Ana Masterchef's new life and his struggle with mental health: "That nobody is inside"

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Ana Iglesias (Madrid, 1995) gets up early, exercises and attends her appointment with EL ESPAÑOL on time. She greets effusively, continues with a protocol how are you and responds with the same joy with which she won over the public and Pepe Rodríguez, Samantha and Jordi Cruz in MasterChef 8. She is not at her best, but, at first, she is not note. Only when we talk about mental health do you guess a certain fragility. No one would have thought of it, but that's how it is. More than a year has passed since she was proclaimed the winner of the TVE culinary program and her life, professionally, has turned upside down.

She never really thought it would be possible. She didn't even have the audacity to think that she was her favorite. No, she always believed that Ivan would be king and she…well, she would be second or third. But he won. He fulfilled his dream, entered the Basque Culinary Center and won 100,000 euros. Suddenly, he became a recognizable person for the more than three million viewers who watched the MasterChef final.

She had studied Law and ADE (Business Administration and Management); she had created her own jewelry brand (Dosprimeras); She was on her way to a stable life as a businesswoman... But, along the way, she ran into MasterChef. And he doesn't regret it. After passing through Lanzarote this summer –and seeing Luna, her partner in the television program–, going with her friends to Cádiz and visiting Galicia with her family, she has many projects on her mind, but also a lot to work on mentally.

—Speaking of summer. She has been very reflective on her Instagram and I would say concerned. Just with this phrase I can imagine it: "There are days when nothing happens and yet everything weighs." But tell me.

—Right now I'm going through a time where it's not my best quiet time. I have been told that I have hyperthyroidism and that is greatly affected by having anxiety, tachycardia... and that does not make you 100% calm. So I'm making an effort to organize myself, to play sports, to do things that suit me... And I talk about it in networks because I think it's important that people know that it's something normal and that it happens to everyone. That's why I'm commenting on it and, as a result of that, there are people who tell me that they feel identified, or who thank me... Currently, I'm not going to a psychologist, but I'm looking to go to one now with 'back to school' ' to help me be better. I already said, nothing important is wrong with me, but I'm upset inside.

— Too many changes in a short time?

— You have to assimilate it. She knew that he had to arrive at some point.

— On your Instagram you also talk about mental health as the most important thing. Is it for you?

— Yes, yes it is. What I have learned in this time is that if you are not well with yourself it is impossible to be well with others. Nothing matters if you're not well, neither the contracts, nor the opening of a restaurant. All of that is very good. But if I'm not well, what else does that matter to me. In the end, we work to live and we do not live to work. So yes, I consider it the most important thing.

—Do you have the courage to recommend something to people with mental health problems?

— That they talk to someone, whether it be a friend, a parent or a psychologist. But don't keep it inside. Two heads think more than one and, when you're not perfect, you tend to think of the worst, of all the bad... If you talk about it, you can see it with more perspective and that can help you to be calmer and better.

Ana Iglesias, after becoming the winner of the eighth edition of 'MasterChef'. Gtres

Her projects

That is why the new Ana, at the beginning of the 'course', tries to live more calmly. Read (Your erroneous zones: a guide to combat the causes of unhappiness, by Wayne Dyer), combine work with cinema (One day, her latest recommendation) and go step by step. The kitchen, her dream of being a chef, is there, but she doesn't want to force it. After all, getting into the kitchen was always a hobby for her. He learned on YouTube, looking for Martín Berasategui's videos, or tuning in to Canal Cocina or MasterChef.

She didn't even show up for the reality show. It was a friend of hers who took the plunge. “He got sick at heart and those months we were keeping him a lot of company. We watched MasterChef and that's why she decided to sign me up, ”he says. By surprise, she found herself immersed in the casting and went ahead. He came, he saw and he conquered.

—How has your life changed since then? Pepe always says that the program changes their lives.

— On a professional level, completely; at the family level, nothing. Now I can dedicate myself to cooking issues and before, no. Before it was just a hobby.

— What are the challenges for this new academic year?

— For five years I have had a jewelry brand (Dosprimeras). Now, after my time at MasterChef, I wanted to unite the world of fashion with the world of cooking and we have released a kitchen collection on our website where we sell this type of thing: aprons, tablecloths, napkins, cloths... I'm on the line to continue with my personal project and combine it with my other passion, cooking.

—Is he up to something else?

Well, we are creating the new kitchen utensils and in the workshop where I make the jewelry, I set up a kitchen. Before the summer, I started doing interviews with well-known characters while we were cooking. For now, two. To the television presenter Nagore Robles and Teresa Baca, sports journalist at LaSexta. Now I'll start again to see who I can bring.

— Haven't you asked Pepe, Samantha and Jordi to make room for you?

— Back in the day I told Jordi, but with so much trouble I still haven't been able to go to Barcelona. But at some point I would love to.

— When is your restaurant?

— This summer has given me a lot to think about and I have considered several things, but I want to do it well. At the moment, I can't reveal anything.

Ana doesn't want to rush it. She repeats, like a mantra, her short-term objectives: "I want to be calm, keep order, enjoy and not get overwhelmed, that I am a burden," she emphasizes. His life, at the base, remains the same: he enjoys with his parents and his two brothers; She keeps her boyfriend – whom half of Spain met through MasterChef – and keeps her style.

She is averse to ridges and does not get carried away by trends. She admires punk cooks (Dabiz Muñoz and Carlos Maldonado), but she wouldn't put on dreadlocks to be noticed. "I'm more of braids," he jokes. The important thing, ultimately, is what each one cooks. That is clear. For this reason, his dishes never lack -among many other things- tomato...

— You are very ‘real food’. Do you agree with the movement of Carlos Ríos?

— I like to eat healthy because it's the food I enjoy, but I don't follow any movement. This is like people who like sweet or salty, because I like vegetables. But this is his own movement (jokes).

— Excuse me for continuing on the topic, but this summer there has been a conflict between Belén Esteban's gazpacho and Carlos Ríos's. Have you tried them? Do you stay with any?

— I hadn't heard about it, but personally, I'm a gazpacho fan.

— What he also likes are hamburgers. Home to be a Masterchef with fast food? There are other former contestants who cultivate it a lot (Aleix, winner of the seventh edition, and Carlos Maldonado).

— I think it's great that everyone does what they consider and is faithful to their style. If Aleix, for example, likes hamburgers, then go ahead. And in the case of Carlos, the truth is that he has done phenomenal. You don't have to get rid of anything. He has his restaurant with a Michelin star and then his hamburgers, which surely aren't even fast food… They have to have a job behind them (laughs).

— To finish: recommend me a place to eat in Madrid.

— There is a restaurant that I love called Belmondo. The food is very tasty and the place is spectacular. It has a very nice atmosphere and is beautiful. And then, I would tell you that the Filandon, which I suppose people know about. They are two completely different styles. Belmondo would be to go with friends and Filandon to go with parents.

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