by Gina Scarpa

The final six contestants were narrowed down to the final four this week on MasterChef. Desserts became the death of two frontrunners, Mike and Sharone. First, Mike was sent home during an Invention Test for serving raw egg whites on top of "badly made trifle" as Gordon Ramsay put it. Then, Sharone faced off against Whitney in a Pressure Test, where the two had to make a perfect soufflé in 90 minute, but his undercooked dish was just minutes away from perfection. Today, the two spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview about their experiences on the show.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you want to try out for MasterChef?
A. Mike: It just seemed to be the most fitting and most appropriate opportunity and challenge for me. I discovered the opportunity by pure happenstance. I had a random thought in the middle of the night like, "I wonder if there's a tv show for amateur cooks." I did a search online and saw the audition was 10 days later. At the time, it was strange because I had just gotten laid off. I was down and out a little bit but I thought I could feel bad about it or I could throw myself out there and get out of my comfort zone. MasterChef was it. I belonged there.
A. Sharone: It's funny. I didn't know anything about it. I never really wanted to be on reality television. You see what goes on over there and you just put yourself out there at the editor's hands. I worked for a big firm in finance and five days after my kid was born, I decided to leave. I got sick of the politics. I didn't want that anymore. A friend of mine told me about the show and I was like, "Okay, fine." There was an audition half a mile away from my house so I went to check it out. There was a line around the block and I dealt with it. I plated some awesome food, one thing led to another, and next thing I know, I'm on it.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which contestants stood out to you as your biggest competition?
A. Mike: Besides one another? I was actually really shocked about Jake, personally, that he was eliminated before me. He was someone I wanted to watch. Sean and Lee had a lot of good performances. Whitney had some strong dishes. There were a number of them. I wasn't so much worried about them. I just respected them all.
A. Sharone: The biggest competition... everyone wants to know... each challenge posed a different situation. If it was a dessert challenge, I'd point right at Whitney. That girl just does desserts really well. If it was Asian influenced, Mike is a great cook with amazing flavor profiles. I like his plating. I think myself. I was a big part of my own competition. I wanted to push myself so much that at times, I pushed myself too far. I wanted to challenge myself.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who was the toughest judge to impress?
A. Sharone: For me, the toughest judge to impress was Joe. He tastes it and then he'd stare at you for the longest 20 seconds of your life and burn a hole in your plate and your heart.
A. Mike: I think Joe was definitely one that was intimidating. Out of the three, I knew the least about him so my impression right off the bat was, "This man doesn't pull any punches." He's not just a chef, he's a restaurateur. You have to oversee a lot of chefs. He's going to keep that standard. I think when I tried to make dishes to impress them I didn't do as well. When is stayed true to me, I did rather well. It was tough.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Why are desserts so challenging?
A. Mike: Let me respond with this one since this was the challenge that I had to bid my farewell.
A. Sharone: It was mine, too!!
A. Mike: I think because there's a certain science and it's very controlled. There's a very little margin of error. You have to follow these steps. You can't organically get a feel for an ingredient or make something on a whim. I'm Asian. I didn't grow up with pies. We had fruit! Not to say that I didn't have a lot of experience with desserts, but last night, I was thinking of doing a classic trifle with other elements. By doing so, I didn't pay the respect I needed to the dessert's demand which is structured detail.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What's next for you?
A. Sharone: I got an amazing offer from Joe to cook at his restaurant in L.A., which I'll be taking advantage of. I got amazing reviews on my barbecue sauce. People ask me for recipes. I'm working on getting that out, an amazing, organic version. I'm working on a non-profit as well, educating teenagers across the city about getting in the kitchen.
A. Mike: There are some restaurant concepts that are in development right now. I'm also currently in the works of kicking off a catering business. There are actually a number of different things going on, some of which I can't talk about. My feelers are out there and I'm so open! This has been an incredible springboard for me, one that I could never imagine!

MasterChef airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox.

(Image courtesy of Fox)

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