Emelia Jackson is crowned the winner of the 2020 MasterChef finale

Emelia Jackson was crowned the winner of MasterChef Australia: Back To Win on Monday night’s grand finale episode. 

She takes home a whopping $250,000 – which she says will help build her cake business – and the MasterChef 2020 trophy. 

The emotional chef embraced runner-up Laura Sharrad, who was undone by her overly icy gelato dessert, which was accidentally left in an open fridge. 

Emelia was elated, crying out, ‘are you serious? Are you serious?’ over and over in delight. 

She said: ‘I just can’t believe it. Like, the most special experience of my life and I owe it all to the three of you. And I owe it to this little lady.

‘Being able to reconnect with Laura after so many years has been just magic for me. She’s just incredible. She’s just… so amazing.’ 

As Emelia spoke, Laura, who was nursing a badly burned hand she sustained during the competition, broke down in bitter tears. 

‘I can’t speak, I can’t speak,’ she gasped, before managing to compose herself. 

‘I’m pretty gutted. I’m not gonna lie. But, I’m so proud of her. She is amazing and she deserves this so much. Like, she’s come so far. To watch her grow has been amazing,’ Laura said. 

‘To reconnect with her has been amazing. To eat her food has been amazing. She really deserves this. She really, really does.’ 

There was good news for Laura however, who was gifted $30,000 to help grow her business. 

Likewise, second runner up Reynold Poernomo was give prize money of $20,00. 

The finalists had been tasked with one of the show’s most difficult tests – a three course Service Challenge, consisting of 60 plates of food from each of them. 

Judge Melissa Leong announced:  ‘You need to create a three-course menu – entree, main and dessert – for us and for your fellow contestants behind you’. 

‘That’s over 60 plates from each of you. You will have four hours until service starts. You have an open pantry, and we’re judging your menu as a whole.

‘Whoever does the best overall job will be Australia’s next MasterChef.’

Emelia admitted she was ‘nervous’ as she revealed what her dishes would be.    

‘Entree is something really nice and light and bright – a little seared scallop number with turnips and apple, to get you started for a pretty heavy main – a beef short rib, frying it in an onion crumb and a Sichuan pepper sauce,’ she said. 

For dessert she had on offer, ‘Davidson and raspberry plum sorbet and a raspberry meringue’ as well as a mousse with pistachio. 

Laura meanwhile went for a seared bonito fish stater, with lilly pillies, fried saltbush, and Geraldton wax. 

Her main was  pork with Muntries instead of apples, with a triple sauce, of marsala jus, sage emulsion and thyme oil, plus a dessert of Jerusalem artichoke and cumquat ice cream with wattleseeds. 

Laura hit a snag early in her cook when she badly burned her hand while tending to her pork, and had to cook one-handed for a time. 

‘Oh, God. This is the most excruciating burn I’ve ever had. Oh, my God. That hurts SO much. The pain is getting worse and worse. Grrr! Like, I cannot even grab anything,’ she complained. 

‘And I can’t keep my hand straight. I can’t close it. It’s so excruciating right now. I just… I don’t even know what to do. I’ve lost this competition,’ she declared. 

Judge Jock Zonfrillo tried to calm her down, saying:  ‘Just take a second, compose yourself. Think about what you’ve still gotta do before you do anything else.’

Despite the pain, she got back on track and was able to dish up her first dish. 

The judges were impressed with Emelia’s entree, with Jock saying: ‘There was nothing that I didn’t like about this, and even watercress there just added a pepperiness that balanced the entire dish out. 

‘That has to be one of my favourite entrees I’ve eaten this year. What a way to start your menu.’ 

Laura’s entree fared similarity well, with judge Andy Allen saying:  ‘It was technically perfect’. 

Laura’s main went over a treat, with Melissa saying she’d ‘taken it to the next level by understanding Australian produce’. 

Emelia was desperately worried her main would be too dry, but Jock raved: ‘Never before has meat and two veg been so magnificent. That’s like a schnitzel on steroids. I’m in a state of catlike happiness. You know what I’m saying? It is so good.’ 

Melissa added:  ‘Dare I say, at this point… we’re neck and neck’. 

Laura hit a major snag right before dessert when she realised she had left her fridge open, with her gelato inside.   

‘I’m worried that, especially because it’s a hot kitchen, that gelato could start to melt. And when the liquid refreezes, it could be really icy. Any mistake that happens could cost me the competition,’ she worried. 

Unfortunately, Laura was right – Jock complained that the ice cream was too icy, and the wattleseed too gritty.  

Emelia did better, with her pistachio financier with Davidson plum and raspberry sorbet and meringue described as a ‘high fashion dessert’. 

She raved: ‘Emelia has managed to show us French patisserie magic. The visuals are striking.’ 

Andy added: ‘The balance was perfect. The plum raspberry sorbet, like, that needs to be sold somewhere.’ 

It was the desserts that the judging finally came down to – a bitter irony for Laura, who said she feared being undone by a dessert yet again. 

Laura revealed emotionally that she didn’t want her final dish to be her doom, juast as it was when she was runner-up in season six. 

Unfortunately, she faced the exact same result, with the judges revealing the competition had in fact come down to the desserts.  

Melissa said: ‘Before the desserts arrived, there was nothing in it. But this is the course that decided the winner.    

‘We said today would come down to the smallest of things, and it has.

‘Laura, while your gelato and crumb had some textural issues, Emelia, your dish had none. 

‘And that’s why, Emelia, you are the winner of MasterChef: Back To Win,’ she announced.