MasterChef season 4: where are they now? The season Luca won over Natasha — and the rest of the top ten, thirteen years on
Nineteen home cooks started the season in May 2013 and two were still standing in September. What the rest of them are doing now has almost nothing to do with food, and almost everything to do with it, depending on which one you pick.
MasterChef season 4 aired on Fox from May 22 to September 11, 2013, twenty-five episodes, judged by Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot. Luca Manfè won — the first contestant ever to return from a previous season's auditions and take the title, having failed to make the cut for season 3. The final was a three-course cook: Manfè served seared duck liver with fruit chutney, tamarind-braised short ribs and a basil panna cotta with tomato jam. Natasha Crnjac countered with scallops, five-spice monkfish and a coconut yogurt panna cotta.
The finalists
- Luca Manfè (winner) — a restaurant manager from Astoria, New York, 31 at the time. He published My Italian Kitchen: Favorite Family Recipes, opened and closed a food truck called The Lucky Fig inside a year, and now runs the catering and cooking-lesson business Dinner with Luca while producing content for Giallozafferano.
- Natasha Crnjac (runner-up) — a San Diego stay-at-home mom, 26. She launched the Meal Prep Boutique catering business, later became catering manager for ASU Suites and Athletics in Arizona, and has been based in Bali with her two children.
- Jessie Lysiak (3rd) — the yacht stewardess from Social Circle, Georgia married NHL defenseman Justin Braun in 2014, worked as a private chef, and has been living in Germany with their two children.
The rest of the top ten
Krissi Biasiello (4th), the Philadelphia paralegal who spent the season as the show's designated antagonist, runs private chef and catering work, blogs recipes, and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021.
James Nelson (5th) turned out to have the most durable business of anyone on the cast: he co-founded Bravado Spice, an award-winning hot sauce company out of Texas. Bri Kozior (6th), 22 and a theater assistant at the time, ran a catering company called Hashtag Kitchen and now works as a business sales executive at Google's Dublin office. Jordan Roots (7th) is chef-owner of Salted Roots Catering and takes commissioned art work on the side.
Eddie Jackson (8th) has had by far the biggest television career of the group. A former NFL cornerback turned personal trainer from Americus, Georgia, he went on to win Food Network Star season 11 in 2015, hosted multiple Food Network series including Eddie Jackson's Game Day Playbook, and opened Rosehill Beer Garden in Houston.
Bethy Rossos (9th), the Oregon P.E. teacher, ran a waffle food truck and hosted Adrenaline Hunter. Savannah Sturges (10th) — eliminated, brought back, then eliminated again — left food entirely and is now a principal in the Chula Vista Elementary School District.
The season's most unexpected career change belongs to Lynn Chyi, eliminated 11th. The San Diego systems administrator is now an engineering manager for web platform at Robinhood.
The rest of the field
Jonny Blanchard (12th) went back to carpentry. Bime Cruz (14th) is head chef at Cibo Matto Cafe and hosts Blind Kitchen Boston. Howard Simpson (15th) owns the Pushing Daisies cocktail lounge and an auto detailing business. Kathy Prieto (16th) runs two catering companies and trained at Ramsay's London restaurant. Malcolm Green (17th) runs Malia's Catering and sells custom cakes. Adriana Guillen (18th) teaches vegetarian Mexican cooking. Sasha Foxx (19th), the first out, returned to music and competed on America's Got Talent.
Beth Kirby, eliminated 13th, was a writer and photographer from Chattanooga who built a large food-blogging following after the show. She died on March 30, 2022, at 38, after cancer.
For the record: Manfè's win still stands as the only time in the American series that a rejected auditionee came back the following year and took the trophy.
Previously we wrote: Survivor 6 cast: where are they now?
