Victory As Sweet As ‘Chhena Poda’ For Odisha’s Abinas Nayak, Winner Of MasterChef India 6

In the last episode (February 16) of MasterChef India Season-6, the battle was for the ‘Golden Apron’, the direct ticket to the finale. And Abinas Nayak of Odisha was out in the very first round ‘Maha Taste Test’. Though Smrutisree Singh, a hotel management graduate from Bhubaneswar, made it to the last round, she lost the apron to Akanksha Khatri.

With this the cooking reality show had its first finalist. But a leak from the shoot of the grand finale has spilled the beans on the winner. And the winner is Abinas.

While Mumbai Live ran the news as its exclusive, Odisha Bytes also got it confirmed from its sources.

If sources are to be believed, the 27-year-old cooking enthusiast, who hails from Berhampur, has won the MasterChef India title and a cash award of Rs 25 lakh. Oindrila Bala (35) was declared the runners up of the 20-episode series.

The finalist were reportedly asked to prepare a three-course meal. And Abinas earned the judges’ nod for the title of MasterChef India Season-6 with a spread of Chingudi

(prawn), Ada Mangsa (ginger mutton) and ‘Chhena Poda’, the traditional cheese dessert from Odisha. He had won eight challenges in the reality show.

Notably, Abinas was the first Odia to be selected on the culinary show and he had the judges, whom he impressed with ‘Chicken Besara’, announce his arrival with a loud cry, ‘Jai Ho Odisha!’.

Abinas is currently working in Hyderabad as a Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys. He did his schooling from S.A.I.E.R.C, Rajgangpur and later graduated from Gandhi Institute for Technology Advancement, Bhubaneswar.

He will fly back home with the crown on March 1, the sources added.