MasterChef Australia fans, breath a sigh of relief: The show will be back for a sixth season, confirms judge George Calombaris. The chef is in Dubai this weekend to meet his fans at Bloomingdale’s-Dubai’s home store today, and had just found out the news about the hit show when he sat down to chat with The weekend tabloid! on Wednesday.
“We got confirmation this morning,” said the newly-slimmed-down chef (who credits green tea and simply “recalibrating” his food for the weight loss).
“Somehow there’s this responsibility to the rest of the world that we keep creating Masterchef and keep creating great Masterchef. Series Five of the show is due to start airing in Dubai shortly, featuring two episodes filmed in Dubai earlier this summer.
“Every year I am [happy with who wins]. That top 10, it’s anyone’s game. Does it matter if you win or come second? Look at the past contestants — the Pohs of the world [season one runner up Poh Ling Yeow], the Marions — Marion [Grasby] came fourth [in season two]. Look how successful she is. You need to have a niche, focus, determination and be really analytical about who you are and what you want to do.”
The chef is a regular in Dubai, but despite the success of the show, says he still has to pinch himself about people outside Australia wanting to meet him. “We actually have people that like what we do over here! That for me is really exciting. I can’t wait for Saturday, it will be fun, hopefully I will be able to inspire them and help their cooking at home. But at the same time, confirmation that we are actually doing something good on MasterChef. I’m always questioning if it’s good enough.”
As for what he’s planning on cooking in the private sessions (places are already fully booked): “I understand the situation they are in — there’s not much local produce — how to take simple ingredients and keep them really fresh and vibrant for this climate by simply dressing them. I think my Greek background lends itself to the food and climate here.”
Not to worry for those that weren’t able to secure a place in his sessions, as he’ll be posing for photos and signing copies of his book, The Press Club (named for his signature Greek restaurant in Melbourne) from 6-7pm at Bloomingdale’s-Dubai Home.
And while he’s got cooking sessions and the small matter of cooking a private dinner for over 500 members of the Victoria government at Atlantis on Thursday, he’s also hoping to get in some Dubai bites — namely one restaurant he’s heard a lot about: Bu Qatair, the fantastic fish portacabin on the beach near Burj Al Arab. “I wanna delve into the stuff!” he says, as he sneaks a bite of one of Armani Caffè’s experimental cronuts he’s been invited to test out.
