MasterChef winner Tim Read says he thought about leaving the competition after a couple of dud dishes but decided against it because he's not a quitter.
"It's not in my nature to quit and to me that was quitting."
Read won the reality cooking competition last night, taking out competitor Leo Fernandez in a tense three-challenge battle for first place.
The 25-year-old physiotherapist earned 76 points over the episode's three challenges, two more than his fellow finalist, Fernandez, on 74, to be crowned the winner of the show's sixth season.
But there were times earlier in the competition when he thought about throwing in the towel altogether.
"There was a period there for about two weeks where, let's be honest, I wasn't doing very well. I was in the bottom two, it crosses your mind, like 'what's the point?' ... It hurts, you're trying to do as much as you can but it gets nowhere and it's frustrating.
"But it's not in my nature to quit and to me that was quitting. So I was like 'nah, pick your socks up, keep going you can do it'."
That mentality helped Read get through when he just couldn't get the hang of tempering chocolate in the "dome of doom" final challenge.
MasterChef traditionally has a difficult final challenge. This time, it was to create a smoking chocolate creation with multiple components, including a white chocolate ball sitting on a bed of chocolate soil, black garlic icecream, chantilly cream, smoked chocolate discs, a toasted hazelnut and ganache.
A scene from last night's MasterChef NZ final.
After three attempts, Read finally managed to get his chocolate right, but said the stress of creating the fiddly dome hasn't put him off giving it another go.
"I'd love to learn [how to make it perfectly], imagine being able to nail that, just being able to whip that out for your mates."
Although the dome of doom was technically challenging, Read said he wouldn't say it was the season's hardest challenge.
"I'd say the final challenge in Dubai, cooking three courses for 24 people, for me was harder."
Read said his friendship with his MasterChef family remained strong in the weeks after filming ended.
"A few of us actually went down for Glenda's 40th a few weeks ago, which was so cool, to be there and catch up with the group," he said.
"Even in the final days ... we were all there for each other, and that was a really cool part of it, it was a tough environment to be in."
Read called Fernandez an "incredible" chef and said although he gave the final challenges his best shot, if Fernandez had won it would have been because he was better on the day.
