■ My chef friend Marc Murphy can feed 50 people at his house by himself without stressing at all. I do not have that gene. I’m not a professional chef. I did not go to culinary school. I’ve worked in restaurants but not real restaurants. And I prefer not to have people staring at me while I cook. In fact, I ordered my last group of guests out of the kitchen.

■ You don’t need a $1,000 knife, but you definitely need a good knife. And the most important knife for me is an eight-inch chef’s knife. You have to keep it sharp. It’s actually more dangerous to have a dull knife, because it’s more likely to slip and cut your fingers. You can get a Chicago Cutlery chef’s knife for probably 30 bucks. That’s what I have. Sturdy, full-tang, high-carbon steel. Actually, maybe I’ll sharpen it while we talk.

■ Chicago magazine was my first job that paid. I edited the front section. Even today, on Chopped, I get a script that’s about 18 pages and I edit the hell out of it. I can’t help it. I remove redundancies. I remove anything that has me saying things like, “Well, you’re a plucky fellow.” I get rid of adverbs because they are the leeches that suck the blood from literature. I’m just lucky my producers appreciate that.

■ Getting famous is a fascinating thing. I was 37 when Queer Eye for the Straight Guy happened. We call ourselves cable-ebrities. It’s a certain level of fame that is kind of helpful: People are nice to me, but I can walk around cities. I remember the first time I got recognized. It was at a flea market on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and I didn’t know what to do because I was so shocked and embarrassed. So I said, “Yeah, I get that a lot.” I realize now that if you’re lucky enough to have somebody come up and say they love your show, the appropriate reaction is “Thank you.”

■ My husband, Barry, and I met when I was 28, and he was 24. But for the first season of Queer Eye, I was in New York alone because we needed to see if it was going to go anywhere. That was hard. Pro tip: When you have a long separation from someone you love, watch the same show or movie at the same time and call each other during the commercials. There’s something about it that kind of works.

■ I eat potato chips every day. It’s a weakness. Lay’s sour cream and onion, generally.

■ Music is my favorite art form. I love the excitement of waiting for the curtain to go up and rocking out. I like to go to concerts alone. No hassle. I go early because I want a good seat. And I want a T-shirt. Massive geek.

■ You know how tricky it is to get the first brownie out of the pan? Get a fish spatula. It’s a steel slotted spatula that’s a little flexible, and usually the tip of it is at an angle. You slide it under that brownie and you can get it out clean. I love that tool.

■ I have every piece of Chopped swag that has ever been made. It’s an immaculate collection — mostly T-shirts and hoodies. But I can’t ever wear any of it, because I’d look like a schmuck. If the Smithsonian is interested, I’d be happy to donate it.