Get to know Grant Gillon, the Iowan competing on 'MasterChef' with Gordon Ramsay

“MasterChef,” the FOX television show with home cooks competing for white aprons and chef Gordon Ramsay as host and top judge, returned for its 13th season last week, and an Iowan is ready to compete.

Grant Gillon loves cooking. The University of Iowa grad who was born and raised in Altoona decided that he wanted to share his cooking skills with an audience of strangers.

“I’ve been sharing my food journey for the last few years on Instagram,” Gillon said. “I don’t have a large following per se.”

On Wednesday night, he appeared on “MasterChef: United Tastes of America.”

Gillon, who still lives in Altoona, flew out to Los Angeles to compete for the $250,000 grand prize on the show.

This season, the show divides the home cooks into four regions of America — West, Northeast, Midwest and South — and all compete. The first four episodes show the contestants making a dish that represents their region.

Gillon, who works as the director of sales at Kinship Brewing Co. in Waukee, had a bigger role on the show starting Wednesday when he battled other contestants from the Midwest in the kitchen.

"I'm not a seasoned professional, but I can hold my own in the kitchen," he said ahead of the show.

Once he was selected for the show, Gillon spent time in Los Angeles trying out for the show before filming started. He did some homework ahead of time, learning the mother sauces, practicing baking, honing his knife skills.

But his first task is to earn one of the five aprons handed out on Wednesday night.

“MasterChef: United Tastes of America” features Ramsay, chef Aarón Sánchez and restaurateur Joe Bastianich as judges who determine who stays and who goes. Guest chefs this season include Daphne Oz, Graham Elliot, Susan Feniger, Tiffany Derry, Andre Rush, and Season 11 winner Kelsey Murphy.

This season includes cooking challenges with state fair food, mystery boxes of ingredients, a meal prepared at Dodger Stadium, and the fan-favorite tag team event, where contestants must create a Michelin-star quality three-course meal.

More: West Des Moines chef Samantha Daily returns to 'MasterChef' to compete in an all star-edition

This season, the show will whittle down the contestants to an estimated 20 home cooks, but FOX is not revealing the identity of the contestants until after the June 14 episode when all the white aprons have been handed out.

At the end of the season, one home cook will win it all and take home a cash prize of $250,000 and the title of America’s "MasterChef."

How did Grant Gillon do on 'MasterChef?' Spoilers ahead.

Contestants from the Midwest had their turns in the kitchen, making a dish that represents the Midwest. Each had 45 minutes to make their dish, and first up was Gillon. The 32 year old from Altoona said he turned to cooking during “one of the darkest moments in my entire life. I was going through a divorce at the time and I couldn't sleep,” Gillon said on the show.

During the early morning hours, he’d watch cooking videos to learn how to make different dishes. Ramsay was one of his idols.

Gillon, who had his mom and wife by his side on the episode, opted to make a roasted corn agnolotti with lemon, butter and chives. “If I mess up a corn dish, I don't know if I can go back,” Gillon joked. “What I want to do today is really recreate what it was like to be in my mom’s backyard shucking corn … Today I just want to elevate that because the dream for this is to be able to open my own farm-to-table-style restaurant right in my hometown.”

Bastianich voted no on the dish, saying he “broke the butter with acid” by adding lemon.

Ramsay and Sanchez gave Gillon a yes. So it came down to guest judge and Chicago-based chef Graham Elliot to decide.

“It's great flavor,” Elliot said. “It’s symbolic of the Midwest and at the same time it is hard to kind of look past the fact that there's only a couple things going on the plate. These aprons are so hard to come by.”

Elliot decided to take a chance on Gillon, who walked away with an apron, one of 20 handed out this season.

"MasterChef" airs on Wednesdays on FOX at 7 p.m. CDT.

Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa contestant competes on 'MasterChef' on Wednesday night