Yahoo Lifestyle Nyesha Arrington Dishes on What Season 4 of 'Next Level Chef' Is Serving Up (Exclusive)
The heat is back in the kitchen when Next Level Chef returns for its fourth season tonight with Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais each mentoring a team of five contestants comprised of pro chefs, social media chefs, and home cooks.
Each of the first three weeks of Next Level Chef will feature auditions. Week 1 is the social media chefs, Week 2 is the home cooks, and Week 3 is the pros. Eight contestants each week will begin in the NLC basement kitchen, where they have 20 minutes to create a dish, and then one will be eliminated. They move up to the next level, where there’s a second elimination. Only six of the remaining seven contestants will move on to the top-level kitchen, where the final elimination will take place, leaving five contestants in each category.
Later, when all 15 contestants for the season have been selected, they will be divided into three teams with Gordon, Nyesha and Richard serving as their mentors as they compete for the $250,000 grand prize and a one-year mentorship.
“We're serving up greatness,” Arrington told Parade of the new season. “We're serving up excitement and lots of fun little twists and turns this season, one which you may have heard of. The judges, the mentors, are getting in the kitchen alongside our teams at some point, throwing on an apron, so that's going to be fun to watch.”
Related: Here's What's Cooking in the Kitchen for Next Level Chef Season 4
One of the interesting things about Next Level Chef is despite the difference experience level of the competitors, is it’s anybody’s game. Season 1 was won by social media chef Stephanie "Pyet" Despain (Team Nyesha), Season 2 by professional chef Tucker Ricchio (Team Gordon), and Season 3 by social media chef Gabi Chappel (Team Gordon). So while a home cook has yet to win, the professional chefs are not dominating the competition.
“Each genre of cooking–home cook, social media chef or pro chef–has different strengths, same as our kitchens,” Arrington explains. “A home chef may not be as comfortable in a pro chef kitchen. A pro chef might not be as comfortable in the basement because they're used to working with top-of-the-line equipment and ingredients. So, those three hierarchies–both with the chefs and in the kitchens– levels the playing field out.”
The other challenges that weed out the wheat from the chaff are the time constraints and the platform drop.
“Time is always our biggest challenge,” Arrington continues. “If I could have days with these people, it'd be amazing. But we have minutes. And so the goal is always to download as much information as possible, clearly communicate as possible with these chefs. That's always the challenge because we're always under a time restraint terrific.”
Related: Next Level Chef's Nyesha Arrington on Why She Has to Stay on Her Toes Working with Gordon Ramsay
The platform drop, which is where the contestants select the ingredients with which they will make their dish each week, also falls under time constraints. They just have seconds as the platform descends from the top-level kitchen to the basement kitchen to select their protein, the vegetable and ingredients for a sauce, while the other chefs are also grabbing for the prime ingredients.
“I think you'd be surprised how much you have to remind these chefs, whether there's an opportunity to make something delicious on the platform protein-wise or not, if it's something foreign to these chefs and they haven't cooked with it, you'd be surprised how much rationality goes out of the window when your brain is on a bullet train heading towards this goal,” Arrington says.
With that same issue in mind, Arrington says that it’s surprising that they forget to taste their food.
“One of the best feedbacks the items on the plate can give you is to touch it, is to taste it, is to get familiar with it as quick as possible,” she says. “Is this a meat, a protein, that loves slow cooking? Does it need to be hammered out, pounded out? Does it like a hard sear? Does it like to be braised? All of that's going to tell you how it wants to be treated if you taste it.”
Following is more of our chat on Season 4 of Next Level Chef, including what it’s like to have Gordon as a boss, why all three seasons have been won by women, and what last year’s winner Gabi Chappel is up to now..
When you’re picking your team, what do you look for when you watch the auditions? Maybe you don’t all look for the same thing, which is why you’re happy with different contestants.
I'm looking for someone who has adaptability, someone who wants to learn. I think the vetting process is so incredibly long to even just get considered for the show, for this competition, so they've come so far. What I'm looking for is the person who wants to take it that much further, not just to show up and have that be enough and to be a character. I'm looking for someone who wants to come out on the other side of this stronger and to show up every single day, not just for themselves but for their team. Because, ultimately, how these dishes perform after Richard, Gordon and I taste them ultimately determines where these chefs cook, what level they cook on. So, yes it is an individual competition. But it also has a lot to do with how the dynamics of the team play out in the long term.
After everybody's cooked and you're making your judgments, can you just not pick one of Gordon's people as the winner?
Gordon winning is not the goal. We both have been heavily involved in cooking competitions outside of our professional careers. Both Richard and I are very performance-driven. It's important not just for the bragging rights, but I think it's exciting to be able to build that dynamic of a team. So, when we see this first episode and these chefs competing to get into the competition, we're looking at what they have to bring to the table. Every season is different. Every dynamic of a team is different.
Is there anything new with Gordon this season in terms of the show?
Honestly, competition aside, to be in his world is to level up all around. There's no detail unturned; there's no thought that goes forsaken and all tides rise together. We are all in this to win it, just to be in his galaxy. I really learned so much. Like all preceding seasons and this season as well, he really induces greatness.
All three seasons have been won by a woman. Girl power! Do you think that says something, considering the culinary profession has previously been dominated by men?
We love that. Go girl power for sure! Richard's got two daughters, so I'd say he would echo that. But here's the deal. As a female chef, I think gender aside, we're looking for great chefs. We're looking at what's on the plate and it just so happened to be that the females won, which we love. But, at the end of the day, we're looking for the most incredible dish, who ran that gauntlet, who killed it, and that's what wins this competition.
Related: And the Winner of Season 3 of Next Level Chef Tells Parade...
Have you mentored Gabi Chappel, last season’s winner? How is she doing?
Gabi is amazing. She’s just relocated to Los Angeles. I was able to bring her along with this incredible cooking experience that I did in New York and she played sous chef for a day. That's not really her super forte. She hasn't grinded it out on the line; she hasn't been in those kitchens that were very commanding. So for her to be able to play sous chef for a day, it was incredible.
You can see her just excitement. She's got a thirst for knowledge. And I've taken her to the farmers market here in Santa Monica and I've introduced her to a lot of my farmer friends. And I see her out and networking with people here in Los Angeles. So that's pretty cool. She's relocated from New York to Los Angeles, and she's really finding her way. She just got back from Spain and is super inspired by those flavors right now. I'm currently in the mentorship with her, so we've been having a really great time.
Season 4 of Next Level Chef premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX. Streams next day on Hulu.
