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MasterChef Australia is an anomaly.
In the world of reality TV,While other shows bank on drama - manufactured or genuine - MasterChef takes the opposite approach. It's a show where the food is the focus and contestants help each other. It's bloody wholesome.
Things I say while watching MasterChef. Post continues below video.
So it came as a shock when homophobic comments, written by contestant Reynold Poernomo on an internet thread in 2014, resurfaced in the media in May.
The words were written not long before he first appeared on our TV screens, as the young but immensely talented 20-year-old "dessert king" on MasterChef Australia's seventh season in 2015.
Reynold publicly apologised soon after the comments emerged, saying he was ashamed of his words and regretted them immensely.
"At the time these comments were made, I was a very immature, close-minded and insular 20-year-old," he said.
"I've grown and matured a lot in the last six years. I'm not the person I was back then."
Speaking to Mamamia following his elimination on Sunday night, Reynold said it was important that he own his mistakes and show how he had grown, both verbally and through actions to support the Queer community.
"This mistake that I made, I can't brush that off. I can't lie about it, I can't hide it.
"I thought it was really important to see a mistake that was made years ago and show the progress that I've gone through in life. Change is with everyone, everyone makes bad mistakes and life is all about learning and moving forward," he said.
"People are highly capable of change, just as the world is."
Reynold said his fellow contestants and friends knew how his beliefs had progressed in the six years since he wrote those comments.