What Gordon Ramsay Talks About At Dinner According To Cody Candelario - Exclusive

Contrary to what you may delight in imagining, Gordon Ramsay doesn't spend his dinners critiquing his food or otherwise likening his meat to a "dehydrated camel's turd." The lucky few chosen to compete on "Hell's Kitchen" know this well. Winner of "Hell's Kitchen" Season 10, Christina Wilson, once gushed to Mashed, "I can't say enough how humble and generous he is." Kori Sutton, Season 19's champion, called Ramsay "fatherly," telling Mashed that "If he's yelling at you, it's because he's told you twice how to do it, and you're still not listening. You deserve to get yelled at."

Fellow Season 19 competitor Cody Candelario was similarly struck by the larger-than-life chef. In many ways, he'd been preparing to meet Ramsay for years. "I grew up watching him on 'Boiling Point,'" Candelario exclusively told Mashed. "When I was younger, [he was a] huge inspiration. I [took cues from him], whether it was buying 'White Heat,' Marco Pierre White's book, [Gordon's] predecessor, or following his roadmap from when I was a young cook." 

Candelario describes his first time truly interacting with Ramsay as "way different" — the personality the Michelin-starred chef often plays on TV may have little to do with real life. The celebrity chef and his contestant chatted about some surprising topics over dinner.

Cody Candelario probably got enough Gordon Ramsay memories out of the 14 episodes he shot with his mentor to savor for a lifetime. Of them all, Candelario told Mashed that his favorite memory comes from winning day one of Season 19. "We got to go out to dinner with him," Candelario remembered. Far from being gruff, Candelario says that Ramsay opened up, and started "telling me about dealing with the troubles that he went through with his brother and his family." The conversation soon shifted to sports.

It seems that Ramsay has a healthy sense of humor when not overseeing a stress-riddled, high-stakes dinner service. "He says he got hurt playing soccer and [I made] a joke about like, 'You ever think about playing like a real sport, like rugby?'" Candelario recounted. Ramsay — who, it should be noted, might well have become a professional soccer player had a knee injury not ruled out that life path, apparently laughed. "Stuff like [him reacting that way] ... he's a really great person to be around," Candelario affirmed.

After finishing in the final four of "Hell's Kitchen," Cody is using his momentum to partner with @lolo_overland. They're currently hard at work on their newest show, @theefoodtruck. Follow all of their Instagram profiles for updates on this and other upcoming projects.