AntoniaLofaso

That all the food that i eat on it actually tastes really good. People assume that it's really, really disgusting - I can't believe you eat those things! but 95% of the time the food's really good. Except for the time I ate a 100 year old egg.

Stouffer's french bread pizza. It is my favorite thing. When I'm in the supermarket, I always have to fight the urge to buy it. And the whole last month I was pregnant with my daughter, I lived on it and Chips Ahoy cookies.

Not really being biased but TOP CHEF. Only because I've done so many in general - TOP CHEF is the most true to life, real-time cooking competition that I've ever been on. Just "give me a challenge, set the clock, turn the cameras on, and watch it happen."

I find that this business, you have to love it in order to do it, because it's very difficult.

Long hours - it's strenuous on the body, physically - and it's demanding of your time, and your body, and your spirit, and your everything. It's not a mindless job that you go to. You have to go in day after day and give everything. I find it very hard to balance being a mom and giving so much of myself to my industry. I don't think that culinary school is really important, to be honest. I feel like cooking is a trade. It's something that can be learned in the field from an excellent teacher / mentor. I thoroughly enjoyed my school, but i feel like culinary schools these days are taking a lot of money from people and not really giving them opportunities in the business and the real life of what this looks like.

If you come out with an $80K debt, you go into the kitchen making minimum wage. You don't come out of school making $75K a year. I made $7.50 for probably the first 3 years of my life, with my head down and my mouth shut... and it's a very hard place to survive in and the only way that you excel and the way that you move up is by devoting yourself non-stop to a chef that will teach you and have you really learn the business on the inside.

My advice is: If you love it and can't live without it, then do it. But it's harder work than anything I've ever seen. It's insane.

What they don't usually get to see a lot of is our interaction in the house - waking up in the morning together and having breakfast, cooking eggs for one another, making dinner and sitting around and having fun - it almost becomes like a little dysfunctional family living together. It's actually - to be honest - the hardest thing for me and all of us, being in that house, and being pulled out your normal day to day. Imagine 6 weeks in your life of no TV, no magazines, no cell phone - you're totally and completely away from your regular life and you can only deal with the people on the show. NO BOOKS! When we were alone in the house - we spent a lot of time together. Whether it was card games or board games or cooking for one another...