Sudbury's Chris Mask chopped from MasterChef Canada

“Now it turns into a game of redemption for me,” Mask said. “Rocky Balboa didn't win his first match against Apollo Creed, but it turned into three really great Rocky movies, right?

“I've just got to persevere, and hopefully in the end we'll make Season 3 and walk away with a trophy and $100,000.”

While Mask didn't make it beyond the CTV reality show's initial rounds, a Sudbury native came close to taking the title in the series' first season. Marida Mohammed was the runner-up last year.

It was a careless error that cost Mask the chance of moving beyond the top 50.

During the show's taping last fall, he prepared a seared tenderloin with oyster mushrooms, birch-glazed onions, citrus pesto and bourbon butter sauce for tasting by the judges.

Unfortunately, Mask forgot to season the meat with the bourbon butter sauce, and two out of three judges considered the dish to be incomplete.

“The bourbon butter sauce was in this little glass Pyrex dish, literally three or four inches away from the plate,” he said. “When I saw it there, I knew I was sunk. I knew that was it right there.”

The judges did try his sauce, though, and were impressed, adding he'd have moved onto the next round if he'd remembered to use it.

While Mask was told he'd be featured on the show, in the end, most of the footage of him ended up on the cutting room floor. There's only a few background shots of Mask and one shot of his hands segmenting an orange.

“I probably got about three and a half seconds of fame,” he said. “I've got a lot left in my 15 minutes.”

Still, Mask said his time on MasterChef Canada was a great experience. He said he especially enjoyed learning new recipes and cooking tips from the other contestants.

This wasn't Mask's first time appearing on a cooking show. In 2014, he appeared on the Cook for Me Sudbury web series, run by NorthernLife.ca's sister company, Sudbury Living Magazine.

MasterChef Canada Season 2 airs on CTV at 7 p.m. on Sundays.