Depinder Chhibber was a fan fave on MasterChef Australia and made it to the top four in an all-star season, but she told Chattr she was actually intimidated when she saw who she was up against.
Although Depinder constantly proved her skills by consistently steering clear of elimination rounds and getting glowing feedback from the judges, she admitted that one contestant made her nervous at the start.
“Laura[Sharrad] and I are such good friends now, but honestly, I used to be so scared. I didn’t talk to her for, like, a week. I didn’t even know what to say, she’s so good at what she does,” Depider told Chattr.
“You know, when you’re nervous? And, I was kind of Starstruck as well. I was like, How do I do this? It’s just going to be so difficult,” she laughed.
Depinder said that after she struck up the confidence to start a conversation with Laura, the two found common ground and hit it off.
“Once we started chatting, we bonded over babies, we bonded over travel, we bonded over life, and now we’re such good friends.”
Laura and Depinder on MasterChef Australia. Image: Ten.
Depinder added that it wasn’t just Laura who intimidated her, saying she struggled to feel confident when she initially saw how stacked her competition was.
“I used to get heart palpitations when I would first enter the kitchen, or even just hang around the competitors, because they were so amazing at what they do. Everyone had a skill, everyone had a background, everyone had an experience.”
“I felt quite overwhelmed, because I didn’t think I had that level of experience like a lot of them did, so I used to feel extremely intimidated. It was very scary.”
Depinder clearly proved just how talented she is, finishing four spots higher than her previous eighth-place ranking on MasterChef Australia Season 13, and beating out 19 of the other returnees.
Depinder was worried she’d be the first contestant eliminated on MasterChef Australia 2025
Despite being one of the strongest contestants on MasterChef Australia 2025, Depinder told Chattr that she was worried that she’d be the first person sent home.
“I never thought I’d make it past he halfway point when I went on to the show. I said to my husband, ‘I’m really scared because I don’t want to be the first person out’. So for me to be able to make it to top four was amazing. I’m so grateful.”
Callum and Depinder on MasterChef Australia. Image: Ten.
Depinder recognised her growth since her initial season and said that her confidence in herself has grown immensely since competing on MasterChef Australia 2025.
“I’ve come a long way since the first season,” she told Chattr. “You’re kind of finding your feet, you’re trying to discover your voice, yourself in the kitchen, everything was new, overwhelming and exciting.
“Coming back, I felt really grounded… connected to the food that I wanted to showcase and cook, and the food that actually tells my story and reflects my personality and my culture.
“I think, obviously, the pressure was still on, even more so, because we were all returning with something to prove. But this time around, I feel like I trusted myself more. I knew how to take those risks. I knew how to stay true to my style, but also take in Judges’ feedback when required, or when things didn’t go to plan. So there were a lot of lessons to be learned this time.”
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
Robby and Mat‘s secret wine cellar has been plugged as the biggest scandal of The Block 2025, and the boys have dished all the details about the room to Chattr.
“I think they spelt scandal wrong, in my eyes it’s the biggest gamble,” Robby laughed.
During Episode 6 Robby and Mat called a Body Corp meeting, which is where the contestants meet up to discuss issues and make new rules. The men proposed giving all teams full privacy, suggesting no one should enter another property unless they were specifically invited.
While Roby and Mat framed the meeting as a move to protect everyone’s privacy, they intentionally pushed the new rule to keep their underground wine cellar plans hidden from the other contestants.
“I pulled a Body Corp make sure that no trades can come on other people’s sites, because I noticed that other trades would go on other people’s sites and take photos. So I said, ‘No, no, no, this can’t happen,'” Robby explained.
“But it also sounded good from my perspective, you know, pulling a Body Corp, saying that no one could go into other people. It also meant that we protected what we had hidden… It was full strategic for us,” he added.
Mat said that Robby was constantly thinking ahead during their time on the show.
“Rob was a genius with all of this side of things,” he told Chattr.
Robby and Mat asking Foreman Dan about the wine cellar. Image: Nine.
Can Robby and Mat’s wine cellar be repurposed as another room on The Block?
Every house on The Block 2025 shares the same layout, so Robby and Mat’s wine cellar addition gives them one extra room compared to the other teams. But does it have to be used strictly for wine storage — or could it double as an additional entertaining space?
According to Mat and Robby, it will be “specifically a wine cellar” and isn’t a livable area.
“We’re from South Australia,and we love our wine. And, we thought, it’d be pretty cool to have a wine cellar. Every person that owns a house, it’s an adult’s dream to have a wine room. And we thought, we can we can always ask a question, they’ll probably just laugh at us, and they said yes,” Robby explained.
Robby added that he believes that the wine cellar could win them the show.
“Coming into the competition, if you wrote down a piece of paper who the weakest were, I think it would have been me and Mat, but Mat and I were very strategic, and we knew that every house was exactly the same,” he said.
Robby and Mat’s wine cellar location. Image: Nine.
“So we were like, ‘How are we going to be different to everyone else? Yeah, well, we’ll dig a huge hole in the ground. That’s how we’ll do it.'”
“And then when I floated the idea past Mat, we’re like, ‘If we can pull this off. It’s a one-horse race.'”
Mat explained that they plan to make the wine cellar a luxury addition to the house.
“The thing is, if we do something so exceptional like this, [it] could win us The Block, realistically, because we be putting in something which isn’t just storage.
“When people go down, they’d literally stand at the bottom step with their mouths open and gasp. So this isn’t like a little strap-on room. This could be a fully integrated, unbelievable space.”
The Block 2025 airs on Sundays at 7:30pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Farmer Wants a Wife 2025’s Clarette andFarmer Thomashave surprised followers by sharing a series of heartwarming photos of themselves cuddled up with an adorable newborn baby.
The couple shared the carousel of pics as a joint post on Instagram and simply captioned it, “Family”, accompanied by a green love heart.
Tom replied to a fan in the comments section. Image: Instagram.
Farmer Wants A Wife’s Clarette and Thomas’s baby plans
While the FWAW 2025 couple don’t have a baby of their own yet, Clarette hinted that kids could be on the cards for her and Farmer Thomas.
In an interview with Chattr, she spoke about the possibility of having a baby with Thomas while also addressing her “villain edit” on the show, noting that unlike the other FWAW couples, she and Thomas weren’t offered the same media opportunities.
“I think if the network wants access to our lives in the future, a wedding/kids, etc, then they would need to admit some wrongdoing with our edit and take some accountability for the falsification of our relationship,” she said.
“At the end of the day, they wanted a love story, we gave them one and they chose not to run with it, favouring drama instead. They need to listen to what the viewers want, and that’s the original format and the wholesome love story that we were sold.”
Hearts broke collectively around Australia when fan favourite Sarah Todd was eliminated from MasterChef Australia, narrowly missing out on making the top five.
Sarah was one of the three contestants (alongside Callum Han and Laura Sharrad) who returned to the competition for the third time for MasterChef Australia: Back to Win, and many fans felt like she was deserving of being crowned the winner.
“You might have not won but you have definitely won all of our hearts,” one fan wrote on Instagram, with another telling her to “go and get that Michelin star.”
While three times on MasterChef Australia is certainly a lot, Sarah hasn’t completely ruled out returning to the competition again.
“I am definitely done, but I say that every time,” she laughed. “I think that every time I do it, I’m like, ‘Why the hell am I doing it? Then when I finish, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m glad I did it, but I’m glad it’s done’, because it’s so stressful,” she told Chattr.
