Alejandro Valdivia

“

Growing up in Cuba, I learned how to be relentless and become a fighter. No matter what goes down in this kitchen, I'm gonna stick to it and I won't give up.

”

Hometown	Atlanta, GA
Age	39 (Season 11) 40 (Season 12)
Occupation	Professional Animal Trainer (Season 11) Private Chef and Animal Trainer (Season 12)
Statistics
Mystery Box(es) Won	1 (Season 11) 0 (Season 12)
Pressure Test(s) Survived	DNP (Season 11) DNP (Season 12)
Bottom Entries	5 (Season 11) 0 (Season 12)
Placement	4th (Season 11) 18th (Season 12)
Episode Eliminated	Legends: Semi Final Pt 2 - 3 Chef Showdown (Season 11) Back to Win: Feeding the U.S. Coast Guard (Season 12)

Alejandro Valdivia was a contestant on Seasons 11 and 12 of MasterChef. On Season 11, he ranked in 4th place, and on Season 12, he ranked in 18th place.

Personality

In Season 11, Alejandro came in as a passionate home cook coming from a Cuban background. Despite his passion however, he was very inconsistent early on in the competition, finishing in the bottom of 3 challenges near the start of the competition, and often scraping by because of worse mistakes the other home cooks made, due to his lack of absorbing feedback that lead him to be frantic and scatterbrained while in the kitchen. However, he was able to learn from his mistakes, and began excelling in the second half of the competition. Despite this, his scatterbrained tendencies caught up with him at the Final 6, where he lost the Team Challenge as a captain, and then again at the Semi-Finals as his inability to cooperate with the culinary legends' demonstrations in the 3-part Elimination Test lead to his elimination. He had a minor conflict with Michael during a team challenge, but developed a close friendship with Suu.

In Season 12, he returned with the same personality he did before, but also the same flaws, as he never really managed to excel because of simple mistakes he made in the kitchen. In fact, his performance as team captain became even worse, as his downfall last season caught up to him once again as he was not vocal and commutative. He then made one of the worst mistakes in the show’s history, when he dropped a tray of steaks on the ground, and then put them back on the grill, where after being confronted by Gordon Ramsay, uttered that cooking them would remove the bacteria, which was unforgivable. This, along with his flustered tendencies, lead to him being eliminated early on in the competition.

Competition History

Week 4	Low
Week 5	In
Week 6	In
Week 7	Low
Week 8	Low
Week 9	In/In
Week 10	In
Week 11	High
Week 12	Low
Week 13	Win/Immune
Week 14	In/In/Eliminated

Competition History

Week 4	In
Week 5	In
Week 6	Eliminated

Post MasterChef

• After his first appearance, Alejandro returned to his job as a professional animal trainer and shared food snaps on his Instagram.

Trivia

Season 11

• He is the second contestant that is named Alejandro.
  • The first was Alejandro Toro from Season 7
• He is the first contestant of the season to win an apron.
• He is the first contestant to be saved after being in the bottom 4 times.
• He appears in Ultimate Beast Master.

Season 12

• He is the first (and currently the only) contestant to compete in two seasons in a row, being seasons 11 and 12.
• He is the third contestant suggested by Ramsay to be removed as a team captain in a Team Challenge, following Cate (Season 8) and Juni (Season 9). He is also second contestant to be forcibly removed due to their incompetence, following Juni (Season 9).
• He is the first contestant and first male contestant who received zero bottom entries during their second run on the show.
• He is the sixth contestant to be eliminated after a team challenge without competing in a subsequent Pressure Test, following Barbara (Season 7), Juni (Season 9), Shari, Subha (both from Season 10) and Abe (Season 11).
  • He is also the second contestant to be on the losing team as a team captain and be eliminated without a Pressure Test following Juni (Season 9).

Quotes

Season 11

• (After being eliminated) "Even though I'm disappointed that I didn't make it to the finale, I am happy. Now I know where I'm at and where I have to go and who I am as a cook. It's been a long journey to get here. It's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Coming into this competition, I was like a meteorite. I was wild and full of flame. There was no way of stopping me, but that has damaged me multiple times. But through the progression of the competition, I learned how to hone myself and then things kept on popping up. I kept on beating challenges. My future beyond MasterChef kitchen is gonna be cooking for the world. Many more doors will open up thanks to this opportunity and I'm so thankful for it."

Season 12

• "Last time I was in the MasterChef Kitchen, I had a very hard time editing myself because growing up in Cuba, we did not have much food, so I had a hard time putting things behind, like, I just wanna, like, cook everything at once; and so many opportunities have come my way since I've been in the MasterChef Kitchen. I've been able to become a private chef, but I feel that I have unfinished business. I need to get that trophy in my hands and go to sleep next to it and know that I am the champion."
• (During the team challenge) "Being team captain is an honor, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility. Last time I was captain, we lost the challenge. This time I cannot lose the challenge again."
• "Growing up in Cuba, I learned how to be relentless and become a fighter. No matter what goes down in this kitchen, I'm gonna stick to it and I won't give up."
• (After dropping a tray of steaks and putting them back on the grill) "Chef [Ramsay], I figured it was going to kill the bacteria."
• (After being eliminated) "You know, it's sad to cook for the last time in the MasterChef kitchen and I feel bad I let my team down. As is only fair, I should be the one going home and I'm going home today. I was able to be part of two different seasons of MasterChef, coming close in the semifinal last season, and now this season making it to the Top 18, so I'm just gonna hold my head up high."

Gallery

Season 11

Alejandro's Confessional

Alejandro's Audition Dish

Alejandro receiving his Apron

Alejandro's Monkfish Dish

Annai, Alejandro, and Elyce in the Monkfish Bottom 3

Alejandro's Pasta Dish

Miles, Alejandro, and Michael in the Pasta Bottom 3

Alejandro's Californian Mystery Box Dish

Tay, Alejandro, and Joseph in the Californian Mystery Box Bottom 3

Alejandro's Street Food Dish

Alejandro in a Black Apron

Alejandro's Legends Dish

Alejandro in a Green Apron

Alejandro in a Blue Apron

Alejandro and Suu's Communication Dishes

Alejandro's Kaiseki

Abe, Michael, and Alejandro in the Team Challenge Bottom 3

Alejandro's Round 1 French Bistro Dish

Alejandro's Ribeye Replication Dish

Alejandro's Risotto Replication Dish

Alejandro and Suu in the Replication Bottom 2

Alejandro's Turbot Replication Dish

Alejandro Eliminated

Season 12

Alejandro's Confessional

Alejandro's Audition Dish

Alejandro & Samantha Reinstated

Alejandro in the Red Team

Alejandro Eliminated (2nd Time)

External Links

Alejandro Valdivia on Instagram