Alia and Shaun Branson

Flaming good – meeting New Zealand’s best reality show barbecuers  

Words Jill Nicholas

Pictures/video Stephen Parker

That a pre-loved charcoal kettle barbecue could be the passport to reality TV stardom sounds an unlikely story.

But it’s as true one.

It was this op shop find that ignited Rotorua couple Shaun and Alia Branson’s interest in competitive barbecuing.

A decade on they were judged winners of this country’s first Cooks on Fire reality TV show.

Pitched against six other teams of two, they smoked the opposition in what was billed as the equivalent of MasterChef but for barbecuers. 

The format was ten, two-part challenges before reaching the top spot.  Their reward; an impressive trophy and a $30,000 prize purse.

The reality is their win was the stuff reality TV is made of. They came into it not as favourites but as off-course substitutes. When contestants were first called for they applied, were interviewed but seemingly failed to make the cut. What a difference a second chance made.    

Hold that thought, it’s a segment of their journey to TV stardom we’ll get to further on in this Branson bio.

To kick start it we note this is a couple who prioritise. They didn’t lose control of their senses and blow their winnings on a single flight of fancy. Rather, they paid off bills and are recently back from a honeymoon that had been on hold for four years.

The remainder’s been invested in their burgeoning catering business, Black Label Barbecue. Shaun’s business card bills him as its pitmaster. Pre the Bransons Cooks on Fire success story he’d spent his working life in automotive parts.  

Black Label presently operates as a mobile catering service and demand is red hot.

In recent months they have hosted two tables at Rotorua’s prestigious Supper Club fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald retreat at Ngongotaha.  Shaun has fed lamb to an estimated 400 punters a day at Field Days and has been centre stage at Silver Fern Farms annual conference in Christchurch.

They’ve launched their YouTube Grow and Grill site and a website featuring garden-inspired recipes.

Forest of food

The couple’s next aim is to open their own restaurant, featuring ingredients from their urban food forest.

Erase any mental picture of the word ‘forest’ may conjure up of something the size of the central North Island’s pine plantations.

Theirs is a 100 square metre plot at the heart of their Rotorua suburban garden. Three chickens roam there and a guesstimated 50,000 bees are distributed over two hives. No-one’s managed an exact head count.

It’s where Alia has nurtured 150 or so different perennial edible and medicinal plants since Covid forced her out of the event management business, Boost, she ran for more than 12 years.

“I have always loved getting my hands dirty playing in the soil. A food forest mimics the most basic form of gardening from the tree canopy to root vegetables below the earth, with pretty much everything in between.

“My aim is that within seven years we’ll have reached the point of putting less in and getting more out.”

This year’s atrocious weather hasn’t been helpful but the Bransons’ aren’t daunted.

“We are getting mushrooms at a time we usually wouldn’t so that’s been a positive to come out of it.”

Barbecued Sunday roasts

Theirs hasn’t been an overnight success story.

It began with that second hand barbecue purchase ten years ago. Shaun still has it, along with 16 others. There are some things that can’t possibly be parted with.

Their latest acquisition bears a close resemblance to an industrial revolution-type traction engine. It’s a catering offset barbecue trailer imported from Texas.

Shaun describes himself as “very much the average steak, sausages and eggs Kiwi barbecue bloke” before he sourced his second-hand kettle cooker.

“I saw it and thought I’d have a crack at solid fuel. Cooking roasts for the family became my Sunday thing.

Christmas Day disaster

“It’s been a big learning curve. There were lots of 10pm messages to Pizza Hut because dinner still wasn’t ready.”

Nor have all his dishes been winners.

The most memorable disaster was a doomed Christmas feast.

Alia tells it like it was: “Six months after Shaun got that first solid fuel barbecue it was our turn to host the family Christmas dinner.

“He put a couple of chickens in to roast. We waited and waited. When they came out they were inedible. We ended up with ham sandwiches.”

Shaun, a bloke who’s an ace at delivering one-liners, accepts the brickbat. “I was certainly the anti-hero of the day.”

He didn’t have classes to turn to for guidance. They didn’t exist in Rotorua or elsewhere at that time.

Teaching others how to avoid the pitfalls they’ve encountered is another “to do” on the Bransons’ burgeoning agenda.

Competitive challenges

As Shaun’s skill level increased and he delved further into solid fuel cooking, he discovered competitive barbecuing events.

The couple entered their first in 2018. It was for first timers and held in Hamilton.

“We had a blast and after our pork ribs took second place we’ve never looked back.”

For those still stuck in the cooking with gas over a hot plate era he explains there are two different types of solid fuel-fired barbecue competitions.

“The New Zealand Alliance for the low and slow style and Steak Cook-Off Association (SCA). That’s for faster, more creative cooking.”

Both are perfect fits for the Bransons.

For a few of the early competitions Shaun teamed up with a couple of mates. Alia assisted from the side lines.

“The kids were still quite young. I was doing the dishes, fluffing around. I don’t know how useful I was.”

Shaun continued to compete with a couple of mates for the next two years, “picking up trophies along the way.”

What they refer to as a “lifestyle shift” following a family tragedy caused them to push pause on competitive barbecuing.

