For Catina Smith—the personal chef who co-founded Our Time Kitchen, a community-based incubator in Old Goucher—getting cast as a contestant on Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen was both a dream come true, and a bit of a rollercoaster ride.
When casting called about trying out for the show, she was elated. As part of the audition, she was tasked with making a video that highlighted Baltimore, as well as cooking a dish for the camera. She went to a local videographer friend and crafted a submission that featured scenes of the Inner Harbor. She cooked a seafood pot pie to highlight local fish and shellfish.
“What’s crazy is that I literally wrote a culinary bucket list a few years ago,” says Smith, “and being on Hell’s Kitchen was on that list.”
Understandably, that ambition made filming her audition for the show—which kicks off its 24th season on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.—somewhat surreal. With the opportunity, she was hoping for increased exposure, not only nationally, but locally, as well.
“I was always like, hopefully, if I’m not the first one off the show, this will give me a chance to show what I can do,” she says. “I’ve been having this internal battle with myself of proving to the city that I am the chef that I think that I am. Because I don’t have a restaurant, I’m often excluded from certain spaces.”
But soon after making the video, she was told she wasn’t going to make the cut. Then, a few days later, she was told she was cast, but when she arrived at the site of filming—Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut—she was once again told that it was up in the air.
“When we got there, they were like, ‘We invite more people than we can have on, and we just have to see your personalities.’”
Of course, the bubbly chef with the rapier wit, a great laugh, and a warm smile was a total made-for-TV shoo-in.
After a quarantine of a few days where she wasn’t allowed to leave her room or interact with other potential contestants, she was soon getting fitted for her coat.
“Finally, we started shooting,” she says. “[Host and celebrity chef] Gordon Ramsay came out and said, ‘It’s going to be a battle of the states.’ He gave us sashes with our states, and I’m up there with my Maryland sash.”
For the community-minded chef, the competitive nature of the show was a challenge all its own.
“I’m competitive, yes,” says Smith, “but I’m also a team player—and I’m all about sisterhood. I don’t have that, ‘You’re going down’ spirit.” So, when the teams were divided by gender, she says, “I was like, ‘How are we going to work together to beat the boys?’ I was also interested in getting to know the other contestants and what they were doing in their own cities.”
When it came time for the first challenge, things got real quickly. As a private chef, the 39-year-old Smith, who worked briefly in restaurants as a line cook, sous, then executive chef, felt like she was at a disadvantage.
“I realized at that point, I really do have to beat out these people and be better,” she says. “When we did our signature dishes from our cities, I was like, ‘Who is cooking at the level I’m cooking at? Who’s my direct competition? I’m pretty decent, but I felt like a fish out of water—I just felt totally uncomfortable being on the line with the fast pace, because I’m used to working at my own pace, setting my own schedule, being with my own thoughts.”
While the individual challenges felt familiar, working as a team on group challenges was tougher. “For the individual challenges, I was 100 percent confident because I’m like, ‘I know how to cook when I don’t have to depend on someone else and can turn out something creative and interesting. (While Smith can’t reveal exactly what she made, she will say that in one round, for her signature state dish, she presented her version of coddies with fresh herbs and potatoes.)
Of course, cooking with the famously fiery Gordon Ramsay over her shoulder also raised the heat in the kitchen.
“When I was on the line, every time Gordon Ramsay walked in the kitchen with his big energy, he just had that power over me. I was like, ‘How do you boil water again?’” she says with a laugh. “I felt this blend of star-struckness and, ‘Wow, he’s intense.’”
At one point while filming, she asked him what drew him to open Gordon Ramsay Steak at Horseshoe Casino Baltimore. “He was basically like, ‘I love the grittiness of the city—I really love Baltimore.’”
While Smith is not allowed to reveal the outcome of the competition, she says that even her military career couldn’t prepare her for the experience.
“I’m an Air Force veteran,” she says with more laughter. “I’ve been through basic training. The yelling doesn’t bother me at all. But it was so nerve-wracking to cook with 30 cameras watching.”
The cameras, she said, made her “hyper-aware of my sanitation, and you’re just trying to think about the timing of everything. Also, it’s not your kitchen, so you’re not 100-percent familiar with where everything is, and you’re around strangers trying to operate in the way that you do. And with the camera looking at you, you’re like, ‘Should I sit here and smile? I don’t want any weird angles.’”
When the episode airs, Smith will be back on set with her 71-year-old mom in tow. For locals who want to tune in, there’s a planned premiere watch party at The Empanada Lady in the Inner Harbor on Sept. 25, as well as another live viewing event at R. House on Oct. 2.
Regardless of the result, Smith is happy for her 15 minutes of fame.
“I’m just really proud to represent Baltimore at a time where things are crazy in the world,” she says. “I wanted to bring a little joy and highlight how we really have awesome food and food culture here.”