54, Administration Manager, VIC

Wearing her heart of gold on her sleeve, Cath Collins has long dreamt of applying for MasterChef and inspired by Julie Goodwin’s return to the competition last year, she feels that now it’s time to take the leap.

Hailing from a big Aussie family, Cath is one of 10 children which made mealtimes a boisterous scene. Cath recalls her mum always served tasty meals, even when budgets were tight.

As a proud mum to two daughters, Cath was inspired to step up her cooking when her girls were born, and to focus on making delicious food that nourished, engaged and excited them.

As a self-taught cook with over 100 cookbooks, Cath loves all types of food and is neither a sweet nor savoury specialist, providing an adaptability she sees as an asset.

With a love of European cuisines Cath is inspired by her travels and eating out. During COVID lockdowns she kept her family connected with far flung destinations from her home kitchen, staging Thai, Italian, Czech Republic, Mexican and Portuguese themed dinners, and keeping them surprised with creative desserts.

Having worked in the travel industry for many years, Cath later achieved her vocational teaching qualifications and taught tourism. Now working alongside husband Brad in their family construction business, it’s not where her passion lies, and she has her family’s full support to chase her dreams.

In her spare time, Cath enjoys music and art, and loves running, walking and hiking with girlfriends. She has completed half marathons and triathlons, so rising to a challenge is familiar territory. Cath joins the competition armed with life experience, good humour, and a healthy dose of tenacity to go after what she wants.

Planning on drawing inspiration from her many food idols including Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Maggie Beer, Massimo Bottura and Yotam Ottolenghi, Cath hopes to launch a café serving high tea and to stage cooking classes for school aged children, young adults, right through to tailored adult classes.