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13. Graham Elliot
Graham, the popular and definitely “larger than life” chef and judge of “Masterchef”, has lost an enormous 128 pounds, and boy does he look good.
Graham Elliot Bowles was born in Seattle, Washington, as a self-described “Navy brat”. He dropped out of high school at the age of 18 and started out in the food business as a dishwasher and bus boy, later attending culinary school at Johnson & Wales University.
His first job after finishing culinary school was at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, a five diamond/five-star property in Dallas, working under Chef Dean Fearing.
After several years of hard work, In May 2008, he opened the eponymous Graham Elliot, which was his first restaurant and the first bistronomic restaurant in Chicago, Illinois.
In 2010, Elliot became a judge on the U.S. version of the reality show MasterChef, along with Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich.
He is currently a judge for the cooking competition television series Junior MasterChef.
After Dr. Vivek Prachand, performed Elliot’s sleeve gastrectomy last July at the University of Chicago Medicine, the famous chef changed his eating habits and dropped a lot of weight.
In an interview for “People” he said: “I feel amazing. I have a lot more energy,” he adds. “I’m able to play tag with my 6-year-old son, [Mylo]. He said, ‘You’re way faster than you were.’ He’s so excited.”
He continues: “The hardest part is relearning how to eat,” he admits. “And temptation is still hard for me. If friends are eating fast food or baking fresh chocolate chip cookies, it’s difficult not to grab even a tiny piece. Mentally, I’ve got to start thinking of that stuff as the enemy.”
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