She may have left the Masterchef kitchen last night, but Poh Ling Yeow will forever be remembered in our hearts. All-in-all, Poh Ling Yeow is an Australian icon.
We spoke about this season of Masterchef on this episode of It’s Been A Big Day For…
While Masterchef: Back To Win has been full of emotional eliminations, Poh Ling Yeow’s exit from the reality show is definitely up there as one of the hardest ones to digest because ultimately, Poh Ling Yeow deserved to go all the way. Here are a few reasons why.
Firstly, from the very start, Poh Ling Yeow was fighting an uphill battle against her other competitors. One of the most disappointing things to see about this season of Masterchef was all the Internet trolls spitting hate at Poh Ling Yeow.
While the majority of us absolutely adored her, there were few loud-mouthed haters on Masterchef FB groups and the Masterchef hashtag that were attacking her position on the show. We have to assume those people only started watching from Season 2 and missed how legendary she actually is.
To those haters, we say, that Poh Ling Yeow was one of the biggest highlights of this season and if you can’t see that, you’re blind. With her quirky personality and her chaotic energy, we could barely take our eyes off her.
Also, we should talk about the fact that Poh Ling Yeow meant so much to Asian-Australians. The first season of Masterchef debuted in 2009. And while she lost the show to Julie Goodwin, her placement on that show did wonders for Asian-Australian representation on screen.
Perhaps Benjamin Law put it best when he Tweeted, “Hard to put into words what Poh even being on TV meant to me – this part Chinese-Malaysian kid, growing up in a sea of white – and so many other Asian-Australians. What an absolute icon of Australian food. Gonna eat a goddamn century egg this week in her honour.”
Finally, we have to talk about the fact that Poh could have won. In this All-Stars season of Masterchef, Poh Ling Yeow had 7 moments in the top in addition to her Katy Perry-episode win, and if that’s not an incredible track record, then we don’t know what is.
Ultimately, we were really rooting for Poh Ling Yeow to win this Masterchef season because it would have been such a significant moment. Not only would it have rectified her initial robbery in Season 1, but it would have shown that contestants in the earlier seasons are just as good as the current competitors.
Like all reality shows, Masterchef grew with its audience to reach a level of quality previously unseen. As the seasons went on, the food got better, the standard became higher and the pressure became more intense. So, for Poh, to enter the top 6 after competing in Season 1 is honestly groundbreaking enough. We love Poh and we’re going to miss her so much.
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