Barbeque and home-style cooking has never looked so good as Mia Gaines-Alt enters the competition with fire and passion for the world of culinary arts. As owner of Feed the People restaurant in Oakdale, CA, this self-professed cowgirl loves to sing country music every week at her local cowboy bar and loves whipping up some of the best comfort food this side of the Mississippi.

Mia is a straight shooter and refuses to deal with ignorant and stupid people. She owns her own upscale BBQ restaurant in a town where people will still not eat at her place because it is an African American owned and run establishment. Mia refuses to fit into any stereotype and lives to prove people wrong.