Kaila Klassen wins an elimination challenge on Master Chef Canada.
By Connie Adair
When Kaila Klassen wants something, she doesn’t hesitate. She jumps right in. That’s how she ended up in real estate and as a top contestant on the popular culinary competition, MasterChef Canada.
The reality series pits amateur cooks against one another for a $100,000 prize and the title of MasterChef Canada.
A “huge food fan” and a fan of the American version of MasterChef, Klassen was watching an episode when she saw an ad for contestant auditions. “I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if I could get on the show?” she says. “I made a quirky video.” She included some of her pet peeves, such as “people who can’t sear scallops, poach an egg, cook a steak and people who don’t want to get dirty in the kitchen. The video was fun.”
The producers must have thought so too – 11 hours after she hit the send button, they invited her to Vancouver for an audition.
The sales rep, who works with Re/Max Kelowna, had two days to get to Vancouver with an audition dish in hand. She practiced her dish several times, and then flew with her ingredients from her home in West Kelowna, B.C. A hotel room with a kitchenette proved to be a challenge to find – she ended up with a dinky room that had one burner, one pot and a couple of utensils. She got up at 3 am on audition day and rose to the challenge, making braised short rib, bone marrow mashed potatoes and bourbon and honey-glazed carrots with a red wine reduction. She took the food to the audition and although the producers sampled it immediately, they didn’t let on if she was in the running.
“Three days later, they called and said they were impressed. They invited me to come to Toronto to be in the top 50,” she says.
She had two weeks to get her real estate business in order for her extended leave. She says she has her managing broker, Deborah Moore to thank. “Deborah did such a good job that I came back to more clients than I left with,” Klassen says. “I told Deborah if she couldn’t help me I wouldn’t go on the show.”
Moore agreed to help. Klassen worked every day to prepare for her absence, contacting clients and introducing them to Moore. She also prepared detailed information about each client so Moore would know where each stood.
Kaila Klassen
Feedback from clients was positive – each saying that they knew Klassen would leave them in the hands of a trustworthy replacement. She says many of her clients wouldn’t normally watch the show but have tuned in to cheer her on.
Klassen has been cooking since she moved to Vancouver when she was 17-years-old. She enjoyed dining out but soon realized she wouldn’t be able to make her mortgage payments if she continued her expensive foodie habit. She decided to try creating the dishes at home.
“I fell in love (with cooking). I had a knack for it,” she says.
As for a career, she was unsure about what to do, working in the restaurant field while she decided. One restaurant guest was a real estate teacher who urged her to enter the industry. “He said I was personable and had good customer service,” she says.
“I took my license at the same time as I worked in the restaurant,” she says. Then she moved to Kelowna to be closer to her family in Penticton. The only brokerage she went to was Re/Max Kelowna. “I said to Deborah, I have no experience but will work hard at the job to be successful. Take a chance with me.”
Moore’s gamble paid off. Klassen has been in the 100-per-cent Club for three years in a row and she received the Rising Star Award two years ago. This is her fifth year in real estate.
Being a sales rep has helped her on the show. She knows how to deal with pressure and people’s doubts. “I started young and people doubted me,” she says. Learning how to deal with those doubts helped in the competition. “I’m also good under pressure.”
The most challenging part about being on the show was “diving into it 100 per cent. We had to eat, breathe and sleep the show. We had to give up everything. We couldn’t even talk to family,” she says. Contestants got one 10-minute phone call a week. All conversations during and after the season’s completion were kept under tight wraps.
“It’s difficult to keep the results a secret, but it’s so much more enjoyable for my family and friends if they don’t know,” she says.
Klassen says she went into the competition jaded, thinking she was there only to win, not to make friends. “I was wrong. I walked away with friends,” she says. “The drama and heated conversations don’t change what we have in common – the love of food that brought us together.”
Klassen loved the television process so much that she is open to more work in television. “I’ll see if anything comes my way,” she says.
MasterChef Canada airs Mondays at 8 pm ET, 7 pm CT on CTV and CTV GO. Visit CTV.ca/MasterChefCanada for local broadcast times and to watch past episodes and bonus coverage.
