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We’re over the halfway mark on MasterChef Australia: Fans and Favourites, which means things will really start heating up in the kitchen from now on.
Already, we’ve said goodbye to some truly talented chefs, like Season 10 winner Sashi Cheliah and early Fan frontrunner Harry Tomlinson, so the second half of this competition is sure to be fierce.
Enter Rick Stein, who’s here to put our remaining contestants through their paces.
Stein is one of the original celebrity chefs, and with 12 restaurants to his name, on top of the 22(!) cookbooks he’s written, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Originally from Oxfordshire, England, Stein was awarded a CBE for Services to the Economy in 2018. Over the course of his career, he’s cooked for some pretty big names, including the Queen and the late Prince Phillip, so you can imagine how high his standards are.
The CBE isn’t the only award Stein has earned, though. He’s also been awarded Best Food Personality at the Observer Food Monthly Awards, a Special Contribution Award at The Travel Media Awards, and Outstanding Contribution to Travel at the National Geographic Traveller Awards.
Stein is also very familiar with the pressures of cooking on camera, having starred in 12 cooking shows before, including 1995’s Taste of the Sea, Rick Stein’s Long Weekends (2016) and most recently, Rick Stein’s Cornwall.
Things haven’t always been smooth sailing for Stein, though. In 2002, Stein began a five-year affair with Sarah Burns, an Australian publicist who he met on a book tour.
When his first wife — also his business partner and mother to their three sons — Jill Stein found out, she left him, and the couple divorced in 2007. However, the pair have managed to remain amicable, and are still business partners, with their sons all involved in the family business.
Stein, meanwhile, married Burns in 2011, and now splits his time between England and Australia, where he has opened two restaurants.
If you’re wanting to experience Stein’s dishes for yourself, then you can visit Rick Stein Bannisters in Mollymook, NSW, or Bannisters, Port Stephens, NSW.
Both restaurants feature seafood prominently, which is no surprise, really, as that’s what Stein is best known for, and we’re expecting our Fans and Favourites to try to impress the seafood master with their best offerings this week, as we get down to the Top 10.
MasterChef Australia airs Sunday – Thursdays at 7.30pm, only on 10 and 10 Play on Demand.
Want more MasterChef Australia? Read all of our MasterChef Australia content here, and check out the stories below.
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