Johnny Trigg (born 1938) from

Alvarado, Texas Alvarado ( ) is the oldest city in Johnson County, Texas. The population was 3,785 as of the 2010 census, up from 3,288 at the 2000 census. Demographics 2020 census As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,739 people, 1,388 househo ...

is an American

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

and competitor on the competitive

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

circuit. He is a two time Grand Champion of the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational, and has appeared on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show ''

BBQ Pitmasters ''BBQ Pitmasters'' is an American reality television series which follows barbecue cooks as they compete for cash and prizes in barbecue cooking competitions. The series premiered on TLC on December 3, 2009. The eight-episode first season was fi ...

''.

Career

Johnny graduated from

Cisco High School Cisco High School is a public high school located in Cisco, Texas, United States and classified as a 2A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). It is part of the Cisco Independent School District located in western Eastland Count ...

Cisco, Texas Cisco is a city in Eastland County, Texas. The population was 3,899 at the time of the 2010 census. History Cisco, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 183 and Interstate 20 in northwestern Eastland County, traces its history back to 1878 or 18 ...

, and afterwards went to the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

. Trigg worked for

Fireman's Fund Insurance Company Fireman's Fund Insurance Company was an insurance company based in Petaluma, California which provided personal and commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company was a principal U.S. subsidiary of Allianz, ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

as an insurance executive, and retired in December 1996. He was introduced to BBQ whilst at the insurance company after he was impressed by a fellow executive's

brisket Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectora ...

s, and bought his first trailer BBQ in 1984. After attending a competitive BBQ event in 1989, he entered his first BBQ event in 1990 in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

, and jokes that BBQ is his "golf game". After entering contests in his home state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, he began competing at Kansas City Barbeque Society events in 1999 as the prize money was better. He annually enters around 45 contests each year, spending between 225 and 230 days each year on the road. His BBQ team is called "Smoking Triggers", and he has been nicknamed the "Godfather of BBQ" and has also been called "the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

of barbecuing". He has twice been named the Grand Champion of the Jack Daniel's World Championship BBQ Invitational in

Lynchburg, Tennessee Lynchburg is a city in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is governed by a consolidated city-county government unit whose boundaries coincide with those of Moore County. Lynchburg is best known as the location of Jack Dan ...

, in 2000 and 2003. It was the first occasion any competitor had won the competition more than once. The event is considered to be the most prestigious championship in competitive BBQ. He appeared in the first two series of

show ''

''. He was one of four chefs who travelled to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

to feed the US troops stationed there, cooking over a hundred

s at each station. In 2012 he was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame by the American Royal Association. Johnny came back to cook in season 3 of BBQ Pitmasters. He not only placed 1st in the turkey and pork belly competition, but advanced onto the finale and became overall Grand Champion and won the title of BBQ Pitmaster.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trigg, Johnny Living people American television chefs American male chefs Barbecue chefs 1938 births People from Cisco, Texas People from Johnson County, Texas