Mariusz Komenda

In January 2026 Komenda was admitted to hospital with what was first thought to be a suspected stroke. Scans found a tumour of the right thalamus with the radiological features of a malignant glioma. In a short time he had two complex operations in Warsaw. In the first, surgeons removed the tumour and the surgical site was treated with radiotherapy. In the second, part of his skull bone was removed to reduce the risk of complications. He was treated and monitored at a hospital on Szaserow Street in Warsaw and at the regional specialist hospital in Legnica, with a PET scan in Wroclaw, after new disease foci unrelated to the glioma were found during cancer diagnostics.

On 12 March 2026 he announced the diagnosis on Facebook, writing that it sounded "like a very poor title for a science fiction film." Treatment, travel and rehabilitation went beyond the family's means, and fundraisers were opened on zrzutka.pl and Siepomaga.pl. Residents of Sroda Slaska, friends and local organisations organised collections and charity events. In September 2026 his son announced the closure of Father and Son because of his worsening health.

Komenda died in the night of 6 to 7 October 2026, aged 44. The county head of Sroda Slaska, Sebastian Burdzy, confirmed the death to Fakt, and Roland Gazeta first reported it on 7 October. The exact place of death has not been made public. MasterChef's official Instagram account paid tribute the same day, saying: "Mariusz was part of the MasterChef family. We will remember him as a man full of passion, energy and love of cooking." Funeral details have not been widely reported.

Mariusz Komenda grew up in Sroda Slaska, a town in Lower Silesia near Wroclaw, and remained tied to it all his life. His exact date of birth has not been made public; reports gave his age as 37 in August 2019 and 44 at his death in October 2026, which places his birth in 1982.

He credited his mother, Teresa, with his love of cooking. In interviews with Roland Gazeta he described having a bedroom next to the kitchen and hearing her call "Mariusz, come and taste," and said that no family holiday could pass without his tasting. Every Christmas Eve she asked him to check the flavour of the traditional dishes, from barszcz to uszka dumplings and fillings, trusting that if he approved, the whole household would enjoy them.

At ten he made his first dish entirely on his own, a heart shaped cake layered with whipped cream for Mother's Day. He said it was not perfect, but that it was the moment he realised cooking was his passion.

Komenda had no formal culinary training when he entered MasterChef. He described himself in 2019 as "a simple electrician" and admitted that during the pre casting, when a chef quizzed applicants on catering theory, he could answer almost none of the questions. He called himself an amateur who first met a professional kitchen when he opened his own restaurant in 2020.

He kept learning on the job, taking online courses during the pandemic, including a ramen workshop run by Cook Story by Samsung and a course in Japanese cuisine, and bringing what he learned onto his menu. He also learned Mexican techniques from a chef on the Yucatan Peninsula during the 2019 MasterChef trip, who took him into his restaurant and his family home.

Before television Komenda worked as an electrician and spent time working abroad, including in Switzerland. He decided to apply to MasterChef after friends there loved a traditional Polish meal he cooked and asked to take it home. He saw a casting call for the show's eighth edition, applied, attended pre castings in Krakow with his family, and three days later learned he was among the 40 cooks competing for the MasterChef apron.

The season premiered on TVN on 8 September 2019. Komenda won an apron, then a chef's jacket bearing the MasterChef logo, which he said had been his secret dream while watching earlier seasons. In the fifth episode he cooked for a seven person jury that included winners of previous editions. In the eleventh episode he served a smoked pumpernickel tartare with liquid nitrogen mist and then secured a ticket to Mexico by cooking five dishes from broad beans, reaching the final five.

In Mexico the semi finalists toured restaurants on the Yucatan Peninsula and then cooked a starter and main course for 50 people in Izamal. In fierce heat Komenda felt unwell, left the set several times and withdrew on the advice of the doctor on set, so he did not serve his dish and left the competition. TVN said in a statement that it was very sorry he could not finish. Komenda thanked fans, praised the production for the help it gave in the heat, and said he did not regret a single moment.

He remained part of the MasterChef circle, returning as a guest in June 2020 to help contestants at the grill during filming of the ninth edition and, according to Roland Gazeta, coming back several more times, later including as a juror.

In August 2020 Komenda opened Sztuka Restaurant in the district alternative culture centre (Powiatowe Centrum Kultury Alternatywnej) at ul. Przyszkolna 3 in Sroda Slaska. The name reflected both the building, full of art studios whose paintings hung on the walls, and his conviction that "cooking is an art." The menu was built on fresh, seasonal produce and Polish cooking, with main courses changing every two weeks and meats from the restaurant's own smokehouse. His signature fish soup stayed on the menu for months because customers would not let it go.

