One of Poh Ling Yeow’s favourite moments in this season of Snackmasters is when she and co-host Scott Pickett take a trip back to the 1980s for the episode on snakes and other Allen’s sweet treats.
”We got to dress up as little ’80s kids and just tear around on BMX bikes for the day and re-enact going down to the deli to get your dollar bag of lollies,” she tells TV WEEK with a laugh.
”When we get to do our little skits, those are our favourite parts, because we get to be a bit silly, which is our specialty.”
But back in the 1980s, Poh wasn’t that kid tearing around on a BMX. She was living in Adelaide, having emigrated from Malaysia at the age of nine with her parents and brother, and was ”very nerdy.”
”I kept to myself, read the entire time,” she remembers.
”My parents had a newsagency so we worked quite a lot. I was a really conservative, quiet child… and now I’m this crazy adult!”
Poh collaborated with Adam Liaw for Adam and Poh’s Malaysia in Australia, with actor Remy Hii (left) as a guest in 2022.
(IMAGE: Supplied)Australia is loving this crazy adult. It’s been 13 years since viewers got to know Poh in the first season of MasterChef Australia, where she finished runner-up to Julie Goodwin.
This year, she’s bigger than ever. As well as hosting Snackmasters, she’s won LEGO Masters Bricksmas, been profiled on Australian Story and is reporting from Europe for Getaway.
”I feel incredibly lucky,” she says.
”I’ve had the opportunity to be able to do so many things. That’s one of the things I love about being single, that I can just duck and weave and do whatever I want. Having only one energy to consider is such a luxury.”
Poh separated from her second husband Jono Bennett – who she met when he was a crew member on MasterChef – last year. She says she’s ”so happy” being single.
”I think I’ve finally hit this point in my life where I do feel whole on my own,” she explains.
”I’ve been through two marriages, and every time, once I’ve pushed through the grief, there’s this kind of renewal – remembering the self you were before you merged with another person, and just enjoying really basic things like, ‘Hey, I can have dinner whenever I want!”’
Mum Christina joined her daughter on Poh & Co, which ran for two seasons in 2014 and 2015.
(IMAGE: Supplied)Poh says she’s ”a loner”, so being single is probably her most ideal state.
”It’s funny, because Jono was an extrovert, so he loved having lots of people around, and I was the opposite, so that was one of our incompatibilities. My favourite thing is just pottering, so I’m always finding little projects to do around the house… trimming the wisteria at midnight!”
There were rumours circulating a few months ago that Poh was going to be the next Bachelorette, but she says that’s ”definitely fake news”.
”I couldn’t think of anything worse!” she declares with a laugh.
This year has also seen Poh releasing a new book, What I Cook When Nobody’s Watching, which is focused on telling ”an honest food story.”
”I think when I popped out of MasterChef, I felt a lot of pressure to live up to the name of the show,” she admits.
”I remember thinking, ‘It’s not even an accurate name – we’re amateur cooks.’ But now, actually, the show has evolved so much that the contestants who come out of it are legit chefs, so it’s a different ball game.”
What’s the challenge for Melbourne restaurateur and chef Adam D’Sylva this season?
(IMAGE: Channel 10)Poh says she likes ”really plain, basic, comforting flavours.”
”I rarely cook fancy, especially now I’m on my own,” she says.
”I will often just eat roast veg, or a quick Asian-style omelette with rice. I really only cook fancy food when friends are coming around and I want to show off a bit or want to treat them. It’s an act of love.”
The book is Poh’s ”most personal” yet, containing her life philosophies scattered through the pages. She admits she felt self-conscious about including them.
”You don’t know what people are going to think about you offering life advice,” she says.
“But I’m 50 next year and I’m like, ‘I reckon I can do that.’ It’s just basic stuff, like grief, that I think we don’t allow ourselves to grieve enough in the modern world.”
Poh finished runner up to Julie Goodwin on MasterChef in 2009 – and did well on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in 2022.
(IMAGE: Channel 10)Poh believes facing grief upfront and processing is a healthy thing, having gone through it herself.
”Marriage break-ups, losing my first pet, that kind of thing,” she says.
”They’re all really big, formative moments in your life. I even talk [in the book] about a miscarriage I had.”
To be sharing life philosophies, as well as recipes, shows how far Poh has come from the nerdy, quiet child she once was. Although she did ”secretly fantasise” about having her own cooking show long before she had one, she never expected it to happen.
”I just follow what I’m enjoying doing,” she says.
”That’s how I chart my life. I’m not one of those traditionally ambitious people who say, ‘I want to be here by this time,’ or anything. I’ve never done life like that. I’ve always just been open to what might fall in my path, and it’s worked really well for me.
”I definitely didn’t think I’d be doing this at 50. I feel like I’m still a kid in a candy shop. I really feel life is like that at the moment.”
