Next Level Chef returns for a fresh season of culinary challenges. The show’s second season will debut on Fox on Sunday, February 12 at 10:30 p.m. ET. As in the previous season, chefs will have to perform for their mentors and strive to impress them with their delicacies in the new season. The judges/mentors for this season are Richard Blais, Nyesha Arrington, and Gordon Ramsay.
April Clayton, a 39-year-old home cook, is one of 18 cooks fighting for the $250,000 top prize and an apprenticeship with the mentors. She was born in Henderson, Tennessee, and now resides in Muscle Shoals. Clayton is a member of the Nyesha Arrington team and the owner of Southern Skillet Catering.
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April Clayton, a Next Level Chef participant, started her culinary adventure with a lasagna.
While nothing is known about April Clayton’s personal life, she has been upfront about her catering company. According to the website for Southern Skillet Catering, April enjoyed assisting her grandma in the kitchen as a youngster and started to see more of the latter in herself as she grew older and had her own children.
According to the Times Daily, in 2016, she donated a lasagna to her children’s school for Teacher Appreciation Day. The lasagna was a big success, leading a couple of other instructors to offer to pay her for more if she could have them delivered. April was motivated to travel to Florence’s culinary center and create a cooking business from her own house. Soon after, she decided to take on a catering job for a wedding show and hired a 900-square foot storefront on Second Street.
April’s husband also resigned from his work to assist with the management of Southern Skillet Catering. Clayton has performed at almost 200 weddings as of 2022. According to a news story, she enjoys serving customers who “began as take-home meal customers.” The chef also said that she had several “trials and tribulations” in building her company.
Season 2 of Next Level Chef
Mentors Richard Blais, Nyesha Arrington, and Gordon Ramsay will assess Next Level Chef, and each will guide six cooks in an attempt to bring out the best in them. In each episode, the chefs will have to perform in three separate kitchens, each with its own set of conditions and obstacles, all while attempting to make “next-level cuisine.” The winner of the culinary competition will get a $250,000 cash prize as well as a one-year mentoring with the judges.
Next Level Chef is described by Fox as follows:
“Next Level Chef” is the next evolution in cooking contests, as Ramsay has created a one-of-a-kind culinary gauntlet set on an iconic stage as you’ve never seen before.
It also says:
“Each level of the three-story building has a strikingly diverse kitchen. The ingredients will complement the atmosphere, from the gleaming top floor to the tough depths of the basement, since Ramsay thinks that the ultimate measure of great chefs is not just what they can achieve in the greatest of conditions, but what sort of magic they can produce in the worst!”
Next Level Chef airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. The season will begin on February 12 at 10:30 p.m. ET.
