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‘I don’t want to leave anything on the table’: Melissa Leong brings the freelancer mindset to network TV
Food writer and critic Melissa Leong was on television this week, judging whether or not a dessert dish successfully incorporated 'movement' into its design. As she tells Mumbrella, her freelancer backgrounds means that one day she'll be commenting on snap-peas and the next commentating snap-kicks.
“You know what? I do what I’m told,” Leong tells Mumbrella. “I get to do these dream jobs and when people say, ‘let’s do it again’, you just say, ‘yes’ and you jump in.”
Leong is talking about the admirable position she was placed in at the start of 2023 when — before the first season of her next show, Dessert Masters, had even aired — a second season was commissioned for 2024.
A MasterChef spin-off with a sweet tooth wasn’t the hardest sell, nor was the prospect of two seasons’ work, so Leong leapt in.
“I’ve come from a freelance background,” she explains of her early years as a food critic, columnist, and sometime radio host. “So, for me, I treat every gig, every season, every assignment as a privilege and a joy: to do what I do, to learn some new things. And so, you know, I just go where the jobs ask me to go.”
This attitude shields her against the trepidation usually present when taking on a new role – or leaving an established one, as she did when departing MasterChef after four years.
“Leaning on that background of being freelance for so many years, I get really excited by the new and the uncertain,” she explains.
“I think that’s where growth happens. I feel that that’s where we test our human nature. And so for me, I loved doing MasterChef and it’s been a long-running, beloved show. It will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future. It’s just a wonderful thing to be a part of.
“But there is also such a joy in stepping into the unknown and seeing what you’re made of. And I think that’s really cool too.
“There’s always an unpredictable element to it – or a less predictable element to it. But, I don’t want to leave anything on the table when it comes to living life and trying new things. And I think that’s been demonstrated in the last 12 months in terms of the diversity of the body of work that I’ve been a part of.”
This is certainly true. Leong has had a banner year, moving across networks and projects with the finesse required of – well, a freelancer.
She started the year by guest-hosting UFC Fight Week on Kayo Sports and Foxtel, and took time to film The Hospital: In The Deep End alongside Samuel Johnson and Costa Georgiadis, an emotionally intense three-part SBS series that delved into the public health system crisis.
“I got my start in television on SBS,” she explains of the latter, “so I’m very familiar with them as a network and they are another wonderful network to work for. I’ve been given great opportunities to work with tremendously talented people who believe in letting me do what I do, and also teaching me, and showing me the way. Working for SBS was great, as is working for Network 10, too.”
Leong also clearly relishes her time mixing it with the mixed martial arts world.
“I got to guest host fight week for Foxtel for UFC,” she recalls. “I also did a profile interview with [Nigerian-New Zealand MMA fighter] Israel Adesanya ahead of his fight in Perth at UFC 305.
“I also did the post ceremonial weigh-ins live on Fox Sports as well at Perth at 305. So I’ve done a little bit of work with Foxtel this year with regards to the UFC.
“And it is, again, not something I ever dreamt that I would be able to do professionally.”
She calls herself a “huge MMA fan” and professes getting into the sport during the pandemic.
“I’m still learning as I go,” she admits. “But what I bring to my work — which is curiosity and humanity, wanting to feel like a safe place for people to share their passions, their fears, their goals and their purpose in terms of what they do — that doesn’t change regardless of whether or not it’s the documentary format of the hospital, whether or not it’s UFC or it’s Dessert Masters.
“I’m very, very lucky to be eliciting such interest across the board on multiple platforms and mediums and with different networks and groups.
“So I just say ‘yes’ to the jobs and the gigs that teach me things and scare me just a little bit.”
Dessert Masters airs on Monday nights on Ten, and is streaming on 10Play.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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