MasterChef Australia Judge Matt Preston denied the competition was a popularity contest, as figures today confirmed it was the most-watched Aussie TV show everJulie Goodwin, 38, beat Adelaide's Poh Ling Yeow in a three-round challenge in front of their former top 20 MasterChef Australia opponents and judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris last night.
Celebrity chef Curtis Stone also attended the final which included the finalists identifying ingredients in a beef bourguignon dish, cooking an entire chicken and perfecting Matt Moran's signature dish, a chocolate tart with chocolate half pipe and macaroons accompanied by a chocolate sorbet.
After the win, furious fans took to the internet to label MasterChef a fraud, saying popularity rather than cooking won Julie the title.
But Preston told News Limited the reasons Julie won were obvious.
"Julie identified one more ingredient in the taste test, she plated up a better dish in the invention test and in the final challenge she made a sorbet that wasn't grainy," Preston said. "They are things you can't fix."
In the chicken challenge Preston gave Julie the edge by rating her dish one point higher than Poh's. He said he made the decision based on the quality of the food.
"The other three judges scored them the same. I gave Julie an extra point because it was a better looking dish and if I was going to pay money for those dishes I would be more willing to pay more for Julie's dish."
"It's as simple as that. She put more value on the plate, there was more technique and more detail."
Preston said Poh's failure to follow the recipe in the final chocolate challenge had cost her dearly.
"Poh didn't temper the chocolate. It didn't crack as it should do. It wasn't shiny. Her sorbet was grainy," Preston said. "I think the result was clear. Everyone where I was watching knew it was Julie." "It's not a popularity contest if it was Justine would have won."
