Actor Gaurav Khanna recently emerged as the winner of the first season of Celebrity MasterChef on Sony TV, beating Nikki Tamboli and Tejasswi Prakash. However, his journey wasn’t all sugar and spice. During his stint on the show, Gaurav was accused of copying a dessert by Swiss chef Dives Josh — the “Honey Dripping Dessert.” Now, Gaurav has broken his silence, responding to the criticism and clarifying his stance.
In a candid chat on Siddharth Kannan’s podcast, Gaurav responded to the plagiarism accusations, saying, “Copy? Main research karta tha… Mujhe acchi cheez mili toh main usko apna bana leta tha (I used to research, and if I found something good, I would make it my own).” He went on to draw parallels with iconic film stars, adding, “Shah Rukh Khan was said to copy Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor emulated Charlie Chaplin — did that reduce their worth?”
Chef Vikas Khanna’s solid support
The actor also thanked Celebrity MasterChef judge Vikas Khanna for publicly backing him. “I’m just a normal person who cooked for three months,” Gaurav said. “When Dronacharya himself gave an answer, why should Arjun speak?” he added, referring to Vikas’s praise and rebuttal to the criticism. Vikas had earlier shared a clip from the show calling Gaurav’s dish an example of “culinary greatness” and said this season had “set a new benchmark.”
Backstory of the dessert controversy
The controversy had erupted when viewers compared Gaurav’s dish to Dives Josh’s viral dessert. Even Dives chimed in sarcastically on Instagram, calling it “so creative” with a cheeky emoji. But that didn’t dampen Gaurav’s spirit. “I worked hard, and I’m proud of winning. This is my first reality show. I never expected this,” he said.