All along, Nona Sivley said she cooks her heart out for her family.
Nona Sivley, of Atlanta, whose parents live in Gray and work in Auburn, won the eighth season of the cooking-based "Hell's Kitchen" starring Gordon Ramsay on Fox. The finale aired Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, she won the final round of the reality cooking show, "Hell's Kitchen," to land a job in Los Angeles and become the spokeswoman for a wine company.
Big-time.
Her family was watching, but like millions of other TV viewers, they had no idea that Nona won it all until the last seconds of the show.
"I saw it as everybody else saw it," said Kelly Ace, Nona's mother who lives in Gray. "She wasn't allowed to tell anybody. I found out that she won just now."
Kelly and her husband are from the South, but now they live here and work in Auburn. Nona, on the other hand, is probably going to be on the West Coast for a while.
In a riveting hour of "Hell's Kitchen" on Wednesday night, she out-cooked, out-served and out-classed her opponent, the odious and unpopular Russell.
Across the country, her mother was happy enough to be snuffling tears. But she was not altogether surprised.
Nona has always had that special something.
"She's awesome. She's a great girl," Kelly said. "She's my baby."
It was a long, tumultuous road to success. According to "Hell's Kitchen" notes:
"She's had three wins and has had personal victories as well, including identifying more ingredients correctly in one of Chef Ramsay's dishes. She could not, however, tell the difference between mashed celery root and mashed potatoes, which screwed up her service. She's been argumentative enough in the past that Ramsay booted her from the kitchen, but she's had some good relationships with the other contestants. Despite her lack of fine dining knowledge, she seems to have natural ability."
Kelly and the rest of Nona's family had to endure tense moments before the bliss Thursday night. There were missteps on Nona's team, including a chunk of halibut that would just not cook.
But Nona rallied her troops and got dinners served to VIP customers, including her husband and child.
"I want this so bad," she said to the camera. "My family is counting on me."
A moment later, normally grouchy host Gordon Ramsay announced Nona as the winner. The celebrations began, on the West Coast and on the East.
"We're so proud of her," Kelly said.
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