While we all love MasterChef Australia‘s Sofia Levin as a judge, it turns out that she was initially being approached to be a contestant on the show!
And given how close she came to experiencing the famous kitchen from the other side of the bench, she knows better than most how different things could have looked.
The food and travel journalist has been a judge on the hit show since 2024, but for a decade before that, producers had been sliding into her DMs asking if she wanted to compete as a contestant.
She always said no, and, looking back, she has zero regrets.
“It’s just as well I said no, because who knows where that would have led me,” the 36-year-old tells our sister publication TV Week.
“I do like cooking, but I don’t like cooking when there’s a giant clock hanging over me!”
Those rejections ultimately led her somewhere far better, and she now has her feet under the judges’ table alongside Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow and Jean-Christophe Novelli, where she has found something that feels like home.
“In the third-place theory, there’s home, there’s work and then there’s meant to be a third place where you can go to collect yourself and feel comfortable,” Sofia explains.
“But when you work in food, in restaurants and cafés and on MasterChef, your second and third places combine. I don’t need a third place — this is everything I need to fill my cup.”
Away from the kitchen, Sofia recently became engaged to a ‘mystery man’.
Speaking to TV Week, Sofia confirmed she is engaged to a childhood friend with whom she reconnected last year.
“We hadn’t really seen each other much for about 20 years,” she gushed.
“That was over a year ago now, which is wonderful. We’re engaged, which is not a secret.”
Sofia sweetly described her fiancé as a “beautiful person and an amazing support”, proving she is happier than ever with her new love.
She revealed they have just renovated their home together, but won’t be saying “I do” just yet, thanks to her busy MasterChef Australia filming schedule.
