Penn State alumna, central PA native named season 3 winner of ‘Next Level Chef’

Imagine graduating from Penn State, kicking off your career as an influencer and amateur chef and then only eight years later, winning a nationally-televised cooking competition in front of one of the most well-known chefs in the word, Gordon Ramsay.

Jersey Shore native and Penn State alumna Gabrielle Chappel has just turned that into a reality.

Chappel was named the winner of season three of the “Next Level Chef” reality TV competition on Thursday night. The Fox show first aired in 2022 with the intention of finding young, talented amateur chefs, giving them guidance from some of the world’s most well-known culinary experts and then turning them into the next superstar chef of the culinary world.

Chappel’s finale performance landed her the winning title, a $250,000 grand prize and a one-year mentorship from judges Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais.

In Chappel’s Instagram story, she called winning season “the greatest day of my entire life,” and offered thanks to her fans.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me, my incredible competitors and to the mentors,” the story read. “I can’t wait to share more about this moment.”

In an interview with Parade, Chappel once again thanked her competitors, mentors and fans, and spoke out about what it means to her, being a woman in a male-dominated profession.

“I think what it means is that it totally drowns the stereotype that you have to be (a man) in this very patriarchal, male-dominated culinary world to really know how to cook and how to create flavor,” Chappel told the publication.

According to Parade, now that Chappel has won this season of “Next Level Chef,” she’ll be joining the Bite television network with her own show, “Gabi’s Next Course,” as part of her mentorship with Ramsay.