"I talk to the girl I used to be and tell her, 'You are worth it. You made something out of nothing'"
Gal Kaspers' life was a rollercoaster: she opened a successful culinary business, then fell into debt. She divorced at 28 and moved back in with her mother with three children, then moved to Herzliya and opened a successful chain of fitness and Pilates studios. The hardships caused her to grow thorns, but today on "MasterChef – Dream Team" she presents a different Gal: softer, less rigid, and one who is no longer occupied with survival, but with summoning the reality she wants for herself.
At 40, Gal Kaspers managed to fulfill quite a few dreams: participating in reality shows, a culinary pop-up, and a successful Pilates and fitness training business that already has five branches. However, alongside professional success, she has known quite a few upheavals in her personal life. She became a mother at 18, divorced at 28, and until about eight months ago was in a relationship for about six years — a connection she defines as toxic. Something didn't work there, she says, there was a kind of restlessness. "I didn't know how to value myself, so I didn't let go."
Today, do you dream of a new relationship? A wedding? "The relationship I had left scars on me, and I kept telling myself, 'You don't need a relationship.'" This long and unhealthy connection kept me busy; I was always running to more work, more doing, more development. Four months ago, I started summoning. I open the notes on my phone at least three times a week and write the reality I live in, and the future reality. I am grateful for what I have and for what I don't have, and then I start summoning. First in business and then in relationships, I started thinking about how I want them to look and what I want to feel, because I realized I want a partner for life.
Into this place entered Assi Israelof from the "Ma Kashur" trio. The two have gone on several dates in recent weeks that were documented and published on social media, and Kaspers does not deny that a nascent relationship is forming between the two. Did you summon Assi in the notes too? "I summoned a man who would appreciate me, who would understand who I am and who wouldn't be scared of me, because often men get scared. Regarding Assi, there isn't much to say right now, and truly, if there were something to say, I would be happy to tell. We went on two dates, it's in the making, and for now, it's kept between us."
In the periphery, I am a celebrity
Kaspers (40), a mother of three, gained initial exposure in 2019 when she participated in the eighth season of MasterChef. She started the season as the niece of the show's legendary winner Avi Levy, but later managed to surprise with a culinary identity of her own that brought her to third place in the final. In 2023, she returned to the screen, this time as a housemate in the Big Brother house. She was the fourth to be evicted from the show, and during her short time on screen, she stood out for her firm opinions and the confrontations she got into in the house. This period, according to her, left scars on her.
"I came there from a very adventurous place. I am a woman who gave birth at 18, went through a divorce and many more upheavals along the way, and I felt I lost myself. 'Big Brother' was my moment to do something for myself, but in the end, they didn't see me, they saw a character. For years I was angry about what they saw of me there, and today I know how to say that maybe there was biased editing there, but in the end, I gave them the material, no one put words in my mouth. When I went home and looked at what they saw there, I said to myself: this is not Gal."
Explain. "I am the most from the margins of society, a Jerusalemite, 'Amcha' (folksy), I grew up in a house that was really like 'Zaguri Imperia'. I came from the bottom and developed, but this development was not appreciated by others. When I arrived in Herzliya and used the word 'Kapara' (dear/sweet), people would get scared, so I started thinking twice if I should say it. At Friday cooking at home, I listen to Eyal Golan and Omer Adam, but in the studio, I will never put on this music because they will raise an eyebrow at me, especially because of Eyal Golan. We have already been asked more than once to change the style of music in the studio."
Do you feel that you didn't bring this folksiness to the program, and that was the problem? "Yes, I am simple, exactly like the others who were there. They chose to put me above them, and I hated what I saw. I would watch it on loops to learn from it, and after the program, I asked Avraham Aklum for forgiveness for a scene where I had to choose whether to give him a picture of his mother. I didn't give it, and I asked myself in hindsight how I, as a mother, did that. In the end, everything I said and did there was from the place of the thorns I put on myself all my life, because I had to survive."
I was afraid to wake up in the morning
After participating in MasterChef, Kaspers opened a culinary pop-up that focused on Sfenj, a dish she prepared in the show's final. The business had success at first, but very quickly the public stopped coming and she fell into financial difficulties. "I opened the pop-up with my ex-husband, who is also a restaurateur, and he helped me. At first, there was a long line, but after a few days when no one came, I did everything alone and didn't pay salaries. I lost a quarter of a million shekels, only years later did I pay the debt. At this stage, I already had a Pilates studio and I earned money from it, but then Corona came and we closed everything. I said to myself, 'I need money to feed my children. I can't meet my obligations.'"
The light came with the fading of the pandemic. People were looking to get out of the house and suddenly there was hype around us. The combination of this together with the courses I give to instructors, which is most of what I do today, led me to see a plus in the bank account. I decided to open another studio, and today it is the most successful studio in Herzliya. It branded me, suddenly everyone knew who Kaspers was. From there, things started to flow, and today I have four branches and a fifth branch, which is the academy.
Bell's palsy and a new life
About a year ago, Kaspers was diagnosed with Bell's palsy, the disease that causes partial paralysis of the face. "I was addicted to spinning to the level of doing two workouts in a row to burn calories and one day, after a double class, I started having a migraine. After a few hours, my daughter checked what was with me and saw that half of my face was paralyzed. She was really scared, ordered me an ambulance, and within five minutes I was at a CT scan at Ichilov. They thought I had a stroke and the first thought I had was who will take care of the children, who will feed them and who will raise them. There it dawned on me and I asked myself, what am I chasing? Another workout and another class? What does it give me?
After a week at Ichilov, my face returned to normal. The doctor explained to me that it was from the workout, the pulse was too high and the oxygen didn't reach my brain, so he forbade me from doing spinning. I became addicted to strength training, slowly I learned what the right nutrition is for these workouts and started to be strict, mainly from a place of understanding that there is no one else in the world who can raise my children, so I need to take care of myself. Suddenly I had a 'scratch' (obsession) for clean food. I don't eat oil, don't like spreads, everything is clean. Following this, I lost 15 kilos in four months."
Today do you love what you see in the mirror? "Yes, I walk with pride with the abs out in a swimsuit and deal very little with food, because I realized that it is precisely the preoccupation that causes you to eat more. I eat everything, go out to restaurants, conduct myself as usual, but eat little and distance it from me."
