Kenny Gilbert Is Becoming One of Food Network's Most 'Cutthroat' Competitors

Cleveland-born and Florida-based chef Kenny Gilbert has been cooking since age 3 — and it comes through in every dish he makes. He earned his stripes at the Ritz-Carlton, on Season 7 of Bravo's Top Chef and as Oprah Winfrey's personal chef (even contributing to a recipe to her 2017 cookbook, Food, Health and Happiness: 115 On Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life). Kenny's so good at what he does, he's been invited to compete on Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, Alex vs. America, and Tournament of Champions Season 7 and has even taken his turn as a judge on Chopped Junior. All this while owning Miami's House of Birds + Drop Biscuits, his fried chicken and gourmet biscuit franchise concept.

Kenny — the only qualifier to ever make it to the final four — took on Bryan Voltaggio for a shot at the Tournament of Champions belt. With the Randomizer dishing out chicken liver, crown melon, kohlrabi, a spaetzle maker and pink for the color, he gave it his all with Szechuan chicken livers, kohlrabi puree and sauteed spaetzle. While judges Mei Lin, Brooke Williamson and David Chang loved Kenny's dish, Bryan's earned 94 points, the highest out of anyone in the season.

He might have been knocked out, but Kenny became a legend in his own right for his first time out of the TOC gate. And just what did he learn from the Randomizer? "She will humble you," he told Food Network Obsessed.

As part of the "Great 8," it was Kenny against Iron Chef Stephanie Izard. They spun for whole duck, graffiti eggplant, a vegetable sheeter, bananas, and liquid and solid as the style. While judges Brooke Williamson, Mei Lin and Susan Feniger were impressed by Stephanie's dish, Kenny's kimchi soup with duck meatballs racked up the points and earned him an invitation to the next round.

After taking down Aarón Sánchez, Kenny moved on to cooking against Kaleena Bliss in the Super 16. The Randomizer assigned them double-cut pork chops, hatch peppers, a french fry press, ketchup and comfort classic style. His take on the ingredients and equipment earned him 91 points, the highest score of the night, from judges Maneet Chauhan, Susan Feniger and Hubert Keller.

Beyond bringing his cooking A game to the kitchen, Kenny brought his winning personality. And that's something he thinks more chefs should do. When competing, he told Food Network Obsessed, "Be yourself, be your authentic self."

After beating chef Kelsey Murphy in the qualifiers and earning a spot in the competition, Kenny was pitted against Chopped judge Aarón Sánchez. With the Randomizer assigning the chefs spiralizer, Manila clams, breakfast radish and crispy elements, judges Scott Conant, Marcus Samuelsson and Ken Oringer awarded Kenny's dish 81 points to Aarón's 76.

Before starting the season, host Guy Fieri told the chefs, "Don't let anyone ever let you think you don't belong. You are here, so you already made it," Kenny told Food Network Obsessed. He couldn't help proving that by taking down a Food Network icon.

In Alex vs. America Season 3, host Eric Adjepong (right) brought three celebrated chicken chefs to Alex Guarnaschelli's kitchen for a friendly competition. Alongside Saransh Oberoi and Zoe Schor, Kenny cooked up his best to beat the Iron Chef and take home $15,000. While he came out in second place in the first round, his Round 2 dish didn't impress judges Jet Tila and Gabe Bertaccini, earning him third overall.

In 2023, Kenny released Southern Cooking, Global Flavors, a collection of more than 100 recipes drawing on his Southern heritage. Named one of the best cookbooks of the year by the Los Angeles Times, it features fresh takes on comfort-food classics, like Turkey Meatloaf With Moroccan Spices and Cashew-Cauliflower and the Flavor Bomb (Oprah's fave fried chicken). As a lifelong chef, his recipes are as much about loving what he does as they are about good cooking — and he's not ashamed to show it. "I'm gonna make love to my food," he told Food Network Obsessed. "I'm gonna be passionate about it."

Kenny decided to toss his hat in the ring against Bobby Flay on his home turf: Beat Bobby Flay. Before he could go up against the master himself, he had to cook up okra against chef Jordan Wakefield. Judges Giada De Laurentiis and Super Bowl champ Jerome Bettis felt he utilized the required ingredient the best, moving him on to the next round.

For his turn against Bobby, Kenny got to pick the signature dish: chicken and dumplings. Even though Mr. Flay had the home-court advantage, the judges chose Kenny's traditional take. Kenny was over the moon that he beat the king. His advice to anyone else up to the challenge? "You have to come in there as confident as he is," he told Food Network Obsessed.