It's happened. Instead of being regarded as a trouble-maker, a blogger has been given top honours on a TV show. 29-year-old blogger Kamini Pather won the second season title of MasterChef on Wednesday and I'm thrilled.
I've been rooting for her since the start - not only because of her kitchen dexterity but also because she's a blogger and I know how difficult can be for a blogger to break through onto the mainstream scene. I battled with it myself ... when I first started blogging I was called a "loose cannon", a rebel and was labelled all sorts of other things that suggested I was trouble and it was so
unbelievably frustrating.
Kamini's win means that there's definitely been a lot of progress when it comes to how bloggers are perceived. I also really liked how MasterChef had that whole episode that was judged by food bloggers
only. More, more, more of that in other shows please!
Of course the only downside to Kamini's win was that competing sisters Leandri and Seline van der Wat got less out of it despite having a double bash at the R400 000 first prize. They've both been cool too, especially Leandri and the existential breakthroughs she went through.
My best was what happened with her and guest judge Prue Leith - they were clearly crazy about each other. It's bizarre how that happens isn't it? How you can meet someone and just know and understand each other so immediately. It's as if they really "saw" each other - as if Prue really saw who Leandri is.
I'm pleased that the show had a runner-up prize of R100 000 so she didn't leave with nothing. The other bonus for the sisters is that they get to have a tasty dish at every meal without having to cook every day 'cos they can swap.
High fives Kamini! Cook on sisters! Please invite me for a meal.