by Gina Scarpa and Todd Betzold

After a loss by the blue team on last night's MasterChef, they were faced with a pressure test to bake a layered cake. It proved to be a test for all the contestants, and Christine, Esther, and Suzy all landed in the bottom three. In the end, the judges sent Esther home for her panicked and lost demeanor during both the team challenge and pressure test. Today, we caught up with her in an exclusive interview to learn more about her MasterChef experience.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you want to do MasterChef?
A. Esther: MasterChef is the only show I can think of that opens up the opportunity for amateur chefs. I have no professional culinary training so this seemed like a good opportunity for me.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was there anyone that you viewed as your biggest competition?
A. Esther: No, I didn't really focus on other people.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: On many of the cooking competition shows, desserts are often the kiss of death. Do you have a lot of experience doing desserts?
A. Esther: I do and I think honestly, that's what tripped me up. I knew I had experience in a lot of things so I was being really ambitious to do what I wanted in two hours.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was it stressful at times that you had to cook under time restraints and with food assignments given to you?
A. Esther: It was. You have the elimination challenge and you have an hour to pull it off, usually. Conceptualiing things from the flavors to the textures to how you want to plate it is a lot. You have to keep moving, especially when the judges come up to you. You think you're doing a great job and they're like, "Ick, did you taste that?" and you're like, "I thought it was fine." They tell you that you're going in the wrong direction and things like that trip you up.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You seemed shocked when Christine was told that she was safe. As you stood next to her and Suzy, what was going through your mind?
A. Esther: I thought I was going home. I just had a gut feeling and I was like, "Okay, if it's going to be between me and Suzy or me or Christine, I'm going home." I kind of knew it. When they were tasting my dish, I was like, "Okay..." I just accepted my reality.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Which of the judges did you feel understood your cooking style the most?
A. Esther: Joe was the nicest to me. Graham has a different palette than mine and Gordom Ramsay... in comparison, Joe understood me more.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Are you continuing to pursue a cooking career or have you thought about going back to law?
A. Esther: I would go back to law if I ran out of money! I have a company, Batch From Scratch, and it's like my baby. I'm focusing on that.

MasterChef airs Mondays and Tuesdays on FOX.

(Image courtesy of FOX)

Follow Gina @ginascarpa and "Like" her on Facebook. Follow Todd @tbetzold.