Madurai flavour to Masterchef Australia

The 39-year-old created history by scoring 93 out of 100 points to beat fellow contestant Ben Borsht, who scored 77 out of 100. 

Cheliah was born in Singapore and trained to be a police officer. He served the police force for nearly a decade and now heads the woman’s prison in Adelaide. With the $2,50,000 cash prize, Cheliah’s dream plans to open a restaurant serving Indian and South-east Asian cuisine with ex-convicts as employees. 

The first two dishes that impressed the three judges - Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston were Cheliah’s sambal prawns starter which got him a perfect 30 while the fish curry he made to honour his aunt earned him 27 points. Borsht had a not-so-good round one with just 41 points. Borsht put up a good fight later but Cheliah’s fantastic start had given him an easy lead. Cheliah later took to social media to thank everyone for the support. MasterChef Australia will premiere on September 10 on Star World.