"Maggie held a lunch and a book signing [in Launceston] and I was first in line to get my book signed," Luttrell said.

"I was thinking to myself, 'I'm standing in line to meet my food hero, what am I going to say? I've got five seconds to say something great'.

"She's signing my book and my seconds are ticking away ... and I just blurt out at the last second: 'I'm going to apply for MasterChef so I can cook for you'."

This year, that dream came true.

Luttrell, a hairdresser, made it to the final nine in the 2015 MasterChef television cooking competition, and was eliminated on Thursday night in a challenge devised by British seafood chef Rick Stein.

"I'm the first Launceston contestant, and I worked out I was the first female Tassie contestant to make it to the top 10," Luttrell told The Examiner on Thursday.

After filming for four months and being "cut off" from the rest of the world — save two 10-minute weekly phone calls to family and her husband, Simon — Luttrell said she was still adjusting to life outside the MasterChef world.

She said her high point was making lifelong friendships with the other contestants — plus meeting and cooking for Maggie Beer.

"I'm actually flying up to Brisbane tonight to catch up with Georgie," Luttrell said.

"I also had some of the other guys come down a while ago and I was able to show them around and took them on the chairlift at the Gorge."

As for the future, Luttrell has filmed some episodes alongside 2012 MasterChef contestant Ben Milbourne [from the North-West Coast] on his television show, Ben's Kitchen, and has already started a cookbook, something she'd had in the works pre-MasterChef.

"It has absolutely been a life-changing experience. I think it's going to allow me to do what I always wanted to do but never had the confidence to," she said.

FAVOURITE DISH: ‘‘Vietnamese quail. Vietnamese flavours have always been my passion and I’ve spent a lot of time in Vietnam.’’

FAVOURITE TEAM CHALLENGE: ‘‘I was always nervous going into team challenges [but I loved] the Mexican barbecue challenge, the Saigon Salley challenge [and] the high tea challenge.’’

WHAT ARE THE JUDGES LIKE? ‘‘The judges are awesome. They really wanted us to do well. Matt Preston would drop into the green room and give us advice on flavour combinations and what cook books to read next.’’