Fred Chang was a contestant on Seasons 10 and 12 of MasterChef. On Season 10, he ranked in 10th place; and on Season 12, he ranked in 11th place.
Personality
In Season 10, Fred came into the competition as a skilled baker and plater when Gordon Ramsay licked his dessert dish clean in his audition. While he had his high points during the competition, including winning the King Crab immunity challenge with guest judge Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, he was inconsistent during elimination challenges, either landing himself on the bottom or top in the three he competed in. He got along with everyone, but had a close friendship with Bri.
In Season 12, Fred returned wanting to prove that he was more than a baker. While he got off to a decent start by winning the season's first Mystery Box Challenge, he was still inconsistent while in the kitchen as he landed in the bottom immediately after having the Immunity Pin due to his Vegan dish looking canned and clunky. Ever since then, he was in the middle or inconsistent until he eventually cracked in the Tag Team Challenge with Dara and then made a bizarre dish of potstickers in the Grub Hub Challenge, leading to his elimination.
Season 10
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4/5
Episode 6/7
Episode 8/9
Episode 10/11
Episode 12/13
Episode 14/15
Episode 16/17
Competition History
Season 12
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Competition History
Post MasterChef
- After his first appearance, Gordon told Fred that he would contact Christina Tosi and ask if there is a spot for Fred at her bakery. Fred (who is from Redondo Beach) would later go on work in her bakery in Los Angeles, which opened in the fall of 2018 when he auditioned. He also wrote regularly at Freddy's Harajuku, where he posts food recipes.
Trivia
Season 10
- He is the fourth Taiwanese-American to compete on the show, following Jason Wang from season 8, Lynn Chyi from season 4, and Felix Fang from season 3.
- He was arguably one of the strongest dessert bakers in the competition.
- He was the first contestant to get their audition dish licked clean by Gordon, as well as the first contestant to receive a white apron without formally receiving any yes's from the judges.
- Tied with Bri and Nick for the most team challenge wins in his season.
- Of the three of them, he was the only one who was never a team captain.
- Fred and Bri were always on the same team for the 4 team challenges they competed in.
- Holds the record for most wins out of any 10th place contestant, with 5.
- Is tied with Emily (season 9) for most individual wins out of any 10th place contestant with 2.
- First contestant to never finish a challenge in the middle, either winning, being immune, being in the top group, or being on the bottom of every challenge he competed in.
Season 12
Quotes
Season 10
- (During the bread mystery box critiques) "I'm watching these other home cooks go up and I am so glad to be up on the balcony right now. This level of competition, its through the roof. Everything is definitely judged on quality. These guys are stepping up their game this season. I'm definitely worried; this is my competition."
- (About the cake replication challenge) "This is literally like everything I could ever dream of right now. Give me the diabetes.
- "The judges keep calling me 'dessert king' but I haven't earned my crown yet, so this is a chance for me to prove that I am as good of a baker that I'm proclaiming myself to be."
- "My ultimate dream is to go and open my own bakery with my parents, so I have to just keep pushing until I get to that goal."
- "I think that I might not deserve the dessert king crown, but I might deserve the dessert prince crown."
- (After being eliminated) "My food dream coming into MasterChef was to open my own bakery with my parents. Just because I got cut now, it doesn't mean that I'm gonna stop with my food dream. I'm gonna go and continue to bake my heart out, I'm gonna continue to tell stories through my desserts. I've had my moments of self-doubt, I've had my moments where my confidence was low, but I've had such incredible highs too. I won 5 immunity challenges, have a free seat of any Morimoto restaurant of my choosing, Candace Nelson loved my macarons; I'm happy for getting this far. I don't need anything more from this competition, I've already won in my own way."
Season 12
- "I made a chocolate cake that was so tasty, Gordon Ramsay himself picked up the plate, licked it clean, and threw the apron at my face."
- "So when I got eliminated at Season 10, it was a sad moment for all but a second. I did take up Gordon's offer to work with Christina Tosi at Milk Bar in LA and right after that, I started a food blog where I post recipes 3 times a week. So I am ready to fight my butt off to get an apron and get back in that kitchen and continue my food journey."
- "There's a huge Mystery Box behind the judges. I'm just praying, 'please don't be a live animal'. I already made a promise to my mother that I wasn't gonna kill animals on national television."
- "It's so incredible watching Gordon cook. He's like an artist bringing paints and colors to life on a blank canvas. You just see all these ingredients just magically transformed into this beautiful vegan dish. I'm stunned by that transformation."
Gallery
Season 10
Fred's Confessional
Fred's Audition Dessert
Fred receiving his Apron
Fred's Skills Test Basics
Fred in the Blue Team
Fred in the Red Team
Fred in a Black Apron
Fred's Failed Latin Mystery Box Dish
Fred's Tarte Tatin
Fred, Sam, and Evan in the Tarte Tatin Bottom 3
Fred's King Crab Dish
Wuta, Nick, Shari, Fred, Dorian, and Micah in the King Crab Top 6
Fred's Replication Cake
Fred's Macarons
Fred's Surf N' Turf Mystery Box Dish
Fred and Bri in the Surf N' Turf Bottom 2
Fred Eliminated
Season 12
Fred's Confessional
Fred's Audition Dish
Fred & Bri Reinstated
Fred's Spirit Mystery Box Dish
Christian, Fred, and Brandi in the Spirit Mystery Box Top 3
Fred in the Red Team
Fred in the Orange Team
Fred’s Failed Vegan Dish
Shelly, Samantha, and Fred in the Vegan Bottom 3
Fred and Dara's Tag-Team Trio Plater
Fred’s Failed Grubhub Dish
Fred and Willie in the GrubHub Bottom 2
Fred Eliminated (2nd Time)
External links
- Fred Chang on Instagram: /fredfredchangchang
References
Gordon Ramsay • Aarón Sánchez • Joe Bastianich |
Bri Baker • Fred Chang • Deanna Colon • Nick DiGiovanni • Sarah Faherty • Sam Haaz • Jamie Hough • Dorian Hunter • Keturah King • Liz Linn • Shari Mukherjee • Wuta Onda • Kenny Palazzolo • Subha Ramiah • Renee Rice • Michael Silverstein • Noah Sims • Evan Tesiny • Kimberly White • Micah Yaroch |
Gordon Ramsay • Aarón Sánchez • Joe Bastianich |
Bri Baker • Fred Chang • Samantha Daily • Shelly Flash • Derrick Fox • Christian Green • Emily Hallock • Stephen Lee • Gabriel Lewis • Bowen Li • Cate Meade • Willie Mike • Brandi Mudd • Shanika Patterson • Amanda Saab • Michael Silverstein • Alejandro Valdivia • Tommy Walton • Shayne Wells • Dara Yu |