Fans of MasterChef have watched judge Joe Bastianich render his typically blunt culinary
verdicts for years, but how much do they really know about him?
Find out by delving into the untold truth of MasterChef's Joe Bastianich.
Joe Bastianich is not only a celebrity chef and television personality, he's also a musician.
But Bastianich is far beyond jamming with buddies in a garage band.
In fact, he and his group, The Ramps, have performed in Italy, and in 2014 he hosted
his own mini-music festival at his Italian restaurant and B&B.
Bastianich has also performed on Italian television, appearing on Amici Celebrities and rocking
a cover of Prince's "Purple Rain" on Italian music series DopoFestival.
He even recorded his solo debut in 2019, an album called AKA Joe.
For Bastianich, music isn't just a creative outlet, it's also a form of relaxation.
He told The Wall Street Journal:
"When I'm not managing my restaurants, I play guitar and sing to unwind...When I strum the
chords to Elvis Costello's 'Man Out of Time,' I get goosebumps."
Bastianich says Costello and his wife frequently dine in his New York restaurant, explaining:
"I've never had the courage to say hello.
I wouldn't want to disturb his privacy.
I suppose I'm also secretly afraid that if things didn't go well, the experience might
ruin how I feel about a favorite song."
Bastianich was just in his 30s when he received a medical diagnosis that spurred him to give
his lifestyle a complete overhaul.
He was diagnosed with sleep apnea, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
His doctor advised him to eat less, exercise more, and start taking medications.
He did, and the result was a whopping 50-pound weight loss and a new outlook.
He told Epicurious:
"When I stopped looking at food as a reward or a celebration and began looking at food
as energy to fuel my athletic ambitions, that really kind of changed the whole world for
me.
That was the real aha! moment."
This philosophy also bled into his restaurant business by leading him to offer healthier
alternatives along with the old standbys.
He explained:
"That's been a big thing for me: allowing people to make healthy choices in our restaurants,
as well as training the staff to be responsive to people with dietary issues."
Bastianich's health scare placed him on a new path built upon health and fitness, which
eventually led him to take up running.
According to an interview with Runner's World, within four years, he was logging 10 miles
a day and had completed the New York City Marathon twice and the Los Angeles Marathon
once.
Despite Bastianich's newfound passion for running, he admitted it did not come naturally.
He quipped:
"I come from a family that loves to eat, not exercise."
Yet he persevered, and as his endurance grew, so did his ambitions.
On the recommendation of a friend, Bastianich competed in a 5K.
He said:
"That was a high for me.
I loved the way it felt to compete.
I loved setting a goal and working toward it."
Bastianich made his acting debut in 2015, playing himself in a straight-to-DVD movie
based on the American Girl line of dolls.
The premise of the movie involves a girl named Grace, described as, quote, "a promising pre-teen
home baker" who journeys to Paris to learn to make authentic French pastry.
While Grace is studying in Paris, a crisis hits: her family's bakery goes into financial
jeopardy, and money is desperately needed to keep the place afloat.
This gives Grace the genius idea of applying to compete on MasterChef Junior, with judge
Bastianich delivering a cameo, playing himself.
"Grace.
What do you pick?"
"I choose the je ne sais quoi."
Bastianich also appeared, again, as himself, in Untraditional, an Italian television series
starring and created by actor Fabio Volo, who plays a heightened version of himself
as he relocates to New York City to launch a new project.
Bastianich's high profile on TV, including Fox's MasterChef and MasterChef Junior, and
CNBC's short-lived Restaurant Startup, has lent him a certain degree of fame in his native
America.
Yet as famous as he is in the U.S., he's far more popular in Italy, where he has even more
television shows under his belt.
In Italy, Bastianich can be seen on MasterChef Italia, an Italian version of the Fox series,
along with Celebrity MasterChef, a spinoff of MasterChef Italia in which celebrities,
not home cooks, undertake kitchen competitions, and Top Gear Italia, an Italian version of
the popular U.K. automotive series.
He also appeared in Jack on Tour, a "rockumentary" sponsored by Jack Daniels whiskey that followed
Bastianich and Italian singer-songwriter Giò Sada as they performed music and met with
people on a journey from New York City to Jack Daniels' historic distillery in Lynchburg,
Tennessee.
In January 2020 he added another entry to his IMDb page, shifting from evaluating food
to critiquing performers as the newest member of the judging panel on Italia's Got Talent.
Bastianich's fame on Italian television proved to have a dark side when, in January 2018,
he made some comments on MasterChef Italia that restaurant news site Grub Street deemed
to be racist and sexist.
In a segment in the episode, Bastianich is seen popping into a nail salon in Milan's
Chinatown.
According to a translation provided to the site, Bastianich began by correcting a woman's
speech and then asked if she'd ever dated an Italian man, informing her that Chinese
men are, quote, "inadequate in certain situations."
As the backlash grew, Bastianich was quick to offer an apology, saying:
"This was a scripted segment shot in a Milan nail salon that I've gone to regularly.
I know the women, and we were given the questions to discuss in advance.
That said, it's clear that some of what I said was in poor taste and not reflective
of my views.
I'm sorry I said those things."
In 2012, Bastianich opened up about his life by writing a memoir, Restaurant Man.
The book talks about his journey from working at his parents' restaurant to becoming one
of the country's most successful restaurateurs.
