When Steph de Sousa first appeared on MasterChef Australia Season 11 back in 2019, she had a fulfilling job as an HR manager, but craved working in the food industry.
Fast forward to 2025, and Steph’s culinary career has blown up. She has almost three million followers on social media, a recipe website, two cookbooks, and even hosts her own TV show, Frugal Foodie. And if that weren’t enough, she also returned to compete on MasterChef Australia: Back to Win 2025.
While Steph is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished contestants to ever emerge from the MasterChef Australia franchise, she told Chattr that she attributes her success to hard work.
“I spent a long time creating content that didn’t do very well, and just kept plugging at it and perfecting my videos and really working out what it was that people wanted to see,” she explained.
Steph was eliminated from MasterChef Back to Win 2025 in the May 11 episode after she cooked a Pork Belly with Bechamel Sauce. While Steph told Chattr that she was disappointed to leave early on in the competition, she added that she’s so grateful for the support she’s received from her followers.
Steph de Sousa’s followers began to rise once she found her niche
Steph placed 12th on Season 11 of MasterChef Australia and told Chattr that her time on the show lit a fire inside of her to pursue a career in the cooking industry.
“I was a HR manager for a government department, and it was a great job, but I would say it was slowly sucking my soul out of me, because I just knew that I just loved cooking, and I’d always wanted to work in that industry.
“So getting on MasterChef was a bit like, I was 46 if I didn’t do it, then I was never going to do it. So I just decided I was just going to jump all in and have a really good crack and see if I could make it.”
Steph said that her social media started to gain traction quickly when she began tailoring her posts to the needs of busy, working Australians.
“I always say that the day I stopped being a food snob was when I really started to take off on social media. Because people just want things that are real, you know, they want stuff that they can recreate.
“They want it quick and easy and tasty. They want to be able to buy the ingredients from the supermarket and not have to go and source it from somewhere unusual.
“So since I started making those kind of recipes and that kind of content, things really took off for me, which was just great. And I just love being able to provide — I really do feel what I do is a service of people — and I really love to be able to give them those recipes.”
Steph de Sousa is grateful for the community she’s created
With 1.3 million followers on Instagram, 678,000 on TikTok and 808,000 on Facebook, it’s safe to say that Steph is a household name for Australian home cooks. She told Chattr that she’s so appreciative that her loyal fans have helped her achieve her dream career.
“I’m doing exactly what I want to do every single day, which was always my goal,” she said.
“And I get so many amazing experiences, and I get to meet some really incredible people, and I have the most amazing followers who are always messaging me and stopping me in the street and telling me how much they love their recipes or asking for me to do a particular recipe.
“Honestly, it’s just so great.”
While we’ll miss seeing Steph on our screens during MasterChef episodes, we’ll be one of the millions tuning into her cooking on social media!
MasterChef Australia airs on Sunday at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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