Kelsey Murphy calls her reality TV experience an ‘ode to moms’
By STU CLAMPITT
Kelsey Murphy is a Fishers physical therapist, a mother of three and a home cook who is facing the notorious Gordon Ramsay on the 11th season of MasterChef on FOX. Murphy took some time out of her very busy life to speak with The Reporter about her experience on reality television and some of the challenges and benefits it has brought to her life.
Murphy
On June 16, you may have seen Murphy win her spot on MasterChef: Legends in the last round of auditions. On June 23, she became one of the final 14, winning the night and earning one of the famous white aprons. Tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX, she faces the dessert challenge with one of the world’s most influential pastry chefs, Sherry Yard.
“Everything was filmed out in L.A.,” Murphy told The Reporter. “Total filming time ended up being about six weeks total including all the final auditions and completion of filming. We had to take a seven-month break because of COVID.”
Given two trips to California for a total of six weeks of filming, the logistics for a career physical therapist with young children was a challenge she did not face alone.
“Credit all goes to my husband, Brandon, for handling the kids,” Murphy said. “At the time of filming we only had the two, so there was no infant involved. He ran the household and my in-laws thankfully helped out picking up kids from daycare and stuff like that.”
Kelsey and Brandon Murphy now have three children: a 4 ½-year-old girl, a 2 ½-year-old boy and a 4-month-old boy.
Murphy laughed a bit when telling the Reporter, “I am still in debt indefinitely. If he ever wants something he is still like, ‘Remember: you left.’”
Kelsey Murphy will cook for Joe Bastianich, Sherry Yard, Aarón Sánchez and Gordon Ramsay on tonight’s episode of MasterChef Legends. (Photo provided)
Murphy says she has always been a fan of the show who loves cooking and is a foodie at heart who has never had a formal cooking lesson, aside from one date night with her husband at a sushi making class.
“My love and passion for food came from growing up with Italian family on my mom’s side and Polish on my dad’s side,” Murphy said. “Every day was spent in the kitchen doing home cooking. But I feel like my skill set came from watching food TV. Once I got to college, I started watching Food Network all the time. I’d watch it when I was in my room. I’d watch it when I was working out. I started to pay attention and take all the knowledge in and started to apply it to my cooking.”
This season the show features guest chefs coming each week to judge contestants alongside Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Joe Bastianich.
Murphy finished first in the top 15 Monkfish Challenge with Masaharu Morimoto. That earned Murphy a trip to Las Vegas to go to Chef Morimoto’s restaurant and her appearance on tonight’s top 14 program.
“We will be visited by Chef Sherry Yard,” Murphy said. “She is a big name in the pastry world. So that we what we are going to be faced with is doing some sweet treats for everybody.”
The Reporter would have been remiss in our duties if we did not ask Murphy about her dealing with Gordon Ramsay in person.
“I followed him on his social media platforms, so you start to get to see a little bit of the behind the scenes Gordon Ramsey, not just the TV Gordon Ramsey,” Murphy said. “He’s the biggest family man. He has a passion for teaching people how to be their best selves in the culinary world. He really cared about educating us: prompting us to ask questions and really push ourselves in each of the challenges. While he can sometimes seem very intimidating and some people would say ‘mean,’ it is really just to pull out your greatest potential. It is obviously well-rewarded. If you do something right, he is very complimentary when you listen to his advice and it turns out well.”
Murphy said most of the dishes she had to prepare for the show were outside her comfort zone.
“To be quite honest, living in the Midwest and with three little kids, most days I am making macaroni and cheese or hotdogs or whatever feeds my kids quickly,” Murphy said. “When we are faced with these challenges and every dish we make is supposed to be Michelin star fine dining food, it is definitely something I am not super comfortable with, but definitely have a passion for. I think the best thing about the show was getting pushed out of my comfort zone and seeing that when I am pressed to make something that is beautiful fine dining, I can.”
While being pushed out of her comfort zone for cooking was the best part of the experience for her, Murphy said the hardest part was the reality TV-imposed isolation from her loved ones.
Photo provided
“Reality TV is no joke,” Murphy told The Reporter. “You are out in a different environment. You don’t have access to a cell phone. You are isolated from your loved ones. I think that’s the hardest part because there is so much pressure and anxiety built up over the whole situation. You begin to understand how when you watch other reality TV shows and think, ‘Why are these people so dramatic?’ That’s really why. They are in this very isolated environment. It is definitely hard, especially for those who have families.”
Having faced the challenges of isolation and pressure and anxiety in pursuit of taking her love of food to a whole new level, Murphy told The Reporter she wants to tell women who struggle to balance busy lives that there is a message for them in her journey.
“This whole experience is my ode to moms,” Murphy said. “For anyone who is working and taking care of kids, we get super busy and lost doing the day-to-day stuff of taking care of our kids all the time, trying to work, or being a stay-at-home mom. It is important to take a step back and remind yourself that you are an individual also. You need to take time to explore your own passions and find yourself.”
She said facing the fear of the unknown has brought her some unexpected rewards.
“I was so scared to go out to California and do this,” Murphy explained. “Even two days before I was like, ‘I can’t do this. This is silly. No way.’ And within days of being our there I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! I feel like myself 10 years ago. This is me as an individual. This is what I should be doing.’ It has really allowed me to come back home and be a better wife, a better mother, a better worker. It renewed my spirit in everything. If you don’t try you will never know what you have to offer.”