The Evolution Of Next Level Chef's Tineke Younger Into A TikTok Star

In a relatively short amount of time, Tineke Younger — who likes to go by "Tini" — has grown from a relatively unknown quantity into one of the most followed chefs on TikTok. Her personal love story was a central cog to the wheel that got her there, with many of her videos also featuring her consistent life partner through the journey, Antoine Wright Jr.

Somewhere along the way, she got to be involved as a contestant on one of Gordon Ramsay's reality cooking competitions. This opportunity would open even more doors for Younger, moving her closer to the levels of fame she has since gone on to achieve. For those who know her from school, this might come as a slight surprise, considering the fact that her life back then might have appeared to suggest a potentially problematic future.

Thankfully for Younger, the TikTok algorithm has become favorable for budding stars looking for their big break. Once she started to draw attention from users on the platform, it has been a one-way street to stardom. Here is a breakdown of exactly how it unfolded.

For Tini Younger to be as celebrated a chef as she is while still only 24 years old, one would be forgiven for assuming that she has loved cooking for most of her life. As it turns out, it wasn't something that she really thought about doing at first — at least not as a career. In reality, she was leaning more towards a path in cosmetology.

Younger's lack of interest in cooking as a passion or career could also be seen in the extracurricular activities that she originally pursued at school. According to Reality Tea, the young lady from Maryland gravitated towards sports. She was reportedly active both as a cheerleader but also as a track and field athlete. Among the events she is said to have participated in were the long and high jump competitions.

School was not the happiest of places for Tini Younger ... at least not as far as her studies were concerned. As a matter of fact, she developed something of a naughty streak early on. It was her way of dodging her responsibilities as a student, which she had been struggling with as her grades tanked. This was Younger's own account of her time in school when she sat down to talk to Forbes in 2024. "I was a bad kid," she said. "I would set off stink bombs to purposely miss out on a test. And I had a little mouth on me too!"

It was in this same interview that she revealed she was diagnosed with a learning disability, which she said had been having a direct negative impact on her grades. Although she stopped short of disclosing exactly what the disorder was, she is not alone in struggling with school. Supportive Care ABA estimates that 15% or so of the entire population in the U.S. has a type of a learning disability.

Although she clearly had no inclination to pursue anything to do with cooking when she joined high school, it was there that Tini Younger actually discovered her passion for it and essentially started her journey towards TikTok fame. In her sophomore year at Walkersville High School in Maryland, she decided to explore what life would look like as a cosmetologist and visited the Frederick County Public Schools' Career Technology Center to find out.

She did not like anything about what she saw in that department, but happened to be drawn by some good-smelling food that day. That aroma led her right into the arms of the Culinary Arts, where she ended up enrolling in a cooking course. It was just the spark she needed in her life. Not only was she now suddenly working towards a defined future, her grades (her GPA increased to a 3.5) and attitude towards school immediately picked up.

"It just changed everything," she told The Baltimore Sun. "I found out if you shadow for the culinary school, you get to miss two hours of regular school and then you get to eat. I was like, 'Oh, I'm doing that.'"

Her life had finally found meaning and she was happy to pursue one defined dream, but the journey to the top was just beginning for Tini Younger. To hone her skills in order to become a bona fide expert who people could follow for recipes and even life advice, she had to cut her teeth working in various restaurants after school. After graduating from high school, she went on to join the Frederick Community College Monroe Center: Hospitality, Culinary & Tourism Institute. By this time, she had already been working at McDonalds.

Some of the biggest motivation that she got to pursue her dream, however, came to her while she was working at The Wine Kitchen in downtown Frederick. In her conversation with Forbes, Younger recalled how inspiring it was for her to see at least half of the chefs working at such a respectable establishment being women. It made her feel that she, too, could chase and achieve her dreams.

Having accomplished that now, she wants to pass on the same confidence to young girls who are dreaming today the way she dreamt then. She said, "I want to show young women, you could also be a chef. It's not just a male-dominated thing. You could dominate it too."

Mac and cheese has been called "the leader of comfort foods." Not only is it often easy to make, but its sheer prevalence in North America means it tends to resonate with the core family memories of many people. It's probably not very surprising, then, that it was a recipe for the cheesy pasta that saw Tini Younger become an internet sensation.

