Christine Ha

Thanks for the love. You thought cooking with your eyes closed was hard? Try using a porta-potty at Austin City Limits musicfest blind!

Yes, I became very good friends with Cindy. She has become like a sister to me. She went through everything alongside me and soon became just as invested as me if not more so. I see her and Felix whenever I come to L.A., and we'll be going to Europe together this summer.

The whole time during the apple pie pressure test, I was laughing and saying to myself, "THis is a clusterfuck. I'm going home today and might as well give up." I had no idea the pie was done. I shoved it in the oven 18 minutes before time was up and just cranked that mother up to 450°F or something insane. I pulled it out seconds before Ramsay counted down.

Losing your vision is a shitty experience. However, there are a lot of resources out there to help you regain independence. Allow yourself X amount of time to grieve every day, but then hold your head up, surround yourself with good folks, and try to find the new doors that are opening.

I think the editing turns all of us into one-dimensional caricatures of ourselves. E.g. I like everybody and am usually poised, but I curse like a sailor, and they took that latter part out. In the hotel breakfast service challenge, Felix was not communicating with me, but I wasn't as upset with her as the show might've made our team out to be. So everything is magnified. It took 2 months to shoot the show; we were working around the clock. Joe is intimidating and has a sarcastic sense of humor, but he's funny. Graham is exactly how he is on camera: a lovable teddy bear. ALl the judges are funny in their own ways.

I love Gordon. He is different on "MasterChef" than he is on, say, "Hell's Kitchen" because we are all amateur home cooks with no formal training. He falls into more of a mentoring role on "MasterChef." Gordon has a big personality and has us cracking up at 6 AM on the set. He's got a wicked sense of humor. Oh, and he smells great. I found out last time I saw him he wears a cologne called Creed. But don't tell him I told you—I think he likes to keep it mysterious.

Gordon and Graham are the same on and off camera. Joe is nicer off camera (at least to me), but I've seen him angrier off camera at others, too. Favorite judge would have to be Gordon because he's so over-the-top and ridiculous.

How about a haiku?

Battered and lovely

It's savory in my mouth

Now guess what it is.

In the words of Monti, "what the hell is fish sauce, and why does it taste like death?" Asian cuisines have many ingredients the average American would find strange: offal, pig's blood, fermented everything...

I'd make Adam an apple pie. Hopefully it will keep him away from Eve and her apples.