MasterChef Australia winner Vinnie Gibaldi was plagued by romance rumours involving fellow contestant Annabel throughout the season, despite being in a relationship with his girlfriend, Bridget.
Now, in an exclusive interview with Chattr, Vinnie has shut down the speculation, insisting there were no romances among this year’s cast and opened up about whether the persistent rumours affected Bridget.
“It’s all fake, there’s no romance, we’re all good friends,” Vinnie told Chattr.
Vinnie said that by the time the headlines about a potential romance between himself and Annabel started popping up while the show was airing, his girlfriend Bridget and Annabel had already struck up a strong friendship, so she wasn’t fazed by them.
“Honestly, Annabel, me, and Bridge are all really good friends,” he said. “Annabel came down last night to watch the finale with us. So did Casper. So did Lucy and Aaron. We all watched it together, and the rumours were just funny because Bridge has gone out with Annabel more than I have, and they’re just such good friends that it’s just funny.”
During the MasterChef episode that aired on June 29, which featured former contestants Declan and Sarah with their newborn twins, Annabel made a comment in a producer-led interview that kicked off the rumours.
“This is wild that they both were on Back to Win and met and fell in love and have twins. Like that is the cutest thing; that’s the most beautiful story I’ve ever heard in my life. Is there anyone in our comp that could be future Sarah and Declan? I’m not allowed to say,” she said in an interview at the time.
Viewers took the comment and ran with it, convinced that there was a secret romance, and they came to the conclusion that it was between Annabel and Vinnie because of matching chilli necklaces that eagle-eyed viewers had spotted.
However, Annabel quashed that theory in a previous interview with Chattr, revealing that her and Vinnie’s charms are different.
“When it was like, it’s Annabel and Vinnie, he wears a chilli, they both have chillis around their necks, I was like damn it, mine’s not even a chilli, but I was like wow, you guys are really good at this [sleuthing],” she laughed.
MasterChef’s Petro also shut down speculation of a romance with Alyona
Fans were convinced that the secret MasterChef romance was either between Vinnie and Annabel or Petro and Alyona. However, Petro has also rubbished the claims, saying that no one in the cast was romantically involved.
“It’s kind of funny to see all the stories. There was a lot of speculation with a few of us actually, but yeah, no, [Alyona and I are] just really good friends.”
In fact, Alyona and Petro are so close that she was just one of the three fellow contestants he watched the grand finale with, along with Dot and Jackie.
“I just watched it with some of the contestants,” he told Chattr, adding that he found out that he’d lost while watching the episode with the rest of Australia, but said he wasn’t surprised.
“I did have a feeling. I thought it would be a long shot if I won, given how far behind I was after the first round. But yeah, it was still disappointing,” he said.
Stream the MasterChef Australia 2026 grand finale on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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