Colbie Buck has been cooking ever since she learned how to stand. And the now 11-year-old had been telling her parents she wanted to appear on “MasterChef Junior” since she could speak.
If you tuned into “MasterChef Junior: Home for the Holidays” earlier this week on FOX, then you saw Colbie — all confidence and cuteness — impress famous TV chef Gordon Ramsay and the other judges on her way to the finals of her dream reality show.
“It’s not every day that at 10 years old, you get to live your dream,” Colbie’s mother Melissa Buck said in an interview at the family home in Sudden Valley on Thursday, Dec. 14, after the show had aired. Melissa accompanied Colbie to Los Angeles in February for the monthlong taping.
“And then to get to watch her live it, and then get to relive it on national TV has just been a crazy time,” Melissa said.
Colbie’s literal lifetime of cooking experience paid off, carrying her to the final episode. By then, the original cast of nine contestants had been narrowed down to three.
Colbie didn’t win the $25,000 top prize, but she came away from the experience even more inspired to keep cooking.
“I really want to try and get back onto ‘MasterChef,’ either ‘Junior’ or just adults ‘MasterChef,’” Colbie said.
Melissa started teaching Colbie how to cook when she was 3. She has also picked up recipes and tips from her grandmothers.
Her first dish on “MasterChef Junior,” which earned her first place in Episode 1, was herbed honey chicken and Go-Go’s southern-fried corn, a recipe from her grandmother that Colbie has known for as long as she can remember.
“I think I have made Go-Go very, very proud,” Colbie says in Episode 1, after time expired on the first contest.
Colbie felt proud herself when judge Tilly Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay’s daughter, told Colbie her chicken rivaled her father’s.
“It made me feel pretty awesome,” Colbie said.
In the last episode, the three finalists were asked to make a snack (Colbie won over the judges once again, with her deviled eggs) and an “elevated, restaurant-quality holiday dish.”
Colbie went with a New York strip steak, truffle mashed potatoes, and green and white asparagus.
The judges were wowed, yet again, but Gordon Ramsay commented that Colbie’s steak was slightly overcooked, and this appeared to be a reason why Colbie wasn’t selected as the winner. But her parents said this week that the steaks on the plates of the other three judges were a perfect medium rare.
Not that there was any bad blood among the contestants, who were as young as 8 years old. The children were always giving each other pep talks and pats on the back on camera.
If the experience resembled anything approaching normal, Colbie’s mother said, it was a summer camp.
“All the kids were lovely,” Melissa said. “We’re still in contact, obviously, with all the kids and their parents. We formed a really tight bond.”
What about Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef who is notorious for berating adult competitors in his TV shows, including “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares?” He once stuck two pieces of bread on the ears of an adult contestant on one of his shows and called them an “idiot sandwich.”
On “MasterChef Junior: Home for the Holidays,” only one unfortunate boy heard Ramsay call him a “doughnut” — another of the chef’s signature insults.
“He was actually nicer than I thought he would be,” Colbie said. “At least to me, he was.”
Colbie learned of a curious connection between her family and the Ramsays. Gordon and Tilly have the same birthday — Nov. 8. That also happens to be Colbie’s birthday, and her great-grandmother’s. Great-Nana was able to join Colbie’s mother and father, her sister Heidi, and other family members in the studio audience for the finale.
“Gordon Ramsay was quite smitten with Great-Nana,” Melissa said. “He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and made her whole year, for sure.”
Beyond another appearance on “MasterChef,” Colbie envisions a future for herself that is focused on food.
“I want to own a farm-to-table restaurant, where I can grow my own vegetables and fruits and stuff, and put them in my dishes,” she said.
No doubt Gordon Ramsay would approve.
All four episodes of “MasterChef Junior: Home for the Holidays” are available on Hulu.
