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Christine Ha Overcomes life’s Curveball to win Masterchef USA-3

“Don’t be afraid to dream big, and keep on fighting the good fight” – Christine Ha

Christine Ha Overcomes life’s Curveball to win Masterchef USA-3

Wow. It’s been a week since I’ve been revealed as the winner of “MasterChef” season 3, and the outpouring of love and support has been overwhelming to say the least. I have been paralyzed in writing this initial entry post-finale because, frankly, I have been overcome with such a spectrum of emotions that I’ve been finding it difficult to articulate. There are joy, anxiety, fear, pride, humility, bashfulness, and relief all coursing through my veins at the same time, every day, all day, since even before the finale aired.

I try my best to be a genuine person and can only hope my candidness is embraced and appreciated. With that being said, I want to share with you first my anxieties followed by my gratitude.

No matter who wins MasterChef, he/she will get a slew of haters saying, This person didn’t deserve to win, that person’s dishes were better executed, this person’s menu was dumb, etc. Haters are gonna hate, and even the person with the thickest skin can and will eventually be affected by spiteful words regardless of their merit or lack thereof. I know there will be many people who do not think I deserve the title, that I am a gimmick for TV ratings, that it’s unfair I had a helper, that I’ve become America’s reality TV sweetheart and so must win or people will throw their TVs out their windows (which, by the way, could very well happen judging by some of the tweets I’ve read throughout the season—I’ve got some diehard fans out there). This is what I have to say to that:

I have no doubt I would’ve been sent home. Yes, fans and viewers might get upset, but that is the nature of the beast. Controversy helps feed ratings, and sending a fan favorite home doesn’t mean ratings will necessarily drop. So yes, I am well loved by many (and I’m so grateful for that—more to come later in this post), but that isn’t the only thing that kept me in the game.

It is inevitable I came on originally perceived as a gimmick for ratings. If I were a viewer watching at home, I’d probably think the same thing. I know there are people that were in the top 100 who questioned my being there, whispering to each other that I was there just for show like the witch or the ventriloquist or the man with the monkey. Some contestants in the top 100 even approached me to ask, “Okay, who are you going to get to cut your vegetables and plate your food?” Even some crew members told me a month into filming that they’d thought I was there as a joke…until they had a chance to taste my food or watch me cook.. The truth is, I love food, and I love to create food. My keenness for food is undeniable, and as I’ve said before, you can only love something so much before you get ambitious and want to create the stuff yourself. Yes, I lost my vision just as I was beginning to really appreciate cooking, and yes, it was a huge setback and devastation at the time. But I have been dealt with so many challenges in life with my mother dying when I was fourteen among other things that I’ve built such perseverance in my bones and eventually picked up the shattered pieces and just got right back into the kitchen. It was like starting over, but if it’s something you love to do, you don’t give up no matter what.Yes, I had an aid on the show. Her name is Cindy. I did not know her prior to coming to L.A. To film the show. The producers hired her in order to level the playing field. And how can anyone deny that I went into that kitchen at a glaringly obvious disadvantage? Cindy was not there to give me a leg up; she was simply there to make the challenges fair on my behalf. She was never allowed to taste my food or give me advice. She could not tell me if my food was burnt or raw. I had to ask her prior to her being permitted to answer: “Cindy, is my steak black or red?” or “Cindy, is the crust on the pie pale yellow or dark brown?” or “Cindy, where on this plate is there extra liquid that I can wipe off before presenting the dish?” I had to ask specific questions, I.e. For the color of a food item and not

even if it’s burnt or raw. When I needed a food processor or a mixer from the equipment room, I had to step back from my kitchen station and not touch a single thing while Cindy was away grabbing my requested appliance. She was an extension of myself and therefore I’m obviously not allowed to stir or cook or clean while she was away from my station. There were a few attorneys from the legal department of FOX on site every day watching from the control room to make sure Cindy and I followed the rules. To those haters who say a helper is unfair, let me tell you that it is a hundred times harder to communicate with somebody than to just do things yourself. Think about it: a sighted person can open a drawer, spot the spatula, and grab it. In my situation, I would blindly find the drawer that I’d memorized as containing the spatula, fumble for the drawer handle, open it, and scramble furiously around inside the drawer while screaming frantically, “Cindy! Which one is the spatula?!” And then she’d have to run over, pull out the spatula, and wrap my fingers around it. A sighted person could take one look at their final plating and see if there are any messy edges that need to be wiped. I had to say, “Cindy, which edges have extra food bits?” And she’d have to take my hand and place it on top of where I needed to wipe. And then the pantry is a whole other ordeal. While the sighted contestants can enter the pantry and immediately see what beautiful produce arrangements are before them, Cindy has to walk me in and list verbally to me every item she sees while I rack my brain for ideas. If you seriously think I’m at an advantage having to communicate with another person in this way, then I really must say you need to get off those crazy pills. I can wholeheartedly say I was not at an advantage by having a helper by my side.

I may have been the fan favorite from the beginning, but that doesn’t mean I was a shoo-in for the winner’s circle. There are things that happen on TV that cannot be hidden no matter how great the screen editors. If my apple pie was pale as a sheet or burnt to a blackened crisp, there would be no doubt I’d be going home after that first pressure test. There was no denying I did not help get the California roll on to our Japanese platter in the elimination round with Stacey on my team. The camera flashes to the platter, and it’s obvious our tempura looked naked, and our roll and sauces were missing. While it’s true, the rest of America could not taste our dishes, so be it with the world of television—you just have to trust and go with what the judges say. There will be obvious mistakes we can’t hide on TV, and if I was that terrible or careless of a cook, I have no doubt I would’ve been sent home. Yes, fans and viewers might get upset, but that is the nature of the beast. Controversy helps feed ratings, and sending a fan favorite home doesn’t mean ratings will necessarily drop. So yes, I am well loved by many and I’m so grateful for that but that isn’t the only thing that kept me in the game.

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