http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20090625bay_state_chefs_dont_mind_if_gordon_ramsay_gives_em_hell/srvc=business&position=recent_bullet

Two Massachusetts chefs have put their culinary egos on the line to appear as contestants on Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” reality TV show.

Boston chef Andy Husbands and Fitchburg chef David Cordio will risk the threat of being called a “donkey” on national television by fork-tongued British chef Gordon Ramsay in the sixth series of the show, which debuts July 21.

Both are under strict orders not to talk about their experiences until Fox schedules July interviews to drum up an audience. But publicity materials for the show tease about one of the contestants going head-to-head with Ramsay for the first time ever in the “most explosive, most outrageous and most intense elimination round ever seen on ‘Hell’s Kitchen.’ ”

Husbands, 39, opened Tremont 647 in Boston’s South End in 1996 and Sister Sorel next door four years later. The 45-year-old Cordio, who goes by “Louie” on the show, is co-owner of the 50/50 Diner in Fitchburg.

“Hell’s Kitchen” contestants undergo weekly culinary challenges - such as preparing a signature dish in 30 minutes, competing in blind taste tests, cooking for a room of firemen and sauteing shrimp. They also split into two teams that compete against each other at dinner services.

cw-3 Husbands and Cordio are on the Blue Team along with two other chefs with area roots: 34-year-old Nashua, N.H., sous chef Jim McGloin and 35-year-old Plymouth native Kevin Cottle, who’s an executive chef in Middleton, Conn.

One contestant is eliminated each week, and the winner of the show will earn the head chef’s position at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia.