Justin Narayan, the Indian-origin contestant, won season 13 of MasterChef Australia by impressing the judges on the globally popular reality show with cuisine ranging from a humble Chicken curry-flatbread to a sophisticated Charcoal Chicken with Toum. Along with the title and trophy, he also won the prize money of $250,000 (over ₹1 Crore and 39 Lakhs).
Justin won by a narrow margin of one point, defeating Peter Gilmore. The second runner-up was Kishwar Chowdhary, a Bangladesh-origin home cook. Justin became the second Indian-origin person on the show to win the MasterChef title after prison guard Sashi Cheliah won the title in 2018.
Narayan hails from Western Australia. His Fijian and Indian heritage has influenced his cooking. During his MasterChef Australia journey, he impressed the judges by cooking many Indian dishes like Indian Chicken Curry, pickle salad, Indian Chicken Tacos, Charcoal Chicken with Toum, and Flatbread, said sources.
Justin described MasterChef as ‘100 percent one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life.’ After the win, he even took to his unverified Instagram account and thanked everyone for supporting him. ‘Find people that believe in you. Back yourself. Go hard and hopefully you’ll surprise yourself! Whoever’s reading this I love you,’ he wrote.
The news of Justin’s win was also announced on the official Instagram page of ‘MasterChef Australia’. They shared a video of Justin’s reaction to winning the show. “We think it’s safe to say @justinnarayan’s mind is blown right now,” the post read.
