Nat Thaipun got off to a flying start by bagging the season’s only Immunity Pin, however, the MasterChef Australia 2024 winner thinks her early success worked to her detriment.
Nat was crowned the winner of MasterChef 2024 after a nail-biting four-hour Pressure Test against Josh ‘Pezza‘ Perry set by Clare Smyth in the grand final.
During a post-win interview with Chattr, Nat revealed that her strong start meant that she didn’t have much room to grow through the season.
“Honestly, I feel like I shot myself in the foot for doing so well at the start. Especially having an immunity pin, there’s just so much pressure,” she explained.
“I was so aware of the fact that when people watch this, they’re gonna have to want to see me grow – and I wanted to see myself grow.
“After the first episode, I was just like, ‘this is a lot to work creatively in order to keep pushing and pushing’,” she added.
Nat was sceptical of fellow contestants’ praise
While Nat’s cooking skills were clear as day to fans, the Victorian-based chef said that she often doubted herself, even when other contestants reassured her.
“I felt really bad because all the contestants felt like I was really blase with the whole situation. Because every time they told me I was gonna win, or that I was so good, I just dismissed all of it,” she admitted.
“I was like, ‘No, you guys are so much better, you guys know how to do pasta and pastries and stuff like that that I can’t do.’
“The only strong suit I have is the ability to pull out really bold flavours, and also work with brand new ingredients that are put in front of me,” she modestly added, despite nailing a huge array of cuisines and dishes throughout the season.
What’s next for MasterChef’s Nat?
The obvious next step for a MasterChef winner is to use the $250,000 prize money to open a restaurant. However, Nat isn’t quite ready for that.
“I am going to go travel the world and work at multiple restaurants. I want to broaden my palate and my knowledge before I even think about opening a restaurant,” she said.
Nat’s won’t just be experiencing different cultures and dishes – she’s planning on getting right amongst the kitchen.
“I think it’s really valuable. No culinary school could even teach you the things that you learn when you’re in service and working at restaurants really doing the hard yards – even doing the dishes and cleaning.
“I want to see all of that to understand because I’ve got the front-of-house background but I feel like I need to understand the back-of-house first before I could do anything else.”
Congrats to Nat for winning MasterChef Australia 2024, and we can’t wait until the day she’s ready to open a restaurant!
Stream MasterChef 2024 on 10Play.
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