‘Yellowstone’: Gator Does Way More than Just Feed the Dutton Family
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- Gabriel ‘Gator’ Guilbeau is not just the chef for the Dutton family on Yellowstone.
- He actually feeds the entire cast and crew and has worked on some other pretty huge Hollywood projects.
- Gator admits that he never knows when Taylor Sheridan is going to put him in a scene.
Yellowstone has introduced a number of memorable characters during its first four seasons. Even the ones who don’t get a ton of screen time have become fan favorites. Case in point, the man who feeds the Dutton family — chef Gator. But as it turns out, Gator has a much bigger job on the ranch than viewers know.
Gabriel ‘Gator’ Guilbeau is the ‘Yellowstone’ full-time chef
The man who Yellowstone fans know as Gator is a real-life chef named Gabriel Guilbeau. The Louisiana native goes by Gator in real life. And during his career, he’s worked on 39 Hollywood projects. Including The Maze Runner, Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys, and Bad Moms.
In the first four seasons of Yellowstone, Guilbeau has made several special appearances. One of the most memorable being his first, when he served up a plate of grilled octopus to Kevin Costner’s John Dutton.
He’s not just the chef for the Duttons
Guilbeau’s IMDB resume is lengthy, but he’s not credited as an actor. Instead, he’s listed as part of the “additional crew” because Guilbeau works in craft services. In fact, in addition to being an actor on Yellowstone, he’s also the head of the show’s craft services department.
Every day, Guilbeau cooks hundreds of pounds of food for the cast and crew. Which has made him one of the most popular people on the set. He describes his job as being “in charge of craft services, moral support, shoulders to cry on, and snackies.”
“Anybody on the crew, anybody in the cast, can’t talk about this show for five minutes without mentioning Gator,” Jefferson White (Jimmy Hurdstrom) said in a November 2020 bonus clip of Stories From the Bunkhouse.
There’s nothing the ‘Yellowstone’ chef can’t do
As Ian Bohen (Ryan) explained in the clip, Gator is a “California boy by way of Louisiana, Baton Rouge” who learned to cook. Now, he “essentially is a restaurant open from crew call to wrap.” According to White, Gator can do it all.
“No matter where we are, we’ll be in the middle of nowhere, no cell service, freezing cold and Gator will pull up with a big tub of gumbo and etouffee…It gets us through those really long nights,” White added.
What is ‘Gator-ing’?
Yellowstone gave fans an inside look into Gator’s job on the set during season 4 with a special video titled “Gator-ing.” That’s the name the Yellowstone cast and crew uses to describe what Gator does — he’s “Gator-ing” not catering.
In the five-minute clip, Gator explains that his main job is to feed cowboys both on and off camera. It’s a big job with a ton of work. And the cast says he’s really, really good at what he does.
“Gator is like a culinary Picasso,” star Jen Landon (Teeter) explains. “Nobody cooks like Gator.”
Gator never knows when Taylor Sheridan will put him in front of ‘Yellowstone’ cameras
Guilbeau says that the very first time he was “on camera ever” was in the famous grilled octopus scene. He described the experience as “baptism by fire” because they just threw him into it.
“Of course, my first scene ever was serving Kevin Costner something he doesn’t wanna eat. I usually don’t get a lot of notice. Taylor [Sheridan] usually just makes it up. I think he thinks it’s funny. Which it is,” Guilbeau said.
“He’ll come up with the idea, and then they’ll ask me what sorts of foods I would have. Or what my reaction would be to that. And, of course, the running joke is I make all this awesome food — and I work super hard to do it. Then, they want to eat freakin’ cereal for breakfast.”
Seasons 1 through 3 of Yellowstone are now playing on Peacock. Season 4 is expected to hit the streamer this spring.
