What It's Really Like To Cook For Gordon Ramsay On TV, According To Chef Darryl "Drama" Taylor
When Chef Darryl Taylor, owner of Atlanta-based Epicurean Drama Caterers, first got the call about being a contestant on a reality cooking show, his answer was a no brainer: “No. Hell no.” Then he found out that the show was Next Level Chef, hosted by Gordon Ramsay. “I was like, ‘Hell yeah, sign me up.’ No questions asked,” he says.
Taylor—who is a contestant on Next Level Chef Season 2, premiering this Super Bowl Sunday on FOX—says that Ramsay is a “hero in [his] book.” “He tells it like it freaking is. He wouldn't say freaking, though,” Taylor laughs.
With a nickname like “Chef Drama,” bestowed upon him for his dramatic catering presentations, Taylor felt ready to take the heat in Ramsay's kitchen. “I've always said, if I ever did a show with him, he's not going to talk to me crazy like that,” Taylor says. “But never did I think that I would ever get an opportunity to go on one of his shows.”
It didn’t take long before Taylor’s prediction was put to the test, as he found himself the target of Ramsay’s first grilling of the season. “Upon one of my interviews I did, I said, ‘I've always loved Gordon Ramsay. I would marry him if I could,’ just talking trash,” Taylor says. “And I said, ‘Hey, you can edit that out. I don't want him to know that.’” Taylor soon came to the realization that this trash-talking likely wasn’t edited out and had a feeling that Ramsay knew about the clip.
“It's like his eyes went straight to me, like, ‘Yeah, I'm going to get this guy,’” Taylor recalls. “I'm like, ‘No way. Why is he coming to me first?’”
In any other place outside of Ramsay’s kitchen, Ramsay’s greeting might seem innocuous: "Hey, what's your favorite sandwich?" But Taylor knew the gauntlet was about to be thrown down. "Well, hey, my favorite sandwich is curry chicken sandwich with sun-dried cranberries,” Taylor said, to which Ramsay fired back, "Sounds like shit. Sounds like shit on bread."
Taylor was quick to explain that the sandwich is a favorite of his catering clients, and that he’s been unable to take it off the menu due to its popularity. Ramsay doubled down on his review, and Taylor finally shot back: "Well, I'll tell you this. It'll make you slap your mama." Taylor says the cast burst out in laughter, and Ramsay conceded that he’ll “have to try it.”
“After that, he didn't really mess with me too much,” Taylor says. “They call me Chef Drama on the show. That's my name. Chef Drama.”
Despite this unsavory welcome, Taylor says that while Ramsay is “consistent” with his on-camera persona, he was also more laid back on the set than other shows.
“Gordon, he's a crazy ass. But you got to love him,” Taylor says. “A lot of that is really for ratings, but he's really a really cool guy. Who wouldn't love to cook for him and cook with him?”
As for actually cooking for a longtime hero (not to mention, one who isn’t afraid to call something “shit on bread”), Taylor compares presenting his dishes to Ramsay to “standing before God being judged.” In fact, Taylor says that the entire time they were shooting was like an out-of-body experience.
The opportunity was especially meaningful for Taylor, who shares that he received a kidney transplant just three years ago. “It's mind-blowing just to be able to travel and to not even have to depend on doing a dialysis treatment,” he says, “After transplant, three years post, here I am traveling to ... meet my idol, Gordon Ramsay.”
How Taylor will fare on his quest to receive this season’s $250,000 prize and yearlong mentorship from Ramsay, Chef Nyesha Arrington, and Chef Richard Blais? We’ll have to tune in and see. But Taylor says he and his fellow contestants are eagerly awaiting the show’s air date in their group chat. “We’re all excited. My phone bings overnight,” he laughs.
The competition might have been grueling, but Taylor has come out of the experience with no regrets. “I would do it again and again and again, just to be able to cook with all the mentors,” he says. “And especially Gordon Ramsay.”
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