Country of origin Australia Original network Network Ten | No. of episodes 70 | |
Original release 6 May (2012-05-06) – 25 July 2012 (2012-07-25) | ||
The fourth series of MasterChef Australia premiered on Sunday, 6 May 2012 at 7.30pm on Network Ten. Judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston returned from the previous series. After the first week in Melbourne, the competition took the contestants to places nationally, such as Kangaroo Island and Tasmania, as well as the international destination, Italy. It also featured a number of guest chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein and Buddy Valastro.
Contents
The fourth series was won by Andy Allen who defeated Julia Taylor and Audra Morrice in the grand finale on 25 July 2012, and saw the biggest ratings dip with only 810,000 watching the final.
Changes
For the first time, the initial Top 50 portion of the show took place in and around Melbourne, Victoria. Contestants faced challenges at the Royal Exhibition Building and the South Melbourne Market, and visited Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula, the Lake House in Daylesford, and Montsalvat in Eltham.
Sunday night challenges returned to the more traditional Mystery Box/Invention Test combination used in the first two series.
After featuring a range of challengers in Series 3 such as home cooks and apprentices, Immunity Challenges now typically featured guest chefs (along with a team of helpers) facing off against the chosen contestant plus their choice of two contestant helpers. Both the contestant team and challenging team had to prepare three courses using a core ingredient provided, with the contestants gaining a time advantage (ninety minutes to sixty, for example). Matt Moran acted as a mentor to the contestant team.
Top 24
After a series of auditions and challenges, the winner was determined on 25 July 2012.
Audra's prior cooking experience
Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph reported that contestant Audra Morrice, whose occupation is listed as "account manager", actually owns a catering company called Audra's Gourmet Kitchen. The rules for the 2012 series, however, clearly state that contestants cannot have had any professional cooking experience, be it in a restaurant, catering, hotels or cookery education. The rules also exclude contestants who have done food preparation on a 'casual' or 'part-time' basis. The only exemptions to these clauses are reserved for those who have either worked in food service, or for very rudimentary food preparation such as sandwich making and fast food restaurants. A producer from Shine Australia has told The Telegraph: "Audra was upfront with producers regarding Audra’s Gourmet Kitchen. Her full-time employment was as a senior account manager with AAPT and this was a home-based hobby reserved for family and friends."
Years after competed in this series, Morrice would later take the role as judge in MasterChef Asia.