Justin Narayan

Narayan was born in Sydney to a family with Fijian and Indian heritage.{{Cite web|date=2021-07-14|title=Justin Narayan wins Masterchef Australia 2021: Here's all you need to know about the Indian-origin contestant|url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/justin-narayan-wins-masterchef-australia-2021-heres-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-indian-origin-contestant-9804271.html|access-date=2021-12-18|website=Firstpost|language=en|archive-date=18 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218191059/https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/justin-narayan-wins-masterchef-australia-2021-heres-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-indian-origin-contestant-9804271.html|url-status=live}} At the age of 13 he started to cook and claims that most of his dishes are inspired by his family.

Narayan was a youth pastor before joining MasterChef Australia. He worked for the organisation Try Alpha.{{Cite web |date=2019-03-25 |title=Alpha Asia Pacific Youth Staff Training with Ben Woodman |url=https://asiapacific.alpha.org/alpha-asia-pacific-youth-staff-training-with-ben-woodman/ |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=Alpha |language=en-US}}

He also dabbled in an acting role in the short movie Rash Decision in 2018.{{Citation|last=Cavallaro|first=John|title=Rash Decision|date=2018-02-17|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8544682/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1|type=Short, Comedy|publisher=Lume Creative|access-date=2021-12-18|archive-date=18 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218190135/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8544682/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Prabhakar |first=Anu |title=Masterchef Australia winner Justin Narayan on his culinary journey |url=https://www.khaleejtimes.com/newsmakers/masterchef-australia-winner-justin-narayan-on-his-culinary-journey |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=Khaleej Times |language=en}}

Narayan qualified to be one of the top 24 contestants in MasterChef Australia 2021, an Australian reality television program. He was declared the competition winner over runners-up Pete Campbell and Kishwar Chowdhury on 13 July 2021, winning $250,000 as prize money. Narayan demonstrated on the show a style of cooking that combined Indian and international cuisines, such as poached fish with curry broth, Indian chicken tacos, and Indian chicken curry.

During the final challenge of the program, Peter Gilmore challenged the top three contestants Narayan, Campbell, and Chowdhury to recreate two of his own dishes (one savoury and the other a dessert) in 5 hours to gain 40 points for each of the dishes. Campbell struggled to get together all his elements throughout the cooking session resulting in a runny custard for the savoury dish and the dessert was not complete in the plate due to a hasty assemble. On the other hand, Chowdhury's dishes were mostly impressive, however the texture of her sauce for the savoury dish lacked balance. While Narayan's squid entrée garnered positive feedback, but his dessert was slightly under-baked even though he had all the ingredients fin place for the dessert. Narayan outperformed Campbell and Chowdhury, scoring 40 points for the savoury dish and 35 points for the dessert. This resulted in an overall score of 114 points for Chowdhury, 124 points for Campbell, and a total score of 125 for Narayan, who won the program by one point.

After prison guard Sashi Cheliah, Narayan is the second competitor of Indian descent to win the MasterChef Australia's first prize.

After winning, Narayan said he intended to spend his $250,000 win on furthering his education. His ambitions include opening a food truck or restaurant that serves the Indian flavors he grew up with, with a portion of his profits going towards helping to feed and educate children located in the slums of India.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/food-drink/who-is-justin-narayan-the-indian-origin-chef-who-won-masterchef-australia-13/|title=Indian-origin chef Justin Narayan wins MasterChef Australia 13|date=July 13, 2021|website=Lifestyle Asia India|access-date=14 July 2021|archive-date=14 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714062405/https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/food-drink/who-is-justin-narayan-the-indian-origin-chef-who-won-masterchef-australia-13/|url-status=live}}

Narayan has also stated that he plans to cook and work for the Mumbai-based NGO Vision Rescue.{{Cite web|date=2021-07-17|title='MasterChef Australia' winner Justin Narayan plans to work with Mumbai NGO|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/masterchef-australia-winner-justin-narayan-plans-work-mumbai-ngo-152513|access-date=2021-12-18|website=The News Minute|language=en|archive-date=18 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218191645/https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/masterchef-australia-winner-justin-narayan-plans-work-mumbai-ngo-152513|url-status=live}} Vision Rescue was started in Mumbai in 2004 by Biju Thampy, a preacher, and a motivational speaker, to offer Vada Pav to children living near the Mahim Junction Railway Station. Since then, the NGO has expanded its services to include drug rehabilitation counselling for children, providing healthcare, running a slum school and promotion of kids in sports. They also started to offer a transition house for women abused from human trafficking.

In May 2023, Narayan revealed that he had donated most of his $250,000 prize money to those in need, with the rest going towards investments.{{Cite web|date=2021-05-19|title=Surprising way MasterChef's Justin Narayan spent $250k prize money|url=https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/lifestyle/surprising-way-masterchefs-justin-narayan-spent-250k-prize-money-123223921.html|access-date=2023-05-20|website=Yahoo! Lifestyle|language=en}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Australian people of Indian descent

Category:Australian people of Fijian descent

Category:MasterChef Australia winners

Category:Australian television chefs

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)