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Amanda Beck
Age: 30
From: Johannesburg
Occupation: Consultant and waitress
About: Amanda is a recruitment consultant by day and a waitress by night. She is a self-confessed control freak and perfectionist when it comes to her food.
Amanda almost didn't make it past the mielie challenge in Boot Camp, but showed resilience and a willingness to learn from her mistakes and made a great dish for the final Big Breakfast challenge, which blew the judges away.
Amanda’s influences are eclectic and diverse. She hopes to one day be able to travel the world, reviewing exotic cuisines as she goes. |
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Herman Cloete
Age: 34
From: Witbank
Occupation: Electrical contractor
About: Herman isn't just your average guy from the East Rand ... Despite owning his own successful electrical company, he's a passionate cook who isn't afraid to try new things.
Herman had some stand-out dishes in Boot Camp and impressed the judges more than once. This electrical contractor has a quirky side to him as well - look out for his colourful ties once he enters the MasterChef kitchen. |
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Jason Steel
Age: 22
From: Lakeside, Cape Town
Occuptation: Graduate and front-of-house waiter
About: Jason is a quantity surveyor graduate and has worked in Chef Luke Dale Roberts’ restaurant as a front-of-house waiter. Chef Luke is not only one of South Africa’s top chefs, but is Jason’s culinary hero too.
Jason is just as passionate about food as he is about the outdoors and extreme sports. This fly fisherman is also a surfer, skater and cyclist - when he’s not putting together immaculate plates in the kitchen, you’ll find Jason outside. |
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Joani Mitchell
Age: 46
From: Durban
Occupation: Ex-fashion designer
About: Joani is an ex-fashion designer and homemaker. She is Portuguese and prides herself on creating dishes that reflect her heritage.
Joani's spent her life surrounded by men - not only her husband and sons - but also regular hungry visitors and lodgers from the Sharks rugby academy, which she supports in her capacity as a Sharks Mom.
Joani fell out in the onion chop challenge of Boot Camp in Season 1, but now has a second chance to prove herself in the MasterChef kitchen. |
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Kamini Pather
Age: 30
From: Cape Town
Occupation: Food writer/photographer and radio DJ.
About: Kamini wants to take over the food sphere, one medium at a time, starting with digital.
She's an extremely focused, methodical cook who impressed judges Benny, Pete and Andrew from her very first Hot Audition dish.
Kamini has her own food blog, is a radio DJ on 2OceansVibe and a yoga instructor. Her photography experience means that she plates beautiful dishes, as we saw in her Hot Audition with her “cheffy move” across the plate. |
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Karen Els
Age: 35
From: Howick, KZN
Occupation: Stay-at-home mom
About: Karen entered MasterChef for herself. She has three beautiful kids and a loving husband, but now she wants to be South Africa’s next MasterChef.
Apart from being “the Number 1 fan” of the series, Karen is a homely cook who wants to educate moms about healthy foods for kids.
She loves Chef Jacqui Cameron's food and she reads cookbooks like novels. Her uniquely South African ostrich and waterblommetjie Hot Audition dish immediately got the judges’ attention. |
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Khumo Twala
Age: 19
From: Johannesburg
Occupation: Student
About: Khumo is the show's youngest contestant this year. She currently lives with her grandparents.
A cute and bubbly person, Khumo spent her high school years in Abu Dhabi where her mother lives and works. Khumo likes spicy food and sharp flavours and is a self-confessed perfectionist.
Her custard and sticky toffee pudding that she presented to the judges in her Hot Audition was so good that they were practically licking the bowl clean. |
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Leandri van der Wat
Age: 23
From: Pretoria
Occupation: Masters student
About: This masters student in chemistry has postponed her studies to take part in MasterChef.
Originally Leandri went along to Cold Auditions to support her sister Seline, but both of their dishes were so good that they went through to audition for the judges in the Hot Audition rounds.