“I’m sure everyone can see that on their screens, watching the pressure of the show. But I’m just so happy and thankful for the dishes I was cooking and this group of people that have just started, like a real tribe around me. I’m really thankful for that. So, yeah, I’m really happy that I’ve got so much out of the season. And, I’m so happy that I did it.”
Sarah Todd with the judges on MasterChef Australia 2025. Image: Ten.
Sarah on the toll that being creative in the MasterChef kitchen takes
Week after week, Sarah refused to play it safe, consistently pushing herself to the limit on MasterChef Australia 2025. Her bold approach saw her serve up a series of risky, boundary-pushing dishes that won over viewers.
‘I just got to the point where I was like… I want to be cooking dishes that I can truly say; this is my dish. This is a Sarah dish. It doesn’t exist in the world, and I’ve developed it and created it, and I wanted to be proud,” she told Chattr.
But, Sarah admitted the constant drive to create something new every week took a toll on her.
“Every day I was creating dishes that I had never made before, and really experimenting and pushing myself, and it takes so much of your creative battery to do that,” she explained.
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
Amy Dickson was the only contestant on Stranded on Honeymoon Island to be matched twice, but the TV bride has now revealed that her second chance at love with Haydn Slater ultimately didn’t last.
The series kicked off with a fast-paced round of speed dating, where they met potential matches and ranked their top picks. We now know that Amy picked Haydn as her number one but was instead matched with Mike Dawes. The two were shipped off to a remote island in Fiji to see if they could make their relationship work.
Mike and Amy butted heads from the start, but managed to make amends and grew a strong friendship. However, during Episode 9 Mike was given a choice; he could pull a flare which would signal the end of his time in the experiment, but a new match would be bought in for Amy. Mike made the choice to launch the flare because he knew his relationship with Amy wouldn’t progress romantically.
“I [thought I] might as well just give her what she wants, so that at least one of us can find something out of this. It was really only for her,” Mike told Chattr of his decision.
“I was a bit sad,” he continued. “The whole purpose was to look for love, and if one of us gets the opportunity to give the other one [that], I would have hoped, if it were vice versa, she would have done the same thing.
After he left, Haydn was shipped to Amy’s island — much to her delight — and the two hit it off immediately.
But, when it came to the final decision, Haydn said he felt like he and Amy barely knew each other. Regardless, they decided to stay together and try dating in the outside world. So are they still together now?
Stranded on Honeymoon Island’s Amy reveals why she broke up with Haydn
Although Haydn and Amy seemed like a strong couple during their brief time on Stranded on Honeymoon Island, Amy confirmed that they broke up shortly after leaving Fiji.
“Haydn and I are not together,” she told Chattr. “He left the country to go travelling immediately after filming wrapped.
“We chatted for a few weeks while he was travelling and he was going to change his plans to come visit me in Brisbane on his way home but I told him not to change his plans. For me, I wasn’t feeling it romantically anymore and things just kind of fizzled.”
Prior to the finale, an anonymous source told Chattr that Amy and Haydn’s relationship didn’t last the distance.
“Immediately after the show, Amy just ditched Haydn. They never saw each other after the show,” the source told us.
The insider went on to say that Amy and Haydn weren’t the only couple to split post-show.
Amy and Haydn on Stranded on Honeymoon Island. Image: Seven.
Did Emily tell Amy that she’d dated Haydn?
One of the biggest bombshells from the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion was when Tom revealed that Emily and Haydn had previously dated.
Viewers waited with bated breath for Amy to find out about Haydn’s history, but it wasn’t shown. However, Amy told Chattr that Emily did fill her in about the situation.
“Emily told me they matched on Hinge, but last night is the first time I heard they ‘dated’. From all accounts, that isn’t true, and they never met up in person,” Amy said.
“It didn’t bother me when I found out. Emily told me about matching with Haydn at the reunion, but it was cut out… I was sort of like, “Why is this such a big deal?” I didn’t think there was anything more to it than that,” she added.
Haydn told Chattr that he and Emily never dated, and simply matched on a dating app before the show was filmed.
“We matched on Hinge like a year before the show, and I never messaged her. No idea how someone even remembers that, and then to tell production that we dated is even more wild,” he said.
The explosive Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion saw Emily confront her ex, Tom, accusing him of talking to two women he wasn’t matched with before they were sent to the remote island together.
“There’s some dirty laundry I need to air,” Emily told some of the cast at the reunion, before alleging that Tom had been talking to “two girls” from the speed dating event, which took place in episode one before the couples were matched.
“One messaged me within half an hour of having our phones back, and said ‘Tom’s smitten’,” she added.
However, Tom told Chattr that he had a history with one of the girls, and claimed that Emily gave the other one his contact details.
“This is another one of Emily’s lies that has an element of truth to it,” he said. “I told this all to Emily before the reunion — on my island — she knew about this. But, one of the girls from speed dating, I actually knew her, I dated her a year before, we went on one date,” he explained.
“So when we went around [the speed dating], we recognised each other, and after that, we were messaging, talking about the show, like, how crazy it is, how funny it is, just talking about the general process going on, stuff like that. There was nothing bad at all.”
Tom at speed dating with a potential match. Image: Seven.
Tom explained that the other girl was one of the potential matches he listed in his top three during the speed dating round, which was meant to determine who was coupled up.
“She messaged me, and she messaged me because she got my contact details from Emily,” he said.
“We were chatting, but again, [Emily and I] talked about this on the island. I openly talked about that, she talked about how she used to date Haydn, and things like that.”
Tom’s messages with the second woman from speed dating. Image: Supplied.
“So that’s why it was such a joke once I got to the reunion, and then she’s trying to bring all this up as, like, secret girlfriends. Honestly, I was just in shock that they were trying to push it. That’s why you see me laughing about it the whole time, because it was honestly such a joke.”
However, Emily claims that that wasn’t the case, and said she didn’t send his contact details to the woman from speed dating.
“That’s incorrect. The other girl he was messaging found him on Insta and shared his profile with me,” she told Chattr.
Emily and Tom at the reunion. Image: Seven.
What happened with Haydn and Emily?
Another bombshell dropped at the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion was when it was revealed that Amy‘s match, Haydn, and Emily had a romantic history.
“She told me [about it] on the island,” Tom said. “She said that she used to date Haydn and we talked about that, but it came out that I think they just matched on Hinge. So I don’t think they had ever spoken or anything, I think they literally just matched on Hinge.”
Tom said that he thinks Emily’s avoidance to speak about her past with Haydn at the reunion was because the story he’d been told about them dating didn’t match up.
“She’s told me that, obviously, before we even knew Haydn was coming on. So, when Haydn’s come on, she’s kind of been caught out.”
Tom and Haydn at the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion. Image: Seven.
Haydn confirmed that he and Emily matched on a dating app, and told Chattr that they never had a conversation on the platform.
“We matched on Hinge like a year before the show, and I never messaged her. No idea how someone even remembers that, and then to tell production that we dated is even more wild,” he said.
“She didn’t want it brought up because she would have had her lies exposed on national TV,” he claimed.
Haydn added that he and Tom moved in together after the show finished filming, calling it the “real love story of Honeymoon Island”.
Amy also told Chattr that Emily and Haydn never met in person prior to the show.
“Emily told me they matched on Hinge, but last night is the first time I heard they ‘dated’. From all accounts, that isn’t true, and they never met up in person,” she said.
It’s no secret that the Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) Australia celebrities go through intense rehearsals to master a whole new set of dance moves for their performances. But what happens when the celebrities blank mid-dance and forget their moves?
