‘MasterChef’: Tiffany Derry on Her Sophomore Season, That Emotional Restaurant Takeover Moment & More

MasterChef Season 16 is now in its home stretch, with the semifinals just a week away, and the grand finale just ahead as well. The “Global Gauntlet”-themed season marks the second bow for Tiffany Derry as a permanent judge — alongside Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich — and unlike on her first, this one was something of a homecoming for the Texas native.

Wednesday’s (August 26) episode was also familiar territory for Ramsay, as he got to bring a little Hell’s Kitchen flair into the mix for the big restaurant takeover challenge for the Top 6.

TV Insider caught up with Tiffany Derry to talk about major moments of this season, including the extremely emotional moment of seeing contestant Jake Kelley realize his life’s purpose right in the middle of the latest challenge.

Since this is your second season, has your dynamic changed with Joe and Gordon?

Tiffany Derry: It felt more like coming home. It felt normal, definitely. I had plenty of butterflies last season of just wanting to, one, always be authentic to myself, but also, figure out where my role is in the team outside of just talking and giving critiques, like, “What am I gonna stand out for?” And so I feel definitely this season that I didn’t hesitate to talk, and I feel like people saw a little bit more of my personality, which is always what I want to show.

Last season was dynamic duos, and this one’s the global food challenge. How did you like the new theme of this season?

I loved dynamic duos. I thought that doing the global moment was a way to really showcase something different than what we’re normally seeing, and I love the idea of having it mimic that whole idea of the World Cup… and people from all over the world and our food heritage from all over the world, very globally, and so I was excited to see all the cuisines just showing up and people who really just loved what they did and wanted to showcase that, so I was happy for this.

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Did you and Gordon and Joe ever have any disagreements about any of the decisions that you guys made throughout the season?

There were times that I feel like maybe more Joe and Gordon and myself would disagree in terms of, “Which one was the worst?” or, “Who made the most mistakes?” or, “Which mistakes were the most dreadful?” But every time anyone does a full [discussion] like, “OK, this is what I’m thinking,” “This is what I’m thinking,” and then you’re like, “This is what I’m thinking,” we always come to a decision. I’ve never walked away going, “Oh, we got it wrong.” Sometimes, they just remind us of different aspects of it or what they’re looking at, and then sometimes you agree, sometimes you don’t agree in that sense, and we make a decision.

I wanted to ask about something that happened earlier in the season. I couldn’t believe it. The band-aid in the food. Was that the grossest thing you’ve ever dealt with?

Oh my god! That band-aid was too much. I just could not believe that it was there, and then I couldn’t believe it was there the whole time, and we could not see it. Obviously, looking at it on TV, the angles are different. But oh my God, the way the light was shining and all the things… For me, she was sweet, but I just didn’t feel that the “my bad” was enough… I need you to be really sorry right now!

Before the restaurant takeover, did you have any frontrunners in mind when you saw who the Top 6 were?

I felt like there were definitely ones that might do better in the restaurant takeover. Everyone can cook now, whether they make mistakes or not. Obviously, if they’re still there, they’ve never made the worst mistake of the night. And I think it’s hard sometimes for people to wrap their heads around [the fact that] we’re judging week by week. This is not me thinking about the accumulation of the five weeks of how this person has done. This is this week: How did they perform? And there were definitely ones I thought would, but it was interesting because I didn’t have it down. I really didn’t, and I love to just watch the progression of the way the home cooks really kind of come into their own.

I think with restaurant takeover, it’s so different from home cooks to professionals, and you’re watching them really come into their own in the moment. It starts off rocky like it always does, and somewhere somebody’s gonna really find their groove and put out the food, so I think that’s always great to see.

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Yeah, and that person ended up being Jake. He had quite an emotional reaction to finding his talent, and you seemed pretty touched by that. Can you just talk about that moment and how sweet it was?

Yeah, I know. I mean, to watch Jake develop right before our eyes, we’ve always felt like he was special, but you know that can sometimes go the other way, right? You go too far, or you’re not thinking about all the things. And watching him realize that this is what he wants to do for the rest of his life, it took me back to the moment for myself. And I’m always more emotional because I’m like, “Don’t look at me whenever someone’s about to go home,” because I’m probably looking down and just blinking, trying to get myself together. But it was a beautiful moment to see.

Yeah, I want to kind of piggyback on that. You said that it’s hard for you to send people home. Have you gotten more used to it now that you’re on your second season?

It’s not the first time that I’ve had to do it. It’s just — it stings. I don’t know if it ever gets any better. I think the more time you spend getting to know a person, the harder it gets. So, in the beginning of the season, it’s not as hard because you haven’t really gotten to know them so much. You feel badly because you know it’s their chance, but the more you know them, the more you see the mistake, and you’re like, “Oh!” You just get connected.

This challenge was a lot like Hell’s Kitchen in the format. How fun was it for you to step into that world and see Gordon adopting that element on this show?

It was great. It was great. There was so much going on. I wish I was in the kitchen that day, but I was in the dining room talking to [the patrons], getting their feedback. But watching Gordon, and also, I think what people don’t see enough is that there is a lot of teaching that goes into MasterChef, and to watch it in the moment along with everyone else was really nice to see.

MasterChef, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox