"The last few years it has been pretty nuts. I feel like my feet haven't touched the ground," she says.

"2009 seems like a really long time ago. But, at the same time, I'm really shocked that it's been six years. It feels like the time has gone quickly, because I've packed so much in."

She's not wrong. In the past few years, Ling Yeow has filmed two cooking series for the ABC, released multiple cook books, launched two extremely successful market stalls in Adelaide under the Jam Face name, had yearly exhibitions of her paintings, and set up house with partner Jono Bennett – who she met when he was working as a runner on MasterChef.

She's now inviting viewers into her home with her new series for SBS, Poh and Co. In the show, we're given a glimpse into the life of this frenetic painter-turned-cook-turned-TV star-turned-entrepreneur, and we meet the people who help keep those wheels turning. These include Bennett and her best friend and creative partner Sarah, who is now married to Ling Yeow's ex-husband Matt Phipps, who is also Poh's manager. Keeping up?

So how does the usually so-private Ling Yeow feel about having her life laid bare for our consumption?

"I felt actually a bit funny about it at the beginning to be honest," she explains.

"I'm used to some parts of it – like when I'm in the street and people run up to me like a long-lost relative. But the rest? I find that actually quite strange.

"I am only on Instagram. I don't do Twitter and Facebook. Giving myself a little high five there! I can't ...

"But I thought [this show] was the only natural way to introduce all the different creative facets of my life."

Poh took a break from television in 2012 in an attempt to reconnect with the things that mattered to her most – friends, family, cooking, her art, and her hometown of Adelaide.

"I just needed to stop travel – I couldn't do it any more," Ling Yeow says. "I'm a bit of a homebody and I love pottering around. I always have so many creative projects going on that literally if I was stranded at home for six months, I'd quite happily be very occupied with things.

"So I guess in that sense, Erik Dwyer, the executive producer, wanted to really reflect [this].

They both wanted Poh and Co to be authentic – and, most importantly, relatable. A show where people would actually attempt to cook the recipes.

"I liked the idea of sharing what is a very common suburban dream: to build a pizza oven, to have a beautiful garden; chooks – all that kind of stuff," he says.

Was she worried about how viewers would react to the unconventional, at times un-relatable relationship she has with her ex?

"Not really," she concludes. "Because we don't have an issue with it. We always have quite polarised responses though. People are convinced there's some sort of weird love triangle. But when we broke up, we had been together for 10 years, and even though it was still hard, we knew it was a long time coming, so we had time to prepare for it. The one thing we were really good at was being friends."

Poh has certainly built herself an empire. How much of this is down to her stint on MasterChef? Would she have created all this on her own?

"Yes to the market, no to TV," Ling Yeow says. "And definitely no to a cookbook. Why would a publisher give me a deal? I'd be a nobody."

Ling Yeow admits she used her time on the show to kick-start a new career.

"I wasn't scared of getting eliminated early on. I thought, 'If I can just get a bit of leverage I can drive it from here, because I'm not scared of hard work – I'd already done it with my art,' she explains. "I knew I was a self-starter, so I knew if I could at least get a bit of a profile, people could at least have some sort of reference."

But it was still a leap of faith.

"I was pretty scared, because I didn't really know how full-on the reality element was going to be," she muses. "I thought I could be committing career hari-kari, because what if I'm not portrayed in a favourable light? I'd already established myself as an artist."

That's always the risk with reality television. But one that ultimately paid off for her and Julie Goodwin, her co-finalist.

And, as Lauren Miller Cilento, CEO of talent management company HMMG Pty Ltd, explains, it's no accident.

"There aren't that many gigs in the media. The great things about [people like Poh and Julie], is that they have created their own opportunities," she explains. "They've created a business based on their own expertise, so they have a platform on which to build a profile."

Unlike the majority of people passing through shows like MKR – here one day, gone the next, with no discernable talent, other than driving ratings for those reality juggernauts.

"If [a contestant] was seeking fame and fortune, maybe a series could survive for a period of time. But generally, the harder they push the harder they fall," says Miller Cilento, whose company no longer represents new reality TV talent.

"Contestants leaving shows, mostly they're saying, "'I want my own show, I want to do a book, I want to be on Getaway.' That is still the most used line: 'I want my own travel show.' I wish I had five bucks for every time someone said that to me! And you think, 'Bless.'"

Poh puts her subsequent success down to one thing – hard work.

"I think what is interesting about the whole experience is, you can get given opportunities, but you still have to want to do it," she explains. "The problem with being so public with announcing a love of something, like cooking, is if it's not true, you're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble."

A sentiment shared by Adam Dovile. He found fame, along with his fiancee Lisa, as the winner of Seven's renovating show, House Rules. Already a builder, Dovile was quite content to return to his everyday life when Seven called offering him a gig on Better Homes and Gardens. It came as quite a surprise.

"I was already living my dream, running my own company. So for me, I was happy, because I was like, 'This is awesome,'" he muses. "Then this came up and I had no idea. It was unbelievable."

It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

"I think 'surprised' is an understatement," he says of his reaction to the call from Seven execs. "My exact words were, 'What the heck do you want me for?' And they were like, 'Surely you had to have a small idea that we were going to be contacting you?' And I was like, 'Are you kidding?'"

It was Adam's genuine love of building and his easy, approachable nature that had producers interested in pursuing him for other projects. Like Poh, his talent and love for what he was doing shone through.

"I knew nothing about how reality TV worked or anything [when I signed up]. I didn't go on there wanting anything to come of it," he explains. "I just went into it and thought everyone was in a competition. But you do pick up that some people want to try and get something more out of it. And I think that actually goes against them.

"They put too much pressure on themselves. If you're just yourself, you are who you are. But if you're trying to paint a picture to impress someone, then it's hard to keep that up."

Poh agrees.

"You have to be truthful about how you go about things," she explains. "And have an idea of what you want to do next. It can be a really humble dream – it doesn't matter. If you are willing to work really hard at the end, you'll be able to do something.

"I know that from all the different things I've done in my life. There's no mystery – it's all about hard work."

Poh and Co, SBS One, Thursday 8pm.