For a brief time in 2019, Mary Lou Davis ('13) disappeared.
She left her job -- and her cell phone -- for about three weeks so no one could reach her.
Each day during that time, she woke up at 7 a.m. to get ready as a contestant on FOX's Hell's Kitchen, the reality show hosted by fiery British chef Gordon Ramsay.
Davis participated in a challenge, then proceeded to the reward or punishment round. After that, she put on her chef whites and ran the restaurant before the elimination process took place.
"We did that every day for three weeks," she says. "I lost 10 pounds."
But she says the experience has made her a better executive chef for Whiskey Cake, the farm-to-table restaurant in San Antonio where she has worked for three years.
"Hell's Kitchen just boosted my confidence," she says. "It made me a stronger individual. It's like my plating techniques. I'm my own individual, and I need to do what's best for me."