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“Yes, Chef!,” airing on NBC-TV on Monday nights, puts a new spin on cooking shows by challenging competing chefs not only to produce amazing food but also to see how well they can navigate and overcome the personal issues they bring to the kitchen.
Chefs Petrina Peart and Torrece “Chef T” Gregoire are two cooking competition contestants who vied for the “Yes, Chef!” $250,000 grand prize. While both were eliminated in the first and second episodes, respectively, the culinary pros walked away with valuable lessons from the experience worth their weight in gold.
Different From Other Cooking Shows
Hot tempers, egos and attitude are a way of life in the high-pressure environment of a professional kitchen. After all, a chef’s reputation is on the line with each plate. Add television cameras, iconic lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and celebrity restaurateur José Andrés as co-hosts—then for good measure, throw in 12 volatile, talented chefs tasked to perform intense culinary challenges—and you’ve got the ingredients for a dynamic cooking competition show.
“I decided to join [the show] because my brother nominated me for vulnerabilities, or weaknesses, that I could work on. And one of those things is being ‘paralyzed by perfectionism,’ as they called it on the show,” shares Chef Peart, who works as the executive chef at the Wyoming Governor’s Mansion.
“It’s really just rooted in a fear-of-failure mentality and leading to a lot of overthinking. I didn’t agree a hundred percent with everything my brother had to say. But after going through that first experience on the show, I was like, ‘Okay, maybe he has some good points.’”
Being eliminated on the premiere episode of the cooking competition show in a dramatic cook-off was a blow to her ego, admits Chef Peart. But it also taught her to face her fears.
“How do I handle failing so publicly? As someone who’s afraid of that, and to have done it—on primetime TV—I got it over with,” she shares with a smile. “What better way to get over that fear [than] experience it so epically?”
She continues, “I don’t want to be someone who cannot stand in front of their fear and face it in a positive way. I don’t want to shy away from this in any way.”
Forging New Paths
Comparing her experience on the “Yes, Chef!” cooking show competition with the real-life environment of a professional kitchen, the Cheyenne, Wyoming-based culinary pro observes both operate under pressure.
“It’s definitely a competitive arena to be a part of, especially as a woman, but just as a chef in general,” admits Chef Peart, whose military background allowed her to travel and explore a variety of cuisines and cooking techniques.
“I also think that being a chef is one of those careers that comes with a big ego…It just seems like it comes with that and you have to kind of be ruthless in a way.”
As for her advice for others who may want to pursue the culinary arts, or try out their mettle on TV cooking shows as well as cooking competition shows, Chef Peart shares, “Do it. Fear and all…When there’s no path, forge a new path and leave a trail for other people to follow.”
Drama Beyond Cooking Competition Shows
Chef Torrece Gregoire, or ‘Chef T’ as she’s better known by, admits joining the “Yes, Chef!” cast was “not my first rodeo when it comes to competition.” The owner/chef at Union 41 in Bristol, Virginia, has headlined food festivals and made appearances on cooking competition shows before. But for her, the drama came before even joining the reality cooking show.
“Four weeks before [filming the show] I had a brain tumor removed,” she revealed about the medical condition she has since recovered from after battling it for about a decade.
“Being [with a] short fuse and being angry is not good for your health,” admits the talented chef who was eliminated in the second episode of the “Yes Chef!” cooking competition show. “I understand I have an attitude…everything is situational and I’m always looking for ways to tackle different situations.”
The nomination to be part of “Yes, Chef!” came from Chef T’s line cook, who believed the experience would help tone down the culinary pro’s hard-driving attitude.
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Pressure in the Kitchen
The atmosphere of a professional kitchen as a stress stew may be why chefs, in some instances, act the way they do. “The professional kitchen is really volatile because number one, as an individual, you have your own emotions that you have to manage and there’s a lot of stuff that you have to leave at the door when you walk in,” shares Chef T about the pressure-cooker atmosphere.
“And then on top of it, you have all these other personalities that are coming in, and the leader is usually the one that’s carrying the vision. Sometimes buying into that vision does not equal this level of excellence that you’re constantly striving for because you’re also balancing the weight of the guest review… For me, it’s very personal in terms of why my kitchen is so volatile, because I don’t want my chefs to be perfect. I just need them to be consistent. I need them to dig in and understand what the guest expects,” she points out.
Finding Calm and Gaining a Win
When asked to describe how the cooking competition show experienced affected her, the pro tells us, “Three words that describe me now: optimistic, enthusiastic, and I would actually dare to use the word calm…I really try to pinpoint the positive that everyone [on my crew] is doing. It’s putting me in a better headspace. And then if there are things I notice, I wait. And then at the end of the shift, we sit outside and then we do I recap. I think it’s just a better way to handle it.”
Cooking shows can provide the opportunity for competitors to win fame and fortune. But, as both Chef Peart and Chef T have proven with their personal transformations in the “Yes, Chef!” cooking competition show, what is perceived as a “loss” can actually be a win.
“Yes, Chef!” airs Mondays on NBC-TV at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
