Dorian Hunter: Where Are They Now?

Spoiler note: this post confirms that Dorian Hunter won her season of MasterChef.

Dorian Hunter won season 10 of MasterChef in 2019, a 45 year old home cook from Cartersville, Georgia who made history as the first African American woman to win the show and, at the time, its oldest champion. Her win was built on unapologetic Southern cooking, and she has kept that identity front and center ever since. Here is where the years since took her.

The win

Hunter took the season 10 title in 2019, earning the MasterChef trophy, a cookbook deal, the grand prize, and training tied to the judges' restaurants. Her victory carried real significance for representation on the show, and she has embraced her platform as a Southern cook with a strong personal story.

A cookbook and a return to television

Hunter turned the win into a cookbook centered on her heritage. She self published Not Your Average Southern Sides Chick, which pairs her favorite Southern side dishes with personal stories from her life and journey to becoming a chef. Beyond the book, she has stayed connected to her audience through cooking events and appearances. She has also spoken about wanting to work with cancer research organizations, a cause tied to the loss of her mother to breast cancer in 2017.

Where things stand now

The most recent verified development comes from 2025, when Hunter competed on the fourth season of the Fox game show The Floor, putting her back on national television several years after her MasterChef win. Alongside that appearance, her public activity has centered on her cookbook, her Southern cooking brand, and event and personal appearances, per profiles including Mashed and Chef Dorian's own materials. That gives her a clearly documented and still active post win footprint as of 2025, spanning her book, her cooking events, and her return to competition television.

To see how she fits among the show's other winners, our guide to every MasterChef US winner lays out the full list, and Christine Hà, the season 3 champion, is another winner who turned the platform into an authorship and advocacy career.

The takeaway for fans

Hunter's story shows how a MasterChef win can amplify a distinct culinary voice, in her case a proud Southern one built around the side dishes that steal the plate. Her comfort cooking rewards steady, even results, and a reliable baking dish is a natural workhorse for the kind of Southern sides she made her name on. To explore the show that crowned her, the MasterChef US hub keeps every season in one place.