Digital Social Hour - How Chef Rush Built a Billion-View Social Media Empire I Chef Rush DSH #1216

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

🔥 How did Chef Andre Rush go from military leadership to creating a billion-view social media empire? Tune in now to hear his incredible journey! 🌟 In this episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly, Chef Rush shares how his passion for cooking, mental health advocacy, and relentless work ethic turned him into a global icon. From cooking for four U.S. presidents to breaking barriers in the culinary world, Chef Rush is redefining success. 💪🍽️   Discover how he manages to do 2,222 push-ups daily, connects with millions of fans worldwide, and inspires change around mental health and veteran support. ❤️‍🩹 Plus, hear his thoughts on overcoming challenges, building resilience, and staying authentic in today’s fast-paced world. Packed with valuable insights, this conversation is a must-watch! 🚀   Don’t miss out—watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and join the conversation for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🎙️✨     CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - Chef Rush at SHOT Show 01:34 - Mental Health Awareness 03:55 - Dealing with Haters 05:52 - Creating Viral Videos 06:46 - Impact of Social Media 10:41 - Overcoming Victim Mentality 12:00 - Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life 17:00 - Medication Withdrawal Challenges 20:40 - Keys to Success 23:54 - Korean Etiquette Tips 28:20 - Lessons from Gordon Ramsay 32:50 - Understanding Entitlement 33:20 - Confronting Family Issues 36:00 - Coping with Loneliness 40:54 - Football Insights 42:33 - Managing Injuries 45:44 - Future Plans for Chef Rush 46:10 - Finding Chef Rush Online   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Chef Rush https://www.instagram.com/realchefrush/   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/   #socialmediamarketing #creatorburnout #socialmediamanagement #wellnessstrategies #mentalhealth   #suicideprevention #contentcreation #socialmediamarketing #wellnessstrategies #mentalhealthadvocate

I talked about that in my book, you know, call me chef damn it. And I said, man, I was so mad at her for giving me that. Because my dad was just hard. You know, I wish I could just be that hard person. But my mom was like, treat everybody the same. Treat everybody the same. She's bringing the homeless and feed them little kids. And like, why is she bringing them?

We don't have enough food as it is. Why is she bringing them in? All right, guys, we got Chef Rush here today. He's in town for Shaw Show, man. Thanks for coming on. Yep, yep. Love Shaw Show. Yeah, how was it? It was my first one actually.

Was it really? Yeah. You're a virgin. I'm a virgin. No, Shaw Show was amazing. I've been there a few years. They show so much love. Me being in the military, doing what I do

with the veterans, with the suicide awareness, with the mental health. So it was just like the whole time I've been there, I don't even remember because I took like a thousand, 10,000 pictures and hugged people and cried with people and just amazing, man. Wow. You still doing 2,000 pushups a day, man? 2,222.

Damn. I don't know weekends though. Okay. Yeah, that's impressive, man. Do you just bang them out as soon as you get up or you space them out throughout the day? Space them out throughout the day doesn. Okay. Yeah. That's impressive, man. Do you just bang them out as soon as you get up or you space them out throughout the day? Space them out throughout the day doesn't work for me. That's too much time. They're too busy.

I get up at three o'clock in the morning. I'll bang them out all at once. Get them an hour and a half. I'm good. 125 at a time equals 1776. So everything has a meaning, rhyme, a reason. It's not a workout. It's about mental health.

22 vets unfortunately commit suicide a day. And I do the rest just because of their families. The kids and the families who were unrecognized. Yeah, yeah, mental health hits deep for me, man. I struggled with it and my father lost his life to it. So it definitely hits deep. Oh wow, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, man, so shout out to you for doing that.

That's incredible. Yeah, it goes really deep. I have a, I don't know, he's been taking care of me. I've had a big, big thing with it, which things you don't know about a year ago. Unfortunately, I lost my daughter to it and her five and six year old brother, and she was 11. Whoa.

And another command, command sergeant major and another, her stepfather. That's insane. So- And you yourself dealt with it, leaving the military, right? ST, mental health. I still deal with it. You know, I still deal with it. I mean, this is a product of who I am, PTSD, but it's all about who you are and what you're doing and what you're going to do into this world and what energy you're going to give out. I mean, you can hate, you can love, you can have difficulties, you can fail and fail and

fail, but that's just part of it. I mean, who cares? I mean, you got to look at yourself in the mirror, look at yourself and self reflect and just say, you know, it's you against you. Right. You got to know yourself, right? Because a lot of people, those comments will get to them. Comments drive me. I think they're pretty funny because they're most of the time they're irrelevant.

You know, they'll do something that's passed a narrative that has nothing to do with you. You know, whether it be, oh, Shelfie, Diggins, steroids, which I laugh at, which that just means I look really good. Or they'll say something of the sort, which I kind of laugh at, and sometimes I'll get a little freaky and I'll come back and troll them a little myself, and then I block them and keep on living. Oh, you block them, the haters?

Of course, I don't deal with that time. I've blocked some, too. Yeah, if you're in my world, I want my world, this is a safe place, right? By all means, do your comments and say what you say, be respectful for it, right? You know, I did a video, if you saw the food video I just did.

Which one? The last one I did, what I would do for Fox, it went on Fox everywhere. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I also did another video and it wasn't about what I'll cook for the first president, per se. It was about what this country was built off of.

