ANDRE URSINI 'I DO IT ALL FOR LOVE!'

COOKING AND ROMANCE GO HAND IN HAND FOR THIS FAMILY MAN

- By Celia Whitley

Andre Ursini is taking the MasterChef kitchen by storm once more, a whole 16 years after he placed seventh back in Season 1 in 2009.

At the time Andre, then 28 and a project manager, had dreams of transforming his passion for Italian food into a successful career.

After his stint on the show, the now 44-year-old went on to fulfil those dreams, opening various award-winning restaurants in his home state of South Australia. And by his side from the very beginning was another dream come true, his now-wife Hana.

The passionate cook had only just begun dating Hana, now 43, when he first signed up for the show.

“We'd only been dating for two months and I said to her, ‘there’s this show called MasterChef. I think it’s gonna be really big, and I think I can win it’,” Andre recalls in an exclusive interview with New Idea.