Many foodies in Charleston are cheering every Thursday night for hometown chef Shuai Wang, owner of Jackrabbit Filly and King BBQ, who is currently competing on Bravo’s Top Chef.
The competition is held in Toronto this year and, for those who have never seen it, a group of chefs competes in timed challenges, facing elimination each week for mistakes or dishes that don’t meet with the approval of a panel of celebrity judges. The winner will receive $250,000 and a $125,000 flight credit, among other prizes.
Wang had one episode in which his mistake almost led to the elimination of another contestant.
“Oh boy, I felt like a complete asshole,” Wang said during the show. “The clock is ticking down, you’re doing probably six things at the same time, and you’re trying to help your teammates. Being a chef, naturally you’re going to clean and organize. I was trying to help out.”
Wang wound up accidentally throwing out ingredients another chef had planned to use.
“My heart just sank to the bottom of my stomach,” Wang said. “If he was going to be eliminated, I would have thrown myself on the sword.”
Fortunately, neither Wang nor his teammate were eliminated that week. Although filming is already over, Wang is contractually obligated to keep secret how he fares on the show. As of May 8, he was one of 6 chefs remaining, down from an initial 15.
Lowcountry chefs have a history of TV appearances
The secrecy and the intense competition are familiar to at least two other Charleston chefs. Circa 1886 pastry chef Ashley Cardona competed last year on the Food Network’s Wizards of Baking (she was out in the second round) and Kultura’s Nikko Cagalanan won his 2022 episode of Food Network’s Chopped. In that competition, he went up against three other chefs to prepare exotic ingredients he saw at the last minute.
The three spoke recently to Charleston City Paper to talk about life during and after reality competitions.
City Paper: What was the most difficult thing about the competition?
Shuai Wang: I think the most difficult part about Top Chef for me was being away from family, being away from my wife and my fur babies. Corrie and I just passed our 10-year mark this past March and I think that was the longest we’ve been apart. We have long and stressful days here, but we can hang out and talk it out. On Top Chef if you have a hard day, you go back and you’re by yourself.
Ashley Cardona: It was my first show. The world of TV is pretty crazy; it’s 12- to 14-hour days filming. It was in London, so there was jetlag and, this particular show, we filmed overnights because it was the only time the set was available. There was really not a lot of sleeping involved.
Nikko Cagalanan: Just getting used to having multiple cameras, like two feet from you. There are three to four cameras watching you struggle and watching you come up with dishes on the fly with the ingredients they throw at you. It’s just awkward.
CP: What surprised you the most about the competition?
Wang: I think just how much I really enjoyed it. I did not watch a lot of Top Chef prior to being picked and when I did get selected, I started watching some of the earlier seasons. It was very cutthroat. But once I got on the show, everyone was so sweet and so nice. That may be largely due to the fact that kitchen culture has changed so much (since earlier seasons). There was no yelling at each other or talking down to each other. You’re cooking for fun and camaraderie. It’s like, “I’m going to beat you on this, but let’s cheer each other on.”
Cardona: I think the most surprising thing was that we all bonded so well and had such a great time together. It was almost like we were at camp. We were all grown adults with our own families and careers, but all of a sudden in this crazy world, we were together and all experiencing it at the same time. It was almost trauma-bonding with one another.
Cagalanan: The surprising thing is everything you see on TV is real. You really don’t see the ingredients until you open the basket, that is 100% real. Once the timer starts, it doesn’t stop. In my episode, one of the chefs sliced his finger, so he lost like five to seven minutes and that’s a lot of time to lose in that situation.
CP: Do you stay in touch with your fellow competitors?
Wang: We actually have a text chain with all of us. We text almost every day. We just became really good friends through trauma bonding.
Cardona: Yes, I now have connections all throughout the country I can call on, because the contestants live everywhere.
Cagalanan: In my episode, we were all buddy-buddies. We were friends immediately because, when we were done with the appetizer round, we go into this room and then we all hang out in the room. We just started chatting and talking. They were good chefs, like no one was an asshole. I still talk to them.
CP: Would you do another competition show?
Wang: We’ve been talking about that, but I’m not sure. I hear that a lot of Top Chef alumni do other things on Food Network. It does bring more attention to the restaurant. I’m not naturally competitive, but I would love to go back to Top Chef and be a judge. It would have to be the right show to get me back competing.
Cardona: I’m definitely interested in doing more of them, maybe something more focused in pastry competition. It’s difficult, because the filming process is two to three weeks minimum, so I have to have the vacation time and work and family have to be in a good place. The stars have to align, but I’m always going to take a pitch call.
Cagalanan: Yeah. I think so. In fact, I know so.
CP: Did your business get a bump from the TV fame?
Wang: I’m thinking King BBQ has definitely been busy. Jackrabbit has always been busy. A lot of people have been coming in just because of the show. In the past few days, we’ve had people from Virginia, from Illinois, from all over the country. People who are obsessive Top Chef fans come into the restaurant just to say hi. That’s one of the main reasons I decided to be on the show, to guarantee that our restaurants would be busy.
Cardona: It’s gotten me three or four articles talking about me. It’s given me a platform to showcase my background. I feel like it’s been great publicity.
Cagalanan: It was so funny because, one week after the show aired, I did a pop-up at Berkeley’s. It was so slow! It was not fun! Then we had just opened Kultura in July 2023 and that was slow too. I was so sad! But it’s a good thing to have it start slow, because I learned a lot and, when it got busier, I adjusted things like recipes, service. Slow was a blessing in disguise.
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