Alexandria native competing on Season 24 of Hell’s Kitchen

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - A Cenla chef is showcasing his culinary skills on a well-known competitive cooking show.

Bradley Wildridge is an Alexandria native and co-owner of the Cajun restaurant Bayou on the Bay, which brings Cajun cooking out to California. He’s on the 24th season of Hell’s Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay.

This new season of the show is titled “Battle of the States,” with Wildridge representing Louisiana.

It began with 50 semi-finalists, one from each state, who battled it out for a spot in the top 20. Now, Wildridge is competing in the iconic Hell’s Kitchen.

“I had multiple interviews before reaching a psych evaluation, EKG test, STD test, blood work, drug test, everything under the sun to make sure that I was essentially sane enough and able to be on the show,” Wildridge said. “That was about a three-month process of interviews before finding out that I was chosen to come out to maybe still be on the show.”

During episode 2, he was one of the two nominated for the blue team to go home.

“Being on Hell’s Kitchen in general was a joy ride,” Wildridge said. “It was anxiety-ridden. It was scary. It was everything you could imagine all in one, but going up for elimination in the second episode was really nerve-racking because I just wasn’t ready to go home.”

Wildridge has been cooking since he can remember, which is how his passion started.

“My first memories were standing on a stool and cracking eggs into a bowl of flour to try and make pancakes for my grandparents,” Wildridge said, “Professionally, though, since I was 18 and moved to Alaska when I was 18 and from there fell in love with cooking.”

He is showcasing his cooking for one of the most well-known chefs, Gordon Ramsay.

“My favorite insult from Gordon Ramsay, which I don’t even know if it ended up making the cut, was he called me a grizzly f***,” Wildridge said. “It was pretty wild because I’ve heard him say Donut, Big Boy. I think that was the first that I was coined that and it was an honor to me, truly. I believe that Gordon Ramsey is just a chef among chefs. He is an amazing person. He’s super down to earth, and he really is just lovable and kind.”

Although Wildridge is originally from Alexandria, he shared these words if you, too, are trying to follow your dreams of becoming a chef.

“It’s kind of like the old saying, you got to spend money to make money,” Wildridge said. “If you don’t take risks, you’re not going to have those opportunities for those risks. I think another thing would truly just to be never be afraid to just ask for help.”

You can watch this week’s episode that airs on Thursday, October 16, at 7 p.m. central time on Fox, or you can catch it the next day on Hulu.

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