MasterChef Australia’s Andre Ursini returned to the show in 2025 after competing in Season 1, and he whipped up some incredible dishes. Sadly, he missed out on a place in the Top 9, but you can go and taste his MasterChef Australia creations at one of his restaurants in Adelaide.
In an interview with Chattr, we decided to ask him for some MasterChef Australia behind-the-scenes secrets. We already know what happens to all the leftover food, but do contestants hang out after hours? And do they get close with the judges outside of filming?
Here are all the MasterChef Australia secrets Andre spilled.
How long are MasterChef Australia filming days?
According to Andre, filming days can vary with some stretching up to 12 hours, but there’s a lot of downtime where contestants are required to wait in the green room.
“They were long days, but it wasn’t like they were heavily active. So you’d get off the couch in the green room, so you’re doing nothing, you’re lying around, and then you have to get up and you’re in the most intense environment for 75 minutes [during a cook],” he explains. “You go from zero to a million miles an hour, and then the adrenaline dump after is just nuts. It’s so unusual, and it’s so hard.
“It’s really, really challenging. It’s such a strange environment, and each person who goes through that deserves a clap.”
Do the MasterChef Australia judges interact with the contestants outside of filming?
The judges don’t spend time with the contestants outside of filming, with Andre saying MasterChef Australia is “very professional” and there are “significant boundaries”.
However, Andre is close with Poh Ling Yeow from when they competed together, and he told Chattr a sweet story about how she checks in on all eliminated contestants. “One thing which I love, which demonstrates how genuine she is, Poh really invests in time with each contestant that leaves to ensure that she contacts them, makes sure that they’re okay, how they felt and so forth,” he says. “She’s a gem.”
Do the contestants practice cooking outside of hours?
Many MasterChef Australia contestants practice cooking outside of filming so they can be on their A-game for the competition, but Andre didn’t touch his tools for the entire time he was there.
“I was a weird one because I actually didn’t cook. I cooked one dish in my apartment over three months and it wasn’t cooking… it was a salad,” he jokes. “I had takeaway, I had Uber [Eats] a lot, and I didn’t have any cookbooks in my apartment either,” Andre says. “I did have a different take on the competition. I didn’t train for it, so to speak, like a lot of the others did, and they’re getting rewarded for it.”
Do the MasterChef Australia contestants get together socially outside of filming hours?
Yes! The bonds formed between the MasterChef Australia contestants are genuine. “We’re with each other from say 6am to maybe 7 or 8 o’clock at night, Monday to Friday, give or take. We’re with each other a lot, and even your best friends become a bit annoying. Like I don’t even hang out that much with my wife or my best mates at home,” he jokes. “It’s a strange environment, but often you would have drinks after just to decompress and discuss what the hell just happened, because you’re going through sort of this weird adrenaline dump daily, and you do rely on that sort of feedback from each other.
“We generally did hang out and created this really unique bond with people.”
Do the contestants cook for each other?
Andre never cooked for his fellow contestants, but he did receive a bunch of meals from Jamie Fleming. “Jamie actually cooked a lot for me. I felt like his faux-child because he was cooking me dinner with his Asian techniques and ingredients. That was nice, that was lovely, that was bonding,” Andre spills.
“One of the best dinners we had… we all met, and everyone brought a dish, and it was an incredible dining experience in the hotel. Audra [Morrice] did a dish, Depinder [Chhibber], I bought Uber [Eats] for them, but that was probably one of the most memorable, everyone had their expertise and skill sets in their dish and it was just a really special moment.”
No wonder this environment was the perfect place for Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary to fall in love. Maybe it’s a better place for romance than MAFS.
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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