Published: April 6, 2017
Neuser reflects on time on Fox’s reality TV show
West Bend girl got into top 14 of culinary
competition
ndettmann@conleynet.com
262-306-5043
Sydney Neuser hasn’t tried chicken feet since
her elimination episode March 30 on Fox’s “MasterChef Junior.”
But it’s not her fault.
“No. We can’t find chicken feet around here,”
she said.
Neuser, 10, of West Bend was initially
eliminated from the reality television culinary competition March 23, but the
March 30 episode was a comeback opportunity for six junior chefs who were
eliminated earlier in the season. Neuser was among those six.
A packed room at Charcoal Grill in West Bend
watched the episode unfold. The first challenge had the six kids break down a
chicken into clean parts — breasts, drumsticks, thighs, oysters, giblets and
wings — in 10 minutes or less.
Jasmine, who was eliminated March 23, along
with Neuser, won the challenge. By doing so, she picked who would cook what for
the next challenge.
Jasmine gave giblets to Neuser.
“I was actually hoping I got them,” Neuser
said. “I thought it would be a nice challenge for me. I’ve cooked all those
other things before and eaten them before. I thought it would be a nice twist
to get something new.”
Gordon Ramsay, one of the show’s co-hosts,
evaluated Sydney’s dish and said it was a few minutes undercooked. That led to
her official elimination.
Once eliminated the room at the Charcoal Grill
applauded her effort, both in the episode and this season.
There are three episodes remaining in the
season, followed by a season finale. Neuser will return to the show for the
finale, which is May 11 and will feature the remaining two contestants battling
for the top prize of a trophy and $100,000.
❑❑❑
What was it like?
The journey to get onto Neuser’s favorite
television show started with a series of auditions in December 2015 in Chicago.
More than 5,000 junior chefs between the ages
of 8 and 13 vied for 40 spots on the reality show. Neuser was one of the 40 and
advanced to the top 20 after the two-episode season premiere Feb. 9 and 16.
The Feb. 9 premiere, which Neuser was on, had
4.21 million viewers in the U.S. For the season, the show is averaging 3.82
million viewers.
Neuser finished in the top 14.
What was it like to be on national television
in front of millions of people?
“It was exciting but I was also kind of nervous
that I would get some haters online and stuff,” Neuser said. “But I don’t have
any haters. I lot of people liked me and that made the experience better.
“It was way more exciting than I thought it
would be.”
Her favorite installment was the fifth episode,
“Kitchen Emergency,” which was the first team challenge of the season. The
junior chefs had to work in two teams to cook a meal for first responders.
“I’m all about friendship and friends and
hanging out,” Neuser said.
Before the season premiered, Neuser’s mom,
Angela, was curious as to how hundreds of hours of taping would be condensed
into a collection of one-hour episodes.
The reaction was mixed. For most of the season,
Sydney was a background character. Her dishes were never evaluated during an
episode, at least not until her first elimination March 23.
“I wish they showed me a little bit more,”
Sydney said. “I made a lot of dishes that got me to the top 12 that were good
enough to be shown. ... I just wish they would’ve shown me a little bit more.”
Sydney added she thought the show overlooked
other great stories of the other cooks.
“It made me wonder why they did that,” she
said. “I’m surprised they didn’t show Avani more because she has a great
personality and a great story to tell. But they didn’t really show her.
“I wish they would’ve showed me, Avani, Mashu
and Mark more because they were all really nice kids. I think the editors, the
producers really missed out on some great stories.”
Avani and Mark are still alive in the
competition. Mashu was eliminated March 16.
“Looking back now, what they did show was her
always being confident and positive and supportive of her friends,” Angela
said. “All in all, I think she came out of it looking like a good overall
person, in addition to being a good chef.
“For that we’re grateful.”
❑❑❑
What’s next?
Outside of being on TV in front of millions people,
which was cool, the other thing Sydney said she’ll take away from the
experience is what she learned.
“You can put cuisines together to make
something different,” she said.
For example, she learned from Mashu, who was
the oldest in the competition at 13, that she can mix Italian and Asian.
“Mashu is very innovative,” Angela said. “I
think that kid is going some place.”
Sydney also learned to not be shy to use
seasoning in dishes and got a blow torch, which was used in a challenge.
After the taping, which was done toward the end
of the 2015-16 school year, Sydney took some time off, but restarted in the
kitchen about a month later.
Since then, Sydney has experimented with the
lessons learned.
“It’s an honor,” she said about being on the
show. “I was never really a professional chef. I would help my mom cook, do
some dishes by myself. They were never like what Afnan does. He makes amazing
Indian dishes.”
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