If you've kept up on my recaps of Around the World in 80 Plates every week, it's no secret I was pulling for chef John Vermiglio and his manpris to win the whole damn thing. His talent and nice-guy demeanor took him far, but ultimately, an alliance between Avery and his bromance buddy Nookie surfaced following Liz' surprise win in Argentina. And sadly, it sent him packing.

I caught up with John to talk about his elimination, fellow contestants and favorite filming moments. Check it out!

So how aware were you that you were going home? 

I knew I was out.

You knew it?

Yeah, as soon as I heard that Liz won, I knew I was screwed. Avery and Nookie had a much longer-standing alliance. And by that point, it was too late.

Were you pissed off at Nookie at all? You seemed like you took it well.

Yeah I wasn’t mad at all. I mean, there was no way I was going to be upset about $1,000 and traveling around the world. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There was no reason getting upset over that. We're playing a game and there’s going to be a winner and there’s going to be a loser. I’m just sad it was me in the losing part, but that’s just life (laughs).

Do you think if they didn’t have an alliance things would have gone down differently?

I mean, I did vote for Nookie and because I didn’t feel comfortable voting for Avery because I knew that her dish destroyed both of ours. I mean, she nailed that dish. I thought she should have won. And so, when it came to the voting, logic would tell you and Nookie reminded me continuously and still does to this day, that I should have voted for her because the numbers and logic would have said that it would have left it to him. I didn’t feel comfortable voting against that dish, I really thought she could have won with that dish. It was absolutely delicious. She definitely should have won that. She got robbed.

It was funny because you didn’t do so well with challenges over the weeks, but a lot of contestants named you as their biggest competition. You made it really far without necessarily winning a lot. Why do you think that is?

Well, I mean, one of the biggest strategies that I had, is the way that I approach the kitchen. You can go into kitchens and say, "This is me, this is how I am and you either like it or you don’t," but the way I like to approach it is more so of, "Let me see how you are and how you see life or how you work in a kitchen" and so within this competition, it worked out well because I was able to sort of build an individual relationship with each of these different kinds of people and, you know, the common ground that we had. And that way when it came to voting, you know, I lost the first 5 episodes and I only got one vote in all of that. So I credit that for sure. So, but I could have done without being America’s biggest loser for five weeks. It was tough to say the least, but you know on top of all the travel and the mental strain, you know, a win here and there would be helpful (laughs).

What was you’re a favorite country or your favorite moment on the show?

I think as far as the show’s concerned, Thailand by far, was my absolute favorite. I mean, the course was tough, it was a lot of running, and we covered a lot of ground, but it was just amazing. Southeast Asia is a definite interest of mine and the challenge itself there as well was awesome, I mean, just because it’s something I always wanted to do and to do it with the chef of the Boston Red Sox. It was awesome, for me, the best time and I think that as far as the viewers point of view, I came off the most authentic to who I am as a person and I am grateful for that, for sure.

Was there anything you wish wasn’t shown on TV?

Well, you saw the episode in Hong Kong and obviously emotions got the best of me and I’m sure some of our former employees can attest. I’ve been known to fly off the handle and I start rambling on, but I don’t think that that hurt me at all by doing that, but after watching it, it was like, "What the hell was I even talking about?" and I really have no idea where any of that came from. I think that’s a testament to the mental exhaustion part of the game that you don’t get to see or understand as the viewer because you obviously weren’t going through it, but at that phase in the competition, mentally I was far more exhausted than I thought I was going to be. So watching that was like, "Oh god." I stand behind everything I did. I really don’t have regrets. I try to live my life in fashion, but watching that was like kind of embarrassing.

Liz and Nicole both pulled out wins the week they were probably about to get eliminated. Who do you think was luckier or who deserved to stay more?

I’m going to say Liz. Nicole... I mean both of them are talented chefs and they’re both very new into the industry compared to the rest of us on that show. They’re really only like three years into their careers, but I enjoyed Liz’s competitive nature. She understood that she was not the strongest person there, but she did her best and not let that affect or show, and I think that she deserved to last longer, as she did, of course.

It seems like you guys are all still friends. Is there any ill will between anyone?

Not that I’m aware of. We definitely have, you know, that puts you in a pretty strong bond when you go through something like that, and the people that I traveled more with, obviously we are a lot closer, but no, I mean it was awesome to meet all of them. And I enjoyed everyone in their own right. Well I don’t know what they think about me, but (laughs).

Yeah, no one said anything bad to me about you.

Well good thing I didn’t say anything bad about anyone else (laughs).

So who are you rooting for now? 

Nookie. That guy, he was definitely my toughest competitor and the first guy to let me know when I did something stupid or let me know when I had a trainwreck. And I still give him a hard time for it, like, "Thanks for calling me out on that" (laughs). But, just really an awesome person and I’m definitely in his corner. 

And you would do TV again after watching yourself?

I would. I never really ever thought I’d want to do television and I had been asked by friends and family in the past like, "Why don’t you try out for something?"Aand it just seemed like a lot to sort of put your career out on the line because, you know, The Real World, you live in a house, they’re just living, you don’t get involved in their professional lives. And so I knew it was going to be tough to do that, but now that I’ve been through it, it was way more eye-opening than I thought it was going to be, but I’d do it again for sure. 

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