Damjan Tepić in the MasterChef kitchen 2025. The young chef from Banja Luka won the hearts of the audience with his charm and culinary passion.
Damjan Tepić is a 26-year-old amateur chef from Banja Luka who stood out as a contestant on the popular culinary show MasterChef Croatia 2025. He became known to a wider audience through his performances in the eighth season of MasterChef, where he won the sympathy of the audience with his talent, persistence and sympathetic personality. This young gastronome has a love for cooking from a young age, and participation in MasterChef was a true boyhood dream for him. Below is a detailed biography of Damjan Tepić – from early life and culinary beginnings, through key moments in the MasterChef competition, all the way to plans for the future.
Early life and love of cooking
Damjan Tepić was born and raised in the area Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cooking attracted him in his childhood, mostly thanks to his mother, from whom he inherited his passion for gastronomy. Interestingly, Damjan is The first man in his family who wanted to stand by the stove and seriously engage in culinary arts – a somewhat unexpected choice in his environment, but one that everyone quickly accepted. Even as a boy, he liked to experiment in the kitchen, and he was especially attracted to Sweets and bakery products. He discovered that he could eat pasta almost every day and loved bread and pastries from a young age, which he himself humorously commented: “That’s why I’m a little bigger today”, joked Damjan in an interview.
In addition to cooking, Damjan showed versatility while growing up – he even tried his hand at acting. He had a small role on television as a child: he played the character of Peca as a boy in a drama series “That warm summer” which was filmed in 2008. Although he did not continue acting, this experience in front of the cameras certainly helped him find his way more easily under the spotlight later in MasterChef.
culinary experience before Masterchef
Over the years, Damjan turned his love for cooking into practical experience, and mostly In the circle of family and friends. He quickly became known in his company for the preparation of cakes, tarts and other desserts, as well as imaginative savory dishes. After high school, he decided to gain his first professional cooking experience. The opportunity appeared to him through Seasonal work on the Croatian coast – One summer he got a job in a restaurant in Umag on the Adriatic. He worked there in the so-called. cold kitchen, preparing appetizers and pies, designing menus and taking care of the decorative presentation of the plate. That period in professional cuisine gave him an insight into a more serious catering business and strengthened his ambition to one day engage in cooking as a career.
It is interesting that Damjan is not only a chef, but also Lover of agriculture. In his free time, he devoted himself to growing old varieties of fruit on the family estate and practiced grafting (vaccination) of fruit trees. This somewhat unusual hobby requires a lot of patience and love – which are the same qualities that are needed in cooking. Damjan points out that work on the land fulfills him, and at the same time enables him to grow quality home-made foods. It is no coincidence that he often used ingredients from his end in dishes – as he said: “I grew up in the countryside and most of the food I prepare is from that place”. This connection with local foods gave his dishes a personal touch.
MasterChef Croatia 2025 – entry into the competition
MasterChef Croatia 2025 He attracted hundreds of candidates from the entire region, and Damjan Tepić decided to apply in order to achieve his A boy’s dream and checked how his skills cope with the best. Registration for the eighth season was opened at the end of 2024, and Damjan stood out already at the auditions with his enthusiasm and approach. At the third audition evening in front of the jury (chefs Stjepan Vukadin, Goran Kočiš and Mario Mihelj), he presented himself with a story about his passion for cooking and the desire to “turn a dream into reality”.
For the audition performance, Damjan prepared his original dish: pork loin in porcini sauce with polenta. He put a lot of effort and will into that plate, wanting to impress the demanding three-member jury. His strategy paid off – the dish was very well prepared. Chef Mario praised Damian with the words that “Tastes fine, meat is perfectly cooked”, while chef Stjepan added that at this stage “not looking for perfection but potential”, and Damjan clearly showed it. Result: All three members of the jury said “Yes” his dish. Thus, Damjan unanimously won the MasterChef apron and qualified for the main part of the competition. He was overjoyed – he said excitedly: “If I could, I would have taken off at that moment”, describing how he felt when he realized he was entering the MasterChef kitchen.
After a successful audition and the so-called Bootcamp, Damjan was among the top 21 candidates of the eighth season of MasterChef. Mentors (jury members) divided the candidates into three teams, and Damjan got into Chef Stjepan Vukadin’s team. As a Banja Luka resident, he was one of several competitors from outside Croatia in that season (along with, for example, Bojan from Serbia and Selma and Danijela from Bosnia and Herzegovina), which brought additional dynamics to the show. However, despite their different origins, all the candidates shared the same passion and goal – to prove themselves in culinary challenges in front of an expert jury and an audience of millions in front of TV screens.
MasterChef 2025 Competition – Successes and Challenges
Through episodes of Masterchef, Damjan went through various culinary challenges – from Mystery Box A surprise box, through creativity tests, team tasks, and up to stress tests in eliminations. His journey in the show was also marked by ups and downs, but he certainly left a mark. He showed creativity by combining the flavors of his hometown with modern techniques in the kitchen.
