The first season of the African reality television series MasterChef South Africa began on 20 March 2012 and aired on M-Net. The season judges were Pete Goffe-Wood, Andrew Atkinson and Benny Masekwameng.
Contestants
Top 18 Contestant Age Occupation Hometown Episode of Elimination Place FinishedDeena Naidoo45IT SpecialistDurbanWinner1stSue-Ann Allen30Lighting designerWoodstockRunner-up2ndManisha Naidu29HousewifeSandtonEpisode 183rdSarel Loots†42Adventure camp ownerSabieEpisode 174thLungile Nhlanhla 21Fashion graduateDurbanEpisode 165thKhaya Silingile27Marketing coordinatorSandtonEpisode 156thIlse Fourie32ModelCape TownEpisode 147thThys Hattingh29BookkeeperRustenburgEpisode 138thJade de Waal21Jazz music studentGardensEpisode 129thSamantha Nolan41MomTable ViewEpisode 1010thGuy Clark30Property brokerCape TownEpisode 911thBabalwa Baartman18Buyer for PoetryCape TownEpisode 812/13thBrandon Law22IT ConsultantEdenvaleMmutsi Maseko34MomJohannesburgEpisode 714thLwazi Mngoma26Artist management entrepreneurJohannesburgEpisode 615thBerdina Schurink 35UnemployedCape TownEpisode 516thCharles Canning 40Runs family panel-beating businessTable ViewEpisode 417/18thFortune Kangueehi36Ad accounts managerWindhoek
Elimination table PlaceContestantEpisode456789101112131415161718Finale1DeenaINNPTWINWINPTININLOWLOWLOWINLOWWINWINHIGHWINNER2Sue-AnnINWINWINLOWWININWININWINNPTWINWINHIGHLOWWIN3ManishaWINLOWINWINPTINWINININWININWINLOWHIGHELIM4SarelINWINLOWWINWINLOWINININNPTWINLOWHIGHELIM5LungileINNPTINPTWINININININWININWINELIM6KhayaINNPTINWINWINWINLOWWINCCWINLOWELIM7IlseINWININPTPTININININWINELIM8ThysINWININPTWINWININLOWLOWELIM9JadeINNPTINWINLOWLOWLOWLOWELIM10Samantha WINWININWINWINLOWELIM11GuyINWININPTPTELIM12BabalwaINWININPTELIMBrandonINWININWINELIM14MmutsiLOWPTINELIM15LwaziLOWPTELIM16BerdinaLOWELIM17CharlesELIMFortuneELIM (WINNER) This chef won the competition. (RUNNER-UP) This chef received second place in the competition. (WIN) The chef won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Invention Test) and but didn't win. (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the (Mystery Box Challenge or Invention Test) but didn't win. (WIN) The chef was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and was safe from the Pressure Test. (CC) The chef received the advantage of competing against a celebrity chef in this challenge. If they won, they advanced farther on in the competition, skipping a number of challenges. The chef could not be eliminated after this challenge. (IN) The chef was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in the challenge. (PT) The chef was on the losing team in the Team Challenge (except episode 8 – an Individual Challenge), competed in the pressure test, and advanced. (LOW) The chef was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance. (LOW) The chef was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance. (ELIM) The chef was eliminated from MasterChef.
Episodes
Ep# / Show-Ep# Original Airdate Episodes Total viewers (million) Auditions Part 1 998,664 27 March 2012Auditions Part 2 993,662
References