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Louis Petrozza didn't quite make it all the way through Chef Gordon Ramsay's culinary gauntlet, "Hell's Kitchen" – but he came close. This season's runner-up gives us the dirt behind the potentially disastrous snafu that happened during the show's finale, his favorite insult from the foul-mouthed Ramsay, and why he's happy with how it all ended.

So did the wrong chef win?

Did the wrong chef win? See, that would be saying that Ramsay made the wrong decision. Should I have been the one that won? Yeah, I gotta say, I guess I should have. Who would say that they wouldn’t want it? Are there other positives to me coming in second? I think there are. I think I’m going to have many doors opening for me and I think that I have achieved a level of success. I am happy with it.

At this point, does it matter that you didn't win? I'm sure there are so many options open to you now.

You have to look at it that way, ya know? You have to look at it that way. I have no time to feel sorry for myself or second-guess the decisions that I made, so it’s pointless. It would be so counter-productive. I’m very content with where I’m at. I would love to be able to spend more time with Ramsay. I guess that’s my only regret. Because, like, do we keep in touch? Does he call me? No. But you know, he's still kind of a friend. He is one of those guys I know I will see again and when we see each other he’s going to be happy to see me and I’m going to be happy to see him. He has a level of respect for me and I certainly have a high respect for him.

Walk me through what you were thinking as you stand in front of the door, turn the knob, and watch Christina walk through.

Oh, this freaks everybody out. You want to know something crazy? There was a malfunction [and my door opened too]. Crazy, right? But, it wasn’t like it was this horrible thing. It actually worked out perfect. Ramsay saw it was happening and he goes, “Petrozza,” and he grabs me and he pulled me towards him and kinda hugged me and held me at the same time. And I realized that my door shouldn’t have opened. And he said, “It’s ok, Petrozza. It’s alright, man.” I said, “I’m ok, I’m ok.” Ya know? And I understood what happened. It took me a few seconds to understand what was happening and I was a little confused as you can understand. But when her door opened and she went downstairs and then Ramsay and I went downstairs, I felt relieved that it was done. I felt that I had made some good friends and I was very successful at what I attempted. It was all good.

What's the best piece of advice you received from Chef Ramsay?

Ya know, Ramsay bolstered my idea of keeping it real and that you’re not going to get ahead or further yourself by making somebody else look bad. I’ve never seen that work before. Somebody with half a brain is going to see through that façade.

Did you have a favorite insult from Ramsay throughout the show?

Yeah, you wanna hear something that he called me that I don’t think made it on [the show]? As a matter of fact, I didn’t even hear the first time that he said it. When I was up at the pass and I was trying to scoot around him to get some food up there behind him he called me a baby rhino [Laughter]. He called me a baby rhino! [The show's producers] sat me in a confession and said, "How did you feel when Chef Ramsay called you a baby rhino?" I said, "He called me a baby rhino!? I didn’t hear him!" And then he said it to me again another time. I can’t believe that.

Ya know, I could’ve missed that on one of the shows. I always have a ton of people around when I’m watching these episodes [on TV] and sometimes people walk in front of the television and the phone is ringing, so it might have made it on the show. Ya know, I think there's 20 percent of the scenes from “Hell’s Kitchen” I haven’t seen yet.

Matt was one of the more interesting contestants, although his cooking skills seemed far below everyone else's. How did he even make it on the show?

Funny you should bring that up. I mean, it’s no secret. It’s a reality show –  it’s not just a straight-up cooking show. There are a number of different factors [on who gets cast on the show], and character is one of them, for better or worse. An exciting character is something that is taken into consideration. And I think that's the case in most aspects of life. I don’t care if you're a professor at a college. Ya know what? If you got a monotone unenthusiastic way about you you’re not going to be a good teacher. If you’re not an aggressive racecar driver- ya know- and you’re not pumped up about it - you’re not going to be good at that. It goes the same with TV and cooking, ya know?

So now that the show is over, you must have a lot of options in front of you. Do you have any set plans?

I don’t have any real set plans. If I did I would share them with you. There are no more secrets, so it's nice to wake up today with no secrets that I have to keep. I’ve been keeping them in for a while. But as far as plans, I just love cooking. That’s what I know how to do. It’s exciting and there are all kinds of aspects of it. I did [a demonstration] on Fox News where I had three different flambés going at one time. It was fun, it was edgy. I like teaching people and you kind of immortalize yourself when you teach and it is such a beautiful thing to be able to share like that. I like mixing the media and cooking thing. The cooking thing I know. The media thing, I dunno know, maybe I can do it but I’m going to attack it.

Who knows? Hey, I made it through "Hell’s Kitchen," what can’t I do? What you believe is true is what’s true. So, until I’m shown otherwise, I’m gonna go for it.

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***What do you think? Should Gordon Ramsay have selected Petrozza to be his executive chef? Click here to comment!
Plus, click here to read our interview with Hell’s Kitchen winner, Christina Machamer!







Message Edited by SaraC on 07-11-2008 11:25 AM