Already in the first weeks of the competition, Damjan gained confidence by achieving several notable results. For example, in a group challenge, where candidates worked in pairs, He achieved victory together with colleague Antonija Rittuper. The two did the best task and received a special privilege as a reward – the possibility that in the next challenge they choose the main ingredients for all candidates. It was a significant moment that showed that Damjan can deal with more complex challenges and cooperate in the team. He also won at least one during the season the best plate of the day, which earned him the praise of the jury and confirmed his talent. The audience loved him because of the sincere passion with which he approached every task, but also because of his modesty and sense of humor, which he often showed in front of the cameras.
Of course, the competition did not pass without stress. There were also times when Damjan struggled with time or techniques that were less familiar to him. In one of the challenges, for example, he ended up with a burnt element on the plate, which almost cost him to stay in the competition. However, he learned from every such experience and came back stronger. As he pointed out, MasterChef is for him “A springboard for learning” – He tried to respect every criticism of the jury and learn something from it. It was this growth through the competition, along with an unquestionable love for cooking, that made up Damjan’s story in the show.
Being out before the end of the competition
After many successfully overcome challenges, Damjan’s Masterchef journey stopped at the very end of the season – Just a step before entering the top 10 best. In a tense elimination show broadcast at the end of November 2025, Damjan faced the most difficult culinary knowledge test so far: Stress test with oysters. The task was to replicate the complex author’s dish of guest chef Dino Šeparović, which included oysters, champagne, caviar, chicory chips and other luxury ingredients. It was a technically extremely demanding challenge that asked the competitors for precision and calmness under pressure.
Damjan did his best, but unfortunately, several mistakes cost him to stay in the competition. Mistakes crept in his replica of the dish – among other things, part of the oyster shell ended up on the plate, the sauce poured over the oyster, which made chicory chips soften, and added too much caviar with too little acidity in mayonnaise. The technically demanding elements proved to be too much for the young chef, and the jury estimated that Damjan’s performance was the weakest in that round. Chef Stjepan told him with regret: “You had the most mistakes and you leave us”.
That announcement made Damjan and his fans sad, but he showed great emotion and maturity even in his defeat. In his farewell speech in front of the cameras, he could barely hold back his tears and honestly admitted: ‘The kitchen is my love, but I need experience. By entering MasterChef, I proved to myself that it is possible for me to cook. It is very difficult for me because of my end in MasterChef, but I can say that I am very proud of myself.’. Those words reflect his passion and appreciation for the opportunity he received. He left the MasterChef villa with applause from his colleagues and with his head held high, aware that he had come far (among the top 11 of the initial hundreds registered) and that this experience was invaluable for his further career.
Life after Masterchef and plans for the future
After being relegated from the show, Damjan returned to his hometown as a local little star – Banja Luka proudly followed his performance in Croatian MasterChef. Immediately after his return, he gave several interviews to the media in which he summarized his impressions. He pointed out what he will remember most from Masterchef and what he might wish he could have done differently, and he also spoke about the beautiful friendships he made in the show. He also expressed his opinion about who are the favorites for the final and proved to be a fair competitor who supports his colleagues until the end of the competition.
Damjan does not plan to stop at this achievement – on the contrary, participation in MasterChef has motivated him even more to Continue to improve your cooking skills professionally. Already during the show, it became clear that he lacks formal experience, but also that he has enormous potential. He plans to use the contacts and knowledge acquired at MasterChef in order to perhaps do an internship in a reputable restaurant or enroll in a culinary academy. His goal, he says, is to one day open his own restaurant or pastry shop where he could tell “Own culinary story” – Exactly as he dreamed.
Meanwhile, he remains active on social networks where he regularly posts photos of his dishes and culinary experiments, maintaining a relationship with the audience and fans he acquired during the show. Judging by the enthusiasm and talent he showed, many believe that the right opportunities are yet to come for Damjan. His combination creativity, diligence and love of local foods It makes him a chef from whom we can expect a lot in the future.
Conclusion
Damjan Tepić In MasterChef Croatia 2025, he presented himself as Young culinary hope whose story inspires. From modest beginnings in his mother’s Banja Luka kitchen, through a brave step to national television, to the challenge of high gastronomy – Damjan’s path shows what passion and persistence can achieve even without formal education in cooking. Although he did not win the title of Masterchef, he won something perhaps more valuable: experience, new knowledge and confidence to follow his dreams.
Damjan’s example is an inspiration to all young Amatèri chefs to dare to make a step forward. His biography was just beginning to be written, and Masterchef is only one chapter. If he continues with the same zeal, there is no doubt that we will hear more about Damjan Tepić – either through new culinary projects, recipes or perhaps re-tv. For now, it remains to be monitored how this talented man from Banja Luka will continue to turn his dream into reality, step by step, recipe by recipe.
Readers, continue to follow Damjan’s culinary journey – who knows, maybe one day he will be the chef whose specialties delight guests throughout the region.
Sources: Damjan’s official biography on Nova TV; statements and articles from the Nova TV portal (MasterChef 2025 audition; elimination; interviews) and 24sata; Jutarnji list; Wikipedia; Social networks of competitors.
