Jan 3, 2023
By: srishti.magan@timesinternet.in
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After a two-year-long pandemic-induced hiatus, the reality show MasterChef India returned for its seventh season on January 2, 2023, on Sony Entertainment Television. It airs every Monday to Friday at 9 pm. It’s also available for streaming online, for free, on the Sony LIV app.
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In season 7, former judges, chefs Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar, are joined by chef Garima Arora who’s donning the hat of a MasterChef India judge for the first time. Arora, who previously starred in the Emmy-nominated documentary Chef’s Table on Netflix, is the first female judge on the show. Here’s a look at the show’s past winners:
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The first MasterChef winner from India, Pankaj Bhadouria courted widespread fame after the show. She went on to author the first official MasterChef Cookbook, Barbie- I am a Chef and Chicken from my Kitchen. A TEDx speaker, she also hosted TV shows like Chef Pankaj Ka Zayka, Kifayati Kitchen, and more.
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With 4.7 million followers on Instagram, chef Shipra Khanna is one of the most popular MasterChef India winners. Khanna is the author of 6 cookbooks, and has appeared on shows like Britannia Star Chef, Good Food Guide, etc. She even hosted the show Pure Sin on the FoodFood channel.
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The first male winner of MasterChef India, Ripudaman Handa is based out of Mumbai and runs a YouTube channel with over 7,000 subscribers. Handa, who has over 150k followers on Instagram, also participated in season 6 of the reality show Nach Baliye in 2013.
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Gandhi, who goes by the Instagram handle, theveggiefix often shares food recipes and videos from her trips with her 64.4k followers on Instagram. Earlier, she also hosted the show Nix Kitchen on the channel, foodxp.
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The winner of S5, chef Kirti Bhoutika first founded the bakery, SugarPlum Cakery in Kolkata. Later, she also started Healthier Kolkata - a bakery offering vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free desserts. Bhoutika, who recently got married, currently has 277k followers on Instagram.
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The winner of the last season of MasterChef India, Abinas Nayak is currently the head chef at Rroshashala - a restaurant offering a “gourmet platter of delicious Indian food” from Odisha. He also shares new recipes and cooking videos on his Instagram channel, and has 178k followers.
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Based on the Australian reality show MasterChef Australia, MasterChef India has had 6 successful seasons in the last 12 years. It started in 2010. Chefs Kunal Kapoor and Ajay Chopra were the judges in the first season, which was hosted by actor Akshay Kumar.
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