Mat Beyer wasn’t ‘holed up in a motel’ after MasterChef
After his inglorious exit from MasterChef, Mat Beyer hasn't been in lockdown, but back at home and working in a restaurant.
- Published by David Knox
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Yes he broke the rules. Yes he admits it was wrong. But in the fallout of his MasterChef exit, Mat Beyer says he wasn’t holed-up in a hotel or even a motel.
As he explains to TV Tonight, he was home getting back to some sort of normality.
“I wasn’t held up in a motel or anything,” he says.
“I just got on with my everyday life. I was working in a restaurant, I was at home getting stuff prepared for my blog.”
At home in Melbourne, Beyer says the only people who knew about his exit were his girlfriend and his housemates.
Earlier reports quoted his father saying he was being kept in lockdown, with only an occasional phone call.
“I didn’t speak to him much, so he didn’t know. I didn’t tell my dad I got kicked out. He found out when everyone else found out,” he explains.
Beyer admits to breaking the MasterChef rules by having a smartphone, but denies that he ever accessed recipes. It has since emerged that personal issues involving his mother as a missing person exacerbated his stay in the MasterChef house. Contestants aren’t allowed lengthy opportunities to talk to families while filming the show.
“A bit more phone contact would be good because you go a bit crazy being locked up. You’re not allowed to go outside or anything. You stay in the house sometimes four or five days at a time. You can’t go anywhere,” he says.
“The worst thing is you have this amazing view and you can’t go down there. But you’re living in a mansion so life isn’t too tough.
“You really only go from the house to the studio and that’s it. I lived in Sydney for 7 months and didn’t see any of it.”
There are production breaks for Christmas, Easter and some weekends, but Beyer says time off is erratic.
“It depends on the shooting schedule. Sometimes we have a day or two off, or we’ve got no days off. Sometimes we might work 30 days straight, but in the end you’re better off working, because you just get bored at home.”
Beyer learned that producers knew his secret the day before he was booted, when he had to hand over his phone. But he didn’t learn of his fate until half an hour before the visit from Matt Preston. Even today he has no idea how producers learned of his phone use.
But he understands the course of action.
“MasterChef has treated me fine. They did everything they could. It wasn’t like they leaked the story, or not that I know of. I don’t think it’s in their benefit to do so, and it’s created a lot of dramas for them too,” he says.
“When it comes down to it, I was the one who broke the rules. I was the one who did the wrong thing. They’ve been incredibly nice to me about the whole thing.
“They could have portrayed me as an evil villain or the devil, so it’s been pretty good.”
Now he is relieved he gets to tell his side of the story, after considerable media specualtion.
“Being called a cheat and being on Today Tonight…. that’s a highlight of my life,” he says ironically.
“It hasn’t been great being branded as a massive cheater. When you read that they found recipes, well they didn’t. They didn’t find any. Reading all of that stuff is really frustrating.”
But he also admits the rules on not talking to family during production are extreme.
“When you put it into perspective it is a cooking show. Going into it you have no idea. I think looking at it now, the public might understand how it works,” he says.
“But I think it would be good if they reconsidered it.”
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- Tagged with MasterChef Australia, Today Tonight
17 Responses
Everyone keeps saying “kept from your family”, but he has an absent mother, and just admitted to not speaking to his father. He was saying he was missing his girlfriend, who hasn’t appeared to today tonight, or in woman’s day defending her man yet…
I think its a bit suspicious, he admits to having the phone there for weeks. Surely someone in the staff, crew or one of other contestants would have had to have known. Which to me means that someone has decided to dob on him now, or channel ten has used it as an excuse to cover for something else.
From what I have seen, I think bettestreep is right, why would 10 want their show spoiled weeks ahead of time?
The ep was filmed, media found out about it and made it their mission to leak the story and whip everyone into a frenzy without anyone knowing all the facts.
A ‘very mature response’ would be to not cheat in the first place, and having the phone was cheating whether he used it once or 50 times!!
@ bettestreep2008, you don’t think 10 had anything to do with building it up to be more than it was ?
And don’t get defensive, sheeesh “it’s only tv”
I believe it was a master stroke by 10 !
steven guy – the “controversy” was hyped up by Ten’s competitors Seven and Nine!
They used this story on their tabloid news and current affairs shows to try and score a few cheap points.
The way the “exit” was handled by Ten on Wednesday night and again on 7pmP last night was so low key that I was surprised.
Nine and Seven would have had promos every 5 minutes shouting “cheating scandal at Masterchef!” “Don’t watch a show full of cheats!” etc etc.
And No – I am not a Ten employee.
Well even if I was – thanks to Murdoch I’d be on my way out anyway.
Thanks for an unbias reporting of the facts David. More than i can say for most of the media. Over it, let’s move on.
I had commented on the lockdown too after picking it up from other media, so it was only right to clarify it. There are still some aspects of the show that seem a little over the top for a cooking show, but there was no post-show bunker.
Did anyone see the photo of him in the Daily Telegraph? Very sad.
So he broke the rules and paid the price the rest was a Huge beat up. Nice work by Tens hype department who made this a bigger story than it really was. Got me and a lot of others gossiping about Mat for a few weeks, lol, Bazzinga !
I agree with Bella. If your not in the position you don’t see everything that goes on.
from what I seen aired there was no accusation of Mat cheating. On another note I don’t think eliminations on the team challenges are fair, the person/s responsible should face elimination instead of using an imunity pin to acvoid it.
Thanks for that insight, David! Good on the bloke for being so pragmatic.
So Mats father is at least guilty of speaking when he had no idea of the facts
Way to make your father look a bloody fool then Mat!
This guy just seems to forget about the bigger picture – it isn’t all about you mate.
They know full well when they sign up there is limited family contact, can we please stop with all the boo hoo so misunderstood so hard oh woe is me.
Rules are rules and that is all there is to it.
great article and good to read Mat’s side of the story. I think it has been a bit of an anti-climax after all the hype and speculation.
Great insight David, thanks
I guess ‘everyone and their friends’ can stop hating MC now? Oh wait, that will only happen when there’s a double elimination of Allie and Dani
An insightful interview David.
My respect for Matt has greatly increased. He seems to be a very fair and balanced person. The rules of Masterchef are clearly strict and yet Matt still accepts that he was ulitmately was responsible for his predicament. A very mature response.
I would love to see a serious behind the scenes documentary on the making of MC going through the entire process of making a single show. Rather than the 3 minute promo puff pieces that appear on 7pm project.
From what I have gathered over the years, there would me more than enough to fill an hour of tv if they included , the recipe testing before hand, time laspe footage of what happens in the kitchen between when the challenge is completed and judges. The many , many takes they do to get all the reaction shots they use. The way the producers monitor each contestant during challenges taking notes to remind the contestants what they were doing many hours ( or possibly ) the next day when they do there interview ( mostly like in front of a green screen ) . The editing process, The composers working on the soundtrack to the guy who hoses down the front courtyard so it always gleams. Most of all the judges would be bit characters rather than the self indulgent peacocks roles they normally take on in interviews.
I saw something along this lines on how they made “The View” and found it fascinating about how frank they made it and some of the commercial considerations/sponsorship arrangements made. Down to ringing up the musical act to say that if they wanted a good set they would have to contribute $$$ towards it.
Really interesting insight into the different side of Masterchef. I think being kept from your family etc is extreme. I can’t help but not feel for Mat and being in that position.