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MasterChef Season 3: Exclusive Interview With Ryan Umane

Posted on 06/26/2012 by Todd in MasterChef and Cast Interviews

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Ryan Umane from MasterChef Season 3

by Todd Betzold

 

There is always one person on a reality TV show that we are all made out to hate, or their actions make us want to hate them. For Season 3 of MasterChef, that person was Ryan Umane. He came off as arrogant, cocky and rude. Is that how he is in real life? After failing to make a molten lava cake last night during the Pressure Test, Ryan was sent home. Today, we got an exclusive interview with Ryan and talked about his time on MasterChef, his bad guy image and much more.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What made you want to try out for MasterChef?
A. Ryan: What made me first want to start out in MasterChef was I was tired of spending lots of money on expensive New York City meals and I thought I could do a way better job myself at home cooking.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: You and Monti did not seem to enjoy each other. Is that true or was it edited to make it look worse than it actually was?
A. Ryan: There is no love-loss between Monti and I. I found her to be extremely temperamental, very disingenuous and a bit of an overemotional, blubbering wreck 90% of the time and she was very difficult to get along with. So, that is where a lot of our problems stemmed from.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: You got a lot of grief for giving a live crab to Christine on the Elimination Challenge last show. Do you regret that now after seeing it?
A. Ryan: After watching the episode again, I do not regret giving Christine the live crab. I did it out of sheer respect of how strong of a competitor she was and I was trying to throw a curveball to each individual player in the competition and that's what I thought would give her the toughest time. I think if a lot of other people were in the same position that I was in that they would have come to the same conclusion. It's a lot easier for people to judge looking for the outside in.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Your Dream Team of you and Tali were in the bottom two last night. What were you thinking at that time when it was just the two of you left?
A. Ryan: I thought that it was really unfortunate that we were both up there. While we were still part of the Dream Team, I solely wanted to win the MasterChef title. While I would have been happy if neither of us would have gone home, I was just individually disappointed in my own performance.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What was it like working with all the time constraints of the challenges and food ingredients given to you?
A. Ryan: I think that the real sign of a great chef is being able to work outside of your comfort zone and do things that might not always be second nature to you. That's what really distinguishes a homecook from a master chef. So, battling those time constraints and working under that pressure for someone as ultra-competitive as myself, really gets my blood pumping and my adrenaline flowing. It's one of the few times where you feel like you are alive, so I really liked all the time constraints and the pressure.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Is there anyone you are rooting for now?
A. Ryan: I would say my Top 3 strongest players still left in the competition are definitely Josh, Tali and Tanya. Josh is very quick in the kitchen and he has a lot of moves. Tali has great attention to detail and when he can get out of his own way, he is an extremely talented chef. Tanya has a huge heart and she really puts a lot of love onto each and every one of her plates.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: That is one of the things I noticed last night. Tanya was supporting and rooting for you during the Pressure Test and that was one thing that wasn't shown throughout the season. You did seem to have some support from the other contestants when it seemed like you were the bad guy throughout the whole season.
A. Ryan: Yeah, I feel that was very deliberate by the producers, especially when you look at the dichotomy between how extremely competitive I am and how many people are crying constantly on the show. I'm sure it was a very easy decision by the producers to bill me as the bad guy. When in reality, I'm just a regular guy who wanted to win very badly.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What is the biggest thing you are going to take away from this whole MasterChef experience?
A. Ryan: I definitely learned a lot about myself and my cooking style and I need to stay true to my instincts in the kitchen. Also, that my talents and my creativity is too great to just keep to my family and friends. I really want to share my food and all my different flavors with other people and that's why I'm looking to possibly start some underground dinner parties in New York City. You can find out about that through FlavorElevator.com.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Do you have anything to add?
A. Ryan: I'm just a regular guy trying to run down a dream and I never meant any ill-will toward any of my competitors and I did it all in the spirit of competition.

 

MasterChef airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 9/8c on FOX.

 

(Image courtesy of FOX)

 

Follow Todd @tbetzold


  


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