POH LING YEOW
THE MASTERCHEF STAR IS COOKING UP A STORM IN THE AUSSIE BUSH
With her superior kitchen skills, it’s no surprise that Poh Ling Yeow was quickly promoted to the role of camp cook when she was dropped into the Aussie bush on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. And while she’s used to whipping up tasty morsels with a few more ingredients than the meagre rations she was given, Yeow says she didn’t fear being judged by her campmates.
“I was looking forward to the challenge and sometimes having little choice means less decisions and less stress,” the 49-year-old artist tells WHO. “I was really anal about cutting the ingredients small so everyone would get even amounts of everything, but also so more flavour could be drawn out in a shorter amount of time. I thought people would lose their patience but quite the opposite, all I got was heartfelt gratitude,” she explains.
Who is more intimidating to plate up for – the MasterChef judges or hangry celebrities in the jungle?
Definitely the judges. My jungle fam were the most patient and grateful bunch I’ve ever fed – yes, Beau [Ryan] and Joey [Essex] went to struggle town with quantities, but were still always so polite and thankful. Dinner was definitely family time. Everyone would sit around the fire and watch me, Derek [Kickett] and “Bucks” [Nathan Buckley] cook. Without devices, I guess it was the closest we had to TV. I’d choose to cook for them any time over experts! Heading into the jungle, was there anything you definitely weren’t going to try?
Bungee jumping and skydiving, so it was great the jungle gods thought they’d serve it to me on the first day! Why was now the right time for you to go on the show?
I’ve always had a curiosity about doing something a bit
nuts like this. Also being on reality TV has always yielded huge personal expansion. It was the eighth time I’d been asked and after finding it such a hoot to watch last season, I was like, “I’m down to gag, starve, cry, fly and make new friends if it makes Australia as happy as I felt being a viewer!” Why did you throw your support behind Indigenous educational charity Yalari?
I chose Yalari because there’s no days I don’t have the deepest gratitude for what this country has given to me as a migrant, and I certainly want Indigenous kids in remote areas of Australia to have the educational opportunities I did. Creating generational change is a matter of urgency.
(I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! airs Sun-Thu., 7.30pm on Network Ten)