What MasterChef season was Luca in? He almost didn't get an apron at all
Luca Manfè is one of the most beloved winners in MasterChef US history — and the answer to which season he was in comes with an asterisk, because his first attempt ended in tears.
The short answer
Luca won MasterChef US season 4, which ran on Fox from 22 May to 11 September 2013. But he first auditioned for season 3 in 2012 — and was sent home without an apron.
The audition that failed
For season 3, the Italian-born New Yorker cooked Venetian calf's liver with Parmesan polenta. Joe Bastianich said yes — the dish reminded him of home. Graham Elliot said no, finding the liver overcooked. That left Gordon Ramsay with the deciding vote, and he turned Luca down, telling him to keep growing as a cook and come back the following year.
So he did. When Luca walked back in for season 4, he didn't hide the grudge:
"You broke my heart. You broke my wife, and my mother's heart," he told Ramsay at his second audition.
His broccoli rabe ravioli with pecorino sauce got the same split — yes from Joe, no from Graham — and this time Gordon said yes.
What he won
Luca went from early-season struggler to the strongest cook in the kitchen, beating runner-up Natasha Crnjac in the finale on 11 September 2013. The prize package:
- The MasterChef trophy — plus the title itself.
- $250,000 — the standard winner's payout at the time.
- A cookbook deal — published as My Italian Kitchen: Favorite Family Recipes.
His win made history twice over: he was the first male winner of MasterChef US, and the first rejected auditionee ever to return and take the whole thing.
What he's doing now
After the show, Luca launched his catering business Dinner with Luca and ran a food truck called The Lucky Fig after moving from New York to Texas. More recently he opened Luca and Sons, an Italian sandwich and butcher shop in Easton, Pennsylvania, alongside online cooking classes and a brand ambassador gig for Donna Italia.