You know, with the tomahawk steak, with big, bold, like this flag on my shoulder, like, you know, our nation, about the people, about everything we've been through, which was a miracle on a plate, right? I want you to show where this land was built from, from the farmers, from the ground up, you know, but people get to confuse a lot of it

because you are what you eat. If you eat like crap, you're gonna feel like crap, but if you eat like you expect, you're gonna feel respect. 100%. I was surprised you got hate on that because you've cooked for four presidents, both Democrat and Republican, so I don't get why people would hate on that.

Who cares? I don't care. You see, the thing about it is about not caring is whether it be black or white and different, I don't care about religion? I don't care. You see, the thing about it is, about not caring is, whether it be black or white and different, I don't care about religion, I don't care about monetary value, I don't care about my people, however, when I say my people,

meaning that you can be black, you can be white, you can be yellow, you can be anything, I'm gonna treat you like a human. Regardless of the fact, if you have your opinion, we're still cool. As long as you don't bring it in my space where it becomes a little bit difficult, or where it becomes to a part

where I know it's gonna get over that, we're good. Say your opinions. We can even argue. I was in military. I've had times where I unfortunately grabbed guys and I shook them around a few times, but at the end of the day I say, you all right, we good?

All right, let's go. And that's it. Emotions or emotions for a reason. They can save lives and they can destroy lives. They can take lives and they can do things like that. But in a day, it's still gonna be you against you. I love that. And yeah, food is a universal language too.

Oh yeah, it's a love language. I tell people now, you know, being thinking about my how making America healthy again, you know, we need to get back into what food really is meant to be. Right? You know, people ask me, what's my favorite meal? What's the restaurant I went to? You know, my favorite meal is the meal that I'll never ever get again.

That was with my mother. She's not here. And that will always be the set tone for me. It was those endorphins that I remember where you just felt that warmness and that love. I'm from Mississippi, the hospitality state. So when I tell people food is holistic medication, is love, is friendship, is all those things

that was meant to be instead of just a click. And say I went to this five-star restaurant and this person cooked for me, that person cooked for me. Think about what it is, which I do respect because I'm that person also. I like gourmet food, I make pretty food, but at the end of the day, my food, like I just told you what I just did,

it has to have a meaning to it. I love that so much. I agree though, I think there's an energetic component to the person making the meal. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, if they're not the nicest person, you could taste it in the food. Yeah.

I 100% agree with that. And I'm pretty nice. Yeah, you're very nice, man. Man, your meals are good. I was going on your YouTube. Some of your videos had tens of millions of views. It was actually insane. I'm gonna have hundreds of millions of views.

I saw a couple of them, yeah. I mean, that's on- I have a great crew that I have fun with, right? You know, and it's a testament because if I look at some of the top ones I've done, you know, I was just with Nick and Boston, I was with Albert, I do Bosh and whatever. I mean, we'll do one video and it'll get, you know,

six, seven, 800 million, right? And we'll do another one, do the same part of it. So it's me being like a strategist because there's a reason why I'm doing the things I'm doing. Like they're doing the things they're doing. So I want to get more kids in my corner. I want to get more views because you got to think about it. The TV is going away.

We have it, it's great. I want to do both sides of it with my TV shows, but at the end of the day is still we have social media where guess what? All eyes on social media. Yeah, and you transitioned brilliantly. I was watching you on Fletcher Show on the way here the end of the day is still we have social media where guess what? All eyes on social media. Yeah. And you transitioned brilliantly. I was watching you on Fletcher Show on the way here and you did all the social media on your own for a while, right?

Everything. Not on my own now. Still. Still. I went from 250,000 in a year after my daughter actually was taken by her father, her stepfather and both her brothers, I lost it. I didn't know what to do because I had lost another best friend a year prior in LA. And then I had lost one of my soldiers to the same. And I was just like, man, why me, why me? So I was just, I was gone. I'm not gonna lie to you.

And then when I finally said, okay, USA came to me to do a campaign. They didn't know anything about this, but they came to me literally that week and said, we want you to do this campaign. They headed up called facefight.org. And it's about suicide awareness, you know, from Elizabeth Dole and whatever.

And I was like, it was a sign. It was a sign because it happened the same thing with my brother who passed away from cancer, which they came to me. And then I just, I dove into it and went to the White House, Chamber of Congress, National Press Club, did a media tour, and then I got on social media and I looked at it because I wasn't familiar with it.

I got millions and billions of views, but it wasn't for me, it was just me supporting and helping other people. And long story short was, I'm a strategist, but it wasn't for me. It was just me supporting and helping other people. And long story short was, I'm a strategist. I'm a logistician. So cooking is actually a hobby of mine. I just became extremely great at it, right? But my other real job was different stuff.

And when I dove into it, I looked at all the social media at once. And in the first month, I'm sorry, the first week, I had a million views on everything, subscribers rather, on everything. In a week? In a week. That's crazy. YouTube now, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, went to Facebook, got a million, literally. And then the first three weeks it was at four million, five million, six million, ten million, and it was just so much, but everybody was showing so much love. The great thing about it was, every

time I went out, even just to today, there were all kids, like little kids, like six years old, seven years old. Their parents were like, wait, my son knows you, my daughter knows you, can I take a picture? And yada yada yada, and it just, it made me heart well. It was what I needed, you know, when I say a give back because we all have things we have to cope with. That was my coping tool was being able to give back and also kids, but then it was one side of it, but kids was a lifeline to me.

I didn't know your audience was a lot of kids. A lot of kids. That's interesting. So they love the food stuff. They love the food stuff, but they love the fun things I do. I'm known as like kind of like the angry gentle chef. You know, it's kind of like a balance where I gotta get be angry. I get to hit a couple of my guys, pick them up and dust them off

and then have a little fun with them. I love it, man. I mean, you're talented in other verticals too. You got ice carving going on. I'm doing one this weekend, actually this weekend at the Fit Expo. I'm a master ice carver. So I'm a sum, I'm a pastry chef. I do chocolate.

