Characters / MasterChef

With twelve seasons' worth of contestants, this show has plenty of memorable (and forgettable) people from the US Show.

Warning: This page contains spoilers as the folders go in order of who won each season, and ending with the first one eliminated. You have been warned.

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The Judges

General Tropes

• Nice Mean And In Between:
  • Season 1-5: Graham was "Nice", Joe was "Mean", and Gordon "In Between".
  • Season 6: Graham was "Nice", Gordon was "Mean", and Christina "In Between".
  • Season 8: Aarón was "Nice", Gordon was "Mean", and Christina "In Between".
  • Season 9 and 10: Aarón was "Nice", Gordon was "Mean", and Joe "In Between".
• Supreme Chef: All of them are experts in their fields, most notably Gordon Ramsay. Even Joe, who is a restaurateur and an opulent tycoon, owns 24 restaurants around the globe, and a winery in Italy (his motherland), and has Lydia Bastianich as his mother. Everyone has given live cooking demonstrations at least once per season.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Gordon, Joe and Graham often make jokes about each other, like the others often cracking remarks about Gordon being British, or Joe being too uptight, while clearly having fun at poking each other. This dynamic stays with Aarón as well.

Current Judges

Gordon Ramsay

Host and Judge: Seasons 1-Present

More tropes outside of the show on his creator page.

• The Ace: It's Ramsay; you wouldn't expect anything less from this guy when it comes to cooking. Notably, whenever he joins the home cooks and cooks alongside them in a Mystery Box Challenge, he shows how well he can elevate an ingredient to 5-star quality, and he's also a ninja with a knife.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: He's always wearing suits in the season finale.
• Berserk Button: Raw food, not taking the competition seriously, arguing, and back-talking. Ramsay has plenty.
• Brutal Honesty: Most of what he says when it comes to food is this; Gordon doesn't mince words at all when it comes to what needs to be said. He is brutally honest even if it means hurting the contestant's feelings, and his criticism is almost always constructive.
• The Cameo: He has guest-starred on MasterChef Australia and the UK shows more than once.
• Catchphrase: Damn!
• Compassionate Critic: Chef Ramsay's very harsh, rough drill sergeant dictatorial tirade of furiously chewing out others is not out of malice, it's to better people. He's loudly hollering and yelling to correct, motivate, and try to help bring out the best in people by lighting a fire under them. He's harshly insulting and constructively criticizing for a justified reason to motivate them to do better with their cooking.
  • His abrasive anger/frustration is brutally honest, constructive, and 100% correct. It also shows how super passionate he is about his job as a chef in the culinary world because he truly cares about and believes in people and wants to help them excel, knowing what they're capable of achieving. His philosophy is "cruel to be kind", based on his fiery, larger-than-life personality.
  • Working as a professional chef/corporate chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant kitchen is a very harsh environment. If you can't embrace, cope with, and thrive under Chef Ramsay's fiery, super strict, very harsh, furious, insulting ironfisted dictatorship, then you will never be successful in the culinary world.
• Constructive Criticism: Ramsay is harshly critical and brutally honest (like a demanding teacher) in a way where he tells you where you went wrong, legitimately explains how/why it's wrong and gives encouraging, constructive feedback on how you can improve next time. He gives good, justified, useful constructive criticism on the food, and usually says "Actually the food should taste like this, not this" and "Actually you should have done this". Gordon also compliments those who work hard and show that they deserve it.
• Cruel to Be Kind: When Gordon gets angry (for a justified reason), it’s because he wants people to improve themselves, produce good quality food as he genuinely cares about them, wants them to excel, and knows what they're capable of achieving. He doesn't attack the contestants personally. He constructively insults/criticizes your cooking errors on your dish, but doesn't personally insult you.
  • In fact, Gordon is no more severe/harsh than a peer-reviewer in a science journal or anyone out in the real world. He's always spot on, justified, and fair, and says the blunt harsh truth that's brutally honest. He insults you with grace (not out of malice) to help you get better. Contestants have said that it would be an honor to get chewed out by him as they would actually learn something useful from him.
• Deadpan Snarker: He does have his moments.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Not as frequently depicted as on Hell's Kitchen but he still somewhat retains this and does have these occasional moments. He occasionally (sometimes) goes into this "Hell's Kitchen" mode, usually when a contestant serves him a crappy dish, arrogantly argues and backtalks with him, and especially seen when he supervises a field team challenge and puts on his chef's outfit, he goes into his very harsh, furious, drill sergeant mode, with the same insulting fury and iron-fisted harshness you'd see from Hell's Kitchen.
• Friend to All Children: Especially clear on Junior. Gordon is a father of five children and loves kids, and shows it (even letting them playfully dump ice cream, smoothies, mustard, icing, sauces, and syrups on his head for fun).
  • The biggest positive message from watching a lighthearted, nicer, and very friendly Gordon (who finds real joy in working with the kids) on MC Junior is that it's important for young kids to follow their dreams and apply their talents to their fullest potential, as well as for their parents to be loving, caring, encouraging and supportive of their kids to follow their culinary dreams, as he's ultimately selfless himself). An emphasis on finding your passion and giving it your all.
• I Am Very British: Gordon usually presents the British options of the Mystery Box advantages, and the other judges don't miss the chance to make jokes about British food or his You Say Tomato moments.
  • One way to touch Gordon's heart is to present him with some classic British comfort food. During the audition round of Season 2, a lady named Pauline, who was also from Glasgow, showed up to the audition with haggis, and while Graham liked it and Joe didn't, Gordon was in bliss with it. On that same round, a pool cleaner named Dustin presented a sausage roll, prompting Gordon to clean up his plate as soon as he heard what it was.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay is a lot more patient, calmer, affable, and forgiving with the contestants as he's not dealing with professional chefs/corporate chefs. He only occasionally loses his temper, usually when a contestant presents a horrible dish, argues/backtalks with him, as well as when he's supervising a Field Challenge (especially The Restaurant Takeover as he's seen wearing his chef's jacket). More so in the Junior edition, where it's extremely rare for him to harshly insult/criticize and angrily yell at elementary schoolchildren.
• MacGyvering: In Season 7, he took part of the Mystery Box challenge, which consisted of only using a cast-iron pan, a wooden spoon, and a paring knife. Gordon picked a big daikon radish to use as a rolling pin.
• The Mentor: Much unlike Hell's Kitchen (where Ramsay plays the drill sergeant on the show, hurling plates of food into the trash and getting into the contestants’ faces and screaming at them), Gordon is seen in a positive light here, as a mentor, teacher and inspirational coach who wants the contestants to excel, because this show is more of a long, grueling, and intensely difficult but educational journey and a great learning experience for the home cooks, the opportunity of a lifetime to learn from industry greats and prove their skills.
  • Throughout Season 9, which has a mentoring format, he is depicted as a self-proclaimed mentor, choosing 8 aprons to give out in the Season 9 auditions (first 3 episodes) and mentoring, coaching, advising, and motivating them throughout the competition.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: In every season finale.
• Shipper on Deck: On MasterChef Junior he has a habit of encouraging, in a playful manner some of the kids to ask each other out. This includes returning champion Logan for Annabelle in Season 4 and even encouraging Andrew in Season 3 to ask out his daughter Matilda.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In a weird way, Gordon's stance on Vegan and vegetarianism has softened over the years as before, he would not be impressed with entrees that had no protein on the plate. This led to Season 12 holding a Vegan based challenge and Gordon showing off a vegan version of his famous Beef Wellington (which uses beets instead of beef).
• You Say Tomato: It's almost obligatory for the other judges to make fun of Gordon with this.
  Graham: "Bah-sil" is actually pronounced "Bay-sil" here. I guess he's gonna go for the "Ore-gah-no"
  Joe: But he has no "to-mah-to".
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Gordon is harsh, but he truly wants them to succeed. Like Kitchen Nightmares, he bluntly tells others how it is in a brutally honest way, but sympathizes and tries to build them up.
  • In fact, much of his super strict, very harsh anger and frustration comes from this: believing that people genuinely can do better if they just work their butt off and pull their socks up. Hard work, practice, never giving up, dedication and commitment are a huge part of any success.

Joe Bastianich

Judge: Seasons 1-5, 8 (guest judge), 9-Present

• Badass in a Nice Suit: He wears suits all the time.
• Berserk Button: Someone talking back to him when they're in no position to do so drives him mad.
• The Bully: Comes off like this when he takes things too far. Even Gordon cringes when he gets really mean, taking it from constructive criticism to personal insults. It often looks unnecessary, and it seems like Joe genuinely enjoys belittling contestants. It's not that he criticizes their food harshly, it's that he puts them down and cruelly rubs their failures in their faces. He has also physically threatened contestants before, saying that he will personally throw them out.
• Caustic Critic: From Seasons 1-5, Joe only saw the insulting part and didn't realize there's a legitimate purpose to it. He just insulted others personally by insulting their personal lives and putting people down.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has a very snarky and darkly hilarious sense of humor. This has been toned down since returning from Season 9 onwards.
• Death Glare: His signature stern-faced death stare. Is fond of using it. It's eerily and silently creepy to see his cold, gray eyes drill deep into the souls of the contestants, who said in an interview that Joe "just stares at you steely gaze and chews his fork".
• Everyone Has Standards: He's definitely still the "mean" judge on Junior with his Death Glare still intact, but he never goes so far as to actually insult the children competing. And, despite the Running Gag that he doesn't actually want to be there, he'll still submit himself to the same punishments as the other two judges.
• Family Business: Joe is the son of renowned Italian chef Lidia Bastianich, making it clear where he got his taste and business sense. Lidia has been a special guest in Seasons 4 and 9.
• Gratuitous Italian: He was born and raised in Queens, New York by an Italian family, as his roots are of Italian descent. He makes emphasis on the pronunciation of Italian dishes native to Italian cuisine. In Season 3, he has a full conversation with Luca in Italian (with English subtitles) in his (Luca's) audition, later trolling Gordon about what they are talking about.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Joe himself guest-starred in the Season 8 finale, joining the main three judges (Gordon, Aaron, and Christina)
  • Joe guest-starred in the Season 1 semifinals of MasterChef Canada for an Italian-themed Mystery Box Challenge.
• Hidden Depths: Many were surprised when Joe showed up to be a skilled guitarist, as seen in Gerron's wedding episode in Season 10.
• Kick the Dog: While he does give credit where credit is due, he is definitely the nastiest judge on the show, straight-up insulting contestants about their dish before he even tries it. Throwing dishes in the trash is definitely his way of rubbing salt in their wounds. He also isn't above personally insulting contestants or belittling them, or throwing out dishes while the contestant is already crying.
• Lighter and Softer: He is usually nicer, calmer, kid-friendly, and affable in MasterChef Junior, while in the adult version, he is even more critical, snarky, eerily and silently creepy, intimidating, and dry to the contestants, even throwing plates to the garbage if the dishes of crappy food are exceptionally horrible.
  • He becomes this (noticeably somewhat nicer, kinder, helpful, more friendly, laid back, and humor oriented with his criticism) shortly after rejoining the judging panel from Season 9 onward. He still retains some harshness from Seasons 1-5, but overall, he has softened up and mellowed somewhat since returning. Furthermore, he also stopped tossing awful plates in the garbage can.
• The Mentor: Throughout Season 9, which had a mentoring format, Joe was depicted and behaved like a self-proclaimed mentor, choosing 8 aprons to give out in the Season 9 auditions (first 3 episodes) and mentoring, coaching, advising, and motivating them throughout the competition.
• Only Sane Man: Was viewed as the only sensible rationalist by many fans in the season 10 finale.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Downplayed, as he wasn't outwardly nasty towards her and would come around to respect her talents, but he seemed to be convinced Season 3's Christine (reminder, who is blind) would be useless in the fine dining challenge and openly questioned why Becky was letting her help so much.
• Put on a Bus: Quit the series shortly after the controversial Season 5 finale due to not having enough time to film the series caused by business scheduling conflicts, but...
  • The Bus Came Back: After guest-starring in the 2-part Season 8 finale, he returned to the judging panel of being a full-time judge from Season 9 onwards.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: While he usually goes for short, sharp insults, a few contestants with bad attitudes and/or consistently poor track records (most notably Tali from Season 3 and Howard from Season 4) have pushed him into much longer, even nastier rants.
• Running Gag: Had a habit of trashing the worst dishes by chucking them into the garbage bin right in front of the contestants as a demonstration of why they need to take the competition more seriously. This is most prominent in the first five seasons, as he stopped tossing awful plates in the trash can.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He is always wearing a suit and tie (black suit jacket with a navy blue, black, gray, or white dress shirt). He wears tuxedos in the season finale. Sometimes with dress shoes, and others with sneakers.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After returning since Season 9, Joe has softened up, became nicer, more friendly, laid back, and humor-oriented, having mellowed down his harshness and hasn't thrown a single dish in the trash can. Even Ramsay lampshaded it early on in the Season 10 auditions.
  Ramsay: Did you swallow a nice pill, what's happened to you?
  Joe: I am nice to nice food. This is nice food, so Joe wants to be nice to the nice ravioli.
• Tranquil Fury: Easily the most feared of the three original judges because of this. As noted above though, he's softened up and mellowed since Season 9 onward.

Aarón Sanchez

Judge: Seasons 7 (guest), 8-present

• Ascended Extra: He was originally a guest judge for Season 7 and appeared in episodes 5-7. From Season 8 onwards, he joined Gordon as a full-time judge.
• Author Appeal: He's a big fan of Latin and Cajun cuisine due to his Mexican heritage. He's also big on seafood as he resides in New Orleans.
• Big Fun: Seems to have inherited this role from Graham after joining the judge's panel from Season 8 onward, being chubby and wearing a Hawaiian Print Shirt.

• Constructive Criticism: Chef Aaron's comments are always on point and suggest how to creatively elevate the dish rather than just saying whether it's good or bad. He speaks with passion and conviction too. Because of this, Aaron gives valid reasons and constructive criticism/feedback critiques and tells them how to make it better.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Episodes 5-7 in U.S. Season 7. He officially joins the judge's panel as a permanent, full-time host/judge starting Season 8 onward.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: Describing the best dishes as "Textbook" or "Dynamite!"
• The Mentor: Throughout Season 9, which had a mentoring format. Aaron was depicted and behaved like a self-proclaimed mentor, choosing 8 aprons to give out in the Season 9 auditions (first 3 episodes) and mentoring, coaching, advising, and motivating them throughout the competition.
• Nice Guy: He is the nicest, friendliest, lighthearted host and judge on the panel, always very nice, friendly, calm, affable, encouraging, and supportive. He hardly ever gets angry and gives gentle, positive criticism and always comes with at least something positive in the worst of dishes to make the contestants feel good.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: In every Season finale.
• Gratuitous Spanish: He occasionally speaks in Spanish whenever he interacts with Latino contestants.
  • He says a few Spanish words throughout Season 8, and his Mexican Spanish becomes more prominent in Season 9, where he has more moments speaking some phrases in Mexican Spanish (with English subtitles), especially seen while supervising a field team challenge.
  • In the Season 9 finale, he even has a full conversation with Cesar's family in Mexican Spanish (with English subtitles).
  • In Season 13, he gets excited when he learns that one of the contestants is a Flamenco dancer and asks her for a dance in Spanish, and they end up dancing Salsa together. When tasting her dish, he pronounces perfectly "masitas de puerco" and "arroz", and he is very critical while tasting them.
• Token Minority: He is the only Mexican-American judge on the panel, next to Scottish Gordon, Italian-American Joe, and Caucasian (white) Americans Graham and Christina.

Past Judges

Graham Elliot

Judge: Seasons 1-6

• Big Fun: He was big and was always nice to the contestants. He slimmed down considerably in Season 5.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns for the Season 12: Back to Win finale as guest judge for the entree dishes. He appears again as a special guest on day 2 of the auditions for Team Midwest since he is from Chicago.
• Everyone Has Standards: Graham hardly ever gets angry, but in Season 6, he almost protested Darah's decision to save people based on smiling over actual work. However, he had to let it slide.
• Formerly Fat: While still big, he slimmed down considerably by Season 5, having adopted a healthier lifestyle.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Returns for the Season 12 finale to help judge the entree round.
• Nice Guy: Of the original three, Graham is the nicest and friendliest of the judges, hardly ever having any harsh words toward the contestants.
• Put on a Bus: He leaves the judging panel after Season 6.

Christina Tosi

Judge: Seasons 6-8

• Beware the Nice Ones: Don't let her appearance fool you. She can be stern and direct whenever necessary.
  We are here because you lost, so instead of telling us what your team did great, it's time to really face the fact that you guys are here facing a Pressure Test because you lost!
• The Bus Came Back: She guest stars in Season 9 Episode 11 as a guest judge at the helm of a baking Pressure Test.
  • Returns for the Season 12: Back to Win finale as guest judge for the dessert round.
• Put on a Bus: She left the judging panel after Joe's return but remained as a judge for MasterChef Junior for its 7th season. However, she left the judging panel after MC Jr season 8 and was replaced by Daphne Oz.
• Smurfette Principle: She is the only recurring female judge to appear in MasterChef.
• Sweet Tooth: Her specialty/expertise is baking pastries and desserts.

Contestants

Season 1 (US)

Whitney Miller

Occupation: College Student

• The Baby of the Bunch: She was the youngest competitor at 22.
• The Cameo: She returned briefly in Season 2 to help out in a challenge featuring one of her dishes from her cookbook. Season 2 contestant Jennifer picked her catfish dish. She also guest-starred in the season 10 finale.
• Flawless Victory: Not so much in terms of the overall season — David, the runner-up, was actually the only person never to face elimination — but in the final round, the judges agreed that all three rounds of her final meal were easily better than David's and that there was no need for an in-depth discussion as to which of the two had won.
• Red Baron: Many of the other contestants referred to her as the "Pastry Princess" due to her talent for baking. Most notable was her chocolate souffle dish as she made only one cake with no other backups, and it was PERFECT!
• Special Guest: She appears in Season 2 to present the recreation challenge of one of the three dishes from her cook book.
• Southern Belle: She's from Mississippi.
• Weak, but Skilled: At the age of 22, Whitney doesn't have the experience or knowledge of elevated dishes as most of the other contestants had, but she managed to make it up with some worthy dishes.
• What Were You Thinking?: In the Final Five challenge, she decided to make a dish that used canned tomatoes for her sauce for food critics, and even outright told the judges what was used. This landed her in the bottom two with Sharone, and even a flabbergasted Ramsay pointed out that she could have used fresh tomatoes that were in the kitchen instead.

David Miller

Occupation: Software Engineer

• Beware the Silly Ones: On the surface, he's a jokester who looks like he doesn't take the competition seriously enough. However, come push to shove, he can pull it out. It's why he made it to the final two with Whitney.
• No-Damage Run: He went through the entire season without being in the bottom, or at risk of elimination.

Lee Knaz

Occupation: Bartender

• Ambiguously Jewish: His mother flies in from Israel to support him in the semi-finals.
• The Rival: He and Sharone saw each other as their respective biggest threat in the competition, to the point where Sharone was the only contestant who openly refused to taste Lee's winning dish in the romance challenge. Subverted when they were both blindsided and knocked out by Whitney.

Sheetal Bhagat

Occupation: Teacher

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Shelly (Season 6) and Gabriel (Season 8).
• Deaf Composer: As a Hindu, she doesn’t eat meat. She manages to impress the judges with a baked egg and a crab curry.
• Heroic BSoD: Suffered one during the Crab Mystery Box Challenge as the thought of killing an animal put her in a panic attack (being of Hindu religion, this would have gone against her beliefs). Despite Ramsay offering to kill the crab for her, she sucked it up and managed to make a dish worthy of Top 3.

Sharone Hakman

Occupation: Financial Advisor

• Character Filibuster: During the food critic challenge he tells the critics his life story to the point of boring the critics.
• The Rival: Feels this way towards Lee.
• What Were You Thinking?: For the food critic challenge, he somehow thought that making a dish from fish liver was a good idea. Subverted in that one of the three critics said that this wasn't actually an inherently bad idea and that fish liver can be very nice when prepared correctly, but as Gordon pointed out, it's really not the type of dish someone ought to be cooking for the first time at such a crucial stage in the competition. This resulted in him finishing last in the challenge by a large margin and landed him at the bottom along with Whitney.

Michael "Mike" Kim

Occupation: Server

• Achilles' Heel: His habit of rushing around and not paying attention to the fine details nearly got him eliminated after his attempt to recreate Cat Cora's halibut dish went horribly wrong, and then actually did get him eliminated when he served an unappetizing dessert that contained raw egg whites.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Not to the same degree as Slim, but the further he went away from Asian cuisine, the more he tended to struggle. That said, he actually did the best of all the contestants when it came to making pasta in one of the pressure tests.

Jacob "Jake" Gandolfo

Occupation: Construction Worker

• Identical Stranger: Graham backed Jake up to get the apron and related to him because both shared similar things, like body shape and arm tattoos.
• Never My Fault: After he steered his team to defeat in the hamburger challenge, he stubbornly refused to admit that he had gotten their menu wrong and that his refusal to adapt their burger when the other team changed up their own recipe was responsible for the loss.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He is a big construction worker who enjoys cooking delicate Italian dishes and desserts.

Tracy Nailor

Occupation: Doctor

• Heroic BSoD: She starts crying when the icing on a cupcake based on her mother's carrot cake recipe falls over.
• Jaw Drop: Had this after Joe trashed Slim's dish into the trash bin, as she never saw him get that pissed off before.

Kim "Slim" Dung Huynh

Occupation: College Student

• The Baby of the Bunch: Like Whitney, she was the youngest chef of this season at age 22.
• Crippling Overspecialization: She was quite proficient when it came to cooking Asian cuisine, but her attempts at cooking other kinds of food usually went horribly wrong.
• Epic Fail: Her passion fruit fondue dish became the first dishonorable dish of being sent to the infamous Joe trash bin.
• Literal-Minded: When given the brief of "plating romance" in what would turn out to be her final episode, she took it so literally that she ended up producing a fondue-style dish that two people could share.
• One-Hit Wonder: Gordon outright called her this in her last episode. She actually had the best dish of anyone except for Mike in the first Elimination Challenge but didn't impress in any of the Mystery Box challenges, had the worst version of Cat Cora's halibut dish (only avoiding elimination because Faruq crashed and burned for the third week in a row), and then flopped spectacularly in her final week with her fruit fondue dish.invoked
• Too Dumb to Live: When in the bottom two with Whitney, Ramsay asked her what she would have done differently if given another chance. Her answer? Make the same dish again, but use less ginger. Naturally, it was not the answer the judges were looking for and she was sent home not long after.

Anthony "Tony" Carbone

Occupation: Server

• What Were You Thinking?: During the Pressure Test, he kicked himself after confusing a Star Fruit with a Passion Fruit, setting his own ingredient record to 9 ingredients, and ensuring a pretty low bar for his fellow contestants.

Faruq Jenkins

Occupation: Bartender

• Rule of Three: Eliminated after his third time on the bottom.

Jenna Hamiter

Occupation: Homemaker

• Irony: The pressure test she was eliminated on was a taste test on Texas-style chili. Despite being from Texas, she failed to get enough points to keep her safe and had to watch every other chef get higher scores than her.

Sheena Zadeh

Occupation: Marketing Executive

• Crippling Overspecialization: Showed herself to be good at making desserts, but not much else, ultimately causing her to be sent home in a double-elimination with Avis.

Avis White

Occupation: Elderly Caregiver

• Achilles' Heel: Throughout her brief time in the competition, the judges were concerned that her cooking style was outdated. She wasn't able to dispel their doubts in the first Elimination Test, causing her to be sent home.

Season 2

Jennifer Behm

Occupation: Realtor

• Arch-Enemy: Towards Christian as she could not stand his arrogant attitude.
• Book Ends: She was the first contestant to audition this season and the last home cook standing.
• The Cameo: Returned in Season 10, alongside Season 3 winner Christina and Season 7 winner Shaun, during the audition round, the pool party challenge, and the finale.
• One-Steve Limit: She shares the same name with fellow contestant Jennie Kelley
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: In her audition, she described herself as "A boy with boobs". She was a former Miss Delaware.
• What Were You Thinking?:
  • During the Ravioli Pressure Test, Jennifer placed in the bottom two because she made her pasta with nutmeg, which overpowered both the filling and the butter sauce. She only avoided elimination because Tony made a subpar dish.
  • Was on the receiving end of this from Gordon word for word for her infamous pork and sauerkraut dish, a homemade dish from her childhood that was lacking in both flavor and visual appeal. It was quickly shown to the garbage can by Joe, but Jennifer soon bounced back from this misfire.
  • Her decision to stay and cook instead of accepting immunity during the truffle challenge nearly proved fatal for her as she brought up a subpar dish that consisted of a coddled egg topped with cheese and truffle. While the judges admired her choice to stay and cook for the fact that she didn't want to take the easy way into the Top Ten, they were quick to criticize her decision when she couldn't deliver on the challenge.

Adrien Nieto

Occupation: Server

• Achilles' Heel: Plating seemed to be a serious one for him. One especially egregious case of this was during the challenge to recreate Whitney Miller's fried catfish, which required the contestants to get the plating near-identical as well. On top of failing to nail the flavor of the dish, the judges were baffled when Adrien presented his recreation on a rectangular plate instead of the round one used by Whitney, resulting in a cluttered dish. Joe was so pissed off that he demonstrated the simplicity of this by taking Adrien's dish apart and rearranging it on a new plate in the manner of Whitney's for all to see. His chocolate torte was another, as it was exploding with nuts and cocoa powder, and finally, his truffle fillet on a bed of chili, plated in a way that had Gordon comparing it to the contents of a colonoscopy bag.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately he loses against Derrick (Season 6) and Brandi (Season 7).
• Hoist by His Own Petard: When he won a Mystery Box, his advantage was to choose nuts for his dessert, while the others had to work with coffee. He got too excited with the advantage, that he ended up doing a torte with all the nuts from the pantry, resulting in a confusing mix of flavors that the judges found underwhelming. He only avoided the Bottom 3 because Alvin, Max, and Jennie did worse.
• Nice Guy: He doesn't trash talk his competition in the confessional, and all his advantages are strategic rather than personal.
• What Were You Thinking?: During the truffle challenge his idea of an aphrodisiac dish was to infuse his truffle with a fillet mignon which rested atop a bed of chili. Not only was the dish visually unappealing and badly plated, but Graham noted that he could barely make out the truffle in his dish and felt that Adrien had missed the point of the challenge.

Christian Collins

Occupation: Stay-at-home dad

• Arch-Enemy: He was this with Jennifer and Suzy.
• Dark and Troubled Past: In his audition bio, Christian mentioned that he was a Fallheavy drug user before realizing that he needed to be in his son's life more.
• Never My Fault: When the judges called him out for making the worst Vegetarian dish of the Mystery Box challenge, he immediately argued that Esther's dish looked worst than his, irritating everybody in the process.
• Recovered Addict: He decided to change his ways for the sake of his kid, and got completely clean when he got complete custody.
• Smug Snake: After a few episodes, he starts to berate his competition in the confessional, specifically Suzy and Jennifer
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Probably the biggest example of this in MasterChef. He started as one of the strong contestants with a sympathetic side, but gradually became more cocky and arrogant to the others. Notably, this happened when Max was eliminated, leaving the "villain" spot open.
• What Were You Thinking?: In one Mystery Box Challenge, Christian was caught eating his dish after he was not called up for the Top 3, during Jennifer's critique. That led to Joe threatening him with elimination if he ever tried that again.

