The Truth About Johnnie Gale From Alex Vs America

Food Network's new cooking competition series "Alex vs. America," which began airing on January 2, 2022, sees Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli challenging herself by competing against professional chefs who may be as talented as her, even if they haven't yet reached her level of fame (via Reality Blurred). Hosted by Chef Eric Adjepong, each of the five episodes comprising the first season have Guarnaschelli competing with three professional chefs in an area of cooking where they all possess considerable expertise. Each episode consists of three rounds, all based on the same general theme, whether seafood, noodles, spice, etc. At the end of each round, one chef is eliminated.

In addition to a $15,000 prize at the end of each episode for the chef who does the best job of impressing judges Tiffani Faison and Tetsu Yahagi, there's also this: Guarnaschelli herself can be eliminated. Of course, even if Guarnaschelli is eliminated in any individual episode, she still returns the following week to compete against three new chefs. The same cannot be said for her competition, though. 

Since each of the competing chefs has only one episode to wow America (read: have us drooling over their mad kitchen productions), it seems prudent to learn what we can about them now. And where better to start than with Chef Johnnie Gale, one of Episode 1's shellfish masters? Here is the truth about this talented chef.

The truth about Johnnie Gale from "Alex vs America" is that whatever happened on Episode 1 — which we wouldn't think of spoiling for you — this chef is and remains a force to be reckoned with, not only when it comes to shellfish (which was the theme of that episode) but also when it comes to Cajun cooking in general. 

Chef Johnnie Gale is a native of Shelton, Louisiana. She received her undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University, and has been the head chef at Crawfish Town USA since late 2019 (per 337 Magazine). Mere months after taking on that responsibility, the American Culinary Foundation of New Orleans honored Gale by naming her one of the best chefs in Louisiana for 2020.

Needless to say, drooling is on the agenda now that we've had the opportunity to witness some of Chef Gale's incredibly compelling culinary creations. For instance, last January 5, Gale posted a photo of her Blackened Ora King Salmon on Facebook. The dish features crispy gnocchi in a crawfish parmesan sauce, accompanied by lightly charred asparagus and a delicate dill sauce.