Hell's Kitchen Winner Trenton Garvey Tells Us All About Gordon Ramsay - Exclusive

Let's be honest: Most of us don't watch "Hell's Kitchen" just because it's fun to see chefs competing over who can make a better risotto. The real reason why viewers have been tuning in for 20 seasons of the Fox reality show has been to see what Gordon Ramsay will do next. The fiery-tempered culinary legend, after all, has compared contestants' chicken dishes to camel turds and slammed down entire tubs of dishes in anger. Yet, he's also been described as a devoted family man with his own charitable foundation (via Eater). So, will the real Gordon Ramsay please stand up?

To find out what this British superstar is really like, we asked Trenton Garvey, fresh from his Season 20 win, for an honest assessment. In an exclusive interview with Mashed, Garvey was happy to dish. In Garvey's opinion, Ramsay is actually a wonderful teacher and leader. "He is equal; he's fair," Garvey explained. "He understands every aspect and intricacy of how to treat each thing on a plate." True, Ramsay doesn't exactly give out participation trophies to contestants just for showing up. But this is exactly how things should be, Garvey pointed out. "He didn't sugarcoat things," he said. "He gave you positive reinforcement when you did something right. And he would do the same when you did it wrong. And it would just increase and amplify, the more and more you did things wrong. Which is exactly as a chef should be!"

To be fair, Trenton Garvey went into his stint on "Hell's Kitchen" pre-programmed with a positive opinion of Ramsay, which he'd developed many years before he got to meet the celebrity in person. "When I went to culinary school, I just wanted to learn how to cook. One of the first days they asked...the whole class, as part of trying to get everybody to open up as a team, 'So who's your favorite chef?' And I told them, 'Oh, I love Gordon Ramsay. I love how upfront he is with people, how he doesn't sugarcoat anything. And he makes perfection happen and he has the accolades to back it up. I just think that's amazing!'" This response was met with some snickers from the more experienced cooks in the room. "They tried to tell me, 'Hey, that's not really how chefs work,'" and then criticized Ramsay's style as something more commonly found in "an old generation of chefs." Garvey shrugged off their commentary, and sure enough, Ramsay lived up to his high opinion of him.

Not only that, but Garvey plans to apply the Gordon Ramsay "old-school" philosophy about cooking to his own career. "You want your team to grow and you want to put out the best product," Garvey explained. "You're only as good as your last plate. So he just wanted to make sure everything was perfection." 

"Hell's Kitchen" airs Mondays on Fox, and you can keep up with Trenton Garvey's career in Las Vegas by following him on Instagram.