Ona Carbonell: "I thought they wanted me in 'MasterChef' because they needed someone to cook fatally" | TV
Accustomed to play in less than four minutes in a pool the work of four years, stress is what concerns Ona Carbonell (Barcelona, 28 years). As soon as competitiveness, perseverance and discipline are put in place, the swimmer is clear about her objective: to achieve a medal. And in the third edition of MasterChef Celebrity He has achieved what he lacks at the moment in the pool, the gold one. Carbonell won the actress Paz Vega on Sunday with a menu in which she wanted to play with water and its different states. The swimmer says she had barely cooked in her life before being admitted to the contest.
With a warm consommé with sardine belly in suspension, an endive with frog legs, and a dessert that he named the Himalayan Deshielo (with cucumber, mint, apple and peach), Carbonell won the 75,000 euros prize, which donate to the Pequeño Deseo Foundation, and with a creative cooking course at the Basque Culinary Center. "When they called me to do the casting, I said, what am I going to do, if I'm pathetic in the kitchen," admits EL PAÍS, the winner of the contest. But the program liked to see him the year before to follow his friend Saul Craviotto, who also turned out to be the winner.
"It's a beautiful, serious program, a very nice and real competition, and I thought I was going to learn and that the kitchen was something that I would have for the rest of my life. The first or the last one came out, learning was going to learn, "he says. She showed up for the admission test and returned home with the remains of what she had cooked, thinking they were not going to call her. "The people who tried what I had left almost vomited," he jokes, but eventually they called her. "I thought it was because they needed someone to cook fatally," he says.
enlarge photoAlong with Carbonell, the contest began with characters such as Santiago Segura, Mario Vaquerizo, Antonia Dell'Atte, Boris Izaguirre, Carmen Lomana, Óscar Higares and Paula Prendes. "It's a competition in which you not only depend on yourself, but also on your rivals. It all depends on how you face each moment and what test you touch. All have been strong rivals, "he says, not wanting to highlight any. The path of Carbonell itself has not been roses either. In half of the galas was in the short list of candidates to leave that week of the program, so he has participated in 29 of the 31 cooking tests.
Classes at El Celler
The swimmer came to MasterChef with the mentality of an elite sportsman and the idea of not making a fool of himself. "Saul told me to study everything I could and to learn cuts, temperatures, cooking, sauces, everything. And that I would practice to all the restaurants I could, because that was where I learned the most, "he explains. So he ended up in the kitchen of the only chef he knew, at El Celler, learning directly with Jordi Roca, and when he was in Madrid, at DSTAgE with Diego Guerrero. The winner practiced the final menu half a dozen times. "I also made a script and at night, mentally, I made the steps, including the order of the supermarket, which is a very difficult time," he says.
"Fortunately, MasterChef I was caught in a year when the coach had just told me to lower the intensity to take care of my body, my injuries and my mind. After 15 years training so many hours a day, a year of resetting to gather strength for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. I told him that I had left the program, that if he would steal me time, and he replied 'do it now that you can'. I have combined training much less than ever, but without stopping training. Carbonell, which accumulates more than thirty silver and bronze medals in World Championships, Europeans and Olympic Games, already has its gold prize, which it hopes to accompany with a medal of the same metal in the 2020 Games.
A menu for EL PAÍS readers
The victory achieved by the swimmer thanks to these practices and their perseverance was followed by 3,204,000 viewers, with a screen share of 22.7%. The total average of the program in its third edition was 2,859,000 viewers and a 20.5% share. Excellent numbers, in line with the second installment.
Would you now be encouraged to create a menu for EL PAÍS readers? "Seasonal vegetable cannelloni with a béchamel infused with shitake mushrooms and a sole made in the ronner, at low temperature, with the meunière, with butter and citrus," he answers after hesitating. "There you have caught me off guard," he laughs.
