'MasterChef' season 10's 'plating queen' Bri Baker is proud of her performance on the show and hopes her doubters change their mind
Bri Baker who calls herself the "plating queen", has managed to wow judges and the audience with her exceptional presentation of dishes. After struggling at the bottom for the last few rounds, Bri got eliminated from culinary reality show 'MasterChef'. In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Bri discusses her interest in cooking, her closest friends from the show, and her plans post-show.
The 25-year-old Texas native has a very interesting backstory. In case you're wondering how she manages to whip up some of the most interesting and delightful looking dishes on the show then here's your answer. Bri attended the University of Texas as a biology/pre-med major.
However, when she took her first Spanish class, she knew that she wanted to continue learning it, and switched her major to Spanish. Though she traded her science major for Spanish, she still loves science and uses her exceptional chemistry skills while cooking by incorporating "molecular gastronomy techniques".
Out of curiosity, we couldn't help asking how this beautiful barbie look-alike developed an interest in cooking. She attributes it to her family's love for food. "When I turned 14, I really wanted to work as a hostess at my favorite French restaurant, rise n°1, so I applied and became the youngest person they had ever hired. I became inquisitive about how all this amazing food was actually being made, so I asked the Chef who was more than happy to steer me in the right direction. I would attempt different recipes at home and return with feedback, and thus my journey as a cook began!"
She describes her 'MasterChef' experience as "absolutely amazing", and reveals that she still can't believe she got to cook for some of her "biggest inspirations of all time like Grant Achatz, Morimoto, and of course Gordon Ramsay, to name a few."
On how she felt about earning her coveted title of "plating queen", she replies excitedly, "I love that I've been crowned the Plating Queen! I've always been a very artistic person — drawing, painting, etc., so naturally, I love to play around with the appearance of food on a plate. After my first two dishes on 'MasterChef', the judges took notice of my eye for food styling and I was so honored every time Gordon compared my fellow competitors' plates to mine."
Bri was constantly slammed by the fans for being a poor performer on the show and yet managing to stay on. We asked Bri what she had to say about it. "I actually don't think that my performance was poor at all! I won the wedding challenge as a team captain, was in the top for Gordon's Mystery Box, Latin American challenge, and the Grant Achatz challenge."
She added, "Baking was sort of unexplored territory for me and that’s definitely where I fell short — that and the bread challenge, but besides those, I was extremely proud of my performance on the show as a whole. I also think that the judges were especially hard on me, which I view as a compliment! I'd encourage any viewers with doubt to check out my Instagram @platingqueen to see some of my best creations up close and hopefully, that’ll change their minds!" says the former participant.
While fellow participant Fred and she shared a great rapport, we asked her if she was close to anybody else on the show. She quickly listed out, "Michael, Fred and I were absolutely inseparable, and then after Michaels' exit I also got close to Shari, Nick, Sam, and Noah, which definitely showed when we got to choose our teams at the racetrack!"
So, what are her plans now that she's no more part of the show. She excitedly revealed, "Fred and I have our pop-ups underway which is very exciting, and I also loved the filming aspect of food so much that I hope to do more with that in the near future!" Tune in to 'MasterChef' season 10 on Wednesday nights, at 8 PM ET/PT on Fox.