Julie Berthelsen was the only of the four participants in Masterchef Danmark 2013 with a connection to Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, who went all the way to the final week. Here she was competing with five others over four days in order to win the trophy.

Four of the 42 participants in this year’s edition of Masterchef Danmark had a connection to Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, but only Julie Berthelsen made it to the final week. This last week consisted of four days, with one of the six finalists having to leave the competition each of the first three days leaving three people left to fight for the trophy on the fourth and last day.

The six finalists were Martin Weltz, Søren Fauli, Therese Glahn, Rune BK, Jim Lyngvild and Julie Berthelsen. 

Day 1: This day was dedicated to the conformation. A three dinner conformation dish had to be made. The six participants were paired two and two with Julie and Jim having to work together, something both of them enjoyed. They worked really well together, something that made Jim conclude that Julie is almost annoyingly perfect. 

After the starter dish, which was a cocktail with prawns and sea ​​urchins, the judges were really impressed and send Julie and Jim through to the next day, while the others had to continue with the main court and the dessert. At the end Søren Fauli had to leave the kitchen.  

Day 2: The second day the remaining five participants only had one dish to make; it was however the most difficult one – and one that is used in every final week: The French wedding cake from the 1700’s Croquenbouche.

This was a big challenge for all five of them, and only two managed to make it: Julie and Jim. First it was Jim to present his cake and the judges congratulated him on having made the best looking Croquenbouche made in that Masterchef kitchen through the three seasons. Five minutes later they however had to tell him that he had just been beaten as Julie presented one that was even better looking.

It was difficult for the judges to decide as Jim’s cake tasted a bit better, but Julie’s looked best. They ended up settling on a tied winning position between those two. It wasn’t easy to decide among the three failed ones either. All of them had messed up, but at the end they agreed that it was Martin Weltz who had to leave the kitchen.  

Day 3: The remaining four participants were now fighting for three spots on the actual final day. They now had to be working in a restaurant kitchen. 20 guests were to be served four dishes each. A draw was made to decide who got to do which dish. For Julie it was a starter with lobster and quail eggs. Everything went rather smooth for her and she was the one of the four contestants that made the fewest mistakes, furthermore she was on time with everything.

After the guests had gone home it was time to make yet another three plates as the judges also needed to taste the food. Here however the nerves got to Julie and she suddenly made mistakes she didn’t make earlier. As others had learned from their previous mistakes and improved it was not easy to tell who would make it to the final day.

The judges told Julie that she had indeed delivered the best result at first, but that she didn’t manage to live up to that level when serving for the judges. It was however enough to make her the second best of the day. Rune was best and together with Jim, who got today’s third place those three were left to fight to win Masterchef Danmark 2013. 

Day 4: On the last day the remaining three participants were allowed freedom over what to serve for the judges as they each had to make their signature dish, meaning something that would symbolise themselves. They had been told that they would have 60 minutes for it, but what they didn’t know is that they would have to go through another competition first in order to get their full time 60 minutes. The judges asked them to make a Mango Souffle – and based on the result of those only one would remain having 60 minutes for their dish, while the other two would lose 5 and 10 minutes.

The Mango Souffle secured designer Jim Lyngvild with the full amount of time, Julie lost 5 minutes and DJ Rune BK lost 10 minutes.

Julie had, quite naturally decided, that her signature dish should be something from Greenland. She made a dish with she decided to call Greenlandic Culture and Nature, which included three different kinds of fish. Due to the 5 minutes she lost her fish roll ended up having a little bit too little, but the rest she was quite satisfied with.

The judges agreed that Julie’s fish roll wasn’t quite a success, but they loved the rest – and the overall idea behind her dish. At the end the judges awarded Jim as the winner of Masterchef Danmark 2013 – while Julie and Rune shares the second place.

The Four contestants with a Dansk Melodi Grand Prix connection were:

Noam Halby: As lead singer in the band Johnny Deluxe Noam participated in the 2009 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix where the band finished 3rd with the song Sindssyg. The year after Noam was back, this time as a songwriter for Jens Marni on Gloria. The band announced in early 2012 that they had decided to split up.

Trine Gadeberg: It was back in 2000 we saw Trine Gadeberg participate in the Danish final. She sang the song Lykkefugl and released an album in 2001. Aside from a Christmas album in 2008 we have mainly seen her as an actress since then.

Cutfather: International producer living in the US. He became known in Denmark when he was judge on X-factor. In the newly held Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 Cutfather was one of the jury members.   

Julie Berthelsen: In 2002 Julie Berthelsen won the talentshow Popstars and since then she has been an established singer. It was however as host we saw Julie in relation to the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix as she hosted the show in 2010 together with Felix Smith.

You might also want to read our previous articles from this series of Masterchef:

– Masterchef Danmark 2013 now ready for final

– Masterchef Danmark 2013: Two former Dansk Melodi Grand Prix participants testing their cooking skills