token aussie battler win. Obviously more dollars to be made from Julie than a slightly offbeat girl with an asian heritage and a self confident guy with slightly greasy hair. Sad.
Cmon guys, even you one-eyed Julie lovers can’t seriously stand there and say she was the best “Chef” in this competition? That’s a joke right?
I know there’s some dodgy, backhanded goings on with alot of reality shows, it’s par for the course, but I’ve never seen such a blatant, obvious and over-manipulative sham as this.
Yeah, I know it’s only a silly reality show, but I fear it says alot about our mentality as a nation. Innovation, risk taking, skill – all of this shouldn’t get in the way of a good, marketable aussie battler story. Yawn.
It seems to me that there are an awful lot of viewers who are particularly frustrated that they don’t get the opportunity to vote contestants off themselves, on this particular Reality show.
Having to sit back and watch experienced experts cast practised eyes across familiar dishes and make judgement calls apparently isn’t good enough. It appears the true judges are those far away, watching from their couches, basing their opinions from edited television clips.
Face it, folks. You weren’t there; you don’t know what the dishes actually tasted like; you don’t get a say in who wins or loses. Deal with it.
Reality television or contrived television? Julie was the focus of the MC ads before the show had even begun…the winner was determined before the show even started! Big Brother used to do it all the time with the sop stories…Ben wins Series 1 over fan fave Sara Marie because of his impending blindness (he was boring as bats*it), Peter wins Series 2 because of his being an orphan/looking after little brother sob story (he too was boring as bats*it), and as much as I loved Terri in the final series, she conveniently wins the series after the producers decide to let us know who was leading (and it wasn’t Terri) which they’d never done before! And now we get sucked into Julie’s missing her family for 3 months sob story and she sells a million cookbooks. Loved you Jules but you were not Australia’s *best* amateur chef!
I still can’t believe she won seriously.
shocked! julie was not deserving, the judges liked her personality more than they did her food. chris was robbed and justine should not have lost either! absolutely loved the show such great viewing, just wish there was a better winner
The end of the show was really heartwarming.
I liked both the final contestants but am glad that Julie won. Poh had it coming when she ignored the instructions in the pressure test- i liked her but Julie won fiar and square.
Poh actually cried in this episode, I never saw her cry before…
and the look on Chris’ face was hilarious! The old grouch looked so bitter.
lol, just checked out that Daily Telegraph link
“Poh’s a very deserving winner,” she said. “I’m proud of her, she’s a good friend and I wish her every success in the world.”
Oh dear, there goes the Daily Telegraph’s credibility….oh that’s right, you can’t lose something you’ve never had!
i think Julie deserved to win based solely on her response to George in tonight’s show:
George: You look worried
Julie: I am worried!
George: What are you worried about…?
Julie: Worried about losing
George: Yeah, OK…..
Suck that one, George
That was hilarious.
though chris was good…note with game meat only….. he should realise that there is no way a person with his demenaour willl be put on magazines.id rather buy a magazine with julie’s smiling face than grizzly bear…….but thats just me..and the judges….what does julie see in him anyway
i always felt chris should have simply be eliminated on the first round.who wants all that hair on your plate… and the hat…what is he,a pimp or a make believe chef……i do believe julia not julie…..should have won…she was actually quite good out of all thec ontestants…juliee…….not so much but hey can you imagine chris’s photo on new idea….eccckksssss no magazines would sell…..
If the point scoring method was in from the beginning I doubt very much we would have seen Julie in the final. Poh should have followed the recipe but surely Julie shouldn’t have had the help of the judges in such an obvious way? What a disappointing end to an otherwise enjoyable series.
congrats to julie for winning. Chris needs to stop acting like a baby and show some gratitude to julie. It was well deserved. Bring on Next year :=)
Congratulations Julie, she is amazing! She may have not been the best cook but she proved herself! A perfect end to a brilliant show! I choked up just like Gary!
People should stop badmouthing Julie, she’s fantastic and played fair throughout the whole comp. Rating are going to be interesting!
What a great finale to an awesome show. I have greatly enjoyed this show, although i do not like the post-episode snippet interviews with the contestants, as you can tell the outcome from their demeanour
A reality show which was interesting, family oriented, hosted by professionals, and as balanced as can be possible for television. So much better than the dross out there. Fremantle media have again made an excellent production (go Farmer!)
David, I just saw your comments on ABC News website!
