8 Most Successful ‘MasterChef’ Contestants Ever
The original, British MasterChef is facing an existential crisis — both of its hosts were fired this month! — but the American version, at least, is still cooking up a storm. In fact, as its 15th season — MasterChef: Dynamic Duos — airs on Fox, the Gordon Ramsay-fronted competition is hitting its 15th anniversary on Sunday, July 27.
Since MasterChef’s 2010 debut, hundreds of chefs have sharpened their knives and their culinary skills on both the main show and the spinoff MasterChef Junior. And many have done well for themselves after the cameras stopped rolling, finding success in or out of the kitchen. Here are our picks for the most successful MasterChef contestants ever.
8. Logan Guleff
While he was still a teen, MasterChef Junior’s second-season winner was named Southern Living’s Best New Southern Cook, a Fortune 18 Under 18 honoree, the youngest certified judge at the World Championship Barbecue Contest, and the youngest chef to cook at the James Beard House, per TIME. (On the other hand, he also offered a “Dinner for One” NFT for auction — as in, a meal the winning bidder couldn’t actually eat. As Inside Hook put it, “more like dinner for none.”)
7. Monti Carlo
After competing on MasterChef’s third season, Carlo showed off her gift of gab on morning radio in Phoenix, Arizona, hosted the TV shows Make My Food Famous and Help My Yelp and the webseries Ramsay Redemption, appeared in KitchenAid commercials, and served on the James Beard Foundation’s Broadcast Media Awards subcommittee. And we stan a food safety queen: Carlo calls out food and drug recalls on her social media channels.
6. David Williams
He didn’t win MasterChef Season 7, but Williams may be one of the wealthiest contestants from the show: He has grossed nearly $10 million in his poker career, according to his Card Player profile, after wins including the 2006 World Series of Poker and the 2010 WPT World Championship. He’s also an accomplished Magic: The Gathering player: He and his teammates won the game’s Grand Prix San Jose 2012 title, for example.
5. Claudia Sandoval
Sandoval has had a full dance card since winning MasterChef Season 6. In that time, she has published the cookbook Claudia’s Cocina: A Taste of Mexico, served as a judge on MasterChef Latino, Food Network Challenge, and Chopped; competed on Superchef Grudge Match, and hosted the Discovery+ TV show Taste of the Border.
4. Sofia Hublitz
In 2013, a 12-year-old Hublitz competed on MasterChef Junior’s first season. Just a few years later, she was starring as Charlotte Byrde in the Netflix hit Ozark, earning three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with the rest of the crime drama’s cast. More recently, Hublitz played the younger version of Ellen Pompeo’s character in Good American Family.
3. Nick DiGiovanni
DiGiovanni, a Season 10 alum, has had a supersized career, not even counting his 27 million YouTube subscribers or his TIME 100 Creators 2025 placement. He has also set many Guinness World Records, including those for largest cake pop, beef Wellington, sushi roll, doughnut cake, chicken nugget, cake pop, iced latte, and chocolate bar, along with the fastest time to fillet a 10-pound fish and most fast food restaurants visited in 24 hours.
2. Eddie Jackson
Jackson went into MasterChef as a familiar face: He was a former NFL cornerback who had played for the Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots. He later won Food Network Star Season 11 and served as host of Kids BBQ Championship, Food Truck Face Off, Yum and Yummer, Christmas Cookie Challenge, and Outchef’d.
1. Christine Hà
After becoming MasterChef’s first blind winner in the show’s third season, Hà published the New York Times bestselling cookbook Recipes from My Home Kitchen, got an MFA in creative writing from the University of Houston, served as fiction editor for the literary journal Gulf Coast, hosted the Canadian cooking show Four Senses, won the Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award, and opened three restaurants, including the James Beard Award semi-finalist The Blind Goat. She also reached the James Beard Award finals for Outstanding Chef in 2023.
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