Written by Jesus Figueroa
A new exciting season of MasterChef brings Chef Aaron Sanchez to the MasterChef kitchen and this season sees the judges in the role of mentors.
Sanchez comes back with more experience and confidence to compete with the other judges.
"It feels great to be back on the show with a whole new round of home cooks competing for the title," Sanchez said. "I’ve really honed my ability to be a mentor through this show and feel like I am part of a family with the cast and crew, so it’s great to be back again this season."
There is a new dynamic with judges now acting as mentors, this changes the way judges/mentors do their judging.
Having the competition aspect between the judges/mentors gets a larger investment into the home cooks, especially the team the judges/mentors build.
"This new element is so much fun because Joe, Gordon and myself are now competing with each other. I still have to be as unbiased as possible when judging, but it is really hard when someone on my team lets me down, but on the flip side it makes it that much better when someone really succeeds," Sanchez said. "Being a mentor has been so fulfilling and it’s great to take this journey with the contestants and impart as much knowledge on them as I possibly can. It definitely deepens my investment because I put my own name on the line for all my team members and it really reflects on my judgement when they fail or rise to the top."
The friendship between the judges has always been apparent, so has the friendly rivalry, but as the judges now go head-to-head the excitement is increased.
The judges get to be a bigger part of the success of the home cooks that join the show.
"Well, we always had fun but now we are really playing around with taking digs at each other and fighting for our team to win," Sanchez said. "Is there anything else that will surprise audiences in what remains of the season? I mean the challenges are just getting more and more difficult as the show progresses and we put these home cooks under extreme pressure. The real life experiences are getting so authentic and there are so many shocking moments as to who rises to the occasion and who falls flat."
The season really becomes more competitive, both for the home cooks and the chefs as the seasons comes to the finale.
The home cooks get pushed to be their best and even rise to the occasion.
But, as Sanchez sees this season through to the end, he looks to continue to help people realize their culinary dreams.
"I have the Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund and this is really another place where I get to empower cooks through education and mentorship," Sanchez said. "I am extremely passionate about helping the next generation of Latino and Latina chefs rise up and become the next wave of culinary leaders. You can get more information at aaronsanchezscholarshipfund.com"