Speaking about the book with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Bastianich admitted that
the double whammy of turning 40 followed by the death of his father provided the impetus
to delve into his own life.
He said:
"It was cathartic and therapeutic for me.
It worked for me; cheaper than going to the $475 an hour therapist."
Asked to summarize the "overall message" of his memoir, Bastianich said he wanted to present
an unvarnished look at his life:
"The good, bad and ugly.
Some people might glean some life lessons...I think if you read the book you can understand
what has made me, the son of an immigrant: People who left everything behind and worked
hard, a sense of frugality and respect of earning money and how that's changed to this
very media-driven entertainment business."
After all those seasons as a judge on MasterChef, MasterChef Italia, and MasterChef Junior,
Bastianich has witnessed numerous home chefs in action, people who have managed to develop
keen culinary skills without the benefit of the kind of training received by professional
chefs.
Interviewed by TV Insider, Bastianich was asked to identify the biggest mistake that
he sees MasterChef contestants make.
He explained:
"When they don't listen.
You have to listen and evolve to win.
The biggest mistake they make is when they try to think that they're going to outsmart
us, that we're giving them information just for the sake of giving it, when we're actually
trying to help them.
When they think they've got that figured out better than we are, that's usually where it
goes wrong."
"The fact that you're not even thinking of playing this game properly is really annoying."
Bastianich also singled out the one dish he advises MasterChef contestants avoid at all
costs:
"Risotto.
Risotto is always very tricky.
Everyone wants to make risotto but the only person who can really make it is my mom."
Bastianich joined Gordon Ramsay's MasterChef on the Fox network in 2010, and in November
2014 he announced he was exiting the show.
Bastianich said in a statement:
"After several gratifying years as a judge on MasterChef and MasterChef Junior, I have
decided to step down from my role on the show."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the chef's plans were to focus on his restaurant empire's
growth around the world.
Christina Tosi of New York City bakery Milk Bar was brought in to replace Bastianich behind
the judging table for the show's sixth season.
A few months later, Bastianich appeared on a panel during the Television Critics Association
press tour to promote his new series for CNBC, Restaurant Startup.
E! News reported that during the panel, he was asked why he left MasterChef after the
show's fifth season.
According to Bastianich, he simply felt the time was right, saying:
"I had a great experience.
It was a show that changed my life.
I stepped away."
However, he clarified that he hadn't abandoned the franchise entirely, pointing out that
he continued to work on MasterChef Italy and adding that he was, quote, "looking for more
opportunity to do television."
Bastianich's comments about his exit from MasterChef certainly didn't indicate he'd
be returning, but neither did they shut the door on an eventual comeback.
That was exactly what happened in 2016, when Bastianich made a surprise appearance in MasterChef's
season eight finale.
Coinciding with that appearance, the Fox network issued a press release to announce that, in
addition to his MasterChef finale drop-in, he'd be back behind the judging table full-time
for the sixth season of MasterChef Junior.
"Have you missed me?"
"No."
But that was only the beginning.
When the ninth season of MasterChef premiered in 2017, Christina Tosi, who replaced Bastianich
and served as a judge for seasons six, seven and eight, was out.
In her place was none other than Bastianich, with the network trumpeting his return to
the show after a three-season absence.
Chef Aarón Sanchez also served as judge that season.
When it comes to culinary talent and television-ready charisma, Bastianich is an example of the
proverbial apple that didn't fall far from the tree.
His mother, LidiA Bastianich, is a celebrity chef in her own right.
She's a proud Italian immigrant who teamed up with her son to parlay her family-run Italian
eatery in Queens into a restaurant empire that includes such Manhattan hotspots as Becco,
Del Posto, and her flagship, Felidia.
Lidia Bastianich, like her son, also demonstrated a knack for television, and has hosted several
food-themed series for PBS: Lidia's Kitchen, Lidia's Italy in America, and Lidia's Italy.
As if that weren't enough, she's also won multiple daytime Emmys and is the author of
numerous bestselling cookbooks, including 2019's Felidia: Recipes from My Flagship Restaurant.
"She's totally like Mama Italian, you know that when she's done cooking those dishes,
she's feeding all the camera guys and stuff, it's like legit."
During a 2018 interview with Terry Gross for NPR's Fresh Air, she revealed how her self-described
"peasant food" came to be served in high-end restaurants in the Big Apple.
"We brought the simple dishes to a level of service and presentation that was above what
would be in the home."
In 2017, B&B Hospitality Group became embroiled in a scandal when Bastianich's business partner,
Mario Batali, stepped away from the company in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.
As The New York Times reported, accusations that Batali harassed and even assaulted female
employees led Bastianich and B&B's other partners, including his sister and mother, Lidia Bastianich,
to buy out Batali.
Joe Bastianich was not unscathed by the controversy.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, staffers at the B&B-owned restaurants claimed the MasterChef
judge encouraged a, quote, "boys club" atmosphere, and that he and Batali participated in some
of the most, quote, "debaucherous behavior" they had ever witnessed, among other complaints.
B&B said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:
"It has become clear that we need to improve our culture.
Some employees have violated our policies.
We have fallen short in creating an environment where every employee feels comfortable reporting
complaints.
And we have fallen short at times when enforcing our policies.
We are already taking steps to change."
Those steps included the ousting of Batali, with Lidia Bastianich taking a larger role
to help foster a, quote, "safe and positive workplace."
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