MasterChef’s Tommy Walton chats with us about his return for Back to Win season

It’s a rather unique season of MasterChef over on FOX. For Season 12, it has been all about bringing back the chefs who not only the fans love, but who also deserve another chance to shine. And now that we have hit the top 15, it was time to “Bake to Win.”

For the 9th episode of the season, MasterChef saw our Back to Win contestants take on a baking challenge and while some chefs soared, others stumbled. And sadly, Tommy Walton stumbled in the “Bake to Win” challenge.

While we loved seeing Tommy take on the MasterChef kitchen once again with his signature style and flair, sadly it was not meant to be this season. But that also meant that we got the opportunity to chat with the glamourous chef about his return to MasterChef, why he went back, what it is like in the kitchen, and of course, what’s his guilty eat.

MasterChef’s Tommy Walton talks to Guilty Eats about his time on Back to Win

Guilty Eats: What made you decide to come back to the MasterChef kitchen?

Tommy Walton: “Well, actually the first time I was on MasterChef and this time it was my husband that made me go into it. The very idea of going back to MasterChef was met with absolute derision and horror. That is something you have to be absolutely crazy to go back to MasterChef after you’ve survived one crucifixion go back and have another one. It was my husband. I cooked for him for 30 years. So he wanted me to really go back and plus the fans really did want me to come back. So it was for the fans and my husband.”

GE: What was your favorite part of actually being back in the MasterChef kitchen?

TW: “You know, my favorite part of being back in the Master Chef kitchen was being with all of my MasterChef brothers and sisters and family. Because what happens to us when we are born from Gordon Ramsay is we all share a singular experience together that is only amongst us and no one else on Earth has that experience. So to be back with my good comrades, Amanda, Stephen, Derrick, Shanika, all of these people are really talented and that truly is the gift of being part of the MasterChef family and that was my favorite part. It’s getting hugs from everybody.”

GE: Now, last night was rough and I have to ask, do you wish you had chosen a different desert or…?

TW: “No. That actually is the dessert that is one of the top desserts of my husband. And in my 20 years in Paris we used to go from one end of Paris to the other in search of the perfect tarte citron. And I do know how to make the tarte citron. I really do. But you know the MasterChef kitchen is really not conducive to making very difficult and technically strange things for me. I like cooking and the calmness and solemnity of my tranquil kitchen and I don’t like cooking on a street corner in the middle of traffic, with 19 other hookers, and three gang banging judges trying to kill you.”

GE: That may be the best description of the MasterChef kitchen I have ever heard.

TW: “You know it’s like you’re on a street corner in a strange city. It’s high traffic, it’s rush hour, and there’s 19 hookers trying to get the same thing that you’re trying to get. That’s what it’s like cooking on MasterChef: Back to Win.”

GE: So what was the hardest part about being back in that kitchen?

TW: “Oh, the pressure this time is absolutely the highest stress of every season, of all seasons, in the history of MasterChef. So every day was a mystery challenge. Every day was a pressure test.”

GE: Would you do it again?

TW: “I could be persuaded. Maybe, if Gordon calls me on the phone and actually asked me to make the voyage to MasterChef I might consider it.”

GE: Would you do any other culinary competitions?

TW: “MasterChef has been so fantastic to me. And it has opened so many doors for me. And when people are loyal to me, I’m loyal to them. So you probably will not see me being affiliated with any other culinary competition. Or, you know, television show. I’m gonna be loyal to MasterChef. I will always be MasterChef family, and that’s gonna go with me forever.”

GE: And since we are Guilty Eats, I have to ask what is your guilty eat?

TW: “You know I’ll have to say this one of my favorite snacks in the world. And it’s been something I’ve been eating for 20 years. It was the first things that I had when I went to Amsterdam like 30 years ago. It’s called us the Stroopwafel. A Stroopwafel, that is my guilty pleasure. I have to hide them out of my kitchen and put them in the utility room on the other side of the house because I will eat the chocolate ones for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, before bedtime. And you know that I’m the brand ambassador for the world’s largest Stroopwafel baker Diamonds in the Netherlands and I am on my way right after this interview. I’m packing up to go over to Amsterdam for the milkshake festival and I have a Stroopwafel wagon and I’ll be serving fresh, homemade Stroopwafels in all the different flavors that are created in the Netherlands to 1000s of outrageous people.”

(Honestly, this interview has us seeing the MasterChef kitchen in a whole new light and wanting to snag some Stroopwafels while we do it!)

We are sad to see Tommy go, but we can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next. (And no, he wouldn’t share because he wants us all to be surprised.)