Theo Loizou was eliminated from MasterChef Australia 2023, a squid’s membrane away from making the top three. While fans watched on with white knuckles from the comfort of their living room, Loizou admitted that it was even more frustrating being the one cooking.
In a chat with Mediaweek after his shock elimination, the Melbourne local — who was affectionately known as “Bread Boy” throughout the competition — said that he knew he was the one going home.
“Even throughout the whole experience, I knew when I didn’t do well,” he said. “I don’t know if other people were faking it when they said they did well and didn’t realise they did badly, but I knew every time I’d stuffed something up, I didn’t really hide it.”
“I knew there was nothing I could do about it,” he said upon reflection. “I thought, ‘It’s just me today’, which was super sad.”
The pressure of the competition has been tough for all of the competitors; however, it was nothing compared to what Loizou put himself through.
“I’m a perfectionist,” he admitted. “I’m hard on myself, like really hard on myself. So it’s definitely from me [the pressure]. And, you know, in hindsight, I could have just not peeled the membrane off the squid and just moved on. I could have cut it and just been like, well, the membrane is still on, but I’ve got everything else perfect.
“But me being me, knowing that wasn’t coming off, I just had to get it. It’s just that’s what I do all the time with everything. It’s also it’s one of my worst qualities, but it’s also one of my best because I feel like I do everything really well to the best of my ability, but sometimes it brings me unstuck and that’s what happened.”
Theo Loizou. Ten
Theo Loizou reflects on Declan Cleary’s help in the kitchen
Of course, watching Declan Cleary step away from his own bench to help Loizou was one of the most beautiful parts of the episode and for the 37-year-old, it meant “friendship”.
“He’s just so like that,” he said. “He’s a great guy and he hasn’t got a bad bone in his body so I’ve very grateful to him…I could have ruined his dish and that would have been horrible, but I’m glad I didn’t.”
Cleary and Loizou were roommates for the latter half of the season, which cemented a firm friendship between the pair.
“I taught him some things and he taught me some things and we had each other’s back. So I’m really, really happy that he came in and helped me out, but he didn’t have to walk over and give up time.”
Theo reflects on Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo’s mentorship
Like with every MasterChef Australia season, the camaraderie between the contestants is unlike other shows we see on TV; however, the judges play a huge part in that too.
For Loizou, he had a particular bond with Andy Allen (who won his own season of the series). In fact, when Loizou entered the kitchen, he didn’t “take things so seriously”, something Allen admitted to as well.
“I did connect with Andy in that respect,” Loizou said. “It was during Luke Nguyen’s challenge when he said, ‘Did you expect to be here’ and I said, ‘Nah, I thought I’d be out week one’ and he said, ‘Same as me. I was just winging it.'”
Theo and Andy Allen. Ten
As for the late Jock Zonfrillo, the MasterChef cook said that he felt like his friendship with the judge “was just starting”.
“He played a very big part [in my experience],” he said. “It was obviously devastating news because I felt like our friendship was just starting and that guidance I got from him throughout a lot of cooks… he just knew how to deliver criticism to me the same way as what I would deliver criticism to others. I think that the main thing that I’ll take away from Jock, is the way that you can deliver news in a nurturing way without being mean about it.
“And it helps people immensely and it helped me, and it really made me grow as a chef.”
MasterChef Australia airs Sunday – Thursday at 7.30 pm on 10 and 10Play.