Grayson Schmitz is never at a loss for words. According to the New York-based catering chef, “Whatever is in my head I say.” So I couldn’t resist asking her what went through her mind during the last episode of Top Chef: Texas when the special guest judge turned out to be the one and only Pee-wee Herman (who entered the kitchen set riding his trademark red bicycle). Grayson, who trained under Fabio Trabocchi (“the man taught me how to make pasta”) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, was first amused by the spectacle. “Okay, that’s fun,” she thought, “but he better not be one of our f—g judges.” He was.

“I’m not going to say I felt great about [Pee-wee] as one of our judges,” said Grayson. But even Pee-wee seemed to recognize the awkwardness of the situation at judges’ table and, as Grayson noticed, actor Paul Reubens went in and out of character. “He wasn’t about to say ‘Ha-ha!'” while one of us was being eliminated. The New York chef added that Reubens, who was himself off-camera, “was the sweetest, most sincere guy” and a far cry from his darker days.