What Gordon Ramsay Is Actually Like Behind The Scenes Of Hell's Kitchen - Exclusive
Gordon Ramsay has a reputation for not withholding his opinion. Parade has even noted some of his most memorable insults on "Hell's Kitchen" — like when he told one contestant there was enough garlic in their dish "to kill every vampire in Europe." Ramsay also famously told another competitor, "My gran could do better! And she's dead!" However, these classic scenes don't fully depict the famous chef's personality, according to Season 21 contestant Sommer Sellers.
In an exclusive interview, Sellers told us the series only typically airs scenes when he's reached his breaking point. "They show whenever he's fed up with you, because what you don't see is the amount of chances he gives, the amount of times you mess up before he's yelling, 'Hey, I showed you how to make this,'" she explained. "If you're doing the same thing, if you're making the same mistake, he'll walk over to your station and show you how to make it correctly. A lot of people don't see behind the scenes, but he's there for us."
Sellers said that even though Ramsay has high expectations, he's a great support system
Though Sommer Sellers revealed that she was nervous to work with the restaurateur at first, she was pleasantly surprised when she met Gordon Ramsay on the set. "I was stressed out because I didn't want to let him down," she admitted. "But he's really there in your corner. He cheers everybody on, and he has one-on-ones with you when he sees that you're not being true to yourself or he has higher expectations for you. He was always a great support system."
Ramsay's unique form of constructive criticism could also make his compliments that much more meaningful. In one episode, Sellers said she was trying to redeem herself after only scoring a one on a previous dish, so she chose to make Jamaican jerk-style tacos with mango salsa. After Ramsay took a bite, he told her the spice in it was "spot on." She explained that it felt "amazing" to get that type of recognition from him.
"This time, I wanted to redeem myself and show him, 'Listen, I can show you how to make my cuisine, and I could make it right for you,'" she said. "I was really happy."
Catch new episodes of "Hell's Kitchen: Battle of the Ages" every Thursday at 8/7 p.m. CT on FOX, or stream episodes on Hulu.