Susan "Suzy" Singh

Occupation: Neural Engineer

• Awesome, but Impractical: Suzy was fond of going the extra step and trying difficult techniques to win the judge's approval. Unfortunately, most of the time they fell flat and resulted in her being in the bottom a couple of times.
• Bollywood Nerd: She has a background in Neural Engineer, applying the same complexity to her dishes.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All:
  • While very intelligent and overachieving, Suzy had the tendency to choose dishes out of her expertise in an attempt to show off. One example was during their first Team Challenge, where she offered to make a lasagna, despite never in her life having done one. Unsurprisingly, the lasagna was horrible and was the dish that gathered the fewer votes. Nobody wanted to hear her cry about it.
  • Another good example was her glazed pork belly platter with spaetzle, gravy, and a mystery sauce made from cloves in a bizarre play on German cuisine. After having just badmouthed Christine's dish, which was extremely well-received, Suzy's unappetizing-looking dish was royally ripped to shreds by the judges, who found her extremely bitter sauce to be inedible. Joe called her delusional for even attempting the bizarre techniques she used, and if not for Alejandra's raw pork she almost certainly would've been eliminated.
• Never My Fault: During the Pork Elimination challenge, she gets bad reviews because of her bitter clover sauce. When she places in the Bottom Three, she only says a sarcastic "Thank you, Adrien" for choosing the theme, not because she made a bad dish.
• Teacher's Pet: She describes herself as a perfectionist, and would usually be the girl who reminded the teacher to leave homework. Christian, Max, and Christine often badmouthed her in the confessionals because of her ego.
• Tempting Fate: During the pork challenge, she badmouths Christine's pork dish, which had just received glowing reviews from the judges and says she'd like to see Christine pull off a pork belly dish (Which she was tasked with) before she gives any cred to Christine's ability. A few moments later, cue the judges all telling Suzy that her overly-bitter pork belly platter tasted terrible and that even if she wasn't eliminated for it she deserved to be.

Benjamin "Ben" Starr

Occupation: Travel Writer

• Broken Pedestal: Not during his season, but much later. During an interview, he admitted that many of the show's moments were faked for drama, and he Rage Quit blogging about the following seasons.
• Chekhov's Skill: Happened twice
  • He said one of his passions was his pumpkin and carrot cake, a recipe he has been perfecting over the years. It came in handy when he actually wins the challenge by producing the best six-layer cake from the group.
  • In his audition, he promised Gordon to impress him with a Shepherd's Pie. One of the Mystery Boxes had the exact ingredients for Shepherd's Pie, giving him a chance to fulfill that promise. Not only did he win, but won over Suzie, who also did the same dish.
• Crazy Enough to Work: After screwing up in the pork challenge by mixing kidney beans and apple cider vinegar (which causes the beans to go crispy if they haven't already been cooked thoroughly) into his chili, he resorted to trying to remove every individual bean from the bowl he was about to serve the judges. It actually seemed to work, as both Joe and Gordon complimented him on the dish. However, Ben later said on his blog that he could tell they had to chew through at least some of the beans, and suspected that they had let him off because his happened to be the dish immediately following Suzy's and Jennifer's horrendously awful dishes, and they were just grateful for something that took away the taste.
• Full-Name Basis: Gordon almost always referred to him as Ben Starr.
• Nice Guy: He never badmouthed his fellow contestants, getting along with many of them, and when referring to Christian, he always talked about his high skills, unlike Suzy and Jennifer.
• The One Guy: His team challenge for the Hollywood Party was composed of women... and him.

Tracy Kontos

Occupation: Sales Consultant

• Achilles' Heel: Throughout the season she did nothing but put in one great performance after another, never getting a comment about any of her dishes that was even remotely negative, and twice being a winning team captain. And then came the pressure test involving cutting up salmon, in which she under-portioned most of her slices and left a large amount still on the bone. It was the first time she had done anything wrong in the season, but it was enough to get her eliminated.
• The Leader: She was the team captain of three different team challenges, and managed to lead two of her teams to victory.
• Out of Focus: Didn't get as much screentime as most of the other contestants who made it to the latter stages of the contest, as she never got involved in any personal drama, and never cooked anything bad enough to elicit any "The Reason You Suck" Speech or What Were You Thinking? reaction from the judges.

Derrick Prince

Occupation: Web Designer/Blogger

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately he loses against Tommy (Season 6) and Big Willie (Season 5).
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite looking like a member of a death metal band, he was actually very decent and mellow. The judges even joke that he should be working in the back to avoid scaring the children from the challenge.
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Despite his appearance, Derrick was one of the season's calmer, quieter, and friendlier contestants.

Christine Corley

Occupation: Single Mom

• Cluster Bleep-Bomb: She was prone to this whenever she had to be in a Pressure Test
• I Need a Freaking Drink: During her audition round, she had a glass of wine on hand to calm her nerves.
• Percussive Therapy: When Esther chose to leave Christine and Max in the Pressure Test, Esther hoped Christine wasn't picturing her face on her cutting board. Cue to Christine angrily smashing her ingredients.
• Sir Swearsalot: She is the contestant that had the most bleeped out dialogue during the season, even when excited.
• Struggling Single Mother: Has a two-year-old son that she raises alone.

Alejandra Schrader

Occupation: Architect/Urban Planner

• Failed a Spot Check: A game-ending version as she failed to notice that her pork was raw on the bottom during an elimination challenge, resulting in her elimination.
• What Were You Thinking?:
  • In the Recreation Challenge, Alejandra added raw garlic to her dill tarter sauce, making it very overwhelming to the other flavors on the dish. Not only was it deemed her weakest performance at the time, but she was also nearly eliminated in that episode.
  • She got a much longer one of these from Gordon after it turned out she had unwittingly served raw pork in her last episode. Between Gordon almost seeming personally let down by her mistake, and her elimination being treated as far more of a Drama Bomb moment than usual, many fans and fellow contestants speculated that the judges and/or producers had earmarked her to win the season, but she had just committed a mistake so serious that there was no way they could justify not eliminating her.

Giuseppe Morisco

Occupation: Granite Salesman

• Irony: He often mentions that his friends would give him a hard time if he didn't nail a pizza challenge, and he ends up losing against Ben Starr. During the Pressure Test, he says that despite being Italian, he doesn't like ravioli.
• Nice Guy: He never had any negative comments about his fellow competitors, and during his elimination, Gordon highlights how much of a good heart he has.
• That Came Out Wrong: Gordon got pissed at him when Giuseppe said that Gordon's mom had different tastes.
• Token Minority: He is the only Italian in the cast

Erryn Cobb

Occupation: Public Relations

• Everyone Has Standards: Unlike most contestants, Erryn knew that his final dish had no redeeming qualities. When Graham asks him how he would try to save himself as a Public Relations professional, he honestly admitted that there's no way he could sell something like this.
• Face Death with Dignity: Of the non-fatal variety, naturally. After having completely destroyed his steak dish during the truffle challenge, he landed in the Bottom Two with Adrien. Given the chance to hand over his apron and admit he had the worst dish, Erryn accepted his defeat so that Adrien would not have to take the fall for it, as he had at least cooked his dish properly. The judges praised Erryn for his noble move.
• The Generic Guy: He didn't have much screen time in the show, outside of his two times being on the bottom.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure: During the French Cuisine challenge, he presented a beef carpaccio, which Joe and Gordon noted is an Italian dish. He barely escaped elimination because Angel and Mark did worse.

Esther Kang

Occupation: Lawyer

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: During her audition, she begged for the judges to give her a chance since she left her job as an attorney to try competing in the show.
• The Millstone: Was this for the blue team during the Private Party Team Challenge as her attempts at Chocolate Profiteroles led to two wrecked batches and a broken mousse. This forced the blue team to scramble together a dainty dessert of chopped berries with cream in a paper cup at the last minute and costing them the challenge.

Jennifer "Jennie" Kelley

Occupation: Musician

• Crazy Enough to Work: Her salmon dish, which she cooked into a tart of all things impressed all the judges, who found hers to be the most unique and daring dish of the challenge.
• One-Hit Wonder: Her salmon tart dish in the first Mystery Box Challenge was the best dish she made, but right afterwards Jennie went on a streak of poor dishes that led to her elimination.
• One-Steve Limit: She went by "Jennie" to avoid confusion with Jennifer Behm.

Max Kramer

Occupation: College Student

• The Baby of the Bunch: He was the youngest contestant, at age 18.
• Crippling Overspecialization: He is so accustomed to fancy ingredients and restaurants, that he failed to lead a team challenge based on cafeteria food.
• Irony: He is so accustomed to fancy and the most luxurious, expensive ingredients from high-end fine dining Michelin-starred restaurants, that he tanked a team challenge based on cafeteria food in his elimination episode, and after failing a team challenge where he had to make sausages for bikers, Max was defeated by Christine (who describes herself as a redneck) on the Pressure Test.
• Graceful Loser: Played with. While he took his defeat well and wished some of his fellow contestants the best, he wished ill on Esther, Christian, and Suzy, warning the three that their time of defeat will come.
• Spoiled Brat: He has been raised as a rich kid from Manhattan, whose parents often took him to fancy restaurants. Once in the competition, he looked down on everyone, considering them inferior.

Alvin Schultz

Occupation: Retail Manager

• Complexity Addiction: As an engineer, he loves making dishes with advanced machines and molecular cuisine. This didn't help him at making a coffee dessert, resulting in a coffee pudding so bitter that it got him eliminated.
• Nice Guy: Was deeply respected by the other contestants and initially seemed poised to work his way to the top. The aforementioned coffee challenge though proved his undoing, much to the dismay of his fellow competitors.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: In most incarnations of the show, his molecular gastronomy expertise would have seen him do well. However, the U.S. version's judges — especially in the earlier seasons — tend to prefer simple, well-executed dishes, and so as soon as he presented his coffee dessert the judges tore him a new asshole, told him they weren't looking for chefs who try to impress with fancy techniques, and sent him home. Admittedly, it didn't help that it was only the second elimination challenge; had he lasted longer in the competition, he might have been able to persuade the judges of the merits of his techniques.

Anthony "Tony" Scruggs

Occupation: Trucker

• Grumpy Old Man: Even though Max was already a bad leader, he refused to get orders from him because of his age.

Angel Moore-Soukkay

Occupation: Property Manager

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: During her audition, she got on her knees and begged the judges to give her an apron. Gordon decided to give it to her.
• Epic Fail: Tried to make a fruit tart, but presented a very sad soupy custard with fruit, ensuring her elimination.
• Graceful Loser: She knew her fruit tart was a complete disaster and completely owned up to the blunder. She was nevertheless grateful for having had the opportunity to compete despite her early elimination.

Mark Raffaeli

Occupation: Realtor

• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: During the French Elimination Challenge, Mark's dish was a simple steak with Bearnaise sauce on it, and when Joe asked why he did that, he simply said that it was French.
• Epic Fail: Made a very big error on his mashed potatoes by adding raw flour into them in an attempt to thicken them. This led to his elimination.

Season 3

Christine Hà

Occupation: MFA Student

• Beginner's Luck: She was very insecure about baking an apple pie because she couldn't tell if the colors of the crust were right inside the oven. Gordon praised her pie as one of the top of the class that night, encouraging her to be more confident.
• Brutal Honesty: When the judges were debating whether to eliminate Ryan or Tali, and all the other contestants were picking sides with the "lesser evil" reasoning, Christine flat out says in her interview that both should go home.
• The Cameo:
  • Returns a couple of times in the series such as Season 4 and 6 when she helped out in an elimination challenge.
  • She also returned in Season 10, along with Season 2 winner Jennifer and Season 7 winner Shaun, during the audition round and finale.
  • She appeared in a Masterchef Junior season 7 team challenge where all the dining guests were influential women to the judges and in the culinary industry.
  • Returned in Season 12 to present a Vietnamese-themed Mystery Box Challenge
• Deaf Composer: Since she lost her sight at age 14, she has to rely on her other senses and memory to plate dishes. A prominent example was the Apple Pie Pressure Test, where she ended up doing the second-best pie of the lot, despite her own insecurities with the color of the crust.
• Disability Superpower: Her loss of vision led to an increased reliance on her other senses, and as a chef, this led to her sense of taste and her palate becoming more sensitive and developed. Although Christine couldn't see the food she was making and determine its success by sight, she was often praised and even selected first in a team challenge because her flavors were so finely-tuned. Becky, who was the team captain, made Christine a first pick for the first time, and was also shown utilizing this by giving Christine a sample to taste so they could find out what their food needed to be improved—Christine replied in a second.
  • On a more humorous note, she quipped that she is immune to Joe's Death Glare due to not being able to see his eyes. Joe would never bother trying to intimidate her for the rest of the season.
  • In the offal Mystery Box challenge, before even being told it was offal, she lampshades how being blind sounds like an advantage after hearing the other contestants' disgusted reactions.
• Handy Helper: Because of her limited vision, she requires a helper to help her with tasks such as gathering ingredients and taking steps to the judging panel. In the audition round, she had her husband help her, but when she made it to the competition, Masterchef hired a helper for her.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Subverted. She is the first blind contestant to compete in MasterChef, and she won. However, she did so on her own merits (she was an extremely strong contender throughout, only landing in the bottom thrice), and her disability was handled respectfully by the judges and editors. Lampshaded as well - she comments that she wanted to be taken seriously during the competition rather than just being "inspirational".
• Picked Last: For most of the team challenges. Not because she was a poor cook, but because the team captains had no idea what to do with her due to her disability. Subverted when Becky picked her as her first choice in the Restaurant Takeover Team Challenge after the contestants had begun to recognize what an asset her palate would be to a team.

• Self-Deprecation: During the restaurant takeover challenge, she joked about how she combined with Monti, who's somewhat hard of hearing, were "Team Helen Keller" for their captain Becky.
• Special Guest:
  • Appears to present and judge the ingredients challenge in Season 4 and Season 6.
  • In Season 12 she presented and judged her Vietnamese-themed Mystery Box Challenge.
• Twofer Token Minority: She is of Vietnamese heritage and blind.

Joshua "Josh" Marks ^note  This contestant died on October 12, 2013 from suicide

Occupation: Army Contract Specialist

• The Big Guy: The tallest contestant to ever compete in the show's history at 7'2".
• Downer Ending: A year after his appearance, Josh was arrested for assaulting a police officer and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He committed suicide shortly afterward.
• Good Is Not Nice: He was very respectful to his fellow competitors, even helping Christine follow the tortellini demonstration with their hands. When David Martinez was in need of someone to give him some rice, the judges openly asked who would have given him help, with Josh being the only one who didn’t raise his hand, because he is taking the competition seriously.
• My Greatest Second Chance: He got eliminated in Episode 12, but gained a chance to return to the competition by beating Scott, Ryan, Stacey, Tali, Anna, Tanya, and Cowboy Mike.

Rebecca "Becky" Reams

Occupation: Food Photographer

• The Ace: She was considered the one to beat, landing in the top three most of the time
• The Cameo:
  • Appeared as a special guest for Masterchef's 100th episode celebration in season 6.
  • Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Epic Fail: While still considering herself a top contender, she tried to show off to the judges that she was capable of combining exotic flavors. Result? She made a trifle that, while looking beautiful, tasted weird because of the star anise she incorporated. This landed her in the bottom three and gave her negative points with the judges.
• Insufferable Genius: While rightfully talented, the others were sick of listening to her whine about not winning a challenge. When she finally wins a Mystery Box, she can't stop jumping and squeeing all the way to the pantry, getting everyone annoyed at her.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Of the good kind. When David Martinez was in need of some rice for his dish, Becky graciously gave him the spare rice she had. While David landed in the Bottom Two for doing a bad dessert, Becky won the challenge along with Frank.
• Nice Girl: She was helping Christine the most, and when David Martinez was asking for rice, she didn't hesitate and helped him out.

Franklin "Frank" Mirando

Occupation: Stockbroker

• Beginner's Luck: While he maintains that he made the right choice to stay in the pressure test, he is very intimidated once learning it is apple pie, which he's never made before. Fortunately, he produced a very decent pie that the judges praised.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Subverted. He excels at Italian cuisine, but not all his entries gained good results. His team lost because he suggested making pasta for Marines, and in another challenge, the judges scolded him for going to his comfort zone as a security blanket. He gets over this when he successfully cooks a catfish (mostly used in Southern cuisine).
• Honor Before Reason: After losing their first team challenge, he accepts responsibility for his team's defeat and commits to take the Pressure Test and save someone else.
  • When David Martinez borrows rice from Becky, the judges openly ask if anyone else would have lent him ingredients, and he, along with everyone except Josh, raised his hand.
    Frank: I know this is a competition, but there are not enough honorable people out there. And if he's gonna go down, he's gonna go down because his dish sucks.
• Hypocrite: Frank, who did not save himself the first time was a losing captain of a pressure test but did the second time, despite admitting beforehand the second time that Josh deserved the immunity. Unlike other examples, Frank was clearly unhappy with his choice.
• Springtime for Hitler: He is on the receiving end when Felix gives him a catfish, thinking that his Crippling Overspecialization on Italian food would trip him with a fish most associated with Southern cuisine. It turns out that Frank made the best dish that night.

Mairym "Monti" Carlo

Occupation: Homemaker

• Arch-Enemy: She had an intense feud with Ryan and Tali
• Awesome Mc Cool Name: Both her (at first Gordon and Joe were thinking it wasn't real) and her son, who she named "Danger".
  Monti: He is gonna love me for that in college.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Catchphrase: Shut your mouth!
• Crazy Enough to Work: When Ryan forced her to use canned crab for an Elimination Challenge, she decided to go for broke and make a Scotch Egg with it. Even though Ramsay was the most skeptical of the dish, he fully admitted to enjoying it when it came to judging.
• Deadpan Snarker: Had many comebacks in and out of the confessionals
• Foil: With David Martinez. Both are of Latin roots (David has Mexican heritage and Monti is Puertorican), are often communicating with each other in Spanish, both were bitter rivals with Ryan and Tali, and both are seen as "fluke" contestants. The difference is that Monti managed to impress the judges more times than David, while David landed more times in the Bottom Three, with one of his dishes even being thrown into the trash bin by Joe.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Since she is Puerto Rican, she has said many phrases in Spanish. During the Breakfast Hotel challenge, she expedites while yelling in both English and Spanish. Much later, David Martinez asked Monti for rice in Spanish.
• Honor Before Reason: Her one time as team captain in the Top 8, her team ended up losing the challenge, and they had to decide who between them would be safe from the Pressure Test. While the other three wanted to save themselves, Monti felt responsible for the loss as team captain and decided to face the Pressure Test. This also had the added effect of making her vote on who to save as the only one that would count, which she gave to Felix.
• No Indoor Voice: In the Breakfast Hotel team challenge, Monti was assigned as the expediter for her team, and she was intensely loud at calling out orders and times, with Gordon at one point covering his ears while standing near her.
• Springtime for Hitler: Twice.
  • When Ryan tried to trip her up with canned crab, she ended up making a Scotch egg using the canned crab meat instead of the traditional beef, which impressed Gordon with her creativity.
  • When Felix gave her a John Dory fish, which was considered one of the hardest fish of the loot, Monti managed to make the second-best dish of the night, winning the challenge along with Frank.
• Struggling Single Mother: When the show aired, she was fresh out of a divorce, having to raise Danger all by herself. The judges noted that her sadness was reflected in many of her early dishes.
• Underestimating Badassery: Monti was on the receiving end of this from various contestants (including Becky, Felix, Ryan, Tali, and David Martinez), as she liked reading cookbooks and memorizing recipes, making some of the other competitors believe she wasn't creative or passionate. Monti proved them wrong multiple times by showing skills the others didn't know she had (nailing the butchery and cooking of a difficult John Dory fish) and by giving creative twists to classic dishes (using canned crab meat to make Scotch eggs and her use of a pizza stone to both roast carrots for a flavorful soup and bake soda bread without needing to use time-consuming yeast). Gordon himself said he didn't care whatsoever if Monti read cookbooks or not, he just cared about her putting forth good food.
• Team Mom: She has a young son who she talks about frequently, also she comforts other contestants when their food gets a bad review from the judges.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Monti was terrified of having to deal with actual live animals for cooking, which she admitted in a confessional. When having to deal with live prawns during a Mystery Box challenge, she was freaking out and had a difficult time dealing with them.

David Martinez

Occupation: Educational Administrator

• All the Other Reindeer: Most of the contestants considered him a fluke, and the returning home cooks thought he was holding a place they deserved more than him.
• Arch-Enemy: Both Ryan and Tali had it against him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He told the judges during his audition that he grew up in the ghetto area of Chicago, where the only options for kids from his heritage were being a thug or being poor, so he studied to get out of there. He even learned to cook because he couldn't afford to take his wife to fancy restaurants.
• Elimination Houdini: Invoked. Many of the contestants even called him “Nine Lives” each time he was spared from elimination.
• Epic Fail:
  • In Episode 10, the challenge was to cook a dish on a pizza stone.^note  The exception was Mystery Box winner Becky, who opted to use a deep fryer. David was one of those who elected not to make a pizza, instead deciding to cook a lobster and potato soup dish with all of the ingredients cooked individually on the stone. The judges noted his struggle with the dish and Graham was immediately critical of its lackluster presentation, and the taste did not make up for the shabby mixture. Joe was equally put off by the dish, sending David off and then, in his usual fashion, sending the dish to the waste bin, slamming it in and actually sending some nearby cookware flying across the counter. The entire kitchen fell silent, and David braced himself for what looked like certain elimination. However, he was ultimately spared that night when Mike and Tanya were both sent home instead.
  • In Episode 11, David presented an over-seasoned Yellow Tail, which offended the judges given that it was the second most expensive fish of the lot, placing him in the Bottom Two.
  • David's misadventure in episode 15, yet again. After winning a mystery box challenge, he was asked to choose one of three commonly known ingredients for savory dishes to cook a dessert with for everyone including him. He chose corn since his mother used to make corn and rice pudding for him. He also had the advantage to set three examples of dessert corn dishes (corn and rice pudding being one of them) and picking ingredients from the pantry right after. Since he had been looked down upon by most competitors, he proudly declared that he would be taken seriously after this... and proceeded to forget his rice after exiting the pantry, which became a subject of ridicule by Joe during the tasting and Josh in Confession Cam. Even when Becky gave him the rice, his pudding was bashed by judges for being underseasoned and lacking in corn flavor. Joe especially went so far as saying David's dish was really "unedibly disgusting." He was only saved because Felix managed to perform worse than him.
• The Eeyore: A downplayed example, but he was more often seen frowning than smiling.
• Foil: With Monti. Both are of Latin roots (David has Mexican heritage and Monti is Puertorican), are often communicating with each other in Spanish, both were bitter rivals with Ryan and Tali, and both are seen as "fluke" contestants. The difference is that Monti managed to impress the judges more times than David, while David landed more times in the Bottom Three, with one of his dishes even being thrown into the trash bin by Joe.
• Full-Name Basis: Even after David Mack was eliminated, people still referred to him by his full name.
• Gratuitous Spanish: He has Mexican heritage. He once asked Monti for rice in Spanish.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: During the Tag Team Challenge, he was paired with Becky to make a sushi platter. Despite never preparing sushi himself, his only knowledge came from eating in a Japanese restaurant. One of the indications he tried to give Becky was to soak the nori before doing the rolls^note Which incidentally is wrong. The nori gets softer in contact with the rice.
• The Millstone: In Episode 9, his team ended up losing the challenge because he was taking too long to grill the burgers, which resulted in fewer clients in the timeframe given. On top of it, Gordon came back with a raw burger. David refused to take responsibility for the team's loss.
• One-Steve Limit: He and David Mack share the same name
• Tempting Fate: As mentioned in Epic Fail above. In short: He gets the challenge advantage, gets to choose the main ingredient for a dessert (he chooses sweet corn), and possible suggestions on how to use it. He feels so confident that he declares that he won't be seen as a joke anymore. Then he forgets rice (the main ingredient of his dish), is forced to beg for spare rice, and ends up with one of the worst dishes of the night.

Felix Fang

Occupation: Food Runner

• Achilles' Heel: Gordon asked her if desserts were for her while judging her last dish.
• Asian Hooker Stereotype: Invoked. During her audition, she jokingly said to the judges "Me love you long time" as a reference to her hair and looks.
• Attack Backfire: Her advantage in assigning everyone a specific fish missed the mark with almost everyone. Frank, Becky, and Monti, who had the most difficult fish, succeeded to impress the judges, while she had troubles with her own halibut, and Christine (who she tried to help by giving her a salmon) landed at the bottom. The only one she didn't miss the mark on was Tali, who she gave one of the simplest fish because she knew he'd screw it up by over-complicating it, which resulted in his elimination and in turn, saved Christine, who was in the bottom two with him.
• Break the Haughty: She arrived at her audition with a cocky attitude, to which the judges advised her to tone it down until she actually earns the right to be haughty. There were many moments during the competition where she placed at the bottom, to the point she ended up crying.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Bri and Fred (Season 10).
• The Cameo: Appeared as a special guest for Masterchef's 100th episode celebration in season 6.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Played with. After time was up on the Breakfast Team Challenge, Felix was still trying to call out orders, leading Ramsay to accuse her of cheating and threatening her with disqualification. Although, some people argued that she didn't hear the countdown and that Ramsay was being very unreasonable in that argument.
• Tender Tears: She was driven to tears when the judges panned her "free-form" Tiramisu with macadamia nuts, considering it the most embarrassing thing she has presented.

Stacey Amagrande

Occupation: Market Manager

• Brutal Honesty: She wasn't shy of admitting to be sick of Becky often being praised by the judges.
• Crazy Enough to Work: During the Dessert challenge, she planned to make a Balsamic Strawberry trifle, which had Gordon and Joe very skeptical. To their surprise, it turned out to be the best dessert of the night.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She is a recovering alcoholic, finding cooking as an important key in her rehab.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of her confessional interviews had a snide comment about Becky being an annoying Teacher's Pet.
• Nervous Wreck: Became this in the Sushi Tag Team Challenge, resulting in multiple mistakes on her and Christine's platter. It ended up sealing her elimination.
• Recovered Addict: She mentions how cooking has saved his life and gave him a new purpose to get away from alcohol.
• Springtime for Hitler: Downplayed in the food truck challenge, in which she had the advantage of setting up all three competing teams. She tried to set up the team containing Josh, Christine, Felix, and Mike to lose, but not only did they work together well, they nearly ended up beating her own team. However, Stacey's team still won out thanks to her soliciting custom from a nearby skate park — and both teams finished far ahead of the team containing Anna, David, Monti, and Tanya, which was the first team she set up anyway, who were sent into the pressure test.

