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Maddy Bender is cooking up something big.
And the 23-year-old Rocky Point native will do it from one of the most intense kitchens on television — Hell’s Kitchen, the hit FOX competition show hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
“It’s surreal,” Bender tells Greater Long Island. “It was just such an amazing experience.”
The new season premieres Thursday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m. on FOX.
The road to Hell’s Kitchen
The show has already been filmed, but Bender has been sworn to secrecy — under a $5 million confidentiality agreement — about what went down.
“I’m horrible at keeping secrets. I was hoping the show would air the next day,” she joked.
What isn’t a secret is how she landed the gig. Bender never applied. Instead, it started with a direct message from a producer on Instagram.
“It seemed very sketchy,” she said. “But then I said, the heck with it, let me just write back. I figured either someone was going to steal my social security number, or I’d end up on Hell’s Kitchen.
“Good thing it ended up being legit.”
For those unfamiliar, Hell’s Kitchen pits top chefs from across the country in high-pressure challenges for a cash prize and the chance to become head chef at one of Ramsay’s restaurants.
From school to sous
These days, Bender is the head chef at Tiki Tacos on Route 25A in Miller Place.
Cooking, she said, has always been her passion.
While at Rocky Point High School, she split her days between traditional classes and culinary training at BOCES. She had her sights set on Johnson & Wales University, a culinary powerhouse that counts Emeril Lagasse among its alumni, but the pandemic derailed those plans.
Instead, she met chef John Louis, then-owner of Maui Chophouse in Rocky Point, who was so impressed with her skills that he hired her as a sous chef straight out of high school. Her role as a teen sous chef made headlines.
“It’s crazy how things work out,” Bender said. “I didn’t get a high school prom, I didn’t get a graduation. I didn’t get to go to Johnson & Wales, and I was so depressed — all because of Covid. But if Covid didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have met John, and I may not have been asked to be on Hell’s Kitchen.”
What’s next
Bender said she learned plenty from her time in Ramsay’s kitchen, and she still keeps in touch with her fellow contestants through a group chat.
And when her signature dish makes its debut later this season, she promises to cook it up as a special for Tiki Tacos customers.
— all photos come courtesy of Maddy Bender
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