"It's definitely a mental game." Everything we know about MasterChef's Tessa Boersma.

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Masterchef’s Tessa Boersma is the epitome of cool, calm and collected.

Last year’s runner-up, the talented and passionate 27-year-old is one of the fan favourites to win this year’s Masterchef: Back to Win, with her delicate and delicious dishes continuing to impress the judges.

Away from the intense Masterchef cauldron, though, Tessa works for the government as a criminal statistician and has a long-term boyfriend.

Here’s everything we know about Masterchef’s Tessa Boersma.

Growing up

 

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Casual iso glam.

A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on Apr 7, 2020 at 12:24am PDT

Tessa Boersma – the youngest of four children – was born during 1993 in Lower Hutt in New Zealand, before her family re-located to Brisbane, Australia, when she was seven-years-old.

There, she developed her passion for food.

On her website, Tessa writes: “My love of cooking started when I was a little girl with a big sweet tooth.”

She explains that she self-taught herself to bake sweet and sugary foods from the age of nine-years-old, before she would explore her mother’s cooking books to develop her skills further.

Tessa graduated from high school in Brisbane, before completing a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Accounting in 2011 at the Queensland University of Technology.

Tessa’s work

Not only is Tessa a chef, she is a criminal statistician as well.

After graduating university, she briefly moved to Melbourne before returning to Brisbane where she worked as an accountant. She then landed a role working for the state government in crime and justice data.

In 2019, Tessa made major breakthroughs in her cooking career, placing second in the 2019 season of Masterchef Australia. 

Watch: Tessa Boersma in the Masterchef kitchen this year. Post continues below video. 

Talking to 10 Daily last year, Tessa shared how she made it so far in the competition.

“It’s definitely a mental game,” Tessa told the publication.

“I think for me, I was just lucky that that’s just the way that my brain works and that, you know, when I’m given a task, I want to always complete it to the best of my ability and I’m quite competitive.

“So for me, it was just like, I could never walk away from the competition knowing that I didn’t give 110 percent because that’s just not the way I work,” she explained.

Tessa also shared that her dream is to open a food destination in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

“It’s almost just become more of a real dream rather than something that was up in the air. I think since being on the show, I’ve actually realised that it’s something that’s attainable, and it’s something that I can work towards,” she told 10 Daily.

Tessa Boersma’s partner

Not much is known about her personal life, but according to Channel 10, Tessa is in a relationship of three years with her boyfriend, Eliot, who works as a carpenter. He persuaded Tessa to apply for Masterchef, evidently knowing how good she would be in the competition.

The couple have shared a number of photos together to Instagram over the years.

 

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Merry Christmas y’all.

A post shared by Eliot Nelson (@brucehighway_) on Dec 25, 2018 at 12:35am PST

 

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????

A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on Jul 7, 2018 at 8:43pm PDT

 

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A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on May 12, 2018 at 5:09pm PDT

 

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It’s all fun and games until Sunday’s hangover.. ????

A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on Feb 19, 2018 at 1:57am PST

 

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Pariiiiii ???????????? always has my heart. Pre show last night at Moulin Rouge ????????

A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on Aug 17, 2017 at 2:01am PDT

 

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Rolling out of Tuscany ???? onto Cinque Terre ????☀️

A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on Aug 5, 2017 at 2:55am PDT

 

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????????

A post shared by Tessa Boersma (@tessa.boersma) on Oct 21, 2016 at 7:10pm PDT

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• “People didn’t realise it was me.” Everything we know about MasterChef’s Reece Hignell.
• A health scare and a career sacrifice: Everything we know about MasterChef’s Sarah Tiong.
• A ‘MasterChef injury’ and a new romance: Everything we know about fan favourite Brendan Pang.
• “There is pressure to get engaged.” Everything we know about MasterChef’s Reynold Poernomo.