Things are heating up in the MasterChef Australia kitchen this year, as contestants battle to win culinary gold.
And while the finale is still months away, betting insiders have already shared their predictions as to who will be crowned the winner and will walk away with $250,000 for the show’s 16th season.
According to betting sit Sportsbet, fan favourite Nat Thaipun comes out on top as a major contender, with odds sitting at $1.40.
The second contestant falling far behind is Josh Perry, who has odds of $4.
Meanwhile, Harry Butterfield drops again with $8.50 odds. Behind them are Savindri Perera and Darrsh Clarke who have $11 and $15 odds respectively.
Things are heating up in the MasterChef Australia kitchen this year as contestants battle for a chance at winning culinary gold
Gillian Dinh follows close behind at $17, while Josh Clarke has odds of $21 and Sumeet Saigal sits at $23. Mimi Wong then has odds of $26.
David Tan and Lachlan Whittle both share equal odds of $34, while Sue Bazely falls behind at $41.
Alex Crisp is currently sitting in last place, deeming himself the least likely to win the series with odds sitting at $51.
The winner will be crowned in July’s finale.
Last week, MasterChef Australia achieved a major milestone that went completely unnoticed by the cast and production team of the hit series.
And while the finale is still months away, betting insiders have already shared their predictions as to who will be crowned the winner. Fan favourite Nat Thaipun (pictured) comes out on top
Alex Crisp is currently sitting in last place, deeming himself the least likely to win the series with odds sitting at $51. Pictured: Judge and host Andy Allen
The winner will be crowned in July’s finale
On Tuesday, the Channel Ten competitive cooking show aired its 1000th episode, since premiering in 2009, to absolutely zero fanfare.
However, a handful of keen-eyed fans took to Reddit to acknowledge the milestone occasion – and question why the series’ judges failed to mention it on the show.
‘I noticed an amazing statistic, MCA has hit 1000 episodes! If you’ve watched every episode once, it’s nearly 42 DAYS of programming, 24 hours a day,’ one excited viewer wrote.
Meanwhile, another fan questioned why the network didn’t take the opportunity to publicly celebrate the show.
‘It’s a missed opportunity. They should have done something big this week, to celebrate, especially as one of the judges just mentioned this week is about something big,’ they wrote.
Between 60 – 80 episodes are typically produced for each series of the hit reality series, which first aired in April 2009, with judges Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan.
Through this achievement, the hit series – which launched the public careers of many culinary experts including Poh Ling Yeoh and Julie Goodwin – becomes the second Australian reality series ever to record 1000 episodes.
Last week, MasterChef Australia achieved a major milestone that went completely unnoticed by the cast and production team of the hit series
It is second only to Big Brother, which has filmed over 1500 episodes since its 2001 debut.
Meanwhile, Channel Nine’s hit renovation show The Block has produced over 900 episodes and should reach the same milestone in the next few years.
MasterChef’s latest series is judged by food experts Andy Allen, French celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, Melbourne-based food critic Sofia Levin, and season one runner-up Poh Ling Yeow.
They replace outgoing judge Melissa Leong and the late Jock Zonfrillo, following his tragic death last year.
