MasterChef: Back to Win is underway and that means that chefs are starting to go home. And the latest chef to say goodbye is Alejandro Valdivia, who many viewers may remember from Season 11 (after all, it wasn’t that long ago).
Following the first team challenge of the Back to Win Season, it was red team captain Alejandro who had to leave his apron behind. While we are sad to see him go, it also meant that we here at Guilty Eats had an opportunity to speak to the eliminated chef.
Not only did we talk about what it was like to come back to the competition so soon after his first go around, but we talked about what’s next for him (it’s exciting), what his inspiration is, but also what his guilty is (we always have to know).
So if you are a fan of MasterChef and Chef Alejandro, then check out this interview and remember to give him a follow over on his social channels!
MasterChef contestant Alejandro Valdivia talks to Guilty Eats about his time on the show and what’s next
After kicking things off by talking about Chef Alejandro putting himself out there again, especially so soon after having already competed on MasterChef, we got into exactly what it is that convinced him to go back, and our conversation grew from there.
Guilty Eats: What inspired you to actually take them up on this opportunity to come back and do it again?
Alejandro Valdivia: “It’s another shot at competing and another shot at redemption of like trying to win and, just getting out there again. It was also a chance to cook with other people that I’ve never cooked with before, some people that I’ve watched before and they’ve watched me, and it’s so cool to get to meet them. It’s kind of like a big family and now you get to cook with them. So it was pretty neat.”
GE: What was it like being back in the competition kitchen so soon after you just did it?
AV: It was fun and it was traumatic in the sense of like, oh my god, am I in a nightmare, am I back here again. It’s the good part, but it’s the bad part of like ‘Oh no, you’re about to be judged,’ or whatnot. I felt obviously from the get go, that I was going to be an underdog in the sense of like the audience just saw me. If your production I will have to do an extremely good job for you to keep me because they just saw me. Who do you want to see, me or somebody that was a kid 10 years ago and now is an adult, or a contestant that you haven’t seen in 10 years? You just saw me 10 months ago.”
GE: Now that you’ve done this twice, what do you hope people will remember about you when it comes to your time on MasterChef?
AV: “I hope people remember how passionate I am and how relentless I am no matter what ups and down I always push through. I always get it done. You know good or bad to the end always fighting. That’s just like my motto, it is fight because if you don’t fight you never know what will be or what will become of you and nobody will ever remember you and you will go unnoticed for the rest of your life. But if you fight then you feel good with yourself.”
GE: If you were invited to come back again, would you do it again?
AV: “I don’t think so. It would have to be a completely different format. If it was a different format or something different, I will try. But the same thing, I’ve already experienced it twice. Yeah, I don’t think I’ll come back for a third time.”
GE: Would you do a different competition series?
AV: “Yes, totally.”
GE: What would be the competition series you would absolutely love to be a part of?
AV: “If it was my choice, if I could create this show that doesn’t really exist, then anything that will be cooking outside in the wild with the elements. Like true mastery of the elements, you know, like everybody basically do whatever you could do. You create your own stuff out in the elements, even a setup. But you have to make your own fire and all of that. That will be my style of competition. If you’re talking about something that already exists, I would probably do Top Chef or even Chopped.”
GE: So you mentioned outdoor cooking and I saw that you are starting a YouTube channel. Are you going to be doing that? Is that what we can expect from you?
AV: “Yes, I’m actually going on the road today. I’m going west from Atlanta all the way through the Rockies. I’m going to be cooking in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, cooking with friends, cooking in the elements, cooking by myself, cooking food from that area, and then heading back east again, all the way down to Philadelphia then back to Atlanta. So I’m doing like a big triangle.”
(If you want to watch Chef Alejandro’s adventures, check out his new YouTube channel here.)
GE: What is your favorite dish to actually prepare?
AV: “It would have to be something wild game, octopus, duck, venison, something like that.”
GE: So my last question revolves around who we are as Guilty Eats, and that is what is your Guilty Eat?
AV: “If it’s a real guilty eat it would have to be Krispy Kreme Doughnuts here in Atlanta. As soon as you drive through the drive thru window and the actual factory, they’ve been making them forever, it’s an old like an old mill looking one and you just drive through the drive thru and just buy 12 Krispy Kremes at midnight and then they’re like, the sugar is basically dripping down. It is like liquid at this point, and when you put her in your mouth, when you do the first bite, both your upper and your lower jaw they just touch, because it disappears like cotton candy.”
(And now we need Krispy Kreme doughnuts!)