Christina Wilson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Christina Michelle Wilson January 15, 1979 |
| Education | Temple University |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | American |
Current restaurant(s)
| |
Television show(s) | |
Christina Michelle Wilson (born January 15, 1979) is an American chef and reality television personality. She was the winner of season 10 of the FOX Network's reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen.[1] She was awarded the position of chef de cuisine at Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Paris Las Vegas. During 2014 Wilson was the Executive Chef of Gordon Ramsay BurGR at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas. In 2015, she became the Corporate Executive Chef of Gordon Ramsay Restaurant Group. In 2016 and from 2018 onward, she has also returned to Hell's Kitchen as a Sous-chef. Since 2020, she has been the VP Culinary at Gordon Ramsay North America.
Wilson is from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and in 1997 graduated from Phillipsburg High School, where she played field hockey, basketball, and softball. She has three brothers[2] and was inspired to cook by her grandmother.[3] Wilson is openly gay.[4][5]
Wilson earned a basketball scholarship to West Chester University in Pennsylvania but lost the scholarship and waited tables to pay tuition. She transferred to Temple University, graduating with a B.A. in English and Language Arts in 2007.[6]
Wilson never attended culinary school,[7] but instead got her start working at McDonald's as a summer job in high school.[8] She cites her first major cooking experience as a job at West Chester Country Club in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where she "begged to be allowed in the kitchen to learn."[3] While attending Temple University in Philadelphia, she began working in city restaurants. Prior to her win on Hell's Kitchen in 2012, she was chef de cuisine at Lolita BYOB in Philadelphia.[6] She underwent a six-week training course to prepare for her job at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas.[9]
In 2014, Wilson left the Paris Las Vegas Gordon Ramsay Steak to become Executive Chef of the Gordon Ramsay BurGR (rebranded as Gordon Ramsay Burger in 2017)[10] next door at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas.[11]
In 2015, Wilson oversaw the U.S. division of the Gordon Ramsay Restaurant Group as Culinary Director,[12] which comprised 10 restaurants at the time.[13]
Since October 2020, Wilson has been the Vice President of Culinary for Gordon Ramsay North America;[14] in addition to the 14 locations that Ramsay had in the United States at the time, Gordon Ramsay North America's then-CEO, Norman Abdallah, had signaled the company's intention to open 75 new company-owned locations across North America between 2022 and 2026.[15]
She has made an appearance on every subsequent Hell’s Kitchen season following her initial run, being the red team Sous-chef on seasons 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22. She also made a few appearances on Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back,[16] The F Word,[17] and MasterChef Junior.[18] Additionally, in 2017 Wilson hosted a 10-episode YouTube series titled Recipes From Hell's Kitchen.[19]