Its interesting to see that the tv ad for this weeks Woman’s Day is featuring Julie as the winner.
I’m really quite amazed how the secret of who won was kept considering how much interest there was in it and how many people must of known.
Oh to all those people who are making noises about julie getting an unfair advantage with the advice she got. the thing is with the way the show is edited you don’t know what advice ( if any ) Poh was given
Arrogance saw the demise of Poh. Who doesn’t follow the recipe word for word under these circumstances? Idiot. Speaking of arrogance – Chris is just mean spirited. His body language and sooky expression was the only sour note to a good finale. Miss the show already. Good luck Julie.
Rigged. Full stop people. Just face it. I would love to get my hands on some emails between the TV execs and the hosts.
Can I book a table at Julies restaurant. I want the roast lamb and potatoes and one of her fabby cakes regardless of how much chocolate she gets on herself !
Amazing result and thank goodness Julie won all 3 challenges or the knives would really have been out. Thanks for an wonderful series. I never thought there could be a show that would fill the hole that BB left when it was axed. But I was wrong! Roll on the 2010 MC series.
Any news on the actual number of viewers yet??
what a win, congratulations Julie you had me in tears, Poh, next time follow the recipe
a fitting end to a great 3 months of television… a good, fun, well-balanced production doesn’t have to be all bells and whistles!
great production values, great characters (judges and contestants), great food
soon we will be dished up the weekly celebrity version, a bit of fun… roll on MCA 2010
A free trip to LA with Curtis Stone……I think I know who the real winner was!!
What a great show, with 2 well-deserving finalists. For the negative nellies – just be happy for her
how filthy did Chris look?!?!?
Julie was a deserved winner. I think the Hainanese chicken rice let Poh down. Even though this dish has many regional variations (Poh’s was Malaysian style), it is not too difficult to make, as long as you cook the chicken right.
I too want to go to ARIA for desert !
Just brillaint, just Julie. Can’t wait for the cook book and can’t wait for the next series. Poh is a winner as well. I want to try her 100 day old eggs recipe (i think). It’s a shame Chris didn’t smile for the cameras. Thanks channel 10 for giving us a show that is inspiring and not tiring !
You have to remember that Poh didn’t start her sorbet until the last minute and it was Curtis who told Julie it was grainy, as guest judge and as all the past judges they have stepped in and helped. No one can blame Julie for winning. She followed the last recipe unlike Poh who didn’t wanted to put that cigar thing in the oven and she wanted to do it her way.
Yes that look on Chris’s face was very obvious that he was not happy to see Julie win. Chris may not have won Masterchef but at least he got a girl out of it.
I want to go to ARIA now and eat Matts dessert. All that chocolate. Yum!
Looks like The Daily Telegraph had 2 stories ready to go and tried to get the jump on the announcement and picked the wrong one. Serves them right!
To everyone saying that Julie was given 2 tips for her chocolate dish, the first one about the biscuit base she couldn’t change, and was criticized for by the judges, the second one with the tasting of the sorbet only happened because the sorbet was done whereas Poh hadn’t even started hers. Poh ignores advice anyway…just like she ignored the instructions by not putting the chocolate mixture in the oven and the put it into the fridge when the instructions clearly said not to.
You have to remember this show is heavily edited, so there could have been a lot of things cut out.
The judges have to judge on the food put in front of them and Julie clearly won tonight.
Poh deserved to go down for her idiocy in not following the recipe in the final test. How many times did the judges say throughout the series that you can’t muck about those kinds of recipes? Who goes to all that trouble getting the temperature exactly right and then thinks “oh well a bit of fridge time won’t hurt”?
Good one Julie, well deserved, and she spoke well. Could have done without the kids’ appearance but I guess that was inevitable.
I Derserve $10 Dollars for choosing Julie from my Dad
I think Poh should have won. But as someone said on Twitter, Julie is Woman’s Day / New Idea Gold. Of course she won.
Corrected Daily Telegraph story
Does anyone know why Sandra was not there?
I think that the judges should not have given any help on the final night. Not really fair.
Congratulations to Julie.
David – you might want to investigate as to why The Daily Telegraph website posted news that Poh had won at 9pm EST ‘Australia’s culinary experts backed her and Poh Ling Yeow delivered, becoming the first contestant to win MasterChef Australia last night’ – (guessing they broke an embargo as well?) They did the exact same with The Biggest Loser winner announcement.