I do a lot of things. Food is, honestly food is just therapy for me. I mean, a big therapy. So when I dove into it, I had no idea that I would be the person that would be representing being a chef. And the reason why where this is, which I made up,

was because it was my foundation. I didn't put on a suit and tie, I'm a speaker also. I don't put on a suit and tie, I wear it. I want you to know who I am and where I came from. I could be a garbage man. It's kind of like a testament saying, you can be whatever you want to be. You don't have to be that person that went to law school,

a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, and yada, yada, yada, and so forth. This right here today in age is America where everything is great, right? Where you, if you get the opportunity, you make the opportunity. Don't take advantage, but don't blame anyone. Don't blame anyone for holding you back or saying this and that. And if you don't know, figure it out. I love that. Victim mentality, right? Victim. When did you make that mindset shift? Was it in the military?

I made that mind shift when I was a kid. Oh, that young? I was literally that young. When my dad was a big brawny guy, a very dark big brawny guy, I was scared the hell of him. And my mom, he was the one who taught me how to work hard. And my mom, I said,

was the one who taught me how to love hard. And my mom, I said, was the one who taught me how to love, but I was scared as hell of him. I just wanted to please him, please him, please him, please him. But he had no expression whatsoever. And as soon as I could walk, he put us to work in the gardens and we would do stuff in the farms and other people's farms.

And they would have, you know, other people have, you know, it was white and black, but they would have equipment and we would do it by hand. And I'm like, why are we doing it by hand? You know, just do it. And I hated it. And now, but at this point in time now, there's no one that can work harder than me.

Even at my stage where I am, there's no one that can work harder than me. That's why I don't have anyone doing on my social media because you have to know who I am, what I am. You have to walk like me, talk like me, be like me. And you also have to be humane and empathetic at the same time. This is not McDonald's, this is not Burger King.

This is real life and you can save a life or you can actually hinder a life or even end a life. Yeah, I love that. So you got the work ethic from your dad and the emotional side from your mother. Of course. So you got the best of both. Yeah, a little bit more of my mother,

which I kind of hate. I talked about that in my book, you know, call me chef, dammit. And I said, man, I was so mad at her. Forgive me that, cause my dad was just hard. You know, I wish I could just be that hard person, but my mom was like, treat everybody the same. Treat everybody the same.

She's bringing the homeless and you know, and feed them, we were little kids. And like, why is she bringing them? We don't have enough food as it is. You know, why is she bringing them in? And it was hard because she said everybody needs someone, you know, and, and, you know, that stuck with me as well as my dad said, you know, two things you need to know in life. I always. When I was young, he said, wherever you go, someone wants you to fail. Next thing was always be the hardest worker in the room.

Wow. Someone wants you to fail. That's so true though. Yeah, yeah. It could be the person that's bowing to you. It could be your friend. It could be your family. It could be anyone. And you know what?

Now being Chef Rush, it is absolutely true. I've had it so much in my life, joining the military, doing this. And I was very transparent in the military, in my book, and saying, hey, it's not all what it is. I was sent to do a job. It's like if you were a garbage man, if you were this, they said, the military gave you so many opportunities.

No, you have to give your own self opportunities. It's a job. You have to make that thing happen. They didn't say, put Private Rush over here so he can be the greatest leader in the world. They didn't say that. That was me. I did that. Now, granted, I was in a position to say, okay, it's going to happen.

It was not going to happen. But I'm as real as you can possibly be with that part. And I support the military a million percent. And that's what I love. I got the shot show the whole time. Thinking what you do for the veterans. Because me doing this was, I said, working for all these leaders, I said, if I ever got the opportunity, I know what I want to do.

And it's not what a lot of them are doing because once they get that paycheck or get their monetary value, they're gone. They out. They out. Right. I think all my veterans, I think, think for your service, what you did, but it's what you're doing. But also what you did, I'm not gonna take anything away from you. What I'm doing is what I'm doing. Right?

You don't have to do anything, you know? I'm gonna support you regardless. Yeah. That's why you see a lot of them struggle after they retire, right? It's true. They lose that sense of purpose. It's sense of purpose. And that's where I go speaking about transitions,

especially in civilian forces. So it's like bridging the gap between the military and civilians. and that's where I go speaking about transitions, especially in civilian forces. So it's like bridging the gap between the military and civilians. And it's a big gap because a lot of civilians don't know what to say or how to act around military. And a lot of military can look at it. You think about them, I had a hundred people

that I was taking care of, that I was in charge of, that I was in leadership, and now I'm behind a cubicle. And I'm listening to this kid right here telling me what to do. Yeah, that's a big change, right? Huge. That take you a while to kind of find yourself after you transitioned?

After I transitioned was a hard transition. I went through a lot. I was a transition no one knew, but I was in two inpatients. I was in an outpatient for a year. I was in two inpatients. I was in an outpatient for a year. And it was hard because I was going therapy. I was talking to people and I just didn't like them.

I didn't like them. I didn't like the medication they sprung me up with, a lot of medication, which is a true industry. I get it. But at the same time, I was also very aggressive. Really? I've always been very aggressive. I mean, when things are not right, right? If people say,

oh, he's a gentle giant. I'm not a gentle giant. I will take your head off the quickest of anything in the world. But at the same time, if there's no reason to, I won't. And I will defuse it any way I possibly do. But if I have to jump in front of a bullet for the sake of your life, I'm gonna do that. But if I have to do other things, I'm gonna do that as well. And sometimes even with the caretakers, I was extremely aggressive

because I knew what they were doing. I had an opportunity to see things and know things that a lot of my counterparts, whether it be Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, enlisted, or even officers didn't get to see or know. I knew them because of who I work for, how I work, what I work for.

