At 22, budding cook Lourdes Leschen was as shocked as anyone when she got the call-up to be a contestant on the 2024 season of MasterChef Australia.
“I was shaking like a leaf,” Lourdes tells TV WEEK. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen.”
The marketing co-ordinator has been dishing up treats for her friends and family for years, so they were all thrilled to see Lourdes take her cooking to the next level on national TV.
“I don’t think my mum’s ever called me that many times in one day,” Lourdes says with a laugh. “And my Yiayia [grandma] – this has made her year. She’s been a huge inspiration for my journey and [given me] such a deep appreciation of Spanish cooking.”
Lourdes found that being the youngest of the 22 contestants came with its challenges.
“I definitely feel the weight of inexperience and have quite a lot of impostor syndrome on the show,” she confesses.
“I don’t have a clue about how to do most things, like meat and fish butchery. But I’m a hard worker – I study tutorials, spend my weekends practising, stay up late to study recipes and memorise them. I’m kind of treating this like an exam.”
The studious approach paid off in the very first week, with Lourdes winning a challenge and, more importantly, high praise from superstar UK guest judge Jamie Oliver.
“He called my lemon choux bun ‘utterly delicious’,” Lourdes recalls. “I remember him biting into it and his look of joy – one of the most amazing chefs in the world, standing in front of me, enjoying my dessert. That’s one of the top 10 moments of my life.”
Lourdes’ dream is to run a stall at a farmers’ market – just like judge Poh Ling Yeow does.
“Poh runs Jamface in Adelaide, and gave me great advice about the business side of things,” she says.
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