In Sunday's final, it was between Linnea Jarnrot and opponent Olivia Leksell, who competed for the title of "Sweden's Master Chef".
With dry-roasted mackerel with tomato water and a cod loin with espresso sauce, Jarnrot took home the victory in TV 4's amateur chef competition.
She herself could not have dreamed that she would go this far. Quite the opposite – at the beginning of the competition she didn't even know if she wanted to stay.
When I moved on from the final audition, I just felt: "Help me!" I kind of wanted to go to a psychologist, because everything became so unfamiliar to me, who was so used to my usual routines at home, she says.
Took hold of the collar
For Linnea Jarnrot, the recordings were largely characterized by her trying to downplay herself, and she struggled with her own self-criticism. But a conversation with jury member Mischa Billing made her pull herself together.
She made me realize that I was one of the very few people left in the competition, and that I needed to show some fucking love. And when Mischa tells you, you listen, she says.
It obviously worked, because now Linnea Jarnrot is 250,000 kronor and a cookbook contract richer.
And she remembers the finale itself only with joy:
"Because I never thought I would get there, I had already exceeded my own expectations. It was just about having a lot of fun on the last day," she says.
Jobs at the chef's house
After the recordings of the program ended this spring, Linnea Jarnrot immediately got a job with the Swedish culinary elite. First, she worked at two of jury member Thomas Sjögren's restaurants, and at the time of writing, she is employed by another jury member, Niklas Ekstedt.
This summer she will also open her own pop-up restaurant at home in Smögen, open a couple of days a week.
The idea is that I'll try out what it's like to be a restaurateur myself, and see what I think. I'm so young – I can barely stand on a liquor license myself, she says, laughing.
Age: 23 years.
Lives: Smögen/Stockholm.
Current: Winner of TV4's "Sweden's Master Chef".
