'MasterChef' Winner Jennifer Behm Swaps Pageant Crown for Chef’s Toque

After with locals at the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market, Mar Vista Patch began following the paths of locals and on the FOX reality TV show MasterChef.

Although both were eliminated (Schrader made the top 9 and Kontos made the top 6), Patch readers became invested in the show, judged by renowned chefs Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich. Patch landed an interview with MasterChef Season 2 winner Jennifer Behm, who took home the coveted crown and $250,000 in Tuesday night’s nail biting two-hour finale.

Behm, 34, hails from Wilmington, DE. A former Miss Delaware, she was working as a real estate agent before deciding to pursue her love of cooking and enter the MasterChef competition. She staved off strong opposition from Adrien Nieto and Christian Collins and won the judging panel over with her three-course meal of scallops, roasted quail and poached pears.

Behm spoke with Patch by phone from New York on Wednesday.

Mar Vista Patch: How does it feel to win?

Jennifer Behm: Oh my goodness. It’s overwhelming. It’s unbelievable. I’m ecstatic. It was tough to keep [my win] a secret these past two months.

Patch: What would you say was the secret to your success?

Behm: Taking each challenge by itself. Win or lose no matter what happened after each challenge I just said, ‘That challenge is done.’ I put it up on a shelf whether I had a bad day or whether I won a mystery box challenge.

Patch: There appeared to be a lot of rivalry between you and competitor Christian Collins. Didn’t you get sidetracked with all that bickering that was shown on the program?

Behm: I always took Christian’s snide comments and turned them into positive energy. I’d just have a good chuckle and move on. In the end I was the one who had the last laugh.

Patch: How bad was the rivalry between the two of you? Was it just edited that way for the cameras and if not, have you kissed and made up now the show’s over?

Behm: I would love to say that Christian’s different off camera but he’s not. We’ve shared some messages on Facebook, but let’s just say I won’t be inviting him to dinner any time soon.

Patch: Gordon Ramsay noted that you took huge risks throughout the show. In the second to last challenge, you decided to put an egg inside a ravioli, with no way of knowing if it would be cooked correctly once it was cut open. Were those types of risks strategic?

Behm: I went [on MasterChef] to cook and to win. I knew I had to leave everything on the table to beat [Nieto and Collins]. I actually changed that dish with only 20 minutes left.

Patch: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from being on the show?

Behm: Have a plan. Have a backup for that plan. Have a backup plan for that backup plan. Basically, be prepared for everything.

Patch: Were you confident from the beginning that you could win?

Behm: I just kept telling myself I’m not coming home till the very end. I just kept saying ‘You can do this.’

Patch: What are you doing with your time and the $250,000 prize money now that you are home?

Behm: I’ve opened my own catering business called Pink Martini catering, I’m working on some recipes for a cookbook and I’d love to have a culinary show on one of the networks. I want to show people that cooking can be fun and can bring people together.

Patch: Do you think your pageant training helped you in any way during the show?

Behm: You know I think it did in terms of the competition aspect, like learning how to think quickly and to take criticism and turn it into something positive.

Patch: What would you say was the highlight of being on the show?

Behm: My favorite moment was cooking for the international judges with Adrien in the semifinal. Our culinary vision is the same.

Patch: How intimidating was it to cook for judges Ramsay, Elliot and Bastianich?

Behm: The first time we walked out to present our signature dishes to the judges I was so nervous my knees were shaking. But over time you realize they’re there to help you grow and they challenge you to be a better cook. They 100 percent won us over and genuinely cared about each of us.

Patch: The restaurant and culinary world is often seen as a man’s game and you knocked out two men to win the competition. Do you think your win is a victory for female chefs?

Behm: When I was a kid I always played on the boys’ soccer team and they told me then it’s a man’s world. I look at the cooking domain the same way. I just said I’m going to take this on and break into this world and they’re going to accept me. There is no other option.

Patch: Is there anything you’d like to share with those looking to break into the culinary world?

Behm: Cooking is something that brings families together and brings a smile to everyone’s faces. Don’t be afraid of the culinary world. The worst that can happen is that you have to dump a dish in the trash and start again.

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