The winner of MasterChef Australia: Back To Win 2025 has been crowned, ending a season that reunited fan favourites and pushed contestants to their limits.
In the wake of Laura Sharrad’s victory, judge Sofia Levin spoke with Mediaweek, and reflected on the culture, tone and storytelling that continue to shape the franchise.
MasterChef Australia: Back To Win 2025 winner Laura Sharrad
A kitchen built on kindness
For Levin, one of the most important ingredients is the way contestants treat each other.
“I think MasterChef Australia is just such a leveller because everybody’s in the same position,” she said.
“People might know that they can cook and back themselves, but no one was a dickhead. There’s definitely a no dickhead policy in the MasterChef Australia kitchen,” she laughed.
That attitude has shaped what viewers see on screen, a space where competitors are “beautifully supportive” and “really excited for each other,” even in the high-pressure weeks leading to the finale.
Levin said that spirit often continues beyond the kitchen: when someone leaves, “it’s always the other contestants who are writing these beautiful messages and saying the most amazingly encouraging things and fun jokes.”
It’s part of what she believes viewers don’t fully realise: the months spent together are intense and “all-consuming,” forging bonds that “you just wouldn’t form in any other environment.”
Sofia Levin and her fellow MasterChef Australia judges
From food writer to judge
Levin, who joined the judging panel in 2024, still considers herself a food writer.
Sofia Levin
“I guess I see it more as an expansion or an evolution. Everything I’ve always done has been so deeply linked with food and tied to food,” she said.
That background shapes how she approaches her role. As a writer, she had time to “think of the right word and go back and edit,” but standing in front of home cooks or returning champions means offering guidance in the moment, with cameras rolling.
“You need to make sure that you’re guiding and teaching and mentoring while still also trying to think of the right thing to say so that a viewer understands what you’re talking about and is also entertained,” she explained.
“So it feels like juggling a lot more balls at the same time.”
This season, she says, reinforced the judges’ shared commitment to “play the dish, not the drama”, focusing on the cooking rather than manufacturing tension.
Stories behind the dishes
Levin’s standout memories from 2025 are often linked to storytelling. She recalls how contestant Depinda [Chhibber] plated Indian dishes “that just spoke so deeply of her heritage” and wove in memories of moving to Sydney, “transforming it into her version of a lamington.”
Others, like Sarah [Todd], impressed by “going out on a limb so many times” and evolving in unexpected ways. “That’s the magic of MasterChef Australia,” Levin said. “You can still find another level of evolution in your cooking and also in yourself.”
MasterChef Australia contestants Depinder Chhibber and Sarah Todd
Why viewers stay loyal
For Levin, the show’s tone is its competitive advantage. “It’s the only cooking competition that I’m aware of… where people are genuinely encouraging. And it’s also all real.”
Cooking to the clock and tasting in real time means what audiences see is “actually really honest,” even if the full day’s work is edited into a single episode.
“When something is so positive and so genuine, as well as that incredible diversity that makes it popular all over the world, it’s just a recipe for success,” she said. “I think it’s got years to go.”
Food as a cultural connector
Looking ahead, Levin wants her judging legacy to encourage Australians to push beyond familiar flavours.
In a country where, she notes, “unless you’re Indigenous, everybody is from somewhere else,” she sees food as “an easy in to another culture, to another person, to another world that you’re not part of.”
“The more people eat outside their comfort zone, the more that they understand their own biases,” she said.
“I just think everyone should be doing more of it, more cooking, more eating, more exploring, especially if they connect with contestants who are from different places.”
Next season already in motion
While the 2025 season has wrapped, casting for 2026 has already closed. Levin says she’s spoken to producers and casting agents from last season who are “very excited” about the talent coming through.
Just don’t ask her to reveal any spoilers.
“I still have no idea who they [the contestants] are,” she laughed.