The restaurant opened only weeks before the pandemic restrictions of autumn 2020. Komenda, who had vowed never to sell takeaway, adapted with boxed Mexican dishes, game, homemade brioche buns, plated meals delivered to homes on Valentine's Day, and five person cooking workshops. He ran Sztuka until 2023.

On 23 April 2025 he and his son Mateusz opened Father and Son (father&son the art of Mexican food) at Plac Wolnosci 25, in the centre of Sroda Slaska, after three tasting dinners. The menu was mainly Mexican, including beef tartare with Mexican accompaniments, Mexican soup, prawns and flan, with Polish dishes as well. It fulfilled a wish he had voiced in 2019, before MasterChef, to run his own restaurant in his town with his son as his helper. In September 2026, as his health deteriorated, Mateusz announced that the restaurant had closed.

Komenda was married to Agnieszka Komenda. In 2019 he said that when he opened his restaurant his wife would handle the accounts, and Sztuka Restaurant was registered as a business in her name. During his illness he repeatedly said that his wife, family and friends were his greatest support.

His older son, Mateusz, shared his love of food. Mateusz studied at a catering technical school in Wroclaw, did an internship in Sztuka's kitchen where he took over desserts, and in 2025 opened Father and Son with his father. Komenda spoke of his mother, Teresa, as the person who first trusted his palate, and one of his favourite MasterChef memories was a surprise from the production that let him cook with her in the MasterChef kitchen.

He kept close friendships from the show, especially with Grzegorz Zawierucha, his roommate during filming, along with fellow contestants Ksawery and Justyna.

Komenda believed cooking was an art and that a plate should be beautiful as well as delicious. He put the emphasis on fresh produce, variety and presentation, and liked bringing less familiar cuisines, such as Japanese and Mexican food, to his small town, noting that residents were keen to try new dishes.

He encouraged every passionate amateur cook to try MasterChef, saying it brought together people who love what they do and from whom you can learn a great deal. After his exit in Mexico he insisted the rules were the rules and that he bore no grudge.

During his illness he wrote openly about faith and resolve: "Let God give me only as much strength as is needed. Because faith and will will not run out. I will win. For myself. For my family. For my friends. For you."

For many people in Sroda Slaska, Komenda was simply "our MasterChef," a local man who showed that you could set out from a small town after your dreams and then come home to make them real there. He sat on the juries of local cooking contests, cooked for residents and took part in charity initiatives, including a tasting dinner for winners of a Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOSP) auction run by its Zurich team.

His illness drew an outpouring of local support, with fundraisers, charity events and a charity boxing sparring event. Sroda Slaska county wrote after his death that it was glad to have had him in the community and would miss him greatly. MasterChef's official account said he had been part of the MasterChef family. His story was reported by Polish national media and then by international outlets including People, TMZ and E! News.

Komenda did not receive formal awards that have been made public. His recognised achievements were winning a MasterChef apron and chef's jacket and reaching the final five of the eighth season of MasterChef Poland in 2019, a result he called a success in itself, and later being invited back to the programme as a guest and juror.

Komenda's television career centred on the eighth season of MasterChef on TVN, broadcast from September to November 2019, including the semi final episodes filmed in Mexico. Clips of his dishes, including his forest dish with liquid nitrogen mist and his broad bean challenge, were published by TVN Kuchnia. He returned to the programme as a guest during the ninth edition and later as a juror.

He was covered regularly by the local paper and TV station Roland Gazeta (TVi Roland), which interviewed him before, during and after MasterChef and filmed the opening of Father and Son. He appeared in an online cooking series with fellow contestant Adrian Adamczyk and in a Swiss based Polish vlog. He was active on Instagram (@komendamariusz) and Facebook, where he documented his cooking and, in 2026, his illness.

In April 2021 Komenda gave Roland Gazeta an interview in which he described months of struggle with the town hall over an alcohol licence for Sztuka Restaurant, which sat within a school complex. The next day the paper published a formal correction under Polish press law, requested on behalf of the town authorities, stating that the mayor had issued licences for wine and for beer outside school hours on 8 March 2021, refusing only spirits, and disputing his account of the process.

His 2019 exit from MasterChef also sparked criticism of the production from some viewers, but Komenda himself defended the producers and said he blamed no one.