Throwback to Ep. 16: Chef Kevin Gillespie on Cancer and the Things that Really Matter

Happy summer 2026 to all of the listeners out there in Cancerland!

I hope you're having your best summer possible. Living in Maine can be tough for many cold months, so when summer comes, we make the most of it. I'm taking some breaks this summer to spend time at camp off the grid in northern Maine, at the beach, and right here in my backyard with my wife and our daughters who are both home from college.

For those of you who know what we've gone through in more than eight years living with metastatic cancer, you know how special that time is.

So for today's podcast, we are going deep into the vault to bring you one of my favorite shows, Episode 16 from October of 2020.

We were in the grips of the pandemic, watching Top Chef as a family, and we find out that one of our favorite chefs, Kevin Gillespie, is a fellow cancer survivor.

I find the contact information for his people, I reach out and I'm like, hey, Kevin, you should come on the podcast! And because he’s an awesome human, he does!

Kevin Gillespie is an acclaimed chef, restaurant owner, and businessman who became a breakout star on Top Chef. He is the founder and owner of Red Beard Restaurants, including the restaurants Gunshow in his home state of Georgia.

Kevin is a survivor of a rare form of renal cancer, for which he had a kidney removed in 2018.

Enjoy this throwback to Episode 16, and I'll see you in a few weeks.

@chefkevingillespie

@redbeardrestaurants

@bravotopchef