“This is the first ever romance!”

MasterChef Australia 2025’s Declan Cleary and Sarah Todd have officially announced that they are dating — and their co-star Samira El Khafir told Chattr that she had a feeling something romantic was brewing between them during filming.

Declan and Sarah opened up about their relationship in an interview with Stellar, with Declan revealing that he asked Sarah on a date as she headed into an elimination round. Sarah took some time to think about it, then agreed to go out with Declan, and their relationship flourished from there.

Samira, who was eliminated in Episode 28 of MasterChef Australia, said she picked up on vibes between the two early in the season.

“I had a feeling something was happening,” she told Chattr. “Their friendship was quite close. I’m really, really happy for both of them when it came out in the news, I think it was yesterday or the day before. I was super excited about it, because they are both absolutely lovely people, really lovely.”
The cutest MasterChef Australia couple! Image: Instagram
Samira pointed out that Declan and Sarah’s relationship makes a first for MasterChef Australia.

“This is the first ever romance [to come out of the show], it’s so nice to see!

“I just think they’re fantastic as they are — couple or not, I haven’t really seen them together as a couple, because I got eliminated towards when that phase happened. But, you know, they really got along like a house on fire, which was so nice to see. It is actually really nice to see when people are getting along and have something more grow out of it.”

“I was there to see the friendship bloom, and then I missed out on the rest!” she laughed.

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Andre spills more information about MasterChef’s Sarah and Declan

In an interview with Chattr, Andre Ursini added that while he doesn’t pry into Sarah and Declan’s private life, he was great mates with Declan while the show was filming. “I was actually quite close to Declan, he’s got some sort of X-Factor about him. He’s very unique, really likeable and on the flip side, Sarah was a bit of an onion,” he spilled.

“It took me a while to get to know [Sarah] and she’s a really impressive strong woman. So I don’t ask them about their personal life after that, I just think they’re both still people and they found themselves through hours on set on MasterChef, which is quite miraculous.”

How did MasterChef’s Sarah and Declan get together?

Declan and Sarah told Stellar that they built a strong friendship through the first part of filming the 2025 season.

Decland said that when Sarah was put up in an elimination challenge (which may have been Episode 18), he realised that it was time to make a move on her.

“I was [panicking]: ‘Oh sh*t. I’ve been spending all this time with this bloody amazing chick and now she might be leaving!’” he told the publication.

“And so, as she’s walking into the elimination [challenge], I said, ‘Sarah, can I ask you something? Would you like to go on a date with me?’ And she just looked at me and said, ‘You’re a bloody idiot!’
MasterChef’s Sarah, Declan and Rhi. Image: Ten.
Declan explained that Sarah took a few days to think about it, then accepted his offer and the two had their first date at Grampians National Park.

“When we got to the top [of the mountain]…he opened his backpack. He’d made this beautiful breakfast spread that we sat there and ate together,” Sarah explained.

Their relationship quickly gained traction and Declan’s left his hometown of Sydney and moved in with Sarah and her son in Melbourne.

“Not only is she the most grounded, intelligent and creative person I’ve ever met, she has always appreciated me for who I am,” he said. “We connected through life experience; we’ve both been through a lot. We share the same values. There’s great chemistry between us. She keeps me classy, and I keep her a bit cheeky.”

We are obsessed!