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Who is Kelsey Murphy? 'MasterChef: Legends' fans predict mom-of-three could win show

'Kelsey is so talented she’s on a roll every single week I think she’s gonna win it all ! #masterchef,' wrote a fan

Season 11 of 'MasterChef: Legends' has been touted as one of the toughest seasons of the series by far. Instead of the usual 20 home cooks competing in the hit culinary competition show, there were only 15 home cooks vying for the grand prize of $250,000, a complete Viking kitchen and kitchen tools and bakeware products from OXO, and the coveted 'MasterChef' title that comes along. In order to win these amazing prizes, the home cooks need to prove their mettle to the judges.

Kelsey Murphy has been doing exactly that since day 1. She caught the judges' attention right from her auditions round. Her dish was so good that Joe Bastianich who has a reputation of being one of the toughest judges to please too had to admit that Kelsey's dish for 'restaurant quality' and declared that she had the 'goods' to make it in the competition. It looks like Joe might be right, as the fans too believe that Kelsey might win 'MasterChef' after watching her impressive performance. So who is Kelsey? If you too are curious to know more about the fan-favorite frontrunner this season then we got you covered. 

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Who is Kelsey Murphy?

Kelsey is a 32-year-old physical therapist from Indianapolis. She is married to Brandon Murphy, who is a physical therapist too. The couple has three children together. While she was filming for 'MasterChef' she still had only two children and was pregnant with their third child. In her introduction video, Kelsey expressed how she had to make many sacrifices in order to compete in the show. She went on to reveal that she had to leave her recently weaned one-year-old child behind in order to be on 'MasterChef'. 

It looks like all her sacrifices paid off, as Kelsey began impressing the judges right from the get-go. The first dish she cooked on the show was a crispy steelhead trout with pea & tarragon puree, fingerling potatoes and sautéed mushrooms, during the auditions. After just one bite from her dish the judges couldn't stop raving about her culinary skills. Kelsey continued to consistently deliver exceptional dishes that knocked the socks off the judges. She not only managed to become a regular on the top-three list, but also is one of the few home cooks on the competition to have never found herself in the bottom three.

It might come as a surprise to many to learn that she had no formal culinary training. All of her culinary knowledge and skills is courtesy of watching her family cook and Food Network. "My love and passion for food came from growing up with Italian family on my mom’s side and Polish on my dad’s side,” Murphy said. “Every day was spent in the kitchen doing home cooking. But I feel like my skill set came from watching food TV. Once I got to college, I started watching Food Network all the time. I’d watch it when I was in my room. I’d watch it when I was working out. I started to pay attention and take all the knowledge in and started to apply it to my cooking," she revealed in an interview with Hamilton County Reporter. 

After watching her winning streak several fans took to their Twitter to predict that the mother-of-three might end up taking home the title of 'MasterChef' this season. A fan tweeted, "Kelsey won TWO episodes in a row?!? Yes, yes, YES!!! She is in it to win it! And three out of four As -- Autumn, Abe, and Alejandro -- are also in the top spots of the evening! @MASTERCHEFonFOX #MasterChef." "Kelsey will be this seasons #MasterChef winner," declared a fan. Another fan seconded with, "Kelsey might win #MasterChef this year."

Another fan shared, "Kelsey is so talented she’s on a roll every single week I think she’s gonna win it all ! #masterchef." "Kelsey is the front runner from day one #masterchef," pointed out a fan. Another fan added, "After everything I've seen so far I'm fairly sure Kelsey will be the winner this season. Abe is 2nd pick. I'd be happy for either one but I'm personally hoping for Suu #MasterChef."

Kelsey dreams of a career in the culinary field and believes that MasterChef could help her with achieving it. "I would love to do something in the food world as a career.That would be my ultimate goal," she explained. 

'MasterChef: Legends' Season 11 airs every Wednesday at 9/8c on FOX.