And I knew that even at my disarray where I'm at Chef Rush, they say, who's taking care of you? People take care of me right now. Shon Show took care of me. It was a lot, I ain't gonna lie to you. I was exhausted, and the day, I just left right there, off stage,

I came right here, right? But they showed me so much love, and I would never deny any of them. I took a million pictures, and I said thank you a million times, and I smiled a billion times, and I don't care, and I'm not gonna waver on them. I'm not gonna say I'm tired of this and that,

because they mean more than meaning anything. And with them saying thank you for your service, thank you for what you do, it's just as important that I show them they're worth it. Self-worth is everything, you know? And also giving a person their praises and saying it, I don't care if you serve, I don't care if you're a dishwasher,

thank you for everything you've done. Gratitude, right? Gratitude. Man, that's deep. Yeah, that must've been frustrating, knowing that and then being on medication for a year, it couldn't help out. It was the thing.

And then I finally, when I had a moment of clarity, I literally sat on the couch for like a year in the same spot and I was on so much medication. Like, when I did the worst thing you possibly do, I had a moment of clarity and I went upstairs and I opened up this big as bin of medication, just all this medication. And I remember I just looked at it and then I got it all

and I just pulled it down the toilet and I flushed it. Not knowing, but not for myself, that you need to whim off a medication. That was hard, that you need to whim off a medication. That was hard, that was hard. But I know that I didn't have the capacity to do that. If I'm taking 30 milligrams or 10 milligrams or five milligrams and you have to be calculated

to whim off of those, lipid by lipid, which could have took months, and I would have known how to do it myself. So I really just struggled to do it all at the same time. And I got sick as hell, I ain't gonna lie to you about that. And it made me, now I know what people who are going through withdrawals feel like, but after the fact was, I could see.

Wow, so how long did that last, the withdrawals? Oh my God, it's like over a month plus. Damn, that's no joke. It was bad, you're talking about sick, you're talking about your stomach, you talking about, I mean, it's terrible. Yeah, I had some Xanax withdrawals cause I ran out and they don't tell you

what you just said, so it kind of lean off of it. They don't tell you that when they give you it. No, it's addictive. I mean, literally your body thrives it. It wants it all the time. So imagine taking five or six or seven different drugs or 10 different drugs that are all addictive. Yeah. I wonder what the average veteran is on. How many drugs do you think

prescription drugs? Oh my God. I don't even want to guess, but if I had to think, if I had to think right off the top of the thing, I'm saying at least five. Holy crap. Yeah. That's terrible. Cause they're like thirties, forties. It is, it is. And they have them for everything. I mean, everything, everything. And I think that's kind of like the universal cure, put them on drugs, right? And so that's just part of it. But I know our medical industry for the vets and the VA and whatever has been a little tainted

and it's been up and down and so forth. You hope and pray that it gets better. You know, hope and pray. I met one of my guys the other night, two nights ago, and we cried together because unfortunately, something bad happened to him and he had withdrawals and he lost it and he tried to do something really bad. And I hadn't seen him in a long time

since the Last Shot Show. We cried together, I hugged him and he's... And I love this guy and he has a huge company, he does so much for veterans, but he's had a lot of stuff that happened to him in the military, in Iraq and in life and so forth. And anything could be a trigger, anything. So I tell people,

because everybody wants to make fun of everything today. Everybody's on social media making fun of everybody, every little thing. The only time they don't make fun of it, is when it happens to them. Facts, yeah, people are quick to judge, quick to bully these days, cyber bullying. Quick to judge, quick to judge, you know, of death,

you know, they do it, but when it happens to their friends, their family, their loved ones, it's like, why? You know, so one of the things I do is I make a cause out of everything. I don't care what it is, if it's your cause, it's my cause. Because somewhere, some why, someone needs it. And I've been fortunate to do that, especially with my speaking,

because I've had the most crazies from Ernest Young to all the other people from the military, FBI, medical, speaking, speaking, speaking, everything's relatable when you think about your mindset, leadership, transition, food, and what it does. It's a universal message, like you said, so you can go across every platform, not just the one. Everybody has a niche, but me,

fortunately, I have a lot of layers. Yeah, we were talking about it off camera, how you're big in Korea, right? Yeah, yeah, Korea, you know, and I did that purposely, you know, and I'm black, if you don't know. And I speak no Korean, and I love them, and they love me back in return. And I went from this to the huge, huge,

I've done three Netflix shows there that even left me, I came back and they want me to do another one, I've done every big brand, I do all of it, and I do nothing. That's the power of persuasion, right? That's the power of relevancy, of saying, hey, I wanna do this and I wanna show you because us as Americans sometime,

we're ungrateful, entitled, uncaring, and at the same time, it's like you'll eat some food and you'll look like, oh, that's like oh that's nasty that's nasty why is it nasty because you didn't grow up that way why you didn't do that you don't look at other countries food because it can be very disrespectful you know me I went to I'm an etiquette person yeah I went to class I went to actually school to learn etiquette about what to do what not to do how to do it you know what to say when they jump into do, how to do it. You know, what to say, when to jump into a conversation, when to jump out, when to know when it's too long, when it's that, how to do everything you need to do from running

the front of the house or the back of the house to the states to different places in different countries. And you know, I teach people on that part of it, you know, and the one thing that I cannot do is just kiss ass. I tell people it's kind of like the art of selling without selling. Don't go begging. A lot of people are begging and it just turns people to the point

to where it's just cringe. If you shine the way you're supposed to shine, everything's gonna come to you. I'll tell you a true story since I've been doing what I'm doing, I've never picked up the phone. Not once. Not every TV show from my Kid G Commando,

from Disney to all the Korean shows, to my show coming up now, to my other show just getting ready to come out with TV One, to all my brands, to all my endeavors, all my business, I've never picked up the phone. That's crazy. Cause a lot of people have a guy that does that or they themselves do it, you know, or a team even.

