At a glance…
- Petro Papathomas was the 2026 MasterChef Australia runner-up.
- The Greek-Cypriot chef became known as a “wizard of flavours” and created some iconic dishes, including a tonka bean tart and celeriac dessert – ingredients he had never used before.
- Since the MasterChef Australia Grand Finale, the chef has begun working in restaurants and has big plans for his future.
Petro Papathomas may have finished MasterChef Australia 2026 as runner-up, but the experience has given him something far more valuable than a place on the podium: a completely new direction in life.
“The dust hasn’t fully settled yet,” he laughs as we chat over the phone. “It’s only just starting to come down.”
After 60 gruelling episodes, weeks away from home, and countless challenges, Petro made it all the way to MasterChef Australia’s Grand Finale. Cooking opposite his close mate, Vinnie, Petro made some errors throughout the challenge, costing precious points. However, he is incredibly proud – as he should be.
“It’s bittersweet. It was an amazing, an amazing journey, and you know, hard to lose, but at the same time it’s a win overall because it’s just been such a transformative time of my life, and I can’t wait for what’s next.”
And what a transformative time it has been for him. Petro came into the kitchen as a cook who loved cooking over a flame, only to discover his natural talent for cooking with flavour. He is the surprise dessert savant of the season, frequently taking ingredients he’s never cooked before and using his palate and knowledge to invent new dishes.
“Flavour has always been at the forefront of my mind when it comes to cooking,” Petro tells me as we chat on the morning after the Grand Finale aired. “I always identified myself as cooking over the fire. And I still feel like I am, but now I’m a really well-rounded cook. I can cook a lot of desserts now! The main thing for me is that there’s no limit to what I want to cook and what I can cook.”
One of his first big wins in the kitchen was creating a tonka bean tart for Adriano Zumbo during Sweet Week. He had never used tonka beans before and stunned the judges with his dessert.
“You don’t know how good you are,” Poh told him. Andy refused to accept that he had never used tonka beans before.
“I don’t think I’ve come across someone so naturally gifted with flavour,” he said to Petro.
After that win, he went on to win again and again, including a $5000 LG voucher for a Greek-inspired dessert with coconut and pandan crème pâtissière in his filo cigars. Although he continued to put up savoury dishes, his most surprising and daring creations were of the sweet variety.
From his charred corn ice cream (complete with pickled pineapple, dark rum caramel, and Corn Flakes clusters) that earned him his top dish to his celeriac dessert (with celeriac ice cream, pickled apple and hazelnut crumb) which he served to Duchess of Sussex Meghan, which flabbergasted everyone and landed him in the semi-finals.
“I was putting on a bit of a show,” he laughs. “Food should be exciting, and I don’t like doing the same flavours. I always like pushing myself, and when Meghan walked in, I just thought, ‘What could I do to really surprise and shock people, but also something that’s really tasty?’”
“I cannot understand how this is so good,” Meghan said of his dessert. “This is so extraordinary; the execution is beautiful.”
Plus, he had only cooked with celeriac literally once before for the previous task.
“I could just tell by tasting it the first time that I knew it worked really well in a savoury dessert.”
I just know that I will never look at a celeriac dish in the same way again – it’s not exactly my favourite vegetable, but even I looked at that dessert with intrigue…
But it wasn’t just creative inventions; Petro also dug into his Greek-Cypriot heritage to dish up elevated versions of its traditional cuisine. One memorable episode was the Family Tree Challenge, where the contestants had to do just that. In that episode, Petro was overcome with emotion when he shared his family’s refugee journey from Cyprus to Australia. He cooked a dish inspired by his early days learning to cook alongside his Yiayia. Sadly, she passed away a week after that challenge.
“I got to tell her that I cooked that dish,” he tells me. “It was definitely one of the most special moments throughout the whole competition.”
MasterChef has long been a dream for Petro; the only reason he never applied before was that he didn’t think he was good enough.
“I’ve always wanted to go on, but I never thought I was good enough,” he admits. “I think I’ve reached a point in my life that I knew I needed to change – I couldn’t keep doing accounting for the rest of my life. So, I thought, what a way to start that journey: By going on MasterChef?”
Of course, surely now he has to feel vindicated in his abilities?
“To be honest, I became quite confident early on in the competition!” he laughs. “I was lacking in maybe some executional skills, but I felt like my concepts were always bang on. After winning two top dishes early on, I just held onto that belief.”
However, he recognises that it would have been wiser to keep things simple at times. Maybe if he had, the finale would have been different.
“If I could have given myself one piece of advice, I would say, sometimes you do have to play it a little more safely,” he says. “If there was one time to completely hone in on my strengths, it was the finale. I could have cooked a little more tactically with the underbench staples. But overall, I couldn’t be happier.”
Now that Petro has left the cosy comfort of MasterChef, does he miss it?
“It was magical,” he tells me. “It was everything I could have expected and even more. I don’t think anything really prepares you for what the MasterChef kitchen feels like. It’s a really magical place, and yeah, I miss it. But I’m really looking forward to this next chapter.”
For now, he’s gone back to his family’s accounting firm. “Unfortunately, there’s no hibachi in my office,” he jokes. But he has also started working in a restaurant and has big plans for his culinary career.
“I’ll continue trying to work in the food scene as much as I can and hopefully start to find a career path and earn enough money to fully transition into food.”
But he’s not limiting his dreams to a restaurant.
“Obviously, there are a lot of things I would love to do within food,” he begins. “I’ve already organised pop-ups and takeovers because I really wanted people to come and dine and eat my food. I really want to get experience of, you know, as many restaurants that inspire me as I can. And, you know, I would also love to do a TV travel show and explore different cuisines and also dive into local Greek and Cypriot cuisine.”
The sky’s the limit for this chef. But don’t be surprised if a Greek dessert pop-up shows up in Melbourne with celeriac ice cream and tonka bean tart. There might be some guitar music as well… remember when MasterChef revealed he was once a budding musician? Can’t wait to see what he does next.
Watch MasterChef Australia on 10Play.
