Having gone through the MasterChef Australia competition without a single kitchen-related injury, Ben Ungermann says he was devastated when a deep slice in his finger saw him incapacitated in the first round of the Grand Finale.
Coming in runner up by just one point, he admits that while his injury slowed him down – forcing him to change bandages and gloves every half hour as the bleeding refused to stop – he knew he was already up against it when it came to beating Diana Chan to the grand prize.
“Diana was in rare form,” he says. “I was pretty confident she would take it out. And it’s thoroughly deserved – she’s an incredibly good cook. It’s thoroughly deserved, for sure.”
Ben tells TV WEEK despite the narrow loss he’s proud of the work he did in the MasterChef kitchen on the big night itself. And having his kids watch on as he battled the clock down to the very last seconds made it all the more worthwhile.
“I found a new gear I didn’t think I had,” he says of the support he received as he cooked. “It was really lovely having them there and I ended that competition knowing I’d given it my absolute all.”
While he may not have taken out the MasterChef title, Ben’s not giving up on his food dream. While the ultimate goal is to have a Dutch restaurant, cooking up all his family favourites, for now he’s concentrating on what ended up being his hidden strength on the show – ice cream!
“It’s something I found a knack for during the show,” he says. “I’ve got a few things in the works but I’ll be concentrating on making an ice cream range. And I hope to bring out a cookbook soon with different Dutch recipes in it too.”
