\n \t\t\t \t\t\t
![\"Copy](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/d785b_2114710570.jpg\")
<\/p>\n \t
\n \t\t\t \t\t\t <\/p>\n
INLSA<\/p>\n
It was the moment the family of SAs first MasterChef, Deena Naidoo, had been waiting for and, when they heard he was the countrys cooking champion, there were shrieks of joy at his home in Queensburgh last night. Cheering him on while watching a recording of him on his way to the final are, from left: Naidoos sister-in-law Manoshnee Govender, his son Theshlin, niece Shivani Govender, brother-in-law Deena Govender, mother-in-law Patsy Moodley, daughter Aariyn and niece Nerisa Govender.<\/p>\n
\n
\t\t \t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t \t\t <\/p>\n
There were screams of joy from his family watching at home as Durban\u2019s Deena Naidoo took the honours in the first season of the reality TV show MasterChef South Africa last night. <\/p>\n
Naidoo, who is from Queensburgh, flew to Joburg\u2019s Montecasino with his wife, Karin, for the announcement. <\/p>\n
At his home, there were screams and cheers of joy from his family, who were huddled around the television in the family\u2019s lounge to watch Naidoo cook up a storm. <\/p>\n
Speaking to The Mercury last night, the new master chef\u2019s mother- in-law, Patsy Moodley, said it was \u201csuch a proud moment\u201d for the family watching him on television and seeing him do so well. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe always had a flair for cooking, and has made some incredible meals at home.\u201d <\/p>\n
For many years he had always made everyone\u2019s birthday cakes. <\/p>\n
Naidoo\u2019s mother had died, but continued to inspire his cooking, said Moodley. <\/p>\n
As the final episode started, Naidoo\u2019s daughter, Aariyn, was so eager to see her dad on television that she asked The Mercury\u2019s reporter to \u201cstop talking\u201d so she could watch. <\/p>\n
For the final cook-off against Cape Town\u2019s Sue-Ann Allen, Naidoo whipped up oven-roasted vegetables, coriander crusted lamb loin and \u201cdeconstructed\u201d milk tart. It was enough to clinch the number one spot. <\/p>\n
After 30 gruelling challenges, Naidoo walked away victorious, and with the Mondovino restaurant as a grand prize. <\/p>\n
He also takes home R250 000 from Robertsons Spices, a Hyundai Elantra 1.6 GLS, a seven-day culinary holiday in Italy, an Italian cookery course courtesy of Woolworths, a customised sommelier course and a year\u2019s supply of Nederburg Winemasters Reserve wines. <\/p>\n
Filming of the show was completed in February, and Naidoo has had to keep mum on the outcome. <\/p>\n
The social media scene was sizzling with thousands of messages pouring in for the new master chef. <\/p>\n
Thatguykameel tweeted: \u201cTomorrow\u2019s Headlines: IT Professional #MasterchefSA Winner Deena Naidoo Serves Up The Bytes,\u201d while Lilly Jay Ramebe tweeted, \u201cdeena truly deserved to win #MasterChefSA. A shining example of both passion and humility.\u201d <\/p>\n
FoxiLoxi tweeted: \u201cwell done to u both, both fantastic and both deserved to win, unfortunately there could be only one\u201d. <\/p>\n
On Facebook, Chantel van Straten said: \u201cWell done deena, you made durban kzn very proud.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, some were not too impressed with the outcome. Ramesh Rampersad said: \u201cVery disappointing end. Y didn\u2019t they reveal the scores? Y didn\u2019t they interview the winner? Lacked the element of reality.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA It was the moment the family of SAs first MasterChef, Deena Naidoo, had been waiting for and, when they heard he was the countrys cooking champion, there were shrieks of joy at his home in Queensburgh last night. Cheering him on while watching a recording of him on his way to the final are, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-12745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}