Reality star on personal loss: "When someone is dear to you, you miss them even more"
About two months before his audition for "MasterChef", Bar Levi's mother passed away after a battle with a serious illness. Now, back in the kitchen for the "Dream Team" season, Levi shares his feelings: "Mom inspired me to become a cook, and I feel that she is here with me, watching over me."
When Bar Levi, a contestant on "MasterChef: Dream Team", was 15, his mother fell ill with cancer. As she underwent difficult treatments, he found himself becoming the culinary pillar of his family (new episode tonight, after the news, Channel 12). Now, he speaks about the grief that lingers even as time passes and recalls the reason he joined the 11th season shortly after her death.
"I started the auditions for the 11th season two months after she passed away; it was no time at all. It's still fresh—last week was her third memorial. I will forever associate 'MasterChef' and cooking with her. She inspired me to be a cook and to be the pillar that provides food for the family, bringing stability and joy through it," he says in tears. "That is what she did her whole life—made people happy through food. It's hard to remember her, it's not simple. The dearer a person is to you, the more you miss them. But right now, I feel that she is here with me in the room, watching over me."
In an interview with mako in 2024, Levi spoke about that traumatic experience. "When something traumatic happens, the whole community comes together to help, but mom cooked excellently, and the food friends brought us just wasn't the same," he said. "I missed her food, so I opened YouTube and started cooking."