Tali Clavijo

Occupation: Musician

• Arch-Enemy: With Monti and David Martinez
• Complexity Addiction: Tali loves to use complex techniques in his dishes, to the point of overworking them. What gets him eliminated was his idea of cook an arctic char in sous vide, instead of going the easier way by pan-searing it. Graham promptly called him out for using terms like "emulsify" without actually knowing how to apply them properly. He proved to be a very decent cook when he went simple with apple pie and strawberry shortcake (the most he did to it was a strawberry foam, but still kept the overall recipe simple), and other than a few mishaps, he proved to be a good teammate and hard worker in team challenges, mainly because the menus were either chosen as a team consensus or were already set by the judges, so there was no way for him to overcomplicate what he prepped and cooked.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: An especially bad case of such considering he made it to the Top 9; his risotto is a good example as it included among other things hazelnuts, gooseberries, raspberries, among other things the chefs wouldn't dream of putting near a risotto. Most of his other dishes suffered from ill-considered preparation, with his infamous crab dish proving too difficult to eat.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Perhaps the kindest thing that could be said of his.....unique approach in the kitchen. While every single one of his dishes certainly stood out visually (Usually for the worse), the taste never came through on any of them due to the liberties he took in their preparation.
• Genre Blind: Clearly wasn't familiar with the show, otherwise he'd have learned from Alvin's experience the previous season that the judges come down far harder on people who try and fail to impress with experimental techniques than with those who just keep things simple. The main reason he didn't get eliminated as quickly as Alvin was because Helene was guilty of the same thing, plus a few other factors such as Ryan's faceplant in the molten lava cake challenge, and Tali actually serving a decent strawberry shortcake.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Ryan named themselves "The Dream Team"
• Never My Fault: He had a hard time seeing the flaws in his cooking techniques, thinking the judges simply misunderstood him.
• Nightmare Fuel: His dish from the crab pressure test bears a resemblance to a face-hugger.
• One-Hit Wonder: His strawberry shortcake was one of the only dishes he produced to excel over the others in the kitchen. Graham absolutely loved it, but sadly this comeback didn't last for long.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He fancied himself as an "artistic genius", but that almost never was reflected on his food.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While his overconfidence stayed the same, Tali's attitude mellowed out a lot after Ryan's elimination. This was especially seen with Monti, as they seemed to bury the hatchet and would have casual conversations after challenges, with Monti complimenting the presentation of some of Tali's dishes and him being grateful to her.
• Trash of the Titans: Gordon took a moment to scold Tali for leaving his station a disaster, all his dirty pans and pots on the floor and the counter and stove stained with flour. Gordon warned him that he would be fired from his kitchen in a minute, and closed by describing his resulting dish with "If you cook in a mess, you produce a mess"

Tanya Noble

Occupation: Sociology Student

• Gone Horribly Right: Her strategy during the dessert challenge brought down several of the frontrunners who had taken too many risks with their respective dishes, among them Felix for her sad-looking "free form" tiramisu and Becky for making a trifle bowl whose bizarre mishmash of flavors proved inedible; the judges were very impressed with her strategy after seeing the struggle of so many strong players. However, she felt horrible seeing her competitors in so much distress.
• Nice Girl: She was so nice that she even could see the good in both Tali and Ryan. When she got the advantage of giving her competition a dessert to make, she did so by her competition's strengths, more worried about people being pissed at her.
• Prone to Tears: She crumbled during a Pressure Test, crying when the judges saw her poorly constructed tortellini.

Michael "Mike" Hill

Occupation: Contractor

• Cool Horse: He arrived at his audition on horse
• Dark and Troubled Past: He lost his sister in a car accident months before the show, and competed in honor of her memory.
• In-Series Nickname: He is always referred to as "Cowboy Mike"

Anna Rossi

Occupation: Pharmaceutical Sales Rep

• Career Versus Man: Averted. Both she and her husband passed the auditions and made it clear that they had a Friendly Rivalry instead. When she got into the main competition, her husband was genuinely happy for her.
• Cluster F-Bomb: When she realized that her flame was off, she started to launch a full tirade of cuss words.
• Epic Fail: Her final episode had her making a lot of mistakes when making her tortellini dish. First, she made her pasta with a food processor, instead of doing it by hand. Then she used a knife when closing the pasta, which punctured the tortellini before boiling them. On top of all that, she forgot to check the flame of her stove, not getting her tortellini to properly cook.
• Out of Focus: She doesn't get much focus unless she is in a pressure test. She gets more focus in the episode she is eliminated in.

Scott Little

Occupation: Interactive Producer

• Achilles' Heel: Baking. All the challenges that included them landed him in the bottom. On his first Mystery Box, he gets called out for doing duck profiteroles. Then he failed at doing an apple pie. In the dessert challenge, Tanya chose for him a strawberry shortcake, the easiest one to make, and he was eliminated on it.
• Nice Guy: He rejected immunity for a pressure test since he didn't feel comfortable leaving the rest of his team. During his elimination, the judges praised overall his work ethic and good heart.

Ryan Umane

Occupation: Unemployed

• Arch-Enemy: With Monti and David Martinez
• Achilles' Heel: Desserts. He gets eliminated for a poorly prepared Molten Lava cake, and again gets defeated in the comeback challenge in a dessert round against Josh.
• Attack Backfire: When Ryan wins the advantage of choosing who gets to work with either fresh or canned crab, Ryan tries to trip Christine with a live crab, Monti with a canned crab, and help Tali with a live crab. As a result, both Christine and Monti got to impress the judges, while Tali landed in the bottom.
• Expy: To Max from season 2 both arrogant New Yorkers who come from money and ultimately finish in 14th place.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Tali named themselves "The Dream Team"
• Jerkass: He rubbed most of his competition in the wrong way.
  • During the first Mystery Box challenge, he and Samantha landed in the bottom. Before the judges could say their decision, without being asked, he quickly threw Samantha under the bus by remarking that her duck was raw, instead of talking about his own strengths. All the other contestants saw this as a dick move.
  • He told Monti to flash her boobs to the soldiers to get votes, later waving it off as a joke.
  • He constantly talked smack about everyone except his close friends, mostly insulting Monti and David Martinez for no particular reason other than his dislike of them.
• Graceful Loser: Not usually, but in his final Pressure Challenge when Gordon asked for the chef who did worse to come up and hand over his apron with some honor, Ryan bit the bullet and eliminated himself, saving his friend Tali. It was a noble move from someone who had very few. He even managed a fairly dignified exit right after.
• Know When to Fold Them: Even though he specifically gave Christine live crab to trip her up, he admitted how good the dish tasted when Ramsay called him down to taste.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Almost everybody, with the exception of Tanya and Tali, hated him during his time due to his poor attitude. It's very telling that when he came back for a second chance, nobody cheered for him.
• Psychotic Smirk: Has one during the crab elimination challenge after Christine pierces herself with the crab, paired with an Evil Laugh from the balcony.
• Small Name, Big Ego: What he had in common with Tali. During his audition, he told the judges that he has unemployed for 18 months, claiming that there wasn't a job worthy of his skills. He even referred to himself as "The Flavor Elevator"
• Smug Snake: In Episode 4, he was selected along with Scott and Samantha as the Bottom Three of that Mystery Box challenge. Right before Gordon announced who was going to be eliminated, Ryan interrupted him to remark that Samantha's duck was raw, in an attempt to remain in the competition. Even though the judges were going to eliminate Samantha anyway, this attitude only made the judges and most of his fellow competitors hate him even more.

Helene Leeds

Occupation: Health Coach

• Skewed Priorities: During the first Mystery Box, she almost caused a fire, which Gordon was quick to put down. She narrates it in the confessional cam in awe, describing Gordon as a "Knight in Shining Armor", and laughs at the incident, but Gordon quickly cuts it and tells her that because of that incident, she could be one foot out of the competition.
• What Were You Thinking?: During the risotto challenge, she presented the judges with an undercooked risotto with burdock root wrapped scallops shaped like little baskets. Not only it looked ridiculous, but the burdock prevented the scallops from cooking properly, resulting in raw centers.

Michael Chen

Occupation: Meteorology Student

• Bury Your Gays: The only gay contestant of the season and the 3rd eliminated.
• Straight Gay: During his audition, Gordon asks him if he had a girlfriend.
  Gordon: Girlfriend?
  Michael: I'm gay, actually.
  Gordon: (without missing a beat) Boyfriend?
• What Were You Thinking?: He topped his apple pie with cheese to give it a bit of texture and an added kick ^note It's worth noting that putting cheddar cheese on a slice of apple pie is actually not unheard of, and, while it tends to be a bit polarizing everywhere else, it's fairly popular in the Midwest, as well as parts of England and Canada. Ultimately, it ended up being a moot point, as the pie itself ended up being a total disaster.

David "Dave" Mack

Occupation: Caviar Sales Director

• Shout-Out: How he describes standing in front of the judges during the top 36 elimination challenge.]]
  "I'm standing in front of the judges, [[Music/Eminem palms are sweaty, knees weak,]] there's no way I'm letting them send me home tonight."

Samantha De Silva

Occupation: Design Consultant

• We Hardly Knew Ye: The only time her important appearance was in the Bottom three during the Duck Mystery Box Challenge, and she was eliminated in that challenge.

Season 4

Luca Manfè

Occupation: Restaurant Manager

• Batman Gambit: Claimed that he was really intimidated to work with the Grana Padano cheese, something that sounds out of character especially for an Italian, when the other two contestants were going to determine what ingredient he'd end up cooking with. This turned out in his favor, as he was aware that Jessie (who had first pick) was hoping she and Natasha (who had the second pick) would screw him over by leaving him with the item he was hoping not to get, the Alaskan King crab, but Natasha (recognizing what both were trying to do) decided to just ignore everyone and go with her strengths and picked the crab ingredient^note which got her to the finale, leaving him with the cheese like he wanted and he used to get to the finals.
• Babies Ever After: One of Joe's sons asks him if he has kids with his wife, and Luka answers that they will start having children once he wins the show. To this day, after winning the whole season, Luca and Kate have two boys.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Despite his friendly, good nature and cordial behavior to his fellow contestants, he knew how to play the game smart.
• The Cameo: Returns in both Season 5 and 6 to help out in the Elimination Challenges that featured his signature dish and Italian ingredients respectively.
  • Appears in the Junior season 1 finale, admiring how talented the child contestants are at their ages.
• The Determinator: He didn't pass the Season 3 auditions. He returned the following year, successfully passing this time, and eventually won the entire competition
• Good Is Not Nice: Despite being a Nice Guy all around, Luca is not above having his sarcastic moments, having some Brutal Honesty moments, or being pragmatic during the competition.
  Gordon: (to James, Krissi, and Bri) So maybe the three of you should go home.
  Luca: That would be nice.
• Graceful Loser: After his advantage to handicap Jordan failed, he happily compliments Jordan's cupcake and congratulates him.
• Happily Married: With his wife Kate, who was with him throughout both of his auditions, family visits, and the Finale. When Joe's kids ask him if they have any children, Luca responds that they are going to start making babies after he wins.
• Honor Before Reason: He lends his competition ingredients, despite being in the middle of elimination. He can’t simply stop being the nice guy.
  • Despite knowing that Natasha is a top rival, he lent her garlic for her noodle soup. This ended up saving Natasha from elimination that weekend.
  • Even though Jessie planned to trip Luca, he ends up giving her a stick of butter, knowing that it could be the difference between her or him winning the second spot in the Finale.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Of the good kind. As mentioned in Honor Before Reason, Luca couldn't help giving spare ingredients to his competition. Both times he ended up winning the challenge over them. And eventually, he ends up winning the entire season.
• Lethal Joke Character: Invokes this himself. After he gives the mixer penalty to Jordan in the cupcake elimination test, he tells them in the confessional that he isn't a joke contestant and is there for business. While he started the season as a goofy Italian guy who seemed to be a One Trick Pony, he eventually climbed to the top of the competition under everyone's noses.
• Meet Cute: Subverted. Kate tells the judges that she met Luca when he was the restaurant manager and she was hired as a waitress. Luca wanted to fire her two weeks later. They would eventually marry some time later.
• Nice Guy: Easily one of the most kind-hearted contestants in a season where it contains either strictly competitive people, or just straight-up nasty people. He was the only one clapping for Bime since nobody was doing it, and he let the competition borrow ingredients from him twice. And it didn't affect his chances of winning the whole competition.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: As a true Italian, he always was wearing suits with vests.
• Special Guest: Appears in Season 5 to present his signature dish for a recreation challenge, along with Alexander from MasterChef Junior Season 1.
• Took a Level in Badass: He was initially a middle-ground cook who was in the bottom a few times, but excelled in more challenges as the competition continued, leading to his eventual victory.
• What Happened to the Mouse??: Was the only previous season winner who was absent in the season 10 finale. He later revealed that scheduling problems prevented him from attending.
• What Were You Thinking?: In Episode 11, he thought it was a good idea to make a crab risotto using fish sauce because he wanted to use one of Christine Ha's favorite ingredients (since she was the main guest for the challenge). The judges not only panned his dish but also Christine admitted that, while she does indeed love using fish sauce in her cooking, she would *never* put it in a risotto.

Natasha Crnjac

Occupation: Stay-at-Home Mom

• Alpha Bitch: Though not as bad as Krissi. She was both tough competition and didn't care about making friends with the cast.
• Berserk Button: Never refer to food as “disgusting”. Beth had the bad luck of poorly choosing her words, which sent Natasha into an angry rant that made Beth cry.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Derrick (Season 6) and Brandi (Season 7).
• Deadpan Snarker: Dished out cutting remarks quite often.
• Everyone Has Standards: She genuinely felt bad for Krissi when her son couldn't be there since as a mother, she knows how much that sucks.
• Graceful Loser: She was happy for Luca when he beat her in the finale.
• Perpetual Frowner: Rarely emoted during the competition, and always had a resting face on her. At one point she didn't clap at one of her fellow competitors, to which Gordon sarcastically asked her if her hands hurt.
• Proud Beauty: She often commented that she wasn't just "a pretty girl who looks good cooking".
• The Rival: Jessie, Luca, and Krissi considered her the one to beat.

Jessica "Jessie" Lysiak

Occupation: Yacht Stewardess

• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• The Determinator: After the mandoline accident, Jessie was forced to sit out of the cooking for safety reasons, but she used the time to watch, coordinate, and advise her team from the sidelines, ensuring that losing one cook didn't cost them the challenge.
• Epic Fail: Her cupcakes in Episode 6, and the bird challenge in Episode 19 are her most memorable hiccups during the competition. In the latter case, she ended up in the bottom two despite being given chicken to cook (hands-down the easiest bird to cook out of the lineup). Krissi, for as much of a bitch as she was, aptly pointed out that if Jessie was sent home for screwing up chicken, she kind of deserved it.
• Fingore: During the Glee Team Challenge, she accidentally chopped the tip of her index finger with a mandoline slicer.
• Southern Belle: She's from Social Circle, Georgia. For the Paula Deen challenge, she was determined to win it to represent her state.
• What Were You Thinking?: In the Semifinals, she is given the advantage of choosing between Kobe Beef, Grana Padano Cheese, or Alaska King Crab. Jessie prioritized knocking out Luca by giving him crab, so she took Kobe Beef despite having never worked with it, and hope Natasha would follow up and pick the cheese. As a result, Luca got his desired ingredient and overshadowed her own dish, which also could have benefited from a green papaya salad she discarded at the last minute.

Krissi Biasiello

Occupation: Paralegal

• Alpha Bitch: She was a bigger antagonist than Natasha, actively bullying and berating her fellow contestants.
• Arch-Enemy: It’s actually easier to count who isn’t she enemies with. She especially had it against Bri, Natasha, Bime, and Jordan.
• Hypocrite: She had a lot of these moments. Namely...
  • After the first team challenge, Jordan, captain of the losing team, was told to save three people, and he could choose to save himself, which he did, and teammate Krissi openly called it "a bitch move". After the third team challenge, the losing team being led by Krissi and including Jordan, Krissi was told she could pick and choose which teammates would compete in the pressure test (and she decided to keep people she disliked like Bime, who scored many of the points for their team). She chose Jordan as one of the competitors and saved herself. Jordan IMMEDIATELY called her out on it, while the others could only laugh at this.
  • Later in the competition, Krissi talks trash about Bri when Bri gives a name to one of her dishes (a dish that got her the win in that particular challenge). Move on to another challenge, and Krissi gives one of her dishes a name too.
  • Later, after she and Jessie lost their team challenge, Jessie, Luca, and Natasha started to talk among themselves about how Krissi ruined it for Jessie by walking out and not knowing how to make a simple crepe. Krissi could hear them and went to confront them for talking behind her back. All the way back in Episode 11, Joe reprimanded Krissi for talking behind his back for disagreeing with his critique.
• Fat Bastard: Female example. She is loud, brash, rude to her fellow competitors, and uses her son as an excuse for her actions in the competition.
• Hate Sink: After Sasha and Kathy were eliminated, all of the remaining contestants didn't like her in the slightest. Her teamwork was awful, she wasn't shy of throwing people under the bus, bullying people, and even threatening to punch anyone who pissed her off.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After she successfully sent Bime home (despite Bime performing the best during the team challenge, and she kept laughing at him during the whole thing), in the following episode Lynn sends the catfish to her, which lands her in the Bottom 3. Krissi claims that Lynn did this to avenge Bime, but maybe it’s just her being petty.
• The Millstone: All the teams that had her ended up losing. The only time she averts this is during the Tag-Team Challenge, where she had to follow Natasha's lead in making a Japanese platter.
  • In particular, the beach challenge was lost because she kept doing horrible fish, which she claimed were delicious, forcing Savannah to demote her to tortillas.
  • When she was paired with Jessie, she failed at communicating with her and kept saying to Jessie that she wasn't comfortable making a crepe for their dessert. When Jessie snapped back at her to cook something she might actually be able to do well, Krissi left her to do everything alone while she calmed down, returning with only a few minutes left. Unsurprisingly, both of them had to go to the Pressure Test.
• Never My Fault:
  • She completely botched her catfish which was a dish she presented to Season 3 winner Christine and was on the receiving end of Joe's wrath after having mouthed off to him during the aforementioned challenge. After returning to her station she continued to insist her dish was perfect, for which Joe quickly shut her up.
  • On her Instagram account, she claims that the producers invited her for the 10th Anniversary, but she declined by telling them to F themselves (quite literally). According to Krissi, she blames the show for giving her the Villain editing, despite the fact that she still insulted the others and even threatened Jessie and Bri with physical assault, not to mention she casually using the N-word on her social media.
• Rage Quit: Did this during her last elimination challenge. Although she did come back.
• Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: She mentioned in the confessional that she used to beat up girls like Bri when she was in high school.
• Sherlock Scan: When she finally wins a Mystery Box, Krissi reveals to the Confession Cam that, as a paralegal in real life, she had been gathering information from all her competition, strengths, and weaknesses. In case she failed with both Natasha and Luca, she successfully predicted that Jordan would sink with the quail.
• Squee: She was very excited when an elimination test guest-starred Lidia Bastianich, who she idolizes.
• Struggling Single Mother: Krissi has told the audience that she and her son live in a single bedroom apartment, where she sleeps on the couch. When the relatives come to visit the contestants, her son is the only one missing, since he couldn't travel because of his SATs, she is visibly distraught.

James Nelson

Occupation: Retail Sales

• Barbarian Long Hair: Had longer hair than some of the female contestants.
• Deadpan Snarker: He provided most of the snark in the confessional
• Real Men Eat Meat: Since he is from Texas, he often boasted about eating meats of all kinds.
  You know who doesn't like sausages? Bad people.

Brianna "Bri" Kozior

Occupation: Theater Assistant

• Arch-Enemy: While Krissi hated almost everyone in the competition, she had it especially against Bri.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Deaf Composer: As a vegetarian, she had to rely on her sight, touch, and smell to replicate meat dishes.
• Granola Girl: She is vegetarian and can't bear using living animals, which hasn't stopped her from climbing up during the competition.
• History Repeats: In Episode 16, Bri is made captain opposite to Natasha, and gets eliminated in the Pressure Test. After she returns to the competition, she gets eliminated again in Episode 20, after her team loses against the other team. Like the last time, Natasha is the rival team's captain, and Krissi was in Bri's team both times.
• My Greatest Second Chance: She rejoined the competition by beating Lynn and Bime
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a big one to Krissi in Episode 14, where Krissi refuses to admit her faults, and Bri immediately calls her out for always lashing out at others as soon as she runs out of arguments. Krissi can only cuss at her, while Bri hopes she goes home soon.

Jordan Roots

Occupation: Delivery Driver

• Arch-Enemy: He notably had a feud with Krissi after she threw him under the bus and later saved herself, after heavily calling him out when he did it.
• Complexity Addiction: Because of his tendency to overthink his dishes, both Eddie and Krissi used this against him. Eddie managed to cramp him by giving him and James fresh mushrooms, making him feel too comfortable with the ingredient, while Krissi willingly gave him a quail, knowing that he would overcomplicate it.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He lost his mother to brain cancer five years prior to his time on the show. As she was his inspiration when it came to cooking, he dedicated his time on the series to her.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Invoked by Luca. He chose Jordan to have his mixer removed because Luca didn't think he did an honorable thing by saving himself from the Pressure Test. Subverted, as Jordan managed to survive the challenge, and even got Luca to graciously accept that his cupcakes were good.
• Manly Tears: After being approved with high praises from the judges, he took a moment to have a big relieved cry behind the doors, before returning to the hall and showing his apron.

Eddie Jackson

Occupation: Personal Trainer/Former Pro Football Player

• Boring, but Practical: Faced with a Mystery Box of foreign food, Eddie stuck to things he knew: grilled steak, mashed yams, and sauteed greens. The judges all agreed that his dish was very plain, but perfectly made, and he won the challenge.
• Breakout Character: Out of all the MasterChef alumni, he has the distinction of being one of the most prominent star chefs at Food Network.
• Career-Ending Injury: He was a Pro Football Player. After fracturing his wrist and sustaining more injuries, he decided to retire and work as a personal trainer and polish his cooking.
• Real Men Eat Meat: He won two Mystery Boxes that had meat as the main component (the elk flank steak and the sausage machine). He eventually made a career at Food Network based on grilling and barbecue.
• The Strategist: Both times he gained the advantages, he managed to send direct hits to his intended targets.
  • During the Agnolotti elimination test, he chose to deprive Lynn and James of Lidia Bastianich's demonstration. This successfully sent them to the Bottom 3, only avoiding elimination because of Howard.
  • When he wins the Mystery Box again, he gets to choose who to give fresh or canned mushrooms. To everyone's surprise, he gives fresh mushrooms to Jordan and James, counting on giving them false confidence so they would overwork their dishes. His predictions were correct since both landed at the Bottom, only spared from elimination when Bethy's dish was deemed worse.

Bethy Rossos

Occupation: High School P.E. Teacher

• What Were You Thinking?: After being given fresh mushrooms for the Elimination round, she chooses to do a Szechuan pasta dish with the mushrooms as a garnish. She was eliminated because the sesame oil and spices of the Szechuan overpowered the main ingredients.

Savannah Sturges

Occupation: Middle School Special Ed. Teacher

• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: She is a Special Ed. Teacher, which is why she is usually soft-spoken and nurturing. Too bad this doesn't come in handy when her team has Krissi as a teammate.
• Out of Focus: Aside from being in the bottom two twice, she was not seen much. She gets more focus in her elimination episode, where she is seen in the team leader role.

Lynn Chyi

Occupation: Systems Administrator

• Achilles' Heel: Seasoning. The judges often criticized him for under-seasoning all his dishes, despite his beautiful plating skills. The moment he seasoned his dish correctly, he won the Mystery Box that night.
• The Big Guy: He was the tallest member of the cast
• Informed Ability: Subverted. He was considered one of the strongest in the competition by his fellow competitors, and widely regarded as “The Plating King”. But he gets little screen time and starts declining midway through the season.
• Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: During the wedding challenge, he kept sweating a lot, to the point he even wiped the plates with the towel he was using to dry his forehead. Gordon kept him in the Pressure Test because of this.
• The Quiet One: His reactions and comments were very low-key, never raising his voice or swearing like the others.
• The Strategist: As seen in his only Mystery Box win, he chose very well who to give ingredients to. The crab was certain to knock off many of his opponents (like Luca or Beth) while giving Krissi a catfish certainly did a number in knocking her to the Bottom 3.

Jonathan "Jonny" Blanchard

Occupation: Carpenter

• Cordon Bleugh Chef: He tended to use weird combinations, with mixed results. Some were received positively, like his Popcorn and Lobster Crackerjack, while others got negative feedback, like his Maple Syrup Alfredo Agnolotti. When he was chosen for the Top 3 of a Mystery Box, Graham commented that this was a nice surprise, since he was expecting Jonny to make a weird thing with cotton candy.
• Nervous Wreck: During the Pressure Test against Lynn, in a moment of desperation, he ended up smashing his macaroon box while trying to close it. The judges even said that if not for this, he could have easily won the round.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He is a carpenter capable of doing great flavors with cakes and macaroons.
• What Were You Thinking?: When the time was running out for the Macaroon Pressure Test, Johnny jammed his macaroons into his box and slammed the lid down. When it came time for judging, half of the macaroons were destroyed, and even though the flavors were on point, he was eliminated for that careless mistake.

Elizabeth "Beth" Kirby ^note  This contestant died on March 30, 2022

Occupation: Writer, Photographer

• Epic Fail: She has the distinction of failing to boil water during an Elimination Test
• Oh, Crap!: She did this face the second Joe tasted her crab dish and spat it, and noting that the crab cake was raw.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: She wasn’t thinking clearly before calling Natasha’s cauliflower purée “disgusting” to her face, getting her full rage directly, to the point she was reduced to tears.

Albaya "Bime" Cruz

Occupation: Boxing Coach

• Epic Fail: Sure, he didn’t deserve to compete in the Pressure Test, but confusing corn starch with tartar got him eliminated for producing a liquid pie.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: For some unexplained reason, almost every one of the Top 7 showed no support for him returning to get a spot back. Luca was the only one who clapped for him.
• Manly Tears: He gets emotional every time the judges mention his three girls in Puerto Rico, and even gets questioned if he was gonna cry whenever they were mentioned.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: His sense of humor and energetic personality didn’t mash with some of his fellow competitors. When discussing who to pick for their teams, he casually makes a joke calling Krissi “Big Girl”. When the judges give Bethy the opportunity to exchange Eddie for Krissi, Bime immediately knew that he screwed up with Krissi now that she was on his team.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His day job before auditioning was Boxing coach. During the competition, his best entry were cupcakes, grating him the second win of the episode.
• The Scapegoat: After losing a team challenge, Krissi kept blaming him because some of his chicken was undercooked, and Bime thought he was at fault, but then the judges revealed that his fried chicken was the one thing that gave most of the points to their team, taking away the responsibility from him for the defeat. Still, Krissi took the opportunity to keep him in the Pressure Test only because she hates him.

Howard Simpson

Occupation: Barback

• Broken Pedestal: He certainly roared onto the scene as a potential frontrunner, and Joe said he had thought highly of the skill he had seen so far. Unfortunately, his infamous citrus dish topped with langoustine in the first round of the main competition proved to be such an ill-conceived display that he had more or less destroyed the goodwill he had built up with the judges. For the remainder of his time on the season, he was constantly playing catch-up with the other frontrunners, and by the Agnolotti challenge, the judges had pretty much grown fed up with his arrogant streak.
• Face Death with Dignity: During his last episode, he is given the chance to leave with dignity and remove his apron on his own, afterward giving a more optimistic exit speech.
• Never My Fault: During the Agnolotti challenge, Lidia’s feedback to his own version of the dish was negative, followed by an angry "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Joe when Howard replied: “Do you want fifteen of the same dish?”. In the confessional, he dismissed the purpose of the challenge by basically saying he did nothing wrong by trying to be creative.
• One-Hit Wonder: His Tahitian vanilla bean cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream he made were the only dish of his to spare him from the judges' wrath.
• Retired Badass: He is a veteran, and has been in Afghanistan.
• Tempting Fate: After one Mystery Box Challenge, the judges announced that one home cook plated raw fish, and Howard wondered who did it. Turns out that he was that person, and Joe sent his dish to the trash bin not long after.
• What Were You Thinking?:
  • His citrus salad dish from the opening challenge was ripped to shreds for its insufficient portions and obvious laziness, having woefully underused the fresh langoustine that was the focus of the challenge. Gordon refused to eat it, and Joe told Howard that he has spoken highly of his skill and was now prepared to kick him out for wasting his time.
  • Instead of doing a well-done traditional recipe for the agnolotti, he chose to make his own version with jalapeño and bell peppers, resulting in a very confusing flavor profile that Lidia Bastianich herself found underwhelming. On top of that, he did get the live demonstration from Lidia, and kept rolling his eyes at the feedback, even snapped at Joe about having "15 of the same dish presented", which frustrated Joe, earning another verbal beatdown.

