MasterChef Junior interview: Gonzalo Ingram on second chance in competition

Gonzalo Ingram has a rare distinction of getting two different chances to compete on MasterChef Junior, but unfortunately, his second chance ended Thursday. He had a nice run, but unfortunately what did him in was a challenge that also would have done us in, for the record — trying to make the perfect set of macaroons.

In our second exclusive exit interview with Gonzalo (you can check out the first one over here), we have a chance to go through the young home cook’s second time in the competition, including how enthusiastic he was to get back in the kitchen in the first place.

CarterMatt – What did you first think when you heard about getting an opportunity to return to the kitchen?

Gonzalo – The first thing I thought was let’s do it, with no hesitation!! It’s something I would love to do! Getting the opportunity to come back was just unreal!

Did you approach being back in the competition any differently than when you were first a part of it?

I have to say I did treat it differently then when I was first part of the show. The fact that I was being given a second opportunity to come back was something I had to always remember! I didn’t want to let the judges down.

What was the toughest part of doing the macaroons?

The toughest part of making the macaroons was the hand mixing. If you under mix them or over mix them it would mess up the entire final product. So I have to say that was definitely the hardest part of doing the macaroons.

If you could open a restaurant someday following your time on the show, what is some of the food you’d like to serve?

In my restaurant, the food I would like to serve would be International food. So people who just came to America could still enjoy their home food and try food from other countries also. It would be called Food Around the World.

What are some of the biggest lessons you learned from doing the show?

The biggest lesson I learned from the show was to never ever give up! Because with my macaroons I messed up a bunch of times and I kept trying to get it right even though I knew I had no chance. That’s the biggest lesson I learned from the show.

Other odds and ends

Massive thanks to Gonzalo for doing two different exit interviews with us! He was a fun contestant this season, and one who has to feel pretty thrilled with what he accomplished.

Remember to check out our full MasterChef Junior landing page with all sorts of other great stuff — we’ve got an interview coming up with Lila, as well, and an exclusive sneak peek for the episode coming on Wednesday. (Photo: Fox.)