Professional dancer Jess Raffa, who’s reached the grand finale with Trent Cotchin on DWTS Australia 2025, told Chattr that memory slips do happen and confirmed that when that happens, she improvises in the hope that the judges won’t notice
“It’s always about just hiding everything,” she said. “I call it smoke and mirrors, and just making the audience and judges not see, I wouldn’t mention if he made a mistake, because a lot of the time people don’t even realise, so I wouldn’t make a big deal about it.”
Jess — who’s competed on eight seasons of DWTS Australia and won in 2013 — added that from her very first meeting with Trent, she could tell he was a natural when it came to dancing.
“I know within the first hour with who I’m going to get and what kind of challenge I’m going to have,” she explained.
“So with Trent this year, I’d show him a step, and he’d pick it up straight away. And I thought, Okay, so that’s that’s less hours of training. So you spend more time just perfecting the routine, which is great, but then you get some celebs that take hours and hours to learn a basic step, and you’ve just got to adapt to it.”
Jess Raffa and Trent Cotchin on DWTS Australia 2025. Image: Seven.
Jess Raffa is teaching dancing at a Taylor Swift-inspired charity event
Jess will be using her dance skills for a good cause — and teaching some iconic Taylor Swift moves along the way. She’s part of Let’s Dance: Swifties Club by Trueheart at The Emerson in Melbourne, which supports Share The Dignity, a non-profit that empowers girls and women.
“We’re putting together an amazing event,” Jess said. “I’ll be teaching three routines, very simple routines, but it really is just to get everyone moving and dancing and having an amazing time.”
“I want all my Dancing with the Stars fans to come and meet me and get to know me. I’m going to be there for the dance party. So it’s just going to be one big celebration. It’s a chance for people to just let go, and we’re helping an amazing cause here, too. It’s not just about dancing, it’s about helping.”
You can find out more about the Let’s Dance: Swifties Club event, and buy tickets here.
The Dancing with the Stars finale airs on August 5 at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
MasterChef Australia 2025’s Ben Macdonald was sent home during a stressful Elimination Challenge with a time limit of two hours — where every second mattered.
For viewers, it’s plain to see that the contestants push themselves to the limits during challenges, and viewers have wondered how contestants manage to have such coherent chats with the judges when they’re in the middle of competing.
“If it were me, especially in a timed competition, I either wouldn’t acknowledge them, not to be rude but I would feel too much pressure from the challenge to even notice anyone around me, or I’d ask them to leave and let me get cooking,” one person wrote on Reddit.
But, during a post-elimination interview with Chattr, Ben said that those conversations with the judges were hugely beneficial.
“It’s just part of the game, really. They’re coming up to talk to you, they’re not trying to slow you down or get in your way,” Ben told Chattr.
“They usually actually have quite a bit of useful advice. You certainly don’t want to ignore them. Sometimes you might be able to pick up a little bit of a subtle hint about something, if you’re lucky. “
Ben added that he found his chats with the judges and guest judges one of the most enjoyable parts of the competition.
“They don’t take up much of your time, in all honesty. So it’s always nice to have him at the bench. And you know, often when there are guest chefs as well, it’s really fun talking to them. So it’s really big part of the fun.”
Ben Macdonald on his MasterChef Australia elimination
Ben told Chattr that he was proud of the dish he presented, but knew that he had extremely tough competition in the form of Laura, Jamie and Callum.
“I wasn’t exactly surprised [to be eliminated] when I saw the other guys’ dishes. I thought, I’m going to be lucky to survive this one,” he said.
Reflecting on his time on the show, the dad of two said that his Immunity Pin win challenge towards the start of the season stood out for him.
Gordon Ramsay with the MasterChef Australia judges. Image: Ten.
“My favourite challenge was probably the second episode, where I did the cook along with Gordon Ramsay, and I won the Immunity Pin. That was pretty special, just because Gordon’s such a culinary legend, and to be cooking a couple of his dishes blind like that was just a really amazing experience.”
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
Stranded on Honeymoon Islandsaw a narrative play out that Tom had a secret girlfriend while filming the show, spoiling the experience for his on-screen wife, Emily. But Tom has since set the record straight, telling Chattr there was never anyone he was dating on the outside.
ICYMI, Emily was initially a hopeful bride, saying she was on the show for all the right reasons. But things came crashing down for her in episode 3, when she alleged her new groom Tom told her off-camera that he had a girlfriend on the outside.
Emily raised the issue during the Couple’s Cove lunch, prompting a group discussion about Tom’s so-called ‘secret girlfriend’. At the event, Tom cryptically said that there was someone on the outside he’d been “seeing for maybe a couple of months”, and later pulled Emily aside and told her it wasn’t true, explaining that he made it up to spare her feelings because he wasn’t interested in her.
After the reunion aired, Chattr asked Tom whether there was any truth to his ‘secret girlfriend’ outside the experiment.
“Absolutely not. It was fully orchestrated. I never even said those words when I was speaking to Emily off camera.”
Tom said that he initially told Emily there was an ex that he had lingering feelings for, and later told her that it was just a cover to let her down gently.
“All I said was I still had residual feelings for someone I used to date, and so I couldn’t fully emotionally be there. Basically, what I was trying to do was just not make it about her at all. Make it all about me.
“So all I purely said was that I still had feelings for someone I missed from before the show, and then she’s taken that, and then when she went on Couple’s Cove, she’s said that I’ve got a girl on the outside, which is not what I said at all. On camera, it obviously looks shit, because I’m trying to backtrack on what I said without hurting her feelings, but still looking like a dickhead.”
Tom and Emily on Stranded on Honeymoon Island. Image: Seven.
“I told her that to basically let her down without hurting her feelings, when you don’t have any sleep, you haven’t had any food, it honestly seemed like a great idea at the time. I was going to let her down by making it all on me and nothing about her.”
Tom said that producers encouraged him to stay on the show, and told him he’d look like the “bad guy” if he walked out and went home.
“What I should have done in hindsight was just basically be straight with at her and say, I’m not into you, and leave the show.”
Emily claimed that Tom told her about the ‘secret girlfriend’ after they left Stranded on Honeymoon Island
“I can confirm that there was somebody, so he lied about lying, so that’s a bit disappointing,” she told Chattr. “I never spoke to her. I never met her, nothing. But he told me, again, that there is someone”
When asked about Emily’s comment, Tom stressed that he was completely single during filming, and guessed that Emily was referring to his statement on the show about having feelings for his ex.
“There was a girl that I used to date, that’s 100% true… That person existed, but no, the lie was that I had feelings for her,” he said.
Tom and Emily on Stranded on Honeymoon Island. Image: Seven.
Tom is now married to Australian Survivor’s Morgan Mitchell
Honeymoon Islandwas actually filmed in October 2023, but Channel Seven kept delaying the air date until mid-2025. So a lot has happened since our couples first met… particularly for Tom!
Tom is now married to Australian Survivor’sMorgan Mitchelland they recently welcomed twin girls Honey and Maya. Tom hasn’t hidden his current relationship status, with Tom and Morgan announcing their engagement in July 2024, and then tying the knot in Februrary 2025.
“It’s been amazing, it’s one of the best things,” Tom told Chattr of becoming a dad. “We’re in the newborn trenches, so still finding our feet and getting a routine down.”
Stranded On Honeymoon Island airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
Despite getting the second-highest score from the judges in part two of the Dancing with the Stars semi-finale, MiaFevola and GustavoViglio were sent home after the audience vote dragged them down to the bottom of the leaderboard.
Partway through the season, a voting format was introduced, with the judges’ scores making up half of the final result and the audience vote determining the other half.