Kathleen "Kathy" Prieto

Occupation: Office Assistant

• Only Friend: She and Sasha were the only people Krissi considered her friends in the competition, and she is visibly devastated when Kathy is eliminated, declaring that now she was truly alone now because everyone hated her and vice versa.
• What Were You Thinking?: Despite never made a cupcake before the show, she thought putting cookie dough at the bottom of her tray was a good idea. As a result, her cupcakes were heavy and overcooked on the bottom, on top of having neon-colored frosting that Jordan described as "what it would look like if an acid-tripping monkey took a dump on them." She only avoided elimination because Jessie and Malcolm performed worse.

Malcolm Green

Occupation: Unemployed

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, he loses against Shelly (Season 6) and Gabriel (Season 8).
• What Were You Thinking?: In the Cupcake Challenge, Malcolm decided to add raw mashed bananas into his cooked cupcakes, resulting in cupcakes that tasted sour. He was eliminated that night.

Adriana Guillen

Occupation: College Admissions Rep.

• What Were You Thinking?: She made a cheesecake with processed guava paste for the topping, which eliminated her over Savannah.

Sasha Foxx

Occupation: Singer

• Epic Fail: Despite being told that langoustines are more delicate than shrimps, she ended up doing grilled langoustine (which was barely visible) on top of cheese grits, giving both a terrible presentation and dissonant flavors.
• No Indoor Voice: As a singer, she made sure everyone knew she was there to shine and win. She was singing very loud during her audition.
• Only Friend: She and Kathy were the only people Krissi considered her friends in the competition, and on her way out, she declared that Krissi will win the entire competition, which Krissi really appreciated.
• Sassy Black Woman: On top of her bombastic personality, she loudly sings during her audition.

Season 5

Courtney Lapresi

Occupation: Aerial Dancer

• All Women Love Shoes: Despite struggling with money, she was always wearing expensive high heels. The first thing she praised about Tana Ramsay was her yellow heels.
• Badass Boast: In Episode 9, Christian selects Courtney for a time penalty, and she takes it in stride. And then she says this in the Confessional Cam:
  Courtney: I know how amazing are the advantages, and how crucial it is to use them the right way. And Christian took his advantage and threw it out of the window.
• The Cameo: Returned in Season 6 to help out in an Elimination Challenge that featured her dessert ingredients. She also makes an appearance during Season 10's pool party and finale.
• Combat Stilettos: One notable characteristic of her was that she always wore expensive high heels. Gordon notes that the moment she started wearing them again during the competition, she seemed to recover her mojo, coincidentally having her only Bottom Three when she was wearing flats.
• Cool Big Sis: Her other motivation to win the competition is to be a role model for her younger brother Cooper, who was born shortly before she moved out to Philadelphia, and was unable to get back to see him due to her financial situation at the time.
• Epic Fail: The only time she landed in the Bottom Two was during the donut challenge, where she ruined the first batch of dough, had to beg for spare yeast, and confused salt for sugar for the second batch. She was only saved because the judges felt Kira had less passion than her.
• Everyone Has Standards: She was genuinely surprised when Cutter had the balls to cockily mouth off at and rudely argue against the judges, especially Joe.
• Jerkass: Was seen as this by many fans.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite her obnoxiously cocky, rude and bitchy jerkishness, she had a soft side and her occasional nice moments as seen on a few occasions, such as warmly cheering on/rooting for Francis B. and Cutter from up on the balcony in a Pressure Test. When she beat Leslie in the semi-finals, Courtney admitted that she felt for him and warmly hugged Leslie before he headed home.
• Old Shame: Invoked. She admits that she had to work in a Gentlemen's Club due to financial struggles, and winning the competition would help her to not return to that job.

Elizabeth Cauvel

Occupation: Advertising Executive

• The Ace: Won 4 individual challenges and every team challenge never once being at the bottom.
• Deadpan Snarker: She had a lot of quips, most of them targeted at Courtney.
• Enemy Mine: When Courtney paired her with Cutter for the Tag Team Challenge, Elizabeth didn’t want to show any weakness, and stated that she and Cutter could focus on their common goal of taking Courtney out.
• Fiery Redhead: She had both the talent and the determination to make it into the finals.

Leslie Gilliams

Occupation: Stay-at-home Dad

• Arch-Nemesis: Started this off with Ahran, until they buried the hatchet while working as a pair. On the other hand, he would keep his rivalries with Daniel and especially Cutter, since they were incompatible in team challenges.
• The Cameo: Was invited in Season 6 for the 100th Episode lunch. Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Cassandra Truth: In their first Team Challenge, he immediately knew that Stephani didn't cook the chicken breast enough by only glancing at it, but she refused to listen. Gordon finds out about the undercooked chicken being raw in the center and promptly scolded them.
• Coattail-Riding Relative: Mostly averted. He is the husband of Paula Hart, and step-father of Melissa Joan Hart, but he reached the Top 3 semifinals on his talent and skills alone.
• Fire-Forged Friends: He and Ahran started as bitter rivals, but they warm up to each other after being put together for a challenge. By the time Ahran is eliminated, Leslie feels genuinely bad for her, comparing Ahran to a new daughter and declaring his nowfound respect for her. After 10 years, both state in separate interviews that they are still good friends.
• House Husband: He isn’t ashamed to admit that his wife is the real breadwinner, and his role is raising their seven kids at home, which earned him some ribbing from the others.
• Hypocrite: When Elizabeth comments that she doesn’t think Leslie is going to last, he angrily starts ranting on how she doesn’t know how hard he had to work. Elizabeth quickly points out to him that he lives in Malibu and his wife is actually the one who supports him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his arrogant Jerkass attitude and volatile personality, Leslie has shown his nice side on occasions. When Ahran got eliminated, he took a moment to declare his newfound respect for her as a young lady, and her leaving was like it was one of his daughters.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: The judges notice Leslie having some servings of wine while cooking.
  Joe: Hey Leslie, don’t get tanked.
  Leslie: Are you kidding me? I'm 56, that's all I do!
• Manchild: Despite being the oldest of the competitors, he wasn’t above launching angry rants towards his fellow competitors or holding petty grudges for minor offenses. His teammates even called him out for bickering with Ahran (an 18-year-old) while he was supposed to be the oldest of the cast.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Despite claiming that baking desserts were his Achilles Heel, he showed some great dessert baking skills as his blueberry pie and red velvet cake has shown. Also, his doughnuts were the reason he won with Francis L. in an elimination challenge.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He always wore dress shirts and ties with vests.
• Short-Lived Leadership: During the Beach Wedding challenge, Leslie couldn’t keep the workflow consistent and failed to communicate with all the teammates, which led to the team demoting Leslie and replacing him with Francis B. Unfortunately Francis did as bad, if not worse. Afterwards, Leslie refused to assume responsibility for the team’s defeat and kept arguing with the others when they called him out.

Joshua "Cutter" Brewer

Occupation: Petroleum Landman

• Achilles' Heel: Desserts, a fact he was all too aware of.
• Arch-Nemesis: With Leslie. After the pairs challenge, he and Dan weren't fond of each other as well.
• Fingore: During his last Mystery Box challenge, where he was paired with Leslie, he accidentally cut himself, chopping part of the nail of his index. This took several minutes of their time, leaving Leslie alone while he needed to get medical assistance.
• Hypocrite: Cutter praised his stepdad and admired the sacrifices he made by marrying his mom and adopting him as his own son. He later criticizes Leslie and treats him as "less manly" because he is a stay-at-home dad, despite Leslie doing the exact same thing as Cutter's dad, but with seven children.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Joshua, but he went with Cutter for the season.
• Real Men Eat Meat: He often said that he is a Texas man and knows his meats.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Subverted. He is the typical "Steak and beer" Texas man, and many of his worst dishes have been desserts. Then he finally wins a Pressure Test by making a box of delicate truffles, impressing everyone including the judges and himself. When making a caramelle pasta dish, Gordon compliments him for doing the only cream sauce plate.
  Gordon: You may have the face of a British bulldog, but you cook like an angel.
• Retired Badass: Used to be in the military, and was part of the search and rescue team.
• What Were You Thinking?: His "Artisan Pizza" was the most notorious example of such, and was seen as both a silly idea and a misuse of the ingredients in the challenge.

Christian Green

Occupation: Sales Rep

• The Ace: Was seen as one by many of the contestants. It can be assumed that if he didn't flub up his brain dish, he could've made it to the top two.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Nice Guy: Probably one of the most affable and coolest dudes of the season.
• The Rival: He and Courtney didn't get along, and every time he had to work with her, he wasn't shy about saying it aloud.

Jaimee Vitolo

Occupation: Bakery Assistant

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Alejandro (Season 11) and Samantha (Season 9).
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Downplayed; while she suffers from a muscular disorder, she actually hadn't yet gotten a specific diagnosis when filming of the season started, and so it went mostly ignored until her last few episodes, by which time she actually did have a diagnosis.
• Irony: Despite being one of the best bakers that season, she lost the Croquembouche Pressure Test due to having caramel so thick, that the profiteroles broke when Ramsay tried to remove one off the tower.
• Refusing the Call: When she was eliminated, Gordon offered to come and let her work at one of his restaurants. She declined the offer, saying she'd feel like she was being disloyal to her current employer.
• Shrinking Violet: She had a lot of trouble raising her voice even before her disease, to the point she crumbled under pressure both times she was appointed as a team leader, preferring to pass the mantle to her other teammates.
• Tattoo as Character Type: Along with her meek looks and personality, the judges note right before the Blueberry Pie challenge that she has a slice of blueberry pie on her neck. They later comment on how much she loves baking, to the point she also has a mixer on her thigh and the word “bake” on her hands.

William "Big Willie" Mike

Occupation: Church Music Director

• Badass Decay: He started as a top contender especially when it came to dessert, but midway through the competition he started to give subpar performances.
• Big Fun: He is overweight, and loves bright colors
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: His Squash and Apple Caramelle, because he thought about doing a dessert pasta dish by only seeing the caramel shape of the pasta. Gordon compared his dish to "regurgitated dog vomit".
• Gentle Giant: One of the best examples of such in the competition.
• Laser-Guided Karma: A rare positive spin in this case. After losing a team challenge he was captain of and choosing to stay in the Pressure Test with Cutter, Dan Wu, and Leslie while saving the rest of his team members, the dish was revealed to be a red velvet cake, a dish he made several times. Unsurprisingly, he made the best cake that night.
• Nice Guy: He rarely had any negative comments about any of his competitors. He was the only person on the balcony rooting for Leslie (most of the others were rooting against him), and when his team lost, he chose to save three people other than himself.

Daniel Mcguffey

Occupation: Former Video Game Designer

• Arch-Nemesis: He had an ongoing feud with Leslie after their first team challenge
• The Cameo: He was a guest for Season 6's lunch for the 100th Episode. Makes an appearance in Season 10's Pool Party.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of his comments, especially the ones directed at Leslie.
  Daniel: Leslie nails a pie. He's been around for a while, so he probably knew Betty Crocker.
• Epic Fail: The most notable example was how he managed to lose the yolk of his poached egg inside the pot.
• Honor Before Reason: Unlike other examples, this one ended up backfiring on him. He chose to save other teammates and compete until he regretted this when the dish is revealed to be blueberry pie. While the judges applauded his honor, they still found his pie underwhelming.
• One-Steve Limit: He shares the same name with Daniel Wu.
• What Were You Thinking?: He says this to himself when the judges destroyed him after his Asian inspired caramelle bombed.

Ahran Cho

Occupation: High School Student

• Aerith and Bob: Her name is the sole Korean one among all the Western names in the cast. She got pissed every time Leslie butchered her name by pronouncing it “Iran”, and Gordon finally got fed up and made him say it correctly.
  Ramsay: For God's sake - you're still getting her name wrong, and it pisses her off every time you do it! Repeat after me. "AH!"
  Leslie: AH!
  Ramsay: Ran!
  Leslie: Ran!
• Arch-Nemesis: She targeted Courtney during the donut challenge because she reminded her of the fake Alpha Bitches at her school. She also had a feud with Leslie because he was intially constantly very condescending towards her and deliberately mispronounced her name repeatedly, although they would come to respect each other after their pair challenge.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The judges often noted how Ahran was one of the best at 18 years of age, and still in high school.
• Berserk Button: Leslie deliberately mispronouncing her name as "Iran" was a big one for her. Thankfully, when they made up he stopped doing that altogether.
• The Cameo: Was invited to Season 6 for the 100th Episode lunch. She also appears during the Season 10 pool party challenge.
• Crazy Enough to Work: During the Italian Basket Challenge, Ahran decided to make a savory tiramisu. Despite the judges writing it off as a terrible idea, they admitted how well the dish was, and she won that challenge along with Elizabeth.
• Fire-Forged Friends: She and Leslie started as bitter rivals, but they warm up to each other after being put together for a challenge. By the time Ahran is eliminated, Leslie feels genuinely bad for her, comparing Ahran to a new daughter and declaring his newfound respect for her. After 10 years, both state in separate interviews that they are still good friends.

Victoria Scroggins

Occupation: Bartender

• Butch Lesbian: She looks tough and butch, excels at grilling meats, and has a girlfriend back at home.

Francis Legge

Occupation: Music Video Director

• Complexity Addiction: His tendency to try molecular techniques and prioritizing crazy presentations over flavor affected the performance of some of his dishes.
• Crazy Enough to Work: It worked both ways. In the Doughnut challenge, he made 12 different flavors under the motto "Go big, or go BIGGER", gaining the praise of the judges. Averted when it completely backfired in the Caramelle Pasta challenge, where he did a beetroot pasta with bell pepper pureé that didn't make sense as a whole.
• One-Steve Limit: He shares the same name with Francis Biondi, so the others called him "Scottish Francis"

Christine Silverstein

Occupation: Investment Director

Elisa "Elise" Mayfield

Occupation: e-Learning Administrator

• Epic Fail: As a self-proclaimed baker, most of her worst dishes were pies, which Gordon notes to be her nemesis.
  • Her "single sad ravioli" was so bad that she tearfully raised her hand when the judges called for the two worst performances, and she wasn't surprised when she got sent home.
• Irony: Many point out that Elise, who often was proud of her own baking skills, failed to present a single baked good that didn't land on the Bottom 3.
• Nervous Wreck: During the Salmon challenge, Elise suffers a panic attack and faints in the middle of cooking, needing a water bottle from the medics while her hands were shaking. Despite being offered to sit down the round, she still returned and tried to put something on the plate to finish with some dignity.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: While cooking for her apron, both of her dishes were pies, neither of which really impressed but luckily the second of them proved good enough to get her into the competition. As noted above, she still had trouble making them despite them supposedly being her specialty. Gordon himself said upon her elimination that whenever he eats a pie again, Elise will be who he thinks of, though he clearly meant it in a more lighthearted sense.
• Prone to Tears: At the smallest mistake, she crumbles completely.

Daniel "Dan" Wu

Occupation: Unemployed

• Arch-Nemesis: He becomes this with Cutter after their fallout as teammates in the Surf-n-Turf challenge.
• Break the Haughty: He started the competition boasting about his high standards, thinking that his Asian-Fusion meatloaf was going to be a hit. He didn't expect Gordon to describe his dish as "disgusting". After that, he stops boasting about his skills.
• One-Steve Limit: He shares the same name with Daniel Mcguffey, so the others called him "Dan Wu"
• Tempting Fate: He defined himself as a “food snob”, confident enough that his dish was going to get praised by the judges. While he was correct about Whitney doing a bland meatloaf, Gordon called it “the worst meatloaf I ever tasted”. He only got to stay because Whitney’s was even less original.

Francis Biondi

Occupation: Server

• Badass Decay: He started the competition as one of the top contenders. After a few episodes, he starts to have pretty bad performances, fails his second leadership, and gets eliminated on his second Pressure Test.
• Life Lines: Ahran is given the third advantage of saving any contestant from elimination, and she promptly chooses Francis because he screwed up his dough and tried to save the box as munchkin donut holes. If it weren't for Ahran's objective to send Courtney home, Francis would have been eliminated without a doubt.
• One-Steve Limit: He shares the same name as Francis Legge, so the others called him "Francis B"
• You Are in Command Now: At the urging of his teammates, he took over leadership of the beach wedding challenge from Leslie... and proceeded to lead the team just as bad, if not even worse, including cutting several side dishes from the menu and not bothering to replace them, forcing the team to hastily throw sides together when they realized their error. This got him nominated for the pressure test.

Tyler Viars

Occupation: Hunting Sales Manager

• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction when Ramsay revealed that he accidentally grabbed Jamiee’s pannacotta's was shock and regret, even profusely apologizing to the latter. Sadly, this did not keep him from being disqualified.
• Non Game Play Elimination: Because of the hurry, he ended up grabbing one of Jamiee’s pannacotta's from the blast chiller by mistake and served it to the judges, which broke one of the game rules. He was disqualified because of that.

Jordan Kaminski

Occupation: College Student

• The Load: During the Beach Wedding challenge, Graham chooses him for the Pressure Test, noticing that he spent most of the time looking lost and standing around.

Kira Novak

Occupation: Medical Recruiter

Gordon Houston

Occupation: Law Student

• Non Game Play Elimination: He had to leave the competition after a few episodes due to health issues
• One-Steve Limit: He shares the same name with Judge Gordon Ramsay. He was referred to as "Little Gordon"

Stephani Syfax-Shepherd

Occupation: Server

• Never My Fault: She can't fathom the fact that the judges didn't like her lamb meatloaf with couscous, saying that she isn't accustomed to people not liking her food and seeing nothing wrong with what she did. And despite Leslie telling her that the chicken breasts were raw inside, she just brushed him off, dismissing him as annoying. When Gordon corroborates that the chicken is still raw, she refuses to take responsibility or even accept that Leslie was right.
• What Were You Thinking?: Despite she has never in her life baked a pie of any kind, she thought putting pecans on her dough was a great idea. She ended up producing a weird texture pie with a lot of sugar that got her eliminated.

Whitney Bray

Occupation: Call Center Rep

• The Generic Girl: She didn't stand out in her first and last episode, and her Caribbean-style meatloaf was described as "bland" and "pedestrian".
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Unlike Astrid, Whitney never had much focus in her elimination episode besides her poor meatloaf dish.

Astrid Lavenia

Occupation: Food Sales Rep

• Decoy Protagonist: Maybe "protagonist" is being a little generous considering she displayed something of an Alpha Bitch personality, but she got the most screentime of any contestant in the first episode, which seemed to be setting her up as one of the major players in this season. She only managed to last until halfway through the next episode, when she was eliminated after crashing and burning in the first Mystery Box test.
• Genre Blindness: She auditioned for a fifth season of MasterChef without practicing with desserts beforehand, which she admits is her Achilles' Heel. As a result, she gets eliminated in a Mystery Box round.
• Trash of the Titans: Joe stopped the work in the kitchen to openly scold Astrid for tossing all her garbage on the floor of her station, pointing out that it’s disgusting and anyone could get hurt, but still let her off with a warning. She only mumbled if they had any cleaning staff around.

Season 6

Claudia Sandoval

Occupation: Events Manager

• The Cameo:
  • Returned in Season 7 on two different occasions. The first time she was a guest at fellow contestant Nick Nappi's wedding, and the second time was cooking with guest judge Aaron in a Mexican-themed Mystery Box Challenge.
  • Returns for season 10's finale.
  • Appeared in Masterchef Junior season 7 where the Top 10 team challenge VIP diner guests were women influential to the judges and in the culinary world/restaurant industry.
• Honor Before Reason: Decided to decline Tommy's offer of immunity during the Peanut Butter and Jelly Elimination Challenge as she wanted to get to the Final 10 with her own skills. The gamble paid off as her dish was well received.
• Special Guest: Appears to present the Latin Challenge along with Aarón Sánchez in Season 7.
• Spicy Latina: She identifies herself and her cooking style as full Mexican. Most of her lines in the confessional cam were about referring to herself as "the Latina of the cast"
• Struggling Single Mother: She has a daughter she is raising by herself.
• What Were You Thinking?: Got chewed out by Ramsay when she let it slip that her chicken and waffle dish could have been better if given more time, with the former reminding her that Derrick had to cook in half an hour instead of an hour due to a penalty given to by Stephen and managed to make a decent dish.

Derrick Peltz

Occupation: Drummer

• The Ace: He was the most elite, formidable frontrunner seen as an awesome, badass cook by many viewers due to his audaciously avant-garde and artistically inventive ingenuity. On two different field challenges, he was credited by the judges for salvaging the team's declining service.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• The Napoleon: He was the shortest of the male contestants, often commenting on how despite his size, he is one of the strongest. He finished as the runner-up of the season.
• The Rival: He was this with Stephen, becoming Vitriolic Best Buds after being paired in the Tag Team Challenge.

Stephen Lee

Occupation: Urban Gardener

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Heroic BSoD: During a Pressure Test, he suffered a big freak out when his tart crust cracked, sending him to the corner to cower and have a big cry before going back to work. He barely survived the challenge.
• Large Ham: He had very intense and funny reactions, which ranged from extreme joy to loud anger. After a while, even Gordon got accustomed to his outbursts.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Lost the first Audition round to Tommy, but was chosen as one of the six chefs to compete one more time. He won one of the last two aprons along with Shelly.
• Reverse Psychology: He applied this to manipulate Shelly into picking chicken tenders (leaving him the lobster by default), and keep the option to pick his teammates. And it works: not only does he get everything he wanted, his team also wins the challenge.
• The Rival: He was this with Derrick, becoming Vitriolic Best Buds after being paired in the Tag Team Challenge.

Nicholas "Nick" Nappi

Occupation: Dishwasher Sales Rep

• Blind Obedience: When Stephen is made Team Captain and starts bossing everyone, he jokingly says in the Confession Cam that if Stephen sent him to clean a window on the side of the building, he would do it without doubting.
• The Cameo: His wedding is featured in Season 7.
• Only Sane Man: Among the guys in the Top 10, he was the one who had the milder personality (in contrast to Derrick's Competition Freak, Stephen's histrionics, Tommy's flamboyant charm or Christopher's defensive attitude) and never got into fights with anyone.
• Pragmatic Hero: Unlike Claudia, he accepts Tommy's offer for immunity without a second thought, reasoning that he is in no position to refuse a free ride at that stage of the competition.

Katrina Kozar

Occupation: Administrative Assistant

• The Cameo: Is a guest at Nick's wedding in Season 7.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: She and Tommy kept bickering and snipping at each other at every chance available

Hetal Vasavada

Occupation: Startup Developer

• Deaf Composer: As a vegetarian, she can’t taste meat. This went both ways, as she completely failed at making a Salisbury Steak (this one was a double cripple since she also is allergic to mushrooms), but she nailed the Beef Wellington challenge by using her observation and Chris’ comments.
• Irony: Loses a vegetarian team challenge while she was captain; then later does well in the meat-based Pressure Test. Gordon lampshades to her that throughout the competition thus far her meat dishes tend to be better than her vegetarian ones.
• Honor Before Reason: After the Theme Park Challenge, Darah chooses Hetal to have immunity from the pressure test, despite her minimal contribution. She flat-out rejects it since she acknowledges that Derrick deserved it more.
• Laser-Guided Karma: A positive example. Following a poor run in the theme park Team Challenge, Hetal is chosen as one of five teammates spared from the Pressure Test by team captain Darah, who was basing her choices on who smiled and was friendliest to the customers. Hetal declined the save, feeling there were more deserving teammates, and chose Derrick, who was a big part in salvaging their team's service, to go up instead, which the judges allowed. For the Pressure Test to make a box of cinnamon rolls, she ends up making the best batch.
• Nice Girl: She never had anything negative to say about her fellow competitors, and in one elimination challenge, she gave Shelly a whole jar of peanut butter after she forgot to pick up the key ingredients, with the judges commenting on how easily she could have let Shelly get eliminated on that alone.

Thomas "Tommy" Walton

Occupation: Fashion Designer

• The Bus Came Back:
  • As a guest at Nick's wedding in Season 7.
  • Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
  • He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Camp Gay: Fashion designer and completely sassy on and off-camera.
• Older Than They Look: He was 53 when he competed, and his claim to fame was that the only wrinkle he had was the one he sat on.
• Hidden Depths: Mentions he is of Creole and grew up in the south. This helped in his victory in the Chicken and Waffle Elimination Challenge.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He and Katrina kept bickering and snipping at each other at every chance available

Olivia Crouppen

Occupation: Fashion Stylist

• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Bri and Fred (Season 10).
• The Fashionista: Both her day job and her talent at plating beautiful-looking dishes.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She was very reluctant to cook living crabs because she saw them as creepy and disgusting alien bugs

Michelle "Shelly" Flash

Occupation: Kitchen Assistant

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Somehow she thought combining ground beef and strawberries inside a summer roll was a good idea. And even "greater" when she pairs that with a sauce made of jelly and sriracha.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Lost the first Audition round to Christopher, but was chosen as one of the six chefs to compete one more time. She won one of the last two aprons along with Stephen.
• Springtime for Hitler: When her team lost the Las Vegas Team Challenge, she chose to keep Derrick and Christopher, despite both of them being the reason their team only lost by a small margin, in the pressure test just so one of them would go home. However, not only did they make it, she lost her ally Ailsa in the process.
• Struggling Single Mother: She is the "single mom on a budget", raising her daughter by herself.
• What Were You Thinking?: The "Peanut Butter and Jelly" Elimination Test was a series of fails from her, starting with her forgetting the two main components of the challenge, and even after she manages to borrow the ingredients from Hetal and Olivia, she ends up making "ground beef and strawberry summer rolls", causing Gordon to scold her on the spot and compare it with a "stuffed condom".

Christopher Lu

Occupation: Restaurant Manager

• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Comically Missing the Point: During the Beef Wellington challenge, he claimed that he chose to send Hetal’s dish because he was missing the sauce. It turns out that it had even more problems than that, namely the disproportionate size of the pastry, which Gordon compared to the lounge cushion, which also was undercooked.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite being chewed out multiple times by Christina for his presentation and saying too much to the point of being disrespectful to the professional chefs judging him, he chose to roll his eyes at a critique when Gordon looked down... even though Graham and Christina could still see him. It did him no favors when combined with his unsuccessful dish.

Sara Zacek

Occupation: Mobile Home Park Manager

• Never My Fault: During the Peanut Butter and Jelly challenge, she made a subpar tart that lacked peanut butter and had a lot of creme fraiche, but she dismissed Gordon’s feedback as his “personal taste”. This was enough for Gordon to eliminate her.

Kerry Prince

Occupation: Human Resources Rep

Amanda Saab

Occupation: Social Worker

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• The Cameo: As a guest at Nick Nappi's wedding in Season 7.
• Heroic BSoD: She starts crying when the birthday cake she makes regularly ends up raw in the center.
• Token Minority: She is the only contestant from Lebanese heritage and the first one wearing a hijab.

Charlie Chapman

Occupation: HVAC Technician

• Epic Fail: His handling of the cake during the Pressure Test. It really looked horrible.

Jesse Romero

Occupation: Petroleum Landman

• Never My Fault: During the Frozen Dinner challenge, he tried to argue with Gordon that his venison dish wasn’t dry, which was evident it was because of the color. This cemented his elimination that night.

Veronica Cili

Occupation: Beauty Consultant

• Comically Missing the Point: This ends up being her undoing in the TV Dinner challenge. Despite Christina flat-out saying so to her face, she completely and utterly fails to realize that the point of the challenge is to take the contents of the TV dinner (Salisbury steak, mac and cheese, and steamed broccoli) and elevate them to a dish worthy of being served at a restaurant. Instead, she simply recreates each component of the TV dinner, serving them in huge, separate portions with no effort put into refining them into a single dish of restaurant quality. The result was so underwhelming and outright baffling (both visually and in terms of taste) that it got her eliminated.
• Genki Girl: Despite being the oldest of the cast, she was always cheerful, jumping excitedly when Gordon praised her apple pie.

