MasterChef Canada winner snags TV show
“Warmth.” “Passion.” “Infectious flair.”
Those are some of the words CTV executive Pat DiVittorio applies to Mary Berg, the 29-year-old “MasterChef Canada” winner who’s starring in her very own cooking show beginning Sunday at 7 p.m.
Just watch a bit of “Mary’s Kitchen Crush” and you can see DiVittorio’s point: “Holy cannoli, that smells delish!” Berg exclaims over a lamb loin fresh out of the oven in the first episode. And as she slices it, “Holy guacamole! Oh my gosh, are you kidding me?”
Juxtaposed against her sunny temperament and her bright look — colourful clothing, red hair, red lipstick, turquoise cat-eye glasses — it’s ironic that her appreciation of food began with a tragedy.
Pickering-raised Berg was 4 when her father died in a car accident that also seriously injured her mother and brother. The lasagnas and pot pies that friends and neighbours brought over as the family recovered made an impression on her.
“I saw how impactful those laundry baskets filled with casserole dishes were to our family,” Berg says over the phone. “I saw how much that helped my mom and helped our family just get back on the horse.”
And when her mother Myra, who didn’t like cooking, started her own business to support herself and her two children, Mary gravitated to the kitchen.
“I think the first thing I ever made for my mom was a bowl of Corn Flakes with water on it because I wasn’t old enough to pour milk yet,” she recalls. By the time she was 7 or 8, she was helping out with most meals and making dinner on her own at 12 or 13.
Cooking was also an antidote to her anxiety. “In the kitchen is kind of where my brain shuts off and it’s calm and quiet.”
Despite her love of being in the kitchen, the former insurance broker had to be convinced to apply for “MasterChef Canada.” Having taught herself to cook via books and TV shows, she was skeptical when friends and family told her how much they loved her food.
“I’m kind of my own worst critic,” she says. “I told myself the only reason they were saying I was a good cook was because they just didn’t want to cook.”
She admits she found “MasterChef” terrifying. “As soon as we walked in that door (on set), I would just be like, ‘I have no idea how to boil water.’ (But) as soon as that clock started (on challenges) I forgot about everything else and just cooked.”
She won Season 3 in 2016, becoming the first woman to do so. She’s the only winner so far who has gone on to host her own show.
“Mary brings a special warmth and passion to the screen,” says DiVittorio, CTV’s vice-president of programming, explaining Berg’s appeal as a TV star.
“She enjoys being able to share her culinary knowledge and has an infectious flair encouraging people to enjoy all aspects of cooking.”
After her “MasterChef” victory, Berg’s fan base grew with appearances as a food expert on other CTV series like “Your Morning” and “The Marilyn Denis Show,” as well as an eight-episode Gusto program called “Mary’s Big Kitchen Party.”
“The fact a lot of people have come up and said I’m a good role model for younger people and younger girls in particular I think is so amazing and terrifying,” she says. “I think it’s such a wonderful thing to be able to do with your life when I’m really just being myself on TV.”
“I joked that I felt like the world’s worst standup comedian. I’m talking to a camera and I’m telling jokes, I’m telling stories and I’m teaching someone how to cook to basically a silent room.”
Episodes were shot in October and November, but Berg began developing recipes for the series in June. When it got the green light, she was working on the photography for her first cookbook, which comes out in September.
CTV has gone big with the show, ordering 30 episodes.
The series title plays on the idea that Berg is happiest cooking for people she loves — “My husband says I eat like a raccoon when I’m cooking for myself,” she says — and the fact she’s making recipes she hopes viewers can “crush.”
“I’m not a French pastry chef. I’m not a chef from a huge restaurant or anything like that,” she says. “I’m a home cook. I want to give you things that will work at home.”