Some people have agencies. And even further, every team I've had that's in LA, I fired them all. My lawyer, my literary, my publisher, I got every deal they had. Wow. And I said, why am I paying you to get you deals? And I said, here you go, now give them a quarter.

I've waited a quarter, three months. I said, if you don't get me a deal, you out. I don't wanna keep bringing you because they say, oh man, Chef Rush is getting all the deals. All the deals, all the deals. Work, work. I'd rather fail on my own than for you to succeed and me to fail or you help me fail.

It doesn't make any sense. Facts, you're in control at least, right? Exactly, exactly. At least I know if I did it, I did it. I'm okay with that. Right, because then it's on you. It's on me, it's on me. Yeah, I love that.

Man, what's some etiquette people should know about though? As far as- In Korea. In Korea, who, Korea's very different. So I go to Korea, Japan, I go to Thailand. Korea is very universal. If you haven't Korea, Japan, I go to Thailand. Korea is very universal. If you haven't been to Korea, you need to go. It's a lot different than what it used to be.

The people are much more open, much more hip, much more this, slurping is okay in Korea. Yeah, if you ever see my videos, I'm slurping like, I love it. I'm like, I could be me, like slurping to death, right? They love it. They're like, whoa, chef, you slurp better than us. You know, using chopsticks,

you use chopsticks better than us. You eat everything more than us, you know? And if you have something that you don't like there, don't act like it's frownable. That's okay, but don't act like it's the most disgusting thing in the world. You know, in Korea, a lot of things people don't know is they don't have like walk up to people

on dates, like go out like, oh, I see someone, let me go try to date them. They have a place they go for that or people introduce them to people. Really? Yeah. It's none of that. It can be a million women and men in the same place. They will not talk to each other. What?

They won't talk to each other whatsoever. It's got to be prearranged. It can't be like you can't hit on a girl on the bar. Yep. Or you'll say you're going to this dating bar where it's a dating bar. So they say, well, you know, it's susceptible to go and say hi to a girl if you want to.

That's actually interesting, right? Very interesting. I feel like, cause it's intimidating dating in America. Like going up at the bar with girls. So now if you know there's a place that you go to date, it's kind of easier, I feel like, mentally. No, no, no. Well, think about LA and Vegas.

You know, in DC or New York or all that part of it. It can be very, very stressful. I mean, hell, I don't know how to date. So there you go. You're just focused on working. I work a lot. What's some interesting dishes out there in Korea? Oh. What are they known for?

I know Korean barbecue, obviously. Korean barbecue. You said that's not the same here. It's not the same here. No, not even a little bit. What's different about it over there? The way they cook it, right? And the beef. They have what we call hanwoo, which is not allowed here in the U.S., which is actually close to being wagyu,

or Kobe, as far as flavor profile and triation with fat. It's not allowed here, you said? No, it's not allowed. Why? It's too cheap. It'll blow everybody out the box. Wow. That's why.

Interesting. It's too cheap. The margin for, if you think about it, it just doesn't make any sense for the U.S. to bring it over. But you also have the Australian wagyu and all that other stuff. But then you also have the black pig.

The black pig is something just phenomenal. It's something that you eat and it's just like, what is's something that you look, eat, and it's just like, like what is this meat? Tender, juicy, succulent, you know, no pork, nothing, nothing, nothing. But like me, I eat the kabe tong, which is they do great with their stews. I call them stews, but not called stews, but you know, where they just have all these flavors

that have been cooking for weeks and months and just replenish over and over and over. I've seen those videos. Yeah, yeah. You know, Khabi Tong or Jajayam, which we call black spaghetti, right? Which is just filled with flavor profiles and everything is so diverse. You know, I honestly, when I go there, I'll eat about five times a day. Holy crap. And nothing's the same, nothing's the same. And I will be there for sometimes for four, five, six weeks.

Wow. And I'll just eat every day. Cause I have a channel over there on the Korean school. So I eat every day all the time. What a living. Oh my God, it's amazing, it's amazing. That's so cool. So you get to review the food and make a video about it.

I get to review the food, I don't even get to review it. I just eat the hell out of it. Yeah, that's so cool, man. Is to review the food and make a video about it. I get to review the food. I don't even get to review it. I just eat the hell out of it. Yeah. That's so cool, man. Is that your favorite cuisine, Korean food? Korean food is one of my top ones. I always ask people, like, if you had to eat one cuisine the rest of your life,

what would you pick? No one's ever said Korean, actually. What's a normal one? I hear Italian a lot. I hear Japanese. No one says American, to be honest. No one says American. I don't think we're up there.

No, not up there. I mean, Korean is a lot of people don't go to Korea and think of it like that. But I mean, if you think about Asian, you think about Japan, very clean food, very clean, very delicious. You won't gain a weight, you won't gain a pound over there though.

