GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS: The Season 2 Champ Talks About Their Emotional Finale Win

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Wednesday, July 24 season finale of GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS.]

GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS has crowned its second winner!

On the Wednesday, July 24, in the second part of the two-part season finale, Team Vanderpump’s Jess and Roman and Team Gordon’s Ali faced off to take the ultimate prize. In the hour, they put a new twist on their brand…and reunited with loved ones.

After an emotional and heartfelt presentation, Jess, AKA Jess Druey of Whiny Baby, was named the next FOOD STARS champ. (Her victory also gave Lisa Vanderpump and Team Vanderpump their first win, much to Gordon Ramsay’s chagrin.)

Here, Druey talks with Give Me My Remote about her journey on the show, filming the emotional finale, and what comes next…

To go back to the very start of your time with the show, how familiar were you with the first season? Did you watch season 1 and take notes to try and figure out an approach for the competition? Or did you try to go in as fresh as possible?
Okay, it’s so funny you asked that, because I just verbalized [this] for the first time out loud—I think I was too embarrassed to say it while filming, even, because I know a lot of my fellow contestants and castmates religiously watched season 1, and, like you said, took notes. 

I actually watched a couple episodes, obviously, got the gist of it, but I didn’t watch the whole thing. And I just kind of felt like the approach…I think in life, and even business, is sometimes what you don’t know can be your biggest asset, because you can imagine how things could be done versus a preconceived notion of how they should be done. It sounds awful and so obnoxious, but it’s the truth: I really did not watch much of it.

And it ended up being beneficial given how much the format changed…
There were a couple challenges that I think were similar to challenges that happened last year. But I just think it would take you out of the moment, and you have to be so in the moment to understand and react and adapt properly. So yeah, it did work in my favor, thankfully. [Laughs.]

You were the last person announced for the finale, after Gordon and Lisa had each singled out a contestant from their respective teams. What was going through your mind in those moments?  
[Laughs.] I’m so scared to relive that and watch it. But to be honest, of course, there’s a disappointment [when your name isn’t initially called] that you go that far as in the competition, and you prepare yourself for anything; you want it so bad. It is devastating. But I think we just learned, thankfully, and I have a long way to go with this, but in business, there’s so many ups and downs and so many things are situational. 

That actually literally happened to me last week: A store that I had wanted to get on their shelf a year ago, they reached out now, this year, wanting it. And I just have learned to not take anything personally. And I didn’t know throughout the competition what Lisa and Gordon were specifically looking for.  Obviously, every entrepreneur beside me was so talented and so different. So I was devastated in that moment, but knew that it didn’t, you know, reflect on me or Whiny Baby in any less way,

Then in the final hour, you got to work with a former fellow competitor and reimagine your product as a boozy sorbet. How was that process?
A dream come true. I mean, I think you can see the camaraderie between us all, and that’s true. All of us stay in contact, still. We help each other now, just as entrepreneurial-like confidants with one another; sharing resources, or even just being someone each other can talk to as we navigate running and growing our businesses. 

But what people don’t really understand, and I wish more people got about the show, is to have a team of people that bring your idea to life, quite literally overnight, I can’t name…it’s like an entrepreneurial, for lack of better word, wet dream. [Laughs.] Whiny Baby, I had the idea, and it took me two years to actually make it tangible. And so to have an idea and it become tangible overnight is unexplainable.

Is the sorbet something you’re looking to incorporate into Whiny Baby’s business now?
What’s so exciting about Whiny Baby is we’re still very much a small brand. I’ve been really fortunate that we’ve gotten onto major store shelves like Target, BevMo, Go Puff, Total Wines, but when the show started, we were only on those store shelves in four states. And I’m happy to share that now, largely because of the show, we’re adding on 20 more states. And so the dream is that I get Whiny Baby available on store shelves in every single state, all major store shelves, and widely available.

But what’s exciting is I have the Whiny Baby starter pack, our three blends, and the future is unknown. Instead of coming out with another wine, maybe our next product is an alcoholic sorbet. And why I was so excited to do that was I just felt like I couldn’t properly win the show without really proving myself in the food space. I know I did that and held my own in the Savoy challenge, but to show that I could do that in product innovation really meant a lot to me, personally.



One of the really lovely emotional moments in the finale was your reunion with your mom and getting to have her there for this win. What did that mean to you to have her be there during the pitch and victory?
I mean, it meant everything. And it’s so funny, I think you can see it on the show…as a young female entrepreneur, I feel the need to be so extra polished and put together, and I forget that that vulnerable side isn’t something to be afraid of. It can actually be helpful, [with] people understanding and relating to you. 

But I think, really, I’m so thankful for the show, for so many things. But one of the major things is none of this would be possible without the people supporting me, especially my mom. I mean, she’s really given up so much for me to do this, and she didn’t know if it would become successful or not. 

There’s a lot of ego in entrepreneurialism. And as the founder and the face [of the company], I face a lot of the hardships, but I also get a lot of the fun and the reward and the praise. And for my mom to experience some of that fun and praise and recognition, I mean, that just meant the world, because the supporters and your family, they’re the ones—they’re the shoulders you’re crying on, and very rarely do they get the fun of it. And so for her to experience some of the fun of it and recognition that she deserves meant so much.

There was also a beautiful moment where you clearly got emotional on stage during your presentation. What was going through your mind there? 
I actually just watched that; I haven’t seen the episode, I’ll watch the episode for the first time this week, but I did get to see the clip just about an hour [before this interview] of the presentation. And watching it back, of course, it made me emotional. 

