MasterChef and especially MasterChef AU fans may know this already, but Sakai was brought in to be the guest judge for the opening round of Series 2’s Finals Week: an Invention Test using crustaceans. When one thinks about it, that’s fitting because an Invention Test is the MasterChef event that most resembles a regular Kitchen Stadium battle and also because Sakai is known as “Shellfish Sakai” among other things thanks to his exploits.
Watch for Sakai borrowing Takeshi Kaga’s “Allez cuisine!” and eventual Series 2 winner Adam Liaw showing himself (in a cool way) to be a bona fide Iron Chef fanboy, having been born in Japan and watched the show (and also making efforts to converse with Sakai in Japanese that was, by his own admission, rusty). Adam later told Australia’s Daily Telegraph, “(Iron Chef)’s the first (show) that entertained rather than educated. You wouldn’t have MasterChef without Iron Chef.“