Pastry king and Dessert Masters contestant Adriano Zumbo says his time on the show will affect MasterChef Australia moving forward.
Adriano — AKA “Australia’s Willy Wonka” — has set a sh*t-ton of intricate and mouth-watering pressure tests during his many guest appearances on MasterChef.
Now, the 42-year-old has confessed he has a lot more empathy for contestants on the cooking show, having competed in Dessert Masters.
“I’ve got a different view,” he told Yahoo! Lifestyle. “Look, I won’t make the tests easier, but I think understanding a lot of those little things along the way, maybe I might tweak things here and there because I understand that you’ve gotta go run [around the kitchen] and this and that.
“That takes up so much time. It’s already tight timing and then you’re running to get stuff and if you forget something, you’ve got to run back because you’re kind of on the fly.”
However, Adriano maintains that he’s “still got to keep the pressure”.
“So they are what they are. And they get a lot more time [than we did], so I’ll still stick to my guns if I get the call back on to do another pressure test.”
Adriano Zumbo says being a contestant is a ‘different ballgame’ to being a judge on MasterChef Australia
Even though the Zumbo’s Just Desserts leading man has regularly appeared on MasterChef since its inaugural season in 2009, Adriano doesn’t think that gave him a leg up on Dessert Masters.
“When you’re [a guest judge], you spend a couple of weeks or a month testing a product to get it right to suit the challenge, and then you present it and the challenge happens and most of the time they’ve got three or four hours,” he explained.
“So it’s a lot different.”
He continued: “You kind of understand the point in your head from being there so many times, like the pinch points, but once you’re in there it’s a different ballgame.
“It’s just so much in your head and it’s such a time pressure. It’s pretty intense, but it’s good fun.”
Adriano added that the “adrenaline” is at an all-time high in the kitchen and contestants have “to push and really get it done”.
Adriano Zumbo initially didn’t want to be a contestant on Dessert Masters
According to Adriano, it “took a few weeks” for him to agree to be a Dessert Masters contestant.
“I decided I’ll do it because everyone can do with $100,000,” he confessed. “I was like, I’ll give it a crack. Whatever happens, I’m going to push as hard as I can and do my best. I’m not gonna go out on something that’s not going be short of amazing.”
Despite his reservations, the dessert king said he’s “so glad” he joined the show and met the other stars.
Some of them even told him that he was the reason they became pastry chefs!
“It was great to connect and hear a lot of them talk and say, ‘You’re the inspiration to why I’m here’,” he recalls.
“I think that’s pretty touching to have that said about you that I’ve done something right in this career, in the sense of the industry and inspiring people.”
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