Week after week, Mia was praised by the judges for her beautiful dancing, and her Instagram comments reflected the same sentiment, with fans disappointed by her elimination. Still, despite narrowly missing out on the grand final of Dancing with the Stars 2025, Mia told Chattr that she believes the audience vote is fair.
“I think so. I think there definitely needs to be some type of aspect of an audience vote,” she told Chattr.
“I don’t have an issue with how the show works. I think it was definitely fair, and I think it’s a good system.”
Mia reflected on when her mum, Alex, competed on the show in 2010 and placed third, and her dad, Brendan, took to the stage in 2012 and came fourth.
“Obviously, it’s all pre-recorded now. Back when my parents did it, it was all live, and I was in the audience, and I’d be trying to get my friends at school to vote for my parents over the phone and over text message,” she laughed.
Mia Fevola didn’t realise they’d placed second in the Dancing with the Stars judges’ vote
Mia and Gustavo scored an impressive 31 out of 40 for their Foxtrot in the semi-finals. But, Mia said she wasn’t even aware they were in second place before the audience vote until it was all over, because she was still running off adrenaline from her performance.
“I feel really proud that we got the second highest score. I actually didnt even remember that. It was all such a blur. Your the emotions are so high at the time that you don’t take a lot of it in.
“But it’s been really nice to watch it with a fresh pair of eyes in the comfort of your own home and relive the experience.”
The Dancing with the Stars grand finale airs on August 4 at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
Dancing With The Stars is back for 2025. Twelve new celebrities hit the dance floor every Sunday on 7plus, hoping to shimmy and shake their way to the top of the leaderboard. Dancing With The Stars is back for 2025. Twelve new celebrities hit the dance floor every Sunday on 7plus, hoping to shimmy and shake their way to the top of the leaderboard.
Making the list for this season’s dozen dancers are: Felicity Ward, Shaun Micallef, Mia Fevola, Kyle Shilling, Karina Carvalho, Osher Günsberg, Michael Usher, Rebecca Gibney, Trent Cotchin, Brittany Hockley, Harry Garside, and Susie O’Neill.
Who will bop to the top of the 2025 Dancing With The Stars leaderboard?
What were the scores on Dancing With The Stars Australia 2025
Felicity Ward
Felicity Ward and Aric Yegudkin. Image: Seven.
Round one
Felicity opened up the second episode, dancing the Pasodoble with her partner Aric Yegudkin.
Craig – 4 Helen – 6 Sharna – 6 Mark – 6
Total – 22
Round two
Comedian Felicity and partner Aric were serving chaotic Barbie realness with their round two Cha Cha. The judges had mostly praise for the pair’s efforts, even Craig said their timing was “perfect”.
Craig – 6 Helen – 7 Sharna – 9 Mark – 9
Total – 31
Round three
Felicity and Aric scored the first 10 of DWTS 2025 for their Foxtrot.
Craig – 7 Helen – 8 Sharna – 8 Mark – 10
Total – 33
Shaun Micallef
Ash-Leigh Hunter and Shaun Micallef. Image: Seven.
Round one
Ash-Leigh Hunter and Shaun finished off the second DWTS episode with the Quickstep, and received a standing ovation from the audience.
Craig – 5 Helen – 7 Sharna – 6 Mark –6
Total – 24
Round two
TV host Shaun and dance partner Ash-Leigh turned the cheekiness up by 1000 with a theatrical foxtrot in round two. Sharna and Craig chipped Shaun for his posture and frame, but all the judges agreed it was an absolute ball. So, did the audience who ranked them first on the night.
Craig – 4 Helen – 7 Sharna – 6 Mark –7
Total – 24
Round three
Shaun and Ash-Leigh performed the Pasodoble for their third dance.
Craig – 3 Helen – 7 Sharna – 6 Mark –7
Total – 23
Mia Fevola
Mia Fevola and Gustavo Viglio. Image: Seven.
Round one
Mia shared that she was extremely nervous before hitting the stage for a Cha Cha Cha with GustavoViglio, which the judges picked up on. However, they said that they’re excited to see what she can do this season, with even Craig saying that he “really, really liked it a lot”.
Craig – 6 Helen – 5 Sharna – 6 Mark –6
Total –23
Round Two
Mia and her professional dance partner, Gustavo, wowed the judges across the board with their round two Viennese Waltz. Mark congratulated the pair for no errors whatsoever, just “elegance”. The other judges were similarly gobsmacked by the pair’s near-flawlessness.
Craig – 8 Helen – 8 Sharna – 9 Mark – 9
Total – 34
Round three
Mia and Gustavo took on the Rumba in round three and once again impressed the judges. Sharna complimented their leg work, but advised Mia to concentrate on managing her nerves.
Craig – 7 Helen – 7 Sharna – 7 Mark – 7
Total – 28
Kyle Shilling
Kyle Shilling and Lily Cornish. Image: Seven.
Round one
Home and Away‘s Kyle Shilling and Lily Cornish danced the Cha Cha Cha to Lil Boo Thang by Paul Russell for their first performance. Craig stayed true to his infamously harsh judging, claiming that their dancing wasn’t a “cha cha cha in any shape or form”, which received a boo from the audience.
Craig – 3 Helen – 7 Sharna – 7 Mark –7
Total – 24
Round Two
Widjubal and Bunjalung actor Kyle and dance partner Lily killed it with a Viennese Waltz in Round 2. Sharna was a huge fan of the duo’s boldness, but the rest of the judges weren’t so impressed. Craig called it “confusing” while Mark and Helen said there was too much contemporary freestyle and not enough waltz.
Craig – 4 Helen – 6 Sharna – 6 Mark – 5
Total – 21
Round three
During their rehearsals week, Kyle took Lily to the beach where Home and Away is filmed, then they took on the Jive for their third performance. While Felicity might have gotten the first 10 of the season, Kyle and Lily were the first to hit a perfect score.
Craig – 10 Helen – 10 Sharna – 10 Mark – 10
Total – 40
Osher Günsberg
Osher Günsberg and Sriani Argaet. Image: Seven.
Round one
It was the foxtrot for Osher Günsberg and Sriani Argaet, which they danced to the classic My Girl by The Temptations. Helen pointed out that he needed to work on his leg work, and Sharna said he and Sriani needed to work on their connection.
Craig – 1 Helen – 3 Sharna – 3 Mark – 2
Total – 9
Round two
Dancing the jive for their second round, Osher Günsberg and Sriani had a lot to improve on from their first round. The judges all agreed that the pair redeemed themselves after a less than impressive first round, with Helen calling the performance a “miracle”. They’re still last on the leaderboard.
Craig – 4 Helen – 5 Sharna – 4 Mark – 5
Total – 18
Round three
Osher and Sriani danced the Tango for their third dance, and Craig had nothing but negative things to say about the performance, which resulted in a fiery showdown between the judge and former The Bachelor host.
Craig – 2 Helen – 5 Sharna – 4 Mark – 4
Total – 15
Michael Usher
Round one
Spotlight host Michael dazzled the judges with his fancy foxtrot, earning him top spot on the leadboard. Alongside professional dance partner Natalie Lowe, the pair earned 27 points for their Dancing With The Stars premiere.
Craig – 6 Helen – 7 Sharna – 6 Mark – 8
Total – 27
Round two
Michael performed a pasodoble for his second dance, which left him out of breath, but took the judges’ breath away.
Craig – 5 Helen – 7 Sharna – 6 Mark – 7
Total – 25
Round three
The judges enjoyed Michael’s third dance, which was the Viennese Waltz to Adele‘s One and Only.
