‘Chopped Junior’ Contestant Is Out of This World


Ten-year-old Chopped Junior contestant Mischa Waydo has aspirations to one day cook for aliens on Mars, and that might have something to do with the fact that her father is a NASA rocket scientist. Mischa loves being able to bring science to the kitchen with experimentation and the occasional chemical explosion.

Before the competition, she made a promise to her sister that if she won the $10,000 she would buy her a hermit crab with her winnings and name it “Chopped Junior.” Oh, and also an aquarium and all the stuff that goes in an aquarium.

Mischa managed to impress the judges with a pan-seared chicken taco with a corn-and-avocado guacamole. But she blew them away in the dessert round, with a beet-chip sugar cookie with a snack-cake ice cream and a clementine-strawberry compote. This dessert helped her beat out fellow 10-year-old Eli Hoffenberg and take home the coveted $10,000 prize.

Chopped Junior airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Food Network.

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