An Interview with Bongani Bingwa on ‘Weekend Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa’

Recently (April 1st 2022), Bongani Bingwa interviewed me on “Weekend Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa” on 702. If you missed it, you can listen to the recording below. I spoke about my reaction to be winning the competition, the pressure of being a part of it, and what to expect from me in the future.

Below, you can read about the interview, if you don’t want to listen to the recording.

MasterChef on 702

Bongani Bingwa regularly features contestants from Masterchef South Africa on his show. Over the last couple of weeks, he've spoken to some of the people who've been eliminated, as we get closer and closer to finding a winner of the current season. Today, he interviewed me, the day after I was crowned the winner of MasterChef South Africa season 4. I never want to forget the great opportunities and the privileges winning MasterChef South Africa has given me and my wife and children. It has been one crazy journey but an incredibly fun one. I have always loved a good adventure, and this has probably been the best rollercoaster ride I have ever been on!

These are the questions he asked - and my answers:

Congratulations, how are you feeling this morning?

It's been an absolutely amazing experience to wake up this morning, and I'm still trying to just get to grips with everything that's going on. And it's just that I actually won. It feels like a a new phase of my life, but absolutely excited.

How hectic is the competition? Because no doubt that you would have watched previous seasons. Was your impression of the show very different or similar in terms of what you actually experienced?

It's honestly really hectic. I took a company through COVID where I had 85 staff members and needing to salaries with no income, and the stress that was going on in that time, and I likened that stress to being in the MasterChef kitchen, it is intense. I think that while watching the show, you feel the stress a little bit, but behind the lines there is some serious adrenaline, some serious pressure that's going on. Because you're in a kitchen where everything is judged. When you're at home cooking, and something goes wrong for example if you burn the food, you just put it aside or throw it in the bin. Even in a restaurant you're not going to send something out to the guests that's bad. But in the MasterChef kitchen, if you drop it, if you burn it, if you mess it up, that’s the dish you need to put up and you're gonna get judged on it.

What were some of your personal highlights in terms of the chefs you got to work with?

I think, you know, obviously, meeting Chef Kobus (van der Merwe - owner of Wolfgat restaurant in Paternoster) was on the finale was just out of this world. He's a real gentle spirit. He's an absolutely humble amazing human. And just spending time with him and realizing his passion for food and how he's brought it into his life was a huge highlight. I think another one was actually a chef Mmabatho Molefe - she just won an award this week for top restaurant in South Africa (I reviewed her restaurant - Emazulwini). Before going into the show, I used a lot of French techniques in my cooking and my flavours were actually more Asian centric. So I was almost embarrassed to find out while on the show just how amazing South African cuisine is and the recipes that are available to us to actually elevate and bring up to the forefront. So a highlight on the show was meeting Chef Mmabatho as she is one of those chefs that is at the top of her game, heroing South African cuisine but turning it into fine dining, which is just absolutely incredible. So I think that was just another episode that really sticks out to me.

In the final, Andriëtte (De la Harpe) or Taryn (De Kock), who did you most fear?

Difficult question. I feared Taryn more because her flavour profiles are very similar to mine. I'm on the savory side and so is Taryn and she's very good. And so I had a game plan depending on who I was gonna go up against. So I had worked out some of the dishes that I would have cooked if I would have had to go up against Taryn,

Really? What would you have made if Taryn had been, the other contestant in the final?

So if it was Andriëtte I was cooking against, I needed to make sure that my dessert was absolutely brilliant. And if it were Taryn, I decided that I'd put a lot more effort into the main course. So when I had to go up against Andriëtte I decided I would make a Malva Pudding which I knew was risky. And actually one of the excerpts that didn't go into the show was Judge Greg saying it that was a really gutsy move to make a Malva Pudding in the finale. And I'm glad I did because I was going up against the Desert Queen. So I had a bit of a strategy to try and work out which way I would go, going into finale, but it paid off.

And did you have a favourite judge?

It's very hard to say because they were so unique in each of their characteristics. Justine is so kind when you’re at your wits end. Zola was always obviously very balanced. She's a real character. She was strict but at the same time her laugh was so infectious in the kitchen. And Greg he brought that real technical element to the table. And so I think what drove me the most in terms of who was my favourite judge, Greg really drove me the hardest. So I don't know if he was my favourite, but he definitely made sure that I was focused and I was almost fearing his critique. So it made me push harder to impress him in the kitchen.

And no doubt you're an absolutely, a a vastly improved chef now. Right? No longer a home cook, but, you can proudly now call yourself a chef. Right?

I hope so. Apparently, I got the title.

Future plans, you're an entrepreneur. You've spoken about your business and the people you've looked after and been responsible for. What are your future plans now that you've won this competition?

I have started a business called The Roasted Dad - you can follow me on Instagram. We've launched an apparel brand called Roasted - an adult range for leather aprons and caps and things like that and there is also a children's brand called Little Roast. I'll also be a brand ambassador very soon for a big retailer (Pick n Pay). I’m also opening a pop-up restaurant at the V&A Waterfront on the 27th April called The Chefs’ Collective. And then the third part is that we are going to make a trip through South Africa in early June, looking for local food heroes, ingredients and traveling all the way up to the Kalahari, then Pilanesberg and then back to Cape Town again and we're going to be food journaling our journey with our family.

I love that you involve your family. That moment where your son said he was proud of you must be so so dear to you. Hey?

It's honestly, it lives with me to this day. I I treasure that moment so much.

Great stuff. Shawn Godfrey there, the winner of MasterChef South Africa. And, of course, if you're one of those that didn't catch all the episodes, the season 4 is available on DSTV catch up. And if you follow their social media pages, you'd also get information on how to get all of those recipes if you wanna try them at home.

MasterChef Season 5

MasterChef South Africa Season premiered on Saturday July 13 at 7:30 pm on S3, and new episodes are aired every Saturday.
If you miss it an episode, it will be rebroadcast every Sunday on S2 at 6:30 pm and on Wednesdays on S3 at 6:00 pm.

I have written a blog post about the MasterChef season 5 contestants, and summaries for each of the previous MasterChef episodes.

Recently I featured on the 8th episode of MasterChef South Africa season 5, as referee during the cook-off between Herman Lensing and Chanel.

MasterChef Season 4

This is an interview from 2022, the day after the episode in which I won MasterChef season 4 was aired.

I never want to forget the great opportunities and the privileges winning MasterChef South Africa has given me and my wife and children. It has been one crazy journey but an incredibly fun one. I have always loved a good adventure, and this has probably been the best rollercoaster ride I have ever been on!

Want to know more about MasterChef South Africa?

Want to try The Roasted Dad Recipes?

About Shawn Godfrey

Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.

On his blog, Shawn shares mostly recipes, but also Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).

Sign up to the newsletter below to be kept up to date with events, new recipes and reviews, or contact Shawn to chat about recipe creation, restaurant takeovers and public speaking events.