‘Hell’s Kitchen’: Whit Thomas on internet trolls and embracing her role as a reality TV villain

Welcome to Reality Derby, our weekly deep dive into all things reality TV, hosted by Gold Derby senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson.

Joining us this week is Whit Thomas, a 35-year-old executive chef from North Carolina who was eliminated from Hell’s Kitchen: Head Chefs Only in fourth place. (Our interview begins at the 0:51 mark in the video above.) Whit talks about her disappointing exit from Gordon Ramsay‘s cooking show, her friendship with Kyle Timpson, and why she’s embracing her role as a reality TV villain.

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“It was definitely disappointing,” Whit says. “I felt like I deserved to be there. I did everything I needed to do in every challenge and every service. I definitely feel like others should have gone before me. Some people tried to quit, they lost in challenges, they didn’t perform in service. I was on it the entire season, so I feel like it was a bad decision.”

Whit lost her cool during dinner service because her station wasn’t adequately stocked — which Thomas says wasn’t her fault. “I happened to be on a station that I didn’t set,” she explains. “When I’m on the station and running out of everything, I’m like, ‘Where the f–k is everything?’ … That upset me because now I can’t do my job.”

SEE ‘Survivor’ winners list: All seasons

One high point for Whit was her blossoming friendship with Kyle. The duo quickly hit it off and shared some of the show’s most fun rewards — including their recreation of the epic Titanic boat scene on their private yacht. “We just kind of relate to each other,” she says. “We’ve had some of the same struggles — being in the LGBT community. And we’re clowns. He’s extroverted, and I’m introverted, cracking side jokes in the background. It’s the yin to the yang. Even outside of Hell’s Kitchen we hang out all the time.”

The Hell’s Kitchen star admits she’s had a tough time watching the season play out on TV — and being portrayed as a villain isn’t always easy. “There are trolls out there,” Whit says. “People suck, so that’s the downside. I have been trolled from the day I was cast until the day I was eliminated. Now, it’s intensified.”

Despite the trolling, Whit says she’s open to returning to TV. “I want to make people mad now,” she says. “They wanna make me a villain? I’m gonna give you a villain. I know who I am, and the people around me know who I am. I’m a good person at the end of the day, but if that’s the character I’m meant to play and it’s gonna get me some money, then that’s what I’ll do.”

We also dive deep into the fourth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 (“Bitch, I’m a Drag Queen!”), in which Joella was eliminated after wearing a “glory hole quilt” on the runway. Watch this week’s Reality Derby show above, and then join the discussion in our forums.

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