WS Chronicle

If you’re a fan of the hit TV show Supermarket Stakeout, be on the lookout for the episode featuring Winston-Salem’s own Chef DeAndra Shouse.

Shouse, who is the owner of Triton Events, has been a personal and event chef for 15 years. She was introduced to cooking by the men in her family, who handled all the cooking for holidays and other family events. “My grandfather cooked, my dad cooked, my uncles cooked. It’s so funny, I was honestly the only female in my family who was interested in cooking,” she said. 

Shouse said last October she received a call from a casting agency for Supermarket Stakeout. “They said they had been asking around about good chefs in this area and my name came up quite a few times,” Shouse said. From there Shouse had a video interview with a casting agent who then passed the video to the producers and the rest is history. Shouse was chosen from a pool of thousands of other chefs. 

“I did a video chat with Joy, a casting agent, and they really loved me and they forwarded my video to the producers, the producers passed me on and I got picked,” Shouse said, laughing. 

In January, Shouse flew to Manhattan Beach, California, for filming. Shouse said although it took about 10 hours to shoot the episode and it took some time to get used to having cameras in her face all the time, she enjoyed every moment. She said it was exciting to share a cooking space with Alex Guarnaschelli who hosts the show. 

“It was very surreal because I’ve been following Chef Alex since I was a teenager. She’s a veteran in the cooking world … she’s up there with chefs like Gordon Ramsey, Emeril, Bobby Flay. It was an honor meeting her,” she said. 

On Supermarket Stakeout, which airs on the Food Network, after being assigned a theme for each round, chefs must size up shoppers as they exit the store and attempt to negotiate for their grocery bags. Judges send the chefs with the least successful dishes home and the last chef standing at the end walks away with a year’s worth of groceries.

Going into the competition Shouse, who is known as Chef Dee, said her strategy was to be assertive, focused, but also have fun. “I didn’t want to focus so much that it made me nervous,” she said. When it came to the cooking, Shouse said her experience catering weddings and having to think on her feet came in handy. 

“You had to be able to think on your feet because they gave us several themes but we still didn’t know exactly what we were going to be cooking, so we still have to go out there and be able to think really fast about what you need, ingredients … it’s constant moving in your brain,” Shouse said. “But you still have to make sure you focus so you don’t overthink it.”

Shouse said when she saw the episode for the first time and started receiving calls from other people who saw it, she was overwhelmed with joy. “I honestly cried because I’ve put so much time, energy, blood and sweat into my business,” Shouse said.

Since appearing on Supermarket Stakeout, Shouse said she has been looking into appearing on other cooking shows and starting a YouTube channel. To find out more about Chef DeAndra Shouse, follow her on Instagram @therealchefdee and visit https://tritoncatering.com/?fbclid=PAAaZoQtzLFeK5byVtye8ybYAoxbVkG9nWhnz3srVdOWtpUCrocdN6wu9R1oo. 

Supermarket Stakeout can be streamed on Discovery Plus, Amazon Channel, fuboTV, DIRECTV, Discovery Plus, Food Network Plus or for free with ads on Food Network. It is also possible to buy “Supermarket Stakeout” as a download on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Vudu, and Google Play Movies.