"Being angry is not good for your health” - Yes, Chef! star Torrece Gregoire comments on her "attitude" problem

Yes, Chef! premiered its first season on April 28, 2025. The show introduced 12 highly skilled chefs who had a history of ego problems and hard-to-work-with personalities. They were nominated for the show by their colleagues, friends, and family, who wanted them to work on their issues while competing for the coveted title.

41-year-old contestant Torrece Gregoire, aka Chef T, had her own set of attitude problems, which were also displayed in the initial episodes.

In a May 16 interview with Cuisine Noir, she reflected on her temper, acknowledging that being short-tempered and angry isn't healthy. While Chef T admitted to having an “attitude,” she emphasized that her reactions are situational and that she’s actively working on better ways to handle various challenges.

“Being [with a] short fuse and being angry is not good for your health. I understand I have an attitude…everything is situational and I’m always looking for ways to tackle different situations,” she said.

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Yes, Chef! Contestant Torrece Gregoire reflects on her past and comments on the high-pressure environment in a professional kitchen

Torrece Gregoire was introduced as one of the 12 skilled chefs competing for the coveted title of the Yes, Chef! inaugural season.

While she had an impressive presentation during the premiere episode, she faced her fate in the very next episode, where she was eliminated and had to leave the competition early in the season.

In her interview with Cuisine Noir, Torrece shared that she was nominated for the show by her line cook, who believed that such a cooking show would tone down her hard-driving attitude.

Yes, Chef! wasn't her first experience participating in a competition show. She had headlined many food festivals before and had also made some appearances on other cooking competition shows.

However, her path to the NBC show participation wasn't so easy for her.

Torrece revealed that just four weeks before filming for Yes, Chef!, she had a brain tumor removed. She shared that she had been battling a medical condition for over a decade, and fortunately, has since recovered from it.

Furthermore, in the interview, the chef went on to talk about her career in the professional kitchen and how a high-pressure environment often prompts the chefs to occasionally lose their cool.

“The professional kitchen is really volatile because number one, as an individual, you have your own emotions that you have to manage and there’s a lot of stuff that you have to leave at the door when you walk in,” she explained.

The Yes, Chef! Contestant continued:

"Then on top of it, you have all these other personalities that are coming in, and the leader is usually the one that’s carrying the vision. Sometimes buying into that vision does not equal this level of excellence that you’re constantly striving for because you’re also balancing the weight of the guest review."

Chef T added that the intensity in her kitchen stems from something deeply personal. She clarified that she doesn’t expect her chefs to be “perfect,” but rather values consistency above all.

Her goal is for them to truly understand the guests' expectations and deliver accordingly.

When asked about how her Yes, Chef! participation had changed her, the chef noted that the experience made her calmer than before.

“Three words that describe me now: optimistic, enthusiastic, and I would actually dare to use the word calm…I really try to pinpoint the positive that everyone [on my crew] is doing. It’s putting me in a better headspace. And then if there are things I notice, I wait. And then at the end of the shift, we sit outside and then we do I recap. I think it’s just a better way to handle it,” she concluded.

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Yes, Chef! season 1 episode premieres every Monday on NBC.