MTU graduate Ryan O’Sullivan, who had worked in the Maryborough and River Lee hotels, won the $250,000 prize and landed a job as head chef in Ramsay’s Las Vegas restaurant
The young Irish chef who won Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen USA says he hopes his win will inspire a new generation into the industry.
US-based Cork man, Ryan O’Sullivan, 30, who studied and trained in Cork City, got the best of 17 other competitors to win series 22 of the huge TV series, scooping the ultimate prize of head chef at Hell’s Kitchen Caesars in Las Vegas and $250,000 (€230k) in cash.
He said he has been blown away by the support since the grand final of the Fox show was aired on Hulu last Thursday. Although filmed in 2021, Ryan said he’s delighted to be able to relive the excitement again and soak up the support from home.
“It actually hasn’t hit me yet because even though I’ve known the outcome for two years, the rest of the world is only getting to see it now. I get to relive it all again. It’s fantastic,” he told reporter in the US.
“It really means the world to me, to not only represent myself and my family but where I come from.
“The main part of this was to put Ireland on the map.
“Hopefully, seeing an Irish fella out here cooking might inspire others back home.
“That’s what I want really, for Ireland to push out more chefs and get people into the Irish hospitality industry.” Ramsay said Ryan has everything he wants in a head chef.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a more passionate chef,” he said.
“He’s also very creative and a tremendous leader. His amazing journey from Cork, Ireland is proof that the American dream is alive and well.”
The son of a chef, Ryan has always been interested in food and cooking and recalled watching cookery programs with TV chefs such as Ramsay and Jamie Oliver while his friends were watching cartoons.
A culinary studies graduate of Munster Technological Institute (MTU), he worked in the Maryborough and River Lee hotels in Cork, before landing a dream job in 2018 at a Florida country club, where he met his wife, Jennifer, and then secured a slot on the 22nd series of Hell’s Kitchen.
He said despite the pressures during the seven weeks of filming, it was a fantastic experience as Ramsay set him and the other contestants a series of intense culinary challenges that pushed them all to their limits.
“It was definitely the strangest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” he said.
“Just to be there alone and work with him [Ramsay] and see how he works, and see how professional he is, how he carries himself and what he does is absolutely outstanding.”
He posted clips of the moment he was crowned champion on social media, saying: “It was all a dream… the American dream.”
MTU was among those to congratulate him, encourage those sitting the leaving certificate this summer, and filling out their CAO forms over the coming weeks, to consider their culinary courses.
Noel Murray, the head of MTU’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality, encourages anyone with the drive and ambition to be a renowned chef to follow in Ryan’s footsteps and start their journey at MTU.
