The Truth About Payton Cooper From Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns Season 1

"Hell's Kitchen" is one of the most beloved high-pressure cooking competitions, and after 20 seasons, viewers are still hungry to know who can hack it in a professional kitchen. Hosted by veteran chef, Gordon Ramsay, the show gives talented chefs a chance to prove their mettle and advance their career for a chance to win a job as head chef at one of Ramsay's restaurants. According to Gold Derby, the show decided to do something different for its upcoming season, with a brand new concept called, "Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns."

This time around, all the participants in the competition were aspiring chefs and were either 24 years old or younger. "Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns" was shot in 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada and focused on 18 talented contestants. One of them was Payton Cooper, a 21-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky. He was introduced with the rest of the Blue team on Instagram earlier this month on the "Hell's Kitchen" official account. The season is set to premiere on May 31.

While Payton Cooper is a new Instagram user (at least, professionally), he's taken to offering his fans tiny glimpses into his life. He introduces himself as a personal chef and a lover of food on his page and often shares pictures of delicious food items that he has created. One of his latest updates was a picture of a bowl of linguini carbonara that the chef prepared on a relaxed day. He added fresh tomatoes and roasted chicken to his wholesome dish. Yum. He also shared a photo of a vegan ratatouille that he created for one of his clients — showing off Cooper's range with different ingredients.

Cooper is definitely a proud Kentucky native, as he claims in his "Hell's Kitchen" introduction (via YouTube). He once posted a photo of pork that he was working with and wrote, "Beautiful pork to be used in the smoker! #kentuckyproud." Another picture featured a summer special hors d'oeuvre with unique ingredients such as shortcake, barbecued pork, fig tartlets, and more. Seems like Cooper is a versatile chef and is going to give his fellow participants stiff competition — despite his very young age.