Christine Ha is a Vietnamese American living in Houston, Texas. Her parents became refugees during the Vietnam War.

She had a normal upbringing until her Mum died when she was fourteen. Her Mum had loved to cook, so she had been teaching her.

In her early twenties, Christine was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease called neuromyelitis optica. Her immune system was attacking her optic nerves, and over three or four years, she became almost completely blind.

She decided to regain some of her independence by teaching herself to cook. She soon started a blog, The Blind Cook.

Her blog gained a following, and in 2012, she was invited to audition for the third American season of Masterchef.

Throughout the season’s 19 episodes, she won seven challenges and placed in the top three in three others. She was in the bottom two twice but fought back into the competition.

In September of that same year, she found herself in New York for the finale, where Gordon Ramsay announced the winner.

“Christine Ha!”

Reflecting on the experience, Christine has said that while her vision impairment was a disadvantage, it was also a strength.

She explains that, during the competition, other contestants would look around the room and think, “Oh, what I’m doing is not good enough.”

They would change their dish halfway through a challenge or start to rush. And at the end, they couldn’t finish their dish and would serve it up incomplete.

Christine focused on her work, carried her plans through to the end, and paid much less attention to what the other contestants were doing.

She would tell herself, “I’m just going to compete against myself.”