Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of stories investigating subjects of interest to the students of LHS. Have an idea for a story? Let us know.
Jayda Caldwell, currently a junior at Leominster High School, was a contestant on Master Chef Junior in 2017, when she was eight years old.
She qualified to appear on Master Chef Junior after going to multiple interviews and auditions in Boston, and then she had to travel to Los Angeles for filming.
At the time of the show, she was a fourth grader at Fall Brook Elementary School.
Caldwell had to miss school for several months while the show was being filmed.
Jayda and the other contestants continued school while they were away, but it was independent.
Caldwell said, “It was very hard to keep up with schoolwork because you don’t have time or a teacher.”
Caldwell appeared on Season 5, Episode 2 of the show where she competed against three other kids from Massachusetts for a “white apron.”
The white aprons are given to the contestants who were selected to move onto the next round.
The kids were challenged to make their dishes using live lobsters.
She cooked lobster rolls with celery leaves on top.
Caldwell’s dish impressed the judges and Gordon Ramsay complemented her use of seasonings as well as the amount of lobster in the roll.
The judges ultimately chose two of the other contestants to move on to the next round.
“It was very difficult to get back into life after coming back,” she said, “especially school and being on the show sticks with me everywhere I go.”
Caldwell’s love for cooking has continued to this day and her favorite dish to make now is a lobster ravioli with vodka sauce.
