The Whangārei-born cook reveals his family motivation and a battle with cancer

Ben Macdonald never expected to return to the MasterChef Australia kitchen, but when the call came, he couldn’t say no. Now based back in New Zealand with a young family and a life far removed from the TV spotlight, the former café owner has stepped back into the pressure cooker for the show’s new Back To Win series.

With his two daughters and his partner Sandy cheering him on from home in Auckland, this second chance is about more than just cooking – it’s about showing his kids what it means to chase a dream.

“It’s pretty unusual not only to be invited back, but that they let me back on,” laughs Whangārei-born Ben.

Now 47, the self-taught cook came sixth on the sixth series of MasterChef back in 2014, when he was based in Brisbane. These days, he has swapped restaurant shifts for software coding. But the opportunity to return to reality TV wasn’t something he could easily ignore.

“I was really keen,” he says. “I loved doing it last time. It was such an experience. Since then, I’ve had two daughters, so it wasn’t exactly easy to arrange, but they encouraged me to do it.”

Ben’s girls, Layla, nine, and Alexa, seven, are massive MasterChef fans. When he told them he was returning to the competition, on the same day they first watched his original season and saw him eliminated, the kids couldn’t contain their excitement.
Ben’s a winner to his girls Layla (left) and Alexa.
“They weren’t that bothered when the judges knocked me out, but the minute I told them I was going back, they lit up,” he shares.

It’s not just about proving something in the kitchen any more. For Ben, it’s about showing his daughters what’s possible.

“They love the show, they love cooking and this was just a way to show them what you can do if you follow something you’re passionate about.”

Since his last appearance on MasterChef, Ben has battled cancer. Doctors diagnosed him with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which saw him in and out of hospital for six months, with a further three years of treatment before he went into remission.

“It’s a big part of who I am,” he confesses. “That gives me quite a calm disposition in terms of I don’t become so worried about little things. I find it relatively easy to focus on what’s important and let the small stuff go away. When cooking in the kitchen with huge amounts of pressure, being focused is massive, so I think it really helps.”

Ben’s culinary journey has taken some interesting turns since the competition. He spent years running a café named Buoy beside Auckland’s Westhaven Marina and later ran a catering business out of the Grey Lynn Returned Services Club.

For about eight years, he was entrenched in the Kiwi food scene. But more recently, he has returned to his pre-show career of software consulting.

“I went back to it mainly for family reasons,” he explains. “Hospitality is tough when you’ve got young kids and I wanted to actually see them growing up.”

That practical side of Ben is never far from the surface, especially in a TV setting. He says, “It’s definitely a game and you need to think about strategy, but it’s also about cooking the absolute best dish you can every single time – that’s the only way to survive this level of competition.”

And it’s a whole new level this time around. The Back To Win season features returning contestants, many of whom have since opened restaurants or become professional cooks.

“There are no easy beats,” says Ben. “Everyone’s super-experienced. It’s intense.”

But Ben is already making waves. In the very first episode, culinary titan Gordon Ramsay threw the contestants straight into a high-pressure service challenge. Ben’s team won that task and, in the next episode, he went head to head with Gordon in a timed cook-along.
Time in the kitchen with hothead Gordon “was madness”, says Ben.
“It was madness,” laughs Ben. “Gordon was yelling ingredients and everyone was sprinting around, but I kept up.”

He didn’t just survive the challenge – he triumphed, winning the season’s only immunity pin, a game-changing advantage that can be played to avoid elimination.

But just as quickly, he found himself in the dreaded pressure test.

“I ended up doing a chocolate challenge, which is not my thing. I went from top to nearly bottom in 24 hours. But I held on, didn’t use my pin and cooked my way out of it.

“This time on MasterChef, I’m not here to play it safe. I’m cooking for the people I love and I’m doing it with everything I’ve got.”