Dental Laser Expert In the Running to Be America’s Next MasterChef

Like most people, Chris Walinski, DDS, has dealt with plenty of stress, and like most of us, it can get overwhelming at times.

Luckily for Dr Walinski, he has a great wife, Veronica, by his side, and he has cooking. With her support and encouragement, he decided to apply for the MasterChef television competition on Fox TV featuring Gordon Ramsay and other renowned chefs. Dr Walinski, who is a pioneer in the use of dental lasers and has lectured across the globe, barely made the application deadline, which was a little stressful as it required weeks of grueling, thorough interviews and cook-offs. But boy is he glad he took Veronica’s advice.

Some 45,000 applicants tried out for the show and Dr Walinski made the final cut. Without a lot of notice, he was asked via a phone call what day was best to fly to Los Angeles for the competition. Veronica and Chris already had plenty on their plates when he traveled to LA. Unfortunately, Veronica was not able to attend the filming due to a health issue.

In the second episode of MasterChef, televised earlier this month, Dr Walinski proved to be just as skilled with a pan and a knife in his hand as he is with a dental laser or a scalpel. During the final audition, he was worried a bit that his Japanese-fried chicken dish was a little under-seasoned and that he might be eliminated. However, he claimed the final apron offered to the 5 Baby Boomer contestants. Ramsay said he “enjoyed the meal plenty” and, with the help of Chris’ recently reunited birth father Rod Jones, presented the coveted white apron to the dentist-chef.

Receiving the apron meant he passed his audition to be one of 20 final contestants on the show’s new season, “MasterChef Generations,” which continues to air every Wednesday in Primetime on Fox. Besides the Baby Boomers, the show also has cooks competing as GenZ, GenX and Millennials. While the show runs throughout the summer, the filming is complete, and the secretive results are unknown to the public.

Born in Japan, Dr Walinski was raised in Hope, New Jersey, and his adoptive father was a cook. “Cooking is a very creative process,” he says. “You try to make your food look good when plating, but I care more about how my food tastes versus how it looks. I guess that’s a Boomer trait. At times, it seemed like the GenZ's number one priority was to make their dish look good enough to post on social media. One contestant said, ‘I cook for the camera first and for flavor second.’”

That’s not to say his plates don’t look impressive when he presents them to the show’s judges, says Dr Walinski. At times, he even uses dental instruments to make some plates look just right.

In the recent episode, one of the judges, restaurateur Joe Bastianich, gave Chris a “Yes” on his plate, as did Joe’s mother, Lidia. The two co-own several restaurants in multiple countries and are cooking show celebrities. Dr Walinski’s Japanese chicken karaage with yuzu mayo won over the mother and son chefs. The plate also featured gomoku rice and pickled red dragon fruit.

Regular viewers of the show will tell you that Joe Bastianich is not an easy judge to please. His “bad cop” role plays counterpart to the other judges, so he is not quick to dish out compliments. Yet, he seemed to find Dr Walinski’s dish to his liking.

“Joe actually liked my food to the point where even after the judges were finished tasting, he was still eating more of my chicken. He really liked it,” Dr Walinski said. “He said, ‘I like it all. This is comfort food I want to eat.’”

With two “Yes” votes down, Gordon Ramsay seemed as if he was trying to talk Dr Walinski out of continuing with the competition, noting that his prostate cancer diagnosis two years ago might make some of the physical requirements of future episodes too challenging.

Ramsay then left the room, leaving the fellow judges and Dr Walinski to wonder what was next.

“What the audience ends up seeing is Gordon walking out to the kitchen, while my birth father and his wife and friend John [Bernhard] are standing there. He goes up and talks to them, but the entire time, I don't know what’s going on,” Chris explains. “I’m talking to Aaron, Lidia and Joe, just like I'm talking to you.”

Chef Aaron Sanchez told Dr Walinski that Ramsay was calling him over, so he headed back out into the kitchen and Gordon announced that he had some news for Dr Walinski, but he was not the one who would deliver it. That’s when Ramsay nodded to Jones, who was stone-faced.

“Rod, my birth father, didn’t give anything away. He wasn’t smiling and my stress level was 100,” Dr Walinski explains of the revealing moment of the show. “Then he slowly slid the apron out from behind his back and I lost it. So much pressure.”

“I've watched other seasons of MasterChef and grown men were crying, and I thought, why are they crying? It’s a cooking show! Now, having gone through the process myself, I completely understand. They put you through so much, just to get to the audition.”

Only one home cook can win it all, earning a cash prize and the title of America’s newest MasterChef, but Dr Walinski is not allowed to reveal the winner and spoil the suspense for all the TV viewers who tune in to Fox each week.

Dr Walinski recently ended his tenure as an Associate Professor and Director of Laser Dentistry at the Touro College of Dental Medicine. Previously he had a similar position at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry. He also holds Fellowships from multiple organizations,and has been a longtime consultant and educator in laser dentistry.

For now, in addition to moving, buying a house and starting up a new dental practice, Dr Walinski plans to use his new fame to help increase awareness for prostate cancer screenings. He’s grateful for his team of heroes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Montvale, New Jersey. Dr Walinski runs a non-profit organization called the 1000 Cranes Project for prostate cancer awareness. The website (1000cranes.kitchen) and YouTube channel (@1000cranes.kitchen) include videos, information and nutrition tips for people with prostate cancer, or those in high risk demographics. Donations may be made through the website by purchasing a custom lapel pin designed by Dr Walinski.