Sumith Prasad
Gator is one of the most popular recurring characters in Paramount Network’s Western series ‘Yellowstone.’ He gained the attention of the ardent admirers of the show by serving grilled octopus to John Dutton and a vodka smoothie to Beth Dutton. As the personal chef of the Duttons, Gator soon becomes an integral part of the family and a pivotal presence in the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. In the fifth episode of the fifth season, Gator gets confronted by Summer Higgins, who fails to find anything vegan in the food prepared by the chef. Since Gator has grown to become a significant part of the show, we found out whether Gabriel Guilbeau, who plays the character, is a real chef. Here’s what we can share!
Gabriel Guilbeau’s Gator is an Actual Chef
Yes, Gabriel Guilbeau is a real chef. In fact, the actor, who is also known as “Gator,” joined ‘Yellowstone’ as a chef rather than an actor. Gator not only serves food to the Duttons in the Western drama but also feeds the cast and crew of the show. “I cook for the ‘Yellowstone’ crew. I’m in charge of craft services, moral support, shoulders to cry on, snackies. I also play Gator on the TV show. I’m feeding cowboys off the camera and on the camera,” Gator explained his duty on the sets of the show in an interview given to the behind-the-scenes special ‘Working the Yellowstone.’
Gator grew up in Louisiana and was inspired by the Cajun cooking of his grandmother, who was renowned in South Louisiana for the food she made. His father had worked in several films produced in Los Angeles as a part of the craft services department. After high school, Gator joined his father and became a chef in the entertainment industry. Before joining ‘Yellowstone,’ Gator had been a part of the craft services of several globally renowned productions like ‘22 Jump Street,’ ‘The Maze Runner,’ ‘American Horror Story,’ ‘Jurassic World,’ ‘Terminator Genisys,’ ‘Mindhunter,’ etc.
Gator became an actor overnight. “My first big scene was the grilled octopus scene […]. I think that was my first time on camera ever, baptism by fire, they just threw me in,” the chef-turned-actor added. The chef won the hearts of the cast and crew of the show by “Gatoring” his ancestor’s Cajun food or in his words, “the stuff that you can’t get anywhere else,” as per ‘Working the Yellowstone.’ In the sets of the show, Gator is usually seen near his favorite barbeque smoker, a piece of cooking equipment in which he once cooked fifteen 25-pound turkeys. In addition, Gator loves to use “a lot of butter.” Thus, it isn’t an accident that Summer Higgins witnesses the character Gator cooks potatoes with a big brick of butter in the sixth episode of the fifth season.
After working in the ‘Yellowstone’ sets as a chef for years, Gator had started to “read” the crew to cook dishes that would heighten the spirits of his fellow crew members. “If you feed people, it goes a long way in making ‘em happy. We would be done. We’d be done without Gator,” Ian Bohen, who plays Ryan, testified in the same behind-the-scenes special. “What Gator can do in the middle of nowhere, very, very limited resources, I still ate better than I’ve ever eaten in my life. Gator takes really, really, really good care of us,” Jefferson White, who plays Jimmy, joined Bohen to share the significance of the Cajun cook in the production of the show.
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