Eamon Sullivan is Australia's first Celebrity MasterChef!
24-year-old swimmer shows he has what it takes to whip up five-star dishes.
Dashing swimmer Eamon Sullivan was voted the winner of Celebrity MasterChef Australia last night after a nine-week cook-off on Channel TEN.
Sullivan defeated his finalists, Kirk Pengilly of INXS and Miss Universe Australia Rachael Finch.
Proving a whiz in the kitchen as well as in the swimming pool, Sullivan had been a force to contend with from his first appearance.
Last night he triumphed with his chocolate delice dessert, scoring three perfect 10s from judges Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris.
But it was not all smooth sailing.
His first test, the Taste Test challenge, saw him confuse rosemary and thyme in a Spanish paella.
For his final dish Sullivan had to whip up a pastry no less than three times when it kept falling apart from his chicken dish. He told the judges he almost felt like quitting the contest. But the 24-year-old was triumphant finishing with 59 points ahead of Pengilly's 55 points and Finch's 46 points.
"I'm so glad I didn't throw in the towel and having a hissy fit," he said.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be standing here named Australia's first Celebrity MasterChef."
Former contestants gathered for the moment when he won the inaugural Celebrity MasterChef Australia trophy. He also netted $50,000 for his favourite charity group.
The finale attracted nearly 1.3 million viewers for TEN, peaking at 1.73 million across its two-hour telecast. Despite being the number one show of the night it fell a long way short of the kind of figures that swarmed to the original series.
TEN's celebrity version was hit hard by the two Hey Hey it's Saturday reunions in its first two outings. But audiences never quite matched the enthusiasm for celebrities as they did for newcomers like Julie Goodwin and Poh Ling Yeow. It will end the year as the number one show on television.
Nevertheless it has proven a good showcase for faces such as Sullivan and Finch who could well find themselves with new television projects if they are lucky, which would be a much better win than any trophy.
Next year TEN plans on two more MasterChef series including the original series and Junior MasterChef Australia, to capitalise on the interest the show had amongst younger viewers.
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