Misconceptions

While they had all seen the show before, the trio of chefs did have some misconceptions about it.

"I think that I thought it was going to be really strong competition and it was competition, but you were mostly competing with yourself, not with the other chefs," Sara said. "Not that I thought it would be a toxic environment, but it was just—

"It was way harder to see people go home than we thought it would be. It was kind of sad every time. I didn't realize how excluded we'd be from reality. I don't think any of had any clue just kind of how in a hole you are while you're there. I don't think there's any way to portray that until you're there," Kelsey said. And Eric agreed.

One thing that shocked Sara? The chefs who were surprised by fireflies. "Like half of the people on the first night—probably more than half—were like, ‘Have you seen these bugs outside?'…I think that was the first day I was like, ‘Whoa, Sara, these folks are not from Kentucky,'" she said.