She’s won countless prestigious awards for her culinary crafting, but unfortunately for dessert queen Anna Polyviou, her time was cut short on the inaugural season of MasterChef Dessert Masters just one challenge short of the semi-final.
The celebrity pastry chef had previously starred as a guest judge on MasterChef, but this time she donned an apron of her own, with judges Amaury Guichon and Melissa Leong testing her mettle and talent.
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Speaking with New Idea the morning after her on-screen elimination, the pastry artist revealed she had no regrets about how she spent her time on the reality cooking show.
“I’m a bit heartbroken,” Anna lamented, jokingly adding that her niece and nephew were “embarrassed” by their aunt.
“But Mum told me she loves me,” she laughs.
According to Anna, even if she had continued in the competition, she felt that it would have been a real struggle to make it through to the finale.
“I actually got really sick towards the end of it [prior to her elimination]. I think if I had made it to the finale and pushed through I would have really struggled with it all.”
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In her final cooking creation, Anna was tasked with crafting a dish inspired by the spirit of Christmas, with fruit at the centerpiece.
Using blackberries, Anna expertly put together a Greek-inspired trifle. Unfortunately, however, whilst enjoying the olive oil sorbet’s flavour, the judges were less than impressed with the serving size and the frozen gel element of the dish.
Reflecting upon the shortcomings that led to her elimination from the cooking competition, Anna made the surprise revelation that she had none!
“I don’t wish I did anything differently because I’m not one who really reminisces about the past. It is what it is and I move on from it.”
“Yes there were elements where I was stressed but I loved it. I just wanted to have fun and hang out with some great people and I did that,” Anna added.
“And it’s such an honour to be judged by Amaury, he’s amazing and Mel [Leong] is fantastic as well. I had an amazing connection with both of them and I thought they were really good judges and quite fair.”
As for the future, Anna also hinted that she would be returning in a mystery role in the upcoming 2024 season of MasterChef, which is currently filming in Melbourne.