Three years separated Season 5 from Season 6 — the longest gap between consecutive seasons in the show’s history. When MasterChef India returned in December 2019, the world it came back to was the same but wasn’t: streaming was reshaping Indian television, food content had exploded across YouTube and Instagram, and the audience’s palate for what a food show needed to do had become more sophisticated.
Season 6 delivered a winner who embodied that evolution: an IT analyst from Berhampur, Odisha, who cooked with the quiet confidence of someone who had spent years cooking seriously alongside a full-time engineering career. Abhinas Nayak won eight tasks in a 15-person field — the most dominant task-winning record in any season up to that point.
MasterChef India Season 6 – Quick Overview
| Detail | Information |
| Season | Season 6 |
| Air Dates | December 7, 2019 – March 1, 2020 |
| Channel | Star Plus |
| Total Episodes | 25 |
| Judges | Vikas Khanna; Ranveer Brar; Vineet Bhatia |
| Winner | Abhinas Nayak (Berhampur, Odisha) |
| Runner-Up | Oindrila Bala (Kolkata, West Bengal) |
| Second Runner-Up | Smrutisree Singh (Angul, Odisha) |
| Prize Money (Winner) | ₹25 lakh |
| Total Contestants | 15 |
| Notable Fact | First season with a 15-contestant format; Vineet Bhatia’s first season as judge; 3-year gap from Season 5 |
Judges of MasterChef India Season 6
Vikas Khanna returned for yet another season — at this point, his association with MasterChef India was as longstanding as the show itself, and his presence was part of what the audience expected.
Ranveer Brar returned after sitting out Season 5, and has since become one of the franchise’s most consistent faces. His cooking philosophy — deeply rooted in regional Indian traditions but open to global technique — aligned well with the show’s evolving direction.
Vineet Bhatia joined as the third judge for the first time in Season 6, replacing Zorawar Kalra. Bhatia is a London-based Michelin-starred Indian chef — one of the first Indian chefs to earn a Michelin star in the United Kingdom — whose career trajectory parallels Vikas Khanna’s in some respects: an Indian from Mumbai who built an internationally recognised culinary reputation abroad. His joining the panel brought a distinctly international fine-dining perspective that the previous seasons’ judges had not specifically represented.
Winner of MasterChef India Season 6 – Abhinas Nayak
Abhinas Nayak was 27 years old, an IT analyst at Infosys in Berhampur, Odisha, when he walked into Season 6’s kitchen. Born on October 11, 1992, he was one of those contestants who made cooking alongside a demanding full-time career look effortless — not because it was easy, but because his investment in cooking was genuine enough to have made him genuinely skilled outside the show’s pressure.
He won eight tasks across the competition — the most decisive task-winning record of any Season 6 contestant — and entered the finale against Oindrila Bala having already established himself as the judges’ most consistently praised performer. The finale aired on March 1, 2020, with former MasterChef India winners including Ripudaman Handa and celebrities Varun Sharma among the invited guests.
Prize: ₹25 lakh — the new prize level from Season 6 onward.
What happened after: Abhinas Nayak has remained active in the culinary world, participating in food competitions including MasterChef LokiCooks Fellowship 2019 and Hungry for Haldiram 2018 (before his Season 6 win). He has been described as a food stylist with a particular focus on dishes that push beyond standard restaurant menus.
Runner-Up of MasterChef India Season 6 – Oindrila Bala
Oindrila Bala (35, Kolkata, West Bengal) was a former tax consultant who had auditioned for MasterChef India three times before making the cast in Season 6. That persistence — auditioned, not selected, auditioned again, not selected, auditioned a third time — tells you something about her determination. Throughout the competition she impressed judges with an experimental approach that consistently took creative risks. She won no tasks across the season — a statistical contrast with Abhinas that made the finale result feel predetermined in hindsight — but her flavour instincts and audience support made her the season’s most popular runner-up.
MasterChef India Season 6 – Top 15 Contestants
Season 6 was the first to feature 15 contestants — an odd number that reflected the split between directly selected contestants (10) and those who earned their place through a wildcard cook-off (5).
| Contestant | Age | Hometown | Occupation | Status |
| Abhinas Nayak | 27 | Berhampur, Odisha | IT Analyst, Infosys | Winner |
| Oindrila Bala | 35 | Kolkata, West Bengal | Former Tax Consultant | Runner-Up |
| Smrutisree Singh | 26 | Angul, Odisha | Hotel General Manager | 3rd Place |
| Akanksha Khatri | 30 | Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh | Former Flight Attendant | Top 15 |
| Natasha Gandhi | – | – | – | Top 15 |
| Jaspal Rawat | – | – | – | Top 15 |
Key Facts and Legacy of Season 6
Season 6 aired in the shadow of an impending global disruption — it concluded on March 1, 2020, just as COVID-19 pandemic disruptions were beginning to register in India. The gap between Season 6’s end and Season 7’s start was the longest in the series — nearly three years — a consequence of both the pandemic and the show’s network shift from Star Plus to Sony Entertainment Television.
The season’s 25-episode format was among the more compressed in the franchise’s history, but it delivered a technically clear narrative: the contestant who won the most tasks, won the season. Abhinas Nayak’s eight-task record remains a Season 6 benchmark. Vineet Bhatia’s debut as judge gave the panel a Michelin-starred international perspective that influenced the standard of plating and fine-dining technique that the season rewarded.
FAQs About MasterChef India Season 6
Q: Who won MasterChef India Season 6?
A: Abhinas Nayak, a 27-year-old IT analyst from Berhampur, Odisha, won Season 6 on March 1, 2020. He won eight tasks across the competition — the most decisive task record in Season 6 — and defeated runner-up Oindrila Bala from Kolkata in the finale.
Q: Who were the judges of MasterChef India Season 6?
A: Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar, and Vineet Bhatia. Vineet Bhatia — a London-based Michelin-starred Indian chef — joined as a new judge in Season 6. Vikas Khanna and Ranveer Brar both returned from previous seasons.
Q: What was the prize money for MasterChef India Season 6?
A: ₹25 lakh — the reduced prize level that has remained the standard from Season 6 onward through Season 8. Season 5 had reduced from ₹1 crore to ₹50 lakh; Season 6 reduced further to ₹25 lakh.
Q: Why was there a 3-year gap between MasterChef India Season 5 and Season 6?
A: The exact reasons were not officially detailed, but a combination of production scheduling decisions and the format retooling required for a new season is understood to have contributed. Season 6 also represented a transition period before the network shift — Season 7 moved to Sony Entertainment Television after Seasons 1–6 on Star Plus.
Q: When did MasterChef India Season 6 air and how many contestants were there?
A: December 7, 2019 to March 1, 2020 on Star Plus, across 25 episodes. Season 6 was the first to feature 15 contestants — 10 directly selected through auditions and 5 through a wildcard cook-off in the MasterChef kitchen.