Ailsa von Dobeneck

Occupation: Assistant Railroad Manager

• Statuesque Stunner: She was the tallest of the female contestants.

Daniel "Dan" Collado

Occupation: Engineer and Model

• Chick Magnet: For their first team challenge, the contestants had to split into two groups at random. Amanda notes that many of the women stood right next to Dan.
  Amanda: The judges say “Go! Pick your own teams!”, and most of the girls go to Dan. Oh my g- Really?! You run to the model boy?!
• Non Game Play Elimination: He left the competition offscreen for unknown reasons.

Justin Banister

Occupation: High School Student

• Adorably Precocious Child: At least that’s how he presents himself in the confessional. He states that most of the teens his age are partying, while he stays at home planning his future.
• The Baby of the Bunch: He was the youngest cast member, and his inexperience showed during his elimination.
• What Were You Thinking?: He presented corn profiteroles made of canned corn. The judges then pointed out that it was more effective to get more natural corn flavor from actual fresh corn from the pantry, which was full of any kind of corn in existence.

Darah Carattini

Occupation: Amusement Park Guide

• Honor Before Reason: Deconstructed. When given the chance to save herself before the pressure test, she declined, wanting to stay as she was the captain, and wanted to redeem herself from costing her team the challenge. However, she chose to save teammates who smiled the most, and on top of everything, her cinnamon buns were raw, and she was eliminated.
• Skewed Priorities: She puts more emphasis on customer service over the quality of the food, basing her reasons to save teammates on who smiled the most. Even Graham had a problem with this criteria.

Brianna Watson

Occupation: Hairstylist

• Struggling Single Mother: She's a single mom, just like Shelly and Claudia.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Her only major appearance was her elimination episode.

Matthew "Mateo" McConnell

Occupation: High School Teacher

• Only Known by Their Nickname: His birth name was Matthew, but he went by Mateo.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: His only major appearance was his elimination episode.

Season 7

Shaun O'Neale

Occupation: DJ

• The Ace: All of the remaining contestants in the Top 7 mentioned his name as "the one to fear", without missing a beat. Aside from his condescending cockiness, he blew the judges and everyone else out of the water with his incredible performance.
• The Cameo / Special Guest:
  • Returned in Season 8 on two separate occasions. The first time was cooking with the contestants on a Mystery Box Challenge with ingredients he personally picked, while the second time was in the guestlist for Caesar Palace's 50th anniversary.
  • In Season 9, he came back for his wedding
  • In Season 10, he along with Season 2 winner Jennifer and Season 3 winner Christine came back for the audition round and finale, and he and his wife Katie were guests at season 9 winner Gerron's wedding.
  • He presents the first Mystery Box challenge of Season 12, with the theme being "Spirit dishes". The box contains liquor from his new restaurant.
• Foil: To his fellow competitor David. Both reside and work in Las Vegas, with David as a professional poker player and Shaun as a DJ. David, however, has a Hair-Trigger Temper despite his profession requiring him to be calm, while Shaun rarely gets agitated, being normally cocky throughout the competition.
• Never Bareheaded: Always wore a baseball cap in the competition, only subverting it during his wedding day in Season 9.
• The Rival: To David.
• Through His Stomach: In Season 9 Episode 8, Katie, Shaun's fianceé, explains why she chose scallops as appetizers.
  Katie: For our very first date, Shaun made me scallops
  Gordon: How good were they?
  Katie: Amazing. We're here now.

Brandi Mudd

Occupation: Elementary School Teacher

• Beginner's Luck: Despite having never worked with, cooked, nor eaten a lobster, she completely nailed poaching and deconstructing it following Gordon's demo.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Chekhov's Skill: In her audition, she told the judges that she has been cooking with her grandmother’s iron skillet, which was more than a hundred years old and never touched a drop of water. She ended up winning the Mystery Box that required only using a skillet, a knife, and a wooden spoon.
• Cool Teacher: She is an Elementary School teacher and mother of two kids, with her class appearing in her audition tape to support her. Gordon and Christina visit her at one of her classes.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: The only dish that landed her on the Bottom 3 was her family's apple pie, which consisted of granny apples, cheddar cheese and bacon, claiming that her kids loved that combination.
• Country Mouse: She often comments on how her small town in Kentucky only has farm animals and no fresh seafood available. Gordon teased her about her small town by asking her if they had electricity. She mockingly answered that they also had plumbing.
• Irony: Despite making pies at home, her dish was the worst of the Pie Elimination Challenge due to multiple factors (horrible presentation and raw apples are a start). She was placed in the bottom two because of that, barely surviving over Brittany.
• Nice Girl: On par with her Cool Teacher and Team Mom traits during the season. From the three finalists, she was the Only Sane Woman between Shaun’s cocky confidence and David’s hotheaded, competitive attitude.

David Williams

Occupation: Professional Poker Player

• Big Bad: He was the "villain" of the season.
• Chekhov's Skill: As a poker player, David knows about memorization and counting numbers, so when he led the blue team to victory in the Popup Team Challenge, he used that skill to remind Brandi and Tanorria about what was next on order.
• Defeat Means Friendship: In the finale, where he finished as co-runner-up with Brandi, David humbly took his defeat graciously. He even hugged and congratulated Shaun with a bro-hug and well-wishes, admitting that he was grateful for the whole journey to the finale, and he was proud to have been a finalist with Brandi in the first-ever, three-way grand finale showdown, finishing as co-runners-up.
• Dirty Coward: In the veteran's challenge, he selfishly wanted to be saved since he was the losing team captain of the red team, instead of Honor Before Reason (the captain goes down with the ship).
• Foil: To his fellow competitor Shaun. Both reside and work in Las Vegas, with David as a professional poker player, and Shaun as a DJ. David, however, has a Hair-Trigger Temper despite his profession requiring him to be calm, while Shaun rarely gets agitated, being normally cocky throughout the competition.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He was ferociously volcanic, short-tempered, and aggressively belligerent on the show.
• Hot-Blooded: David is very volatile, livid, and easy to anger (provocative), which is ironic considering his real-life job as a professional poker player.
• Jerkass: From the veteran's team challenge/replication Pressure Test forward, he became notoriously passive-aggressive and developed an aggressive, hostile, explosive, hot-headed, and short-tempered jerkishness. He also became a huge trash-talker, rudely badmouthing his fellow competitors, and was always pouting and raging like a manchild crybaby, overdramatically overreacting and throwing temper tantrums every time things didn’t go his way and that’s how one of the most infamously historical moments to in the show's history happened, where he had a massive temper tantrum and nearly tried to quit the competition himself.
  • He sure did a lot of nasty things to establish himself as one of the most hated contestants ever. He received a "villainous" edit, like Christian in Season 2, Ryan, Tali and Josh (in the later half) in Season 3, Krissi in Season 4, Leslie and Cutter in Season 5, and Jeff in Season 8. He had to play the villain role to maximize drama for ratings.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his cocky Jerkass attitude and volatile, short-tempered personality, David has shown his nice side on occasions.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: He's actually a nice and friendly, down to earth, cool dude IRL according to his social media pages where he reviewed the episodes as they aired on TV; the producers and editors made him nasty with the editing.
• Nice Guy: He was shown to be one of the most chill people early on, but then took a 180 on his personality shortly after the veterans team challenge.
• Rage Quit: Nearly quit the competition and stormed out when he was given Dan's grocery basket in the Top 5 family reunion, which had ingredients he never worked with on a daily basis. However, Ramsay stopped him from leaving just before he headed home.
• The Rival: To Shaun.
• Tantrum Throwing: At the end of the picnic tag team challenge, David threw the bottle of champagne onto the ground after he and Katie failed to get it opened for the judging. Christina actually had to warn him that if he did that in a professional kitchen, he would have been fired on the spot.
• Took a Level in Badass: David originally planned to stay under the radar in the beginning, but couldn’t keep that momentum shortly after the bibimbap elimination challenge/test, which formed him to come out of his shell, especially when he came out from the bottom three. He impressed the judges with his high-end style of cooking and his highs were some of the highest in the season, but his two lows nearly destroying his performance record.
• Took a Level in Kindness: His douchey jerkassery dies down in the finale, where he doesn't argue or throw a fit once. He never badmouthed Shaun or Brandi at all, whispering "Awesome/great job, Shawn" as their finale dishes were critiqued in the dining room. He even hugged it out with Brandi and Shaun in the ring-like arena.

Tanorria Askew

Occupation: Credit Union Coordinator

Daniel "Dan" Paustian

Occupation: Server

• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Shaun's wedding in Season 9.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His competition tended to underestimate him because he was the typical frat guy and had a relaxed attitude. He managed to get to the Top 5 thanks to his own skills and taste.
• Frat Bro: He often boasted about being the typical beer-drinking frat guy with a good palate
• Lethal Joke Character: Most of the time Dan was the buttjoke of the competitors, and Edward Lee cracked some jokes at him. He manages to be in the Top 5 even with dishes he didn't know how to make, just following his palate.
• Through His Stomach: According to Dan, his cooking skills are his main selling point with girls. He can take them to dinner, and prepare them breakfast.

Katie Dixon

Occupation: Fitness Trainer/Retail Associate

• The Cameo: Made an appearance in Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Since she is a trainer and cooks healthy food, she can’t perform well when the challenge requires her to deep-fry things, like frying chicken with batter or french fries.
• What Were You Thinking?: In the Fried Chicken Pressure Test, she fails to realize that she can't fry a chicken without a batter, right after Gordon showed the contestants what kind of chicken they were looking for. Claiming that she only makes healthy food, she fries the chicken completely naked, which results in dry meat. She only avoids elimination because Manny and Diana had the worst performances of the night.

Nathan Barnhouse

Occupation: Tuxedo Salesman

• The Baby of the Bunch: He is the youngest contestant at age 19. His biggest pet peeve is being called immature.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• The Load: Is usually the weakest person on team challenges, making most people annoyed by him and quickly lose his respect. In fact, when Dan was made a team captain, he made a point to pick the protein advantage just so he would not get Nathan.
• Hidden Depths: He spent part of his youth in Africa doing missionary work. The experience allowed him to learn some dishes and present an "African Bibimbap", which was well received by the judges.
• The Millstone: Was this to the red team in the Farming Team Challenge as he failed to prep enough kale for the customers (and this was after he complained that he was not getting respect) resulting in them pulling out fresh kale and serving it without cleaning them. But that got worse as the customers found the kale too salty, with one spitting their serving to the ground. That pretty much led to the red team losing.
  • Pairing him with Shaun in the Tag-Team challenge marks one of the only two times Shaun was in the Bottom.
• Naive But Skilled: While he usually underperforms in team challenges, he was perfectly capable of holding his own at individual challenges.
• Nervous Wreck: He can't handle pressure, to the point he even fainted in the middle of a Tag Team challenge.
• Nice Guy: Despite his tendency to freak out, he rarely has a mean streak, often commenting on him being the son of a pastor.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He was always wearing a colorful tux and a bow tie during the competition.

Eric Howard

Occupation: Fireman

• The Cameo:
  • Made an appearance during Shaun's wedding in Season 9, even being one of the groomsmen.
  • Appeared in Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Good Is Not Nice: He is generally regarded as a chill guy, but he notably gives Nathan a cold shoulder during an elimination round. When Nathan tries to give him a comforting hug after a harsh critique from the judges, Eric flat-out tells him "Don't touch me."

Terence "Terry" Mueller

Occupation: Handyman

• Happily Married: He proudly tells the judges that he is a newlywed
• Hidden Depths: After winning a Mystery Box, he is given the advantage of choosing between three rice dishes. He ended up choosing Bibimbap ^note A Korean rice bowl cooked on a hot stone bowl with a mix of different toppings, because he lived in Korea Town for a few years, knowing very well that many of his competitors haven’t seen it compared to risotto or paella.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He is a big handyman who is capable of baking delicate cakes and pies

Diamond Alexander

Occupation: Web Designer

• Deaf Composer: She was the vegetarian contestant of the season, and managed to clear challenges involving meat with minor criticisms.
• Hidden Depths: Like Season 2's Jennifer, Diamond used to be a Beauty Queen.
• What Were You Thinking?: In the bibimbap challenge, the judges are incredulous at her Thanksgiving bibimbap topped with fried chicken, cornbread, and gravy.

Andrea Galan

Occupation: Student

• Dramatic Irony: After losing a team challenge and arguing with Nathan, she tells him that she can’t wait for him to be sent home. Not only does Nathan get immunity from the other team, but she gets disqualified during the Pressure Test.
• Non Game Play Elimination: Despite having the best sausage on the Pressure Test, she had to be disqualified because she arrived at the front counter three seconds late.

Alejandro Toro

Occupation: Voice Over Artist

• Beginner's Luck: For the lobster challenge, he says that it's his first time handling this kind of lobster because he has only seen spiny lobsters (the ones that don't have claws). He ends up winning the challenge, not only because he did a perfect job, but because he managed to get extra meat from the bottom pincer of the claws (a very tough part to break and reach).
• Token Minority: He is the only Venezuelan in the competition

D'Andre Balaoing

Occupation: Bartender

• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Shaun's wedding in Season 9 and during Season 10's pool party.
• Gayngst: He tells that his parents disowned him when he came out as gay, having been homeless for a time. His goal is to open a cooking school for LGBT teens who are going through the same issues as he did.
• Twofer Token Minority: He's African-American and gay.

Diana Bilow

Occupation: Server

• Dumb Blonde: Thought that mincing raw tripe and hiding it in her dish was a smart move. Unfortunately, Ramsay was easily able to find them, and she was eliminated.
• Rule of Three: Works both ways. She was immune three times in a row (two were based on being safe with one team challenge victory) and she was in the bottom three times in a row before her elimination.

Emmanuel "Manny" Washington Jr.

Occupation: Fireman

• Dramatic Irony: He is a firefighter for a living, and he gets eliminated for serving burned fried chicken.

Lisa-Ann Marchesi

Occupation: Insurance Manager

• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Shaun's wedding in Season 9.
• Hot-Blooded: She pretty much blows up at Gordon during a critique, claiming that she sacrificed a lot and Gordon doesn't know how much she wants to stay in the competition. Gordon admires her passion but tells her that this isn't the moment to mouth off to a judge.
• What Were You Thinking?: She started to make her flambé right when Gordon was at her station, nearly burning his face off, if not because of his good reflexes.

Brittany Craig

Occupation: Server

• Out of Focus: She doesn’t get any spotlight during her run, not even during her elimination episode.

Barbara Savage

Occupation: Investigator

• Epic Fail: She made the most mistakes during the Wedding Challenge, by making an inedible vinaigrette and wasting portions of scallops by cooking them way too early. This ensured her elimination without a Pressure Test.

William "Bill" Travers

Occupation: Retired

• Scatterbrained Senior: When tasked with replicating Gordon's halibut dish, Bill ends up forgetting many of the ingredients needed for the dish. He gets sent home.

Cassandra "Cassie" Peterson

Occupation: Bakery Clerk

• We Hardly Knew Ye: Like Season 3 Samantha, Cassie did not get much attention except for her poor steak and potato dish during the first Mystery Box challenge, getting eliminated afterwards.

Season 8

Dino Angelo Luciano

Occupation: Dancer

• Big "YES!": Pretty much yelled it out when he found out that one pressure test involved cannolis, a dish he grew up on. Unsurprisingly, he won that challenge easily.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Underestimate him at your own risk: he comes off as a campy dancer but he was consistently at the top throughout the competition and eventually won it all.
• The Cameo: He finally guest stars in the season 10 finale.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Subverted. He frequently makes wildly avant-garde and very bizarre dishes that theoretically should not work but he manages to impress the judges anyway.
• Crazy Enough to Work: He did this twice with a coconut profiterole, and later a fried prawn wonton filled with cream cheese, impressing the judges for making the bizarre combination work.
• Deaf Composer: Being vegan for health reasons, Dino had to rely solely on muscle memory when it came to cooking proteins, a fact that allowed him to win the first Pressure Test of that season when he had to cook a pork chop.
• Keet: He was very energetic, cheerful, and peppy throughout the competition.
• Nice Guy: Despite his eccentric and off-kilter bug-eyed quirkiness, he is as nice as pie and a positive, humble, cool dude in real life. He constantly posts inspirational quotes and positivity on social media to help people get through the hard times and depression in their lives and is a very kind-hearted, nice, and friendly person.
• Verbal Tic: If he says "Baby doll", you know he's in the zone and has an idea.
• Vocal Dissonance: Despite his scrawny appearance and bleached hair, he had a very deep Brooklyn accent that one could mistake for a gangster's.

Eboni Henry

Occupation: Addiction Counselor

• Almighty Mom: Once she got into “Mommy Mode”, she could lead her team to victory.
• Beginner's Luck: Two times in fact;
  • Despite never making scrambled eggs before in her life, Eboni managed to make a good batch that earned her to safety.
  • In Episode 9, despite never eating a cannoli, let alone make one, she made a box that was equally good as Dino's (who grew up with this dessert).
• Dark and Troubled Past: She had a Teen Pregnancy and was homeless while raising her first child, living in her car.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: She and Cate became close friends, calling themselves the “Chicago Sisters”
• Sassy Black Woman: She had the attitude and the pose to back up her skills.
• Teen Pregnancy: She had her first daughter in her teens, which resulted in her toughening up and developing her strong personality.
• Tempting Fate: In the Pop-Up restaurant challenge, Eboni felt confident enough to pick Jeff for her team, declaring that she would be able to break Jeff’s strike of being The Jinx. She immediately regrets it when her team loses.
• Time to Step Up, Commander: After Cate showed poor leadership in the Breakfast Team Challenge and Ramsay asked the Red Team for someone to step up, she took command and got her team refocused. It was thanks to her that the Red Team won and the judges praised her for salvaging Cate's mess.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She was afraid of crawfish, and had a hard time peeling and preparing them. The judges noted that this was the only time during the competition when all her confidence was gone.

Jason Wang

Occupation: High School Music Teacher

• The Ace: He landed on the bottom only twice, but otherwise had a great run on the show, coming out on top multiple times as a formidable, elite frontrunner excelling in baking desserts, cooking savory food dishes (nailing any proteins, meat, or fish) and technical skills tests. He finished as the co-runner-up of the season along with Eboni.
  • He also avoided every black-apron-themed replication Pressure Test, thus he never competed in said black-apron Pressure Test once.
• Asian and Nerdy: He was by far the most adventurous, artistically inventive and innovative, gifted phenom (next to Dino) by wowing the judges with his imaginative, groundbreaking creations. As for his personality, he answers in confessional interviews by relating his experiences to his work as a teacher and music.
• Beginner's Luck: There have been several times where he flawlessly nailed it and exceptionally knocked it out of the park, producing awesome, knockout dishes.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance in Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Camp Gay: He has a chipper voice tone and has a male partner.
• Cool Teacher: He is a very passionate high school music teacher.
• Nice Guy: One of the nicer contestants in the season. Even when he was picking the pairings for the tag team challenge, he never had any negative things to say.
• No-Damage Run: He went through the entire season without having to compete in a single black apron-themed replication Pressure Test.
• Took a Level in Badass: When he was appointed team captain in the Pop-Up Restaurant, he couldn’t control his team because of his soft-spoken nature. It’s only when he starts harshly and angrily yelling at his teammates with an iron fist and regaining control that his team wins.
• Twofer Token Minority: He is the only Taiwanese-American contestant and gay.

Caitlin "Cate" Meade

Occupation: Nutritionist

• Achilles' Heel: When it comes to the leadership role, Cate can either be decent or falter apart. Notably, in the Breakfast Team Challenge, she nearly led the red team to defeat until Eboni stepped in.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance in Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Genki Girl: She was always peppy and energetic in all the challenges.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Despite looking proper and nice, she is also a country girl who used to hunt with her father.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: She and Eboni became close friends, calling themselves the “Chicago Sisters”.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Her face says this after she unintentionally caused Reba's elimination.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Lost to Lisa-Ann in the Season 7 audition rounds, but managed to win a white apron this season.
• One-Steve Limit: Since her name is also Caitlin, she goes by "Cate" to avoid confusion.

Jeff Philbin

Occupation: Marketing Director

• Achilles' Heel: Baking Desserts. Jeff has struggled across every baking challenge when it comes to baking pastries and baking desserts. His cannolis, cupcakes, and truffles were all a disaster, and he just barely scraped by. Thankfully, he stepped up his game by winning the baking pressure test in Episode 17 featuring a chocolate souffle replication, which he brilliantly nailed perfectly, despite having never baked nor eaten one.
• Butt-Monkey: He won a total of zero team challenges this season, which got to the point where Eboni outright called him a bad luck charm in the final team challenge.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance in Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Hot-Blooded: Many of his fellow competitors have been taken aback because of his volatile personality, which has cramped all of his team challenges.
• The Jinx: Most of his fellow competitors were reluctant to have him on their team challenges. At one point, Eboni felt confident enough as a team captain and attempted to prove that she could "break the curse" and chose him over Yachecia. Her team ended up losing and she regretted this, calling Jeff a loser.

Yachecia Holston

Occupation: Minister

• Honor Before Reason: Decided to keep herself and Jennifer in the replication Pressure Test following the team challenge loss instead of taking the option to save herself and let her teammates do it instead.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She was leading the blue team well in the Hotel Breakfast Team Challenge, but after Jennifer sent up poorly made eggs, she decided to do them herself. Unfortunately, she struggled herself, and the blue team had to do the order five times and still were unable to send it out.
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: Presented what Ramsay called the worst dish in the show's history by the final 6 as her sweet and hot salmon with braised Swiss chard and Tuscan white beans had a disgusting presentation, with Ramsay stating that it looked liked it was prepared in 10 minutes, had overcooked salmon, and confusing flavors.

Gabriel Lewis

Occupation: Fast Food Server

• Ambiguously Brown: His father Rodney is African American and his mother Lisa is white (European).
• The Baby of the Bunch: At age 19, he was able to reach the Top 7. Gordon was so impressed by his raw talent at a young age that he offered to give him a scholarship for Culinary School.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Chekhov's Skill: He successfully passes the Scrambled Eggs challenge because one of the first dishes he learned from YouTube tutorials was Gordon's video.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He came from a very poor family in debt, his financially struggling parents battled cancer, and just barely made enough money to manage things. In fact, Gabriel had to work very hard at many part-time jobs throughout his high school years just to support his family. Thankfully, this burden was lifted off his shoulders due to the offers from Gordon and Aaron.
• Deaf Composer: In the cow challenge, he gets to cook kidneys, explaining in the confessional that he has never eaten red meat because he is a pescetarian. He gets mixed reviews on his dishes, particularly the temperature of the hanger steak.
• Nice Guy: By far one of the nicest, friendliest, and most down-to-earth, humble, cool dudes and most likable contestants on the show. Aside from his inexperience and skill at cooking, he seemed to get along well with everyone, never held grudges, and did not want to start, or get involved in any drama, and his departure was met with tears.
• Mirror Character: Arguably to Julia from Hell's Kitchen. Both of them worked in restaurants that were lowkey, and neither of them went to culinary school before coming onto the show (although for MasterChef, this isn't a requirement). And finally, Ramsay offered each of them a scholarship for Culinary School when they got eliminated and sent home.
• Out of Focus: He initially flew under the radar with very little on-camera screen time at the beginning of the competition, living in the shadows of other prominent standout contestants, and never really stood out at the beginning of the competition until the second half of the season.
• Took a Level in Badass: Started fresh off high school and with a job at Chipotle. He ends his run in MasterChef in 7th place with a scholarship from Gordon.
• The Woobie: You have to feel sorry for this poor kid. He doesn't just want this title, he desperately needed it as it would not only change his life but his entire family's. Thankfully, Gordon and Aaron offered to secure the boy's future.

Daniel Pontes-Macedo

Occupation: Substitute Teacher

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, he loses against Cate (Season 8) and Michael (Season 10).

Caitlin Jones

Occupation: Dancer

• Catchphrase: Whenever she regrets something that happened, she says in the confessional “I’m kicking myself”
• One-Steve Limit: She shares the same name with Cate.
• The Quiet One: Deconstructed. Her inability to speak up led to Jeff taking more control in the tag team challenge, which led to them making one of the worst platters of the day. However, Christina was more upset that Caitlin was letting Jeff walk over her, and she was eliminated because of that.
• What Were You Thinking?: She wanted to kick herself after she and Adam landed in the Bottom Two since she felt she should have talked to Adam about her own strengths before doing his dish. Then again when she let Jeff boss her around during the tag team challenge.

Adam Wong

Occupation: Harvard Student

• Heroic BSoD: During the Elimination test against Caitlin, he manages to perfectly replicate Gordon’s dish, but later discovers that the chicken breast was raw in the center. He cried in frustration, to the point Caitlin had to hug him and calm him down by praising his effort.
• Token Rich Student: He studies at Harvard University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, to which judges and contestants alike refer him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After his team lost the Providers Team Challenge, Adam was asked who he would send to safety. He picked Brien, but everybody called bullshit since Brien was the worst performer on the red team, leading him to admit that he didn't want to face the latter in the Pressure Test. However, it turns out that he had no say in who they saved as the judges decided to save Yachecia themselves.

Jenny Cavellier

Occupation: Special Needs Therapist

• Out of Focus: Despite making it to the Top 11, she never truly stood out in the competition.

Mike "Newton" Newton

Occupation: Ranch Owner

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, he loses against Stephen (Season 6) and Bowen (Season 9).
• Cool Old Guy: He was the oldest of the contestants, cracked jokes, and managed to make it to the main competition.
• Deadpan Snarker: He wasn’t above making quips on the confessional.
• Irony: Despite being a ranch owner, he had the worst cleaning of his rack of lamb during the Masterclass and was unable to recreate Ramsay's lamb dish properly. Even though he was spared over Sam, he knew he would get ridiculed back home.
• Failed a Spot Check: A game-ending example. He went up against Yachecia in a Pressure Test to recreate Ramsay's champagne oysters but forgot to add the caviar berblanc to the dish due to running out of time (and being unable to open the jar due to the after-effects from a stroke he had in January). Had he had the caviar on the dish, he would have beaten Yachecia as he had his other components praised to be better. But as Yachecia did get her caviar on her dish, it led to his elimination.
• Last-Name Basis: He went by his last name.
• Mirror Character: He also was a cowboy like Season 3's Cowboy Mike, and they even shared the same given name.
• One-Steve Limit: Avoided confusion with Season 3's "Cowboy Mike" by going by his surname.
• Real Men Eat Meat: As a Texas ranch owner, he considered failing at a meat challenge instant ridicule in his Home State. After his Epic Fail during the lamb challenge, he redeemed himself with a Porterhouse steak, winning the Mystery Box that day.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His audition round dish was making cupcakes. He also made a decent batch of cannolis that saved him from the Pressure Test.

Reba Billingsley

Occupation: Stay-at-home Mom

• Deep South: Mentions that she grew up in a small town in Texas, and would hunt for her food to cook. She also offhandedly mentioned that a family member used to eat squirrels by sucking out their brains, to the disgust of Ramsay.
• Team Mom: She was the oldest of the female contestants, was constantly looking out for her fellow teammates, and avoided drama on camera, which often granted her immunity from the Pressure Tests. Everyone was sad to see her go during her elimination.

Brien O'Brien

Occupation: Magazine Ad Sales

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, he loses against Stephen (Season 6) and Bowen (Season 9).
• Epic Fail: The cannoli Pressure Test was for him. He presented a very underwhelming combination inspired by peanut butter and jelly and failed to present six, resulting in his elimination.

