Illinois National Guard Soldier Set to Heat-up Kitchen in MasterChef Premiere

Related Media

Photo 1

CHICAGO (05/22/2013)(readMedia)-- Story by Capt. Dustin W. Cammack, Illinois National Guard Public Affairs

CHICAGO – Sgt. Rim Zivalich of Chicago, assigned to Bravo Company, 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Illinois Army National Guard, is one of 100 competitors set to face-off for the two-hour premier of FOX-TV's cooking competition "MasterChef," which airs at 7 p.m. May 22.

Master Chef-USA is a competition for amateur home cooks that put contestants through a series of culinary-based elimination rounds in hopes of earning the title of Masterchef.

"My husband was the one who put in my application for me. We have seen the show before and he is like 'I know you can win this show,'" said Zivalich, a senior in biological sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "Then I got a call from them saying I had a VIP audition!"

With 10 years of military experience under her belt, including two deployments to the Middle East and a life-long passion for cooking, Zivalich seemed a perfect contestant.

"I think I got the audition because I have a unique story – two time veteran and my husband is a veteran himself," said Zivalich. "When I was deployed I took a hot plate with me and my family would send me canned foods and pastas and rice. I would go to the chow hall, get ingredients from the salad bar and go back to my room and create dishes for my battle buddies," said Zivalich. "They loved it because it was like a home cooked meal."

Zivalich's relationship with cooking began when she was 15 years old.

"I started cooking - well, more like experimenting - and those experiments started tasting good," said Zivalich. "What was different for me this time was cooking with cameras right there; that was new, but nothing like some self assurance to get me all ready."

After auditioning against more than 40,000 people from across the country, Zivalich was one of 100 contestants selected and flown to Los Angeles to present their dishes to the show judges – award-winning chef Gordon Ramsay, restaurateur Joe Bastianich and Chicago-native and acclaimed chef Graham Elliot. MasterChef allowed competitors to bring their own ingredients. Contestants had one hour to cook and five minutes to present and impress the judges.

"That is what you are going to see tonight during the premiere – the contestants arriving in L.A. and presenting the dishes," said Zivalich.

When asked why she competed, Zivalich says it is all for the troops.

"One of the reasons I went on the show was because of the troops. My battle buddies are my best friends, and I want to provide better food for them. That is my culinary dream," said Zivalich. "They defend our freedom every single day, put their life on the line – they deserve the best."

Zivalich shares the results of her culinary talents with her husband, Christopher Zivalich, also an Army sergeant, and their son, 9-month-old son Zavier.

To follow Sgt. Rim Zivalich's progress in the competition, tune in to the two-hour premier May 22 at 7 p.m., or visit http://www.fox.com/masterchef/.

Photo 1: Photo by Roberta Dupuis-Devlin, UIC Photo Service/ Illinois Army National Guard Soldier, Sgt. Rim Zivalich of Chicago, competes in the "You're the Chef" student cooking contest at the University of Illinois in 2011. Zivalich is also scheduled to compete in FOX-TV's two-hour premiere of MasterChef, May 22 at 7 p.m.