Milan Bhayana’s online fame started with a video he and his older sister Malaika made on the last Thanksgiving of the Beef Wellington he made. He had no idea the video would go viral and end up on a cooking reality show.

Milan, a 15-year-old sophomore at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, is one of 13 young chefs from across the country who recently appeared on Peacock’s “Top Chef Family Style” series. The show pairs each participant with an adult family member. The first episode of the series will air on Thursday.

Milan describes himself as a “very picky” eater when he was younger, a characterization with which his mother, Chandrani Ghosh, agrees.

He told Bethesda Beat last week that he started cooking when he was 7 or 8, but the real eye-opener came when he saw “The Hundred-Foot Journey” – a movie about competing restaurants. in a French village.

“They made a really nice omelet, and until that year I was allergic to eggs, and I remember when I got home I really wanted to make a fancy egg dish,” he said. said Milan. “So I tried making an omelet for the first time, and my mom taught me. This is where I really started to perfect recipes rather than cooking every now and then.

From that moment on, Milan realized that cooking your own meals was the way to tailor foods to your preferences.

Ghosh said his son has always had a “very demanding palate”.

“I think he got into cooking because he knows what he wants to eat, and that’s really to satisfy his own very demanding way of eating,” she said.

Milan tightened its culinary muscles last Thanksgiving by making Beef Wellington. Her sister posted a 15-second video on her TikTok account, challenging celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to give her reaction. The Beef Wellington video has attracted over 2 million views.

The siblings then started making videos together on a regular basis. Milan will typically spend a day cooking a meal and Malaika will sporadically film photos of him in action, Ghosh said.

Later, Malaika puts the clips together into TikTok videos which are usually less than a minute long and provide narration. It can take up to 10 hours to produce a video, Ghosh said.

As of Tuesday, Milan and Malaika had produced more than 40 videos together, some with millions of page views. A video, released in May, shows Milan making meat-stuffed tortellini and has garnered more than 8 million pageviews.

The videos became so popular that representatives of “Top Chef” reached out to Milan to tell them about the show, he said.

“At first I thought it was a joke. I thought it was someone who bothered me. But he ended up being the real “Top Chef”. And I started the application process the same day and ended up going to Los Angeles to compete, ”he said.

Milan had to make the cut in several preliminary rounds before heading to Los Angeles as a runner-up. During the preliminary rounds, he broadcast his cooking skills to the judges on Zoom, Ghosh said. The filming in Los Angeles that followed took place among the last 13 contestants, she said.

Ghosh and Milan worked as a team on the show. She said the show kept strict COVID-19 protocols, which included keeping all contestants in the same hotel and testing everyone three or four times a week. Milan received his first shot of the vaccine during recording, as that was when it became available to teens her age, she said.

Due to a nondisclosure agreement, Milan and his mother are limited in what they can reveal about the show before it airs. But he said last week that he particularly enjoys having his food judged by celebrities, including Meghan Trainor, JoJo Siwa and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

He said being on the show was a once in a lifetime experience. “It’s something that only happens once in a lifetime,” he says.

Bhayana has already had a moment of glory. At 13, he took part in an international tournament for the Magic card game in Barcelona, ​​as one of the youngest players to compete at the professional level.

He said last week that he still maintains his passion for the card game and enjoys teaching it to others.

Bhayana said her friends were all “super excited” for her TV appearance this week in “Top Chef Family Style”.

“They all watch the show religiously,” he said.

Dan Schere can be contacted at [email protected]

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When it comes to reality shows, contestants often find themselves in high pressure situations. After all, cooking is both a science and an art. A few wrong measurements are enough to completely ruin a dish. If these shows get your adrenaline pumping, motivating you to cook something fancy, only to realize that it’s best to leave the experts behind, then tune in to “Nailed It!” “

The Emmy-nominated baking series is back for its sixth season and promises even more sugar, spice, and lots of laughs. With amateur bakers trying their hand at desserts, things go wrong, in the best possible way! If you’re looking for more cooking shows, check out “MasterChef: Legends”, “Top Chef”, “Worst Cooks in America” and “Family Food Fight”.

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Release date

Watch Season 6 of “Nailed It! »On September 15, 2021.

Where to look

You can see a brand new season of “Nailed It!” On Netflix. You can also watch previous seasons on the streaming platform.

Ground

According to the official synopsis – “The Emmy-nominated series is back! This season, our bakers take on paranormal pastries, celebrate black history, and attempt to recreate chocolate masterpieces inspired by our own Jacques Torres, all for that $ 10,000 prize. It’s part a reality contest, part a mess, and you can’t look away. “

To throw

Jacques Torres
Renowned chef, Jacques Torres began his culinary journey at the age of 15, when he got an apprenticeship in a pastry shop in Bardol, in the south of France. Subsequently, he worked with the two-starred Chef Jacques Maximin at the Hotel Negresco in Nice and even became Executive Pastry Chef. At the age of 16, he received the MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) medal in Pastry making him the youngest chef to win the award to date. His deep love for chocolate led him to open his own store, called “Jacques Torres Chocolate”. The brand has 7 outlets across New York City and is known for its artisanal chocolates. He is also a published author, having also published several cookbooks.

Nicole byer
Comedian, actress, TV host, podcaster and author, Nicole Byer returns as the host of Season 6. She had a rather interesting start to her career, considering that she moved to New York after high school and that she served at the table. At the same time, she took courses at the Upright Citizens Brigade. UCB is famous for giving Amy Poehler, Neil Flynn, Adam McKay and several others their debuts in the industry. Byer went on to star in a web series produced by UCB called “Pursuit of Sexiness”. She is also the author of a book called “#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini”. His other works include ‘HouseBroken’, ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, ‘Tuca & Bertie’, ‘American Dad!’, ‘Rugrats’,’ Cinema Toast ‘,’ The Pole ‘,’ Invincible ‘and’ Wipeout ‘and’ The great greens of the city ‘.

Trailers

Regarding the desserts of “Nailed It! », You know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! So this season, get ready as a new group of contestants put their cooking skills to the test and create unique desserts that will put you to the test.

If you like it, you will love these

“Crazy delicious”

“Be our leader”

“The Great British Cake”

“The sugar rush”

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