Chef Alex Guarnaschelli became an Iron Chef in 2012, and since taking home the title, she's looked back on how much it has impacted her life. In a new exclusive interview with Closer Weekly, the 46-year-old gushed about her experience on the popular Food Network show. Watch the video above to see Alex spill the tea (or in this case wine!) with us!

"First of all it was a huge confidence hurdle to be on a competition show and tell myself inwardly the whole time I could win and I deserve to win and I just have to get it together in my head," she shared. "A lot of it is cooking and a lot of it is just the right head space."

What was really special for Alex, however, is how supportive fellow chef Bobby Flay (who has been on and off the hit series for nearly two decades) was of her big victory. "All this to say that when I did win, Bobby Flay came up to me and said 'the best thing about this moment is how much you deserve it,'" Alex added. How sweet of Bobby!

Bobby wasn't the only person in the industry that Alex had nice things to say about, though. We asked her to describe some of her colleagues in one word — and she had a great time with it. As for Daphne Oz, she said, "Beautiful hair." For Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives star Guy Fieri she said, "Fun and amazing." She then described Italian chef Giada de Laurentiis as "Mozzarella cheese an laughter." She finished off by calling Rachael Ray "brilliant." We must say, we agree with Alex on all those descriptions!

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