What Really Happened To Autumn Moretti's Foot On MasterChef Season 11

"MasterChef" has been on the air for 11 seasons, with fans tuning weekly to see the home cooks facing off in front of the judges and creating innovative dishes worthy of putting on any restaurant menu. Though Season 11 competitor Autumn Moretti didn't end up winning the title, she was certainly a memorable persona, with her passion for Japanese cuisine and her proud Boston roots. Her bubbly, larger-than-life personality seems to have resonated with many fans. Since the show wrapped, she's amassed more than 106,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares her passion for video games and cooking.

However, in addition to her culinary triumphs, many "MasterChef" fans will also recall that Moretti wore a boot throughout a large portion of the competition, per Reality Titbit. The show never explained how she injured her foot, although it definitely appeared to be a challenge when it came to running to the "MasterChef" pantry or bringing her plated dishes to the judges.

Many fans likely assumed Moretti hurt her foot at some point while rushing around the kitchen, too eager to get her hands on a particular ingredient or to pull a pan out of the oven before it burned. It turns out, though, that while the boot popped up part way through the season, her injury didn't even take place in California.

So, if Autumn Moretti didn't collide with one of her fellow "MasterChef" contestants during a high-stakes challenge, how exactly did she end up hobbling around on a boot for a large portion of the season? As Reality Titbit explains, it all comes down to the unique way Season 11 played out.

While it appeared to air seamlessly on television, the production of "MasterChef" Season 11 was impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At one point, contestants had to return home for a few months to quarantine before eventually being brought back to compete when it was safe to do so. Moretti was horsing around with her little sisters and ended up injuring her foot in the process, as one Reddit user spotted on her Instagram Stories. As TV Trend Now reported, Moretti's mother also took to social media to share a few details with worried fans, saying that her daughter experienced a Lisfranc joint injury as well as torn tendons and ligaments. The "MasterChef" finalist needed to have surgery for the issue and was stuck in the boot while her foot healed.

While Moretti isn't too active on social media, she shared a March Instagram post revealing that she'd catered her first event, with fellow contestant Anne Hicks serving as one of her sous chefs. Clearly, she's not letting the injury stop her from continuing to pursue her culinary dreams.