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COLUMBIA, MO. -- A Korean Television Network has chosen a Columbia chef to compete in a new cooking show.

Jina Yoo will compete in a program called “MasterChef Korea”.

Yoo spends an average of 12 hours a day at her Columbia restaurant Jina Yoo’s Asian Bistro.  She’s taking a break from her daily grind to compete on the Korean version of Fox’s MasterChef starring Gordon Ramsey.  MasterChef Korea gives amateur chefs a chance to show off their skills.

Yoo said, “It will be a challenge, but I play with whatever I have.  That’s my forte.  Whatever they give to me, I’ll smell and touch and taste.  After that, I create something with it.  That’s what I do here all of the time.”

Out of 5,000 applicants, Yoo made the top 100 finalists for the reality show.

Yoo considers herself a perfectionist.  She looks at her food as a work of art.  Yoo wants you to come by her restaurant and give her feedback on her artistic cooking before she leaves for Korea.

Yoo said, “We’re running specials this weekend through next week until I leave.  We’re going to see how it goes so people can tell me what things I have to correct.  I am pretty confident with what I have.  I still want to know what other people think.”

Yoo will tape the TV show in Seoul, Korea for 2 weeks in March.  If she doesn’t get cut, she’ll return in April for a chance at the grand prize of $300,000.

MasterChef Korea is scheduled to begin airing in August on Korean Television.

Yoo hopes to make those episodes available on YouTube for her American audience.