Julien THEUIL / M6 / Julien THEUIL / M6
Gaston Savina, the candidate eliminated from the Top Chef competition reacts
TELEVISION – A departure without a brigade. This Wednesday March 15, M6 broadcast a new episode of “Top Chef 2023”. And it was Gaston Savina who was eliminated from this fourteenth season.
During two events, this private chef tried to win the famous colored headlines, a sign of belonging to one of the competition brigades. In the first, his gastronomic revisit of the kebab could not set him apart from the other candidates. And it was in the hidden brigade that we found him facing Danny, winner of the previous duel against Miguel.
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The two opponents had to make a dessert with a surprise inside. Unfortunately for Gaston, his pithiviers with pistachio cream and candied squash with spices did not allow him to continue the race for qualification.
At 28, Gaston owes his passion for gastronomy to his grandmothers who raised him. After obtaining his hotel baccalaureate, he learned alongside great chefs such as Franck Graux and Christophe Langrée. But it is in ultra-confidential events that he flourishes today and works for prestigious clients ranging from businessmen to celebrities, including politicians and crowned heads.
After his elimination, he agreed to answer a few questions posed by Le HuffPost:
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The HuffPost: The Top Chef adventure ends for you tonight. Do you have any regrets?
Gaston Savina: I have two. The first is not having been selected in a brigade and having been directly in the elimination round. The second is that I would have liked the chef Assaf Granit, who launched the theme of the gourmet kebab, to taste my dish and tell me what he thinks about it. My plate is the only one not to be tasted on this test.
You did not know that your dish would not be presented to the guest chef?
No, because he came to see me during the event to find out what I was doing. It was during the tasting that I realized that it would not taste my plate. I remember that I was a little surprised. But hey, these are the rules of Top Chef.
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“We thought something was going to happen”
If you could have joined a brigade, which leader would you have liked to work with?
I wanted to be preferably with a woman so it would have been with chef Hélène Darroze. I think it’s the one that suited me the best, because of its culinary universe and its coaching. All of this speaks to me.
This season, however, Hélène Darroze has no brigade. How did you take his non-participation in Top Chef?
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I fell from the clouds. I think that at the time of the announcement, we all asked ourselves the question. It was weird that she didn’t participate but was still present. We thought that something was surely going to happen. But afterwards, we make up our minds and resume the rhythm of the competition.
You discover his participation with his secret competition. How did you feel when he called?
So you should know that I was in my underwear at home in London (laughs). I had been told that they were going to call me to film my reaction to the announcement of my participation in Top Chef because there had been a camera problem during the recording. I found it a little weird but it can happen. I connect to Zoom and I see Hélène Darroze. At the time, I thought they had the wrong link. Except she’s talking to me and my camera is off. I tell him I’m coming, I put on a t-shirt in 2 seconds and I activate my camera. I was very happy that she gave me this new opportunity.
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In the hidden brigade event where you find yourself facing Danny, you make a pithiviers. Was it a nod to chef Darroze who appreciates this dish?
Not really. The theme was a surprise when cut and for me, it needed an edible envelope that you cut in half with a surprise inside. I thought the pithiviers was a good idea. One hour of testing is very short. I may have taken the theme in too readable a way and I have not succeeded in appropriating it in my universe. However, I made something that speaks to me, that I like and that I can eat again. So I don’t regret, even if he missed four minutes of cooking.
“I wanted to see my job in 360°”
What do you remember from your participation in Top Chef?
Several things. Already, that I have a good ability to manage my stress in front of cameras and contests. And from a human point of view, I remember incredible meetings with all the candidates. I think I would never have met them in my everyday life if I hadn’t participated in Top Chef. I am still in contact with everyone else.
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What were your motivations for participating in the competition?
Stay myself and do what I wanted to do. I also wanted to talk about my job as a private chef because I don’t think it’s expressed or highlighted enough in the hotel and restaurant industry.
Exactly, can you tell us a little more?
It has now been six years since I started my own business and became a private chef. The routine of a classic chef no longer suited me and I wanted to see my profession at 360°. I wanted to take care of customer relations, service, wines, tableware, etc. I think it was the only job that could allow me to do all of that at once. You should know that the private chef is part of the house staff and that there are two schools: the house staff in « Living » who lives with the family that employs him, and the house staff in « Live Out » who moves. I belong to this second category which deals with beautiful events and replacements. I think that today in France, having house staff is not particularly well seen and can sometimes be politicized. It’s a shame because it’s an environment that employs a lot. I think that’s what made it a little more private.
Are your customers really confidential?
Today, I have an address book of a hundred clients. It goes from world famous personalities, to the employers of the CAC40, through political or public figures and large luxury houses. All these people know that with me, nothing will leak. And that’s what makes the confidential side. We don’t know who my clients are, so it avoids contacting me about that. It’s a balance that we all found together.
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“I am not on the influencer box”
Your job requires you to be present on social networks. What relationship do you have with them?
To be completely honest, I’ve never been very social media. When setting up my company, I realized that it was my only media relay and that it was through this that clients found me. I have never been on the influencer box, nor made a partnership for example. Social networks are for me a real professional source where I share my routine as a private chef. I never showed who my customers were but rather the countries where I traveled and the products I cooked for them.
What are your future plans?
Keep doing what I’m doing. I’m incredibly lucky to have a job where I don’t feel like I’m working. In the long-term projects, there is the opening of a restaurant but it is not for now.
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A little prediction for the final?
When I left, I saw three candidates going to the final: César, Jérémie and Hugo. They are the ones that inspire me the most.
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