Biography
Justin M. Warner (born February 11, 1984) is an American chef. He is best known for his appearances on Food Network, including the eighth season of the series Food Network Star, which he won. He is the author of "The Laws of Cooking: And How to Break Them (2015)." He is also the chef host of "Eat the Universe" on marvel where he makes meals inspired by characters of the Marvel Universe.
Warner was born on February 11, 1984 in Hagerstown, Maryland. His mother, Jan, is a schoolteacher, and his father was a psychiatrist. Warner was born when his father was 57 years old. In 1998 he was a finalist in the National Spelling Bee. His father died shortly after Justin graduated from South Hagerstown High School in 2002. Warner has had no formal culinary training, but he was inspired to learn to cook by his father.
Warner appeared on 24 Hour Restaurant Battle in August 2010 with his then-girlfriend J.J. Pyle. They won the episode with their brunch restaurant concept, but the restaurant itself never came to fruition. Later in 2012, Warner became a contestant on the eighth season of "Food Network Star," mentored by Alton Brown. He did not watch the series before becoming a contestant, because he does not own a television. He eventually became one of the final four contestants, and he filmed a pilot for a potential series called "Rebel with a Culinary Cause." He won the competition. Alton Brown announced on January 4, 2013, that he will "regrettably" not be producing Justin's show. In March 2013, Justin Warner debuted a one-hour pilot special on Food Network titled "Rebel Eats." Beginning in 2014, he became a frequent judge and (sometimes winning) competitor on "Guy's Grocery Games."
He was one of the co-owners of Do or Dine restaurant in Bed-Stuy, New York, before it closed in September 2015. Starting October 31, 2016, Warner, along with a few others acting as staff, created a new cooking show on Twitch known as Chefshock, "Shockingly Real, Shockingly Live, and just plain Shockingly Delicious," where he cooks live from his home kitchen from completely raw ingredients with viewers encouraged to cook along and ask questions. Questions are often presented to Warner by a moderator who shares in eating the finished results, while those that cook along and post their own progress pictures are featured throughout the show during lulls in the cooking process. Ingredients required to cook along at home are shared a week in advance, usually through the use of Google documents to allow those that wish to participate time to gather them.
In 2004, Justin married his high school sweetheart, Jessica Hinze. They lived together in Colorado until their divorce in 2007. On June 29, 2015, Justin Warner married his fiancée Brooke Sweeten. As of 2020, they make their home in Rapid City, South Dakota.
