Turn on the TV, you might see a familiar face on reality shows

In Yakima, a dozen frozen yogurt flavors are lined up in front of Asher Niles.

“I got cake batter. That’s my favorite yogurt over there,” Asher said, as he moved onto the toppings.

Containers full of gummy bears, sprinkles and popping boba begged to be eaten. However, Asher had a restrained touch.

Nine-year-old Asher Niles, of Yakima, grabs frozen yogurt toppings after he competed on MasterChef Junior. The day before, Asher threw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariner’s game and is sporting a custom jersey the team made him. (Credit: Courtney Flatt / Northwest News Network)

“It’s very much all about balance,” he said knowingly, of complementing food flavors.

Just a few months ago, this Yakima third-grader competed against some of the best kids in the cooking business on Fox’s MasterChef Junior, a cooking competition for 8-12-year-olds.

“I’m 8 years, I’m 9 years old. I was 8 on the show,” Asher said. “Well, I love to cook.”

Cooking has fueled his fire for almost all of his young life. Asher’s dad, Shawn Niles, competed on the adult version of MasterChef in 2017. Then 1-year-old Asher watched from his mom’s arms in the audience. He’s been watching his dad ever since.

“My dad has taught me everything I know. I’ve been just following what he’s been doing,” Asher said.

The first thing Asher remembers cooking with his dad?

“Blackened prawns with a kid-friendly gochujang sauce,” Asher said.

His dad remembers him hopping up on countertops before he was too young to read.

Shawn and Asher Niles. (Credit: Shawn Niles)

“He would open up the cabinet doors, and he would pull out spices, and he’d smell them,” Shawn said. “If he liked the way it smelled, then he’d use it in the dish. If he didn’t like the way it smelled, he put it back.”

Now, Asher said his favorite spice is paprika. On the show, he was forced to use unusual spices and ingredients, like velvet horn seaweed, which he incorporated into a winning halibut coconut curry dish on the second episode of the show.

“When I tasted the velvet horn I was like, ‘Oh, that’s going to be perfect in my dish,’” Asher said. “It’s the perfect amount of salt. You know how some seaweed is super slimy? It’s not super slimy. It’s a perfect texture.”

At first, Shawn worried how Asher might handle the pressure of national TV and high-stress kitchens. During the interviews, Shawn watched his son.

“He would just light up. He just comes alive. It was so awesome. That’s hard. That’s difficult,” he said.

Reality shows aren’t difficult to watch for many Northwesterners. From the Ugliest House in America to the Golden Bachelor to House Hunters and Jeopardy!, Northwesterners have recently lit up TV screens across the country.

University of Oregon journalism professor Bish Sen said reality shows aren’t trash TV or guilty pleasures. They’re holding a mirror to society.

“I think they all point to really big truths about our society, about our latest form of capitalism, to be honest,” Sen said.

Sen said makeover shows illustrate people’s need to better themselves. Judge Judy’s harsh words to poorer people shine a light on poverty issues. Matchmaking shows fill in the gaps of fewer younger people falling into romantic love.

Most of all, he said, reality shows feature competition.

Angie and Danny Butler. (Credit: Yuri Hasegawa / CBS ENTERTAINMENT)

“They fight for resources. The resources are often make-believe. It’s a hyper competitive place; we’re always struggling and fighting and strategizing and branding,” Sen said.

That’s something Angie and Danny Butler felt on this season of CBS’s Amazing Race, where teams compete in challenges while traveling to different countries across the world. The mother-son pair used their wits and keen sense of direction to race around South America and the Caribbean in an attempt to finish their journey before the other teams and claim a million dollar prize.

As a young kid racing around Walla Walla, Danny said he always knew he wanted to join the Amazing Race with his mom.

“I had my friends racing around the neighborhood on bikes. I made little clues and little challenges. That kind of started my love for creating community do these types of games. Now, here I am,” said Danny, who also won a car on The Price is Right several years ago.

Now, he’s an Amazing Race superfan, living out his dream, competing alongside his mom. Danny and Angie wore a “Walla” T-shirt, spelling out Walla Walla when they were side by side.

“I knew we would be Team Walla Walla,” Danny said, adding that his mom made the T-shirts happen.

The pair said they got to experience all the classic Amazing Race dilemmas and highs. Their boat broke down in Colombia. They picked the wrong challenge. They paraglided at the start of a leg.

“Every moment of the race was like a check on box of my superfan experience,” Danny said. “Then for mom toward the end of the race to be like, ‘Oh no, we are winning.’”

To win, there was one thing Angie said Danny had to stop doing:

Danny Butler and Angie Butler compete in an Amazing Race challenge while they were in Colombia, Danny’s favorite country he visited during the show. (Credit: CBS ENTERTAINMENT)

“Stop making alliances,” Angie joked, of her son’s penchant to work with other teams.

All of the contestants said their intense TV time gave them lifetime family and friends, even while dealing with the audience’s opinions. Like, when the Walla pair made an alliance with two other teams.

“I was 100% thinking, ‘Oh, the fans are not going to like this. Uh oh.’ But you’re running your own race for a million dollars. Do what you need to do well,” he said.

They didn’t win that million, but said the experience was a dream, even with the mental fatigue of staying in “game mode” for days on end.

Asher Niles makes pancakes in the “Pancakes & Ice Cream” episode of this season’s MasterChef Junior. (Credit: Greg Gayne / FOX Media LLC)

“I think the biggest thing is that our love for each other comes from the Lord. We ran this race with integrity; we ran this race to honor him, and also to know that there are going to be challenges in life,” Danny said. “What does it look like to get up and keep going? In really hard moments I know that there are people out there that do want to support you and do care for you.”

Danny and Angie got eliminated in sixth place after a quick turn on a roundabout led to an agonizing time penalty where they had to wait for their camera and sound crew to catch up.

Asher was eliminated in the semifinals. He was the youngest competitor left in the kitchen. But, he said, he’s proud of himself for making it so far. Maybe one day, he said, he’ll write some cookbooks or open up a pop-up restaurant.

“You’re just going to have to watch to find out what happens next,” Asher said.