Domestic goddess tarts up for MasterChef

Domestic goddess Nigella Lawson tarts up for new season of MasterChef

By Alison Stephenson
MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston, George Colombaris and Matt Moran. Picture: Channel Ten

Nigella Lawson will join other guests on the third season of MasterChef. Picture: Supplied

• International celeb chefs to guest star
• Matt Moran joins series as regular judge
• Third series will be shot around country

NIGELLA Lawson, Heston Blumenthal and Rick Stein are set to lend their celebrity superpower to the third season of MasterChef, with Matt Moran also joining as a regular judge.
This year’s contestants will traverse the country for the hit Channel 10 show, from the pit of the Sunrise Dam mine in the West Australian outback to the vineyards of Margaret River and the beaches of Cronulla in Sydney's south.
Watch a sneak peek below
Sydney’s Cockatoo Island will provide the backdrop for the first cooking challenge when a one tonne mystery box arrives, suspended from a helicopter.
Ten has also revealed the top 50 contestants will include a lifeguard, a fighter pilot, an orchestra musician and a contestant from the first season.
MasterChef alumni Maggie Beer and Adriano Zumbo will be heading back to the kitchen for this outing of the reality TV goliath as will judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris.
UK celebrity chef Rick Stein, who now runs a restaurant on New South Wales’ south coast, will travel to Kuala Lumpur with contestants for a master class.
Producers have scaled back the number of contestants from New South Wales while doubling the number from Queensland. Tasmania, ACT and the Northern Territory did not make the culinary cut.
The third season has:
•12 contestants from New South Wales (down from 15 last year) including a DJ and a life guard from Sydney’s Northern beaches;
•14 contestants from Victoria (down from 13) including a graphic designer, a farmer and two publicists in an even male/female split;
•12 contestants from Queensland – twice as many as last year – including a mother-of-five, a fruit and veg salesman and a 20-year-old nursing student;
•Five contestants from Western Australia (up from four last year) including a fighter pilot;
•Seven contestants from South Australia (down from 10) including an award-winning wine maker.
MasterChef Australia starts on Sunday May 1, reportedly in the 7.30pm timeslot, pitting the show against the Logies red carpet arrivals.
Last year’s launch episode of MasterChef Australia averaged a whopping 1.692 million viewers nationally while The Logies averaged 1.4 million viewers.