Chanel Brink makes 'MasterChef SA' season 5 Top 3

5 Views

Chanel Brink opened up about bagging her golden ticket to the MasterChef South Africa season five finale, in an exclusive interview with The South African.

CHANEL MAKES TOP THREE ON ‘MASTERCHEF SOUTH AFRICA’

After the last episode of MasterChef South Africa season five, three home cooks received a golden ticket to the final. The season five final will be broadcasted on 23 November on S3 (formerly SABC 3).

So, who are the three finalists?

Bridget Mangwandi (20)
Chanel Brink (34)
Nabila Shamshum (23)

On the last episode, Nabila, who was very worried about the outcome of her dishes, was named the
challenge winner. Refe Dimbaza (33) was sent home. MasterChef South Africa season five kicked off with 20 home cooks vying for the title and the prize money of R1 million.

Chef Zola Nene, Justine Drake, and Chef Katlego Mlambo were this season’s judges.

Q&A WITH CHANEL

Chanel answered some questions ahead of the final, in an exclusive interview with The South African.

How does it feel to have made it so far having though you were going to be sent home previously?

It feels surreal to be honest because I never expected to get this far in the competition. I was hoping to make it to the top 15 or Top 10 at best. I never imagined that i would be one of the top three that will be competing for the R1 million cash prize and title of MasterChef.

I also believe that the possibility of going home makes you step out of your comfort zone even more because you don’t want to land in the bottom three again. It also made me challenge myself and be more precise in the kitchen. Knowing that an error could send me home, meant that i had to ensure that my dishes I created ticked all the taste boxes.

What were some of the highlights of being in the Masterchef kitchen?
The biggest highlight for me was winning the team challenge at clara’s barn. Claras barn is owned and run by one of my culinary icons, Chef Bertus Basson. I have followed his culinary journey for a long a time and to be able to cook in such an esteemed kitchen by one of my icons, was a dream come true. I was also the captain of this challenge and initially i was so nervous when i pulled the team captain apron out because i am an introvert.

However this challenge brought out a different side of me and pushed me to dig deep and lead my team to success. We also each won R50 000 which was sponsored by Yoco and that will really help me to pursue my culinary dreams of owning an online bakery

Being from Durban, how do you incorporate your Durban style of cooking into your dishes?
Durban has a variety of beautiful spices and I love incorporating that into my cooking. In the semi finals I created a seared scallop dish with a curry sauce that made use of bold spices like cumin, curry powder and cinnamon to name a few. The beauty of spice is that it can be applied to almost every dish to add that extra depth of flavour.