Sunday, July 22, 2007

A Reality Check With ... Brad Miller (FOX's "Hell's Kitchen")

25-year-old Brad Miller is the latest casualty on FOX's Hell's Kitchen. A sous chef from Arizona, he was let go by Chef Gordon Ramsay for working with "back and not his brain". Brad takes time to talk with RealityCheckByGina, responding to Ramsay's comments & letting you know why he should have won Hell's Kitchen.

RC: Can you tell us a little bit about your cooking background?
Brad: My whole life, my dad owned a butcher shop. I’ve been working with him since I was a little kid until I was 15. In high school, I took a home ec/cooking class. After that, I moved to Scottsdale, AZ and worked there for 2 years. My friends & I started a catering company. I had an internship at a place called Michael’s Catering. I worked in a fine dining restaurant for a while. From there, I went to work in Seattle & worked there for a while. Then, I went to The Latilla at The Boulders – the only 5 star, 5 diamond hotel in Arizona.

RC: There are so many cooking shows out there. What made you choose Hell’s Kitchen?
Brad: I was going out to L.A. to apply for Top Chef because I felt that was more suited for me. Everyone kept saying, “Do Hell’s Kitchen!” And I was like, “That’s the last thing I wanna do.” I didn’t want someone yelling at me. I knew about it but I had never watched it. They were saying, “You can win this!” So I decided to try out for it.

RC: What were you unprepared for once you started the show? Brad: I wasn’t really ready for the whole tv show aspect of it. I was thinking that this would be more of a true cooking competition & I was going to win. Fine dining is my specialty, I’m all about that.

RC: Were you cut off from the rest of the world while you were filming?
Brad: There was no tv, no clocks, no alarms, no phone, no nothing. No family and no friends.

RC: How do remain calm in a constantly stressful environment?
Brad: I don’t let things get to me. It was a month & a half. You’re on a tv show, you’re having fun, don’t complain about it. People would kill for this chance.

RC: How would you rate yourself against the competition?
Brad: No disrespect to any of them but my cooking & my knowledge is far superior to any of them … at least, this season.

RC: Just when it looked like Josh was going to be put up for elimination, he & Roc turn around, putting you up. How surprised were you?
Brad: It was very surprising! I felt that it was really weird because Josh was saying he wasn’t gonna go because he’s been up there so many times. Roc was saying he wasn’t gonna go because he didn’t deserve it. I was thinking, “What did I do? I made a menu when you were guys were too lazy to do it!” Maybe I should’ve been a little nicer.


RC: Why do you think Bonnie ended up staying? Brad: As soon as I found out Bonnie was up against me, I knew I was going to go. I know enough about tv. That’s all I’m going to say about it.


RC: Gordon said you work with your back & not your brain. How do you respond to that?
Brad: Well I saw at the end of the episode that he said that. That didn’t make any sense whatsoever. When you look back and watch the episodes, I really didn’t do anything wrong. So I was surprised I got kicked off. A lot of people on the forums were saying, “That didn’t make any sense!” I’m the one who wrote the menu, I’m the one who told people how to do things so I really didn’t understand that comment.

RC: What does the future look like for you?
Brad: I’ve had a lot of really great offers. They did show me in a positive life. I took a month off of work, they’re really cool, letting me take time. I go back August 1st. I’ve been taking it easy, hanging out, partying a little too much with friends. I have a
MySpace where fans can write to me & I'll answer them.



A new episode of Hell's Kitchen airs Monday night at 9pm EST on FOX


Get your Hell's Kitchen links while they're hot at sirlinksalot.net!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I've been watching for your recap/commentary on the last episode, and presumably interview with Josh and/or Julia.

Did you miss the last episode or lose interest?

Anonymous said...

Lovely post...I really watch Hell’s Kitchen Episodes online. Here picture quality is good and now I am hooked up with its eighth season.

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