Craig – 5 Helen – 8 Sharna – 8 Mark – 8
Total – 29
Round four
Michael jived his way from the bottom of the leaderboard with a Tiina Turner classic, to being saved by the audience with the new twist!
Craig – 3 Helen – 6 Sharna – 5 Mark – 5
Total – 19
Trent Cotchin
Round one
AFL star Trent swapped his footy togs for a tango this past Sunday, earning 21 points on the Dancing With The Stars leaderboard.
Craig – 4 Helen – 6 Sharna – 5 Mark – 6
Total – 21
Round two
Like Suzie, Trent chose the foxtrot for his second performance, but he received much better feedback from the judges than his costar.
Craig – 6 Helen – 8 Sharna – 8 Mark – 8
Total – 30
Round three
Trent’s jive to Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis Presley catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard for the night.
Craig – 8 Helen – 9 Sharna – 9 Mark – 9
Total – 35
Round Four
Trent’s cha-cha-charing himself to the finals with an incredible performance yet again with Sharna saying that he has turned into a dancer.
Craig – 7 Helen – 9 Sharna – 9 Mark – 9
Total– 34
Brittany Hockley
Round one
Radio host and ex-bachelor alum, Brittany could not quite cha-cha her way into the judges’ hearts. She scored 21.
Craig – 4 Helen – 6 Sharna – 5 Mark – 6
Total – 21
Round two
Brittany was the last performance of the night with the Samba, and was almost in tears after hearing overwhelmingly positive feedback from the judges.
Craig – 7 Helen – 7 Sharna – 8 Mark – 9
Total – 31
Round three
Brittany received a standing ovation from the audience for her dance to Kylie Minogue‘s Padam Padam.
Craig – 7 Helen – 8 Sharna – 9 Mark – 9
Total – 33
Round 4
Brittany waltzed her beautiful love story, right to the very top of the leaderboard with her first 10.
Craig – 7 Helen – 9 Sharna – 9 Mark – 10
Total – 35
Harry Garside – Eliminated
Round one
Swapping the gym for a jive on this week’s Dancing With The Stars premiere, Olympic boxer Harry also scored 21 points on the leadboard with the help of professional dance partner Siobhan Power.
Craig – 3 Helen – 6 Sharna – 5 Mark – 7
Total – 21
Round two
Harry danced contemporary and gave a moody performance, which the crowd loved.
Craig – 5 Helen – 6 Sharna — 7 Mark – 7
Total – 25
Round three
Harry danced a sensual rumba for round three and was only just saved because of a new twist that involved an audience vote.
Craig – 4 Helen – 7 Sharna — 7 Mark – 7
Total – 25
Round four
Harry hit the floor with an energetic tango in round four, saving himself from the bottom of the leaderboard, however it wasn’t enough to win over the audience. With the new twist in play, the gloves are back on as Harry heads from the dancefloor straight back to the boxing ring.
Craig – 4 Helen –6 Sharna –5 Mark –5
Total – 20
Rebecca Gibney – Eliminated
Round one
Kicking things off with a cheeky cha-cha-cha, actress Rebecca and professional partner Ian Waite came in second (so far) with 24 points on the leaderboard.
Craig – 6 Helen – 6 Sharna – 6 Mark – 6
Total – 24
Round two
Rebecca performed the Viennese waltz in the second episode and put on a classical performance to At Last by Etta James. However, the judges said that Ian was dominating the performance and they wanted to see more of her.
Craig – 5 Helen – 7 Sharna – 6 Mark – 7
Total – 25
Round three
In round three, Rebecca danced a paso doble to Whitney Houston’s Queen of the Night with her partner Ian.
Craig – 6 Helen – 8 Sharna – 7 Mark – 7
Total – 28
Susie O’Neill — eliminated
Round one
In last place on the leaderboard (for now) is Olympic butterfly swimming champion Susie. She switched out the pool for pumps this week, but her tango didn’t tick boxes – scoring 13 points.
Craig – 2 Helen – 4 Sharna – 4 Mark – 3
Total – 13
Round two
Susie took on the foxtrot in the second episode, which most of the judges felt needed more work, and they shared some technical advice with her.
Craig – 2 Helen – 5 Sharna – 4 Mark – 4
Total – 15
Karina Carvalho – eliminated
Karina Carvalho and Andre Gorbunov. Image: Seven
Round one
Newsreader Karina Carvalho and Andre Gorbunov performed the Viennese Waltz, which was met with criticism from the judges for not being relaxed enough.
Craig – 5 Helen – 6 Sharna – 6 Mark –7
Total – 24
Round Two
For round two, newsreader darling Karina and her professional dance partner Andre spiced up the dancefloor with a salsa. The judges all agreed that Karina’s stage presence had improved significantly compared to the last round, but sadly, the audience eliminated from the competition.
Craig – 4 Helen – 6 Sharna – 5 Mark – 5
Total – 20
Watch Dancing With The Stars Australia 2025 on Sundays from 7pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
Throughout MasterChef Australia 2025, Sarah Todd was repeatedly praised by the judges for stepping outside of her comfort zone and using in-depth techniques and creative concepts in her cooking.
Unfortunately for her, the judges believed her Pork Assiette, which was pork cooked three ways with a sweet and sour dressing, fell short, and she was eliminated from the competition.
Looking back at her time on the cooking show, Sarah said that while continually taking risks was draining, she was proud of her choices throughout the competition.
“Every day I was creating dishes that I had never made before, and really experimenting and pushing myself, and it takes so much of your creative battery to do that,” she explained.
Sarah, who came ninth in season six of MasterChef and runner-up in season 14, said that she wanted to be more experimental in her previous stints but decided to really push herself on Back to Win 2025.
Sarah cooking the MasterChef kitchen. Image: Ten.
“Every time I went into the competition, I wanted to do that,” she said. “But I think there’s so much fear.”
“There were often days when I would just fall back into a safety dish. It’s like, this is a dish that generations of people have cooked, and it’s amazing.
“But, I just got to the point where I was like, You know what, I don’t want to be doing that anymore. I want to be cooking dishes that I can truly say; this is my dish. This is a Sarah dish. It doesn’t exist in the world, and I’ve developed it and created it, and I wanted to be proud.”
“There was just a day where the switch kind of flicked, and then there was no turning back at that point, I physically couldn’t just do a safe dish anymore. I was really glad that I did that, because I’ve created this repertoire of dishes that I feel like could be my Sarah Todd menu and go straight into a restaurant and launch that as a first menu.”
Sarah and Jamie. Image: Ten.
What’s next for MasterChef Australia’s Sarah Todd?
While Sarah may be gone from the 2025 competition, she’s ready to take her next step in her career. Although nothing is set in stone yet, she told Chattr she’d love to start her own restaurant down under.
“It’s always been my goal to open a restaurant in Australia. That’s something I do want to do one day,” she said.
Sarah currently has a pop-up menu for five weeks at Derrel’s in Camperdown, Sydney, and she said seeing the positive response to that has boosted her confidence in launching her own restaurant.
“It’s been really nice this season to see how people have gotten around to my cooking style and even seeing the response of people heading into Derrel’s and getting to try my food there. It’s been a real reassurance that it’s something that I can do here in Australia,” she said.
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary’s blossoming relationship on MasterChef Australia 2025 has been one of the season’s biggest talking points. And, following her shock elimination in Episode 52, Sarah gave us an update on where things stand between them.
“It’s all going amazing,” Sarah told Chattr.
“We’ve moved into our house and are still unpacking boxes at the moment. So, I think, in life, moving house is one of the most stressful things, and we’ve managed to be unscathed and no arguments, so it’s going strong,” she laughed.
