All the spoilers on the MasterChef Season 13 finale can be found throughout this piece. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.
The finale of MasterChef can be a tricky one when it hits the TV schedule. While the contestants get free rein to pursue their own progressive course menus, after a season of having to create food based around a certain challenge, I’d assume that freedom can be intimidating. As a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay's Fox shows, I've seen chefs have both confident and not-so-confident moments over the years, MasterChef Season 13 winner Grant Gillion recently revealed the moment he felt like he had the “W” in the bag. To be honest, though, I’m shocked he felt so confident.
Look, I like Grant. After Kyle got a lot of the Midwest momentum early on in the season, Grant emerged as a real contender. While he had a couple of moments in a row where he was on the bottom, he got back into a good stride. While he didn’t dominate every single challenge thereafter, he was certainly a contender for the majority of the season, but even in the finale I wouldn’t call him completely dominant.
Which is why I was so surprised about his comments in an interview about the September 2023 finale. In fact, Gillon recently told TV Guide he was confident he had it in the bag after the third course, noting,
At the end of the dessert plating, I thought I had it. I knew I hit every single point that I wanted to. I said, 'I think this is mine to lose right now.'
That's a bold statement but it did pay off. Grant's coffee ice cream in particular was cited as being outstanding during the dessert course; however, leading into that moment things were much closer. In fact, it seemed very clear as a viewer that Kennedy had pulled ahead after the first course. The entrees were all praise, including Jennifer's, and while Grant seemingly had the edge on the desserts, it wasn't completely clear to me as a viewer he was headed toward the win.
Interestingly, Grant had the same take on how the courses played out that I did, with Kennedy taking an early lead (though Grant's pasta was fairly well-received) and the judges all liking Kennedy's rabbit, Jennifer's venison and Grant's pork loin medallions in the second course similarly. Yet, when it came to dessert, the MasterChef star saw his chance to edge ahead.
I was trying to keep something in my head of where I thought I was. And so I thought Jen and I were pretty close after the appetizer round, with Kennedy definitely being in the lead. That was where I was in my mind. After entrée, I thought I pulled up right next to Kennedy. And then Jennifer's right on our tails. She had a great execution of her entrée as well. But it was during that dessert, I knew Kennedy was having some issues — she pulled it out with the [snow] that she was struggling with, which is awesome. But that's really what it came down to. I was near the lead is what I thought, when I was going into dessert.
It turns out, the Iowa native was right.
What Was The Moment That Gave Grant Gillon The Feeling He'd Won?
Again, it's not like I thought Grant somehow put up a sloppy performance and came out with a "w," I was just surprised to hear him say he felt pretty good about the end result before judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Aáron Sánchez came to their final conclusions. However, in the same interview with TV Guide he noted there really was one single moment in which he felt like he'd hit the secret formula.
My biggest worry was getting that beautiful quenelle of ice cream, to make it look nice on the plate so it's not just a big blob down there. And once I was able to successfully do that, I'm like, this is it, I did it. If I don't win for this, I did absolutely everything that I could. I left it all out here.
Intriguingly, it really was the ice cream that was praised during that final round. One other point that really fell in the Midwest-based reality star's favor: Kennedy struggled more with dessert. If I remember correctly, Aáron compared her cake to a "bagel," and it was certainly not a compliment. Jennifer's dessert fared a little better, but it seemed as if Grant had handily won that course.
To me, the surprise element comes from the fact the first course had (seemingly) been dominated by Kennedy and he'd dominated the third course, and while I certainly think he did enough to win, it's not like it came off like it was a blow out. It's so interesting to me to hear him later say he felt he had it in the bag.
Honestly, it makes me wonder if some of the stuff that was left on the editing floor would have helped clarify Grant Gillon's feelings a bit further? The problems with MasterChef, am I right? Luckily, while the Fox series is over for Season 13, Gordon Ramsay certainly has plenty of shows coming to Fox this fall.
