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What is your response to your recent James Beard semifinalist nomination?

This year alone, 13 “Top Chef” alumni have been nominated as semifinalists for James Beard Awards.

It came from experience: He had been a semifinalist on the “Jeopardy!” college championship, won $20,000 on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” and banked $50,000 on “The $100,000 Pyramid.”

“The kids feel it around them that, you know, they’re being looked up to as previous finalists, previous semifinalists, and they internalize that people expect something from them.”

Plus, he is coming off a clay title at the Italian Open and has been a semifinalist at Roland Garros each of the past three years.