MasterChef often attracts lovable personalities but Keyma Vasquez Montero has to be one of the most delightful contestants we’ve seen in recent years.
Bringing not just a love of cooking, but a love of dancing, to the MasterChef kitchen it was hard to say goodbye last night.
WATCH BELOW: Keyma’s last shimmy
However, while we’ll miss her in the competition, Keyma is very much still feeling the love from fans.
“It’s been a long night. After the show I was inundated with messages of love and support from all the fans,” Keyma told New Idea.
“I’ve been trying to keep up but it’s hard to respond to everyone!”
The mother of two shimmied her way into hearts all across Australia but it’s her family who are her biggest supporters.
“It’s amazing that they get to see me on the screen. My husband has been so supportive, so has my family in Chile.”
Keyma’s husband played an important role in her MasterChef journey, not only caring for 12-year-old Bella and nine-year-old Osvaldo, but also providing Keyma with necessary supplies throughout the competition.
“You know I danced all the way through the competition, it was my way of coping. But I didn’t have the right shoes for it,” she explains.
“My husband drove 40 minutes to the apartment to deliver my shoes to me. It was really special, he was always there for me.”
Being a Melbourne local, Keyma was able to see her family semi-regularly however that didn’t stop her becoming close to the other contestants.
“One of my favourite moments was the weekend in Tasmania. It was beautiful and at that point of the competition there were only six of us and we all became friends,” she said.
“We had a beautiful connection between all of us.”
Of course there’s one contestant Keyma became especially close to.
“My homie Montana! We developed a really close relationship despite the age difference. I think we became like a mum and daughter on the show.”
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Coming onto the show as a fan, Keyma was excited to compete against her favourite MasterChef alumni. Particularly season 10’s Sashi Cheliah.
“I really wanted to meet Sashi, he’s such an inspiration. I love him so much that I couldn’t even speak to him when we first met!” she laughs.
“We met the day before we went on set and I was just frozen, he was probably like, ‘who’s this crazy lady?’”
In time however, Keyma was able to open up and she was grateful for the brief time she had with him on the show.
“We started talking and he’s so great, he was kind of a mentor. It was really sad to see him go,” she said.
So, what’s next for the dancing queen?
“Well obviously I want to continue cooking! But it has been an intense period. I think I’m going to take some time to regroup,” she said.
“I’m in conversations to collaborate with some restaurants, I want to continue sharing the Latin and Caribbean flavours of my heritage, and in the long term probably produce a book.
“Lots of ideas.”