To be fair, she had already been garnering prior attention on the platform thanks to a series of videos that she would share of her cooking various dishes for her boyfriend. She eventually posted the video that would propel her to the heady heights of going viral on TikTok in early November 2024. Suffice to say, the recipe caught on like wildfire, with people everywhere replicating it from the comfort of their own kitchens. Within a period of only three months, the clip had garnered nearly 100 million views.

Dante Parker of Parade is one of those recreating the dish, and ended up describing it as "the best thing I've ever tasted." Younger was not just going viral because of how good her recipe is, though. Her presentation was also really captivating. One of the more popular comments on the post said, "Do I know how to make it? Yes. Did I watch [it] anyway? Of course!"

Before her mac and cheese broke the internet, Tini Younger's fame was already on the rise. She competed in Season 2 of Gordon Ramsay's reality cooking show "Next Level Chef" on Fox, where she finished in a respectable eighth position out of a total of 18 contestants. You might think that's not too impressive, but the format of the show actually meant that she lasted a total of 11 episodes before she was eventually eliminated.

The premise of "Next Level Chef" usually sees the competing chefs divided into teams. They clash against each other in a unique three-story kitchen environment, with each level offering different resources and equipment. Contestants navigate various cooking challenges while being mentored by renowned chefs; Gordon Ramsay is usually joined by Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais.

On the day of her elimination, Younger was one of four chefs chosen to occupy the middle floor. That determination is usually made based on the contestants' performances in the previous episode. The rollercoaster episode saw her cut her finger, get into an argument with eventual winner Tucker Ricchio over steak and come under fire for a dry and burnt dish. In the end, she was kicked off the show thanks to a decision that came down to mentors Arrington and Blais. After her time on the show, Younger made a return with a guest appearance in Season 3.

Tini Younger could not secure victory on "Next Level Chef," but her near-dozen weeks on the show had seemingly done enough to convince Gordon Ramsay that she was the real deal. When the world famous British chef announced that he would be launching "a new multi-tiered global food brand and entertainment platform" called Bite, Younger was among the food-centric creators who would be functioning under the digital umbrella.

The rising star's unique dynamics with her boyfriend Antoine Wright Jr. played a role in helping "From Scratch with Tini" — her YouTube show on Bite Originals — to quickly gain a stream of faithful followers. Their very first video in the series showed her demonstrating a homemade chicken sandwich recipe. The support she received in the comments was indicative of that public attraction to her and her partner.

"Love Tini and her boyfriend! So happy to find her here on YouTube! Congratulations," one person wrote. Another even suggested that they would be copying more than just the recipe itself: "Definitely making this sandwich for my man and of course myself."

Tini Younger clearly knows how to maximize on the elements of a brand that resonates with the consumers. As she continued to draw more eyeballs thanks to her unique recipes, captivating delivery, and interactions with her better half, she must have realized that this was a perfect angle for her first ever cookbook. And where better to make a big splash with the announcement than on her return to "Next Level Chef?"

Younger's Season 3 cameo was part of the 13th episode, which was titled "Picture Perfect." One year prior, Richard Blais had been one half of the duo that eventually sealed her fate in Season 2. This time around, he was only singing her praises after she revealed news of the impending arrival of the new title, "Cooking for my Boyfriend." "People used to ask me what is it like working with Gordon [Ramsay]," the Frederick News-Post reported on Blais' comments from the episode. "Now people ask me what's it like working with the girl who cooks for her boyfriend on social media."

Antoine Wright Jr. and Tini Younger would eventually get married and she was adamant about baking her own wedding cake. After dating for a few years, the two lovebirds got engaged in November 2023. She made the announcement on her TikTok in a video demonstrating a recipe for chicken Alfredo. In typical humorous fashion, she opened the clip by saying, "I'm no longer cooking for my boyfriend, because I don't have a boyfriend anymore," before dramatically revealing her engagement ring and declaring: "I have a fiancé."

