Season 2 of Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars continues to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The FOX series features food industry legends Gordon Ramsay and Lisa Vanderpump as they mentor their competing teams.
The final contestant will take home a cool $250,000. During the quarter-finals, Liz Aust from Team Ramsay was sent home after the grueling breakfast challenge. Nicholas Ducos from Team Vanderpump was also cut from the competition. For the first time, both teams had competed as one group, with all seven members working as front-of-house (FOH) and back-of-house (BOH) staff at The Savoy Grill. Liz, whose company The Candy Closet impressed Gordon with her colorful pitch, had no previous food service experience.
Reality Tea spoke with Liz about her Food Stars elimination, what happened during the breakfast challenge, and how the show surprised her.
Why Liz’s product impressed Gordon
Liz’s business, The Candy Closet, features a unique twist on candy. “So, we are a small family-owned candy company and we started a little over two years ago and we specialize in freeze-dried candy. So, that’s kind of how Studio Ramsay found us in the first place,” Liz explained, “is because we post a lot of social media photos and videos about the freeze-drying process and what it does to candy.”
She continued, “My sister-in-law, who is one of the other co-owners of The Candy Closet, [she] saw a video about freeze-drying and she kind of posed the idea to us. ‘Hey. Do you guys want to try something different that we’ve never tried before?’ And my brother and I, the other two co-owners, were like, ‘Okay. Why not? Let’s try it. Let’s take this risk. This is something cool and different that we don’t see people doing,’” Liz said.
Freeze-drying the candy provides unexpected benefits. “It transforms traditionally gummy and chewy items into crunchy, airy, almost like melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness, I like to say,” Liz said. “So, it’s a really cool, trendy treat that’s been blowing up all over social media.”
Liz’s presentation was one of the most memorable of the series. “So, I knew that going into the auditions we had to do something that was different and unique. We were trying to incorporate the fun science behind freeze-drying,” she explained. “And present it, kind of like Lady Willy Wonka is coming to you and trying to get you excited about candy again.” Well, it certainly worked for Gordon!
What is Gordon really like?
Competing, Liz just wanted to land on a team. “But I definitely wanted to be on Gordon’s team more, just because I know his reputation in the food industry. And I knew Lisa Vanderpump had restaurants and was a businesswoman. But I just didn’t know as much [of] her as a powerhouse in the food and beverage industry as I knew [about] Gordon,” Liz told us. “And I knew my family, they love Gordon. So I knew they would have been like, ‘Liz. Come on, you need to pick Gordon.’”
Still, Liz admitted to finding both Gordon and Lisa a bit intimidating. “It’s always very strange to meet people that you’ve only ever seen on TV and you never know what their personalities are actually going to be like in real life. But for the most part, what you see on TV is what you get in real life,” the candy entrepreneur stated. “And after spending more weeks with them, I definitely got more comfortable knowing kind of how their brains worked. We knew what they were looking for in these challenges. It became less intimidating.”
Liz continued, “But Gordon’s a big man. He’s a lot taller than I think people realize, and he carries a presence in the room. He’s a very commanding presence,” she added.
Liz’s favorite challenges
When asked which challenge was her favorite, Liz had two in mind. “So, the first one was the bar experience challenge. I just thought that was so fun. I felt like we all got to be really creative and that was definitely more of my wheelhouse, and something I never thought I would get the chance to do. So, it was amazing,” she explained.
“But then, definitely the chocolate challenge and being able to pitch to Mars. As a candy business owner, it was a huge deal. And then being able to just dominate Team Vanderpump in that episode was so awesome. And that was also my second time leading in a row,” Liz said. “The challenge before that I had led and we had lost. So, the chocolate challenge I think … was a lot of fun but it was more so how I chose to go about it which I was really proud of and so it made it one of my favorites,” she added.
What happened at the breakfast challenge that viewers didn’t see?
As for Liz’s least favorite challenge? Providing breakfast service at one of Gordon’s five-star restaurants, The Savoy Grill, was a tall order. “You know, no surprise, I got eliminated, and completely understandable. I had no food service experience. I’d never even prepared food for other people besides my family,” Liz explained.
“Like I said in the episode, I’ve never been to a five-star anything in my life. So, walking into The Savoy I was already uncomfortable and I knew that it wasn’t in my wheelhouse.” Plus, Liz didn’t enjoy this challenge for another reason.
