We're Talking With Hell's Kitchen Contestant Carrie Keep!
Name: Carrie Keep
Age: 31
Occupation: Line Cook
Hometown: Dallas, TX
Signature Dish: Chicken-Fried Rib Eye with Yukon Mashed Potatoes and White Truffle Cream Gravy
Get ready for the heat of HELL’S KITCHEN as superstar chef Gordon Ramsay ushers in the series’ red-hot ninth season with 18 new competitors Monday, July 18 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. These aspiring restaurateurs will brave Ramsay and his wrath as he once again puts the competitors through rigorous challenges to see who has the skill and passion to win a life-changing prize: a head chef position at BLT Steak in New York City.
Ramsay’s culinary challenges will range from the cute and cuddly as the chefs cook a “mommy and me” meal for a room full of moms and toddlers – to the sublime as the chefs are challenged to cook using different types of beer as the basis for their recipes. The winning teams will get to enjoy a private jet to Palm Springs, Indy-car racing, a $20,000-per-night suite in Las Vegas or a four-story yacht excursion, while the losing teams will be required to decorate for a high school reunion, take delivery of and butcher an entire side of beef, create ice sculptures and put together an entire children’s playground for family night.
In the season premiere, Ramsay launches the competition with the signature-dish challenge and is both impressed and disappointed right from the start. Before the dinner service can even begin, one contestant is rushed to the hospital and things go downhill quickly from there until one chef is eliminated from HELL’S KITCHEN.
As the teams are whittled down, the chefs get one step closer to earning the coveted black chef jacket. Eventually two finalists will compete head-to-head to try and impress Ramsay with their skills and only one lucky chef will walk away with the ultimate prize and fulfill their dreams as a head chef at one of the finest restaurants in America.
Mellisa Rivers and Mike Banigan Tell Us About the Chronic Disease Fund
Did you know that 45% of the population has at least one chronic disease condition? More than 14 million Americans (30%) diagnosed with a chronic disease or cancer can’t afford the medications they need even though they have insurance. That’s because the co-payments on medications for chronic disease can cost anywhere between $300 to as much as $3,000 per dose. Melissa Rivers knows this story all too well as she’s had dear friends affected with chronic disease and that’s why she’s teamed with Chronic Disease Fund® (CDF) to help patients get the medications they need. Last year, CDF financially assisted more than 90,000 patients with cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis, asthma, and other chronic diseases, who could not afford essential medications.
About Mellisa: You know Melissa Rivers from her years at E! Entertainment television, NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, and as a regular contributor to MTV’s Hangin’ With MTV. Her latest project for WE tv begins next year with her mother, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?. The mother/daughter duo also work together on E!’s Fashion Police where Melissa is Executive Producer. In her spare time, Melissa is involved with charitable organizations including Chronic Disease Fund.
About Mike: Chronic Disease Fund (CDF) was founded by Mike Banigan, who suffers with Crohn’s disease and personally understands that having an illness sometimes means having to choose between getting important medication you need to live or feeding your family. Mike founded CDF so that patients with chronic disease could have access to new, breakthrough medications and treatments that help them live longer, happier, more productive lives.
What's Cookin' Today Hour TWO:
Thom Filicia Helps Us With Our Summer Home Entertaining
Summer is in full-swing! And who better than former “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “New York Times” bestselling author of such books as “Thom Filicia Style: Inspiring Ideas for Creating Rooms You Love”, “Thom Filicia Home”, and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab 5's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better”, Thom Filicia to reveal his top-notch tips for summer entertaining at home!No living, working designer can include a list of credentials as diverse and fascinating as those of Emmy Award-winning former “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” Thom Filicia. One of “House Beautiful’s” Top 100 Designers and a coveted recipient of “House & Garden’s” international Tastemaker designation, Thom Filicia is the host and driving force behind the critically-acclaimed “Style Network” television series “Tacky House with Thom Filicia and “Dress My Nest”.
Having appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Ellen”, “The View”, “The Today Show”, and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, Thom has completed a series of home makeovers for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and designed dressing rooms at “The View”, windows at Christie’s, multiple W Hotels, and home interiors for Tina Fey and Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.
In addition to having his projects and expertise extensively and regularly featured in “People”, “O at Home”, “In Style”, “Country Living”, “Family Circle”, “Woman’s Day”, “Entertainment Weekly”, “Us Weekly”, “Elle Décor”, “The New York Times”, “USA Today”, “Domino”, “Teen Vogue”, “House Beautiful”, and “Traditional Home”, Thom was a contributing author to “The New York Times'” bestselling book “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab 5's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, and Living Better”.
The author of the hugely popular books “Thom Filicia Style: Inspiring Ideas for Creating Rooms You Love” and “Thom Filicia Home”, Thom also has a multifaceted retail home collection which includes furniture, textiles, floor coverings, broadloom, lighting and more.
Beloved for his ability to give people simple step-by-step directions on how to make their houses reflect their inner selves and lauded for his eco-friendly, “green” interior design ability~Thom, a native of Syracuse, New York, remains one of America’s most respected and relatable design gurus.
We're Visiting with Iconic Winemaker Richard Arrowood
Richard Arrowood has been making wine exclusively in Sonoma County for 45 years. From 1974 until 1990, he created the wines for Chateau St. Jean, where he developed the first vineyard designates produced in Sonoma County.He and his wife, Alis, founded Arrowood Winery with the 1985 vintage. Each year, he made an extraordinary 22 different small-lot varietals and vineyard designates. Richard was the winemaster at Arrowood Winery until June 2010, when he left to devote himself full-time to making wines for their new winery, Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery.
Amapola Creek is located just north of the town of Sonoma, on the Arrowoods’ 100-plus-acre estate. The 20 acres of vineyards are spread from 350 to 1,000 feet above the valley floor on a western-facing slope at the top of the Mayacamas Mountains. The
vineyards are CCOF organically certified and managed by Phil Coturri, who has been a
longtime proponent of organic farming in Sonoma County.
For the 2006 vintage, Amapola Creek produced 996 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon and 106 cases of Syrah from the estate vineyards. Amapola Creek’s neighbor, the historic Monte Rosso Vineyard, is the winery’s source of old vine Zinfandel, planted in the 1890s. From these 115-year-old vines, 313 cases of the 2007 vintage were produced.
Amapola Creek, named for the Spanish word for “poppy,” runs through the Arrowoods’
estate. When in bloom, the golden poppies line the creek and offer a stunning sight with
the vineyards as a backdrop. Richard and Alis Arrowood planted their vineyards using
the most advanced organic methods in 2000, and Richard made the winery’s first
vintage in 2005. Amapola Creek is an ultra-premium winery in a state-of-the-art facility
designed to produce just 3,000 handcrafted cases annually.
As Richard prepares to enter his 45th harvest, this is the ideal next step in his legendary
winemaking career. At Amapola Creek, he can focus on the very philosophy that has
driven him from day one: quality without compromise and, above all, excellence.
Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery is quite simply Richard’s quest to make his
greatest wines ever and is a perfect example of the phrase “saving the best for last.”
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