Next Level Chef’s Richard Blais and Nyesha Arrington Spill on Gordon Ramsay ‘Smack Talk’ and Lessons

The chef mentors from the FOX series sat down with TooFab exclusively ahead of the new season, where they revealed what the world-renowned chef is really like behind the scenes.

And for Blais, that means more “smack talk” behind the scenes, as their on-screen friendly feud continues.

“It pains me to say that Gordon’s just really good. He’s just really good. He’s an icon and he’s a legend, and it’s going to take a lot to sort of not have him complete the three-peat,” Blais said of this season, after a chef from Ramsey’s team won seasons 2 and 3.

“We’ve got to shut him up a little bit. It’s all he talks about … and the smack talk, you see it on screen, it’s just nonstop,” he continued. “And whether it’s about winning Next Level Chef or who’s got the better hair or whatever it is, we gotta work hard.”

After quipping that Ramsey, in real life, is “exactly like he is on screen,” Blais got a little more serious about working with the cooking legend.

“One of the reasons why he’s great, why I love him and why I’m just so … it’s such an honor to be able to be next to him because it’s not even the on the screen moments or the smack talk. It’s how involved Gordon is, even in the, you know, the choosing of ingredients for our show,” he explained

As for what the duo have learned from the top chef, Arrington asked, “How much time you got?”

“The first time I was able to cook on a set led by a chef, a true chef was on MasterChef. And I learned so much that day. The difference to be on a set that’s led by a chef, it’s like you’re the best of both worlds,” she shared.

“We get to live a world through the lens of entertainers and and express ourselves that way. But, we are professional chefs and we live through the details, so I go to bed excited and I wake up excited for something,” she continued. “The opportunities that present themselves to garner a new set of knowledge. And one thing I would say, and I share this with my team, is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable is the reality.”

“He’ll always say this is standing up, dusting yourself off and get back in there. That’s always what creates that successful person is grit,” she added.

Ramsay has once again scoured the country for the very best home, pro and social media chefs for the new season, as they all compete against one another with the goal of becoming the food world’s newest superstar.

The winner will walk away titled the Next Level Chef and win a life-changing $250,000 grand prize, as well as a one-year mentorship from Gordon, Nyesha and Richard.

However, the question remains, what does it take to continue to thrive after a show like Next Level Chef once the mentorship is over?

“And what I’ve seen is them building a community outside of their individual teams between Gordon, Richard, and myself,” she continued. “They’re doing collabs. They’re in each other’s restaurants. They’re visiting each other. They’re pushing themselves on social media. They’re putting out pop-ups. And it’s exciting to see them add to the language and the dynamic of a food space.”

“We’ve seen it in a preceding three seasons,” Arrington said. “The chefs that go through this it’s almost like a boot camp. Win the season, not win the season. These chefs, they come out so strong and they kill it.”

Meanwhile, Blais kept it simple with his advice.

“Stay hungry. Especially even for the winners of our shows, because it’s very easy to get a little bit complacent with some sort of success. And you just have to really keep hitting refresh, even when things are going well to realize that I got to keep pushing, I got to stay hungry,” he concluded.

Tune into Next Level Chef tonight at 8pm ET and will be available to stream on Hulu the following day.