MasterChef Australia eliminee Aaron has answered a major behind-the-scenes question about what contestants get up to during filming, just ahead of the 2026 grand finale episode that will reunite the former chefs for one last showdown between Vinnie and Petro.
Though he made the top three, Aaron was sadly booted from the MasterChef kitchen this week during a semi-final service challenge that saw his fellow finalists narrowly land a place ahead of him in the finale.
While the high-pressure episode was full of surprising moments, one that stuck out for some fans was whether the other contestants, who are seen watching the cook and offering support from the gantry, are able to eat the food prepared by the chefs.
Do MasterChef eliminees get to eat the dishes in the gantry?
The question was particularly pronounced during a service challenge, where the top three were made to serve a restaurant’s worth of diners as well as the judges — leading many to ask if the eliminated contestants also get to try the finalists’ dishes during the hours-long filming days.
“I have a theory that there’s a secret door behind them with catering inside,” one Redditor wrote of the gantry contestants. “Do the contestants spend four hours on the balcony and not get fed?” another asked.
Aaron addressed the BTS question in an exclusive interview with Chattr, and it sounds as if the former contestants’ mouths were left watering for the entire cook. “Do they eat the food we make?” Aaron laughed, “no they didn’t!”
He went on to reveal that the dishes made on the ground level, stay on the ground level. “All the food stays on the floor, so those guys were literally just watching everyone eat,” Aaron told us.
Uneaten food to not go to waste on MasterChef Australia
While the (likely salivating) balcony onlookers don’t get to try the dishes whipped up by their castmates, that’s not to say that leftover food goes to waste — at least according to Chattr’s exclusive interview with season 16 contestant Juan De La Cruz earlier this year.
“Sometimes lots of food is donated to a charity called Second Chance and also the staff behind the cameras takes some [home],” Juan told us. “I also remember sometimes by the end of the week, all the fresh food from the pantry such as veggies, fruits and even some meat was up for grabs. So we would take ingredients to practice ideas during the weekend.”
So, although they might not get a nibble of the completed dishes, MasterChef contestants could score some of the ingredients that went into them, meaning they’re not left completely starving while watching everyone cook up a storm during the long filming days.
The MasterChef gantry will be full to the brim for the 2026 finale
Aaron’s revelation about former MasterChef contestants comes ahead of all of them reconvening in the gantry for the 2026 finale, which famously brings back a lot of the chefs that were eliminated throughout the season to cheer on the finalists.
While not all of the 22 former contestants will return, we can expect a bustling gantry with more than a few of the most recent eliminees, including those who made it just shy of the finish line.
They’ll undoubtedly be supporting grand finalists Vinnie and Petro in what’s been a very friendly competition of MasterChef this season, but don’t expect them to be trying any of the cooked dishes!
MasterChef Australia airs on Sundays at 7pm and Monday – Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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