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Johannesburg - Champagne corks were popped on Wednesday night as the winner of the second season of M-Net's hit reality cooking show MasterChef South Africa was announced.
The winner was Durban-born food writer and radio DJ Kamini Pather, 30, whose impressive and focused final challenge performance saw her best 23-year-old Chemistry Masters student Leandri van der Wat from Mahikeng.
The finale, which aired on M-Net on Wednesday night and set Twitter alight throughout the episode, crowned the first female winner for the SA version of the popular TV franchise.
The winners announcement was made by judges Pete Goffe-Wood, Benny Masekwameng and Andrew Atkinson after an intense 3-part challenge in which Kamini and Leandri were expected to take part in their final Mystery Box, Invention Challenge and Pressure Test.
Family there for support
For this season finale the two cooks worked side-by-side at stations that resembled a boxing ring while their respective family members stood close by and gave their support. Leandri had even more shouts of encouragement from the balcony above as her sister and final 3 MasterChef contender Seline watched anxiously above with the rest of the Top 10.
Excitement gave way to tension as the two wannabe chefs were presented with chef Pete's favourite ingredients in the Mystery Box, which included fennel bulb, self-raising flour, coriander, fancy potatoes and initimidating looking West Coast Rock Lobsters.
Kamini made a pasta dish while Leandri opted for a thick soup that she accidentally poured sugar into, unbalancing the flavours.
For their Invention Test chef Benny asked them to impress him and his fellow judges with the best chicken dish they could come up with.
Kamini took risks with her complex chicken terrine dish that she managed to pull off perfectly in the 75 minutes allotted. Leandri chose to use chicken livers in a parfait which she served with rustic polenta chips and a chunky chutney that, according to the judges, was too sharp and overpowered her dish.
When it came to the Pressure Test, a chef Andrew dessert was always on the cards and both contestants were happy to see a choux pastry as the main component of the dish.
The chocolatey eclair was filled with peanut butter ice cream and complemented with warm pomegranate jelly, that proved a bridge too far for both, a pliable chocolate shoelace and an orange reduction.
It was very close
Throughout the tasting the judges reiterated that scoring was very close, and at the end of a mammoth face-off in the MasterChef kitchen, Kamini was announced as the winner with 89 points (out of a possible 100) versus Leandri's 83.
As MasterChef season 2 champ, Kamini wins a host of incredible prizes, which includes a R400 000 cash prize from Robertson's, a year's worth of food shopping at Woolworths, a brand new VW Golf 7, a 5 night luxurious holiday in the Seychelles and a year’s supply of wine and a full sommelier course from Nederburg
As the runner-up Leandri also walks away with a cash prize of R100 000.
Gracious in defeat, Leandri congratulated Kamini and said that she went into the competition to have fun. Tearing up, she told Channel24 at the finale party held in Hyde Park after the episode viewing that she wanted to celebrate her family for helping to shape the woman she is today.
"I didn't want to go into the finale as a different Leandri. I just wanted to have fun."
For Kamini, she said that she did not plan on releasing her own cookbook and wanted to pursue her passion to launch her own TV series.
The winner was Durban-born food writer and radio DJ Kamini Pather, 30, whose impressive and focused final challenge performance saw her best 23-year-old Chemistry Masters student Leandri van der Wat from Mahikeng.
The finale, which aired on M-Net on Wednesday night and set Twitter alight throughout the episode, crowned the first female winner for the SA version of the popular TV franchise.
The winners announcement was made by judges Pete Goffe-Wood, Benny Masekwameng and Andrew Atkinson after an intense 3-part challenge in which Kamini and Leandri were expected to take part in their final Mystery Box, Invention Challenge and Pressure Test.
Family there for support
For this season finale the two cooks worked side-by-side at stations that resembled a boxing ring while their respective family members stood close by and gave their support. Leandri had even more shouts of encouragement from the balcony above as her sister and final 3 MasterChef contender Seline watched anxiously above with the rest of the Top 10.
Excitement gave way to tension as the two wannabe chefs were presented with chef Pete's favourite ingredients in the Mystery Box, which included fennel bulb, self-raising flour, coriander, fancy potatoes and initimidating looking West Coast Rock Lobsters.
Kamini made a pasta dish while Leandri opted for a thick soup that she accidentally poured sugar into, unbalancing the flavours.
For their Invention Test chef Benny asked them to impress him and his fellow judges with the best chicken dish they could come up with.
Kamini took risks with her complex chicken terrine dish that she managed to pull off perfectly in the 75 minutes allotted. Leandri chose to use chicken livers in a parfait which she served with rustic polenta chips and a chunky chutney that, according to the judges, was too sharp and overpowered her dish.
When it came to the Pressure Test, a chef Andrew dessert was always on the cards and both contestants were happy to see a choux pastry as the main component of the dish.
The chocolatey eclair was filled with peanut butter ice cream and complemented with warm pomegranate jelly, that proved a bridge too far for both, a pliable chocolate shoelace and an orange reduction.
It was very close
Throughout the tasting the judges reiterated that scoring was very close, and at the end of a mammoth face-off in the MasterChef kitchen, Kamini was announced as the winner with 89 points (out of a possible 100) versus Leandri's 83.
As MasterChef season 2 champ, Kamini wins a host of incredible prizes, which includes a R400 000 cash prize from Robertson's, a year's worth of food shopping at Woolworths, a brand new VW Golf 7, a 5 night luxurious holiday in the Seychelles and a year’s supply of wine and a full sommelier course from Nederburg
As the runner-up Leandri also walks away with a cash prize of R100 000.
Gracious in defeat, Leandri congratulated Kamini and said that she went into the competition to have fun. Tearing up, she told Channel24 at the finale party held in Hyde Park after the episode viewing that she wanted to celebrate her family for helping to shape the woman she is today.
"I didn't want to go into the finale as a different Leandri. I just wanted to have fun."
For Kamini, she said that she did not plan on releasing her own cookbook and wanted to pursue her passion to launch her own TV series.
