Culinary Grad Braves Hell's Kitchen

The sixth season of Hell's Kitchen premieres on the Fox Channel next week, and Van Hurd, a cook from the French Room at Dallas's Hotel Adolphus, will be among the 16 contestants grilled by Chef Gordon Ramsay in another quest for culinary acclaim. Hurd, 26, is originally from Buford, Georgia, and was schooled at The Art Institute of Dallas before joining the French Room team. The season premiere airs on Fox Tuesday, July 21, 7-9 p.m., locally; after that, it will appear in a regular time slot, Tuesdays at 7 p.m., for an unspecified number of episodes. The winner of this season's series gets the head chef position at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia, just in time to welcome the world to Canada for the 2010 Olympic Games.