Butcher Mary Poehnelt of Belchertown has to be as sharp as her knives on the set of Fox's hit reality TV show "Hell's Kitchen."
Under the watchful – and sometimes harsh – scrutiny of Chef Gordon Ramsay, the 26-year-old is competing against 19 other promising chefs from across the country.
Friends were concerned, Poehnelt said, that she might not be able to stand the heat in "Hell's Kitchen."
“People are really excited and really surprised,” Poehnelt said. “They were worried I couldn’t handle Chef Ramsay because I come across as so sweet. They said ‘I hope you don’t cry.’ They worry when they see me getting yelled at.”
A butcher at
, Poehnelt was chosen to take part in season 11 of “Hell’s Kitchen” while she was living in New York.
“There were some 'Hell’s Kitchen' casting representatives visiting my work in New York City looking for chefs and cooks,” Poehnelt said. “They loved me. I’m a chef and I’m actually a butcher. Currently, I do that for the most part. I was butchering a pig when they came in and they said, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re great’.”
Being a butcher as well as a chef, is a unique quality that Poehnelt brings to the competition.
"Having a back in butchery as well as culinary arts is handy to have. I know how different cuts work and the best ways to cook them."
“Hell’s Kitchen” is best known for Ramsay's sometimes brutal criticism of contestants. He has been known to yell, swear, and kick chefs out of the kitchen -- something that Poehnelt says is not fabricated for television.
“Chef Ramsay is definitely real,” she said. “Who he portrays on television is who he is. He knows when to have fun and he knows when it’s time to get down to business. Everything you see on the show is how it is.”
Poehnelt views the criticism from Ramsay as a learning experience, saying that being yelled at by Ramsay is a challenge to be better at what you are doing.
In the show’s first episode, the contestants were put up against their first dinner service, something that Poehnelt points out is “notoriously bad” for the contestants on the show.
As the episode progressed more and more contestants were kicked out of the kitchen for the night by Ramsay. Poehnelt was one of the few who remained at dinner service the whole time.
“It feels really awesome to complete the first dinner service. I was able to hold my own, it is awesome. It’s a big deal to me,” she said.
Poehnelt has been watching the episodes with her family in Belchertown as they happen.
With three weeks of season 11 having already aired, she said there has been a different perspective on the way she see the show.
“It’s surreal. It’s funny, you watch the show normally and you are like ‘wow!’ or ‘Oh my gosh!’ then you are watching yourself and you’re telling people ‘You don’t understand!’ when things happen. It’s a different perspective.”
She expressed that her family is surprised every time they watch the show at what she is doing.
Support is also coming from her coworkers, along with some customers, at Whole Foods.
“My coworkers are excited; they come back and give me all their feedback. They also tell me who they are rooting for if it isn’t me,” she said with a laugh. “There have been a few customers who have recognized me as well, it’s not a crazy amount but it is fun when it happens.”
On last Tuesday’s episode, Poehnelt found herself on the brink of elimination, standing before Ramsay with three other contestants knowing one of them would be sent home.
“It’s extremely stressful to be on the bottom, it is really hard. Nobody wants to be there, especially early on, so I was so thankful that he didn’t send me home.”
Also saved last week was one of Poehnelt’s female teammates. The show’s original 20 contestants were split in to two teams of 10, men versus women. Each week the team who performs the worst at dinner service selects two members to go before Ramsay for elimination. In last week’s episode both teams were to nominate contestants after a particularly bad dinner service.
Living with and cooking with people you have just met is a challenge according to Poehnelt, but she appreciates the competitive spirit that is present.
“We are all there to win so it is good. It is like having 19 other roommates and living with girls is hard because girls can be catty. The girls on the show are awesome but at the same time we are all competitive,” she said of her interactions with the other competitors.
The winner of “Hell’s Kitchen” earns a spot as head chef at Gordon Ramsay Steak in the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas. Although Poehnelt enjoys her life in Massachusetts she knows what an honor it would be to win the competition.
“Las Vegas is dynamic and diverse; winning would completely expose me to a new world. In Las Vegas you’d be amongst some of the greatest chefs in the world. It is a great learning field.”
Viewers will have to watch and see if Poehnelt can win Ramsay’s praise and ultimately be named the winner of “Hell’s Kitchen”.
Until then, Poehnelt is enjoying the experience and knows what it means to be able to be in the presence of a chef as well-known as Ramsay.
“I love the chaos of the kitchen, there’s no place I’d rather be than in the kitchen cooking and getting yelled at by Chef Ramsay. Any kind of feedback he provides me is a great honor.”