Wow. A week ago I posted this:
“What would send thrills of joy through my heart is if Julie won.”
And I am thrilled, but also stunned because I really didn’t think it would happen.
Hurrah!
Anyone spot Chris’s grumpy bulldog look at Julie’s win? Well done Julie – you came real good at just the time you needed to! Poh will do well – would rather she’d have won but glad she made it to the final two.
Even with all of the editing it stillcame out as a sham! Julie’s sorbet was heading for disaster, so the judges tell her and she gets to do it again. Poh keeps hers in the fridge to long, but only the voice over lets us know…did the judges actually realise she was there. I loved the show, but I am embarrased the winner is a cook with poor time management and who tends to collapse under pressure. Just glad I am not on the Central Coast, as I won’t feel the need to sit in a cafe waiting for the 5th attempt on my homely meal…no thanks.
Sham, sham sham…and no that is not misspelt!
Thanks to all for Daily Telegraph link
It was a lovely, teary, heartwarming finale. The fact that their families came out afterwards goes to show what a family-oriented show MC is. Good luck to Julie and Poh, and bring on tomorrow morning’s ratings!
Julie deserved to win the finale as she came up with more ingredients than Poh in the taste test, and more importantly, she followed the recipe in the pressure test. Don’t know why Poh decided to ignore parts of the recipe during the final challenge of all times to do that, it was her undoing in the end.
Wonderful end to a wonderful series. Not a dry eye in our house! Well done Ten!!
I am so glad Julie won! she deserved it so much! i cant wait to her cook book is release and her restaurant is open! Go Julie!!
How cut did Chris look, you could tell he didnt want to be there and had hardly no camera shots of him!!!!
Is this a fake? Or did they really up the wrong pre-written story at Daily Telegraph?
was poh paid to lose and be inept ? re: not following instructions in the finals to do her choclate cigar?
and why was 2 crucial advice given to Julie but none to Poh about the final task
… 1. careful with the base and redoing the sorbet as it was grainy!!
Didn’t see this coming at all (eyes roll).
I bet Donna Hay has already got the first draft of Julie’s “Family Table” cookbook ready for approval (yawn).
Looking forward to BB next year
dailytelegraph fail, claims poh as winner
We love our Aussie’s in Australia.
According to The Daily Telegraph, you’re all wrong! Poh wins!
ehhh….oh well I enjoyed the editing and lack of shots of Chris…although did see a few shots where julia and Chris were very closee….oooooooh
David 7 minutes before the winner is announced Daily Telegraph have huge headlines – Poh Wins… FFS, when will they get it right.
Well done in your reports on MC, I have enjoyed it very much.
Firstly
ok the first test was honest
2nd test the main meal
(a) both tasted great as the judges said – so even here
(b) poh looked better and was restaurant looking quality
(c) Julie left out the friesa and can never complete what she originally envisages at the start
(d) they did not taste all her dishes.. eg. the vegie..patch thingo…
3rd test:
Poh doesn’t listen to instructions and decides not to follow recipe with the choclate stick
poh does the sorbet at the last 20 minutes or so..
Julie gets two helping comments
(a) she was told by gary and george to be careful with the base coz she did the wrong way..
(b) they tasted her choclate .. the guest judge and told her it was grainy so she did it again !!
Unfair
Weird
Predictable.
The winner of MasterChef was decided a long time ago. Rigged.
I think it was the right decision.
Well done Julie, you cooked really well tonight. I loved the finale, loved the ending when her family came in and im going to miss masterchef on our screens. By the way I didn’t see Sandra amongst the other contestants. Was she not there? All up a great show and im going to miss not watching it. No more mystery boxes or ivention and pressure tests.
i wish poh won
Why did the Daily Telegraph run this story about half an hour before the actual announcement?
I’m thrilled. A worthy winner.
Almost cried at the end – whoever won would have deserved it, both truly wonderful contestants. And an awesome reality show too!!
Ratings tomorrow should be huge – hopefully it will beat 2004 Idol’s record…we’ll see!
After watching Julie tonight, she deserved to win
congratulations Julie
I think the look on Chris’s face says it all really.
This was the first episode of Masterchef I have ever watched and it was quite good. I don’t plan on watching S2 though and I am looking forward to seeing the ratings.
Hope it’s well above 2.5m.
Surprise surprise…
grrrrrrrrrr…………