Masterchef NZ's Hayley 'MY FUSSY TODDLER WAS A BLESSING!'

Five years after tasting success on reality TV, she’s cooked up a thriving business – and it’s all thanks to her daughter

- Hayley Barnett

Talented cook Hayley Bilton has always wanted to make a difference, but it took a reality show, a pandemic and having a baby to point the Papamoa local towards the path she was destined for.

Fans of MasterChef New Zealand might remember her as the favourite to win the sixth series before she was dramatically cut from the show’s penultimate episode after undercooking her lamb. It left her and viewers shocked.

Fast-forward six years and Hayley, 37, now runs a thriving family food business alongside her fiancé Shane Snaddon. She laughs, “I still feel like my last dish on MasterChef was the best. When I had to leave the show, I was devastated, but I’ve worked harder for the success I have now than if it had been handed to me on a platter and that’s so satisfying.”

Her and Shane’s company Marlie Bites, a range of healthy frozen toddler food, was named after and inspired by their three-year-old daughter Marlie, who refused to eat vegetables when she was younger.

“When I started making different vegetable patties, which we called Marlie Bites, she just loved them,” Hayley tells Woman’s Day. “When I watched her devouring them cold during a day out, it suddenly dawned on me that other families must be going through the same predicament and they might need Marlie Bites in their lives too.”