Chef Gabe battles for MasterChef - again
In Season Eight, he made it to the top seven on the hit TV series “MasterChef.” That was in 2017. Gabriel Lewis of Oklahoma City was straight out of high school and working at a fast-food restaurant. Flash forward to 2022’s Season 12, and the Putnam City North alum is back on television in “MasterChef: Back to Win.”
The Season 12 competitors are all experienced chefs making their second appearance on the show. After Episode Six, Lewis was among 17 chefs still in the running for the $250,000 prize.
For Lewis, much has changed since his television debut five years ago. He’s now a graduate of the prestigious Johnson and Wales University in Denver, he’s working on a cookbook, and he is booking private catering jobs all over the country. Together with his sister, a professional photographer, Lewis has created a dynamic collection of cooking videos as well as an impressive web and social media presence.
Before Lewis left the MasterChef kitchen in 2017, renowned New Orleans chef Aaron Sanchez even promised him a job after culinary school, but COVID shutdowns robbed him of that opportunity.
A passion for cooking runs in Lewis’ family. He grew up with three expert cooks – his mother, his aunt and his grandmother. He turned that love into a career plan, enrolling in a two-year program at Francis Tuttle Technology Center’s School of Culinary Arts while he was still in high school.
“Francis Tuttle gave me a snapshot of what the industry is really like,” Lewis said.
In addition to cooking skills, his experience at Francis Tuttle also gave him the confidence to audition for “MasterChef,” where he became a popular contestant. Fans were disappointed to see him eliminated, but world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay saw potential in the CareerTech grad and offered to pay his tuition at Johnson and Wales.
“You’ve got the potential to be huge in this industry,” Ramsay said in 2017.
Regardless of how “MasterChef: Back to Win” turns out, Lewis is already pretty big. He recently filmed a national commercial, he’s running a business, and he plans to compete in the World Food Championship in Dallas in November.
