Hell’s Kitchen season 21 will begin on Thursday, September 29 at 8 p.m. ET, with 18 participants. Hell’s Kitchen’s official summary is as follows:
“The rivalry is sure to be heated as each team faces grueling culinary challenges with high-stakes prizes and penalties, all with age-defying bragging rights on the line. Only those with the correct mix of elements will be able to compete until one is crowned the winner.”
According to the summary,
“A life-changing ultimate prize, including a Head Chef post, a $250,000 cash award, and the coveted title of HELL’S KITCHEN winner, is at risk.”
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Season 21 of Hell’s Kitchen will have participants divided between red and blue teams based on their age. These participants will complete difficult culinary challenges in order to earn a dream job at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant franchise. Viewers will also encounter chef Sakari Smithwick among the contenders. Continue reading to learn more about Smithwick, who began his culinary career as a grill cook at McDonald’s.
Smithwick from Hell’s Kitchen studied cooking for 11 years.
Sakari, an Amityville native, has spent years honing his culinary skills. From 2016 until 2019, Sakari worked as a Chef De Partie at a variety of restaurants after earning his BBA in Restaurant Management. He worked at restaurants such as Marea, Eleven Madison Park, and Ukiyo. Furthermore, based on his professional trajectory, the Hell’s Kitchen participant has had a diverse range of culinary encounters. In addition to working in the aforementioned restaurants, he worked as an Executive Sous Chef at Jewel Bako, where he was responsible for marketing, training, ordering, and inventing several dishes for the restaurant’s menu.
Smithwick served as a part-time Sous Chef at Resident Hospitality while working at the restaurant for eight months. He worked there for 11 months and planned to leave both jobs by February 2020. Finally, in December 2019, he began working as a Consulting Chef at WS New York for three months. While there, he assisted chef Eli Kaimeh in the opening of his Hudson Yards restaurant.
Sakari began working as a full-time pastry chef at Restaurant Tribeca in February 2020. He oversaw pastries and bread in a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Hezee, the Netherlands. Along with working there, the chef began work on his own restaurant, Noble Promise. He plans to open the restaurant in February 2020. After two years, Sakari is now the full-fledged owner and chef of his restaurant. The restaurant’s major goal is to give excellent dining services to low-income neighborhoods.
Aside from managing a restaurant, the chef also operates Noble Promise Studios, through which he supports fresh talent in the culinary area. He has also developed a healthy energy drink called Cyber Green Juice, which he promotes on the World of Women website.
Smithwick has also traveled extensively over his career. He just returned after a year of employment in Europe. In 2019, the chef participated in Food Network’s Chopped. Sakari made it to the final dessert round despite not winning the show. Hell’s Kitchen premieres on FOX on Thursday, September 29 at 9 p.m.