Sarah, who made it to the top six on MasterChef Australia 2025, told Chattr that having Declan compete alongside her was an amazing support, and she was really upset when he was sent home during the June 29 episode.
“I was devastated seeing Declan getting eliminated,” she said. “He’s so talented and passionate about food, and has a lot of creativity in the kitchen.
Declan and Sarah. Image: Instagram.
“Selfishly, I was devastated for myself as well, having that joy in the kitchen, and to be able to walk out after a cook and [have him]. We were just, like, doing our workouts and just having a lot of fun outside of the kitchen. So it definitely relieved a lot of that pressure of the intensity of the competition, so it was definitely not a fun day.”
The couple live with Sarah’s 14-year-old son, Phoenix, and she said that Declan usually takes care of the cooking for them.
“We cook every night. Declan loves cooking at home; he often cooks every meal as well, and it’s been fun. Getting to cook without all of those pressures and just cook comfort food at home has been really nice.”
MasterChef’s Samira started to cotton on to their romance during filming
MasterChef Australia 2025’s Declan Clearyand Sarah Todd officially announced that they are dating in June — right before Samira El Khafir‘s elimination episode aired. She told Chattr that she sensed that something romantic was brewing between them during filming.
“I had a feeling something was happening,” she told Chattr. “Their friendship was quite close. I’m really, really happy for both of them when it came out in the news, I think it was yesterday or the day before. I was super excited about it, because they are both absolutely lovely people, really lovely.”
The cutest MasterChef Australia couple! Image: Instagram
While Samira said she hadn’t spoken to them about their relationship at that point, she gushed about them individually.
“I just think they’re fantastic as they are — couple or not, I haven’t really seen them together as a couple, because I got eliminated towards when that phase happened. But, you know, they really got along like a house on fire, which was so nice to see. It is actually really nice to see when people are getting along and have something more grow out of it.”
“I was there to see the friendship bloom, and then I missed out on the rest!” she laughed.
Andre spills more information about MasterChef’s Sarah and Declan
In an interview with Chattr, Andre Ursini added that while he doesn’t pry into Sarah and Declan’s private life, he was great mates with Declan while the show was filming. “I was actually quite close to Declan, he’s got some sort of X-Factor about him. He’s very unique, really likeable and on the flip side, Sarah was a bit of an onion,” he spilled.
“It took me a while to get to know [Sarah] and she’s a really impressive strong woman. So I don’t ask them about their personal life after that, I just think they’re both still people and they found themselves through hours on set on MasterChef, which is quite miraculous.”
How did MasterChef’s Sarah and Declan get together?
Declan and Sarah told Stellar that they built a strong friendship through the first part of filming the 2025 season.
Decland said that when Sarah was put up in an elimination challenge (which may have been Episode 18), he realised that it was time to make a move on her.
“I was [panicking]: ‘Oh sh*t. I’ve been spending all this time with this bloody amazing chick and now she might be leaving!’” he told the publication.
“And so, as she’s walking into the elimination [challenge], I said, ‘Sarah, can I ask you something? Would you like to go on a date with me?’ And she just looked at me and said, ‘You’re a bloody idiot!’
MasterChef’s Sarah, Declan and Rhi. Image: Ten.
Declan explained that Sarah took a few days to think about it, then accepted his offer and the two had their first date at Grampians National Park.
“When we got to the top [of the mountain]…he opened his backpack. He’d made this beautiful breakfast spread that we sat there and ate together,” Sarah explained.
Their relationship quickly gained traction and Declan’s left his hometown of Sydney and moved in with Sarah and her son in Melbourne.
“Not only is she the most grounded, intelligent and creative person I’ve ever met, she has always appreciated me for who I am,” he said. “We connected through life experience; we’ve both been through a lot. We share the same values. There’s great chemistry between us. She keeps me classy, and I keep her a bit cheeky.”
We are obsessed!
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
The Block 2025 has officially kicked off, and the premiere episode saw the cast take part in the all-important house decider challenge.
The Blockheads were tasked with creating floats for Australia’s largest regional LGBTQI+ festival, with judges Shaynna Blaze, Darren Palmer, and Marty Fox ranking them from impressive to least impressive — which correlated with the order they’d get to pick the house they’ll renovate.
Han and Can made it clear that they wanted one of the houses with a pitched roof, but when they came fourth, they were left to pick from one of the two with flat roofs, and went with house four.
The fallout was real, and Han proceeded to have a breakdown on national TV. While her strong outburst was slightly confusing to viewers, The Block’s Mat and Robby told Chattr why she was really so upset.
“There were other contestants that were — I don’t want to call them Block nerds — but they were so organized, and they planned their whole house, and everything from paint to cushions to plants to everything, before they got there, and then it didn’t go the way they planned, and it crumbled down on them,” Robby explained.
Mat then pointed out that this was the case for Han and Can.
“Perfect example, you see how Han cracked the shits because she didn’t get the house she wanted? Well, because she had planned that house down to where every power point was going to be. And so when she had a different house, it was like, Holy shit, her world had been turned upside down,” he said.
Han inspecting house four. Image: Nine.
Why Robby and Mat think their renovation inexperience is an advantage
While Robby is a fan of The Block, Mat admitted that he’s never seen a single episode of the show. However, the men told Chattr that there was an advantage related to their inexperience with the show — and renovating in general.
“We’ve got salons, we’ve had blank canvases where we’ve made them into salons by project managing,” Robby said.
“We have not renovated at all, because, literally, we’d say ‘We want that mirror, we want that chair, we want this flooring and whatever. Let’s get some painters in.’ That’s pretty much the extent of it. And then we’ve managed it to a timeline and a budget. But, we have not renovated a house or done anything,” Mat added.
However, Robby and Mat said their happy-go-lucky attitude helped them be flexible with the house’s design as the weeks went on.
“Mat and I came in as green as can be. And it was probably an advantage to us, because we had no expectations. [The other contestants] were overthinking everything and staying up to two o’clock in the morning on their laptops, planning everything, and Mat and I were just skipping around and having a beer,” Robby laughed.
The Block 2025 airs on Sundays at 7:30pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Farmer Wants A Wife 2025’sClarette Goodhead suffered while the show was on air, as a less-than-glowing edit portrayed her as “jealous” and “insecure”. While she ended up finding her happy ending with Farmer Thomas Freeth, she received copious amounts of hate on social media.
The backlash was so intense that, apparently, production offered to send her to visit family in England for support, which she declined, calling it a temporary measure.
“Production offered to fly me back to England to see my family but it was a band-aid for the actual problem, which they continued to fuel by posting clips of me and advertising the negative stuff in the promos despite me requesting for them not to because it was affecting my mental health,” Clarette tells Chattr.
“I unfollowed Farmer Wants A Wife[on social media] and removed them from following me so they couldn’t tag me in anything to do with the show.”
The reality TV contestant claims she was “failed” by both Channel Seven and the production company Eureka Productions, and says all the hate took a huge toll on her mental health — a cautionary tale many past reality ‘villains’ have talked about before.
“My mental health was adversely affected by the online hate that I received on their platforms, and they continued to promote and circulate derogatory clips of me across all their social media sites, further highlighting and antagonising the negative perception of me,” Clarette says.
She is currently receiving legal advice about the “lack of duty of care for contestants”, but can’t comment further on her case.
“They definitely need to take more duty of care for their contestants, you have no idea how they are going to manipulate you, you are a puppet and they have full creative control of your edit with no prior warning of what will happen to you,” Clarette claims.
