Nick DiGiovanni

Nick DiGiovanni
Nicholas Channing DiGiovanni (born May 19, 1996) is an American celebrity chef, internet personality, and entertainer. As of March 2023, DiGiovanni has over 25 million followers across his social media accounts, including YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
He is the youngest finalist ever on MasterChef, placing third when he competed at 22 years old.
Early life
DiGiovanni was born on May 19, 1996, in Barrington, Rhode Island, to Chris and Susan DiGiovanni (née Naimi). He is of Persian, Italian, German, and British descent. He is the oldest of four brothers. He developed a passion for food at a young age by watching his grandmother and great-grandmother cook meals for the family.
Education
DiGiovanni attended high school at Milton Academy, where he graduated cum laude. He served as co-head of the Milton Academy Community Service program.
After graduating from high school, DiGiovanni went to Harvard University in Massachusetts. At Harvard, DiGiovanni created his own concentration called "Food and Climate". As part of his coursework, he attended lectures taught by Massimo Bottura, Grant Achatz and José Andrés.
For his senior year, DiGiovanni analyzed data on carbon emissions in 36 international restaurants from Singapore to San Francisco. His thesis was advised by American author and journalist Michael Pollan.
DiGiovanni got accepted to attend Harvard Business School through the 2+2 deferral program. In January 2023, he let Harvard know he was not planning to matriculate.
Career
Television
During his senior year of college, DiGiovanni attended a casting call for season 10 of MasterChef. He was selected to compete on the show and finished in third place. To film the show, DiGiovanni reportedly left in the middle of the term at Harvard without informing his professors. He returned the next season as a mentor for finalists.
Social media
After completing MasterChef and graduating from Harvard, DiGiovanni began to post cooking videos on YouTube. In his first-ever YouTube video, DiGiovanni cooked the dessert he would have made in the MasterChef finale, which has over 3.5 million views as of August 2023. He then began to regularly post videos of him cooking different foods. His YouTube channel has over 11 million subscribers as of July 2023.
DiGiovanni has partnered with brands including Nutella, Amazon, Walmart, and Kinder Bueno.
Philanthropy
DiGiovanni is the Lead Ambassador for The Farmlink Project. Additionally, in 2021, DiGiovanni participated in the #TeamSeas campaign founded by YouTuber MrBeast, which raised $30 million to clean up of trash in the ocean. In 2022, he partnered with Chipotle to donate 20 million pounds of food.
Accolades
DiGiovanni has been featured in several publications, including Today, Good Morning America, and Harper's Bazaar. In 2021, DiGiovanni was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Food and Drink. The same year, DiGiovanni won YouTube's Streamy Award for Food, an award recognizing the world's top food creator of the year. He was a Webby Award recipient in 2022.
In November 2021, DiGiovanni (with Lynja) broke the Guinness World Record for the largest ever cake pop, which weighed .
In June 2022, he broke another Guinness World Record for the largest ever chicken nugget, which weighed . In August, he visited the most fast food restaurants in 24 hours (69 restaurants). In October, he beat Gordon Ramsay's record for the fastest time to fillet a fish by five seconds; completing it in 1 minute exactly. On the same day he constructed the world's largest sushi roll, which measured at in diameter. In November, he created the largest fortune cookie at and made the largest donation of turkey in 24 hours (- roughly 7,620 turkeys).
On May 11, 2023, DiGiovanni, alongside Ramsay, broke the Guinness World Record for the largest Beef Wellington, which weighed . This was his ninth Guinness World Record and was broken in partnership with celebrity chefs Ramsay, Max the Meat Guy, Guga Foods and The Golden Balance.
On June 13, 2023, DiGiovanni released his debut cookbook, Knife Drop. It debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list and remained on the list for five consecutive weeks.
Awards and nominations
Filmography and bibliography
Filmography
Bibliography
References
External links
YouTube channel
American TikTokers
American YouTubers
1996 births
Living people
Milton Academy alumni
Harvard University alumni
People from Providence, Rhode Island
American television chefs
Chefs from Massachusetts
American people of Italian descent
American people of Iranian descent
American male sailors (sport)
Harvard Crimson athletes
Harvard Crimson sailing
Streamy Award winners
Chefs from Rhode Island
YouTubers from Rhode Island
Reality cooking competition contestants