A Group of Aspiring Chefs Come to Telemundo's MASTERCHEF LATINO Premiering 1/14

Telemundo announced that MasterChef Latino will feature 56 individuals who love cooking and will test their culinary skills during its grand premiere on Sunday, January 14 at 8 pm/7c, where only 14 of them will be selected to compete to become a professional chef and be crowned as the first MasterChef Latino of the nation. Hosted by Mexican TV star Aracely Arámbula, with a panel of judges featuring chefs Benito Molina, Claudia Sandoval and Ennio Carota, the prestigious culinary competition will search for the nation's best amateur/non-professional cook, who will receive a grand cash prize of $100,000 dollars.

MasterChef Latino is a culinary competition produced by Endemol Shine Boomdog, creators of MasterChef, the prestigious international brand that has become the number one cooking competition in the world that now comes for the first time to U.S. Hispanic television on Telemundo. This Spanish-language version brings the culture, the food, the flavors and the seasonings of Latin American countries with a diverse representation of participants who love cooking and who can create anything, from delicious Texan enchiladas and California fish tacos, to Puerto Rican mofongo, among others, but only one will be crowned the winner of MasterChef Latino crown and a grand cash prize of $100,000 dollars.

The participants are people whom all of us can identify with, because they could be a member of our family, a friend, a neighbor or a coworker who is passionate about cooking, but has never worked as a chef. They are regular people of all ages and nationalities, with professions as diverse as gardener, taxi driver, teacher, nurse or homemaker, but with a common passion for cooking and the grand dream of becoming a professional chef.

Auditions were held in states like Texas, California, New York, Illinois and Florida, as well as Puerto Rico, where more than de 2,200 applicants showed up. To pick the finalists, 56 were selected to face off in a massive cooking test where they will have to show their skills and prove to the judges who is the best. Of the 56 finalists, only 14 will go on to be part of the MasterChef Latinocompetition, where each week they will compete with each other in different tests and challenges.

During the MasterChef Latino competition on Telemundo, viewers will get to see the struggle of these 14 participants to win the challenges and overcome the various tests, while witnessing the joy of their victories and the pain of their dramatic failures. Finalists will have to show they are the best and prove to the three judges why they deserve to win the culinary competition whose purpose is to change the winner's life by fulfilling his or her dream of becoming the first "MasterChef Latino" of the United States.

Viewers can find more about "MasterChef Latino" on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @MCLatinoTV.

"MasterChef Latino" is a Endemol Shine Boomdog production for Telemundo.