Gordon Ramsay's new 'executive chef': Christina!

Last night was the season finale of "Hell's Kitchen," Gordon Ramsay's Fox reality show. And for the entire hour, as the tension built and the audience squirmed, wondering if the winner would be Christina or Petrozza, wondering if the production values could possibly be worse or the lines cheesier, I was very glad that Andy Cook was not watching. At least I hope he wasn't.

He probably had real cooking to do. Cook, a 31-year-old Briton with an impressive global resume, is the chef de cuisine at Gordon Ramsay's Los Angeles restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood (pictured), a fact that wasn't mentioned during last night's show. What was mentioned, repeatedly by Ramsay, was that the winner would be "executive chef at my new restaurant, the London West Hollywood. Your new job! A position worth a quarter of a million dollars!" (I wonder what the real London WeHo chefs, all 50 of them, make? What does Cook make for putting up with this?)

After an excruciatingly long buildup ("At the count of three, open the door to your dream! 1, 2, 3" — cut to commercial), Christina, a 24-year-old culinary student, opened the door to a waiting crowd, tearful parents, and as much falling confetti and spraying Champagne as marked the recent Celtics championship win. "Making this decision has been sheer agony for me," Ramsay had said. Yeah. Probably not just for him.

Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood, 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood. (310) 854-1111.

— Amy Scattergood

Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez

Comments

[Smash]

SO what happened to the Executive Chef title? I've heard Christina has been dropped to senior Sous Chef... what gives?

[Ellen Hilburn]

What I want to know is what her salary for the second year will be or if it's a sort of one year executive chef title that is paid by Fox promos on Hell's Kitchen. At any rate, good for her. I actually caught part of this show while coming out of the gym and relaxing with a cup of tea. I wish someone would follow the career (even five years out) of some of these like reality show winners. Clearly she's talented, but I say bank as much as you can cause who knows where next year's meal is coming from!

[Susan]

Thanks for spoiling it. PLEASE STOP putting in spoilers in the headlines of blogs in this and the Show Tracker blog entries! Some of us DVR the shows, and an innocent click on our RSS feeds blows the whole thing. Sigh. Not that it matters in the scheme of the universe, but hey, it was fun.