FoxThree home cooks remained in the quest to be named the winner of MasterChef season seven—but only one could take home the title.
In the two-hour finale, Shaun O'Neale, Brandi Mudd and David Williams competed for the title after cooking an entrée for 17 intimidating restaurant critics. David narrowly avoided going home as one of the bottom two contestants, but he had another chance to redeem himself in the super-sized episode.
The final three got a hand from some familiar home cooks as they rushed to prepare an amazing appetizer dish in just 60 minutes. In part two of the episode, they had one hour to create entrees and one hour to create dessert.
Finally, it was time for judges Gordon Ramsay and Christina Tosi—who had help from legends Wolfgang Puck and Daniel Boulud, so no pressure there!—to name a winner. And that person was…
Shaun! After 19 grueling episodes, the winning home cook took home the MasterChef trophy, a book deal, and the $250,000 grand prize.
"I think I'm done with DJing," the now-former Las Vegas DJ joked after winning. Cooking is his true calling. "I feel like this is what I was put on this planet for."
He later added, "This changes my life. All my dreams came true today. All of them."
Meanwhile, David had nothing but praise for his competitor. "I'm happy for my biggest brother," he said.
"Shaun has been a strong contender since the beginning of this season and continued to impress each of the guest judges," said Ramsay in a statement after the episode aired. "His passion, enthusiasm and dedication was evident."