Indian-origin Justin Narayan wins MasterChef Australia Season 13, gets $250,000 with trophy

Indian-origin pastor Justin Narayan has bagged the MasterChef Australia season 13 trophy. The 27 year-old defeated finalists Pete Campbell from Australia's New South Wales and Kishwar Chowdhury from Bangladesh to take home a cash prize of $250,000 along with the trophy. While Pete won $30,000 as the first runner-up, second runner-up Kishwar took home $20,000.

Narayan posted glimpses of the finale on Instagram with the caption, "Find people that believe in you. Back yourself. Go hard and hopefully you'll surprise yourself! Whoever's reading this I love you." Chefs like Saransh Goila, Depinder Chibber, Conor Curran and Sandeep Pandit among others congratulated the young chef on his big win.  

After winning MasterChef, Justin plans to open a food truck or a restaurant serving Indian flavours. He would like to feed and educate children living in Indian slums using the profit earned from his business.

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"I just won MasterChef Season 13, 2021. What the actual heck? It's a surreal feeling. It's going to take a while to sink in. I'm keen to party with these guys, but a huge thank you to the judges, the other contestants- Pete, Kishwar. Pete in particular. 'I freaking love you, bro'. This has just been the best experience of my entire life and my mind is blown," said Narayan on his MasterChef victory.

The MasterChef winner, who began cooking at 13, looks up to Michelin star chefs like Gaggan Anand and Gordon Ramsay. His cooking is influenced by his Fijian and Indian heritage and he believes that his mother is the best cook he knows. Judges were impressed with the 27 year-old pastor's versatility and were absolutely floored with his dishes like Indian Chicken Tacos, Charcoal Chicken with Toum, Flatbread and Pickle Salad and Indian Chicken Curry.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

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