Bonnie Muirhead

Bonnie Muirhead was born and raised in Agoura Hills, California. Her parents say she was the biggest ham in the world, always ready to perform, which led to a long stint in musical theater from a young age. She has always been a passionate person, her two main childhood passions being the stage and animal rights. At the age of 11 Bonnie became an extremely vocal vegetarian and remained so until her travels brought her to Cape Town, South Africa at the age of 18. Her adventures led her back to the world of meat, and also straight into the world of cooking. In fact, up until the age of 18, Bonnie didnt know how to scramble an egg and had no interest in doing so. The culinary mysteries residing in South Africa finally got the best of her. While pursuing her BA at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, Bonnie turned her kitchen into a science lab, experimenting with flavors and texturesunfortunately they were all disgusting flavors and dry textures.

Bonnie moved back to the Los Angeles area and, after a few misguided years, decided to return to school to obtain a Masters in Psychology. She took a job from a wealthy family in Beverly Hills under the impression that she would be a nanny to the familys two children. However, on her first day she was asked to purchase and cook salmon(I think you can see where this is going)After a few treacherous months of kitchen fires, oil explosions and really, really burnt meat (and lots of other stuff), Bonnie and food became friends and developed a rather special, intuitive relationship. She immediately enrolled in culinary school at Kitchen Academy in Hollywood, a day before her Masters applications were due.

In 2007, Bonnie became a contestant on Season 3 of Fox Television's Hells Kitchen. She came in second place.

After the show ended, Bonnie started a small catering and private chef company called Bonnie Appetit!, cooking meals for busy Los Angeles families and catering small dinner parties.

She later moved to New Zealand with her husband and, in 2014, was named the head chef at Ormlie 1899, the restaurant at the boutique, luxury Ormlie Lodge in Hawkes Bay, NZ.