MasterChef Australia judges
"MasterChef Australia" judges (from left) Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan are on their eighth season of the cooking competition. Instagram/mattscravat

It has been four months since “MasterChef Australia” wrapped Season 8, but fans from other countries just got their last doses of Channel Ten’s hit reality show.

Contestant Elena Duggan won the “MasterChef Australia” 2016 title after a three-round finale with runner-up Matt Sinclair. The 32-year-old teacher took home $250,000 prize money to kick off her food dream, as well as a monthly column in Delicious, a national food magazine. Matt, on the other hand, was awarded $40,000 courtesy of the new ANZ Travel Adventures card, while third-place winner Harry Foster received $10,000.

[READ: Matt gets early lead but struggles with dessert; Elena wins this year’s title by a narrow margin]

Viewers from the UK, Ireland, Finland and other countries took to Twitter to share their views about the latest edition of the cooking competition. Among them is Ireland’s professional rugby player Devin Toner, who wrote, “Just caught up and finished watching #MasterChefAU. [There] is literally nothing else on. Not happy about the winner btw.”



Other fans agreed with Devin, claiming that Matt should have won. However, it seems the 27-year-old former coffee roaster is still living his food dream despite failing to win in the competition. Matt has recently opened his own food truck, called Ten Piece Cutlery, which he openly admitted was one of his aspirations in life.

[READ: “‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 runner-up Matt Sinclair flourishes into a successful food truck owner”]

Meanwhile, some “MasterChef Australia” followers have rallied behind Elena, saying that she deserved the victory.

Despite divided views on the winner, most of the show’s viewers commented that Season 8 was a great run, and expressed that they can’t wait for the upcoming installment.



Recently, “MasterChef Australia” offered a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of the 2017 edition on its Facebook page. In the video, Judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigana and Matt Preston are seen gamely doing the viral mannequin challenge along with some of the show’s staff and crew. The video’s caption went, “It might not look like much is happening but we assure you we’re very busy filming the next season of MasterChef!” The three gentlemen seemed to have nailed the mannequin challenge, an online video trend wherein people remain frozen in action like mannequins.

“MasterChef Australia” 2017 is expected to air its upcoming installment early next year. Stay tuned for “MasterChef Australia” spoilers and news.

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