Shaun, age 56

You heard the good news? I won first place! After five minutes, my pot was empty, my supporters cleaned it up, and I didn't get any! But, I got $1000, a trophy and 2 certificates. And as long as I'm alive and well, I'm going back next year to defend my title.

A friend of mine who plays with Trivini, a popular band from Trinidad, he heard about the competition, he brought the forms, because when we have a little get together, I always do the cooking, sometimes, and he said it was a good competition for me to go in, so I decided to enter.

And, I should tell you this, also: my son, Richard Balgobin, he came third! So we came first and third. I think we are equal, but the difference between me and him is that I choose the coal pot and he choose stove. The coal pot is from a long, long time ago, that's the first thing before the stove, we use the coal pot. So I guess I edged him out there.

My wife is a very good cook, and marrying her and being in the kitchen, she showed me around to help her, so most everything I know came from her. But unfortunately she's not in New York right now, she's back in Trinidad.

In our country, we have a lot of racialism going on between the Africans and the Indians. Yeah, we are being mismanaged by the African government, we're in a terrible way over there. We are not getting jobs, they are giving them to the African people, they're kidnapping us, they're murdering us. So, here's about the most safest place; God bless America.