EXCLUSIVE: The fan favourite contestant opens up about her exciting post-show plans.

MasterChef's Rue Mupedzi.

MasterChef’s Rue Mupedzi has revealed her exciting post-show plans. Photos: Channel 10

She might not have won this year’s season of MasterChef Australia, but Rue Mupedzi has an exciting culinary career ahead of her. The fan favourite contestant has announced that she plans on leaving her job as a dental hygienist to move overseas and work as a pastry chef.

“My vision board is to go to France and gain work experience in the pastry world for six months to a year, as well as explore Europe,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle following her elimination in Tuesday night’s episode. “When I come back, I’d love to establish myself in the local pastry scene.”

Having earned the title of ‘dessert queen’ during her time in the cooking competition, the Zimbabwe-born star says she would love to open a dessert bar or a patisserie in the future.

Rue first competed on MasterChef in 2023, where she finished in seventh place, and famously won a challenge that allowed her to stock her BarbeRue Sauce in Coles.

She went on to become a part-time chef for private catering events while continuing her work as a dental hygienist, and completed cooking courses to hone her skills before returning to the competition this season.

MasterChef's Rue Mupedzi.

Rue became the eighth contestant eliminated from this year’s season in Tuesday night’s episode. Photo: Channel 10

Speaking about her most recent stint on MasterChef, Rue shares that her main objective coming back into the kitchen was not to put any pressure on herself.

“I still wanted to work really hard and do well, but the most important thing to me was to have a good time,” she details. “Coming back was like riding a bike. It felt like I never left! I integrated back into the kitchen so quickly.”

In addition to keeping track of the time, Rue says the toughest part of the experience was staying level-headed.

“At home, you can cook something 50 times and it will work. But the MasterChef kitchen is a different environment, so you need to be prepared to pivot, even with things you’re very familiar with,” she remarks.

Rue admits she can’t name just one person she thinks will win the season, as she has several close friends in the competition, but there are a few people she’s keeping her eye on.

“I’m rooting for Theo [Loizou] and Declan [Cleary] as my fellow season 15 alumni, as well as Ben [Macdonald], Depinder [Chhibber], Laura [Sharrad], Snez [Calic] and Darrsh [Clarke],” she says. “At the end of the day, everyone is a winner being asked to come back to MasterChef Australia.”