Kansas City chef Jayaun Smith hopes to inspire others by competing on Hell’s Kitchen

Chef Jayaun “Jay” Smith’s national TV debut was a statement of confidence.

“My nickname is Chef Jay the GOAT. A lot of people call me the GOAT because they think I’m one of the greatest millennial chefs of all time at home,” he said in the first episode of Hell’s Kitchen season 20.

When Smith says “home,” he means Kansas City. Originally from Raytown, the 25-year-old is one of 18 contestants on this season of Hell’s Kitchen, which premiered May 31.

The show is known for host Gordon Ramsay’s fiery temper. Ramsay shouts instructions and insults at two teams of chefs while they compete in challenges and dinner services. This season, called Hell’s Kitchen: Young Guns, was the first to feature a cast of chefs exclusively aged 24 and younger. (Smith was 23 when it was filmed.) The winner will become Ramsay’s personal protege and head chef at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas.

In an interview Wednesday, Smith clarified that when he said he was the GOAT — an acronym for “greatest of all time” — he didn’t mean he’s literally the greatest chef in the city. He meant people appreciate the innovative ideas he applies to his food and marketing, as well as the struggles he’s overcome to succeed.

“When they say that I’m the greatest. . . they’re acknowledging the lane and the paths and the doors and the hope that I’m steady in increasing and opening up, for not just people and my culture and my community, but anybody in Kansas City,” he said.

Smith is a co-owner and personal chef for UHUNGRY? He also co-owns two restaurants — Sauced and Just Slide — and a food truck called The What Truck. After two years of keeping the show a secret, he got to add “Hell’s Kitchen contestant” to his list of accomplishments.

“You know when you tell people you’re busy and they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re all busy’? But often, people never understood that my busy is a little bit different than their busy,” he said. “So now people are actually getting to see, ‘OK, this kid actually has been working.’”

Smith comes from humble beginnings. He fell in love with cooking watching Food Network while his mom, a teenager when she had him, was in school. As he got older, his grandmother began buying him ingredients to make more and more advanced meals. By 16, he was competing in statewide cooking competitions, and by 18, he was working as a personal chef.

Since announcing he was on the show, he’s faced a newfound notoriety. People have begun to recognize him while grocery shopping, and his social media posts garnered thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.

Still, he hasn’t forgotten his roots. The first meal Smith made on Hell’s Kitchen was a Cajun dish called an étouffée his grandmother made for him growing up. And he reads every comment people leave him.

“I’m just being grateful and taking it day by day, and I’m just trying to show people I haven’t changed, I’m not going to change, attention is not going to get to me,” Smith said. “I just want to be a helping hand to more chefs.”

The show itself was both exciting and challenging, he said. It began with an email asking Smith to audition — which he assumed was spam. He responded, though, and wound up with a spot. It wasn’t luck so much as “a blessing I was waiting on for a long time.”

He got to cook alongside people from across the country and present dishes to internationally acclaimed chef Ramsay. Smith’s favorite moment on the show, he said, was seeing Ramsay for the first time. It was a moment that gave him “a rush of chills.”

“You almost get teary eyed, and you just lose your train of thought,” he said. “Just walking in and experiencing that for the first time, that’s a moment I wish I could relive one more time.”

Despite Ramsay’s intense persona, Smith said the chef took the time to get to know the contestants, including teaching them new skills and techniques. Smith came home knowing how to make “the best scallops in the world,” in his words.

Smith also used his time competing to learn more about himself as a cook and as a person. He said it made him a better leader, more detail-oriented and better at time management.

“Of course you take lessons away from the show, but I think if you don’t dig deep internally into yourself and figure out, ‘How can I get better as a person, being here?’, then I feel like you kind of miss some of those lessons,” he said.

With the first two episodes already out, Smith said he often cringes while watching himself compete. He was, after all, only 23. The show also presented challenges he doesn’t usually deal with, like staying up late studying recipes because he needed to know every ingredient for every station. If he could go back and do it again, he would — though he’d be more prepared and even more confident.

“I’m a much different, better, more experienced, more prepared chef than what they did see on the show and what they will see on the show,” he said.

Still, Smith hopes his appearance will have an impact, if only in inspiring people to follow their passions.

“I’m just trying to show the world, and not only the world — I’m really trying to show my city that you can create anything you want to with any career,” he said. “I’m just a chef. I’m just a young 25-year-old kid from Kansas City, and I made national TV off doing what I love.”

Episode three airs at 7 p.m. Monday on Fox. The first two episodes are available to stream on Fox’s website and Hulu.