The first season[1] of the African reality television series MasterChef South Africa began on 20 March 2012 and aired on M-Net. The season judges were Pete Goffe-Wood, Andrew Atkinson and Benny Masekwameng.
| MasterChef South Africa | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
| Judges |
|
| No. of contestants | 18 |
| Winner | Deena Naidoo |
| Runner-up | Sue-Ann Allen |
| No. of episodes | 19 |
| Release | |
| Original network | M-Net |
| Original release | 20 March – 14 July 2012 |
| Season chronology | |
Contestants
editTop 18
edit| Contestant | Age | Occupation | Hometown | Episode of Elimination | Place Finished |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deena Naidoo | 45 | IT Specialist | Durban | Winner | 1st |
| Sue-Ann Allen | 30 | Lighting designer | Woodstock | Runner-up | 2nd |
| Manisha Naidu | 29 | Housewife | Sandton | Episode 18 | 3rd |
| Sarel Loots† | 42 | Adventure camp owner | Sabie | Episode 17 | 4th |
| Lungile Nhlanhla | 21 | Fashion graduate | Durban | Episode 16 | 5th |
| Khaya Silingile | 27 | Marketing coordinator | Sandton | Episode 15 | 6th |
| Ilse Fourie | 32 | Model | Cape Town | Episode 14 | 7th |
| Thys Hattingh | 29 | Bookkeeper | Rustenburg | Episode 13 | 8th |
| Jade de Waal | 21 | Jazz music student | Gardens | Episode 12 | 9th |
| Samantha Nolan | 41 | Mom | Table View | Episode 10 | 10th |
| Guy Clark | 30 | Property broker | Cape Town | Episode 9 | 11th |
| Babalwa Baartman | 18 | Buyer for Poetry | Cape Town | Episode 8 | 12/13th |
| Brandon Law | 22 | IT Consultant | Edenvale | ||
| Mmutsi Maseko | 34 | Mom | Johannesburg | Episode 7 | 14th |
| Lwazi Mngoma | 26 | Artist management entrepreneur | Johannesburg | Episode 6 | 15th |
| Berdina Schurink | 35 | Unemployed | Cape Town | Episode 5 | 16th |
| Charles Canning | 40 | Runs family panel-beating business | Table View | Episode 4 | 17/18th |
| Fortune Kangueehi | 36 | Ad accounts manager | Windhoek |
Elimination table
edit| Place | Contestant | Episode | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Finale | ||
| 1 | Deena | IN | NPT | WIN | WIN | PT | IN | IN | LOW | LOW | LOW | IN | LOW | WIN | WIN | HIGH | WINNER |
| 2 | Sue-Ann | IN | WIN | WIN | LOW | WIN | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | NPT | WIN | WIN | HIGH | LOW | WIN | RUNNER-UP |
| 3 | Manisha | WIN | LOW | IN | WIN | PT | IN | WIN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | LOW | HIGH | ELIM | |
| 4 | Sarel | IN | WIN | LOW | WIN | WIN | LOW | IN | IN | IN | NPT | WIN | LOW | HIGH | ELIM | ||
| 5 | Lungile | IN | NPT | IN | PT | WIN | IN | IN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | ELIM | |||
| 6 | Khaya | IN | NPT | IN | WIN | WIN | WIN | LOW | WIN | CC | WIN | LOW | ELIM | ||||
| 7 | Ilse | IN | WIN | IN | PT | PT | IN | IN | IN | IN | WIN | ELIM | |||||
| 8 | Thys | IN | WIN | IN | PT | WIN | WIN | IN | LOW | LOW | ELIM | ||||||
| 9 | Jade | IN | NPT | IN | WIN | LOW | LOW | LOW | LOW | ELIM | |||||||
| 10 | Samantha | WIN | WIN | IN | WIN | WIN | LOW | ELIM | |||||||||
| 11 | Guy | IN | WIN | IN | PT | PT | ELIM | ||||||||||
| 12 | Babalwa | IN | WIN | IN | PT | ELIM | |||||||||||
| Brandon | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | ELIM | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Mmutsi | LOW | PT | IN | ELIM | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Lwazi | LOW | PT | ELIM | |||||||||||||
| 16 | Berdina | LOW | ELIM | ||||||||||||||
| 17 | Charles | ELIM | |||||||||||||||
| Fortune | ELIM | ||||||||||||||||
- (WINNER) This chef won the competition.
- (RUNNER-UP) This chef received second place in the competition.
- (WIN) The chef won the individual challenge (Mystery Box Challenge or Invention Test) and but didn't win.
- (HIGH) The cook was one of the top entries in the (Mystery Box Challenge or Invention Test) but didn't win.
- (WIN) The chef was on the winning team in the Team Challenge and was safe from the Pressure Test.
- (CC) The chef received the advantage of competing against a celebrity chef in this challenge. If they won, they advanced farther on in the competition, skipping a number of challenges. The chef could not be eliminated after this challenge.
- (IN) The chef was not selected as a top entry or bottom entry in the challenge.
- (PT) The chef was on the losing team in the Team Challenge (except episode 8 – an Individual Challenge), competed in the pressure test, and advanced.
- (LOW) The chef was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, but was not the last person to advance.
- (LOW) The chef was one of the bottom entries in an individual elimination challenge, and was the last person to advance.
- (ELIM) The chef was eliminated from MasterChef.
Episodes
edit| Ep# / Show-Ep# | Original Airdate | Episodes | Total viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|---|
1
|
20 March 2012
|
Auditions Part 1 | 998,664 |
2
|
27 March 2012 | Auditions Part 2 | 993,662 |