It's very small portions there. You would struggle out there. I was, yeah, I would struggle out there. In Korea, but it's just so many different flavor profiles. You know, Japan has the ramen, which is amazing, which is depth and flavors and profiles. And Korea just has the diversity for all flavors. I love it.

I know you've done some stuff with Gordon Ramsay. What have been some big takeaways you've learned working with him? Takeaways I've learned with Chef Ramsey, he's amazing. He's a magnificent chef and business person. He's strategic. He is a person that you can learn from. And I've took notes from him on what you do. When I did my show, I had to kind of figure things out. They kind of put me right in the show and said, here you go. And I didn't know what to do,

but I want to do something that I would want to see, not what I want to do. I got a fan of everything, like, you know, I could say, oh, I cook this great. I didn't want to do that. I'm like, what would I do if I'm looking at something on TV? And so I did that. And I also wanted to make it kind of like community based,

you know, leadership based. So that's when I started doing it. I put in the four P's, made it something that people can live by, stand by. And then I put it into the food and made people appreciate it much more. So, so doing that, even with MasterChef, when I did the, you know, the thing is to have fun, right?

Me personally, I get rid of all the arrogance, I get rid of it, I never had it, all the arrogance, arrogance, right? Thinking you just didn't. Some of the people, I was self-taught, and a lot of chefs honestly wanted me to fail. They wanted me to fail. Because they just thought I didn't belong.

I mean, and I'll be honest with you, I didn't belong. I don't know what that even looked like. I was different. I was black, I was young. I was like, what? Yeah, you know. They went to culinary school for a year. Yeah, but that's the part about it.

You know, you did something that I didn't do or could do, or like everybody else, and so you think you're better than us because you know it and you do it and you hold it over their shoulders. Don't do that. I hate people like that. Maybe, you know, everybody get opportunity and everybody has the whole part of it,

but that's not true. Everybody doesn't have the opportunity now because somebody just don't have the capacity for it and the knowledge base for it or whatnot. But you know, it's true that if somebody, if you've done something that you know people have not done, teach them, show done, teach them. Show them, understand them.

Don't act like they're just, I use the word like dumb, that they don't know, that they can't learn. Give them opportunity. And, because I know I had all my opportunities, a lot of opportunities taken away from me. A lot of them taken away from me. A lot of accolades that were taken away. And you know what?

I didn't care. It wasn't about accolades, it was about doing my job. And I did my job diligently. But at the same time, it was hard because, you know, you do and you wanna be rewarded in some type of person or mindset or whatever, but if it doesn't happen, it just doesn't happen. You know, I'll go back to my dad

when I was working with him in construction, you know, that's why I learned to work out because I wouldn't have a gym, the YMCA you had to pay for and you have any money. So I used to do construction when I was a kid. And a long story short was it was a big metal car that was there every day when I would go and help him. And he would tell me, go pick up that car.

It was late on when I started working for him a little bit. And I'm like, I'm a kid. I'm like, I can't pick up that car. I mean, it's a metal car, like the real one. I'm not even one right here. And so, you know, the old heads, everybody was older and I would go and try, I would try. And every time, you know, I still had school, this, that.

So a long period of time passed by. And I remember the last time I went and I got to that car and it was like, don't always try to use your strength. Try to be smart about it. So I braced myself and I got on the jury and I pulled and I went from the back part up, right? Instead of going from the front part.

And I picked the car up and all the guys started clapping and you know, going, ah, you know, and I had the most biggest surprise in my life. So when I walked over to my dad, he was in the machine and he looks at me and he just said, about time. And he went back to work and I was like, okay. And I can say, like, okay, all right.

I didn't get the accolades. I didn't get the praises, whatever. It was like, that's life. If you do something and you do something great, that's not the end of it. Keep effing going. Don't just say, oh, I did this. I did this right here.

Okay, what's next? That's what I, and that's what I tell my people. I said, oh, congratulations, let's go. Right? I'm not gonna take that from you, but if you get caught on that one win, what about the 100 you're missing? Right.

Some people call it tough love, right? I call it tough. You gotta be careful with entitlement. Entitlement. You're not really entitled to anything. You're not entitled to anything. Yeah, a lot of people think cause they grew up wealthy or whatever.

No, no, no, no entitlement. Yeah, when my father passed, he died a millionaire. I didn't get a single dollar. He gave it all to his oldest kid because you're not entitled to anything, you know? But a lot of people, they would fight over that. They would sue their brother. I just let them have it, you know?

Yeah, there you go. Not entitled to anything. Yeah, you gotta be careful with that. Did you ever confront your father as you got older? Did you ever speak up against him? No, I never but I never told him I was a chef he didn't know until later before he passed away Wow and because his motto was

The girls go to school and they cook and The men go to work. And when I went to the military, he was against it actually. He was like, why are you going to the military? You know, my older brothers or my other ones went to the Merchant Marines, my other brothers in the Navy,

and I just wanted to do something better. I was in Mississippi, there wasn't anything there. I didn't know what that was. And when he found out, I didn't tell anybody. I just did it. And I had scholarships, right? And because he kept saying that, you know, the boys go to work,

those scholarships meant nothing to me. Now, since then, you know, I went on to get, you know, my PMP and master's and business and philosophy and all this other stuff. But, but later on when he found out, because it was old school, they didn't look at TV and stuff, when he found out that I was a chef and I had all these accolades

and all these other different things, and he asked me, why didn't I tell him? And I just said, because of what you said. And he felt really bad. He started crying. He was like, I don't want to care what you did. I missed all this that you have done. Which, you know, Knock on Wood was very successful,

but I will tell you, everything I've gotten, I've gotten, oh my God, I've gotten Key to the Cities, I've gotten Acclamations from California, I've gotten covers of books and this and this and this and this, my TV shows and all these things that you can put, they're all still in packages, they're still in boxes. And people are like, Chef, why don't you show? I'm like, because I'm not done.

