Ten’s smash hit TV series of 2009 comes to an end tonight with many tipping the final cook off between Poh Ling Yeow and Julie Goodwin could crack the magic three million viewers.

My educated guess is around the 2.6 to 2.8 million. Now that I have typed that I am bound to be way off mark.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to MasterChef judge and internationally acclaimed food critic Matt Preston for a MasterChef feature story that appeared in The West Australian on Friday July 17. Alas the story is not online.

As we all know Matt is passionate about food and boy, can he talk!

He had so much to say it seemed a crime not to use some of the leftovers from the story here.

Matt Preston on the career prospects of the MasterChef Australia final six:

“They all have potential; it’s a matter of them weathering the hysteria because when they come out of that house it is insane world out there in terms of how many people know them.

 “It will come down to how they weather that and how they focus on their core goal of what they want to do rather than endorsing this or that…”

Lucas: “He’s an incredible, likable down to earth bloke and that works very, very well on TV. He could be the next Stuart MacGill, like a foodie Stuart McGill.”

Julia:  “An amazing palette and restaurant cook; I could potentially see her writing recipes, doing cookbooks, stuff like that.”

Chris: “Will do the beer bar no doubt about that.”

Poh: “I think the Malaysian cook book will be a monster seller both here and internationally; there aren’t many good Malaysian cookbooks about. She has a great engaging personality and there aren’t that may young women out there doing food.”

Justine: “She’s such a beautiful cook I hope she will go and cook somewhere; I know there are at least four chefs she cooked for who will give her a job, so I don’t think she will have a problem landing herself in a restaurant. I think she will probably end up in a restaurant but I can also see her being in demand for TV for obvious reasons. She’s a good performer; all these guys have become very good performers.”

Julie: “Wants to do a family restaurant on the NSW coast. I think this cook book she wants to do, family cooking from different families and how they celebrate using food –  and how she wants to leave the last six pages blank so you can stick own pictures of own family and recipes – is a lovely idea.”

For the legions of Matt Preston fans lamenting his departure from our screens tonight, fear not. He has put his hand up to judge on the celebrity version of MasterChef  tipped to screen in September and has also filmed guest spots for Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader for Ten, First Tuesday Book Club for the ABC and history quiz AD/BC for SBS.