Michael Chen

“

MasterChef has the big potential to change my life and to really steer me in a completely new direction that I thought I would never get to achieve.

”

Hometown	Austin, TX
Age	19
Occupation	Meteorology Student
Statistics
Bottom Entries	1
Placement	16th
Episode Eliminated	Top 16 Compete

Michael Chen was a contestant on Season 3 of MasterChef. He ranked in 16th place.

Personality

Michael was shown to be very brave, as he publicly came out to his family as gay right before coming onto MasterChef and doing that again on national television. While he started out on a strong note with a great audition dish, he was a consistently poor performer and made the biggest and most bizarre mistake of putting cheese in an apple pie, which led to his elimination. Despite this, he was friendly with everyone, especially Christine and Tanya, noticeably rooting for the former to win in the competition.

Competition History

Week 4	In/In
Week 5	Eliminated

Post MasterChef

• After his appearance, Michael dropped out of college and traveled, gaining experience in kitchens in both Canada and the U.S. before becoming head chef at The Kessler. He has continued to travel worldwide sharing delicious food pictures on his Instagram and married his partner Robert in July 2019.

Trivia

• At 19, he is the youngest contestant of the season.
• He won the first apron of the season.
• He and Tanya are the first contestants from Austin, Texas.
• He was acquainted with former contestant, Ben Starr before auditioning.

Quotes

• "I have a passion and the love and skill that it takes to make great food. I think MasterChef's gonna be the springboard for my future in food."
• "MasterChef has the big potential to change my life and to really steer me in a completely new direction that I thought I would never get to achieve."
• (After being eliminated) "I came here because I wanted to prove that I have what it takes to be a great chef. I just didn't expect to be going home so early. I'm proud of the things I was able to do, all the way up to this (Pressure Test) challenge. It's been a great ride and a great experience and I'm very thankful for that. I wouldn't trade that for anything."

Gallery

Season 3

Michael's Confessional

Michael's Audition Dish

Michael receiving his Apron

Michael in the Blue Team

Michael in a Black Apron

Michael's Pressure Test Apple Pie

Michael, Tanya, and Scott in the Apple Pie Pressure Test Bottom 3

Michael Eliminated

External links

• Michael Chen on Instagram
• Michael Chen on Twitter