“We were assured by Seven Socials that defamatory comments going above audience opinion would be removed, and this did not happen.”
Clarette and Farmer Thomas during the reunion. Image: Seven
Clarette reveals sneaky Farmer Wants A Wife editing tricks
While some people are adamant you can’t have a ‘bad edit’, because you aren’t forced to say anything you don’t want to, there’s a bit more nuance to this. Reality TV producers are good at reframing questions to get exactly what they want from contestants, and when you take away context, contestants can definitely be seen in a different light.
For example, when Thomas and Clarette had their first kiss on Farmer Wants A Wife, it was framed as though she kissed him to secure her place before elimination. In reality, Clarette tells Chattr he had already made the decision as to who was going home before they kissed.
Another big storyline to paint Clarette as possessive and entitled was when the women went on the boom sprayer. “Nathania volunteered me to go on, but the voiceover used [said], ‘Clarette pushed every other girl out of the way’ to go on [which is] simply false, and the unedited original footage will show that I did not even say anything in that moment,” she reveals.
She believes producers could see the strong connection between her and Thomas from the very beginning, so they had to create drama and raise the stakes.
“They needed a storyline to throw viewers off the scent that we would end up together; otherwise, there would be no show. They angled all my questions [to be] about the other girls, trust, orchestrating fake scenarios to play into insecurities,” Clarette claims.
Thomas and Clarette were blindsided by the way she was portrayed on TV. Image: Instagram
The couple regrets not leaving sooner, but they were trying to do what they thought was required of them at the time.
“If we had known the storyline that was going to be portrayed, then we would have left together after the Harvest Festival,” Clarette says. “We were both trying to do the right thing and honour our contracts, but now looking back, their priority wasn’t us and our welfare, so we should have been more selfish.”
The one positive of Clarette and Thomas’ experience on Farmer Wants A Wife is that they’ve clearly found a life partner in each other. So while it came with some tough battles, they’ve emerged with a very strong bond.
You can watch Farmer Wants A Wife on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
The Block is back for 2025 with five new teams ready to build from the ground up, with no shortage of drama in sight — but it’s going to be different from recent years.
Sonny and Alicia, Robby and Mat, Han and Can, Britt and Taz, and Em and Ben round out the Block cast for 2025. While it’s still too early to call who’ll be stirring the pot this year, Robby and Mat have teased that fans should buckle up for a drama-filled season. However, the long-time besties told Chattr that viewers can expect a more wholesome type of drama in comparison to recent years.
“This year’s different to other years, last year and the year before; there’s been some pretty nasty people on the show, and I think they cast very well this year,” Robby explained. “I guess it is a competition at the end of the day, and it’s all happy families, until probably week five or six, when the competition stiffens up and one team does really well.”
However, Mat clarified that while the drama isn’t as nasty as in past seasons, there will still be a lot of juicy content.
“There’s not drama that is intentional or malicious or mean,” he explained. “The only drama you will see is people fighting for fairness. So if they think something is unfair, that is the only time that you’ll see someone get their back up. It will never be to put someone down or to drag someone through the mud or to make somebody’s day not good.”
The Block 2025 cast arriving at site for the first time. Image: Ten.
Mat and Robby made a conscious effort to prioritise their friendship during filming
Competing on The Block is no walk in the park—the high-pressure experience stretches over roughly three months. In previous seasons, viewers have seen friendships crack and relationship breakdowns. Knowing this, Mat and Robby told Chattr that they went into the experience with a plan to ensure they prioritised their friendship above all else.
“I guess we’re very proud of saying now, we’ve come off this huge 12 – 13 weeks away, and we had the best time, and we laughed hard, and we’re still friends now,” Robby said.
“The main thing we said is, like number one, we can’t let it come between our friendship. Yeah. And number two, we have to laugh every day, and we laughed until we cried every day,” Mat added.
The Block premieres on July 27 on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Two-time MasterChef Australia contestant Sav Perera has landed the coveted role of a judge on MasterChef Sri Lanka, and she’s shared the invaluable advice the current MasterChef Australia judges shared with her ahead of the new gig.
Sav will be heading up the judges panel alongside by Rohan Fernandopulle, Kapila Jayasinghe and Australian chef Peter Kuruvita for the franchise’s Sri Lankan debut.
Speaking of her new role, she told Chattr that it took her some time to accept that she was deserving of the influential position, and turned to the MasterChef Australia judges for advice.
“I think the first initial reaction was disbelief, and I think I also had a fair bit of sort of imposter syndrome kick in, which I think is normal. I’ve spoken toPoh [Ling Yeow] about it, and she felt the same way when she was asked. So I think that’s a pretty normal thing to feel,” she explained.
“I felt that it hadn’t been a long time since I’d been out of the [MasterChefAustralia] kitchen, so that definitely played into it. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I’m actually positioned quite well to be a judge, because the other three judges are all veteran, trained, professional chefs. I’m the only person who’s gone through the process on that panel, and obviously, I’m from the culture.
“I understand the food really well, the culture really well, and I speak the languages. So I think the more I dwell on it, the more I realise that this is a really unique opportunity for me to showcase Sri Lankan talent to the world.”
Sav with her fellow judges. Image: Instagram.
What advice did the MasterChef Australia judges give Sav ahead of her judging role?
MasterChef Sri Lanka will be Sav’s first experience as a judge, so naturally, she turned to the MasterChef Australia judges,Jean-Christophe Novelli, Andy Allen, Sofia Levine and Poh for advice.
“All four of them have been incredibly supportive,” Sav told Chattr. “When I broke the news to them, Jean-Christophe actually shed a little tear because he was so proud. He was like, ‘You guys are like my kids,’ especially because we were on his first season.”
Jean Christophe with Sumeet and Sav on MasterChef Australia 2024. Image: Ten.
Sav said that Poh told her that her experience on MasterChef Australia as a contestant gives her a huge insight into what the MasterChef Sri Lanka contestants will be going through during the competition.
“I do speak to Poh quite often. I keep in touch with her quite a bit, because she’s also here in Adelaide. I think the most helpful thing that she reminded me time and time again is that when you’ve been a contestant, you never forget that you have been on that side of the bench, and that’s the greatest asset that you have as a judge.”
Meanwhile, Sav said that Sofia gave her more practical advice when it comes to judging the contestants’ dishes on MasterChef Sri Lanka.
“Sofia was really handy, because she said, ‘Don’t ever judge on an empty stomach’. And that has been incredible advice for her to share.
“The main thing is not to taste test on an empty stomach, because if you’re hungry, even the most mediocre tasting thing might taste really good.”
Stranded on Honeymoon Island delivered a fast-paced yet drama-filled season, with two episodes dropping each week. Although the show aired for just a little over a month, fans will be thrilled to hear that a reunion special was filmed to cap things off.
With 11 episodes of twists and tangled relationships, there’s bound to be plenty to unpack at the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion.
The reunion will reunite the couples who made it through the entire experiment — and those who dramatically signalled the end with a flare — at Couples Cove for one last explosive encounter.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion.
The Stranded on Honeymoon Island boat. Image: Seven.
When does the reunion air?
Partway through the first season of Stranded on Honeymoon Island, Channel 7 switched up the airing schedule so that two episodes played out on Tuesday night.
The same schedule will be followed for the final episodes, and the reunion. So, the finale will air at 8:30pm on Tuesday, July 29, and the reunion will air immediately after at 9:50pm.
Who will be at the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion?
However, they were all brought back to the island for the reunion and will join the other couples there. So, you can expect the entire cast at the reunion.
