Best MasterChef USA Contestants

The fact that she was blind but still fought to cook is why I consider her the best master chef contestant,

Most talented contestant ever. Deserves to win the competition. Why isn't she 1st in this list?

Hold on, you're telling me a BLIND chef won? Hell no.

I don’t know what they did with the editing, but she is still inspirational.

The first winner of the US Masterchef. Of course her name deserves to be up there!

He only came back to alieviate the Paula Deen controversy - Murphdog405

I was so sad when he passed :(

R.I.P

Love his accent

Christine was only number 1 because she has disability, but Luca is way more talented, plus he is genuinely a good hearted person.

Great attitude, amazing chef

I loved how he started off as a weak competitor any had a late season break-out. After his wife came, he nailed almost every challenge. He was an amazing chef and a good person.

Christine Ha was the best chef, but Dino deserves 2nd.

By far the most creative chef out of all the seasons!

Not only the sexiest (arguably) but also by far the most endeavoring, perseverant, courageous and adventurous (objectively) contestant this show has ever witnessed. There have been many fantastic competitors in the past but not one individual is comparable to Dino.

He had the most fun on masterchef

Quite honestly, I wouldn't put arrogant ass Christian in the top 10.

They actually said he was one of the nicest contestants off camera

One of the best Masterchef contestants of all time

He really deserved to win instead of Claudia.

Best chef of season 6

Who put Stephen ahead of Derrick

She was good and funny.

Very creative, despite what others said about her memorising recipes, her crab scotch egg was exceptional and her soup and soda bread was very clever. I think she was an intelligent and humble cook as well as an exceptionally charming and nice person.

Almost everyone is biased against her. But she managed to outsmart her competitors.

So much more talented and consistent than the winner of her season, but she didn’t flirt with the judges enough apparently

Glad she is higher than Courtney on this list.

She is sooo nice and the best

I think Jessie is good enough to be in top 10. She may lose out to Natasha in terms of consistency, but her leadership skills and her ability to handle pressure is without doubt.

"Everybody thinks you're in the show because you look good, but you're in the show because you cook good." - Gordon to Jessie

Everyone hated him cause Elizabeth said he would screw up. - Curtis_Huber

He reminds me of James from team Rocket - Murphdog405

Dat dude cool

To be honest Leslie was my favorite contestant ever. Everybody hated him and he feuded with so many people that it was cool to watch. His cooking is up to par with some of the best to ever do it on the show.

Why the hell is Max in the top 10? Not only was he not very good, but he was also an arrogant snob!

Only won because of affirmative action - Murphdog405

I loved her, the only thing I didn't like about her was that she liked Tommy... But she deserved to win

Why is Nick ahead of Claudia?

Absolutely hated her

Personal favorite

Absolutely hated why is she on this list when she only cooked two good dishes in the entire competition
yeah her only two good dishes were her duck and risotto but every looks at her that she's good because of those two dishes

Awesome cook. Damn shame he was eliminated so early!

Why did they send Terry home? He kicked ass!

Awesome cook but a wallflower which means he only got eliminated after a mediocore dish
sadly :(

The fiercest contestant ever, he might not be the winner but he's charisma and talent win us all

They should make a coooking show with Tommy as the host. He's the BEST!

Sasss on pointt! katrina was rude!

Made season 6 watchable

Preferred Dino to him but he's honestly my second favorite contestant of all time, it's both a blessing and a curse that these two wonderfully positive human beings had to be in the same season. - FukboiAyano

Seriously? His excitement and love of food and his ever so bright personality has won my heart. I hope he wins the competition

Absolutely one of my favorite contestants from Season 8! Him, Cate, Dino, and Eoboni are my top 4 favorites

He’s Amazing!

Slightly better than Tali - Murphdog405

This arrogant prick should not be anywhere near this list!

He was also pretty funny

He was my most favorite of season 2. - ndog

Star struck

He was robbed

#TeamTali forever. Only contestant who stood up for his cooking beliefs. Him and Ryan saw right through Monti's bs.

Oh come on! Who the hell put Tali on here?! Tali was one of the worst contestants on this show!

I wonder if people keep on voting for Tali and he makes it to number 1, biggest troll in The Top Tens history.

What makes him one of the best MasterChef winners in my book is how he is an incredible student. He learned a lot from Joe, and as the competition went on, he evolved, and ultimately that's what won him the competition in the end. Excellent job, Gerron!

I can't begin to say that I wanted him to go home after Mark, but ultimately he has proved me wrong and got better as the season went along. He made such an amazing comeback and I am so glad that he won it at the very end. You gotta respect this man and his kindness towards others.

Deserved to win, reminds me of Luca as well

Nicest person on masterchef this season and deserved to win

Luca is a great chef but I prefer Natasha. She should win that season

Lol. people use the fact she needed to work at a gentlemen's club to keep a roof under her head.

What have you done? Oh yeah, stained the internet.

"Favoritism." Oh god. Because she's a good cook means favoritism. Got it.

The theory that she slept with Gordon,Graham,and Joe. False. Proven False. Gordon and Graham have kids. You don't. Shut up.

Hate to admit it, but I kind of like Courtney. I know she didn't have the most impressive attitude in the kitchen, but she wasn't half as bad as Cutter, or even Dan. Plus she was a very consistent cook. But although I liked her, I still can say Elizabeth, or even Leslie should've won over her.

Courtney won because she had more passion and talent than anyone else in season 5.

Courtney dominated her season.

Seriously why is Derrick the douche Top 4 when Stephen's nowhere near top 20? - FukboiAyano

Stephen is consistent. He beat every challenges and even brought them to a whole new leve with his skill. Even judges were surprised when seeing him in a pressure test. Being one of the oldest contestants he show viewers how to never stop chasing your dreams with his fiery spirit in the kitchen. Even until today I still believe that him not being in the final is part of the show’s politic to favor the other two contentants. Don’t forget he has the most wins for that season.

Mmm... Shoudl of won the whole competition of masterchef

Yeah

He would then go on to win Food Network Star. - ndog

I wanted him to win

It's not attitude, it's performance.

Oh hell no! Krissi was one of the worst contestants! Worst personality out of anyone who has been on the show!

She even admitted she was a bully in school

Big Willie immediately became my favorite after the auditions. Good cook with awesome personality. He's funny, his passion is without question, he may not be the best leader but he has the integrity to go down with the ship.

Really?! This guy should be in to 5 because he never thought of himself and had so much integrity that he saved 3 other team members instead of himself from the pressure test!

My favorite contestant. Also, how did she not even make Top 5 while Cutter, who is Jeff before Jeff was on the show, made Top 4? She can cook and show respect, while Cutter has neither.

Good thing she had to call out the judges on playing favorites. I honestly couldn’t stand Courtney winning

Eh, he's alright. Had both really good moments, and also really bad moments in the kitchen.

She looks a lot like Marcie from Peanuts

Definitely one of the best chefs in masterchef history. He should have been in the finale with Whitney. - ndog

He is also the only cook who won a mystery box and elimination challenge in a single episode. - ndog

Best overall performance of the season

He has everything what a chef needs! creativity, technique, and he is so focused in the kitchen. He is from Mexico but he doesn’t cook always the same cuisine

Such a shame that his one poor performance knocked him out of the competition so early. He had been one of the top contenders at first.

One of my favorites during season 7

Here's a drinking game: Take a shot every time she mentions Kentucky

She did have potential, but she did deserve to go home for that dish.

This gal left too soon cause she had potential. She's also gorgeous. - ndog