When you think of MasterChef Australia star Julie Goodwin, you can't help but think of Poh Ling Yeow. The two celebrity cooks made history as grand finalists in the show's first ever season in 2009, and have since gone on to become household names in the food and entertainment industries.
Diehard fans of the reality show will be pleased to know that Goodwin and Yeow have remained great friends over the past 13 years, and the reunion we've all been wishing for could still be on the cards in the future.
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"We've been great mates since season one and even during our own finale where we were competing with each other, we were friends and I just love her.
"We've been through a lot, both together and separately, but we've leaned on each other and both definitely touch base around all this crazy stuff that we agree to do," she adds. "We laugh at each other and with each other. She's a dear friend."
Goodwin returned to the MasterChef franchise this year as one of the comeback contestants on the Fans & Favourites seasons. Meanwhile, Yeow also made her MasterChef return in 2020 on its all-stars Back To Win season. She then appeared on screens earlier this year as an I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! contestant, seven years after Goodwin ventured into the I'm A Celeb jungle.
As Goodwin says, the pair regularly keep in touch, and Yeow recently revealed that her former co-star texted her after signing up to the 2022 MasterChef season.
"I got a text from Julie yesterday actually," Yeow told Refinery29 Australia earlier this year.
"She was just like, 'What am I doing?' I said, 'I don’t know, we’re both mental, we’ve both done it,'" she laughed.
"But you know what’s really funny? She did I’m A Celeb first and then now she’s on this [MasterChef] season. So we’ve kind of swapped and we were having a good laugh about that."
Goodwin placed fifth on MasterChef this year after being eliminated at the end of Tuesday night's episode. It was actually her first time ever getting eliminated from the competition because the last time she was on the show, she won the whole thing.
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"I think that the decision to come back [on MasterChef] centres quite a lot around the fact that I don't want to have any regrets," Goodwin reflects on returning to the Logie-nominated program.
"I've got a pact with my husband that we won't die wondering, so I just felt like I might have really regretted it if I'd said no.
"There was a lot of anxiety involved in walking back into that kitchen," she admits. "It was a weird feeling, and it was scary. I didn't know the judges and I didn't know what I was up against... but at the same time I [eventually] just got into my groove."
There are now four contestants remaining on the show including two favourites (returning contestants) and two fans (amateur home cooks).
They are Sarah Todd (Season 6), Billie McKay (Season 7), Daniel Lamble and Keyma Vasquez Montero. McKay scored immunity on Wednesday night, meaning she is straight through to the semi-final and the first confirmed contestant to make the final three.
The previously eliminated contestants are Julie Goodwin (Season 1), Alvin Quah (Season 2) Sashi Cheliah (Season 10), Michael Weldon (Season 3), Christina Batista (Season 5), John Carasig (Season 7), Aldo Ortado (Season 10), Mindy Woods (Season 4), Minoli De Silva (Season 13), Tommy Pham (Season 13), Ali Stoner, Jenn Lee, Chris Tran, Dulan Hapuarachchi, Harry Tomlinson, Matt Landmark, Max Krapivsky, Melanie Persson, Montana Hughes and Steph Woon.
MasterChef Australia: Fans & Favourites airs Sunday to Thursday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play. The semi-final will air on on Monday, July 11 and the finale will air on Tuesday, July 12.
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