by Gina Scarpa

 

Last night, on MasterChef, Sheena and Avis were two of the three chefs eliminated from the competition. They were asked to complete an outstanding Chinese dish using Mandarin oranges but both fell flat. Today, the two women spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview and told us their feelings on Gordon Ramsay, their fellow contestants, and their desire to continue cooking.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you both decide to try out for MasterChef?

A. Sheena: It was a weird situation for me because I wanted to work on the show behind the scenes with the culinary team. I had found out about a position and sent in my resume to a producer but I also thought I was kind of perfect for the show. I hadn't thought about trying out, though. I didn't hear anything back for a few weeks and figured they weren't going to hire me so I ended up auditioning.

A. Avis: For me, I heard about the audition on the radio. Right after that, I went to a store and got a newspaper and my eyes fell on the MasterChef audition! At the time, I was a caregiver for an elderly lady. I started thinking, "What am I gonna do?" I made a wonderful pasta dish and it got me on tv!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Having seen Gordon Ramsay before on television, were you worried about how he might be when you encountered him?
A. Avis: It was wonderful working with Gordon. I had seen him on Hell's Kitchen and I was like, "Nobody can be that crazy in real life!" I was concerned about him getting in my face. I can't deal with the f word. I wasn't going to set myself up to even have to have him do that. In real life, Gordon is a really nice person. He's not as bad as it seems on other shows. It's just tv.
A. Sheena: I've seen him on Kitchen Nightmares which is even more frightening than Hell's Kitchen. When you sign up to work with him, you know what you're getting into. I was shocked at his energy. He's extremely intense. You can feel lasers coming out of him! It's very awe inspiring.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which contestants stood out to you, for good or bad reasons?
A. Sheena: I have a lot of things to say about a lot of contestants but the one I'm rooting for is Jake. You don't expect it. You see this big construction guy and he really knows a lot about food! In terms of competition, I knew that he deserves to be where he is. Sheetal... Indian food... it seems like such a box to me. I don't see how she's going to be able to battle. There's Whitney, who is so young. How are you going to know how to cook when you're a virgin? If you have never felt that passion, how can you apply it to something that is so passionate?
A. Avis: Jake was one of the people that really stood out. He's a great, great guy. Lee stood out and also, who's the other one? Who's that cute guy? Sharone!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did being on the show inspire you to continue cooking?
A. Avis: Yes, definitely! On Sunday, my house is a soul food kitchen! That's one of the things when I came home. My kids cried when I was eliminated but they were happy. Our family eats dinner together every Sunday after church. Everybody comes over to eat.
A. Sheena: With or without the show, cooking is what I do for fun and that's how I bring people together. That's never going to go away. There were a couple days right after I was eliminated where I didn't want to cook but it came back! You can't take someone's passion away from them.

 

MasterChef airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Fox.

 

(Image courtesy of Fox)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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