‘MasterChef’ Needs a Female Judge – Here Are 4 Great Chefs We’d Love to See
Each MasterChef judge brings something unique to the television show. They provide expert-level critiques and personalities, while acting as the face of the series. The U.S. iteration started with Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot, and Joe Bastianich, but there was only one permanent female judge on MasterChef in Christina Tosi. The most recent panel includes Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Bastianich. Here’s a list of four excellent chefs that would make great judges on the show.
Alex Guarnaschelli
Alex Guarnaschelli is no stranger to television, as she’s a personality starring on an array of Food Network shows, including The Kitchen, Chopped, and Iron Chef America. She’s on Iron Chef America as an Iron Chef herself, alongside fellow heavy hitters, such as Wolfgang Puck and Masaharu Morimoto.
Guarnaschelli is the executive chef of her prestigious New York City restaurant called Butter. Additionally, she has a lot of experience working with contestants between Chopped and Alex vs. America, demonstrating her ability to intrigue an audience while providing excellent critiques. She’s also a cookbook author herself, which is a prize for winning MasterChef.
There’s no doubt that Guarnaschelli would make an excellent MasterChef judge alongside the likes of Ramsay, as she’d certainly hold her own as both a judge and a media personality.
Mariya Russell
Next up on the list is Mariya Russell, a chef that MasterChef would be lucky to have as a judge, even though she doesn’t have the media experience of some others here. She became the first Black woman ever to be awarded a Michelin star in Sept. 2019 while she was working as a chef at Kumik and Kikkō. Additionally, such efforts helped the restaurant score the Best New Restaurant award from Food & Wine.
Russell’s Instagram is a delightful combination of delicious-looking food and her infectious personality. She doesn’t have a Food Network show, but she would offer MasterChef a judge with a fresh, unique perspective, coming from a newer generation than its current judges.
This chef would bring a lot of value to MasterChef with her credentials, which also include being a James Beard semi-finalist in 2020. Would Russell want to be on such a show? Who knows, but she would be a terrific addition, and her art deserves even further appreciation.
Cat Cora
Cat Cora is the second Iron Chef from Iron Chef America on this list, who also has an abundance of experience working as a judge on a show like MasterChef. She opened over 15 restaurants around the world, but she’s still able to find the time to make surprise appearances on television.
Cora even showed up on MasterChef Season 1 Episode 6, where she had the opportunity to present three dishes for contestant Sharone to choose from for his competition to cook. Meanwhile, he got to compete in a cook-off against her, but she won the 1-on-1.
There isn’t any doubt that Cora’s name calls for a lot of respect. Culinary television audiences already recognize her, and she brings a whole lot of experience and talent with her to the judges’ panel.
Dominique Crenn
Dominique Crenn became the only female chef in the United States to earn three Michelin stars, which were for her restaurant Atelier Creen in San Francisco, California. She starred on Iron Chef America, Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, among several Food Network shows.
She went as far as earning the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: West, earning respect far and wide. Crenn joined MasterChef as a guest judge in season 11 episode 11, but she would make an outstanding permanent addition to the show.
