Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef Double-Whammy Finales: Winners Are In!

Gordon Ramsay picks an executive chef for his new Vegas steak house, as well as the next great amateur

By Natalie Finn Sep 11, 2012 2:18 AMTags
Hell's Kitchen, Christina Wilson, Justin Anitorio, MasterChef, Christine Ha, Josh MarksGreg Gayne/FOX

Ah, the Hell's Kitchen finale—the night when the eventual executive chef of a real, live restaurant starts to appear competent. Always a good time.

Gordon Ramsay crowned the [bleeping] winner of the 10th season of his signature cooking competition on what was a super busy night for the famously vocal chef and his respective merry bands of misfits—as the winner of the third season of MasterChef was revealed on Fox just an hour later!

But, first up, Justin Antiorio and Christina Wilson battled it out on Hell's Kitchen one last time.

While both chef's menus received the Ramsay seal of approval before diners started filing into the Hell's Kitchen restaurant for the finale meal, Justin's team jelled faster than Christina's, whose appetizer service slowed to a crawl at one point.

"Thirty seconds," Dana Cohen promised when it came to the scallops she had to redo, because the first batch was burned and, in Ramsay's words, "disgusting."

But Clemenza Caserta was around to put a hitch in Justin's main-course flow, sending out nearly raw salmon when he was urged to hurry up—so, the timing snafus pretty much evened out in the end.

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The door could only open for one of them, though—and it was Christina who found herself on the other side as the new executive chef of Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.

"I can barely feel my body right now," an ecstatic Christina said after walking through the night's only open door and into the arms of her mother and girlfriend. "

"I don't want to lose to anybody, but obviously Christina's a great competitor," Justin said gracefully (though it would have been more fun to see him "walk outta here" if it had been anybody else winning besides her).

Next up, the MasterChef finale, where Christine Ha (who, remember, is literally cooking blind) and U.S. Army contract specialist Josh Marks were tasked with the cooking the "most sensational" three-course meals of their lives.

Both menus sounded killer: lobster and grits, rack of lamb with green curry spice and a bacon-pecan pie on Josh's side, and a Thai vegetable salad, braised pork belly and coconut-lime sorbet with a ginger tuile from Christina.

But, good intentions don't mean as much as execution—or do they?

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Josh may have physically towered over his competitor, but Christine was alone at the top after serving up a cohesive, Vietnamese-inspired meal that both looked delicious and, according to the judges, was bursting with flavor.

Not to mention, the 33-year-old grad student, who is legally blind, overcame one heck of an adversity to win.

"This has been the most amazing experience, seriously," Christine said, sobbing tears of joy.

Congrats to Christina and Christine!