MasterChef’s Callum Hann breaks his silence on winning the All-Stars season in 2012 – after fans said it was ‘unfair’ he was allowed on Back to Win
MasterChef fans were up in arms last month after discovering that MasterChef: Back to Win star Callum Hann had already won the All-Stars season in 2012.
And the Adelaide-based chef, 31, addressed the controversy on Wednesday, telling HuffPost Australia that it was only a ‘mini season’.
Callum had starred in the spin-off alongside Poh Ling Yeow, Julie Goodwin, Chris Badenoch and Hayden Quinn.
Setting the record straight: MasterChef’s Callum Hann has broken his silence on winning the All-Stars season in 2012 – after fans said it was ‘unfair’ he was allowed on Back to Win
He said: ‘It was like a mini season, a season put between two regular seasons that wasn’t shown at the normal time [but] a bit later in the year.’
Callum explained there also wasn’t a cash prize at the end of MasterChef: All-Stars.
The All-Stars season was played for charity, unlike a regular season in which the winner takes home $250,000.
Big win: Callum explained there wasn’t a cash prize at the end of MasterChef: All-Stars. He also downplayed it as a ‘mini season… put between two regular seasons’
Out of the race: It comes after Callum was eliminated from MasterChef: Back to Win on Tuesday, following a pressure test against Laura Sharrad (left)
‘I won the prize which was awesome and the money went to the Cancer Council, which was really awesome as well,’ he said.
It comes after Callum was eliminated from MasterChef: Back to Win on Tuesday, following a pressure test against Laura Sharrad.
The three chefs going into the finale are Laura, Emelia Jackson and Reynold Poernomo.
Last month, angry viewers claimed it was ‘unfair’ that Callum was competing in the new season after having previously won All-Stars.
Ineligible? Last month, angry viewers claimed it was ‘unfair’ that Callum was competing in the new season after having previously won All-Stars
Second place: Callum first starred on season two of MasterChef in 2010, placing runner-up behind winner Adam Liaw
‘Callum is ineligible for MasterChef this year. He has already won an all-stars season [with] that snow egg. There I said it,’ one viewer tweeted.
‘I assume Callum’s name is on the trophy since he won all-stars in 2012,’ another added.
Callum first starred on season two of MasterChef in 2010, placing runner-up behind winner Adam Liaw.
Aside from running a successful cooking school in Adelaide, he is happily married to wife Crystal Jagger, with whom he shares a daughter named Elle.
Family life: Aside from running a successful cooking school in Adelaide, he is happily married to wife Crystal Jagger, with whom he shares a daughter named Elle (all pictured)