Billie McKay, the affable restaurant manager in northern New South Wales, rose to stardom when she won MasterChef 2015, and is currently honing her skills at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, in the United Kingdom.

What do you wish you knew before going into the MasterChef process?

I wish I knew more of the ‘famous’ chefs that visited while I was in MasterChef… there were a few embarrassing moments where I’d politely smile and applaud, all the while thinking, “Oh gosh, who on earth is that?”. Then I’d avoid eye contact with the judges in the hope they’d not ask me anything about the chef in question!

I also wish I knew how feral my hair was going to look when I watched the series on TV, definitely suffered from a few bad hair days during MasterChef. But my hair was put on the back-burner, the only thing I was thinking about was food!

Aside from that, I am actually so glad that I went into MasterChef with so much to learn about food – if I knew everything I needed to know before I went in, I would never have gained the food knowledge that I came out of the competition with.

What surprised you most about the MasterChef experience?

The generosity. In the contestant house, you can cook whatever you like all in the name of practice. Of course, I’d always eat the food I made, but the produce and ingredients we had at out at our disposal were amazing. We were very lucky.
I was also very pleasantly surprised at how well all of us contestants got on; it is amazing to be thrown into a house with 23 other people and have everyone get along so well. I made some great friends out of MasterChef, that’s one of the truly great things about the show.

I was also surprised at how much I could learn in such a small time. Everyday, I learned something new about food, whether it be from a challenge or simply just chatting with the other contestants in the house. It is like the best crash course on food you could imagine.

Also, I was shocked at how tall Matt Preston is, he looks tall on tele, but in person he really takes your breath away.

What advice would you offer to up and coming contestants?

Surrender yourself completely to the experience; it really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the skills, knowledge and confidence you get out of it are just priceless.Brush your hair (but only if it doesn’t take away from your cooking practice and study time), and most importantly, smile and have loads of fun.

What are some insider tips?

You hear this all the time on MasterChef, but for good reason… Cook what you want to eat! That’s what cooking from the heart is, thats what ‘you on a plate’ means. Once I realised that, I started cooking what would be my favourite dishes in the competition, and that now inspire my recipes for delicious magazine. It really has to be food that you love.

Take risks: they won’t always pay off, but when they do the reward is pretty great.

Get some sleep. I always made sure I got around 8 hours sleep every night, although it’s not always possible with the crazy-early challenges they throw at you. But energy and focus are so vital in the challenges you go through.

Is there anything that you wish you did differently?

Not at all. I am so grateful for the experience, and as cliche as it may sound, I totally grew as a person. I have more confidence and self belief now than I ever did before. MasterChef opened doors for me that I didn’t even know existed, such as writing for delicious magazine and sharing my favourite recipes with people who love food as much as I do. The whole process reaffirmed that food is what I love and it is what I want to do. I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful opportunity come my way… and to come out the other end of it with my only regrets being the state of my hair and a few confused moments of ‘which famous chef is that??’