Springfield chef represents Midwest cuisine on 'MasterChef: United Tastes of America'

The heat is on for Springfield home chef Sarah Fry, one of 40 chefs from across the country chosen to compete on season 13 of "MasterChef: United Tastes of America."

In January, 90 chefs were flown to Los Angeles to audition for the show, following a strenuous, months-long application process, Fry said. From the initial selection, 40 were chosen to "live audition" for the season, which began airing this week. For this season of "MasterChef," 20 white aprons will be distributed to contestants from four regions of the country, the Northeast, Midwest, West and South. Fry's live audition episode, "Regional Auditions — The Midwest" airs Wednesday, May 31 at 7 p.m. If chosen, Fry will advance to the next round of the competition.

An Ozark native, Fry, 33, said she "fell upon cooking" during the pandemic lockdown while home with her husband, Jordan, and six-year-old son, Warner.

"There are so many things where I'm like, 'I'm going to get so into this,' then I buy everything I need and onto the next. Cooking, I would say, is the thing I've just stuck with," Fry said. "I feel like it's very meaningful for me and it's like my safe space. I think a lot of times it's how I show love to people in my life."

Though Fry truly dove into cooking just a few years ago, she said she grew up eating great meals prepared by her grandmother Merrilee, who she described as her "main inspiration for cooking."

When Fry could invite family out to Los Angeles to participate in the live filming of her audition episode, 78-year-old Merrilee was by her side.

"We met the best people there (in Los Angeles) and grandma just connected with all of them. We have a big MasterChef group chat and people will text me everyday, 'How's Grammy doing?' Fry said with a laugh.

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Rewinding several months, the process of being able to cook at the MasterChef soundstage in Los Angeles started back in August 2022. Fry began receiving messages on Instagram from women claiming they were a part of MasterChef's casting crew, inquiring if she was interested in applying for the show.

"I get a lot of scam messages on Instagram and so I was just like, 'That's a scam. That would be random ...'" Fry said. "So I just ignored them. I was deleting them and just keeping them in my spam folder."

Then, Fry began receiving text messages about the show, which she ignored, before receiving phone calls. Finally, she answered and spoke with a member of the show's casting crew. Fry said the crew member told her that a member of the show's team had come across her Instagram and was impressed by the dishes she posted photos of. Though still wary about the situation's legitimacy, Fry decided to complete an application sent to her. The day after submitting this application, Fry received a phone call that the team was interested in her.

From there, Fry would be busy for four months completing further, in-depth applications, interviewing via phone calls and submitting videos requested of her cooking specific dishes. Fry said she had to submit about 15 different videos of her completing tasks like preparing a medium rare steak, breaking down a full chicken and making a pie crust.

In December, Fry received a call from the casting team informing her that they were interested in flying her out to Los Angeles for auditions. Fry said she was told to pack enough for eight to 10 weeks, in case she were to compete throughout the entire season.

On Jan. 4, Fry arrived in Los Angeles and was escorted to a hotel where she and the other contestants had to quarantine for three to four days. Following quarantine, practice auditions began. Fry said each contestant was asked to come with four hometown-focused recipes in mind to prepare for this first round of auditions. Fry said the experience was "really intimidating."

After a few days, allowing all 90 chefs time to complete practice auditions, 40 contestants were chosen to move on.

"Everybody just goes crazy," Fry recalled. "People were crying; it was just insane."

Fry said the show's producers told them that 30,000 chefs applied for the season and 5,700 were shortlisted.

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After the exciting announcement, each of the 40 chosen chefs were told which of their four dishes prepared during the practice audition would be the one they would prepare for the live audition. Fry said she thinks her dish will make Springfieldians proud.

Fry, who cooks in her home kitchen in Springfield, said she got used to the big cameras moving around her, but the 16-hour shoot days for the live auditions were difficult. Fry added that cooking under the set lights was already hot, but the air conditioning in the soundstage was also turned off to not disturb sound. Overall, Fry described cooking on set as demanding.

"It's very stressful to feel like you're connecting with the camera and feel like you're connecting with the judges and keep cooking and listening to the storyteller (the crew member who asks contestants questions) and your family's over here," Fry said. "They're like, 'Interact with your family, make sure you're talking during the process, talk to the camera, keep cooking.'"

Fry said she also found it difficult to represent Midwest cuisine in a fine-dining setting.

"In the Midwest, it's big portions; I'm not serving a peach with a leaf on it," Fry said with a laugh. "I'm serving a full meal, and I felt like that was different because I had to reel it in. You can't just slop up a big plate for Gordon Ramsay."

Ultimately, Fry said she is excited to represent the Midwest in the season's first episode and hopes to make the region proud. Fry plans to watch the live audition episode with her family and friends on Wednesday evening at Metropolitan Grill.

Looking to the future, Fry is filming a double cooking segment with Ozarks First host Jeremy Rabe next week; she said she does not know when the segment will air. Fry added that she would love to get more involved with local television, providing cooking tips and tricks for Ozarkians.

In its 13th season, MasterChef is a competitive cooking show that initially premiered on FOX in 2010. This season, chefs Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez and Joe Bastianich are the head judges. The winner of season 13 will leave with a cash prize of $250,000 and the title of "America's MasterChef."