“It didn’t really represent me or what I do in my business at all. You know, it was a fun challenge. It was a hard challenge, and it was very entertaining, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “It wasn’t a challenge to show people’s business strengths. I felt like it was a challenge to see how we would either sink or swim in a stressful situation. It just didn’t feel like it was testing the things that I wanted it to test.”
Liz continued, “It was crazy and something that they didn’t show in the episode is that I actually got put with four tables, and the other two FOH staff, Erica [Levin] and Nicholas, they only had three tables, but they had the most amount of experience. And I was the only person that was working with two other people from the opposite team and not working with anybody from my own team.” Liz had her fingers crossed that she could get some help from her more experienced team members.
“And I was very clear from the very beginning that I had no experience and I was hoping that they were going to help me and help their teammate pull through, but they were just as stressed. And they had years and years of experience and still struggled with the challenge,” Liz told us. “So, to me, that just said it was a hard challenge. It wasn’t designed to be easy or fun, right?”
What it was like working together as one group
For the first team this season, Team Ramsay and Team Vanderpump combined to work as one group. But that presented its own set of challenges.
“It was definitely a struggle. You could tell that the teams weren’t united and not used to working with each other. Something that they didn’t show on the episode, which I thought was really important, was that the day of, like an hour before we started, Andrew [Whiting] who was leading the kitchen service, had decided that Erica should be the leader of the FOH,” Liz stated.
“And Nick had said that he wanted to be the leader of the FOH, and we had all kind of agreed that he would be the leader and he was going to kind of take charge because this was his expertise. And then … Andrew I guess had decided that Erica would be better at communicating than Nick. And I think that led to some chaos and confusion and it led to none of us in the FOH actually knowing who should be the one that we go to if there is an issue,” Liz added.
What surprised Liz about the show
Liz wasn’t aware of Food Stars until a casting director reached out after seeing Liz’s social media posts for The Candy Closet. But all the contestants were in for some big surprises this season.
“I mean, I think what surprised me the most going into the show, [was] I had seen the format of Season 1. So, I think the biggest surprise was that Lisa Vanderpump was going to be a co-host with Gordon and that we were going to compete as teams,” Liz explained. “And then too, something that was really surprising going into [the] Grillings for the first time … we were all expecting to go in as individuals. That is what happened in Season 1, and then we all went in as a team.”
In the end, what did Liz learn from Gordon and the show? “I think Gordon really embodies tough love. I think he wants people to remain humble, and in being humble, that doesn’t mean you can’t be confident and you can’t stand up for yourself and be proud of your expertise,” Liz shared.
“So, I really think that’s what Gordon taught me through this experience. You might not have expertise in serving food. You might not have expertise in making food. But you have other strengths that are just as valuable and can be capitalized on. You just have to kind of believe in yourself and be like, ‘Hey. I do have a voice and I do have something important to say,’” the Food Star contestant said. “So that’s definitely something Gordon, you know, was trying to teach me throughout the process.”
Who does Liz think will be the next Food Star?
If Liz could choose the winner of Food Stars, who would she select? “Ali [Schlichter] for sure from Chin Dribblin. We definitely got really close throughout the process. It is an emotional rollercoaster when you’re in these situations,” Liz explained. “And I think Ali just really embodied what a good business owner with a kind heart would be. And I think we just need more people like her as business owners who are socially conscious and good people.”
So, if Liz could choose four people from Food Stars to be on her dream team, who would she pick? “So, definitely Ali, because again, she’s a powerhouse and I feel like we have very good communication together and we work well together. I would say Erica because Erica is good at communicating. She also is a very socially conscious person and takes great care in her brand and how she presents herself, so I think that’s important,” Liz said.
“I think Roman [Desmond] would be a good addition because Roman has such a calming presence and sometimes you need a person like that to kind of be the glue for a team and to bring them together. And he may be young, but man, Roman is very talented and is good at a lot of different things and is good at adapting quickly.”
She continued, “And then … I would probably say Jess [Druey] from the other team just because her presentation skills are amazing. That is her jam and she is so good at it and she is great at being able to sell a product. And so I think she would be great to really push out products and to get that marketing on lock.”
This interview was edited for conciseness and clarity.
The two-hour finale of Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars airs on Wednesday, July 24 at 8/7c on FOX.
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