Christie Vanover has been competing in the sport of food since 2012, including three appearances at the World Food Championships. In 2016, she expanded into backyard grilling competitions, and in 2017 she formed Team Girls Can Grill — her Las Vegas-based KCBS squad — with one clear goal: to compete at the highest level of the sport.
What set Christie apart from the start was her approach. Before she ever turned in a competition box, she became a KCBS Certified Barbeque Judge, because “if you want to cook for the judges, you need to think like one.”
She also invested early in classes from winning pitmasters, learning from teams who had already made every mistake worth making. That foundation built Team Girls Can Grill into a consistent contender on the KCBS and SCA circuits, with multiple grand championships and a 5th-place brisket finish at the Jack Daniel’s World Championships in 2022.
The Team
Behind every great pitmaster is a crew that makes it all possible.
Her husband David is the logistics guru: setup, teardown and the operational backbone that keeps everything running smoothly when competition day chaos hits.
Pops, aka Jimbo, is the man who taught Christie how to cook. These days you’ll find him watching the pits, lifting the lid at exactly the right moment, and keeping the crowd entertained. If you hear laughing near the trailer, that’s Jimbo.
Lin is Christie’s box builder and the calm in the final-stretch storm. Think surgeon’s assistant — she makes sure every tool is in the right place at the right time so Christie can focus on getting the meat in the box perfectly.
Christie’s parents round out the crew when they’re on site. Her dad pulls pit duty alongside David and Jimbo, and keeps everyone fueled with coffee and food runs. Her mom works the crowd, telling anyone who will listen who Christie is, where to find her recipes and why they need to follow Girls Can Grill.
Judging
Christie’s relationship with the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue tells the full story of what it means to be a serious player in this sport. She has judged the event in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024 and 2025. In between, she competed on the cook side in 2022 and 2023, finishing 5th in brisket in her first appearance as a competitor. She has also judged the American Royal.
To hold a judging table at the Jack Daniel’s World Championships and a competitor’s spot in the same event in different years is rare. It reflects the kind of standing in the BBQ community that takes a decade to build.
Christie is a KCBS and SCA Certified Barbeque Judge and an active member of the Nevada Barbecue Association an d California Barbecue Association.