I'm not gonna get caught up on that part of it because I didn't have a lot of that support like I would think I would have when you're doing what we're doing, it can be hard, right? Other people, normal people don't understand. And you know, that's my hard part right now, just like you would know,

normal people don't understand what this is. It's not a grind or a hustle, it's part of your lifestyle, it's who you are. So me doing all this stuff saying, you know, Jeff, you know, this, this, this, and this, stop and wait a moment. If I wait a moment, that moment could be a decade already gone.

Yeah, cause social media is advancing so fast. If you're not evolving, you're going backwards. Of course. Man, that's deep though. Loneliness sounds like you dealt with that. Oh yeah, of course. It's hard to relate to people with your mentality, right? It is, it's mentality based. It's deep though. Loneliness sounds like you dealt with that. Oh yeah, of course. It's hard to relate to people like with your mentality,

right? It is, it's mentality based. It's mentality based. You have to think of it that, you know, you have to grow up and you have to grow out. And you know, I don't have a small circle. I have a huge, huge circle, but there's no one in it. Just a few.

And people say, I got a small, no, I want my circle huge because I need room for me and them to grow together. And so it can spread out, right? So I wanna keep it knit. I want to bring in people and I give everybody opportunity. But if you can't perform, if you have intentions or misleading thoughts of what you're gonna try and try not to do, you're out, blank, blank.

And I don't blame anybody else for anybody else. It's like having a relationship. And well, this girl did me wrong, this boy did me wrong, my boyfriend did this, so I take it out on our next person that comes. It happened, but that's not that person, right? Even if they have the same venture, even if it's the same thing,

but you gotta let them do what they're gonna do to find out for yourself. Yeah, so you move on quick. Of course. So you don't forgive people easily? Do I forget people? Forgive. But you gotta let them do what they're gonna do to find out for yourself. Yes, you move on quick. Of course. So you don't forgive people easily? Do I forget people? Forgive. I don't forgive easily.

I don't forgive easily. Just because I'm human. I don't forgive easily. And I'm not gonna try to play pretend like, oh, you know, I forgive everybody. No, I don't. I'm not gonna lie. I told you I'm not a nice person. You know, I'm not gonna be like,

oh, chef is such a nice, no, I don't forgive. I remember what you did for me. You hurt me. You did something that took something away from me. You took away money from my kids, my family, my wife, my livelihood. You wanted me to fail. You wanted me to not succeed on something

that you knew I could have succeeded on. Why would you do that? I had never done that to you. Yeah. Does that drive you that hate? Oh yeah, yeah, of course. Everything, air drives me. Yeah, cause it sounds like you haven't really lost any motivation, you know,

despite all your recent success. It's impressive. Cause a lot of people will get some initial success and then take a step off the pedal. Yeah, no, no stepping off. You're grinding even harder than ever. You got three shows you're working on right now, you said? Yeah, yeah. I've done three Korean shows. Zombie Verse just came out. Black and White came out.

Kitchen Commando comes out next month on TV1. It's number one out of 47,000 shows on TV. Yeah. And that was made up. Yeah. You said you got no script, right? No, no script. It was just yet. And like I said, it was something that I wanted to see for myself and do. And I have another surprise show that's getting ready to come out that everybody's gonna go crazy over with some big people.

People like that authenticity these days, you know? I mean, it's the only way to be, you know? I can smell fake people, right? They make me nauseous. I'm serious, you know? It's like being in politics, it's like, ah. I'm serious, you know, it's like being in politics. It's like, ah, I'm like, okay, okay, this is making me sick. Let me go get some air.

You know, nothing's wrong with it. If that's who you are, that's who you are. But I can't be that way. And I'm very forward and I'm very direct and I'm very transparent. Right? Yeah. And there's no harm or foul.

Yeah. Other than McDonald's, what is Trump like eating? He loves iMickeyD's. I mean, you know, I say this, I say this, you know, if you saw what I made him with the Tomahawk steak, right, and I cooked it the way I would like it, you know, how if he goes back and says, ah, let's make it well done or whatever. The one thing I'll say, I say to people is, and you kind of reflected this right here,

when people say, oh, chef, man, you know, you too big, you just, I'm worried about your health. And I was like, man, shut the hell up. You don't even know me. Why are you worried about my health? Why would you even say that? And then everybody's like, oh, you just worried about your, you don't care about me, because you're trolling me.

I don't care. With him, you know, he has everything he has everything, like with his tacos, he brought the button back for the diet coke. He has a taco button? He has a button? He like the bowls and whatnot that he does and so forth, which is cool. But at the same time, he is just implicit.

You can't do anything with respect if a person just grinds like that. Me, I forget to eat all the time. And I'm a big guy, and I'm a greedy guy. I eat a lot. I can eat, and I can eat from, you know, a thousand calories to, you know, 7,000 calories. And it all depends on what, but if I'm doing something and I'm locked in, I'm locked in I am locked in

I know you are also yeah I see breakfast and but I hate it my body's like okay okay but I also have what's called adaptation I'm an endurance trainer you know I haven't worked out like I'm supposed to but my body takes care of me because I take care of it back in return I said okay and I talked to my body so I'm sorry I'll I'll make it up to you you know we'll go do some extra push-ups or we'll go do this or I'll take you for a massage you know up to you. You know, we'll go do some extra pushups or we'll go do this. I'll take you for a massage, you know, that self care, self love. We'll do all those things that we need to do

to make it better. But that's kind of like on that end. I love it. I know it used to be a running back, right? Yeah, I love it. I love it. The only problem was when we'd been running back, I used to hit people to try to hit me.