Jess and Sam on Stranded on Honeymoon Island. Image: Seven.
Where is the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion filmed?
Unlike some other shows, which have reunions filmed back in Australia, this one is actually an extra Couples Cove, so it’s filmed on the beach in Fiji.
Stranded on Honeymoon Island is filmed across the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. “It was shot across six different islands in Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean,” a Channel 7 spokesperson told Chattr.
Watch the Stranded on Honeymoon Island reunion at 9:50pm on Channel 7 and 7Plus.
The world can’t stop talking about nepo babies. With the likes of Hailey Bieber, Lily-Rose Depp, Jack Quaid and Gracie Abrams constantly in the news cycle, it’s hard not to wonder about the benefit of having extremely famous parents (like Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid) can do for your career.
British star Bessie Carter is slowly building a name for herself, with credits in Bridgerton, I Hate Suzie, and as the titular role in Outrageous. She also happens to be a nepo baby, as her parents are Downton Abbey’s Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton. While Bessie has seemingly used her parents’ connections in the past — all three actors were in a BBC series Cranford together — she’s quite protective of owning her career and forging a path for herself.
With Outrageous, which is coming to BritBox in Australia, Bessie plays Nancy Mitford. It’s based on a real story of the Mitford sisters, who were infamous for breaking aristocratic rules. Set in 1930, the show takes us into British high society, with delicious scandals, betrayals, love and heartache. The actor tells Chattr she landed this role on her own, not through her famous parents.
“I’m gonna take all of the credit, because [my mum] did not help me get the part, but she did help me learn my lines, which, if that counts, then it counts,” Bessie recalls. “I was staying at my parents’ house [while doing a show and] I got the audition through… so I was like, ‘Mum, will you help me?’ And she helped me learn my lines.
“I sort of thought, I might get this one. She was like, ‘Yeah, you could. It sounds like you’… and then I went off to the audition, and then got it. I got the job.”
When we delicately ask Bessie about the nepotism discourse, she admits it’s not something she had really thought about, as she considered her parents’ work as actors simply a job, rather than a glamorous Hollywood-esque life. “I’m trying to work out how best to answer these questions, because obviously, being asked them a fair amount at the moment, and it’s something that I’ve never really consciously thought about,” she explains.
“I grew up with my parents being quite job actors. They’d be in work and out of work, and you know, it was a very normal career. And then obviously, with Vera Drake… and then Harry Potter [and] Downton Abbey, I suppose the attention on them grew a bit. [But for me], nothing really changed.”
The cast of Outrageous. Image: BritBox
However, Bessie concedes that seeing her parents be so successful in their chosen field meant she wasn’t afraid to give it a go. Having the confidence to chase after her dreams and knowing you have a safety blanket is something many people don’t necessarily have. With others chasing financial security or trying to escape unstable environments, it’s definitely a luxury.
“I suppose I grew up knowing that it could be a job that was viable. So I suppose that maybe gave me a confidence that I could do it, and it was just the thing that I loved the most,” Bessie says. “When I got into Guildhall, which was my drama school, that felt very good, because that was a drama school that was mine, like my mum had gone to RADA, my Dad had done a very alternative route, so it felt like the beginning of my own path.”
As with most nepo babies, Bessie wants to separate herself from her famous parents, yet she is currently starring in a play alongside her mother called Mrs Warren’s Profession. “I suppose there is something in me that you know, is keen to be seen as an actor in my own right,” she says. “I do feel like, I think I wouldn’t have been able to do the play that I’m doing with my mum right now if I felt in any way that people would think, ‘Oh god, okay. I wonder how she got that then’.
“I’m prepared to take that risk, because I believe in my own career, and I back myself. So I sort of don’t mind if people [judge because] they [my parents] are just very normal. It just sort of didn’t feel odd or weird [for me to start acting… it was just kind of like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do this.’ And they were thrilled.”
We can’t wait to see Bessie smash her role in Outrageous, and see what she does next. She’s definitely a talent to watch, regardless of who her parents are.
Outrageous premieres on BritBox in Australia on July 26.
After winning Immunity in the previous episode, Callum Hann was immune from the challenge, and the remaining five contestants were given a letter from home and asked to cook something that offered the judges a glimpse into their lives beyond the kitchen.
After receiving a letter from her husband Max, Laura drew inspiration from a recent trip to the Northern Territory with him and their daughter. She whipped up an aesthetically pleasing dish called Native Australian Summer, which consisted of wattleseed rough puff pastry, cinnamon myrtle crème pâtissière, muntries cooked in apple caramel, smoked paperbark-flavoured ice cream, and green ants.
While the judges were clearly blown away by her creation, her biggest competition was Depinder, who dished up her take on a Sadya, a traditional Indian feast served on a banana leaf, after being inspired by a trip she took to Kerala with her family.
Despite the judges’ enthusiastic feedback about Depinder’s dish, Laura was awarded immunity, and some social media users vented only that they felt that Depinder should have won.
Laura’s winning dish. Image: Ten.
Some social media users claim Depinder should have won
It’s no secret that Laura has gotten extensive airtime on MasterChef Australia 2025, which is likely connected to the seriously impressive dishes she’s been producing all season long.
However, some fans took issue with Laura winning again, and claimed that Depinder deserved to score Immunity in the round, with some going as far to claim that the show is “rigged”.
“Why do I punish myself watching MasterChef!! I would love Depinder to win.. but it seems to me that the “judges” have decided that Callum or Laura will win. Decided before the show began,” one person wrote on Twitter.
Why do I punish myself watching MasterChef!! I would love ❤️❤️Depinder to win.. but it seems to me that the “ judges” have decided that Callum or Laura will win. Decided before the show began. Also would love Sarah and Jamie to have a better chance. This show is a farce.
“This season of MasterChef Australia would have been more interesting if right from episode 1 it wasn’t obvious that this is just a redemption story for Laura,” another user agreed.
Over on Reddit, many fans had the same sentiment, and were disappointed that Depinder didn’t get her flowers, with one writing that she was robbed, and another stating, “Should have been Depinder!!!”
“So Depinder cooks this brilliant dish in record time, Sarah kicks arse with ingenuity again but green ants win? Rightio,” a third posted.
A fourth person penned: “Oh man, I am gutted for Depinder. Two show stopping cooks in a row but still narrowly missing out on immunity.”
Depinder also had fans on Facebook rallying behind her, believing she was more deserving of the win.
“Depinder put so much effort and love in her dishes, they were perfect. I think the judges were totally wrong choosing Laura,” they wrote.
Depinder’s take on a Sadya. Image: Ten.
MasterChef Australia fans defend Laura
Some users took to social media to call out the criticism Laura has received from fans over her multiple wins and generous air time, saying she deserves it.
“People who post nonstop hatred toward Laura don’t realise how toxic they’re being. Imagine you were on MCAU putting in hard work week after week just for people to trash you no matter what you did just because they didn’t like you,” one Reddit user mused.
“Congratulations to Laura. I thought it was a very well-considered, concise dish and presentation,” another wrote. “Every flavour, temperature and texture on Laura’s dish seemed to have a clear purpose. It’s a very good example of ‘less is more.'”
Over on Facebook, a fan speculated that the editors of the show are purposely trying to confuse viewers about who will win the season.
“Is Masterchef deliberately trying to showcase stuff which is controversial? Like they knew what they were doing leading everyone to believe Depinder is winning then not give it to her, the editing is clearly making it more controversial than it might be. Looks like they’re going down the reality TV route where they purposely want fans annoyed so it boosts their engagement rates,” they wrote.
MasterChef Australia airs on Sunday at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
