During Sunday night's grand finale of Dessert Masters season 2, Christy Tania stood alongside John Demetrios and Emelia Jackson competing for the top spot.
But Christy told 10 Play that throughout the competition she never felt like she was up against the other chefs. "I felt like we all had different skill sets and, even though we were all gunning for the same thing, we weren't competing against each other.
"I felt like I was competing against myself," Christy continued. "We were really rooting for each other, I kept telling them, 'Your success is my success'. I'm competitive but I don't see them as competition, I just wanted to be the best version of myself."
After the birth of her son, Christy took a year off and Dessert Masters really marked her return to the industry. "I was ready to go behind the scenes," she admitted. "I was saying this was going to be make or break... if it goes great then it's great, and if it doesn't... then I just have to retire.
"It was a bit of an internal debate and ultimately I was thinking maybe this is my last chance to see if this is for me or not."
Christy's husband, Luke - the head chef at her artisanal frozen dessert store Glacé - was fully supportive, telling her to take on the competition and he would make it work at home.
Wanting to make the most of the opportunity, Christy said after the first challenge she felt like she played it safe. "I regretted it so much," she added.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I wasn't pushing myself to the fullest. I made a promise to myself that, whatever it was, try my hardest. I genuinely surprised myself a lot with how well I did," she continued.
And the judges couldn't have agreed more, with Christy routinely falling in the top dish or dishes of the day. Her gravity-defying All Eyes On Me dessert was a spectacle, her Golden Delicious apple was photo-realistic, and her Adventure Around The World in 3 Desserts earned her a spot in the grand finale.
Describing it in a similar way to riding a bike, Christy said having a year off to focus on her family meant that she had to get her momentum back in the competition.
"Not only was I being tested after not working for a year," she said, "but I was being tested on those skills in two and a half hours, being judged by one of the world's best pastry chefs. That's the daunting part."
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The feeling that the competition was 'make or break' for Christy continued right up until the Grand Finale, where she admitted she was still battling feelings of self-doubt.
"When they said I was a Grand Finalist, even then I was thinking am I really in the Grand Finale? I was a bit shocked and unsure of what to do," she added.
"It felt like a really far shot, so when it was in front of me it took a while to digest and understand what actually managed to get me that far."
As for how she feels now looking back at her Dessert Masters experience, Christy said, "I'm definitely here to stay in the industry."
Catch up on full seasons of Dessert Masters on 10 Play
