Dan Collado left MasterChef abruptly in season 6 due to a personal emergency, which he has never revealed in detail.
MasterChef is one of the longest-running and most popular culinary reality format shows on the Fox network. The reality show, which is fronted by culinary expert and media personality Gordon Ramsay, has been airing since 2010.
While many of the contestants who have been on the show left through elimination, there are some contestants who withdrew from the show.
One of the most memorable of those contestants is Daniel Collado, or Dan, from season six, who stated that his reason for his early withdrawal from the show was a “personal emergency.”
He has not revisited this stance since, despite the public intrigue about the matter years after his appearance.
Does Gordon Ramsay own MasterChef?
MasterChef, as an intellectual property (IP), is not owned by Gordon Ramsay, as the show first premiered in the United Kingdom in 1990 on the BBC channel.
In the years since it first premiered, it has undergone changes in its format to become the MasterChef that is watched now. While Ramsay does not own the IP of the show, he is the executive producer of MasterChef (US).
As such, he is the owner, via his production company, Studio Ramsay, of MasterChef (US), MasterChef Junior, Hell’s Kitchen, and MasterChef Celebrity Showdown.
MasterChef: Why did Dan leave?
Season six of MasterChef (US) aired between May 2015 and September 2015 with 20 episodes in total.
The season initially featured 40 contestants, which were cut down to the top 20, who competed for the title of season six’ MasterChef, a chance to author their own cookbook, and a $250 000 cash prize.
One of the most memorable contestants of the season was model and engineer, Dan Collado. He won the hearts of audiences with his dashing good looks and smile.
More than that, during his time on the competition he performed well in most of the challenges that he took part in. He was considered a cunning and strategic player who was always one step ahead.
The highlight for many in terms of Collado’s time on MasterChef was when he won the Mystery Box challenge.
However, he ranked eighteenth in the season, as he decided to withdraw from the competition. Ramsay announced his departure, stating in the episode, “He’s absolutely fine, and he’s headed back to Chicago.”
When speaking about the reason for his departure at the time, Collado only shared, “All I’m will to say at this point is that it’s unfortunate that I had to leave and that the reason I left was personal.”
Did Dan Collado explain his “personal reason” for leaving MasterChef?
It has been over eight years since Dan Collado was a contestant on MasterChef, and eight years since he became the second contestant to withdraw from the show.
The first contestant to hold that title was season five’s Gordon Houston who placed nineteenth in his season after withdrawing due to an illness.
In the years since Collado explained that his reason for leaving the show early was “personal”, he has not shared any further information on the matter.
Moreover, he seems to have distanced himself from the show as he does not publicise his feature on the show on his Instagram, which is a common practice amongst former contestants.
What is Dan Collado doing now?
Following his time on MasterChef, Dan Collado was reported to have returned to working in engineering sales. Moreover, he continues to work as a model for the modelling agency, Select Model Management.
Moreover, he may have been single when he was part of the MasterChef, but in September 2019, he got engaged to his now wife, Kelly Collado, sharing the surprise engagement on his Instagram.
Will Dan Collado return to MasterChef?
In a post from 2017 on Instagram where Dan Collado shared his “dinner on the fly” post, fans from his time on MasterChef took to the comments section to ask about the reason for his early departure and when he planned to return to the show.
Responding to his followers, all he shared was, “Wish I could have stayed. I was having such a great time!” But he did not respond to the question about whether he would return.
Seeing as it has been eight years since his appearance, it does seem unlikely that he will return. As the years have gone by, he has shared less and less cooking-related posts on his social media.
