Jake Rafuse & Steve MacLeod
Halifax
Genre: Food
Filmography: Apocalyptic Kitchen
Jake Rafuse and Steve MacLeod are the husband and husband duo behind the Fibe TV1 series Apocalyptic Kitchen. Steve, better known as Deva Station, is a veteran drag queen from Halifax. His husband, Jake, is a producer and co-owner of Station DRG, a media production company that he runs with Steve.
Deva Station regularly posts videos online ranging from wig tutorials to home cooking classes. Apocalyptic Kitchen is an extension of those videos, as she continues to advise younger people who are in dire need of help.
Where did the idea for the show, Apocalyptic Kitchen, come from?
Steve: "I had been doing videos online for quite some time, and at a certain point we found ourselves surrounded by 20-year-olds. I was completely flabbergasted by these children. They don’t know anything! It almost started as a joke, we’re going to create a show called ‘Apocalyptic Kitchen’ to teach you life skills you never knew you needed and to help the next generation. It all started as an insane idea, and it’s become what it is today. We’re three seasons in now and it’s become really well-received, so I’m very happy about that."
How has TV1 helped in the process of making the show?
Jake: "It was a big challenge, because we’ve shot for YouTube but never for TV, so it was a different experience. We’ve never had any formal training in this, so we were almost learning on the job."
Steve: "Especially at the beginning, TV1 was instrumental in helping us whenever we had questions. If we called, we would get a call back almost immediately. It really made us feel comfortable and at ease in knowing that we could ask the questions and be unsure at times. It’s really what we needed."