Leandri's passionate about Africa and does a lot of volunteer work around the continent. She is obsessed with good coffee and her forte is making interesting jams from scratch. |
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Mary Martin
Age: 30
From: Johannesburg
Occupation: Freelance dancer
About: Mary is a mom of a beautiful two-year old and is currently engaged. She won Strictly Come Dancing with actor Rob van Vuuren before deciding to pursue her passion for food.
Mary had to miss being a bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding because she made it through to MasterChef Boot Camp. Mary’s food is rustic in style ... home-cooking with an edge. |
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Neil Lowe
Age: 40
From: Cape Town (currently residing in Johannesburg)
Occupation: Visual communications consultant
About: Neil is the ultimate science guy of the Top 16 and thinks out of the box. Conceptualising food is Neil’s favourite pastime.
He is inventive and wants to push the boundaries between art, food and science.
Neil is incredibly well-read about food and knows his ingredients inside-out. |
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Ozzy Osman
Age: 22
From: Johannesburg
Occupation: Student
About: Mohammed (Ozzy) likes to hang out with his family and friends, to play golf and of course, cook.
This accounting student developed his passion for cooking from his terrible culinary experiences in boarding school. The food was so bad that he simply decided to take matters into his own hands and cook for himself and all of his friends.
Ozzy loves seafood and always wanted to become a chef, but studied accounting.
MasterChef is Ozzy’s chance to follow his heart’s true passion.
This soft spoken guy is a creative dynamo and never ceases to surprise the judges with his skill. |
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Sanet Labuschagne
Age: 46
From: Boksburg, Johannesburg
Occupation: Mom and financial manager
About: Sanet is crazy for food. Now that her kids are grown up, she considers it “her time” and has decided to finally follow her passion for food.
Sanet has a bubbly, big personality and what you see is what you get. With her bright purple hair and flamboyant personality, Sanet proved to herself that she is more than “just a home cook” when she excelled in the Big breakfast challenge, and ultimately made it into the Top 16. |
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Seline van der Wat
Age: 25
From: Pretoria
Occupation: Renewable energy plant developer
About: Seline is a trained engineer who took over the cooking duties in her family at the age of 16 when her mother passed away.
Seline loves desserts and cakes and is a visually creative cook, always tackling her dishes from a uniquely creative angle. Her talent in the kitchen is multi-faceted and broad.
She is in this competition with one of her best friends - her sister Leandri - and between the two of them, they both hope the other one wins. |
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Shannon Smuts
Age: 28
From: Cape Town
Occupation: Graphic artist
About: Shannon’s parents owned a restaurant in Newcastle when she was growing up so this bubbly designer grew up in a working kitchen.
She loves baking and has a huge passion for Thai cuisine, after having lived there a few years ago.
Shannon believes that passion for cooking is something you're born with. She wants to educate people about the versatility of food and how healthy food can change your life.
When Shannon is not whipping up delicious, healthy meals, she can be found training for the Iron Man competition or a triathlon. |
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Tiron Eloff
Age: 32
From: Johannesburg
Occupation: Video store clerk
About: Tiron is a perfectionist. He boasts an excellent culinary knowledge, especially about meats, as he proved in his first Hot Audition where he impressed the judges by cooking a very difficult cut of meat - a hangar steak.
Tiron is a very passionate and humble guy who is ready and willing for the change that his culinary skills could bring him.
The video store where he worked before entering the series recently closed down and Tiron hopes that by following his true calling, MasterChef will alter the trajectory of his life and allow him to pursue his passion for food on a permanent basis. |
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Tumi Moche
Age: 34
From: Centurion
Occupation: Financial analyst for SARS
About: Tumi is married with three beautiful children and is very philosophical about food.
Despite his corporate background, he's been cooking since the age of 12 and it has always been something that he loves.
Tumi wants his own restaurant one day and hopes to be able teach kids in the townships how to cook, and expand their horizons about ingredients and food. |
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