MasterChef star returns with a storm: "Others may come after me, but I was the first. You can't forget me"

Aviva Pivko returns to the MasterChef kitchen, and there is no other way to describe it: she is doing it with a storm. The new season of "MasterChef: Dream Team," featuring contestants who participated in the show previously but failed to win, has begun. Aviva, the most veteran contestant on the program, has already managed to win the first duel of the season (new episode tonight, Tuesday, Channel 12).

In the first season of the program, which aired in 2010, she reached fourth place. This season, she returns to show how much she was underestimated. "It's not that my cooking was underestimated, but me as a person. I only look scary, but I'm really not," she emphasized in an interview with +12. "People are afraid of me, and make no mistake: I know how to be tough when I need to, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to act otherwise."

The interview with Aviva Pivko is available for viewing now on +12

How competitive do you think you will be in the tasks?

"People by their nature do not change. 14 years ago, I already came with a competitive spirit. Don't compete if you don't know how to lose with dignity. Whoever doesn't know how to lose with dignity certainly doesn't know how to win with dignity. You have to understand: in the end, there is one winner. I came to tear them all apart, and since they told us to enjoy, I replied: 'I will be at the peak of enjoyment while tearing you all apart.' I came to win."

Will you agree to help a contestant who asks for help?

"There is a lot of mutual help, but this time we came more to enjoy. We already showed that we know how to cook, and now we can enjoy it a little more."

How far will you go to win?

"Everyone decides for themselves what is politically correct. I won't pull out claws or sabotage—that's not fair competition. But I will give a fight."

If there is one thing Aviva Pivko knows she will not do, it is cook non-kosher food. She also promises she won't get stressed. "In the end, it's just food; I was never afraid of it. I am sure, however, that there will be glitches, that I will stand there as if someone pushed a concrete wall into my face. We will get to it, we will deal with it, and roll on," she said calmly.

Is there a contestant who scares you especially?

"For me, everyone is scary. Everyone has a strength. We all sit in different slots. It is clear to me that a task can come that poses no challenge for half the set, while I will stand there and say: 'What is this? What am I supposed to do with this?'. In aesthetics, I think Eliav gives a strong fight. Jackie doesn't sit in my slot at all, so she is less of a threat. These are two slightly different worlds, very different tastes. I think if you serve a judge her dish and mine today, they will immediately know who cooked what."

Pivko chose to view her status as the most veteran contestant as an advantage. "I naturally choose to see the positive side. Many good ones can come after me, but I was the first. You can't forget me."

What is the most significant thing that has changed in you since the first season?

"It really gave a push to my career. More people know that I make good food. Until then, they only knew that I was terribly smart, brilliant, beautiful, and successful—and then they discovered that I also know how to cook. That's about the situation."