Who is Nyesha Arrington? 'Next Level Chef' judge reveals how she got FOX show role
She’s an accomplished chef/restaurateur, entrepreneur and TV personality/host but Chef Nyesha Arrington, best known for competing on season 9 of “Top Chef” and recently appearing on “Selena + Chef” on HBO Max, will soon return to television preparing a new meal with Gordon Ramsay and Gino D’Acampo in FOX’s “Next Level Chef” (premiering September 1st 2021 on FOX), a new cooking competition series that features a culinary gauntlet, set on a stage over three stories high, each floor containing a different kitchen.
During the show, line cooks, home chefs, social media stars and food struck owners will compete against each other to be crowned the food world’s newest superstar.
Nyesha, Gordon Ramsay and Gino D’Acampo will each recruit a group of the chefs and take them under their wings to get the best out of them and help them win the $250,000 grand prize.
Born and raised in Los Angeles to a multi-cultural family, Arrington has been in love with the kitchen since she was a little girl helping cook alongside her black aunts and Korean grandmother, Ai-Soon Lee, who she named her sauces after.
Arrington is a member of a highly artistic family; both her father and sister have passion for music. Her father, John Edward Arrington plays bass; sister Janet Lee Arrington excels on drums. Her mother, Sophia Yvonne Arrington, uses her creativity as a seamstress. Before pursuing her culinary career and an exceptional eye for her visual detail, Arrington aspired to learn everything relating to art. She took on sculpting, watercolor, pointillism, and photography classes, developing her use of color, texture and composition, ultimately reflected in her approach to cooking.
“Every plate is like a canvas,” says Arrington. “Chefs must be able to control brain function like no other, including everything from organizing from their prep, to assessing the menu and knowing their audience. I love the process.”
When she’s not creating culinary masterpieces, Nyesha delights in spending time outdoors and in the gym, recently losing weight due to her new, healthy diet and lifestyle. She’s also an avid snowboarder, loves hanging at the beach, and continues to love art. However, her greatest enthusiasm will always be cooking for others.
https://ourweekly.com/news/2021/07/23/la-native-chef-nyesha-arrington-foxs-next-level-ch/
From what we've been reading, your show Next Level Chef is an interesting concept and has a range of dynamics that make it unique in the food genre. Tell us more about this!
CHEF NA: Basically, probably 6 months ago, I went to guest chef on Gordon’s MasterChef. I went in and I did a dish and this dish which is so ironic because Gordon worked for Joël Robuchon. I did too. I made the classic Robuchon potato and he was – I can’t even tell you. He was standing off to my right and I was cooking and doing the potato and demoing it for the 4 cooks in front of me. The task was for them to recreate it. As I’m doing it, I can feel Gordon’s energy emanating off of him and vibes are real. What words couldn’t tell me, he pictured himself in me on the line and that was the energy that I was receiving and it fed me and I was like, wow this is so cool! Someone who worked for the same chef as me, who’s doing the TV life and is the #1 chef monetarily.
As a 17 year old girl on the line, I found this very early on when I was at a 2-star Michelin restaurant and it’s challenging to say the least. I remember saying to myself, “Nyesha, you need to push and work your ass off to eventually get out from behind the stove.” Because, I saw very quickly that if you don’t create options for yourself for growth, you get stuck and I never wanted to be that. I always had a big dream. I say that because when I did some research, Gordon Ramsay was always one of those people that’s doing it right and scaling properly in terms of brand building and all the things. In that moment when I was cooking the dish, it was just so cool to see a set and by that time, I had been on many sets – but to see a set driven by a chef was just a whole new world. It’s not a random producer who’s like painting this dream for the crew to recreate. It’s a kitchen and it felt like I was on a real kitchen again.
I did the dish, was on the show, left the set and Gordon basically came running out and was like, ”hey, who are you?” and shook my hand. My heart was pounding and he hugged me and tears just fell out of my eyes. It was a beautiful moment because I felt safe and I knew that this guy sees me. We shared that moment, his assistant was there and he was like reach out to her and they actually did! So how it came about was the Executive Producer who was there that day, we started talking and he asked me what a show would look like for me. It’s just like what I said to you, celebrating people, storytelling and I’m saying this more and more and leaning into it – I am not a conventional chef and I shouldn’t try to shove my circle into a square peg, let me be a circle and that’s ok! It’s pretty cool and empowering. They saw my authentic self and they asked what spoke to me and I said, the idea of mentorship, coloring outside of the lines – knowing the rules for sure, but being an artist. We had a few chats and then he reached out and said, we have a show called Next Level Chef, he gave me the premise and let me know that it would work well for me as it would be mentor based. I would have a small team of 5 and Gordon would have a team of 5 and we would mentor these chefs to win $250,000 – life changing! I am so freaking excited to say the least! I am so stoked and I can truly make an impact on people with just sharing. We’re looking for a 3rd judge and it’s going to be so cool.
