| “ | When Chef Ramsay says your food is DISGUSTING, it's the worst thing you can hear. It's absolutely devastating. | ” |
Daniel "Dan" Wu was a contestant on Season 5 of MasterChef. He ranked in 14th place.
Personality[]
Despite being a nice and brutally honest guy, Dan was often seen as a one-trick pony, only knowing how to cook Asian food, and could be selfish on certain occasions, especially when he refused to listen to Cutter's ideas during a pair team challenge, afterwards stating that he will take responsibility for the taste of their dish. In the kitchen, while he wasn't the worst cook of the season, he gave consistently mixed performances due to his lack of versatility, leading to his elimination. He seemed to get along with most of his fellow contestants, only having a short-lived feud with Cutter up until his elimination.
Season 5[]
Episode 1[]
Gordon Ramsay explained to all contestants they will be tested by their cooking skills to receive a Masterchef apron and that not everyone will make it through round 1. Dan survived the round 1 audition and was one of the first contestants to receive a Masterchef apron by his ramen dish.
Episode 2[]
The contestants have their first mystery box challenge and Courtney was declared winner of the challenge, and as a result, she chose meatloaf as dish to prepare for the second round of the episode. After saving Leslie, Jaimee, Gordon, Elise, Cutter, Francis Biondi, Kira, Ahran, Elizabeth, and Christian, Dan was left along with 9 other opponents to cook in the second round. Unfortunately, despite his confidence, he failed miserably and his meatloaf was deemed by Gordon Ramsay as absolutely disgusting, bringing him on the bottom 3 with Stephani and Whitney. On the bright side, Dan's dish was the best of the three, thus safe from elimination.
Episode 3[]
Episode 4[]
Episode 5[]
Episode 6[]
Episode 7[]
The contestants were paired up in two by Courtney as the winner of the previous challenge, and Dan was paired up with Cutter to cook a surf n' turf meal. Inside the pantry, Cutter states that using two different types of lean proteins won't mix together, but Dan refuses to listen to his ideas. As a result, when the time was up for pantry ingredients, both Cutter and Dan failed to get enough ingredients to cook their surf n' turf meal, forcing them to cook an incomplete and underwhelming surf n' turf meal. By the time the pair's meal was called for tasting, Cutter ranted about Dan's stubbornness and attitude while getting the ingredients. It was also a disaster as Gordon Ramsay remarked it as one of the worst dishes in the competition so far. At the end, Joe brought a trash bin and asked the pair to throw the meal, which Cutter did without regret. The pair obviously faced the dreaded pressure test with Christian and Francis B and was asked to make some spring rolls. During the pressure test, Dan revealed that he was born in China. At the end of the pressure test, Dan Wu was saved from elimination while Francis B was sent home by the greasiness of his spring rolls.
Episode 8[]
The contestants head to Dinah's Family Restaurant in Los Angeles, and were divided into red team with 6 girls and Christian and blue team with 6 boys and Victoria. However, the blue team lost and was asked to face the pressure test. Victoria, Daniel and Francis L were chosen by Big Willie, the team leader and Cutter, Leslie, Dan Wu and Big Willie faced the pressure test. The four of them are asked to make a red velvet cake. Leslie and Big Willies cakes came out good and was saved from elimination. Meanwhile, Dan's cake was described as being very dry and have a wooly texture that of a cookie, and Cutter's cake was described as overly sweet. However, Cutter arrogantly argued with the judges, specifically about how Joe's palate is biased about the sweetness of the cake. By the time of the decision, Gordon Ramsay remarked Dan as a person with a humble approach while Cutter had a boisterous and somewhat disrespectful approach. Dan believed that he was the one who was staying in the competition because Cutter doesn't want to grow and learn. However, Dan was eliminated from the competition after Ramsay stated that his cake's texture was as dry as a biscuit. During his elimination, he had stated that going the MasterChef kitchen was a dream and that he was able to learn and experience things that he would've never been able to do.
Competition History[]
| Week 2 | In/Low |
|---|---|
| Week 3 | No Pressure Test |
| Week 4 | In/In |
| Week 5 | Win |
| Week 6 | In/In |
| Week 7 | Low/Low |
| Week 8 | Eliminated |
Post MasterChef[]
- After his appearance, Dan had a weekly food radio show and was selling his ramen at food markets before he opened restaurant Atomic Ramen in 2017 with help from a successful kick starter campaign raising $17,000 with excellent reviews until its closure in 2020.
- On November 8, 2022, Dan earned the most votes of all at-large candidates for Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, and he will become the city's Vice Mayor.
Trivia[]
- He is the first contestant from the state of Kentucky.
- He is also the only contestant from Kentucky to never reach the finale.
- It was revealed during the Spring Rolls Pressure Test that he was born in China.
- He is one of a few contestants in his season to never have their Elimination Test dish aired in an episode unless they were in the top or the bottom of the challenge. The other contestants to have this status were Francis Biondi, Ahran, Elise, Tyler, Elizabeth and Francis Legge.
- He and Cutter are the sixth and seventh contestants, last ones to date, to have their dish thrown away in the trash by Joe Bastianich, following Slim (Season 1), Jennifer (Season 2), Helene and David (both from Season 3), and Howard (Season 4). They are also the only ones who were asked to throw their dish in the trash.
Quotes[]
- (When Gordon Ramsay remarked his food is absolutely disgusting) "When Chef Ramsay says your food is DISGUSTING, it's the worst thing you can hear. It's absolutely devastating."
- (About Cutter) "I'm surprised Cutter's still here, he's hanging on by the skin of his teeth. Guy's got got nine lives, but I think he's used most of them at this point."
- (Regarding Cutter when the pair have to go to the pressure test) "There's a part of me that feels good going into the pressure test. Cause I don't have to deal with the debacle that was Cutter."
- (About Cutter's performance) "Cutter's going home, no question."
- (After being eliminated) "Being here has been like living in a dream that I didn't even know I had. To have gotten as far as I've gotten is affirmation that I'm as I think I am. The sheer joy of learning and experiencing things I never thought I would do, it's been unreal."
Gallery[]
Season 5[]
External links[]
Dan Wu on Instagram
References[]
| MasterChef U.S. Season 5 |
|---|
| Judges |
| Gordon Ramsay • Graham Elliot • Joe Bastianich |
| Contestants |
| Francis Biondi • Whitney Bray • Cutter Brewer • Elizabeth Cauvel • Ahran Cho • Leslie Gilliams • Christian Green • Gordon Houston • Jordan Kaminski • Courtney Lapresi • Astrid Lavenia • Francis Legge • Elise Mayfield • Daniel McGuffey • Willie Mike • Kira Novak • Victoria Scroggins • Stephani Syfax-Shepherd • Christine Silverstein • Tyler Viars • Jaimee Vitolo • Dan Wu |