A Slippery Rock native who has captured a national audience with his snappy attire, youthful enthusiasm on camera, and skills in the kitchen is still in the running to win a book deal and a grand prize.

Nathan Barnhouse, 20, made the cut yet again Wednesday night on Fox’s show “MasterChef,” moving into the competition’s top 14 after the show’s seventh episode.

The show airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays.

Contestants had to cook for 101 U.S. Armed Services veterans, in a challenge that was personally meaningful for Barnhouse, who enlisted in the U.S. Army to follow in his brother’s footsteps but was medically discharged after eight weeks for screaming in his sleep.

“You feel like you let your country down, so I wanted to really shine in this challenge as kind of like a second chance,” he said.

Unfortunately for Barnhouse, he never really got that chance. Alejandro Toro, a voice-over artist from Miami, Fla., and the team’s captain, consigned Barnhouse to do menial tasks such as chopping vegetables for most of the challenge.

“I kind of felt like I got thrown under the table,” Barnhouse said.

Still, Barnhouse has made it further than he ever thought he would earlier this year when he flew to Los Angeles with 80 other potential contestants for a final round of auditions. Barnhouse had recently taken part in a community theater production and told the group he would be back sooner than later.

“I told them don’t worry, I’m going to go out there, lose my apron challenge, and be back here in a week and a half,” Barnhouse said.

Instead, Barnhouse became one of the final 20 contestants chosen. The competition began with the 20 home chefs and puts them through rounds of cooking challenges.

Contestants’ dishes are judged by a panel, which whittles the field down each week until ultimately one contestant will be declared the winner and receive a cookbook deal and $250,000 grand prize.

It hasn’t always been easy on-air for Barnhouse, whose bow ties and fashion sense have made him a featured figure through the show’s first seven episodes. He faced elimination in late June, when a potato dish attempted by the team he was captaining went wrong.

Ultimately, though, Barnhouse redeemed himself by cooking a potato-scaled halibut dish created by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

He said being at-risk was some of the most fun he’s had on the show.

“It was fun and stressful, if that makes sense,” Barnhouse said. “Looking back on it, I wouldn’t have changed any of it. But in the heat of the moment, I was like ‘get me out of this.’”

Barnhouse, who connects cooking with helping people, cooked his first dish ever at age 8: Hawaiian chicken for a family friend whose husband had died.

Barnhouse grew up and was home-schooled in Slippery Rock. He cultivated a love of bowties as a child, partially because they stood out.

“It’s cool. It’s not your normal tie that everyone wears to church on Sunday,” he said. “It kinda shows that you’re not part of the normal crowd.”

Barnhouse cultivated his style while working as a tuxedo salesman at CSA Wedding Booking and Tuxedo Rental in Noblesville, Ind. This summer he moved to Hattiesburg, Miss.

This fall he will attend Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., to major in theater.

Two weeks ago at summer orientation, he was surprised when other students, their parents, and faculty members at the school recognized him from the show.

“So many people knew me,” he said. “It was kinda creepy.”

The notoriety extends online as well, where Barnhouse has started to share his life story on a Facebook Page — “Nathan The Bowtie Chef” — where he posts recipes, tidbits from the show and updates on his life.

On July 1 he shared a lengthy post in which he mused on his life as a child and teenager, and wrote about dealing with bullying and suicidal thoughts.

Barnhouse said the post, which took him three or four days to write, was “emotionally exhausting” but important to him. As a victim of bullying, he wanted to share his story and show people struggling with depression that they aren’t alone.

“Every day kids are bullied, and everyday kids want to kill themselves,” Barnhouse said. “I don’t want them to have to go through what I did.”

Barnhouse said he can’t say what happens in future episodes of “MasterChef” this season, or just how far his run goes, but said he’s thankful for the opportunity to share his story and show off his talents.

“I don’t want to be just another person because God didn’t make me to be just another person,” he said. “But anyone could do what I do. I just got lucky enough to be the first one.”