Her choice of dish for that particular video was a fitting tribute as well. According to Younger, chicken Alfredo was the very first meal she ever made her husband before they even started dating. As you would expect, the post would go on to accrue a massive number of interactions, with more than 2 million likes and nearly 12,000 comments and 112,000 bookmarks. About one year later on November 15, 2024, they finally got to walk down the aisle. In June, she had told People that she would be taking charge of the cake herself: "We're shooting for lemon cake," she said. "And my wedding's going to be in Jamaica, so a rum buttercream to really go with the Jamaican setting. ... It's my most important [recipe] right now — it has to be perfect because it's my wedding day."

Tini Younger was a celebrated star by the time she actually got married. The same could be said of her new husband, whose own claim to fame was nonetheless thanks to exposure on her platforms. Their online success was, however, not enough to shield them from some of the harsh realities that face young people trying to start their own families. According to Younger, things got so bad that at one point that they had to sell some of their household assets just to cope with the pressure they were facing.

"I was cooking in our really, really crappy apartment and [Antoine and I] were broke. We were selling our furniture to make rent," Younger had revealed in the interview with Forbes. By now, she already had multitudes following her and religiously interacting with her posts on social media. So how come they were finding it difficult to make ends meet? As it turns out, the famous chef might have been shining in the culinary world but not so much as a business person.  Apparently she had not monetized her accounts despite the immense potential they carried.

When Tini Younger set out to make the mac and cheese video that ultimately took the internet by storm, she had envisioned the kind of outcome she eventually received. To start with, she had been posting recipes on her socials for a while and had not had any of her videos go quite as viral. At the same time, a mac and cheese recipe would have likely felt like an unlikely potential hit owing to just how common the dish is. "I was like 'What the? It's mac and cheese. I've posted mac and cheese before,'" Younger said in her chat with People. "And then it just kept going and going and going, and it was 60 million views in a week."

If there had ever been a signal that she was on the right path, this was certainly one. She diligently continued to churn out content for her online audience and her presence on social media is growing all the time. Among the videos she has made that have also hit millions of views on TikTok include recipes for holiday turkey, hot honey chicken tenders, appletini, and many more. Drawing lessons from how unexpectedly far the mac and cheese video went, Younger insisted that she would not be slowing down any time soon. "[The video] got 14 million views overnight and it was just steak and mac and cheese. And so I just kept doing it."

Tini Younger is no longer confused about the career path she wants to pursue. Cooking is quite clearly her first love and it is something we could see her doing for quite some time yet. That being said, it would appear that the other side of her current work — the side that entails entertaining her followers while at it — also holds great appeal to her as well. Aside from videos of recipe demonstrations, Younger will from time to time post a video unrelated to cooking.

These could range from the rather funny ones, such as this one she shared on TikTok of her brother cutting his very long hair to earn $100 from her on a dare. Her entertaining transformation into the full wardrobe for her wedding would go on to garner well over 5 million views. One fan in the comment section said, "Usually she cooks for us today she ate."

Tini Younger has not even turned 25 yet, but she is already scaling incredible heights of success. As of March 2025, there are almost 11 million accounts that follow hers on TikTok. For context, polarizing Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe (popularly known as Salt Bae) still only has 15.3 million followers despite being exposed to a much wider global audience for a longer period of time.

The anecdote about Younger failing to monetize her already widely followed social media accounts perhaps gives us some insight into where her motivations lie as far as online success is concerned. Speaking to People, she explained how one of her primary goals is to create a sense of equality and belonging for everyone in the world of cooking. "My favorite part about cooking on TikTok, and just on social media in general, is just seeing all the messages of people like, 'I can't cook, but I made your recipe and everyone loves it,'" Younger said.

Another area where Tini Younger has showcased her strong acumen is in how she has taken advantage of her strong online presence to establish business relationships with various brands. Take the mac and cheese she made for Antoine Wright Jr. that blew up on social media. In the video itself, she had partnered up with Carnation Evaporated Milk to promote their new Kickin' Jalapeño Flavored variation.

In November 2023, Younger was sponsored by Old Bay Seasoning to attend her first ever NFL match — between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals. Antoine Wright Jr. joined her for the occasion as was seen on a post on her Instagram page hours later. She captioned it: "I've been a Ravens fan for as long as I can remember and I was finally able to go to my first Ravens game last night💜 Huge thanks to @oldbay_seasoning for making it happen." Other brands that have worked directly with Younger since she burst onto the scene include Doritos and eos Products.