TV CHEF BACK IN THE KITCHEN

TASSIE restaurateur Ben Milbourne will return to the MasterChef kitchen as part of the stellar new Back to Win cast. He will take part in the new season, which will see 24 talented fan favourites from the 11 previous seasons return.

RESTAURATEUR and cooking show presenter Ben Milbourne is one of two Tasmanians to join the stellar new MasterChef Australia:

Back To Win cast.

The new season will see 24 fan favourites from the 11 previous seasons return for a second shot at the coveted trophy.

Culinary stars like Poh

Ling Yeow, Callum Hann and Reynold Poernomo will compete alongside Mr Milbourne and fellow Tasmanian Sarah Clare.

Mr Milbourne said it was “fantastic” to take part again after finishing in fifth place during season four.

“You get this magical universe created simply to cook with the best chefs in the world, to see how far you can push yourself and what you can achieve,” he said.

He said a big motivation for entering his first season was gaining experience and building an industry reputation.

Mr Milbourne has since ticked those boxes, starring in TV shows like Network 10’s Ben’s Menu and SBS hit

Andy and Ben Eat Australia,

as well as running his Devonport restaurant CharlotteJack, named after his young children.

He said being away from his wife and children Charlotte, 6, and Jack, 5 was even more difficult than the cooking challenges.

“This is one of the things I didn’t have to go through in 2012,” he said. “But it’ll be really nice for [the kids] to see this season and see what Dad’s doing.”

He said Tasmania had given him strengths in seafood, but he needed to be an all-rounder to compete against a cast which he said had “no weak links”.