Halfway through the two-hour finale of Fox's "MasterChef" season nine, Louisville native Gerron Hurt had a feeling he'd be headed home with the coveted "MasterChef" title and the $250,000 grand prize.

"I am a very humble person, but when I got to the finale, I walked into the studio feeling really confident about what I was cooking," Hurt told the Courier Journal. "I gave it my all. I knew that everything I had learned up until this point had to end up on the plate."

And he did just that — cooking up a three-course menu the judges deemed worthy of a quarter of a million dollars.

The 25-year-old who grew up in Louisville's Newburg neighborhood sizzled in front of the judges during Wednesday's finale, beating out home cooks Ashley Mincey of Miami and Cesar Cano of Houston.

About Gerron Hurt:From Newburg to MasterChef, this Kentuckian is lighting up the kitchen

The Fern Creek High School and Western Kentucky University graduate brought home the "MasterChef" win with a menu inspired by the south. His dinner included an appetizer with his spin on the Nashville Hot Chicken craze — hot quail with fingerling potato salad and poached quail eggs.

For the entrée, Hurt dished up Carabinero prawns with heirloom grits, shellfish au jus, and crispy shallots.

The icing on the cake, though, for this Louisville home cook was a dessert he presented to the judges — an Amaretto chess pie with a raspberry coulis and popped sorghum.

"My heart was pounding, my adrenaline was racing. There were cameras everywhere — in my face, hanging from the ceiling. It was crazy but I was super focused," he said.

The reality cooking show, which began airing episodes in May, pits home cooks from around the country in an elimination-style competition. Hurt, a high school English teacher working in Nashville, Tennessee, initially didn't think he had much of a chance of getting a spot on the show, let alone winning.

"I cook a lot for my fiancé, Brandi (Beckham) and she thought I had a good chance of making it onto the show and encouraged me to go to the audition," remembers Hurt. "I brought crab stuffed salmon with Asian coleslaw to the first audition and the judges loved it."

Five months after the first episode aired, Hurt had survived multiple weeks of cooking challenges and eliminations as he stepped into the "MasterChef" kitchen for the final time.

Background:Louisville chef is so close to winning 'MasterChef,' he can taste it

So how did he remain so calm under pressure?

"I am a teacher so I know how important it is to process feedback," he said. “Once you can acknowledge that you’re not the greatest at something is when self-growth truly begins. Try, fail, try again and succeed. Feedback has only made me better."

Hurt said a piece of advice from chef Gordon Ramsay early in the competition helped him rise to the top of his game — even when things didn't go as planned.

"He said 'never continue working with a mistake.' If there is a mistake on the table and you continue on with that mistake, you will do nothing but run yourself down, you will fail," Hurt said.

Ramsay went on to tell Hurt, "if you catch that mistake right when it happens and you come up with a plan to change it, then you can be successful."

Hurt has channeled those words and made it his mantra during his time on the show.

And while it's true that Ramsay, chef Aarón Sánchez and restaurateur Joe Bastianich did much to fine-tune the Louisville man's cooking skills, it was Hurt's mother, Michelle, who passed away in 2013, who taught him the basics in the family kitchen.

"Every time I got ready to walk into the 'MasterChef' kitchen, I prayed to God and then I prayed to my mom and asked her to 'cook by my side,'" Hurt said. "She was definitely cooking there with me during the finale. I know she's incredibly proud."

Reach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com Twitter @kirbylouisville. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/kirbya.

What's next for 'MasterChef' winner Gerron Hurt?

Combining his love of cooking and his teaching skills, Hurt will be a featured instructor at Camp MasterChef in 2019. The culinary camp for kids ages 8-16 years includes special competitions, hands-on cooking lessons, outdoor sports activities, interactive challenges and more. "MasterChef" season nine finalists Cesar Cano and Ashley Mincey will also teach at the camp.

Campers may attend camp at several locations including Scripps College in Los Angeles, Lake Forest Academy in Chicago, The Village School in Houstin, Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Rabun-Gap, Georgia and The Kent School in Kent, Connecticut.

Registration for Camp MasterChef 2019 at http://www.campmasterchef.com.