Mindy Woods

Mindy spent her childhood moving all over Australia and overseas - her Dad is a cook in the airforce. She remembers her first experience in the kitchen was making her parents a “soggy” breakfast in bed with a cold cup of tea.

“Being the beautiful souls they are, they pretended to enjoy every last soggy crumb!”

These days, Mindy loves to cook all things Asian and curries are a favourite - a stint living in Malaysia gave her a great passion and huge knowledge of the Asian way of cooking and she would love to open an “Asian inspired, share restaurant with dumplings, beer, sashimi and sake”.

A self confessed perfectionist, Mindy is upbeat and open and thinks her strengths will be her organisation and preparation skills. She also thinks her ability to laugh will be a real asset in the competition.

“I’m always caught out smiling and laughing - mostly at myself”

Mindy does however, worry about her nerves - and her baking abilities. “I’ve massacred many a macaroon!”

Mindy says the aspect of her life she is most proud of is her family. One of her toughest moments was coming out to them but now, she says, she can look back at this time and “laugh about it”.

As well as cooking, Mindy loves to keep fit.