Necco Ceresani

Occupation: Marketing Manager

• Suicidal Overconfidence: During the Beef challenge, he and a few others who Newton considered the strongest were left to cook a hanger steak. He pretty much ignored Gordon’s warnings on how to properly cook the cut, dismissing the challenge with a “It’s just a piece of meat. How difficult can it be?”. His plating ended up baffling Christina because of the poor composition, and the temperature was rare, below the recommended medium-rare.

Jennifer Williams

Occupation: Debt Collector

• Nervous Wreck: Despite having the talent and working as a debt collector, Jennifer was surprisingly very prone to crack during team challenges and Pressure Tests. Gordon even compared watching her cook with a plane taking a nosedive during turbulence.

Sam Reiff-Pasarew

Occupation: Creative Writing Teacher

• Fat Idiot: Some of the decisions he made in the MasterChef kitchen were very questionable, especially his claim that serving the judges raw lamb was a good idea.
• Rule of Three: Was in the bottom three times before being eliminated.

Heather Dombrosky

Occupation: Registered Nurse

• Epic Fail: She over-seasoned her scrambled eggs with pepper, leaving Christina unable to take a bite without coughing from the spice. This led to her elimination.
• Informed Ability: She proudly said that her mother was Peruvian, which influenced her Chicken with Rice dish, but Aarón couldn’t taste any of the Peruvian flavors, expressing his disappointment considering that he worked with Peruvian chefs in college.

Paige Jimenez

Occupation: Swimsuit Model

• The Millstone: Even if Jennifer's leadership during the Lifeguard Team Challenge was frantic at best, Paige ruined the blue team's dishes by overseasoning the fish with a whole bottle of cayenne pepper, making it inedible without the avocado mousse.
• Stepford Smiler: Christina noted that she shouldn’t be smiling during a Pressure Test, making the judges not take her seriously. It was also why all the contestants chose to keep Jennifer over her when asked by the judges, leading to her elimination.

Mark Togni

Occupation: Stay-at-home Dad

• Jerk Jock: He is cocky and speaks in football language constantly because he used to play football back in college
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: While making their dishes, Mark tells Heather to ignore the judges to avoid getting distracted, right when the judges are giving them advice. Gordon immediately called him out and threatened to eliminate him on the spot if he didn't take the competition seriously.
• Too Dumb to Live: Besides openly saying to ignore the judges in front of Gordon, he makes the same single pancake but with chocolate chips when given a chance to repeat the grocery bag challenge.

Season 9

Gerron Hurt

Occupation: English Teacher

Mentor: Joe

• Be Yourself: For the Finale, he decided to make his menu based on his southern roots, despite Joe telling him to grab more inspiration from foreign cuisines. After presenting a very consistent and nearly flawless menu, Joe stood up and hugged him, admitting that he was wrong. Gerron ended up winning the entire competition because he chose to put himself on his dishes.
• The Cameo: Returns in season 10 for his wedding and the finale.
  • Appeared in Season 12 (episode 15) presenting the Mystery Box Challenge to make spicy dishes.
• Cool Teacher: His main reason for competing in MasterChef was to use the prize money to open a Culinary program at his school.
• Informed Flaw: Gerron claimed that desserts were not his expertise, but he managed to excel at the three chocolate-based desserts during a Pressure Test against Farhan and Samantha after The Restaurant Takeover. And, he made a peach bread pudding that won him a Mystery Box Challenge. The only time he did wind up in the Bottom 2 in a baking challenge was the Cupcake Pressure Test, but that was for the density of the batter (Mark, the person who got eliminated and sent home over him, made very big technical errors on his batch in comparison).
• Nice Guy: He didn't have a conflict with anyone in the cast and was a good teammate overall.
• Sole Survivor: He was the only remaining member of Team Joe in the Top 7.
• Took a Level in Badass: He started as one of the middle-of-the-road contestants, landing in the Bottom 2 more than once. He started to get better in the second half of the season, eventually winning the whole competition.
• What Were You Thinking?: In Episode 5, he almost managed to pass the first round of the Dungeness Crab Challenge, but Joe notices that Gerron left a leg out because the crab originally was missing a leg, and he thought that an asymmetrical crab would look bad. Joe immediately scolded him because he was still wasting meat, and kept him in the challenge.

Ashley Mincey

Occupation: Professional Grocery Shopper

Mentor: Gordon

• The Ace: She landed on the bottom only twice, but otherwise had a great run on the show, coming out on top multiple times as a formidable frontrunner excelling in baking desserts, cooking savory dishes, and technical skills tests (except for screwing up filleting the halibut). She finished as the co-runner-up of the season with Cesar.
• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• Crazy Enough to Work: When given the sweet basket in the Citrus Elimination Challenge, she decided to bake a lemon layer cake in 1 hour ^note  Even by the show's standards, they usually give the contestants 2 hours to bake their cakes, let the batter rest, make the icing, and decorate in that time frame. Even she admitted to how risky that was. However, it paid off as she won that challenge with Gerron.
• Epic Fail: She and Taylor teaming up ended up in a terrible result. They mauled the chicken, with Gordon even stating that the kids from MasterChef Junior have done better, and couldn't even decide on how to cut the protein.
• Heroic BSoD: She broke into tears during the Wedding Team Challenge, after Ramsay confronted her over not making enough wine reduction for the sauce. This was enough to place her in the bottom two that day.

Cesar Cano

Occupation: High School Teacher

Mentor: Aarón

• The Ace: He landed on the bottom only twice, but otherwise had a great run on the show, coming out on top multiple times as a formidable, elite frontrunner excelling in cooking savory dishes and technical skills tests (except for baking dessert, his Achilles heel). He finished as the co-runner-up of the season along with Ashley.
• Achilles' Heel: Baking Desserts. While he excelled in the cupcake baking pressure test, his lemon cake missed the mark as Shanika knew that baking dessert was very far outside Cesar's comfort zone. Later subverted as he made it to the finale and wowed the judges with his flourless chocolate cake, tamarind caramel, and spicy pepita brittle.
• Ambiguously Brown: His skin color is beige/brown due to his Mexican roots.
• But Not Too Foreign: In his own words, his Mexican family considers him too American, while others note that his Mexican roots do not make him American enough.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party field team challenge. Also appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• The Captain: He was appointed to team captain in not one, but two field team challenges. He was an excellent team leader, and in both cases, successfully lead his team to victory.
• Cool Teacher: He takes pride in his background as a schoolteacher, mostly applying his work habits to his cooking
• Dark and Troubled Past
• Friendly Rivalry: He and Bowen kept this one, coming across more as Vitriolic Best Buds
• The Leader: Is very great at this due to his teaching background and career as a schoolteacher.
• Nice Guy: All his interactions with others were respectful and friendly, and even his rivalry with Bowen was played as friendly banter between the two.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He is always seen wearing dress shirts (sometimes half sleeves) and ties. Sometimes with jeans, other times with chinos.
• Sole Survivor: He was the only remaining member of Team Aarón in the Top 5.
• Smart People Wear Glasses
• Token Minority: He is Mexican-American (originally born in Mexico, but grew up in Texas, USA).

Samantha Daily

Occupation: College Student

Mentor: Gordon

• The Baby of the Bunch: She was the second youngest at age 20, and she was able to reach the Top 4 semifinals. Like Gabriel from Season 8, Gordon was so impressed by how far she made it at such a young age that he offered to give her a scholarship to Culinary School.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Daddy's Girl: She was very close to her late father, who influenced her into Italian cuisine. She broke into tears every time she talked about missing him.

Bowen Li

Occupation: Pilot

Mentor: Gordon

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Brutal Honesty: One of the main reasons he clicked with Shanika right away. After losing one of the team challenges because of Mark, Bowen is the first to call him out as a Know-Nothing Know-It-All. Everyone wholeheartedly agreed with Bowen.
• Can't Take Criticism: As shown towards the end of his time (particularly in Episodes 16 and 19) Bowen is clearly shown to be very thin-skinned, easily butthurt by Gordon and Joe's very harsh, biting, iron-fisted, and vitriol, yet constructive criticism.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Chinese cuisine. Most of the dishes he makes tend to use Chinese techniques.
  • Cesar took this as a reason to choose churros for a replication elimination test, knowing that Bowen knew next to nothing about Latin cuisine. As a result, Bowen tried to double fry his churros as he would with Chinese salty dough, presenting a batch of burned churros to the judges.
  • He struggled again in a pasta replication pressure test since he had never made nor eaten Italian-style pasta before. He was narrowly saved and spared elimination only because Shanika got eliminated and was sent home instead.
  • This all leads to his downfall resulting in his elimination at the end of Episode 20: "Battle of the Beef". He tried to make beef skewers by cutting his vegetables Julianne. Then tried to roll his ground meat in breadcrumbs instead of incorporating them into the mix, resulting in dry meatballs.
• The Determinator: He suffered a fatal car accident and took an entire year to recover. He was motivated to recover and audition because the only program he could watch at the hospital was MasterChef.
• Dramatic Irony: His white apron audition battle was a beef-themed challenge, for which he made Chinese meatballs. He got eliminated and headed home in the final five quarterfinals (before the Top 4 semifinals) featuring a gauntlet trio of consecutive black-apron-themed Beef replication Pressure skills tests, one of the dishes featuring Italian meatballs.
• Friendly Rivalry: He and Cesar kept this one, coming across more as Vitriolic Best Buds.
• Funny Foreigner: When not stressed out during competition, he exchanged some sassy dialogue with Gordon, Shanika, and even his teasing with Cesar is playful.
• Genre Blind: Joe was baffled and incensed when Bowen admitted that he had never made, eaten, or cooked Italian pasta in his life, even before auditioning. ^note  Farhan wrote on social media that they had a pasta-making cooking class off-camera behind the scenes before filming the replication Pressure Test, which Joe even gave a clear demo.
• Happily Married: The first time he appears on-screen, he is holding hands with his husband David, who is encouraging him in Chinese to win the competition.
• Irony: Despite earning his white apron from Gordon by producing a Chinese lion head meatball stuffed with a soft-boiled egg and a pickled radish that was highly praised, he got harshly lambasted by Joe in his elimination episode, having reinvented the meatballs by crusting the exterior in Panko breadcrumbs, resulting in a hard and dense dish, which is a Chinese technique that you're not allowed to do.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Although Bowen does have a point about differing lifestyles, objects, and appliances in China (which does indeed have different cooking styles, techniques, and executions than the US and most kitchens only have stovetops and no ovens), it is also important to note that Bowen had been living in the U.S. for 9 and a half years (almost a decade) at the time of his audition. A decade should be plenty of time to get accustomed to the food scene in the U.S.
  • Bowen was technically correct about the Chinese people's dislike and unfamiliarity with Dessert baking cupcakes and desserts in general. Since he lived in China for years, many others had never seen a cupcake there. It’s not something they usually eat, and back in the U.S. whenever a Chinese person tasted a cupcake they generally didn’t like it. Dessert baking isn’t popular in East Asia. Most homes in China have counter stovetops or hot plate kind of burners but no ovens (ovens are where the pots are stored). It would be very rare to find a home with an oven in it, and most restaurants in China don’t have ovens there. However, in recent years, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines are very much into Dessert baking. About 80% of Filipino homes have legit ovens, and there are tons of bakery companies and home-based bakeries.
• Never My Fault: Towards the end of his time, he refused to own up to and take responsibility for his mistakes, often blaming his motherland (mainland China) for his faults and using his Chinese ethnicity as an excuse.
• Odd Friendship: With Shanika. He's more withdrawn while she's blunt and brutally honest, and he explains that's why he likes her. Shanika describes it as "he's sweet and I'm spicy".
• Straight Gay: He is Happily Married to his male partner David.
• Twofer Token Minority: He is Chinese and gay.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Bowen was a likable fan-favorite at the beginning of the competition by many viewers. However, as he got closer to the end, the higher stakes also brought out the emotional stress in him.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He compares Gordon to his father, being both stern chefs. He later tells Gordon that his father wasn’t supportive of his life decisions, including cooking.

Farhan Momin

Occupation: Dental Student

Mentor: Aarón

• Achilles' Heel: Baking Desserts. Farhan was an elite spicy, savory cook, earning the nickname "O.G. Spice Boy" from Gordon himself. Unfortunately, baking desserts and pastries were so far outside his comfort zone despite having family members who bake semi-professionally and the fact that he enjoyed eating desserts. He struggled in the Banana Cream Pie replication Pressure Test and just barely escaped getting the chop.
  • 12 episodes later, in what was his last elimination episode, he got eliminated and sent home in a 3-dish chocolate dessert baking replication Pressure Test.
• Bollywood Nerd: He is Indian and a dental university student studying dentistry. He kept comparing the competition with his profession, with mixed results.
• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• Chekhov's Skill: His specialty and expertise is cooking spicy, savory food dishes. Gordon even calls him the "O.G. Spice Boy" because he's just that great of a savory cook. His dad is also a Halal Butcher.
• Failed a Spot Check: In the very first skills test immunity challenge of the season, which involved deconstructing a Dungeness Crab, he finished extracting the meat five minutes early, standing still the remaining time. When it came time to check his crab, he still had shell pieces, which earned him a harsh scolding rebuke from Gordon.
• Irony: Despite being an elite spicy, savory cook naturally excelling at cooking savory food dishes as he knew his meat and seafood/shellfish well, Farhan presented an overcooked fish fillet in Episode 17, having pureed the beets (something which the judges harshly lambasted him that you should NEVER do). He nearly got eliminated and went home that night, but fortunately for him, Julia did worse.
• Nice Guy: He never had any drama with other competitors, not even criticism of anyone.

Julia Danno

Occupation: Sales Manager

Mentor: Aarón

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Emily and Shanika (Season 9).
• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• Dramatic Irony: In what was her last elimination episode, Julia smugly claimed that Bowen would be eliminated due to a loss in confidence while she would stay. In the end, Bowen made a strong dish to ensure his safety, while she ultimately got eliminated and headed home for a bland chicken breast, having pureed the beets.
• What Were You Thinking?: Subverted. During a team challenge, she decides to plate all the dishes with smiley faces using the sauces because they are serving kids, Shanika points out that they aren't toddlers and the decorations look stupid, which she ignores. She only averted this because Gordon told her exactly what Shanika said before serving.

Shanika Patterson

Occupation: Event Promoter

Mentor: Joe

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Brutal Honesty: Despite being edited as the season villain, Shanika wasn’t mean to anyone, but very blunt in her opinions, which rubbed her fellow contestants in the wrong way. Bowen was one of the very few who admired her for that.
• Cassandra Truth: All the teams she has been part of ignored all of her advice, which turned out to be right when Gordon’s feedback was exactly what she said.
• Deaf Composer: She is allergic to shellfish and chocolate. She nailed both challenges that required her to extract meat from a Dungeness crab and bake a Black Forest cake.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shanika is, well, a very blunt person to be around, leaving her with few friends in the competition. However, it's never out of malice as she was trying to help them, and she had a good friendship with Bowen, who liked her bluntness.
• Odd Friendship: With Bowen. They're almost complete opposites with him being mostly withdrawn while she's blunt and brutally honest, but he explains that's why he likes her. Shanika describes their relationship as "he's sweet and I'm spicy".
• Sassy Black Woman: She had the poise, skills, and confidence to back up her attitude.
• Signature Style: During her audition, the judges are curious about how long is her ponytail, which Shanika calls her "Beyonce Ponytail". During the whole competition, Shanika wears this high ponytail as part of her signature image, along with the stylish tight jumpsuit.

Taylor Waltmon

Occupation: Sales Training Director

Mentor: Gordon

• The Determinator: She auditioned for MasterChef three years in a row. Gordon picked up on this and decided to finally give her a chance in Season 9.
• Epic Fail: She and Ashley teaming up ended up in a terrible result. Their disagreement on how to cut the chicken led to the protein being mauled, with Gordon even stating that the kids from MasterChef Junior have done better.
• My Greatest Second Chance: She auditioned to MasterChef three times, losing the battles against Andrea in Season 7, and Cate in Season 8.
• Nervous Wreck: Her performance went on a downward spiral as the season progressed, being more notable in the pairs challenge with Ashley, in which she tried to bounce off her part of the blame, and the Tag-Team challenge, in which Julia did most of the actual work. This led to her elimination.
• Time to Step Up, Commander: After Gordon demotes Juni as team captain, Taylor volunteers to take over, which the rest of the team accepts quickly. Despite being unable to win the challenge, Taylor is still given immunity for doing a far better job than Juni.

Emily Hallock

Occupation: Food Research Analyst

Mentor: Joe

• The Ace: Many thought she was the one to beat, as she excelled in Dessert baking challenges, savory cooking, and technical skills. The only reason she left early was because she underestimated Shanika.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance during Season 10's pool party challenge.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She had the opportunity to save herself from the Pressure Test in Episode 14. However, instead of saving herself and having her teammates compete in the Pressure Test (which was to bake a Black Forest Cake), she chose to go head-to-head with Shanika because she disliked Shanika and believed herself to be a much better baker. What followed was a string of bad decisions and worse luck, combined with Shanika pulling off a great cake despite her severe chocolate allergy, which led to Emily's elimination.
• Insufferable Genius: As a food anthropologist, she didn’t miss any opportunity to show off her food knowledge. While the judges were impressed with her, Samantha mentioned once that she didn’t want to be on her team because Emily came across as pretentious.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: She was considered the front runner from the first episode, but she underestimated Shanika by trying to take her out in a replication Pressure Test, which involved baking a Black Forest Cake. As a result, Shanika, despite being deathly allergic to chocolate, won over Emily, whose cake fell inside the fridge and lost most of the filling cream.

Seung Joo "SJ" Yun

Occupation: College Student

Mentor: Gordon

• Dramatic Irony: He got his white apron with a very well-executed fish entrée dish. He got eliminated and headed home for producing a badly-executed halibut and gnocchi dish with clashing, off-balanced flavors.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He goes by “SJ”, while his full name is only on the show website.
• Token Minority: He is a South Korean-American from LA's Koreatown.

Chelsea Sargent

Occupation: Sales Specialist

Mentor: Aarón

• Heroic BSoD: Shanika's criticism of her leadership after losing a challenge got to her, leading to her almost overwhipping her cream. She still managed to present a decent banana cream pie for the Pressure Test.
• Nice Girl: She tries to get along with everyone, which gets to her when Shanika is upset with her for the team losing the challenge.
• What Were You Thinking?: Shanika complains about Chelsea picking her teammates instead of an easier protein to work with. This turned out to be her undoing since most of her team didn't follow her lead and Darrick ended up wasting most of their chicken, which turned out raw.

Ralph Xavier Degala

Occupation: Senior Accountant

Mentor: Joe

• The Big Guy: Was the biggest person on season 9.
• The Cameo: Appears as a guest in the Season 9 finale and Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• Picked Last: When the contestants had to group in pairs, Ralph was the last one without a partner. This turned out to be good for him because he got to work with Joe, who not only taught him new techniques but also granted him immunity for the elimination test.
• Token Minority: He is Filipino-American

Mark Ingraham

Occupation: Dishwasher

Mentor: Joe

• The Baby of the Bunch: He was the youngest competitor, at age 19.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All:
  • Mark believed that he did not need culinary school as all his knowledge of cooking came from his family restaurant. However, when it came to the audition rounds, he served completely raw lamb and would have been sent home had Joe not felt pity for him and offered him an apron.
  • This hit him again during his last team challenge. He assured that he could do the Bearnaise sauce, but refused to listen to the judges about doing it in a double boiler instead of doing it in direct contact with the flame since he learned the latter way from his father at the restaurant. As a result, he only had raw yolks instead of a sauce and ended up crippling the team.
• Humble Pie: During his audition, he started very cocky, claiming that he already knew everything about cooking from his mother's family restaurant so he didn't need to go to culinary school. When the judges point out that every single mistake he made on his dish were basics taught at culinary school, Mark is reduced to tears, begging to be given the apron. Before deciding to give him the apron, Joe made him promise to let go of his ego and really learn during the competition.
  • Unfortunately, Mark didn't keep his promise and sunk his entire team because of his cockiness showing again, which leads to his elimination that same night. To top it off, the guest judge that night was Christina Tosi for a Pressure Test that required baking cupcakes. Mark decides to do his cupcake strawberry-mint as a play on one of his mother's restaurant cocktails, but he again commits a lot of basic mistakes, like undercooking the batter, not caramelizing the strawberries before stuffing them, which makes the cupcakes completely soggy, and he even fails to present the complete box. Not even Joe gets sad about his elimination after this.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Mark is a cocky 19-year-old thanks to having worked in a restaurant kitchen (his parents' family restaurant business) at a young age. He rudely badmouths his competitors, and often cockily ignores the judges' critiques and suggestions, preferring to stick with how he was taught by his parents. When it got his team sent him to the Pressure Test, Gordon called him out on being unteachable if he's not prepared to listen, and Joe, his mentor, questioned if he should have given him an apron.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: He smugly took pride in having been raised and worked in a restaurant kitchen environment, but after several episodes of being praised by the judges, his cockiness started to show, refusing to listen to feedback and sticking to the techniques learned from his mother’s restaurant rather than the judges’ advice. That combined with an underwhelming dish in the Pressure Test resulted in his elimination.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Mark only learned how to cook from helping his mother at the family restaurant, but refused to go to culinary school because he felt that he already knew enough, which the judges quickly proved him wrong when they saw that he lacked the skills needed for the competition. Joe decides to take him under his wing as long as he learns and wins the competition. While he does have good instincts, great seasoning sense, and managed to pass all the technical challenges, his arrogance hit again in Episode 11, leading to his elimination.
• You Remind Me of X: Joe’s main reason to give Mark his apron was because Joe saw a lot of himself in Mark’s upbringing in a family restaurant.

Ryan Cortez

Occupation: Drummer

Mentor: Aarón

• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• Dreadlock Rasta: Always wore his hair this way.

Lindsay Haigh

Occupation: Trial Attorney

Mentor: Aarón

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Emily and Shanika (Season 9).
• Butch Lesbian: She has a wife back at home, planning to open with her a B&B if she wins.
• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.

Matthew "Matt" Houck

Occupation: Optometrist

Mentor: Joe

• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• In-Series Nickname: Gordon called him "Clark Kent" every time he was flailing.
• One-Hit Wonder (In-Universe): He only won the Churro Elimination Challenge, but otherwise, was a middle-run chef who was eliminated after a very poor dish.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: He is an optometrist, wears glasses, and is proud of his talent at plating.

Juni Cuevas

Occupation: Disability Analyst

Mentor: Aarón

• Camp Gay: He describes himself as "a suburban housewife inside a gay man's body"
• Deaf Composer: He is the vegan competitor of the cast. According to him, he can manage the challenges involving meat, after all he could handle his meat back in the day.
• Epic Fail: His entire leadership in Shaun’s Wedding challenge. From the dish selection to the quality control, he was so appalling at this that Gordon took the leadership away from him, gave it to Taylor, decided to skip the Pressure Test altogether, and ultimately eliminated and sent him home that night.
• Missing Mom: He says that his mother was deported to Mexico when he was very young, and he remembers her every time he cooks.
• Short-Lived Leadership: He was appointed Team Captain during Shaun’s Wedding challenge, but his lack of leadership frustrated Ramsay to the point he was demoted mid-service and replaced with Taylor.

Alecia Winters

Occupation: Daycare Owner

Mentor: Aarón

• Friend to All Children: She owns a daycare center as her day job.
• Team Mom: As a daycare owner, she is friendly and protective. She was constantly cheering on Chelsea while Shanika was trashing her during the Pressure Test.
• Tempting Fate: During the churro elimination challenge, she boasted that nobody from Aarón's team would be going home since by that point, Aarón still had all nine of his aprons left. Guess who gets eliminated after that challenge, along with being the first Aarón chef sent home?
• What Were You Thinking?: At the last minute of the churro elimination challenge, Alecia decided to toss her churros in sugar with a bowl, leaving them overcoated in sugar and severely disappointing Aarón.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She was terrified of Dungeness crabs because they looked like big bugs, so she was squirming and screeching when she picked the crab out of the tank and boiled it. She still managed to pass the challenge.

Darrick Kraus

Occupation: Engineer

Mentor: Gordon

• Beginner's Luck: He never poached eggs because his wife doesn't like egg yolks, and he managed to nail Crab Benedicts. However, averted when breaking down his crab and making whipped cream.
• The Millstone: His team lost the challenge because he ruined half their chicken supply.
• Genre Blind: Gordon is baffled when Darrick admits that he never practiced making whipped cream before auditioning.
• Manly Tears: He sheds tears of happiness when Gordon acknowledges his Sticky Toffee Pudding with three aprons.

Olusola Ogbomo

Occupation: Bus Driver

Mentor: Joe

• Epic Fail: In Episode 5, the elimination challenge had the people who failed to deconstruct a Dungeness crab to make Gordon Ramsay’s Crab Benedict, presenting two muffins with perfectly seasoned crab, hollandaise sauce, and a light touch of paprika. Olusola couldn’t complete the second muffin, didn’t make enough hollandaise (because she wasted most of her eggs trying to nail the poached eggs), which was under-seasoned, and she even forgot to use the presentation black plate, using a steel tray instead.

Stephanie Willis

Occupation: Bartender

Mentor: Gordon

• Struggling Single Mother: She has a son she raises by herself. As her exit speech, she encouraged all single mothers to not let their circumstances define them.

Sal Maida

Occupation: Architect

Mentor: Joe

• The Cameo: Appears as a guest for Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: His only notable appearance was his elimination episode.
• What Were You Thinking?: He landed in the Bottom 3 in the first Mystery Box. He was given California spot prawns, and he decided to make a New Orleans-Style BBQ Shrimp that not only failed at representing his home state but also was poorly cooked.

Sid Hoeltzell

Occupation: Food Photographer

Mentor: Gordon

• Scatterbrained Senior: Spends several minutes wandering through the kitchen looking for his potato masher in the steak and potato challenge.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He flew under the radar with very little screen time. His only notable appearance was his elimination episode.

Season 10

Dorian Hunter

Occupation: Creeler

• The Ace: She has never landed on the bottom two or three when it came to black apron themed elimination challenges and pressure tests. Even though her cast iron pan recipe dish was lackluster, it was still good enough to save her from landing on the bottom.
• A Friend in Need: She consoles Micah in the family-reunion themed episode when literally none of Micah's family members (not even his parents) show up.
• Beginner's Luck: There have been several occasions where she claims to have never eaten, cooked, or worked with a certain type of protein but turns up a great dish.
• Book Ends: She was the first applicant to receive a coveted white apron and ended up winning the whole competition. On both occasions, it was from a dessert.
• The Cameo: Appeared in Season 11 during the audition rounds along with season 10 runners-up Sarah and Nick.
• Happily Married: To her husband Charles.
• Jerkass Ball: Was seen by this by many viewers and fans in her infamous tag-team meltdown due to her tears and throwing tantrums over Subha's performance.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: However, her more affectionate side towards the other contestants emerged overtime after the tag-team shitshow, and she managed to mend fences with Subha.
• Nervous Wreck: In the black-apron-themed tag-team pressure test, she was paired with Subha against her will, which she got angry at Nick for his attempt to sabotage her. Subha's slow pace didn't help matters, causing Dorian to overdramatically overreact and meltdown throughout the entire challenge. Despite them being so completely out of sync, they surprisingly delivered a well-executed plate and later hugged it out after they both were declared safe.
• Pink Means Feminine: She picked the pink champagne cake during the Layer Cake Replication Challenge, not just for the color, but to memorialize her mother (who had died of breast cancer). She ended up having the best cake of the night, winning her immunity.
• Sweet Tooth: She absolutely loves baking desserts in general, wishing to one day open her own bakery.
• Team Mom: Like Shari, she tends to be a mother figure to the group, even consoling and hugging Micah after his family refused to come for the family visit.
• Tender Tears: Often shows these when she talks about the loss of her mother.

