The first series of Junior MasterChef Australia, the second spin-off of the Australian reality television series MasterChef Australia, began on 12 September 2010 and aired on Network Ten. Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan returned alongside new judge, Anna Gare.
The series was won by then 12-year-old Isabella Bliss from New South Wales.
Changes In contrast to prior series, Junior MasterChef Australia is produced by Shine Australia.Shine Australia to produce Junior Masterchef The series premiered on Sunday, 12 September 2010. It also added Anna Gare as fourth judge during individual challenges.
The series began with the Top 50 selected from the 5,500 applicants who auditioned for the show. The Top 50 featured five heats, with ten from the Top 50 who were best at the heat's team participating in each heat. Afterwards, the judges selected four to move forward to the Top 20. Furthermore, the Top 20 competed in two challenges to pick the Top 12. Contrast to other versions, contestants are not eliminated every week; rather, four are eliminated every few episodes. Every eliminated contestant received a range of prizes, including those in the Top 50.Channel 10 show Junior MasterChef makes its debut next month
Contestants The top 12 contestants were chosen throughout the first week of challenges amongst the Top 50 and the Top 20. The full group of 12 were all revealed on Sunday, 26 September 2010:
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%; border-collapse:collapse;" width=60% |- style="background:#C1D8FF;" ! width=20%|Contestant ! width=4%; align=center|Age ! width=15%|State ! 'width=25%|Status |- | Isabella Bliss | 12 | QLD | bgcolor="009933"|Winner 15 November |- | Jack Lark | 12–13 | TAS | bgcolor="lightblue" align=center| Runner-up 15 November |- | Siena Johnston |9 | VIC | style="background:#f4c7b8; text-align:center;" rowspan="2" | |- | Sofia Bliss | 12 | QLD |- | Cassidy Higgins | 12 | VIC | style="background:#f4c7b8; text-align:center;" rowspan="4" | |- | Lucy Bonanno | 11 | VIC |- | Nick Lieurance | 10 | NSW |- | Pierre Khoury | 12 | NSW |- | Alex Gearing | 11 | NSW | style="background:#f4c7b8; text-align:center;" rowspan="4" | |- | Anthony Georgiou | 10 | NSW |- | Emily Falloon | 11 | SA |- | Sam Bradley | 11 | QLD
Notes:
– Isabella and Sofia Bliss are fraternal twins. – Jack Lark was 12 years old during his audition for the show, the maximum age for the cooks who auditioned. Afterwards, he turned 13 during their first week in the MasterChef Kitchen.
Winner Isabella Bliss entered Junior MasterChef Australia with her fraternal twin sister, Sofia. The twins hoped to open a restaurant named Is-Sofia.
In 2011, the Bliss twins published a cook book named A little bit of this, a little bit of that''. They also worked with "Cupcake for A Cure", a child cancer charity.
In November 2013, Isabella Bliss was named as one of YWCA Queensland's "125 Leading Women". , Isabella was studying at the University of Queensland and Sofia was undertaking a gap year.
Special guests Callum Hann – Top 20 Cooking Challenge Mark Jensen – MasterClass 1 Poh Ling Yeow – MasterClass 1 Donna Hay – Pressure Test 2 and Elimination Challenge 3 John Lanzafáme – Elimination Challenge 1 Justin North – Team Challenge 2 Matt Moran – Team Challenge 2, MasterClass Réunion, and Elimination Challenge 3 Jude Bolton – Team Challenge 3 Adam Goodes – Team Challenge 3 Luke Mangan – Team Challenge 3 Stephanie Alexander – MasterClass 3 and MasterClass Réunion Peter Gilmore – Mystery Box 3 Peter Kuruvita – Elimination Challenge 2 Kylie Kwong – MasterClass Réunion Guillaume Brahimi – MasterClass Réunion Christine Manfield – MasterClass Réunion and Elimination Challenge 3 Giovanni Pilu – MasterClass Réunion Shannon Bennett – Finale Night Adriano Zumbo – Finale Night
Episodes