The Moment Sarah Todd Nearly Dismissed Declan Cleary — And the Love Story That Followed Took Them Somewhere Neither Expected
“I nearly didn’t give him a chance”: Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary went from a near-dismissal to a love story no one expected
For Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary, one of the most important moments in their relationship did not begin with a grand romantic gesture.
It happened inside the MasterChef Australia kitchen, at a moment when Declan was preparing to ask Sarah a question — and Sarah’s first response was hardly the answer of someone expecting a love story to unfold.
What followed would take the pair from two contestants navigating the intense world of MasterChef to building a home together, travelling to Paris, becoming parents to twin girls and creating a family neither could have predicted when they first met.
It started with 20 seconds of courage
Sarah and Declan first met while filming MasterChef Australia: Back To Win in late 2024.
Both had already experienced the pressure of the show before. Sarah had first appeared on MasterChef in 2014 and returned in 2022, while Declan had competed in the previous season. This time, however, neither entered the kitchen expecting to leave with a relationship as part of their story.
The connection developed gradually.
Sarah later described the MasterChef environment as an intense process where people could naturally be drawn towards those who were like-minded. Declan similarly said nothing between them was rushed or forced — they simply enjoyed spending time together.
Then came the moment that changed the direction of their friendship.
Declan recalled that he finally asked Sarah out while she was walking into an elimination challenge.
It was hardly the most relaxed setting for a first date.
“Sarah, can I ask you something? Would you like to go on a date with me?” he asked.
Her response?
“You’re a bloody idiot.”
But the answer clearly did not end the story.
What looked like a small moment became something much bigger
The romance gradually became public as the 2025 season aired.
Their relationship was confirmed in June, with the pair making it clear that what viewers had seen developing between them had continued away from the cameras.
Declan was eliminated from MasterChef in June, while Sarah remained in the competition until July. When Sarah’s journey ended, Declan shared a deeply personal tribute to her, describing her as brave, creative and resilient and calling her his best friend both inside and outside the kitchen.
It was a glimpse of how far things had moved beyond the playful beginning.
Sarah also reflected on the relationship after leaving the competition, describing meeting Declan as a “huge win” and writing that she had found a love she never saw coming.
And while the television audience was only beginning to understand what was happening between them, the couple were already building a life beyond the show.
They were already becoming a family
Sarah and Declan moved in together in Melbourne, sharing their home with Sarah’s teenage son, Phoenix, and Declan’s dog, Sol.
The relationship was therefore never simply about two people falling in love.
It was also about bringing two lives, and two existing family worlds, together.
Sarah told TV WEEK: “We’re one big family now.”
That detail would become even more meaningful as the year unfolded.
Then came the Paris moment
In September 2025, the couple travelled to Europe and shared a photograph beneath the Eiffel Tower.
Declan’s words alongside the image were striking:
“We are exactly where we are supposed to be. The right place. The right time. This exact moment with each other we have both dreamt of.”
For fans watching from home, the romantic photograph naturally prompted speculation that an engagement might be coming.
But there was another secret behind that moment.
One that would make the photograph look very different in hindsight.
The news they were quietly carrying
In October 2025, Sarah and Declan announced that their family was growing.
They revealed they were expecting their first child together, describing the preceding months as an incredibly precious and private period as they came to terms with the new chapter ahead.
They also spoke about the home that was already waiting for the baby — one filled with Sarah, Declan, Phoenix and Sol.
Then came another surprise.
In November, they revealed they were expecting twin girls.
Suddenly, the Paris photograph carried another layer of meaning.
The moment Declan had described as exactly where they were supposed to be had been captured just weeks before they publicly revealed that their family was about to change forever.
Christmas Eve brought the chapter they never saw coming
On December 24, 2025, Sarah and Declan announced the arrival of their daughters, Claudia and Charlotte.
The timing made the moment even more special: the twins arrived on Christmas Eve, turning what was already an important family season into something they would never forget.
Declan shared that his three girls were healthy and in his arms, while the couple introduced Claudia and Charlotte to the world with a simple Christmas message from their growing family.
For a couple whose story had begun with a nervous question and Sarah’s joking dismissal, the journey had moved remarkably quickly.
But perhaps the most striking part was not how quickly it happened.
It was how little of it could have been predicted when they first met.
From a MasterChef kitchen to a life neither planned
Sarah and Declan entered MasterChef with their own careers, histories and ambitions.
They left with something neither had been searching for.
A relationship that began quietly became a shared home. The shared home became a family. The Paris trip became a memory with another meaning. And the two people who first connected in the pressure of a television kitchen found themselves welcoming two daughters before the year was over.
There is something rather fitting about the way their story began.
Declan needed only a few seconds of courage to ask Sarah out.
Sarah’s first reaction was to call him a “bloody idiot”.
Yet that small exchange became the beginning of a chapter neither could have written for themselves.
And looking at Sarah, Declan, Phoenix, Claudia and Charlotte today, it is hard to imagine that the story might have started any other way.