We Finally Know Who Won MasterChef: Back To Win

Even Gordon Ramsay believes in second chances, which was why he brought back previous “MasterChef” contestants to compete in the show’s 12th season. The final three chefs (Michael Silverstein, Christian Green, and Dara Yu) all put up a good fight, but Yu’s crispy skin red snapper, Chinese-style short ribs, and meringue-topped vanilla ile flottante (a meal that paid tribute to dishes from her childhood) won the favor of the judges, which included special guest Christina Tosi. The “MasterChef Junior” Season 1 runner-up walked away with $25,000. Not a bad accomplishment for someone at the ripe old age of 20.

We have no doubt that Yu will use some of her prize money to buy some cool baking gear — she’s a pastry student at the Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park (per Facebook) — but she told TV Insider that she plans to invest most of it. “I want to be able to have that money for the rest of my life,” she said, adding that she plans to allocate some of her winnings toward culinary projects.