TV
They won Season 15 of “MasterChef.” Now, Gordon Ramsay will wed them in a “royal wedding” in a castle.
Last year, Tewksbury’s Jesse Rosenwald and Jessica Bosworth had a secret to keep.
They won Season 15 of “MasterChef.” Gordon Ramsay handed them the trophy. They won the $250K prize.
And when filming wrapped, they bit their tongues for months.
Finally, on Sept. 17, it was time for the season finale. They gathered friends and family at Fine Line in Revere for a watch party.
The room watched the screen as Ramsay announced the Massachusetts couple as winners. Rosenwald picked up Bosworth, twirling her around as golden confetti rained down. Sparklers went off. Bosworth held the trophy above her head and screamed.
“I am so freaking proud of this man,” Bosworth told the camera.
Rosenwald added: “I can’t tell you how much I love this woman.”
In Revere, the room erupted, whooping and cheering as, on screen, confetti rained down on the couple of 10 years.
But Rosenwald, 43, had been keeping one more secret.
“I was giving a thank you speech to everyone who came out to the watch-party. Then I said: ‘I have one more question.’ I got down on one knee. And the cheering started all over again,’” Rosenwald said this week in a phone interview from the couple’s Tewkesbury home.
In the video, Bosworth, 43, clasps her hands to her face. He steadies her by touching her leg, and grins. The crowd erupts.
“Pure shock,” said Bosworth.
“It was already overwhelming to finally release the secret we’d been holding for months about our win. When he dropped to one knee, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening,’” she said with a laugh. “He’s terrible at keeping secrets, especially from me. So I don’t know how he pulled it off.”
Theirs was already a story that already read like a Boston movie.
Two South Shore kids who grew up watching Cambridge’s Julia Child on GBH, and hanging at the same mall, had a meet-cute bartending at a Boston restaurant years later. While tending bar, food became their love language.
The Bourdain fans had an epic 40-day-long first date, eating their way through Europe. In their 40s, the self-taught cooks tried out for “MasterChef,” made it on, then won by cooking a “culinary love letter to New England.” Invested their winnings in culinary dreams — including making South Shore bar pizzas.
After their win, it felt like Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a better story. Wrong.
Tonight is their Hollywood ending.
The Massachusetts couple will marry on “MasterChef” — in a castle — in a wedding officiated by Gordon Ramsay.
“MasterChef” bills the New Englanders as show royalty, and the episode as a “royal wedding.” We’re all invited. Watch them wed Wednesday night on FOX at 8 p.m., and next day on Hulu.
“I pronounce you – after far too long – husband and wife,” we see Ramsay say in the teaser link as the couple laughs.
After the “I do”-s, current Season 16 contestants compete to make the best dishes for their wedding reception. Bride and groom aren’t official judges but weigh-in on dishes.
“We’d gone on the show together, we won together, we got engaged after the finale — to have Gordon marry us, it felt completely full circle,” Bosworth said.
A few weeks after making their engagement Instagram Official, a “MasterChef” showrunner reached out.
“He’s like, ‘Congratulations, this is so cool. We’re still putting together next season’s field challenges — I can’t promise you yes yet — but what are your thoughts about getting married by Gordon on TV?’” said Rosenwald. “We’re like, ‘Absolutely. We’re in.’”
Weeks went by.
Just when they figured it “didn’t pan out, we got a text from him, saying: ‘It’s on’ with fire emojis,” he said.
If you watched last season, you know why the show might want them back.
The couple had Boston charm in spades. They brought a certain hometown charisma, a la Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams in “The Fighter.”
When they won a round, he’d lift Bosworth off her feet, twirl her around. They called each other “baby.” Fed each other bites. Pecked each other on the cheek. And her authentic dropped-ah Boston accent (Revere is “Reveah”) is the type that makes people go viral.
“We bonded over food. It’s always been such a major part of our relationship,” said Bosworth. “So to have a huge milestone like our wedding go through ‘MasterChef,’ it made sense.”
In January, a few months after he popped the question, they were in Toronto to film their wedding in Casa Loma Castle.