I think what’s so interesting is when I cracked, like I literally stopped and was choked up and kind of lost my footing—and it’s making me emotional talking about it right now!—the audience cheers me on in that moment…[She audibly lets out a breath.] It was a good reminder for me, even in my day-to-day, sometimes it’s not easy to ask for help. And when things are hard, you don’t want to show it. You don’t want to show it on social media. And what a beautiful representation of, hey, even when you do crack, you have people there to lift you up. That’s definitely a favorite memory for sure,

From what we saw, it seems like you were the last to present. What was that process like as you were waiting?
Oh my God, the longer you have to wait, the more you get in your head. We just rehearse over and over and over, right? But you reach a point where you’re like, “Okay, no more rehearsing. You’ve just got to go out there and give it your best.” 

It’s so symbolic, because I’ll never forget walking down that most insane, long hallway. The hallway was ridiculous. When we walked in the first episode [in that long hallway]… I don’t know if they did it on purpose, but it was ridiculous. It was the longest walk of my life. And then we ended in the finale, doing that walk up to the stage, which, again, I haven’t watched the episode, so I don’t know if they show it, but I remember walking through the audience and seeing my other castmates there was so meaningful. I mean, you can’t even begin to understand the bonds we all created because we went through this insane life experience. And then, of course, my mom. I can’t wait to watch it alongside everyone else.

And then you won! What was going through your mind when they called your name?
Nothing prepares you, you know? Because it really could go any way. And I have so much respect for the other finalists, the other semifinalists. And throughout the show, I really never knew. There was never a time like, “I’ve got this in the bag,” because everyone has such unique businesses, different leadership, entrepreneurial approaches, and it really could have gone so many different ways. So that moment is something I will never forget. And like I said, I think what made it even more special was looking at my mom and her coming up on stage and her getting that recognition, too.

This also meant that Team Vanderpump got the first win on FOOD STARS. What did it mean for you to be able to kind of bring that win home for her and the whole team?
To bring home the win for Vanderpump…I mean, if we’re being totally honest, I think viewers probably were questioning it, too. There were times I was like, “Are they really gonna be okay if someone from Team Vanderpump wins?” And beyond me loving Lisa Vanderpump—I mean, truly growing up, the more and more I think about it, I grew up watching HOUSEWIVES and VANDERPUMP—she has affected my inspiration for wanting to go into hospitality. She does what Whiny Baby does, which is reimagines experiences. When you walk into any of her restaurants or bars,  it’s an experience. You are taken from the existing world you’re in and you enter the Vanderpump world. And that’s what I do with Whiny Baby through reimagining the packaging. 

But I mean to take home that win, I think my favorite part about being on Team Vanderpump, outside of me and her being totally one and the same—I mean, we’re kindred spirits. She’s a self-proclaimed maximalist, as am I. So we just got each other—is it put a fire in me to prove Gordon wrong and to win him over. I think that’s something I’m really proud of: I feel like I had to work extra hard to win, because I had to prove it to Gordon, who didn’t initially pick me, as well.

What was the best bit of guidance you got from Lisa or Gordon during your tenure on the show about being successful within your industry?
I think my biggest takeaway is remaining true to yourself. And that’s kind of a blasé statement, but when you watch the show, I think you can see that I’m silly and kind of a lot and whatever. I remain really true to who I am throughout. 

And there’s times, it’s an overused phrase, but [there’s] imposter syndrome. I’m in an industry that is super old and outdated and wine is intimidating, and there’s just certain ways you do things. I’ve always come into the industry authentically as myself. 

You know, a great example is my three blends are still, but one is slightly fizzy. And I wanted them to have these crown caps and all be matching. So only someone in the industry would recognize this, but they’re actually in sparkling bottles. And when the operations team came back to me, they’re like, “You can’t put still wine in these bottles.” And I was like, “Well, why not? Does this affect the wine?” They’re like, “No, but you just don’t do that.” And so my approach in the competition, and it was thankfully affirmed by Gordon and Lisa, was that sometimes your weaknesses can be your biggest strength. And what you don’t know allows you to imagine how things could be done versus how they’re supposed to be done.

Of course. Looking back at your season on the show, what was your favorite competition week?
Oh my gosh, so many incredible moments like Savoy, proving myself there. I think for me, as silly as it is, obviously the wine challenge was so special. And that win meant so much to me, personally.

I don’t know if you picked up on this, but when we did our presentation, like I said, I grew up watching Lisa. And one of her infamous taglines is, “Life isn’t always diamonds and rosé, but it should be.” And we wrote it in there, having no clue that she was going to complete the statement when we did it. So you see us saying, “Life isn’t always diamonds and rosé,” she shouts, “But it should be.” And that’s such a small, silly moment. But in that moment, it kind of nudged me, like, “She gets me.” And to appreciate the attention to detail and the imagination that I put into my entrepreneurial approach. 

Is there anything you’re looking forward to post-win?  
So many exciting things. The goal is to get Whiny Baby to be a household name alongside these heritage brands. The alcohol industry is so hard to break into, and so the support from the show really means a lot, because it’s really a hard industry. And so hopefully it becomes widely available to everyone. 

And I’m just looking forward to what’s next, you know? I’m hoping that Whiny Baby and myself as an entrepreneur can enter into hospitality, maybe even with Lisa; that would be a dream. And then the products [crafted for Whiny Baby] on the show all need a little bit of product development, but I look forward to hopefully bringing them to life one day.

RELATED:

• GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS: Lisa Vanderpump Joins Season 2
• Fox Renews GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS
• GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS: The Season 1 Winner Shares What Comes Next
• GORDON RAMSAY’S FOOD STARS: Fox Sets May Launch for New Competition Series

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