Khristian Walker had been in the friend zone for 15 years before the girl of his dreams, Deyane, finally said yes to a relationship – then MasterChef Australia came knocking.
“We’ve been through thick and thin, and we only started dating prior to me leaving for the show,” Khristian, 26, tells TV WEEK.
(Image: Ten)
“Everything I’ve wanted in my whole life was to be with this person and it finally came to fruition, and then I had to say, ‘I’m leaving, bye.’”
The insurance services employee grew up in working-class Melbourne and learned to cook from a young age when his single mum, Kathy, worked 14-hour days to keep the family afloat. Khristian had to make do and step up to make sure he and his little sister, Justice, were fed.
It was an experience that taught him resilience and one his mum jokes about now he’s made it to MasterChef.
“She says, ‘Aren’t you glad I told you that you had to work it out for yourself?’” Khristian says. “She’s a hard woman, but a loving one. She said, ‘You’ve got to be independent from a young age, because I might not be around forever.’”
(Image: Ten)
Khristian, who dreams of opening a panini shop, has the full support of his family and partner to become Australia’s next best cook.
He plans to use the same tactics to win over the MasterChef judges as he did to to win over Deyane.
“Every dish [I have cooked for her] for the past 10 years, I have slowly love-bombed her,” Khristian says with a laugh. “Persistence is key.”
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