Inspiring MasterChef USA Audition (Season 3 Episode 1) - Christine Ha: Blind Chef

Christine Ha Is MasterChef's First Blind Contestant!

Article from People website: http://www.people.com/people/article/...

Chefs rely heavily on their sense of taste and smell to cook -- especially if they're blind like MasterChef contestant Christine Ha.

"I have to depend a lot more on the other senses to cook -- taste, smell, how certain ingredients feel," she tells PEOPLE. "I'll know if a piece of meat is close to being done by how it feels against my hand or utensils."

Christine, 33, has been diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a condition of the central nervous system that affects the optic nerves and spinal cord.

"The very first bout I had was in 1999," she says of the condition. "It only happened in one eye then. It didn't recover completely so I learned to adjust to seeing out of one eye. In 2004, it decreased to the level where I could no longer drive. In 2007, it decreased to where I am now. I have to use a cane to walk around or take somebody's arm and be guided."

Christine is ready to prove herself on the show, which premieres Monday (9 p.m. ET) on Fox. "It's hard to see ingredients," she says. "I have to figure out by smell and touch if an ingredient is fresh. Cutting with knives -- fortunately, I'm pretty careful and I have a proper knife technique. Since I've lost my vision, I've cut myself once. And it was minor. I've never had to get stitches. It's really about being organized, careful and using my other senses."

And she won't be getting any special help from the judges Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich. "Joe, Gordon and Graham didn't treat me any differently," she says. "They told me what was wrong and right with my dish. There was constructive criticism. I feel like they judged fairly."

Still, nerves were a factor for Christine when she began the competition. "I had never been this nervous in my life -- even on my wedding day," she says. "It was the most anxiety I've felt in a day. It's already scary to be in an environment you can't soak up visually what's happening around you. It was challenging and scary."

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[Luckygamester2]

many thanks to the Jubilee Project for giving this story more attention

[Gregory Thornton]

She's amazing. So glad she won Masterchef.

[alistahr]

he's a restaurant owner, not a chef

[elimacfly1]

Why does she refer to Joe as "Sir" and the other two as "Chef."  Is Joe not a chef?

[koolerthenme]

She won

[Vitus Sano]

hey Christine,

you are simply awesome. its incredible & amazing to see how u cook.

best wishes to YOU.

[Brett W]

So much feels

[thekendrickhuynh]

You've just gone full retard. Honestly.

The dish could look like crap, tasting like God made it, and even the world's most harsh food critics would give it full ratings. Visuals don't matter nearly as much as the taste. They never told Christine to stop cooking oriental dishes, they appreciated it because of her taste profile. They only told Frank otherwise because for the first 5 or 6 challenges, he only made Italian food. You've got so many things wrong it's not even funny.

[TheIrishEnigma]

No, I'm afraid you are the one who isn't getting it. Aesthetic appeal is a major criteria, how often have you heard them ask that condescending question to a contestant if their dish is Masterchef quality? They've said it a lot, many times just for the visual outcome alone.

They also criticize people for not stepping out of their comfort zone. How many times did they tell Christine to stop cooking so many Oriental dishes? I remember they gave Frank a hard time for sticking to his roots.

[thekendrickhuynh]

You're not getting it. Cooking is dependent on taste, that's rule number one. It doesn't matter if the dish looks a billion dollars, if it tastes like crap, it's worthless. On the other hand, if it looks like crap, but tastes like a billion dollars, the taste offsets the visuals. Even if she's blind, she can still taste and make amazing food, to the point that plating becomes extraneous. You can't compare cooking, which you can still do if you're blind, to running, which requires legs.

[TheIrishEnigma]

How about if somebody with another major disability entered the competition this season? What if they had a one armed chef, do you think it would be right to lower the judging criteria for him alone? What if during a race one of the competitors had a limp, should he be given a headstart? No, you can't give disabled people breaks like that during any competition, it's a slippery slope you don't want to fall down, it's unfair to everybody else and actually insulting to the disabled person.

[thekendrickhuynh]

She ended up on the bottom three once. Would you dare judge her on her presentation with that disability? That's rude and disrespectful. She won thanks to her amazing palate, and her ability to be consistently good, going through every challenge with high praises from the judges about the taste and the technique. In the restaurant business, taste beats visuals every time. Presentation is important, but anybody with a heart wouldn't judge a legally-blind person on something dependent on sight.