EXCLUSIVE: Jamie Fleming shares his thoughts on this year’s finalists.

MasterChef’s Jamie Fleming shares his thoughts on this year’s finalists. Photo: Channel 7

On paper, Callum Hann and Laura Sharrad have had remarkably similar journeys on MasterChef Australia. Both South Australian chefs competed on their original seasons when they were extremely young, finished in second place, and returned in 2020 and 2025 for another chance at the title.

The pair have now advanced to the top two in this year’s season, with one of the former runner-ups set to finally become a MasterChef champion and receive the $250,000 cash prize. Following his elimination in Monday night’s episode, Jamie Fleming tells Yahoo Lifestyle that Callum and Laura each have unique strengths heading into the grand finale.

“I think that Callum’s ability to draw interesting flavour combinations and concepts and just pound as much technique into as many different elements as possible, is a big strength of his. I think it’s absolutely come into fruition towards the back end of this comp, although he has shown it a lot of the way,” he details.

“And I think Laura’s grasp of just making things yummy is pretty second to none. The amount of flavour she can pack into whatever she’s making is phenomenal, and I think her grasp of interesting flavours and interesting ingredients, utilising natives and Japanese techniques to help build these really round, beautiful flavours, is something that she’s really good at.”

The key to winning MasterChef 2025

Despite narrowly missing out on a spot in the finale, Jamie admits he’s “super stoked” for both finalists and how far they’ve each come in the competition.

“It’s pretty on a knife edge, this finale, because they’re so good at certain things, and I think that leaning into their strengths is what’s going to separate them tonight,” he adds.

“I think that tonight’s finale is going to come down to what the challenges set up and who backs themselves enough to just go, ‘Yes, I’m going to lean heavily into what I’m good at and what I know I can execute well’. And then it’s going to come down to who executes best on the day.”

 

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Jamie’s secret to success

Reflecting on his experience in the MasterChef kitchen this time around, Jamie believes the reason why he, Laura, Callum, and Ben Macdonald all made it so far in the competition is because they lived by the same motto: ‘Tidy bench, tidy mind, cook better.’

“If you watch back across a lot of the season, I guarantee you that my bench, Callum’s bench, Laura’s bench, and Ben’s bench all look pretty similar, because the first thing we ran for were little containers that could have our spoons, have our salts, and have our butter,” he details.

“We were trying to recreate a professional environment in front of us to make ourselves a little bit more comfortable. There are things that you pick up only through experience, and when you spend as much time as we all have in professional kitchens, you kind of just fall into habits that you know work, and it gives you space and time to think, and you can adjust quicker and stay tidy.”

Jamie says he lives by the motto ‘tidy bench, tidy mind, cook better’. Photo: Channel 10

Jamie’s post-show plans

While he might not be walking away from the competition as this year’s champion, Jamie shares that he has plenty of exciting career opportunities in the pipeline.

“I’ve got Spill Wine up in Maleny, which is our little love letter to wine, and just celebrating local produce and delicious snacks with fantastic vino from around Australia and around the world,” he details.

“So I’m basing myself over there for a little while at the moment, but I’m just writing a lot, and in the process of planning and filming a lot of content throughout as much of Australia as possible. I think trying to educate and sort of showcase as many amazing producers and as much amazing food as I possibly can, over the next little while, is what’s in store for me.”