‘MasterChef 13’ contestant Amanda Clark Katz on ‘devastating’ elimination: ‘I really wish I wouldn’t have made those darn tacos’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Denton Davidson
·3 min read

“Absolute devastation!” Those are the words Amanda Clark Katz used to describe her elimination from “MasterChef” on Wednesday night. The stay-at-home mom from Sherman Oaks, California finished in 20th place on this “United Tastes of America” cycle of the FOX reality cooking competition. “My heart wasn’t in that dish,” she says of the “State Fair Food” tacos she put on a plate for judges Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez and Joe Bastianich. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

In this episode, the Top 20 were tasked with creating a dish inspired by the state fair, while remaining true to their regional roots. For Amanda, that was the West. “I don’t make fish tacos at home,” she admits. “It’s not even in my wheelhouse at all. I had so much to show and so much to give that show. To be handed an apron and the next week have to give it back was very, very hard. Then you go home and you’re like, ‘Why did I make that dish?’ I had so many different things I could have made.”

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“I really wish I wouldn’t have made those darn tacos,” she says with regret. “I haven’t stopped thinking about it. My initial dish that maybe I would have made was a peppered steak with a red wine pan sauce, with big onion rings on top. Californians love their vegetables, so I would have had some greens in there. Maybe some sautéed spinach with some garlic. That’s what I wish I made. I think that would have put me in the top three. After I finished the tacos I said to my team, ‘You guys, I’m gonna be in the bottom three.’ I just knew it. I’m a passionate cook and I deserved to be in the bottom three, for sure.”

In retrospect, Amanda can’t believe she put tacos in front of Aarón. “What was I thinking?” she asks. “I have seen every episode of every single season. No one has ever gotten away with making a taco and having it be like, ‘Yeah! This is the best taco I’ve ever had!’ I was definitely holding my head down like, ‘Why did I make this?’ I was not surprised at all when I was called up. I was hoping James would win with his delicious, amazing burger because that would have kept me out of the elimination process. Things didn’t go my way that day.”

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