Chef Gordon Ramsay’s cooking-scream fest of a reality show, “Hell’s Kitchen” is back with another season on FOX. This time out, one of the contestants is from the Houston area and on Monday, he stopped in to the 26 studios to show off a little of the skill that helped him make it on to the show. His name is Don Savage and he is currently a corporate chef here in town cooking for international executives that are visiting on business.

After his on-air segment with morning anchor Melissa Wilson, I had a few minutes to chat with Don about the show. The first question I asked was the one that every fan of the show wants to know: “Ramsay can’t be that intense all the time, can he?” Without blinking he said, “Oh yeah, all the time!” He quickly followed that by saying, “and I’ll never do that again.”

“We were working 16 hours a day, living on Power Bars, nicotine and no sleep,” said Savage. He was visibly glad to be out of there and spending the morning on a much quieter set. He’s able to do interviews because if you haven’t figured it out by now, he didn’t make it very far in the show. The episode where he is cut from Hell’s Kitchen is coming up.

So what happens to the contestants when they are sent packing?

“The show makes you decompress for two weeks before sending you home. And they actually send you to a house on the beach so you can relax.” Still, with all the stress and hardships he went through, Don’s happy to have had the experience. I asked if he would ever compete on another cooking show? He wasn’t sure but he told me that former contestants can re-audition after three years.

Would he give it another shot? Let’s just say no comment for now.

- Ruben Dominguez (FOX 26 Morning News reporter)