I was a Giants fan. I'm so upset we got rid of Sae Kwan, man. That was a big L. That was crazy. That was the hit me. I was a Giants fan. I'm so upset we got rid of Seguon man. That was a big L. That was crazy. That was the worst thing. That was crazy actually. We fumbled it. You know, big fumble.

I mean, now he might win a Superbowl. Exactly. Think about that. On our rival team. How did it even happen? I mean, they wanted Daniel Jones. That's how it happened. And then he, he wasn't the best.

They got rid of him. I mean, potato batato. Yeah. I mean, running backs got disrespected the past few seasons. Oh yeah. They were underpaid. No, oh yeah, oh yeah. It wasn't about them.

I mean, it's always been about the quarterback of course, but running backs were just kind of like a second thought. Yeah, who was your goat running back fall time? Hershey Walker. Oh, not Adrian Peterson? Huh? Not Adrian Peterson? Well, no, no, okay, I take it. Adrian was great also. Adrian was a complete beast.

I'm going way back because I know Hershey, you know what he went through. You know you think about those steps on it. But Peterson was like, geez, I'm having flashbacks. I'm going through the motions of it. He came back from that ACL tear. I was like the first athlete to come up.

And that's crazy. And you had some nasty injuries, so you could relate to that. Oh man, you know, I just had a guy I just met right before I came here who wanted to take a picture. He had an ACL tear. And I was like, whoa.

I'm like, he was like standing up and I was like, one of the worst injuries you can have. It will take you out of the game 100% complete. So I forgot about that. So him coming back from that is like one in a million. Yeah, not before all the modern day technology. Literally think about that, one in a million, before all of the whole, let me stick you here,

stick you there, put you on this, that. Before stem cells. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, now you got all sorts of stuff. I know you have a fused leg, right? Yeah, I had my both biceps cut off, reattached. I had my shoulders, both shoulders cut open. I had my right quad blown up on that part of it.

Don't get it wrong, I can still whoop you. People I have seen you would never know that. And you know what's crazy about that was, when they did that, that was before, like I said, anything. In the military, they would cut you for anything. And it was like, let's practice on somebody. And I was always and always in great shape, and you know, as a kid, and I didn't know what my shape even meant.

It was just my natural build. And so, you know, with them working on cadavers the whole entire time, if you have someone who just has no muscle, then you have someone that has a little muscle, like, let's see what that looks like, right? So you get to cut on someone. And so unfortunately, they cut me twice

and I didn't even know they were doing it. Cause I wonder if one thing is something else in which I was young and which younger, but I didn't know. And it was like, well- They didn't tell you? No, they cut my bicep, they didn't tell me. What? No, they didn't tell me.

After I was open, I'm like, why am I in a sling? Why is this hurting? Like this. And they were like, oh, you need it. And I'm like, you know, cause you can't sue the military. You can't do this and that. Back then, yeah, it wasn't common back then.

Yeah, it wasn't coming back then, you know. But at the same time, you know, he was like, oh, you'll be okay, but you won't grow anymore. You know, you got enough size for you to be okay. I'm like, did you just tell me that? Did you just tell somebody that they're not gonna grow, they can't work out, they can't do this, and don't worry about that?

And that just wasn't an option for me. You know, to hear some stupid, you know, because you wanted to just cut me open. You know, it was nuts. They're doing that to people back then? I did not know that. Yeah, and then even on my leg, when that happened was, they misdiagnosed it and said it was you know

like a spring and it was it was just terrible and so that's one of the things you kind of deal with and that's why you kind of like you get bitter and you think about another person judges that's why I tell people if you have a thought if you go to a medical personnel or doctor whatever who's a professional who say I've been doing this for 30 years I don't care I'm just gonna second opinion if I feel that way because the thing your body would do is your body will talk to you I know it's like you got a cough like my I'm not throwing at you right now. I'm like, I'm gonna cough

Yeah, right is telling me that right? I'm not gonna hold it in like I'm no I don't need to cough But I tell people that don't just take the word for some people and say, hey, this is what you need to do, what you don't need to do, right? If it's with your body, cause you only have one revamp, go back and look at it. 100%.

Yeah, a lot of people value doctors' opinions so much and then they start, I believe they start manifesting what they tell them. Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Like if they say you have this disease, you have this long to live, you're gonna start thinking that way instead of thinking positively.

You think about things that happen where the guy who told like how many people that had cancer, it was like, geez, hundreds that had cancer and they didn't have cancer and he put them all through chemo and all this part of it. Geez. And some of them lost their lives and some of them,

I mean, think about stuff like that. Yeah, that's terrible. Yeah. So it's terrible. Yeah. So it's been really fun. What's next for you and where to find you, man? What you got going on? Next, I just fly everywhere. I kiss babies and shake hands.

And like I said, my debut show's coming out. I got some other stuff, so don't like it. Will that be on Netflix US or Korea only? We're in the US. Everything I do is in the US, but this one we're looking at a network right now. So it'll be out soon and you know, people can find me, real Chef Rush, Chef Rush, Instagram, YouTube,

Chef Rush, yada yada yada, or just hang out. Yeah, we'll link it all below. Thanks for coming on, Chef. I appreciate y'all. Thanks for watching guys, check them out. See you next time. Bye.