MasterChef Australia 2026 winner Vinnie Gibaldi has lifted the lid on what eliminated contestants are and aren’t allowed to say from the gantry, after fans accused him of having an unfair advantage when his girlfriend helped him from the balcony during the finale.
ICYMI, Vinnie almost forgot to add coconut to his dessert in the Pressure Test, but his girlfriend, Bridget, noticed and called out to him to remind him.
The move has been called “unfair” by fans on social media, and in an exclusive interview with Chattr, Vinnie said that people in the gantry aren’t supposed to give advice during a Pressure Test, but the reasoning behind it isn’t to do with fairness.
“We’re encouraged to give support from the gantry, but not advice during Pressure Tests,” he explained. “Because you don’t have the recipe, so you could yell out the wrong info and mess up the person.”
Vinnie said that while some of his fellow castmates tried to block out voices from the gantry, he loved hearing from his fellow contestants and loved ones from above, because it reminded him that he was cooking on MasterChef.
“I quite like when people talk from the gantry because sometimes in those cooks you can become like really hyper-focused, and you kind of lose sight. So having that bit of chatter just kind of opens up what you’re doing a bit more. I feel, or for me, it kind of like realigns what’s happening, and it helps me out. But some people don’t like it. Some people do,” he said.
“It’s nice to have the people that you care about and your friends and your family cheer you on and support you always. I feel like that’s really special.”
Vinnie added that having his girlfriend watching on at the finale was extra special, because she’s the one who secretly signed him up for the show.
“It was nice to see her at the finale because she’s really supported me from the very, very beginning, and she’s the reason why I was on the show in the first place,” he told Chattr.
“It was just so nice, coming from cooking rustic Italian home food to cooking something that’s sophisticated and elevated and just done really well. It was nice to show her that being away for this time, I wasn’t just doing nothing. I was actually working hard,” he laughed.
Vinnie reveals whether the contestants and judges stuck around for the entire five hour Pressure Test in the finale
The MasterChef Australia finale saw Vinnie and Petro given a Pressure Test that lasted a whopping five hours, and the lengthy challenge had viewers questioning what the judges and contestants did while the two finalists were cooking.
Vinnie told Chattr that those ex-contestants and loved ones in the gantry remained there for the entire five hours, but took a few breaks here and there.
“The gantry people, you get a little break. I can’t remember how many breaks they had, but they would have had a few breaks. I honestly was kind of just locked into what I was doing,” he said.
Runner-up Petro pointed out that no one in the gantry had a chair, so they were pretty tired by the time the challenge ended, too.
“They’re there the whole time, which is pretty nuts. So I think they were wrecked as well. It’s pretty stressful watching Pressure Tests from the gantry. You’re not cooking, but you’re kind of in it too, so it’s really stressful.”
Vinnie added that the judges were also roaming the kitchen for the majority of the five hour challenge.
“A lot of the time, the judges do stay and watch. They probably have a break here and there, but they are there with you. They’re in there with you. It’s not like they start and then they go have a break. They’re there.”
Vinnie added that towards the end of the cook, Andy gave him the inspiration he needed to get through the final leg of the Pressure Test.
“There was a part where it was like four and a half hours into the Pressure Test, and I just kind of stood there. I was like, ‘Oh my god,’” he explained. “And then Andy comes up to me and he goes, ‘Mate, just think about the beer after this.'”
Vinnie confirmed that he did have that beer straight after he finished filming, but said they were all so exhausted that they headed to bed shortly after.
Stream the MasterChef Australia 2026 grand finale on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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