King of ‘Cue

When a buddy told Kyle Bryner that Food Network was accepting applications for its sixth season of “BBQ Brawl,” he was beyond dubious. Bobby Flay's hit program attracted barbecue's best, with applications pouring in from respected pitmasters around the country. Bryner had been firing up the grill for as long as he could remember, and he loved the show but didn't think he had a chance of standing among the chosen few.

“There's no way I'm going to get on that show,” recalls Bryner, who opened Blue Hound Barbecue in Scaly Mountain in 2022 before relocating to Dillard in the summer of 2025. “They always have these big-name people, and I'm a no-name guy from Dillard, Georgia.”

He was talked into applying, and the no-name guy from the Blue Ridge Mountains moved on to the next level. There were months of interviews with the casting agency and the network's production team. “They said they had tens of thousands of applications, and I landed in the final 12,” says Bryner, who holds a culinary arts degree from Sarasota County Technical Institute. “It was a little intimidating. I had people alongside me who were seven- and eight-time world champions, and on the other side, a James Beard Award nominee—I thought, I've seen these guys on TV!”

The premise of the show pits three teams of four contestants against each other—and the clock—challenged to cook their version of a particular dish. Every week, one brawler gets eliminated. Bobby Flay picked Bryner for his team.

Over the course of the 10-week competition, Bryner, dubbed “the mountain man,” found his footing. “I was a bunch of nerves. It was all new to me,” he says. “But episode four was the turning point for me. It was a chili cook-off, which I do a lot. I stopped worrying about being the first to go home, and I decided I'm going to go out and have fun—cook what I enjoy.”

Bryner used a recipe his oldest son, Elijah, had used in a contest earlier in the year to beat his dad. “The brawl is shot near Austin, Texas, where the chili tradition is all meat, and I'm cooking a chicken and chorizo chili—with beans in it,” explains Bryner wryly. “We won. It snowballed from there. The team went on to win all the other challenges.”

Bryner was on a roll, and during episode five, he was “stolen,” chosen out of all the other contestants, by a team captain with a serious losing streak. “The next challenge was sausage making, it's one of the things I'm known for,” he says. “So, I had a chance to shine and hopefully get a win for my new team.”

The team won, thanks to a dish Bryner composed with his wits and a few leftover ingredients from the pantry. “I was the last one to the refrigerator, and all I found was some really fatty pork and a piece of lamb,” he explains. “So, I combined them, and the leanness of the lamb balanced the richness of the pork.  I served my pork and lamb sausage with white beans, almost like a cassoulet. I was the only one who turned the sausage into links and made it the star of the dish.”

Bryner says he knew at the age of six that he wanted to be a cook, “just like my dad.” His father oversaw the start-ups of over a dozen restaurants and franchises, with Bryner by his side, loving every minute of it. However, it was an intensive 13-week course in Texas that turned his approach to food around. “The barbecue in Texas just blew my mind,” he explains. “I discovered it was a craft I wanted to pursue. The simplicity of it, the primal aspect of it. Cooking meat, low and slow, over a wood fire (he uses oak).”

For the finale, the challenge was the contestant’s choice, so Bryner drew from the menu at the Blue Hound Barbecue: dishes like beef cheeks, a trio of sausages, and top sellers like collard greens, pimento cheese grits and sweet potato crunch. “It was great, I was finally able to cook my food and showcase all the things that make Blue Hound special and show that to the judges,” says Bryner.

The trio Bryner rolled out featured a sausage of jalapeno and cheese combined with beef; a garlic-heavy Appalachian kielbasa seasoned with a wild, local allspice; and a breakfast link with a bit of mustard and sage. Bryner's kitchen also sources products from Springer Mountain Farms and Franklin Farm Hub.

The judges—Rodney Scott, Brooke Williamson, and Carson Kressley—were unanimous. The mountain man was crowned the “BBQ Brawl” Master of 'Cue.

Blue Hound Barbecue

6712 Hwy 441, Dillard, GA

(706) 800-8020

www.bluehoundbarbecue.com