Sashi ‘I NEARLY DIDN’T RETURN!’
IT TOOK SOME CONVINCING TO GET THIS CHEF BACK IN KITCHEN HQ
For Sashi Cheliah, winning Masterchef in 2018 changed his life, with the former security guard creating a very successful food business empire.
But when the Season 10
champ was offered the chance to return to Kitchen HQ as part of this year’s Fans & Favourites competition, Sashi was surprisingly hesitant.
“I was not sure if I would be able to do what I did again,” Sashi, 42, tells New Idea with a laugh. “It took me some time before I got back to them. But I thought it would be good to go back.”
After a “lot of discussion” with his family, Sashi finally agreed to come back.
But unlike his laser-focused first appearance, Sashi says this time around he also had to be across his multiple food ventures, including his supermarket product line, Sashi’s Secret, and Adelaide restaurant, Gaja.
“It was a little harder for me. I was running businesses and doing the competition at the same time,” explains Sashi. “So, there was a lot more on my plate.”
The Singaporean-born cook says there were also some noticeable changes in front of the camera the second time around.
“The cooking part was the same,” says Sashi. “But the format was different and the people were different.”
As for the new-look judging line-up, Sashi felt the judges had a similar methodology to the original trio.
“It’s still all about the food – there’s no changes there. It’s just that they’re different people.”
Out of all the new judges, the South Asian-inspired cook says he connected most with Melissa Leong.
“She understood my food a lot more, as she understood my background a lot more – both of us are from Singapore. So there was a lot of similarity in our cooking style.”