Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: Challenge

  • MasterChef: Giant Lobsters and $500 Truffles

    If I’ve learned anything on MasterChef, it’s that you can be on top one day, and out the door the next.  So even though I’m coming off a pretty triumphant week, winning the catfish challenge, being a team leader, and making a 6-layer pumpkin carrot cake that Gordon Ramsay said was one of the best…

  • MasterChef: Baa Baa Black Sheep

    Another day…another mystery box. Man, I hate mystery boxes. I don’t know why, I guess it’s the pressure and the time limit. But last week, I was the worst of the bunch on the mystery box challenge with my strawberry-balsamic glazed salmon and pistachio crusted fennel and potato cakes. This week, I’ve got to redeem…

  • MasterChef: Pizza for 350!

    Our first group challenge!  And suddenly I’m back in middle school gym class and the captains are picking their team.  Christian and Suzy are the first to be picked.  No surprise there.  They seem to have emerged first as the two contestants with the most knowledge and experience.  I’m fresh off a day where I…

  • MasterChef: Week 3

    “And the worst dish today belongs to…Ben Starr.” WHAT??? The WORST dish of the day? Well, I guess someone has to be the worst… Wait a minute…backtrack. 18 of us. From 100 finalists. From 30,000 who auditioned. That feels cool. And we enter the MasterChef kitchen for the first time, each of us thinking we’re…

  • MasterChef: Week 2

    Wow… I’m just speechless. Reliving the MasterChef experience by watching it on TV is almost as stressful as womans health info when I was actually competing. Making my signature dish is both fun and nerve-wracking.  There’s a strict time limit of 1 hour.  Not a second longer.  Luckily, my partner Christian, my neighbor Sharon, and…