Eater LA interviews Christina Machamer, and she reveals that her official title at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant is senior chef—not the promised executive chef: "Do I know what it takes to be an exec chef? Yes. Do I have it yet? No. For me, being where I am, I know it's not the right position for me." Related The Winner of 'Hell's Kitchen' and Gordon Ramsay's New 'Executive Chef' The Prize of Winning 'Hell's Kitchen': Executive Chef by Title Only...
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Last night the season finale of the ratings powerhouse Hell's Kitchen aired, pitting Louis Petrozza, catering director, against 25-year-old Christina Machamer, the culinary school student. Gordon Ramsay, known for expecting his chefs to be physically fit, picked Machamer as the winner over 47-year-old Petrozza, basing his decision on her "potential and drive." She gets the position of "executive chef" (in title only) at Ramsay's new Los Angeles restaurant, a prize "worth" $250,000. Hitting the inbox today was a press release from the cooking school Machamer attended, the Culinary Institute of America, that helped explain why she was labeled a "culinary student" for the duration of the show. The backstory, after the jump....
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This Tuesday is the season finale of Hell's Kitchen, pitting Louis Petrozza, catering director, against Christina Machamer, the culinary school student. Most people have doubted whether or not the contestants were actually qualified to function as executive chef at Gordon Ramsay's new Hollywood restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at The London, the reality show's grand prize. The New York Post runs the first in-print mention (that I've seen) that the prize is, unsurprisingly, fictitious and executive chef by title only: Do you honestly think, my sweet pea, that I'm going to be that stupid and that vulnerable? That I would stick my ass to the window and give one of them a chance to run that restaurant, which is a multi-million...
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