They invited some 50 guests — friends, family and fellow Season 15 contestants. Pre-wedding jitters were coupled, at first, with on-camera jitters.
“First of all, getting married is emotional as it is. But when you stop filming a show for a while, you forget what it’s like to be in front of cameras,” Rosenwald said.
But being back on camera “was like riding a bike,” Bosworth said. “You just fell right back into it. And it was awesome to reconnect with Gordon and the other judges again.”
The reception was catered by Season 16 contestants who were competing for best dishes. The newlyweds weighed in.
Oh, and their “royal wedding” was a legal one — Ramsay officially married them.
“That was it,” she said with a laugh.
While they plan on hosting an off-camera reception later in Vermont, they’ve been too busy working on their start-up businesses to plan a honeymoon.
The beginnings
Record-scratch: You might be wondering how they got here…
Bosworth, a Halifax native, and Rosenwald, a Plymouth native, ostensibly met while bartending at Boston’s Tia’s about 10 years ago.
But they’d grown up not far apart, both hanging at the Kingston Mall. “The mall food court was my second home back then,” she told me previously with a laugh.
Rosenwald grew up in Plymouth, studied culinary at Plymouth South High School, graduating in ’01. He bartended at Cask ’n Flagon near Fenway Park, and Bacco Ristorante & Bar in the North End among other spots.
He started bartending the House of Blues around 2009, where Jessica also bartended, though at a different section.
Bosworth grew up in Halifax, graduated from Silver Lake Regional High in 2001. She bartended on Lansdowne Street at Jillian’s and Lucky Strike “for years,” as well as the old Whiskey’s on Boylston.
Then around 10 years ago, they both ended up at Tia’s in Boston.
The businesses
While they both have day jobs — she works at McGuire and Company in Wakefield; he’s a GM of a corporate cafe in Waltham — they also have their passion-businesses.
When Jesse and Jess’s powers combine, they are JSquaredEatz.
Together the South Shore bar pizza-lovers have 10 Inches Pizza, classic South Shore bar pies. It’s named for the 10-inch pan used to cook bar-style pizza, which they both grew up eating.
Their pizza goal, he said, is to eventually sell to grocery store chains, a la Cape Cod Cafe Pizza in Market Basket.
They also offer private dinners, and also recently started The Sandwich Cookie Co. by JSquaredEatz. They describe them as “nostalgic sandwich cookies,” “a riff off of oatmeal cream pies, like Little Debbie” and “an ode to New England.”
For example, they have the “Little Wynnie” named after their dog. “Instead of oatmeal raisin, like Little Debbie, it’s oatmeal with dried Maine blueberries,” Rosenwald said.
“Our buttercream filling is a Fluff buttercream. So again, an ode to New England fluff, based out of Somerville,” said Bosworth.
Their next goal is to open an artisanal provisions and deli, with space for catering, pop-ups, private events, cooking classes, they said. They’re not sure yet on a name or location — possibly the North Shore.
“We’d be able to sell our pizza and cookies, carry artisanal products from local vendors and higher quality purveyors, and make artisanal sandwiches,” she said.
Would they do another competition cooking show?
“We talk about it all the time. Jess is like, ‘I think I’m good with competition cooking,’ and I’m like, ‘I want more,’” he said with a laugh. “If ‘MasterChef’ invited us back for a reunion of sorts, we’d absolutely do it.”
They’ve also bonded with other “MasterChef” contestants. Recently they met up with Season 14’s Kamay Lafalaise and Season 16’s Aishu Challa at Gordon Ramsay Burger in Boston and “did our own little review. We thought it’d be funny to throw it back in Gordon’s face,” he said with a laugh.
Given their history, will they have any big surprise announcements at this coming watch-party on Wednesday?
“No, no pregnancy announcement — although that would be cool,” he said with a laugh. “No surprises. We’re gonna enjoy the moment because filming your wedding is crazy.”
“I know everybody’s wedding goes by so fast,” said Bosworth, “but having your wedding filmed for TV goes by really fast.”
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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