Expect to work incredibly hard, much harder than you've ever worked in your life. Expect to have to keep grooming yourself. Like, when you're working in a kitchen, you're kind of like, “Eh, I don't feel like shaving my head today” or whatever. You can kind of go in and, you know, you're sort of scruffy. Totally fine. Not when you're on TV, man. … They're like, “Hey, you have to shave today.” And when I'm judging on Holiday Baking Championship, there's actually a Duff Scruff Guide, so if my beard is darker than the Scruff Guide, I have to shave it. 

Watch out what you wish for.

It’s a lot of work. It’s a job, though, and I think that that’s the thing that sometimes gets missed — is that it is a job, and it’s not just this glamorous moment. You know, it’s fun to be on TV, it’s fun to be able to talk to people, sort of all over the place, but ultimately it’s one of those things where you have to, like, be on time, be a professional, do your job, treat the people around you really well. Just all the things you would do with any other job. Just because it’s on TV doesn’t change that. 

Like every job, it sounds exciting at first, and then you realize, oh wow, this is a lot of work. I mean, I think a lot of people … well, it’s getting better now, but for a long time people were like, “I can do that. That’s easy. So simple. I can cook and talk. It’s no big deal.” And then they get up there and they realize, “Oh my gosh, this is really complicated.” There’s a lot to remember and a lot to do, and it’s a tough job, and connecting with audiences is tough. And it’s even tougher when you don’t have an audience out there and you’re making up this whole song and dance in front of the camera, and you’re not acting somebody, you’re not pretending to be someone else. It’s not like being an actor, where you can sort of have your motivation. You are your own motivation. Your recipe is your own motivation. So, it’s a job that makes you dig deeper into who you are and the pit of who you are and what makes you who you are, [more] than, I think, a lot of jobs out there.