'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire': Who is David Chang? Chef becomes first celebrity to win $1M for charity
'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' has seen a number of celebrities appear on the show, all of them playing for charity organizations of their choice. Celebrities including, Eric Stonestreet, Katharine O'Hara, Jane Fonda, Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper have all appeared on the show but none of the celebrities have managed to ever win the ultimate prize money ever. However, chef David Chang went ahead to break all records and became the first celebrity contestant to win $1 million prize money.
He was able to give this sum to Southern Smoke Foundation, an organization that works towards providing crisis relief for people working in the food and beverage industry. The coronavirus pandemic affected the restaurant business massively, to a point that big players like Chang himself were forced to shut down a couple of their businesses, according to USA Today. Even though the lockdown has been lifted and people have been powering through the new normal, it's still a long way for things to start looking up for all industries, including the F&B industry. Chang decided to raise money for the Southern Smoke Foundation that came into existence in 2017. Their emergency relief fund has distributed more than $4.9 million to individuals in the food and beverage industry in crisis, according to their website. The foundation helps workers with all needs including medical bills, a car accident, weather catastrophes, family support assistance and mental health needs.
Chang is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group, which includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Milk Bar, and Momofuku Ko in New York City; Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney; Momofuku Noodle Bar and Kojin in Toronto and Momofuku CCDC in Washington, DC. He's also a published author, having penned a number of cookbooks and a memoir. He's also a TV personality and appeared on Netflix's 'Ugly Delicious' and as a guest judge on 'Masterchef Australia' among other shows.
In an interview that he did shortly after winning $1 million, Chang said he was in a state of complete disbelief and the feeling that he'd won that amount for charity had yet to sink in. "I honestly can't believe it happened – I still haven't processed it. It's so insane that I even got to do the show to begin with, but then I am actually mostly in shock that I decided to go for it – what was I thinking?" he told USA Network during the interview.