Whoa! Sashi Cheliah, a prison guard from Adelaide, won MasterChef Australia 2018. (Source: Sashi Cheliah/Twitter)
A 39-year-old prison guard from Adelaide, Sashi Cheliah, clinched the title of MasterChef Australia 2018 after scoring 93 out of 100 points on the final day. The Indian-origin cooking enthusiast defeated fellow contestant Ben Borsht, who scored 77 out of 100. For the first round, Cheliah made a sambal prawns starter, which got him a perfect 30 while his second recipe for the grand finale was a fish curry and cumin rice dish that he made to honour his aunt. Cheliah earned 27 points for the second dish as well, however, his component Borsht didn’t have a great start and had just 41 points in his kitty.
The winner took home the MasterChef Australia trophy and a winning amount of $2,50,000 (almost Rs 1.7 crore) while the first runner-up was awarded $40,000 (around Rs 27 lakh). Cheliah took to social media to thank his family for supporting him on this wonderful journey. “He wrote, “Hi everyone… thank you very much for the huge support and love from all over world. I am so blessed and honoured. Love you so much…Some exciting new ventures are coming soon so stay tune…My first pop up will start on 17/8 in HWKR Melbourne- Gaja by Sashi.”
My motivation, my strength and my support, love my family!!!! #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/lgUBaJBnnV
— sashi_cheliah (@sashi_cheliah) July 31, 2018
Oh no what is that??? #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/80RkSlUgoC
— sashi_cheliah (@sashi_cheliah) July 31, 2018
Check out some of his recipes here.
The show MasterChef Australia has many fans in India and the news left many delighted on social media.