Kevin Bludso (born 1965) is an American chef, restaurateur, and television personality.

Early life

Bludso was born in 1965 in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

. His father was a police officer at the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

; his mother was a postal service worker. While on summer vacation, Bludso lived with his aunt, Willie Mae Fields, in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-busines ...

. Fields introduced him to Texas-style barbecue; at the age of 9 or 10, Bludso was allowed to help with the cooking. He studied business at the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based

Bishop College Bishop College was a historically black college, founded in Marshall, Texas, United States, in 1881 by the Baptist Home Mission Society. It was intended to serve students in east Texas, where the majority of the black population lived at the t ...

Career

Prior to entering the food industry, Bludso worked as a

correctional officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

for thirteen years. He opened Bludso's BBQ in 2008, serving as its pitmaster. Based in Compton, the restaurant shut down in September 2016, following a dispute with the landlord. Bludso also owns restaurants in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Since 2020, Bludso serves as a judge on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

The American Barbecue Showdown ''Barbecue Showdown'' (originally titled ''The American Barbecue Showdown'') is a reality television series filmed in Covington, Georgia that premiered on Netflix on September 18, 2020. On August 9, 2021, Netflix renewed the series for a second se ...

''.

Personal life

As of September 2020, Bludso resides in

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 is a fan of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

Restaurants owned by Bludso

United States

Australia

Television appearances

* ''

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives ''Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'' (often nicknamed ''Triple D'' and stylized as ''Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives'') is an American food reality television series that premiered on April 23, 2007, on the Food Network. It is hosted by Guy Fieri. The show o ...

'' (2013) * ''

Bar Rescue ''Bar Rescue'' is an American reality television series that airs on Paramount Network (formerly Spike during the first five seasons). It stars Jon Taffer, a long-time food and beverage industry consultant specializing in nightclubs, bars and pu ...

'' (2015 - present) * ''

Fire Masters ''Fire Masters'' is a Canadian cooking competition television series that began airing simultaneously on Food Network Canada in Canada and Cooking Channel in the United States on July 6, 2019. The show is presented by chef Dylan Benoit Dylan ...

'' (2019) * '' BBQ Brawl'' (2019) * ''

'' (2020-Present)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bludso, Kevin 1965 births American restaurateurs American television chefs American male chefs Living people American company founders 21st-century American businesspeople Participants in American reality television series Barbecue chefs People from Compton, California Chefs from Texas