One Mississippi native has advanced to the top 20 in the “MasterChef: United Tastes of America” competition after impressing the judges with his southern dishes.
During Wednesday night’s episode, Kendal Adair from Olive Branch received high praise from celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, Tiffany Derry, and Joe Bastianich for his filet mignon and mashed potatoes.
Adair faced off against four other contestants in the southern portion of the competition, but will soon go head-to-head against 15 other chefs from across the nation.
The 27-year-old has competed in hundreds of cookoffs over the past decade, bringing home several first-place trophies for his barbeque.
“The biggest difference in my opinion is you only have 45 minutes,” Adair said during the competition. “You have 24 hours in what I’m used to doing, so there’s a little difference in the time frame.”
Each chef will now try their hand at several cooking trials, such as a State Fair challenge, Mystery Box tasks, creating a dish at Dodger Stadium, and the Tag Team event.
Only one contestant will be selected to win the title of America’s MasterChef and the grand prize of $250,000. The next episode is set to air at 7:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday, June 20 on FOX.
