Surreyite David Jorge earned the title of Canada’s latest "MasterChef" on the CTV show Sunday evening (May 24).
Jorge, 40, told reporters he will bank his $100,000 prize money as he looks to open a restaurant.
The husband and father of two has, until this spring, worked in the concrete business.
On the reality-TV show Sunday, Jorge battled for the contest title with Line Pelletier, a Canadian military veteran and computer specialist from New Brunswick. For three judges, they each had to create an appetizer, entree and dessert.
He was thrilled to win it all, naturally.
"It’s beyond the money, beyond everything,"Jorge told the Canadian Press in an interview ahead of Sunday’s telecast.
"I set a goal, showed up in Toronto with 50 people. Seven weeks later I walked out of there myself and it was amazing, absolutely, truly amazing. And the fact is that nobody can take that away from me now."
Jorge practiced hard to prepare for the televised contest.
"Because I’m not a professional chef by any stretch of the imagination, (I know that) food can taste the best in the world but if it doesn’t look good, you’re not going to get a response," he told the Now in February, at the time he was a "top-14" contestant on the show. "So everything I worked on at home, even my kids’ cereal and mac and cheese was plated. I plated everything."