Sarah Faherty

Occupation: Former U.S. Army Interrogator

• The Ace: Can be seen like this, considering how she had a consistently good performance, frequently turned out great dishes, and only landed on the bottom once or twice.
• Action Girl: She was a military vet.
• Badass Adorable: A blonde lady who is formidable.
• Beginner's Luck: Multiple times. She has frequently turned out awesome, knockout dishes despite having never made, eaten, seen, or heard of before. It's pretty impressive for a retired army gal.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, she loses against Cate (Season 8) and Michael (Season 10).
• The Cameo: Appeared in Season 11 during the audition rounds along with her cast winner Dorian and finalist Nick.
• Epic Fail: Her performance as a team leader in the first field team challenge of the season.
• Genius Bruiser: Not only is she a tough army gal who proves to be a formidable opponent to the other contestants, but she's also shown to be very observant and adaptive, which helped in a season riddled with Gordon frequently pausing the clock to drop a shocking bombshell and throw the contestants a mid-challenge curveball plot twist.
• The Glomp: When her husband arrived at the competition, she ran to him and jumped to hug and kiss him.
• Happily Married: She and her husband Michael served in the United States army/navy. They have a healthy relationship based on how she greets him during the family visits.
• My Greatest Second Chance: She failed miserably as a team leader in the Season 10 pool party field team challenge. In the London Restaurant Takeover, Gordon appointed her as the team leader once again, this time, she succeeded and her Blue team won.
• Retired Badass: She served in the U.S. Army as an interrogator, having officially completed and retired from her military service a year before her audition.
• Statuesque Stunner: The tallest female contestant; she's taller even than several male ones.
• Verbal Tic: She frequently mentions her army background and talks about being in the U.S. military.
• Walking the Earth: Has a lot of travel experience due to her military service, which gave her experience with all kinds of international cuisine.

Nicholas "Nick" DiGiovanni

Occupation: Harvard Student

More about his career as a Youtube personality here

• Achilles' Heel: Baking Desserts. While Nick started strong, he landed on the bottom after screwing up two baking challenges. His Victoria Sponge cake and macaroons were heavily panned for their sloppy, messy, and ugly presentation, his only saving grace being the actual flavors tasting delicious. Thankfully, he stepped up his game by winning an Immunity Challenge where he served Grant Achatz a deconstructed Lemon Meringue pie in a KitchenAid stand mixer and also delivered a well-executed champagne-soaked blackberry trifle in the semifinals.
  • He also struggled with time management and working fast to get everything done. This is shown in the bread mystery box elimination challenge, and even in the aforementioned Grant Achatz's unconventional plating challenge as he struggled to finish in time after initially biting off more than he could chew.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Both one of Nick's strengths and his weaknesses. Although he often has fabulous, creative, and innovative ideas, he often struggles to execute them under the wire.
  • All of Nick's over-ambitiously grandiose, wildly inventive, and innovative ingenuity blueprints to knock the judges' socks off is this. Great concept, but trying to execute it is a very difficult challenge due to time restraints.
• The Baby of the Bunch: He was the second-youngest competitor next to Micah at 22. After Micah's elimination, Nick went on to become the youngest-ever finalist to compete in the Season 10 grand finale at the age of 22.
• Breakout Character: After the competition, Nick became the most prominent contestant from the cast, with a Youtube channel of 14,6 million subscribers (and still growing today), and became even more known than the actual winner of the season.
• The Cameo: Appeared in Season 11 during the audition rounds along with his season's winner Dorian and fellow finalist Sarah.
• Chekhov's Skill: His specialty and expertise is cooking savory dishes, which is usually where he excels the most.
• Crazy Enough to Work: His audition dish, a handmade lamb ravioli with primavera vegetables, greatly impressed all three judges (especially Joe, who was blown away by how stunning it was) easily netting Nick a white apron.
• Cruel Twist Ending: Nick's mid-finale elimination twist. Many felt that this mid-challenge curveball of eliminating Nick two-thirds of the way through the grand finale showdown was downright cruel, defeating the whole purpose of him being there in the first place since Gordon outright demanded the trio (including Nick himself) to serve him a three course dinner (which he explicitly promised to judge them all for). Not to mention that previous season finalists have also historically served raw/undercooked food but were never eliminated halfway through the finale because of it.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Subverted. In Episode 6 (the white apron-themed Latin/South American protein mystery box immunity challenge), he tells the camera how difficult it is to cook with a model like Alessandra Ambrosio in the same room. He ends up winning the immunity challenge alongside Shari and Wuta.
• Fatal Flaw: His over-ambitiously grandiose, wildly inventive, avant-garde, and experimental ingenuity, which can lead to him struggling and struggling to execute his ideas and get everything done in time (sometimes with unpleasant results).
• Foil: To Micah. Both are the youngest male contestants of the season, highly praised and impressed by the judges for their raw talent and promising potential at such a young age. While Nick's parents decided to support his dream of becoming a chef after he got into Harvard, Micah doesn't have the approval of his father, who dismisses his culinary dream as "just a phase."
• Nice Guy: Likable, humble, and soft-spoken, his pleasant personality made him a fan favorite.
• Out of Focus: Nick initially flew under the radar with very little screentime at the beginning of the competition, living in the shadows of other prominent standout contestants until episode 6, "Hot and Spicy", when he wowed the judges with his Brazilian cheese tortilla and red snapper ceviche, after which he was considered a front-runner.
• The Runner-Up Takes It All: He was eliminated right before the dessert portion in the finale, but has become extremely popular on social media ever since he left the MasterChef kitchen. As of June 2023, his Youtube channel has 14,6 million subscribers and he has close to 12 million followers on Tiktok.
• Token Rich Student: He studies at Harvard University, and even auditioned with a grey Harvard hoodie.
• Took a Level in Badass: He started weak on baking desserts, landing on the bottom throughout Sweet Week twice. He eventually delivered two well-executed desserts later on, improving his baking skills and baking technique over time.
  • He also greatly improved his speed later on, producing an exceptional dish in the One-Pot Wonder Pressure Test, and won the Replication Pressure Test featuring Gordon's potato-crusted sea bass in the next episode.
• Weak, but Skilled: At the age of 22, Nick didn't have the experience or knowledge of baking desserts as most of the other contestants had, but he managed to make up for it with some stunningly elevated savory dishes.
• What Were You Thinking?: In Episode 23 (the semifinals), Nick struggled with time management since he over-ambitiously bit off more than he could chew, and for that matter, he forgot to remove a small piece of string still attached to his otherwise picture-perfect dish. The judges harshly berated and lambasted him for such a careless, silly blunder. He nearly got eliminated and sent home that night but fortunately for him, Noah did worse by majorly overcooking his risotto (ruined half the plate).

Noah Sims

Occupation: Septic Systems Foreman

• Badasses Wear Bandanas: Almost always seen wearing a bandanna.
• The Big Guy: He is the tallest guy of all the contestants. Gordon even jokes about how his apron looked like he took it from MasterChef Junior.
• Deaf Composer: He is severely allergic to shellfish. Despite this, he was able to cook lobster in Gerron's Season 10 wedding challenge and produce a fantastic surf-and-turf with black truffles in the following Pressure Test.
• Deep South: He's a big, tall Georgia redneck with a deep Southern accent.
• Genius Bruiser: He becomes this due to his job working at the septic tanks.
• Motor Mouth: In his white apron audition battle, he started to talk about how and why his burger was so important to the history of his grandma's cooking... when Gordon just wanted to know what his dish was. Sarah later points out that the key to a Tag-Team challenge is constant communication, which wasn't a problem because Noah never stops talking.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: This happened to him in the backyard barbecue grilling elimination challenge, since he was quite familiar with grilling and was an expert in using a gas grill due to being from Georgia. Unfortunately, he made some serious mistakes as far as overcooking his steak and ruining his dessert. Fortunately for him, he just barely escaped getting the chop as Keturah did much worse.
• Tempting Fate: In episode 23 (the Top 4 semifinals) Noah insisted on cooking a risotto in just under the hour for his venison dish, smugly and overconfidently insisting that he knew how to nail it. Risotto is an infamously technical and gruelingly difficult rice side dish cooked in stock. It takes years of training even for professional corporate chefs to nail it, especially under any kind of time constraint, not to mention the judges' belief that risotto would clash with the venison like oil and water. To make it worse, Noah started overcooking it right off the bat, from the get-go, which showed the judges that he didn't even know how to prepare it properly. He got eliminated and sent home that night.

Subha Ramiah

Occupation: R&D Director

• Achilles' Heel: His lack of elegant, beautiful plating skills, which Gordon constantly criticizes him for despite his dishes generally having great flavors.
• Author Appeal: Roses. All his desserts have featured rose water as the main theme because he always gives roses to his wife on special days.
• Bollywood Nerd: He has a background in chemistry and is very proud of his Indian roots.
• Cool Old Guy: A cool old Indian guy at the age of 54.
• Failed a Spot Check: In the Chicken Carving Challenge, he finished the fastest in three minutes, but just like Farhan from last season (who happens to be Indian as well), faster did not mean better as he left a big chunk of chicken breast on the carcass.
• Happily Married: He was constantly talking about how much he missed his wife and mentioned that he never got apart from her before entering the competition.
• Lethal Joke Character: When it comes to individual challenges he is always seen messing around, falling behind everyone else, and having messy plating. Despite this, his dishes seem to make up for it in flavor.
• The Load: Subha is a very talented cook who consistently puts out food with great flavors... in individual challenges. In team challenges, however, he is consistently shown to be useless at best and an impediment at worst.
  • During the Pool Party challenge, he was barely functioning, to the point Gordon had to remove him and send him to water the plants. Even after his team won the challenge, the judges revealed that they had to choose the weakest member to compete along with the losing team. Noah chose Subha because he had the most mistakes from all the team.
  • Subverted in Episode 9. Dorian saw him like this during the Tag-Team Challenge. Despite his slow pace and Dorian constantly freaking out, both managed to survive the challenge without landing at the bottom.
  • During the NASCAR field challenge, he somehow manages to burn several portions of chicken despite not being involved with the cooking of the chicken.
• Nice Guy: Despite his fellow contestants being constantly annoyed by his slow pace in team challenges, he didn't hold grudges, and the judges mostly laughed with him rather than scold him harshly.
• Scatterbrained Senior: This pretty much sums him up in a nutshell. Everybody adored him as a person and recognized that he was a good cook on his own, but he constantly looked confused during team challenges, making his teammates nervous just watching him.

Shari Mukhergee

Occupation: Stay At Home Mom

• Crippling Overspecialization: Subverted. Most of the dishes she cooked early in the competition were all Indian-based, frustrating Ramsay as he felt she can do more than cook like he's her mother-in-law. Fortunately, by Episode 6 she learned her lesson, and going out of her comfort zone got her immunity twice.
• Epic Fail: Her performance in the Restaurant Takeover in London, England was so abysmal that Gordon sent her home along with Subha immediately at the end, skipping the pressure test entirely.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: She is from Minnesota, and her husband is Indian. According to her confessional, her mother-in-law is constantly criticizing her, so Shari had to teach herself how to cook Indian food to please her.
• Team Mom: She has a gentle personality and is always ready to give support to her fellow contestants. During the wedding challenge, she tried to calm down Renee and make her focus.

Micah Yaroch

Occupation: Kitchen Porter

• The Baby of the Bunch: He was the youngest contestant at age 19.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, he loses against Tommy (Season 6) and Big Willie (Season 5).
• Darkest Hour: When his family refused to show up (twice, actually).
• Deaf Composer: Like Noah, he is allergic to shellfish. This didn't stop him from gaining immunity from the white apron king crab immunity challenge with his squid ink and crab risotto alongside Shari and Fred.
• Dramatic Irony: Micah got his apron (the last white apron of the season) with a perfectly cooked fish entrée dish. He got eliminated and sent home for failing to properly replicate Chef Ramsay's potato-crusted sea bass, with his fish being way undercooked by a lot.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: His father tried to push him into attending university, viewing his cooking aspirations as a distraction and a waste of time.
• Foil: To Nick. Both are the youngest male contestants of the season and were praised by the judges for their raw potential. But while Nick's parents decided to support his dream of becoming a chef after he got into Harvard, Micah doesn't have the approval of his father, who dismisses his culinary dream as "just a phase."
• Hero-Worshipper: He looked up to Chef Gordon Ramsay since Ramsey's father had also looked down on his son's desire to be a chef.
• I Have No Son!: His parents disowned him just for auditioning to compete on the show, and completely snubs him on the family reunion episode. It upset him and broke his heart so much that he struggled. He got eliminated and sent home that night.
• Manly Tears: Sheds these in his last elimination episode.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Gordon gives him his Battle Pass for a redemption round. He manages to win over Carli and Molly.
• Tempting Fate: In the black-apron-themed One Pan Wonder mystery box elimination challenge test, he cockily ignores Joe's warning of cooking a filet mignon in a cast iron pan at high temperature, stating that he likes to take risks.^note  It's possible to nail a perfect medium-rare filet mignon in a cast iron pan since Sarah managed to nail it. Micah just wasn't using the cooking pan properly. His dish was burnt on the outside and underdone on the inside, which sent him in the bottom three for the first time.
  • A major one. After winning the NASCAR field team challenge, he sends Subha to the Pressure Test (the black apron-themed mystery box elimination challenge test) despite having the opportunity to send someone stronger. Joe warned him that this decision may come back to haunt him later on, which he smugly brushed off. 4 episodes later, in a replication Pressure Test, he got eliminated and sent home over Subha.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His big motivation is to prove to his family that he can have a career as a chef, which his father deems as a waste of time. He later tells Gordon that his father was unsupportive of his life decisions, especially pursuing culinary arts.
• You Are Not Alone: When his family never showed up in the family-reunion themed episode, Gordon told him this; that the judges and his fellow competitors are his newfound family. Unfortunately, this pep talk wasn't enough to save him as he ultimately got eliminated and sent home at the end.

Bri Baker

Occupation: Cocktail Server

• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Nervous Wreck: Despite her ability to plate beautiful dishes, the competition got the best from her, which resulted in a downward spiral before her elimination.
• Tender Tears: She started crying the first time she landed in the bottom three, as she was embarrassed by the poor execution of her onion soup. This happened again in the layer cake replication challenge since she had one of the easiest cakes, and the judges noted that this was her second bad performance in a row.

Jamie Hough

Occupation: Fisherman

• The Ace: Until his elimination, he was on a winning streak with an exceptional track record.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Jamie's initial lobster dish for Gerron's wedding Team Challenge was this. Great concept, but trying to replicate it for the wedding guests would have been a challenge.
• Beginner's Luck: In Sweet Week, Jamie nailed both baking challenges involving pastry and desserts he had never baked or eaten before. The judges praised his Black Forest cake, and the following night his macaroons were also praised along with Fred, Shari, and Sarah's.
• The Big Guy: The second tallest guy of the contestants. Even Noah notices how tall he is in the NASCAR Race Team Challenge's group assembly.
  Noah: Every person has just congealed into Jamie's armpits.
• The Captain: Invoked. When all the contestants tried to convince Joe why they deserved to lead their teams, Jamie's sole reason was that he is a literal boat captain.
• Chekhov's Skill: Being a fisherman, Jamie naturally knows how to properly clean and filet a fish, which helped him win the skills test immunity challenge.
• Epic Fail: His sausage dish wound up being so far below the other contestants, that the judges didn't even bother with a bottom 3 that night and told Jamie to turn in his apron, thereby sending him home.
• Irony: Despite being a fisherman, therefore strong at cooking fish and seafood, most of the lobster tails for Gerron's wedding turned out undercooked, which granted the win to the other team.
  • And despite being an elite spicy, savory cook, it was a sausage that sent him home.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He is a fisherman, and captain of his boat, and even he was surprised when the judges praised his Dessert baking skills and technique.

Fred Chang

Occupation: Revenue Analyst

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Epic Fail: In the wedding team challenge, he decides to push mashed potatoes through a strainer to "remove the impurities from it". He got harshly chewed out by Gordon, who labeled him a "donut."
• Hero-Worshipper: In the Pool Party field team challenge, he got excited to see Season 8 runner-up Jason Wang there, since he admires Jason as a fellow American-Taiwanese competitor.
• Irony: Despite being the only person in the kitchen who made a tart tartin before, he ended up making one that was raw on one half. It landed him in the bottom three, but he survived after Evan did worse.
• Nice Guy: Had a sweet and likable personality
• Shrinking Violet: His background into coming to the competition, in that he's introverted and people don't believe in him. During his run, he manages to get himself a massive boost in confidence and self-esteem.
• Sweet Baker: He was the nicest contestant of the cast and the one who excels at baking, to the point Gordon licked his plate clean after tasting his audition cake.
• Sweet Tooth: He absolutely loves baking desserts, wishing to one day open up his very own bakery. He even auditions with a stunningly creative and innovative Dessert that wowed the judges.
• Token Minority: He is the only Taiwanese-American contestant.
• What Were You Thinking?: In the white-apron-themed Latin protein mystery box immunity challenge, he decides to add cactus seeds (which are inedible) to his dish to add crunch to his dish. Gordon harshly berated him for this, claiming that "We DON'T serve the seeds!"

Wuta Onda

Occupation: English Teacher

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately, he loses against Amanda (Season 6) and Christian (Season 5).
• Deaf Composer: He is vegetarian. During the Mystery Box challenge, he made his pork dish by tasting a bite of it and then spitting it to avoid eating the protein, to the surprise of the judges. He barely passed despite forgetting his most important protein on the cutting board. However, he managed to get to the top more than twice during Mystery Box challenges that required using proteins.
• Epic Fail: His box of macaroons was only half-complete, and the ones that were in there looked unappetizing and were way oversweet, resulting in him getting sent home at the end.
• Hero-Worshipper: He looked up to Gerron, explaining that he was inspired to compete after seeing another African-American educator succeed in the competition.

Renee Rice

Occupation: Receptionist

• Epic Fail: In episode 8's team challenge, she forgot to boil water for her team's ravioli dish, until Gordon reminds her.
• The Eeyore: Since the captains of her team challenges didn't listen to her ideas, and gave her tasks she didn't want, Renee often spent the entire challenge doing her parts with a resigned attitude, rubbing her teammates on the wrong side. Shari has to put her aside and tell her to stop bringing down the team with her attitude.
• Tempting Fate:
  • For their first team challenge, she kept claiming that she was an expert at grilling meat, and was constantly complaining about doing vegetables. When she is finally given the grill, some of her burgers turn out raw.
  • In the cake replication challenge, she chooses a cheesecake as her theme, but she screws up the height of her crust, so she decides to redo all the cheesecake. During the tasting, Renee kept claiming that she made the smartest move, but it turns out that her crust didn't hold, resulting in a base made of cracker sand with a cream cheese topping, because it didn't cook enough.

Sam Haaz

Occupation: Attorney

• The Eeyore: He always seemed to have a sad and glum disposition as he rarely smiled and spoke with a low tone.
• Happily Married: Mentions several times that he's been married for a few years.

Keturah King

Occupation: Freelance Writer

• Chekhov's Skill: Was very confident in deep frying the cod as a) she used to deep fry fish back in her mother's home, and b) she ate fish and chips a lot due to being British. Her dish had the least problems for the blue team during that challenge.
• The Bus Came Back: She returns to Season 12: Back to Win. Unfortunately she loses against Samantha (Season 9) and Michael (Season 10).
• Epic Fail: Her entire performance throughout the Barbecue gas grill Pressure Test, resulting in serving raw steak and a disgusting dessert.
• Nervous Wreck: Became this in Episode 11's Barbecue Pressure Test. On top of never having grilled anything in her life, the shocking mid-challenge curveball plot twist of also having to make a dessert left her completely frazzled. The result: a poorly made raw steak and frites that did not use the full tomahawk steak with boring greens, and a dessert that Ramsay compared to MasterChef Junior Season 1 level, ultimately leading to her elimination.
• Token Minority: She's the only non-American in this season as her hometown is listed as London, England.
• Walking the Earth: In Episode 6, she tells that her father was a diplomat, which enabled her to travel to 16 countries and get a lot of international cuisine influence.

Michael Silverstein

Occupation: Real Estate Flipper

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.

Liz Linn

Occupation: Events Consultant

• What Were You Thinking?: Liz decided to bake her swordfish in the Latin themed Mystery Box Challenge, something Ramsay stated should never be done.

Evan Tesiny

Occupation: Sales Coordinator

• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He claimed that he did not need Gordon's instructions in the Tarte tartin replication Pressure Test, because of his travel experience. This ultimately leads to his elimination.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He claimed to be an elite frontrunner in the competition, and often refused to listen to the judges' advice or feedback. For example, in Episode 6's Latin protein white apron-themed Mystery Box immunity challenge, he brushed off Joe and Aaron's suggestion of using a grill plate instead of a nonstick pan, with Joe even warning him that his arrogance would come back to haunt him. This ultimately led to his elimination in the next episode.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: He's a salesman Brooklynite.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: He goes into almost every challenge with this mindset, thinking so highly of himself. He had this cockiness going into the first skills test immunity challenge of the season, just barely escaped getting the chop in the very first black apron-themed mystery box elimination challenge, and argued against Joe and Aaron when it came to using a grill plate instead of a nonstick plate, claiming to be an expert at cooking skirt steak. Episode 7 turned out to be the final nail in the coffin after he failed at replicating a Tarte tartin.
• Tempting Fate: Spends most of the prep boot camp criticizing his fellow competitors for struggling with their prep work, but when the judges get to him, he revealed a lot of mistakes as well.

Kimberly White

Occupation: Shoe Designer

• Dramatic Irony: She produced one of the best dishes in episode 3's black apron-themed mystery box elimination challenge. She got eliminated and went home in the second black-apron-themed chicken challenge.
• Epic Fail: Her attempt at a mushroom sauce came out more like "mushroom-flavored cottage cheese". This was the reason for her elimination.

Kenneth "Kenny" Palazzolo

Occupation: Carpenter

• Big Fun
• The Big Guy
• Epic Fail: He got eliminated and sent home after serving up a hideous scallop, fingerling potatoes and mushy peas dish, which Joe compared to a "fungal infection". Regardless of its taste, the judges felt that his plating and presentation skills were simply unteachable.
• Gratuitous Italian: His family originates from Naples and Sicily. The judges even comment on his pronunciation.
• Nice Guy
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He and Deanna were the first to be eliminated.

Deanna Colon

Occupation: Vocal Coach

• We Hardly Knew Ye: She and Kenny were the first to be eliminated.

Season 11 (Legends)

Kelsey Murphy

Occupation: Physical Therapist

• Honor Before Reason: She lets Autumn use her oven during the finale's entree round after it had shut down on her.
• Pregnant Badass: In Episode 12 she reveals that she is expecting her third child while still competing, and it's worth mentioning that she never landed in the bottom until the final 5 and ultimately won the competition.
• Special Guest: She appears in Season 13 Episode 14 to present and judge the challenge, which consists on elevating Stadium food since she found success in that business field.

Autumn Moretti

Occupation: Bartender

• The Ace: She made it to the finale without being in the bottom.
• Afraid of Blood: Freaks out when Kelsey cuts her thumb during the restaurant takeover challenge.
• Gamer Chick: Strongly implied due to her gaming tattoos.
• Handicapped Badass: Despite having to wear a boot post-hiatus, it didn't stopped her from being in the top.

Suu Khin

Occupation: Food Blogger

• Epic Fail: She leaves the poop sack in one of her shrimp in the kaiseki challenge and landed in the bottom 3 to the shock of the judges.
• Token Minority: She's the show's first Burmese contestant.

Alejandro Valdivia

Occupation: Professional Animal Trainer

• The Bus Came Back: He returns to Season 12: Back to Win.
• Hero-Worshipper: In Episode 10, he chooses to cook with Gordon Ramsay as his inspiration, with Gordon jokingly calling him a kissass. It's a good thing that the dish started his good strike to the top 3.
• Took a Level in Badass: He avoided being in the bottom since the street food challenge and got top 3 in the personal legend challenge.

Michael Newman

Occupation: Lifestyle Coach

• The Big Guy: Due to being possibly the most ripped contestant in Masterchef history.
• Deaf Composer: Since he is a vegan, he can't taste all his dishes containing meat, in addition of not dominating cooking techniques on meat. During Episode 11, he has to relay on Autumn instructing him on seasoning and timing to cook the porkchop correctly.
• Hometown Nickname: In Episode 11, Autumn calls Michael "Jersey" during the preparations. They keep a good energy during the entire challenge.

Abe Konick

Occupation: Student

• Token Rich Student: His father's job allowed him to live in a lot of countries and study overseas.
• Walking the Earth: Mentions at least once an episode how he has traveled across Europe.

Anne Hicks

Occupation: Small Business Owner

• Control Freak: During Episode 11's team challenge, she completely dominated the team's direction from what dish to make and every step in the preparation, despite Joseph being clearly unhappy with it.
• Epic Fail: She mistakes a parsnip for a turnip during the "Kaiseki" challenge.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Regarding Japanese Cuisine.
  • In Episode 11, she discards Joseph's suggestion of doing a Lobster Crepe (because she doesn't know how to make crepes), and insists on doing a steamed halibut with sticky rice and miso sauce because she once ate something like that at a Japanese restaurant. As a result, she kept giving Joseph directions that didn't go well with the dish and thought she didn't have to strain the sauce.
  • In the following episode, she gets eliminated in the kaiseki challenge. While the judges had minor criticisms about the actual taste, her overall presentation was predominantly beige, lacking color or adequate plating for the theme.

Joseph Manglicmot

Occupation: Environmental Engineer

• Epic Fail: His pasta dish from the 5-ingredient challenge was so poorly executed that Joe tossed his dish to the side and would have been eliminated if it wasn't for Tay forgetting his uni butter.
• Extreme Doormat: During Episode 11's team challenge, he let Anne decide the general direction of the dish, even though he had a lot of concerns about the steps (for example not telling Anne that they had to strain their sauce). On top of everything, he gets eliminated.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Almost always seen wearing a suit jacket under his apron.

Lexy Rogers

Occupation: Stay At Home Mom

• Boring, but Practical: This ended up biting her back during Episode 10, where she had to make a dish inspired on a personal legend. Since she pictured a dish with her husband in mind, the dish ended up being fried chicken wings with vegetables. The problem is that it's MasterChef, where too simple isn't enough.

Tay Westberry

Occupation: Radio Host

• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Eliminated due to not using all 5 required ingredients during the California spot prawn challenge as he forgot his uni butter.
• What Were You Thinking?: During episode 5's dessert challenge, he uses canned pineapple in his dish, which is normally frowned upon in tv cooking competitions. Subverted as he won the challenge.

Miles Gateff

Occupation: Youtube Gamer

• The Quiet One: He had very little screen time aside from his audition, and even then he was very soft spoken and calm for a Youtube gamer.

Matt Gagnon

Occupation: Construction Worker

• What Were You Thinking?: Decides to use black garlic in episode 5's dessert challenge. He ends up in the bottom three as a result.

Mary Jayne Buckingham

Occupation: Hospice Nursing Assistant

• Non Game Play Elimination: She had to leave the competition after a few episodes due to health issues.
• Promoted Fanboy: She gets excited when it's announced Paula Deen is the guest judge for her audition rounds, as she too is a baker from the South, and is in tears when she gets four yeses (and Paula puts the apron on her).
  • She also begins happily crying when she sees episode 5's guest judge pastry chef Sherry Yard and tells her she's a huge inspiration to her, to which Sherry asks her to come up for a hug.

Annai Gonzales

Occupation: Legal Assistant

• Epic Fail: Aside from the poor execution of her Avocado "No-Bake" Cheesecake, Gordon notices immediately that she left the base of her cake mold at the bottom of her dessert. She ends up eliminated that night.

