Interview with Dean Sganga (WEST SIDE)

Dean Sganga (30)

Chef, NSW (AUS)

Straight-talking Chef Dean speaks first and thinks later - sometimes to his own detriment. He calls himself a master manipulator and truly believes that he can control anyone he meets. He thrives in chaos and looks forward to experiencing the anarchy of Apocalypse. Cooking is passion. He’s been doing it since he was 13 and says he will use his skills to concoct incredible meals with whatever crazy ingredients he finds.

What made you want to take part in Apocalypse?

I just like new experiences. Most of my life has been seasonal work, moving from one thing to the next, and this just looked like something a bit silly and fun to do.

Do you think part of the reason you were chosen was your cooking background and general resourcefulness, since that's clearly something a group like that would need?

Definitely. In that sense, I've been preparing for something like this my whole life. I'm comfortable in situations where you need to step up and think on your feet. I don't like the mundane, I like being thrown into chaos, that's honestly where I do my best work. I know that sounds like something out of a job interview for a trading floor, but it's genuinely true. I'd rather be in the middle of it, rather than sitting at home doing nothing.

In terms of skills, which one were you most confident you'd bring to a group of survivors?

Everyone assumed the chef would just naturally be the food person, and sure, that's true, but I think my people skills ended up mattering more than anything. Being able to talk to people, get straight to the point without beating around the bush, and read people well. I'm a good cook, but you can only cook for so long before that's not what matters day to day.

What was the biggest challenge for you overall?

The team dynamic was genuinely great for around the first twelve days, things were really humming along. Then it all fell apart a bit, there was a lot of bickering and arguing within the group. I think the most frustrating part was that in normal life, if you don't get along with someone, you just avoid them, but there you're stuck living with them, no way around it. Being stuck with people you'd rather not be around all the time was probably the hardest part.

What was your first reaction to the town when you arrived?

I thought it was brilliant. We had this whole town to just explore and play around in, it genuinely felt like being inside a huge video game. I'd had some time to walk around before filming officially started, and it really did feel surreal in that way. 

Beyond the general dynamic, did anything specifically surprise you about what you learned about these people?

On paper, I wouldn't have expected Freddie and I to get along, him being more of a privileged background and me growing up in Western Sydney, not that I grew up in a rough area exactly, but you'd think that combination might not click. But I genuinely love the guy, he's great, and I think he's got a big future ahead of him. 

Was it a shock discovering you weren't alone, that there was a second group out there?

I was completely caught off guard. 

Do you think that early conflict was inevitable?

Absolutely. It's a survival experience, not some peaceful gathering around a campfire singing together. It's you or them, essentially.

What are some of the funny moments that stick with you?

My experience with Ioan during first the contact with the other group stands out, that whole military style sneaking around, getting into the school, listening to Steven and Keira dancing and singing while we quietly took their food, I'll never forget that. 

What did you learn about yourself?

Normally I'm a natural leader in kitchen environments, but out there I was genuinely happy to take a supporting role instead. I didn't need to be front and centre the whole time. I can be loud and get plenty of attention when I want to, but I was content just being part of a tight core group. In a kitchen, everyone's usually fighting to be the one in charge, so it was nice to be part of something different, a team that wasn't built around a kitchen or football, which are honestly the only kinds of teams I'd really been part of before. It just clicked in a different way.

Has the experience changed how you think about the contemporary life we live and the things we take for granted?

I do think I genuinely grew as a person from it. I've got more empathy now for people who don't have a choice and end up stuck in situations like that. It also opened my eyes to how much food gets wasted, both in society generally and in professional kitchens. Have I changed my habits around that? Not really, but I've got a much clearer sense now of how much you can do with a very limited pantry.

Has it inspired any culinary creativity since coming back?

Yes, actually, I wrote a cookbook called Twenty-Eight Recipes for Twenty-Eight Days in the Apocalypse. It's part story, part recipe book, structured around each day we spent in there, since we ate something different most days and there's usually a story behind why. On the first day we had nothing, that was the train station. After that we had chicken soup, SpaghettiOs, beef stew, a spinach dish, ration packs we found, stolen spam ramen, a spicy chicken dish, sweet beef jerky, roadkill risotto, and we also ended up eating a mother and son goat. The sticky ribs were probably the biggest hit, it’s a Frankenstein sauce made using peaches and cola. Then there was a spicy blue finishing touch, which became the final dessert, a fairy floss caramel popcorn I made on the very last day, extra spicy because I loaded it with hot sauce.