Maggie Beer wins top award while on the road to recovery
Maggie Beer has been honoured with a top award just days after opening up about her recovery following a fall last month.
The 79-year-old Aussie chef won Best Host of a Format at the C21 International Format Awards in Cannes for her role hosting Maggie Beer’s Big Mission on the ABC.
The leading awards recognises creativity and excellence across the global television industry.
Beer was the only woman in the category, beating some of the television industry's biggest names including Jimmy Kimmel for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire US, Stephen Fry in Jeopardy UK, Alan Cumming for The Traitors US and Big Zuu for Big Zuu’s 12 Dishes in 12 Hours.
Maggie Beer’s Big Mission was inspired by the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care in 2021, which exposed high rates of malnutrition in older adults living in aged care.
In the show she led a world-first social experiment to transform the meals and dining experience at an aged-care home in Perth, WA. Beer and team of experts changed the menu, dining rooms and gardens using the "care model" to improve nutrition and wellbeing of residents.
In a statement, Beer said it was a “privilege to actually live the experience in an aged-care home brave enough to show warts and all.”
She learned what was acceptable to feed residents and what wasn't but “…most of all how to begin the journey of change to show the difference that is made to the happiness and wellbeing not only of the residents but the staff as well,” she said.
“With her extraordinary leadership she has put older Australians first and given them a voice,” managing director of Artemis media, Celia Tait said.
This comes just days after Beer opened up on her fall in August, where she suffered minor bone fractures and related injuries, telling her instagram followers that "even though I want to tell you how good I’m feeling now, I still have a way to go."
“I will make a full recovery, and part of it is the care and the love that I’ve been given.”
Images: Instagram