Fighting nerves and self-doubt was nothing compared to the feeling Pete Morgan got from the MasterChef judges.
In the early stages of the competition, Pete says he felt the trio – judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston – had “pounced on” him.
“I came in with confidence, and I don’t stress that much, so I think they thought I didn’t care about it at all,” Pete, 31, says. “If stuff is going wrong, I’m not going to cry over it.”
Pete believes his relaxed attitude might have come across as though he wasn’t serious about the cooking competition.
“I think they [the judges] thought I didn’t care,” he says. “I felt a bit targeted.”
The WA crane operator explains it was just his cool façade on show. And he was determined to prove he was committed.
“I fought to be here,” he adds. “This is the perfect opportunity to learn and improve.”
Yet as he looks around at his fellow contestants, Pete admits he does suffer from an element of self-doubt.
“I definitely felt out of my league at the start,” he explains. “There are all these amazing cooks around you, and I felt like I didn’t belong here. But you never want to give up.”
“It was very stressful, but a great experience to go through,” Pete says.
Despite the intense competition between the other contestants, Pete was his own biggest enemy.
“I was my own biggest competition, your head thinks some crazy thoughts while you’re in the MasterChef kitchen, the tough bit is sorting through the good and bad ideas on the spot.”
