Christina Machamer facts for kids
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| Born | March 13, 1982 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
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| Education | The Culinary Institute of America (2008) |
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Rating(s)
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Current restaurant(s)
B Cellars Winery (Calistoga, California)
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Previous restaurant(s)
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Television show(s)
Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 4)
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Christina Machamer (born March 13, 1982) is an American chef who won the fourth season of Fox Network's reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen. After winning, she became a senior sous chef at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in The London West Hollywood.
Early Life and Cooking Journey
Christina Machamer was born and grew up in St. Louis. She started working in restaurants when she was 16 years old. After finishing Lafayette High School in 2000, she went to college to study law. However, she soon realized that cooking was her true passion.
In 2003, she began her formal cooking training at Forest Park Community College. She then moved to The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park in 2006. She worked very hard and graduated at the top of her class in 2008.
Becoming a Hell's Kitchen Star
Christina decided to try out for Hell's Kitchen after watching a previous season. She went to an open audition in Manhattan and was chosen to be on the show.
Even though she was still a culinary student and had the least cooking experience among the contestants, Christina showed great talent. She was nominated for elimination five times, but she also won a record nine challenges. The famous chef Gordon Ramsay was very impressed by her potential. After winning, Christina had the choice to take a cash prize or work for a year at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. She chose the job.
After Hell's Kitchen: A Chef's Career
After winning Hell's Kitchen, Christina was given the position of senior sous chef at the new Gordon Ramsay restaurant in The London West Hollywood hotel. A sous chef is like a second-in-command in the kitchen, helping the executive chef.
While waiting for the show to air, Christina worked at Revival, a restaurant in St. Louis. She also started a small company called BCBC Blends with Cory Lemieux, selling special spice mixes.
The Gordon Ramsay restaurant where Christina worked earned a Michelin Star in 2009. This is a very important award for restaurants. Christina worked almost 14 hours a day, supervising different parts of the kitchen.
Later, Christina started writing a blog for BuddyTV.com about Hell's Kitchen season 5. She also completed training to become a sommelier, which means she became an expert in wine service.
Christina has been invited to many cooking events since her win. She even competed in a cookoff with Rock Harper, another Hell's Kitchen winner.
After the Gordon Ramsay restaurant was sold, Christina went to Napa to study wine further at CIA Greystone. She then moved to Beverly Hills to help open Bouchon, a restaurant for the famous chef Thomas Keller.
In 2011, Christina moved to the Napa Valley. There, she found a new role at B Cellars in Calistoga, California, connecting the worlds of food and wine.
She has also appeared on Hell's Kitchen again. In 2013, she was part of a team of past winners who competed against the final contestants in season 11. In 2016, she appeared briefly in the season 16 premiere, giving tips to the women contestants about working under pressure.
As of 2023, Christina Machamer owns her own catering business in the Napa Valley, called Clandestine Table.
