“Shut up!”

That has to be the rarest of comments for any contestant on “Next Level Chef ” to have said to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, face to face, and a $1 million top prize at stake.

But not as in “shut yer trap!” but “shut up!” — which a surprised Megan Keno blurted out when Ramsay told he’d read her cookbook, “Cast Iron Skillet.”

You may know the Lea Hill resident, wife and mother of two young sons, as writer of the food blog “Homemade Home” (www.homemadehome.com), where she talks about her comforting, seasonal cooking, and her 2017 flagship cookbook, “Cast Iron Gourmet.” She has since revised that book, privately publishing it in soft cover as “The Cast Iron Skillet,” full of toothsome, revitalized recipes and favorites from her site.

So how did the stars align for this Renton native now living in Auburn to appear on the show?

It all started when she received an email from people who claimed to be casting directors. At first Keno, jaded by all of the invites one gets on the internet these days, thought it was a joke.

“They said they’d read my book, and would I be interested in being on the show,” she said. “I told myself, yeah. What have I got to lose?”

That was in January 2024. Keno flew to Ireland to compete on season 4 of “Next Level Chef,” where she’d match her skills in fierce completion against dozens of other ambitious chefs.

And what was it like?

“The competition was cut-throat,” Keno said. “It was a knock-down, drag-out in three different types of kitchens, to finally find one winner of the entire thing.”

“This show is definitely unique, in that it’s built on more of a mentorship style and interaction with the chef. He’s stern, but he’s a chef with 17 Michelin Stars. So when you go in, he expects a certain amount of respect, and it’s something he’s obviously earned. You go into it waiting to soak up all the knowledge they are willing to give you,” Keno said.

Alongside not only mentors like Ramsay, but also chefs Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais.

Keno, who is not a trained chef, found herself in the company of professionally trained, privately-trained chefs from all over the world, doing their thing in a three-kitchen studio, each kitchen different from the others so the judges could observe how they handled it.

Her least favorite was the dimly lit kitchen in the basement with older equipment including standard ranges.

Along the way, she formed fast friendships with many of her competitors.

It was, she said, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to share her love of cooking with an international and national audience, and for that audience to see her as a home chef and the woman behind “Homemade Home.”

“I’m honored to represent Washington state, and to bring people together through my time on the show,” Keno said.

Launched in 2010, Keno’s blog “Homemade Home” concentrates on all of her culinary creations, especially her comfort dishes, to elevate the ordinary into the extraordinary. “Next Level Chef” airs every Thursday on Fox. The show’s premiere aired on Feb 13, 2025. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.

Megan Keno can be found on her social media channels, with all her culinary creations and recipes available on her website. Just make sure to catch her on “Next Level Chef” season 4.