Indian-origin pastor Justin Narayan has won the title of MasterChef Australia 13 which includes a cash prize of $250,000 dollars. Kishwar Chowdhury, who originally hails from Bangladesh, was the second runner-up and won $20,000, and Pete Campbell from New South Wales went home with $30,000 as the first runner-up.
Justin is the second contestant of Indian-origin to take home the show's trophy, after prison guard Sashi Cheliah won the show in 2018.
Justin hails from Western Australia and his cooking on the show was heavily influenced by his Indian and Fijian heritage. Some of the dishes he cooked were Indian Chicken Curry, Indian Chicken Tacos, and Charcoal Chicken with Toum.
He shared the win on Instagram with the message, "Find people that believe in you. Back yourself. Go hard and hopefully you’ll surprise yourself! Whoever’s reading this I love you."
He said that he is honoured and humbled by the win. “I’m genuinely going to take a week to process this and let it sink in, and then I’ll, like, write you an email, let you know how I feel," he said.
Speaking to News18 earlier, he'd said, "It is a very humbling experience and I am absolutely honoured to be a part of it. I’m going to be a sponge and try to enjoy as much of it as I can."
“One of my all-time favourite dishes was the charcoal chicken and toum, it’s super delicious and reminds me of a lot of good times with a lot of good mates. My favourite challenge was definitely cooking at Andy’s Three Blue Ducks restaurant. That kitchen was unreal and running a real service, very addictive."Justin Narayan, Winner Masterchef Australia 13
One of the judges on the show, celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo, commented under his post and applauded his consistency and ability to learn.
"Justin, Mate, congratulations on such an epic achievement! You were Captain Consistency - I said it so many times throughout the season. You kept your head down, you learnt, you did the work, and that’s what it takes to pick up the MasterChef trophy. Your humility underpinned your skill - that was the winning combination," he wrote.
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