Grant Gillon, 33, graduated from the University of Iowa in 2012 with a degree in leisure studies, focused on recreation and sport business. Today, he is the most recent champion of Fox’s MasterChef, where amateur chefs compete against each other to survive elimination.
Gillon competed on the 13th season of the competitive reality television series, judged by Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Aarón Sánchez, all distinguished members of the restaurant industry.
The season showed competitors representing four regions — Northeast, Midwest, West, and South — vying for the winning title and the $250,000 grand prize.
“It was incredible,” Gillon said. “The opportunity to cook for Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Aarón Sánchez for two months was something that a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to do, so I’m just incredibly grateful.”
Gillon is the director of sales at Kinship Brewing Co. in Waukee, Iowa, not far from his hometown and current residence in, Altoona, Iowa. He lives with his wife Emily and son Grady, who he said pushed him to apply and kept him motivated through the two-month filming period.
“I said it from the beginning — I wanted to do this to show [my son] we could do big things,” he said. “More often than not, it’s not the dads in the kitchen, and so I thought it was pretty cool to show him that as well.”
His family joined the audience for the season finale, filmed in Los Angeles, California. Gillon said he could hear all of his son’s cheerful comments from their seats 10 feet in front of him, some of which can be heard on the finale episode.
“He would have been proud of me if I went home first,” Gillon said. “The fact that he got to be there for it and experience it with me was just awesome.”
Representing the Midwest
Gillon said he was grateful to represent the entire Midwest, rather than solely the “corn state,” giving him more room to create diverse dishes and relate to viewers outside of Iowa.
“I love the fact that it was the whole Midwest because I feel like even people watching from, you know, Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Nebraska, you could still get behind somebody from that region,” he said. “That was really cool — to not only be able to represent myself, my hometown, and Iowa, but the Midwest as whole.”
With more to represent than his native state, he said one of the hardest tasks was conceptualizing dishes and making sure they varied from each other.
During season finale, he cooked an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The meal highlighted pork because of Gillon’s ties to Iowa.
“I wanted to try to do things that either I hadn’t done before or I wasn’t super confident with, but something that I thought I could pull off,” he said.
Closing the finale, Gillon dropped to his knees in tears after being titled the season’s “Masterchef.” Joined by his family shortly after, the three came together in a tearful and celebratory embrace.
Co-runners-up Jennifer Maune and Kennedy U. — representing the South and the West respectively — applauded Gillon on the achievement as well.
“Honestly, I’m so happy for Grant,” U. said during the finale. “He is literally the purest, most sweet man you’ll ever meet so if I were to lose to anyone, I would want to lose to him.”
Gillon said he doesn’t have anything going on immediately after the season finale aired, but he does have hopes for future endeavors.
“Right now, I’m in some initial talks with some partners about opening a restaurant here in Altoona,” he said. “Having the opportunity to really put my stamp on my hometown I think is really cool.”
Until then, he plans to see what other opportunities are available, as well as cooking with his son and sharing those videos on social media. He also urges UI students to try new things and find their passions.
“I only got to this point because I was able to go out and explore and do new things. This is the time, in your college years, to take the opportunity to try everything, learn new things, expand on things you’ve already learned,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to fail and always give it a shot.”
