Over the past two months, every Wednesday evening, I’ve been front and center in your living rooms competing for $250,000 on Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef! I’d like to thank each and every one of you for watching the show, sending encouraging messages, and being the absolute best support system a woman could ask for!

How did I end up on Next Level Chef? I received an email from the casting company asking if I was interested in applying for an untitled reality cooking show. I did a bit of research, expressed interest, had a screening call, then zoom auditions. Five months later, I learned I was a semi-finalist on the show. One week later, I was a finalist on the show.

Where did you stay while filming Next Level Chef? We stayed at a popular hotel in Las Vegas. All contestants were on the same floor, however, we didn’t have access to one another due to Covid protocols.

Is Gordon Ramsay intimidating? Chef Ramsay is the ultimate professional and true gentleman, not intimidating at all. He tends to yell and curse a lot on his other reality cooking shows, however, on Next Level Chef, I found him to be an exceptional leader and motivator. He was genuinely excited to see the chefs on the show become better chefs, which meant tough love when judging our dishes.

How was it being mentored by Richard Blais? Chef Blais is an excellent teacher and chef. He understands how to utilize ingredients that most would not pair, to create a great tasting dish. I was pushed beyond my comfort zone in this competition by Chef Blais, however, his guidance and leadership, helped me grow tremendously as a chef.

How was it cooking with Nyesha Arrington? Once team competition ended, every chef had to stand on their own to be safe from elimination. I had the pleasure of sharing the kitchen with Chef Arrington twice, however, she judged all twelve of my cooks on Next Level Chef. She is brilliant when it comes to developing flavors and extremely creative when describing how something tastes. Her passion and love for cooking was shared every time she judged our dishes. It was truly a pleasure to cook for a BIPOC chef who is a force to be reckoned with in the culinary arts world!

Overall, this experience was life changing! I won best dish for my catfish curry, I had the second best burger dish and received rave reviews for my fusion curry, scallops and brunch dishes. I cooked twelve dishes for THE GORDON RAMSAY to judge on national TV! I was in a kitchen being mentored by Chef Ramsay five times! Whew, I’m still processing this amazing experience!

Chef Ramsay, Chef Blais and Chef Arrington will forever hold a special place in my heart for providing me an opportunity to shine bright, on the worlds biggest stage, the television screen, on a show distributed and viewed internationally as well! I would say life doesn’t get much better than this, however, we all know, I’m dreaming bigger than my wildest dreams; so life is definitely going to take me on a wild ride, and I hope I inspire many people along the way!

If you have not watched Next Level Chef, you can binge all episodes on HULU, FoxNow App, YouTube and Tubi. Thank you again for your support! If you feel like you have what it takes to become the Next Level Chef, they are casting for season two now!

Live Cooking Lesson: Tune in to IG Live on Sunday, March 13, from 5:00 - 7:00 PM EST to participate in my live cooking lesson. We are cooking all things curry using my curry trio set. If you have not purchased a set, click here to order now! The ingredients and basic kitchen equipment list will be emailed on Thursday, March 10. Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday! My IG handle is @ChefCourt1