Anthony Bantoft

Anthony Bantoft

State: Queensland
Age: 33
Private Chef

Private chef to the rich and famous, Anthony Bantoft has cooked for the likes of Penelope Cruz, Sean Connery, Tommy Lee Jones and Andre Agassi to name a few. Based in Palm Beach, Florida, his job as a private chef sees him work on super yachts and travel extensively around the globe.

It is not uncommon for Anthony to be in a different country each week, sourcing local specialties depending on the port he is in and only using the most expensive ingredients for his clients. He serves exquisite ingredients such as $40,000 per kilo albino caviar and white truffles at $6,000 per kilo, and he never likes to cook the same dish twice.

A confident, likeable character, Anthony grew up in Camden, NSW, one of three boys, in a tight knit family with his mother and father. He was also close to his grandparents. It was Anthony’s maternal grandmother who sparked his love affair with food. Anthony still cites her cooking as the tastiest he has ever eaten. “The perfect roast. My grandmother aced it every time. Her passion definitely rubbed off on me.”

He began his apprenticeship in Cairns at the age of 15 and was running a restaurant by the age of 23. But after a year in the business and losing friends through hiring and firing, Anthony decided he’d taken on too much, too young and left for overseas, where he has been working on super yachts for the past eight years.

Tragically, over the past three years, Anthony has lost three of his most important family members, with the sudden death of his mother and then grandparents. He still maintains a really close relationship with his dad and brothers.

His grandmother and mother continue to inspire him today and he knows they would be proud of all he has achieved. Anthony sees MasterChef: The Professionals as an opportunity to bring him back to Australia and start a normal life.