MasterChef winner Justin Narayan was awarded a massive $250,000, but he did not grant himself a single cent.
The 29-year-old won the Australian version of the cookery competition in 2021, but despite garnering the money through his culinary skill, he chose to donate it all.
A quarter of a million Australian dollars, equivalent to approximately £133,000, was distributed as he deemed appropriate at the time. The Fijian-Indian chef recalled ‘donating a lot of it and giving some of it away to individuals I believed required it more than I did.’ In addition to this, he made investments.
He did not even treat himself to a vacation or a fancy supper as a reward for his hard work on the reality cooking competition programme. Someone needs to inform Phoebe Buffay that we’ve finally located someone who performed an egotistical good deed (Friends, season five, episode four, if you’re unfamiliar).
‘I actually didn’t spend any of it [on myself]. I probably should have, in retrospect,’ he admitted.
Justin was confident that his virtuous deeds would eventually pay off.
‘I don’t have any regrets with it. Sometimes I’m like, “Why did I give it away, I could’ve bought this now,” but at the same time, I never wanted money to control me. I always want to be generous with it,’ he told Yahoo.
‘There’s heaps more where it came from. Just be generous, keep helping people, and things will work out.’
All’s well that ends well as Justin described the show as ‘100% one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,’ and he now has over 100,000 followers on Instagram where he shares plenty of recipes.
Justin has previously expressed a desire to establish an Indian cuisine truck or restaurant featuring the flavours of his childhood. Justin intends to donate a portion of his revenues to help feed and educate children in India’s slums, as is his custom.
Pete Campbell, Justin’s competitor, served uncooked quail during the two-night finale that led to Justin’s victory.
The mere thought of it still makes us nauseated.
MasterChef UK continues tomorrow at 8:30pm on BBC One.