They returned to the arena shortly before the pandemic reared its head.

“We managed to get a couple of competitions in before the various lockdowns.”

By then their children were old enough “to be savvy around knives and fire”. This freed Alia up to become fully involved too.

“We got the band back together, the A team. The kids enjoy coming away with us. Competitive barbecuing is very much a family, community thing.” Shaun, the consummate family man, says this with obvious pride.

Alia acknowledges they didn’t return to instant success. “It was a bit of an ego hit at first, a shock. We had to work hard to do better.”

Control the key

Her take on their style of barbecuing, (officially known as the American way), is that it’s a process involving careful control.

“There are a lot of things you have to learn to control, it’s not simply a matter of flicking a switch.

“It makes you analyse what you cook; the flavour profiles, figuring out what works well together and what doesn’t.

“Entering barbecue competitions forces you to learn about some of the sciences involved in cooking.”

She gives a ‘for instance’.

“Baking is all about timing. If I’m making a lemon citrus tart I put it in the barbeque long before the main course. It gets a delicious smoky flavour into the base and gives it time to chill.”

Delayed entry

Which boomerangs us back to how the Bransons actually did come to be “on the telly”.

In 2021 social media posts alerted them that a reality show was in the works featuring barbecuing their way.

As subscribers to the “nothing ventured nothing gained” school of thought they tossed their chefs’ hats into the arena. Later, they heard a rumour several thousand others had too.

Their application, lodged on November 2021, was accompanied by a video.

“It was footage of us and the kids sitting around a picnic table cooking a mixed grill on a Hibachi talking about what we love about barbeques.”

That was followed up with a ‘getting to know you’ Zoom interview.

A couple of weeks on they were called back for a “pretty intense” Q&A session.

“Then there was absolute radio silence.”

Shaun continues: “In mid-January [2022] we heard on the rumour mill they’d cast the show. We figured we weren’t on it.”

But come March an email from the producer brought an about-turn.

“It said the shoot schedule had been changed because of Covid, which meant some of the chosen teams couldn’t make the new dates. Were we available? We replied with a resounding ‘yes’.

“Then we thought ‘shit, how are we going to do this?’”

On the set

Shaun’s mum stepped in to care for the kids. Within three weeks they were on the Coatsville set and the only married couple competing.

There were a couple of days when they cooked in what the Bransons kindly call “pretty average” conditions. Viewers saw the contestants soldiering on in a downpour. They say they were too flat tack to notice.

Alia confesses to ‘panic stations’ during the first episode.

“We were pretty nervous. Half way through the first cook I looked up and saw this wall of cameras. That’s when I realised we were part of something really special, something new, really unique.”

Filming days were “really full on.”

Each cook-off involved two challenges. The first is what’s known in their business as a ‘throwdown’. It features key ingredients and specific flavours which allow a certain amount of prep time.

That good old foodie show staple - a mystery box - followed. In Cooks on Fire terminology it’s called a scorcher.

For their first throwdown the Bransons turned to their signature dish; a platter of pork belly, rump steak and oyster mushrooms, served with a side of assorted salads.

In their cookery book chargrilled Cos lettuce takes a Caesar to another level.

Tears shed

Shaun describes each challenge as an emotional rollercoaster.

“When someone went home it did affect you. We knew some of the other competitors from the competition circuit, a bond certainly develops between you.”

“They were a cool, cool group of people. We all got on really well, I don’t know whether that was by luck or design. Everyone wanted to see each other do well and wanted to learn from each other. I shed tears for all of them as they were eliminated.” That from Alia.

They were devastated when Covid took one team out mid contest.

Grand finale

To be named finalists was, they say, a genuine pinch yourself moment . . . a surreal experience.

They were pitched against Auckland’s aptly-named Cook brothers, Steven and Michael.

“We knew from other competitions they were very, very good. We were going up against one of New Zealand’s top teams – they smoked.”

That was bitter sweet. They are our friends outside the show but were our rivals in the final.”

Much as they respected each other, the tension between the two teams was intense.

The challenge they faced was an Asian-inspired banquet cooked over an open fire pit followed by a New Zealand Barbecue Alliance competition cook-off.

They speak in unison when they say the announcement that they were the winners left them in shock.

Shaun insists the final decision could have gone either way.

“In the end it really came down to splitting hairs, it was so close. We were in disbelief and had so much sympathy for the other team.”

In retrospect, the overall reaction of them both was relief they’d reached the end of a long process “And we were coming home to see the kids.”

What they did find hard was being legally bound to keep their lips sealed about their win. The six-part series didn’t screen until some months after filming. That’s a long time to keep a super-sized secret.

Was all the on and off-screen angst worth it?

“Absolutely. “Barbecuing is more than just the way we cook. It’s a connection to our food and our community.”

The Bransons’ view their barbecuing style as a modern spin on the traditional hangi.

“All the preparation is at the start before the food goes in. You get to enjoy it cooking sitting chatting, sharing stories.”

Shaun admits he’d always been a guy with a small but close circle of friends

“The only time I was around a lot of people was at concerts. Our solid fuel journey has been responsible for expanding that circle. We are now socialising with people who have similar values and ideals.”