MasterChef’s Callum Hann breaks his silence on winning the All-Stars season in 2012 – after fans said it was ‘unfair’ he was allowed on Back to Win
MasterChef fans were up in arms last month after discovering that MasterChef: Back to Win star Callum Hann had already won the All-Stars season back in 2012.
And the Adelaide-based chef, 31, addressed the controversy on Wednesday, telling HuffPost Australia that it was only a ‘mini season’.
Callum had starred in the spin-off alongside Poh Ling Yeow, Julie Goodwin, Chris Badenoch and Hayden Quinn.
Setting the record straight: MasterChef’s Callum Hann cleared the air about winning the All-Stars season in 2012 after fans claimed it was ‘unfair’ he was allowed on Back to Win
He said: ‘It was like a mini season, a season put between two regular seasons that wasn’t shown at the normal time [but] a bit later in the year.’
Callum explained there also wasn’t a cash prize at the end of MasterChef: All-Stars.
The All: Stars season was played for charity, unlike a regular season in which the winner takes home $250,000.
That big win: The chef, 31, said the spin-off season in 2012 was more like a ‘mini season’. He said explained the biggest difference was the prize money at the end the All: Stars season, which was won for charity and he donated the money to the Cancer Council
Out of the race: It comes after Callum was eliminated out of MasterChef on Tuesday, following a pressure test against Laura Sharrad (pictured)
‘I won the prize which was awesome and the money went to the Cancer Council, which was really awesome as well,’ he said.
It comes after Callum was eliminated out of MasterChef: Back to Win on Tuesday, following a pressure test against Laura Sharrad.
The three chefs going into the finale are Laura, Emelia Jackson and Reynold Poernomo.
Last month, angry viewers claimed it was ‘unfair’ that Callum was competing in the new season after having previously won All-Stars.
Ineligible? Earlier this year, fans flocked to Twitter claiming it was ‘unfair’ that Callum was competing in the new season despite previously winning the program
Second place: Callum first starred on season two of MasterChef Australia as the runner-up behind the winner Adam Liaw (pictured together in 2010)
‘Callum is ineligible for MasterChef this year. He has already won an all-stars season [with] that snow egg. There I said it,’ one viewer tweeted.
‘I assume Callum’s name is on the trophy since he won all-stars in 2012,’ another added.
Callum first starred on season two of MasterChef in 2010, placing runner-up behind winner Adam Liaw.
Aside from running a successful cooking school in Adelaide, he is is happily married to wife Crystal Jagger, with whom he shares a daughter named Elle.
Family: Aside from running a successful cooking school in Adelaide called Sprout, he is also a doting father to Elle, who he shares with his wife Crystal Jagger