New Delhi: The winner of MasterChef India Season 7 has been announced. Nayanjyoti Saikia has won the cooking reality show after competing among top 3 finalists. ‘MasterChef India 2023’ started its 7th season on January 2, 2023 with top 36 selected contestants after audition rounds. The top three finalists, Suvarna Bagul from Maharashtra, Santa Sarmah and Nayanjyoti Saikia from Assam made it to the ‘Ultimate Grand Finale’ round which involved preparing a 3-course meal for Padma Shri chef Sanjeev Kapooor.
Among the three, Nayanjyoti won the challenge and was awarded a cheque of Rs. 25 lakhs from Sony Entertainment channel along with the coveted trophy and the Golden Chef’s Coat. Santa Samrah was announced the first runner-up followed by Suvarna Bagul as the second runner-up. Both of them received a cheque of Rs. 5 lakhs.
Nayanjyoti shared his excitement after winning the MasterChef India contest. He told Pinkvilla, “I had a simple dream and that was to go to MasterChef India and cook, but now I feel like all my goals in life are complete. I not only went to MasterChef, but I also got the apron and winning this intense food competition feels surreal! I had my self-doubts, but the three judges motivated us so much. The opportunities that this platform has given us is unimaginable – being mentored by the best chefs in the industry, working in state-of-the-art food facilities, in professional kitchens and with ingredients that I had never seen before has made me learn so much.”
Nayanjyoti also spoke about how his family felt after his winning the show. He told ETimes, “My family knew moments after I won the show. For the first time, they stayed awake late on the day of the finale to hear about my results. Generally, where I stay, the sun sets early and people go to bed early too. But that day they all kept awake till late at night to watch the show till the end. And yes, I have been getting messages congratulating me, but I couldn’t reply to them then. Logon ko pata tha but I didn’t confirm my win to anyone as I couldn’t do it till the episode was aired on TV and everyone could watch the show.”
For those unaware, Nayanjyoti’s family did not approve of his decision to become a chef initially. However, they later came around. Nayanjyoti had wanted to pursue hotel management after completing engineering, he shared in the same ETimes interview, but was discouraged by his parents from doing so. However, he added that he kept his passion alive with the help of the internet. His parents always wanted a government job for him. But, now after having won the show and the appreciation he had garnered over the due course, his parents are quite proud of his achievements.