Curtis Travis Stone (born 4 November 1975) is an Australian celebrity chef, author and television personality. Stone has been the fresh food and recipes ambassador for Coles Supermarkets in Australia since 2010. Early life Stone was born in Melbourne, Victoria. Stone began cooking with his paternal grandmother, Maude, at the age of four. His father, Bryan Stone, is an accountant, and his mother, Lorraine, is a florist; they separated when Stone was 2 years old. Stone attended an all-boys high school where he took home economics class and then went on to a commercial cookery apprenticeship at a vocational school. Career Stone studied for a Bachelor of Business before deciding to pursue a career as a chef. He worked in Australian restaurants before leaving to work in London, where he debuted his cooking career at age 18 at the Savoy Hotel. Upon completing his qualifications as a chef, Stone began cooking under Marco Pierre White at the Café Royal and Mirabelle, and went on to become head chef at White's Quo Vadis. Television Stone returned briefly to Australia to make the travelling cooking show Surfing the Menu (on ABC) with another chef, Ben O'Donoghue. Stone has appeared on a number of cooking programmes in the UK, including Dinner in a Box, Good Food Live and Saturday Kitchen. He also hosted the first season of My Restaurant Rules in Australia. Beginning in May 2006, Stone hosted Take Home Chef on TLC in the United States, which went on to become an international hit for TLC. On American television Stone appears regularly on NBC's Today. His second appearance in 2007 featured him visiting the home of host Meredith Vieira to teach her how to cook, as her children had complained that she did not know how. On 14 January 2011, Stone co-hosted the fourth hour of Today with Hoda Kotb. He has also appeared on Martha Stewart's show Martha, Access Hollywood, Lopez Tonight, The Nate Berkus Show, The Talk, The Chew, and Rachael Ray. On 7 June 2011, Curtis was a guest on Conan, where he taught Conan O'Brien how to prepare the perfect date night meal. Stone has appeared on Food Network's Iron Chef America in the episode "Battle Skipjack Tuna," where he lost to Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Stone has also appeared on several episodes of The Biggest Loser. Stone was a candidate on The Celebrity Apprentice 3, which premiered