Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - After the confetti had been swept up, and the Champagne bubbles had fizzed out, freshly crowned MasterChef South Africa season 2 winner Kamini Pather faced the press on Wednesday to talk about her big moment and what she planned to do with her prizes, most notably her R400 000 cheque.
"I want to inspire South Africans to cook seasonally and locally and I've got some interesting offers since the show started," she said at the MasterChef finale party held at Tsogo Sun in Hyde Park on Wednesday night, soon after the episode aired on M-Net.
The 30-year-old self-confessed naturalized Capetonian, who moved there from her native Durban in 2006, was clear about her food vision and said she did not plan on opening her own restaurant or writing her own cookbook, as many stars from the various international iterations of MasterChef have done. She would continue to work in the food and Media industry.
Kamini beat 23-year-old Chemistry Masters student Leandri van der Wat to the coveted title in a nail-biting cook-off.
Why cash?
M-Net explained that the decision to offer cash and other prizes, rather than a restaurant deal to the eventual winner (SA's first MasterChef Deena Naidoo received a restaurant to manage for 2 years) was to allow them to to realise their individual food dream.
"We didn't want to seem dictatorial, like M-Net and MasterChef were forcing (the winner) to go along a path that was one that would not make (the winner) happy," said Anne Davis, M-Net Senior Commissioning Editor.
"Food is about joy, about sharing who you are and I think that is what ultimately the public responds to. We try to make the prize as flexible and as open as possible that anyone who enters this competition can realise what they want," she added.
Season 3?
Anne could not confirm if a third season of MasterChef SA would be commissioned, nor if any spinoffs (such as sister channel kykNet's Ilse Kook, starring season 1 contender Ilse Fourie) were on the cards.
When it came to talking about spending her R400k, Kamini joked that she initially dreamed of living like a rapper and renting a yacht. But reality set in when she realized she would need to invest the money to someday start her own blogging portal or fund a TV series.
In other lighter moments in their interviews, Kamini shared that if she couldn’t cook and had to order fast food she would choose extra spicy Nando's, while Leandri confessed to being a sushi addict.
Also among Kamini's incredible list of prizes (besides a brand new VW Golf 7 and a luxury holiday in the Seychelles) is a year's supply of food from sponsors Woolworths. Kamini promised she wouldn't spend it all on wine. That would already be supplied by co-sponsors Nederburg on whose estate the cooking show is filmed.
"I want to inspire South Africans to cook seasonally and locally and I've got some interesting offers since the show started," she said at the MasterChef finale party held at Tsogo Sun in Hyde Park on Wednesday night, soon after the episode aired on M-Net.
The 30-year-old self-confessed naturalized Capetonian, who moved there from her native Durban in 2006, was clear about her food vision and said she did not plan on opening her own restaurant or writing her own cookbook, as many stars from the various international iterations of MasterChef have done. She would continue to work in the food and Media industry.
Kamini beat 23-year-old Chemistry Masters student Leandri van der Wat to the coveted title in a nail-biting cook-off.
Why cash?
M-Net explained that the decision to offer cash and other prizes, rather than a restaurant deal to the eventual winner (SA's first MasterChef Deena Naidoo received a restaurant to manage for 2 years) was to allow them to to realise their individual food dream.
"We didn't want to seem dictatorial, like M-Net and MasterChef were forcing (the winner) to go along a path that was one that would not make (the winner) happy," said Anne Davis, M-Net Senior Commissioning Editor.
"Food is about joy, about sharing who you are and I think that is what ultimately the public responds to. We try to make the prize as flexible and as open as possible that anyone who enters this competition can realise what they want," she added.
Season 3?
Anne could not confirm if a third season of MasterChef SA would be commissioned, nor if any spinoffs (such as sister channel kykNet's Ilse Kook, starring season 1 contender Ilse Fourie) were on the cards.
When it came to talking about spending her R400k, Kamini joked that she initially dreamed of living like a rapper and renting a yacht. But reality set in when she realized she would need to invest the money to someday start her own blogging portal or fund a TV series.
In other lighter moments in their interviews, Kamini shared that if she couldn’t cook and had to order fast food she would choose extra spicy Nando's, while Leandri confessed to being a sushi addict.
Also among Kamini's incredible list of prizes (besides a brand new VW Golf 7 and a luxury holiday in the Seychelles) is a year's supply of food from sponsors Woolworths. Kamini promised she wouldn't spend it all on wine. That would already be supplied by co-sponsors Nederburg on whose estate the cooking show is filmed.
