Sam Reiff-Pasarew

“

This is pretty terrifying. I feel like I'm waiting in the chairs outside the principal's office.

”

Hometown	Washington, D.C.
Age	37
Occupation	Creative Writing Teacher
Statistics
Mystery Box(es) Won	0
Skills Test(s) Won	0
Elimination Test(s) Won	0
Team Challenge(s) Won	1
Pressure Test(s) Survived	0
Top Entries	0
Bottom Entries	6
Placement	17th
Episode Eliminated	Silenced by the Lambs

Samuel "Sam" Reiff-Pasarew was a contestant on Season 8 of MasterChef. He ranked in 17th place.

Personality

Sam was a cheerful and upbeat person during his time in the competition, but started out on the wrong foot and headed into a downward spiral. While he would always hold himself accountable for his errors and always wanted to bounce back, he proved to deliver the opposite of what he wanted, since he would be lost, flustered, and disorganized whenever he was cooking and became one of the worst performers of the season. Despite trying his best and making rapid improvements, his cooking skills and judgement were subpar and questionable at best, especially when he openly admitted that it would be a good idea to serve and eat raw lamb to the judges, leading to a perceived lack of passion. For all of these reasons, he was making way too many mistakes and he himself knew that he wasn't going to survive the competition any longer, which ultimately forced him to concede his apron upon his elimination.

Competition History

Week 3	Low/In
Week 4	Win
Week 5	In/Low/Low
Week 6	Low/Eliminated

Post MasterChef

• After his appearance, he is Executive Producer/Founding Company Member at Story Pirates, an arts education and media company based in New York and Los Angeles. He has done a number of pop up cookery events and regularly posts food pics on his social media. (retrieved from MasterChef US Season 8 Contestants Where Are They Now? - Reality TV Revisited)

Trivia

• He is the fourth contestant to eliminate themselves without having the judges formally announce their elimination, following Erryn (Season 2), Ryan (Season 3), Howard (Season 4).
• He is the third contestant to not give an exit interview after being eliminated following Stephani (Season 5) and Ailsa (Season 6).

Quotes

• (About being selected as a bottom entry) "This is pretty terrifying. I feel like I'm waiting in the chairs outside the principal's office."
• (After elimination announcement), “You know, cooking, it’s something I love. I’m happy because I think the criticism that I got from you guys made me stronger and I feel privileged.”

Gallery

Season 8

Sam's Confessional

Sam's Failed Grocery Bag Mystery Box Dish

Mark, Heather and Sam in the Grocery Bag Mystery Box Bottom 3

Sam's Redemption Dish

Sam in the Red Team

Sam's Scrambled Eggs Replication Dish

Jeff, Yachecia, Caitlin, Sam, Dino, and Heather in the Scrambled Eggs Replication Bottom 6

Sam's Scrambled Eggs Redo Dish

Sam and Heather in the Scrambled Eggs Redo Bottom 2

Sam's Skills Test Lamb

Jenny, Caitlin, Jennifer, Newton, Eboni, and Sam in the Lamb Skills Test Bottom 6

Sam's Rack of Lamb Replication Dish

Newton and Sam in the Rack of Lamb Replication Bottom 2

Sam Eliminated