Elyce Wooten

Occupation: Salon Owner

• We Hardly Knew Ye: Was the first contestant to be eliminated.

Season 12: Back to Win

List of the current Top 20. Except for the MasterChef Junior contestants, all the others' tropes will be in their respective season folders.

General Tropes

• Anyone Can Die: Ok well not die, but anyone can get eliminated. Everyone showing up is on their A-game and are trained professionals who have greatly improved since their last time on the show, so the amount of competition can have even the most minute details get a contestant eliminated. It also doesn't help that the challenges are far more difficult than the original ones, with contestants required to cook more quantities in more abstract and innovative ways.
  • This also applies to the audition rounds. Many of the former contestants who didn't make it include the runner-ups from previous seasons failing to get the apron.
• The Bus Came Back: The audition rounds consist of former contestants from both regular MasterChef and Junior. Twenty home cooks from the past eleven seasons come back this season. And two of them are from the Junior edition of the show.
• My Greatest Second Chance: As the name suggests, these are twenty home cooks who never won in their original seasons, but are coming back for another shot at the title of MasterChef.
  • Contestants like Season 6 Amanda, or Season 10 Michael manage to win the apron over past contestants who ranked higher in their respective seasons, even over former runner-ups.
• Took a Level in Badass: All of the returning contestants have become professional chefs after their participation in MasterChef. The judges recognize that all of them have evolved significantly.

Dara Yu

Original Season: Season 1 (Junior)

Place: Runner-up

Place on Back to Win: winner

---

• The Baby of the Bunch: After Shayne is eliminated, she is left as the youngest competitor remaining in the Top 13.
• Important Hair Accessory: Inverted. As she points out, she ditched her signature big bow she wore on MasterChef Junior to show how much she has grown up as a professional chef.
• Hero-Worshipper: She sheds some tears when she first sees season 3 winner Christine Ha as a guest judge because she admires Christine for being a pioneer for Asian American female chefs in the culinary industry.

My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Dara was faced with her spot prawn dish from Season 1's (Junior) finale, as she overcooked them by a minute.

• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Despite having placed as Runner-Up in MasterChef Junior and going to culinary school afterward, Dara finds herself overwhelmed by the difficulty spike in the adult competition, landing in the Bottom 3 twice. Subverted as the season went on and she managed to have more control over her nerves.

Christian Green

Original Season: Season 5

Place: 5th

Place on Back to Win: Top 3

---

• The Ace: Managed to make it to the Top 5 without being in the Bottom three or at risk of elimination.
• Alpha and Beta Wolves: Leans into this trope by calling himself the "Alpha male" of the kitchen. Derrick does not take kindly to it, which starts a bitter rivalry.
• Did Not Think This Through: He made a poor decision to merge Derrick's potatoes which were in smaller pots into a big one, and top it with cold water. That decision put the Blue Team behind on plating their dishes as they had no potatoes ready to plate.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Christian was faced with his veal brain pasta dish from Season 5's Offal Elimination Test, as it was clumsily made despite having perfectly cooked veal.

Michael Silverstein

Original Season: Season 10

Place: 15th

Place on Back to Win: Top 3

---

• Came Back Strong: He surpassed his original season's placement and only landed in the bottom three in the Top 10 round (episode 14) and the two semifinal rounds; his dishes placed Top 3 four times, including winning one immunity. Gordon states he was eliminated far too early back in season 10.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Michael was faced with his International platter from Season 10, specifically his fish tacos as they contained raw fish.
• Time to Step Up, Commander: After Gordon demotes Alejandro as team captain, the rest of the team votes for Michael to take over. Despite doing a far better job as a leader, the team can’t catch up during the final stage.

Shanika Patterson

Original Season: Season 9

Place: 8th

Place on Back to Win: 4th

---

• Came Back Strong: Shanika has been improving her weak points after her original season, more specifically in making pasta, the dishes she was originally eliminated for.
• Chekhov's Skill: Despite not making the Top 3 of the vegan challenge, Shanika managed to make a decent and creative dish using vegan mozzarella. Gordon impressed with this, is told by Shanika that she had to go vegan for a few months because she gained weight. The experience gave her inspiration for some innovative techniques.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted. After Season 9, Shanika bought a pasta maker and practiced making pasta to make sure she did not repeat the same mistakes that got her eliminated. It proved to work well as she made it to the Top 3 in the first challenge with a strong egg yolk ravioli.
• History Repeats: Like in Season 9, Shanika was eliminated on a pasta dish.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Shanika was faced with her pasta dishes from Season 9's Three Way Pasta Pressure Test, as she struggled to get her pasta through the pasta maker.
• Signature Style: She comes back and has her hair styled in her signature high ponytail.

Emily Hallock

Original Season: Season 9

Place: 10th

Place on Back to Win: 5th

---

• History Repeats: Like in Season 9, Emily was eliminated on a temperamental dessert before Shanika.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Emily was faced with her black forest cake from Season 9, as she ended up with melted layers due to putting her cake together while it was still warm.
• What Were You Thinking?: Emily acknowledges that her ill-fated decision to face off against Shanika in Season 9 was the wrong one and planned to learn from that mistake moving forward.

William "Big Willie" Mike

Original Season: Season 5

Place: 7th

Place on Back to Win: 6th

---

• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Willie was faced with his Dim Sum platter from Season 5, specifically his wontons as they had no seasoning and tasted disgusting.
  • As for the challenge that got him eliminated, it was the same failure that befell Alejandro and Shelly, which was being given the role of his team's captain, only to wilt under pressure and thus after his team lost, attract elimination by the judges for his inability to lead.

Amanda Saab

Original Season: Season 6

Place: 13th

Place on Back to Win: Top 8 (eliminated with Derrick)

---

• Came Back Strong: Despite being eliminated at 13th place in Season 6, Amanda managed to make it to the final 8 and properly showed her skills more than she did in the past. The fact that she was able to face her failure on cakes three times with no problems is a testament to her growth.
• Hero-Worshipper: She cries Tears of Joy when she first sees season 3 winner Christine Ha for a Mystery Box Challenge because it was the first season Amanda watched Masterchef and was inspired seeing Christine's journey on the show.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Amanda was faced with her birthday cake from Season 6, as she ended up taking them out of the oven too early and was forced to serve a raw cake to the judges.

Derrick Fox (nee Peltz)

Original Season: Season 6

Place: Runner-up

Place on Back to Win: Top 8 (eliminated with Amanda)

---

• History Repeats: Wins a team challenge that involved grilling a large quantity of steaks. Bonus points for manning the grill both times.
• It's Personal: He was not happy Shelly did not pick him for her blue team^note possibly remembering their season 6 Las Vegas field challenge in which Shelly's poor leadership led him and another team member to take charge and significantly salvage the team's service, only for Shelly to make both of them compete in the elimination round while she remained safe (of which both also survived), nor was he happy about being one of the final picks. This fueled him to defeat the blue team even more.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Derrick was faced with his lemon mousse chocolate cake dish from the Season 6 finale, as it was overshadowed by Claudia's dessert.

Bowen Li

Original Season: Season 9

Place: 5th

Place on Back to Win: 9th

---

• Chekhov's Skill: Bowen mentioned that the restaurant he owns has a vegan section on the menu, which meant he was comfortable making vegan-based foods. His Tofu Scallops proved good enough to make it to the Top 3.
• History Repeats: Like in Season 9, Bowen managed to win the Tag Team Challenge.
• Out of Focus: For the first six episodes, Bowen had little focus. His audition dish was skimmed over despite being praised enough for his apron, and it was never revealed what dish he made in the first challenge (if anything though, it could have been any of his beef dishes in Season 9's Beef Skills Test as the skewers and meatballs were ruined by an attempt to use Chinese cooking techniques, and two of his filets had inconsistent temperatures). By the sixth episode, Bowen did not have a confessional. It wouldn't be until the seventh episode when he finally gets featured, and unlike most examples, it was more in a positive light.

Brandi Mudd

Original Season: Season 7

Place: Runner-up (Along with David Williams)

Place on Back to Win: 10th

---

• Graceful Loser: When Shaun came back for a Mystery Box Challenge, Brandi showed no ill towards him and was instead inspired by what he has done since winning Season 7.
• My Greatest Failure: Although not focused too much, Brandi was faced with one of her Finale dishes from Season 7 in the first challenge, most likely her dessert as it was too heavy for Ramsay's liking.

Fred Chang

Original Season: Season 10

Place: 10th

Place on Back to Win: 11th

---

• Crazy Enough to Work:
  • In the Shaun Spirits Mystery Box Challenge, Fred decided to do a series first and make phyllo pastry from scratch. He succeeded and won the challenge.
  • Subverted in the Vegan Elimination Challenge as his ambitious effort to make a Tofu Gnudi was let down by poor techniques and he was sent to the Bottom Three.
• Hero-Worshipper: In the Mystery Box Challenge with season 3 winner Christine, he mentions how Christine is an inspiration to him as an Asian American who's found success in the industry.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Fred was faced with his filet and noodles dish from Season 10's Upscaled Surf n' Turf Mystery Box Challenge, as his filet came out raw.
• Platonic Life-Partners: He and Bri became best friends in season 10, to the point both of them were constantly helping each other during the audition round. Fortunately for both, they passed together.

Gabriel Lewis

Original Season: Season 8

Place on Original Season: 7th

Place on Back to Win: 12th

---

• Big Brother Instinct: In Episode 5, he is seen giving some encouragement to Shayne about his dish, since he was also the youngest contestant of his season.
• History Repeats: Just like in Season 8, Gabriel struggled on the cannelloni (even fighting against a wet pasta dough as he did five years earlier) and was in the Bottom Three. Fortunately, he survived.
• Outof Focus: When compared to the other contestants, he didn't get much screen time. Aside from a few moments and the spotlight for his Vietnamese dish (that didn't get featured), Gabriel wasn't seen that much this season, which is pretty shocking considering that Gordon paid for his schooling after his last stint on the show.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Gabriel was faced with the cannelloni from Season 8's Pasta Elimination Test, as it had a dreadful presentation due to his struggles with the dough and containing an overly sweet sauce.

Brielle "Bri" Baker

Original Season: Season 10

Place on Original Season: 8th

Place on Back to Win: 13th

---

• Achilles' Heel: Vietnamese cuisine. Her first failure was a spring roll that the judges said was too phallic looking and overcooked, her second failure was a pan-seared salmon with fish sauce stir-fried noodles. The latter was what ended up sending her home, as the judges said that her plating for it was clumsy.
• History Repeats:
  • Managed to lead a team challenge to victory.
  • She was eliminated because of a bad salmon dish.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Bri was faced with her salmon dish from Season 10's One Pan Elimination Challenge, as she ended up serving the judges raw salmon.
• Platonic Life-Partners: She and Fred became best friends in season 10, to the point both of them were constantly helping each other during the audition round. Fortunately for both, they passed together.

Shelly Flash

Original Season: Season 6

Place on Original Season: 9th

Place on Back to Win: 14th

---

• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Shelly was faced with her chicken and waffle from Season 6, as she ended up serving Ramsay a raw piece of chicken and accidentally leaving a cooked piece at her station.
• Epic Fail:
  • She was the second pick for the baking challenge but chose the mille-feuille, a dessert that the contestants would usually avoid due to its complexity. Shelly chose it with no hesitation but crumbled under pressure due to her pastry taking a long time to cook. When she presented it, she gave an ugly-looking dessert that was sloppily presented and looked a far cry from the example dish she chose. However, she was spared due to the judges liking the taste of the mille-feuille as well as Tommy's lemon meringue tart being worse.
  • Her disastrous leadership in the Cowboy Team Challenge counts as well as she failed to lead the blue team effectively, all her choices for the dish came out poorly, and she was unable to get the infighting calmed down. This led to her elimination.

Tommy Walton

Original Season: Season 6

Place on Original Season: 7th

Place on Back to Win: 15th

---

• Book Ends: The first time he landed in the Bottom was a dessert challenge in Season 6. Here, he gets eliminated in a dessert challenge.

• History Repeats: Like in Season 6, Tommy's sliders were a disaster and he ended up in the Bottom Three. Fortunately, he survived.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Tommy was faced with the Summer Platter from Season 6, specifically the sliders as they were poorly put together.
• Older Than They Look: He is 59 but he does not look like he aged since Season 6. As he said last time, the only wrinkle he had was the one he sat on.
• Ruleof Three: He was eliminated on his third nomination, as his lemon meringue tart had a cracked crust, underbaked custard, and thin whipped cream.

Shayne Wells

Original Season: Season 5 (Junior)

Place on Original Season: 3rd

Place on Back to Win: 16th

---

• The Baby of the Bunch: He is the youngest contestant in the competition (just turned 18 to qualify to the adults competition along with Dara).
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Shayne was faced with his pork chop dish from Season 5 (Junior), as the dish was let down by underwhelming sides.

Samantha Daily

Original Season: Season 9

Place on Original Season: 4th

Place on Back to Win: 17th

---

• Crippling Overspecialization: Samantha was not comfortable in the Vegan Elimination Challenge as most of the dishes she worked on used dairy and meat as the main stars. This resulted in a poor potato dish that got her eliminated.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Samantha was faced with her sticky toffee pudding dish from Season 9's Judge's Picks Pressure Test, as the caramel for her sauce set too firm.

Alejandro Valdivia

Original Season: Season 11

Place on Original Season: 4th

Place on Back to Win: 18th

---

• Epic Fail: His leadership for the U.S. Coast Guard Team Challenge was a mess. On top of not controlling his team and spending more time on the grill, he made a huge mistake of trying to grill steaks that were dropped onto the ground. Not only was a furious Ramsay quick to strip him of the title of team captain, but the mistake appalled the judges enough to eliminate him without going for a Bottom Three.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Alejandro was faced with his turbot from Season 11's Ramsay Replication Challenge, as his attempt ended up containing overcooked fish, raw mushrooms, and dense gnocchi.
• Short-Lived Leadership: He was elected captain of the red team for the U.S. Coast Guard Team Challenge, but was mostly quiet in the pass. This came to a head when he grilled dropped steaks, which resulted in Gordon tearing him a new one and giving the role of captain to Michael.
• What Were You Thinking?: He made a very ill-thought mistake by putting steaks Gabriel accidentally dropped on the ground onto the grill hoping that the heat would kill the bacteria. That decision infuriated Ramsay when he saw that, and everyone on the Red Team was appalled by Alejandro's careless decision as nobody would have thought of doing that to begin with.

Caitlin "Cate" Meade

Original Season: Season 8

Place on Original Season: 4th

Place on Back to Win: 19th

---

• Dramatic Irony:
  • Back in Season 8, Cate managed to win a Season 7 Shaun themed Mystery Box Challenge. But in this season, she was eliminated though that same themed challenge.
  • In her elimination statement, Cate lampshades that last time she never made a dish that was terrible to risk being in the Bottom Three (until the Flour Gauntlet Skills Test). But in this episode, her cake was so poor that not only she was in the Bottom Three, she was eliminated.
• Epic Fail: Despite getting brandy to cook with in the alcohol challenge, which was the easiest and most versatile alcohol to work with, she flopped HARD when it came to presenting her dish. She had to cut off bits and pieces to Frankenstein a cake that was half overdone and suffered from a lot of technical flaws.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Cate was faced with her cheese soufflé dish from Season 8's Flour Gauntlet Skills Test, as her dish came out liquid due to having dense egg whites.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Cate's real name is Caitlin, which had to be shortened because there was another Caitlin in Season 8. However, she and the producers keep the nickname despite nobody else in the competition sharing her name.

Stephen Lee

Original Season: Season 6

Place on Original Season: 3rd

Place on Back to Win: 20th

---

• Crazy Enough to Work: Stephen's audition dish was Rabbit and Donuts. It proved to be a strong enough dish to give him his apron again.
• Epic Fail: Despite starting strong with his audition dish, his cocoa panna cotta redo did not have enough gelatin in it, resulting in it having the taste and consistency of chocolate milk. This got him eliminated first despite placing high on his original season and having one of the most well-liked audition dishes.
• History Repeats: He was eliminated once again by a liquid panna cotta.
• My Greatest Failure: In the first challenge, Stephen was faced with the panna cotta from Season 6, as the raspberry coulis failed to set and it came juicing out after Ramsay cut into it.
• Shocking Elimination: Despite getting 3rd place in his original season, having a great audition dish, and being well revered by the judges and contestants, he was the first eliminated. This established that no one was safe this season, regardless of your placing in the original season.

Season 13 (United Tastes of America)

Grant Gillon

Occupation: Brewery sales director

Region: Midwest (Iowa)

• The Ace: He only landed on the bottom twice.
• Minnesota Nice: Invoked. After Jennifer betrays the Midwest team by shortening their cooking time, the judges ask Grant what is he thinking about this.
  Grant: That's definitely not Midwest nice. That's how we were raised.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After he is given immunity and the advantage of making the pairs for the Tag-Team Challenge, Grant announces to everyone that he is going to stop playing Nice Guy.
  Grant: I'm here today to tell you that Nice Guy is gone.

Kennedy U.

Occupation: Festival vendor

Region: West (Colorado)

• The Ace: She only landed on the bottom twice, and most of her entries landed in the Top 4.
• Bifauxnen: She identifies herself as an androgynous person, so her course in the Finale tries to tell that story in her dishes.
• Signature Headgear: She always wore a beanie during the competition. The only time she doesn't wear it is during the Finale.
• Sole Survivor: She is the last remaining contestant from the West region in the Top 6.
• Hipster: She wears a beanie hat and her personal style matches, has a lot of tattoos, and lives with her girlfriend in a remodeled school bus.

Jennifer Maune

Occupation: Lifestyle blogger

Region: South (Arkansas)

• Achilles' Heel: Pair challenges. Sure, Jennifer is a great teammate and performs well in singles challenges, but her most notable moments at the bottom were during the Tag-Team Challenge, where Charles was eliminated, and the Wall challenge, where she and Reagan barely passed by scoring slightly better than Brynn and Kolby.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the first team challenge, she chose the Midwest team to be teammates with. In the following episode, she chooses to give them ten minutes less of their cook time, despite having an alliance in the previous chapter. With that disadvantage, Jennifer manages to get Sarah eliminated from their team, but she also ends up in the bottom 3. She narrowly averts elimination with the judges eliminating Purvi instead.
• The Leader: Despite having immunity that week, she offered herself to be the Team Captain, knowing it had the most perks and disadvantages during the entire challenge since she felt confident that she could lead her team with a clear direction. She managed to win the challenge and consecutive immunity.
• My God, What Have I Done?: At the end of the Tag-Team Challenge, she was crying about the Epic Fail of her presentation with Charles, aware that this was the worst thing they had presented to the judges. Lucky for her, Charles was eliminated because the judges noticed that Jennifer basically carried both of them and most of the worst mistakes were on Charles.
• Team Mom: Sure, she has her eyes on the prize, but she is also a mother of three kids at home, and volunteered to lead her first Team Challenge, on top of being very patient and nurturing.

Reagan Sidney

Occupation: Paralegal

Region: South (Louisiana)

• Deaf Composer: She is deadly allergic to fish, and even got a sardine (one of the most difficult fish from the lot). Gets a little better when Sav decides to swap her sardine with Kennedy's salmon, allowing her to do a dish good enough to pass.
• Sassy Black Woman: She has the attitude to back up her passion for cooking.

Wayne Lewis

Occupation: Media company owner

Region: Midwest (Ohio)

• Beginner's Luck:
  • Despite not being a baker, Wayne manages to score in the Top 4 replicating a 9-layer cake with chocolate ganache.
  • In Episode 13, he is given a catfish, which he has never worked with. He ends up winning the challenge.
• Genre Blind: On the first challenge to make their own dish inspired by county fairs, he chooses to do a pumpkin risotto. Joe and Aarón promptly ask if he has ever watched previous seasons of the show to know that risotto was one of the most challenging dishes within the given time frame. Wayne admits that he didn't watch the show enough back then. He got lucky that Kyle won that night which gave him immunity since his rice was undercooked.
• Jack of All Trades: According to his audition video, he has a lot of talents aside from his main occupation in media. He likes hunting, archery, scuba diving, sports, and cooking, and used to be a competitive baseball player. During the competition, he also proved to be very efficient at carving chicken. As of Episode 9, he can also add bakery to his skill set.
• Mirror Character: He has a lot of similarities with Season 5's Leslie Gilliams, as the oldest and richest of the group, and both entered the competition because they wanted to prove themselves at cooking. The main difference is that, unlike Leslie who isn't ashamed of being a stay-at-home dad, Wayne is the owner of a media company that has branches in web magazines and blogs and hasn't shown to be as caustic as Leslie was.
• The Strategist: As the winner of the previous challenge, Wayne got the advantage of forming the pairs, including choosing his own partner. Not only did he manage to match people who didn't perform well together, but he also got Grant as his partner, who is his fellow region-mate, and both have experience working together in team challenges, to the point they succeeded in replicating the same dish presentation in perfect synch. They end up single-handedly winning the challenge.

Savannah "Sav" Miles

Occupation: Farm owner

Region: South (Alabama)

• Call to Agriculture: Despite graduating from Harvard University on a scholarship, she chose to return to Alabama and start a farm, which many people consider a waste of her degree. Her dream is to have a "farm-to-table" restaurant.
• Chekhov's Skill: She has a farm where she has to work with chicken daily, and she proves to be the fastest to butcher and cut the chicken in perfect portions for her entire team.
• Country Mouse: She is from Alabama, lives as a farmer, and has a thick Southern accent. She even jokes with the judges that she tried to bring one of her chickens with her, but airport security would not let her.

Brynn Weaver

Occupation: Bartender

Region: Northeast (Rhode Island)

• Sole Survivor: After the Team Merger, she became the only remaining cook from the Northeast region in the Top 8.

Kolby Chandler

Occupation: Entrepreneur

Region: South (Texas)

• Doting Grandparent: During Kolby's audition, he tells the judges that he learned all his cooking techniques from his grandfather, who is in the audience cheering for him. Gordon gladly greets Kolby's grandfather and gives Kolby his apron in front of him.

Madame Donut "MD"

Occupation: Donut shop owner

Region: West (Hawaii)

• Chekhov's Skill: Her moment to show off her skills as a donut shop owner comes in handy in the Stadium Food Challenge, placing in the Top 3 with her donut trio.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Along with Squee. MD gets very excited when the guest chef turns out to be Andre Rush, commenting on his biceps. When the judges ask her about her reaction, she laughs and says it's just admiration.
• Elderly Blue-Haired Lady: Subverted as she isn't old since she is only 48 years old, but she has a very bright and colorful look with intense blue hair that goes with her youthful personality.
• Irony: Kennedy gives her a Key Lime Pie (the easiest one of the bunch), and she has experience with pastries as a donut shop owner, and yet she lands in the Bottom 3 of the cake challenge.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Her official information on Wikipedia and the show's website present her as just "Madame Donut" and everyone in the show calls her "MD"

Lizzie Hartman

Occupation: Preschool teacher's aid

Region: West (Alaska)

• Genki Girl: She was always upbeat and perky during the competition. The judges often praised her good attitude despite the mixed results during her run.

James Barfield

Occupation: Mushroom jerky manufacturer

Region: West (Oregon)

Charles Calvino

Occupation: Hairstylist

Region: Midwest (Ohio)

• In Touch with His Feminine Side: His day job is as a hairstylist for women.
• Token Minority: He has Cambodian heritage.

Nina Interlandi Bell

Occupation: Marketing manager

Region: Northeast (Maine)

• Crazy Enough to Work: Her audition dish was venison dumplings with no additional fat mixed into them. Despite the judges' concerns that the venison would be too lean for dumpling filling, they were surprised when the dish managed to be well balanced, keep the venison's flavor, and retain the moisture in the filling.
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: She has a wild style, her hair is shaven on the sides, dyed with pink strikes, and has a lot of tattoos, and yet she is one of the nicest and quirky cooks of the cast.

Kendal Adair

Occupation: Trucking company owner

Region: South (Mississippi)

• Crippling Overspecialization: He is a barbeque county champion, but he performs pretty badly with desserts as he admits that his wife is the one in charge of the sweets. He goes back to top form when the following challenges involve grilling meat and chicken.
• Oh, Crap!: While playing with Kendal's BBQ Champion ring, Gordon accidentally drops it on the stove burners while he is cooking, and while trying to rescue it, the ring falls on his shrimp sauce. Fortunately, both the ring and the sauce are fine, everyone laughs it off, and Kendal's dish wins him an apron.
• Real Men Eat Meat: He has been a barbeque champion since age 12, and his best performances featured grilled meat.
• Tempting Fate: During his audition interview, he claims to have been a barbeque champion in county fairs since he was 12 years old, and he will never bring anything below perfect during the competition. In episode 5 he underperforms with a subpar chicken kebab. In Episode 6, he almost lands in the Bottom 3 with salty churros, but thankfully Jennifer wins immunity for the entire South team and saves him from elimination.

Kyle Hopkins

Occupation: Cicerone

Region: Midwest (Missouri)

• Crazy Enough to Work: For the first challenge, he did Beer-battered Lobster Fries, with the main concern from the judges that he never worked with lobster before and he didn't poach the lobster before deep-frying it, with the risk of having it overcooked or raw. The risk paid off as he ended up winning the challenge and saving his entire team.

Purvi Dogra

Occupation: Credit & collection manager

Region: Northeast (New Jersey)

• Dramatic Irony: She took pride in her Indian roots, and unfortunately she gets eliminated on Butter Chicken and Naan.
• Token Minority: She is the only Indian contestant.

Sarah Fry

Occupation: Social media manager

Region: Midwest (Missouri)

• Genki Girl: She was giggling all the time during her audition, showing her positive and upbeat personality in her cooking as well.
• What Were You Thinking?: She tried to make a chicken roulade, despite never having done one before. On top of it, she planned to do it on the frying pan instead of using the oven and didn't let it rest enough time for the inner juices to congeal, which resulted in dry meat. She gets eliminated that night.

Ryan Walker

Occupation: Construction superintendent

Region: Northeast (New Jersey)

• Epic Fail: During the first team challenge of the season, he was in charge of the grill. Unfortunately, he couldn't handle the cook on the pork chops (which is already a very difficult cut to nail in a team challenge). He gets eliminated because the Blue team couldn't complete all the servings in time.
• Recovered Addict: A big part of his backstory is how his father was one of the few people who supported him through his darkest moments and how cooking helped him to overcome heroin addiction. The steak and eggs he presents in his audition represent the first dish he made in his process of rehabilitation. Gordon can relate to him because he still struggles with his own brother's problem.

Richie Jones-Muhammad

Occupation: Music producer

Region: Northeast (Maryland)

• Achilles' Heel: His only two dishes during his run on the show were desserts. Both times he landed in the bottom 3, his last one got him eliminated.
• Blatant Lies: His cupcakes didn't rise since he forgot to add baking powder to the mix. He tried to pass off his cupcakes as "homecakes", claiming that they were a play on his grandmother's recipes. Joe didn't buy it for a second and bluntly called him out on it, recalling that he started referring to his dish as "cupcakes".

Amanda Clark Katz

Occupation: Stay-at-home mom

Region: West (California)

• Crippling Overspecialization: She proclaims that she is more into healthy food, resulting in very narrow creativity to elevate food based on the county fair theme of the challenge, which mostly has desserts and fried food.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: She was the first eliminated.
• What Were You Thinking?: She tried to do fish tacos despite having never done them before. Her reasoning is that she doesn't like State Fair food, and prefers to eat more healthy dishes. As a result, she only managed to make very basic and bland tacos, which failed to serve the main point of the challenge: to elevate the dish to MasterChef quality.