Hell’s Kitchen: How Amber Lancaster’s Uncle Changed Her Life

The cooking competition series, Hell’s Kitchen, is one of the best. It’s got Gordon Ramsay slinging world-class insults and chef contestants with big talent and even bigger personalities. Literally all of the ingredients for a spectacular competition series are in the pot, and it comes out perfect each and every time. It’s not at all surprising that this series is on its 19th season! 

Season 19 has been a long time coming, however. It was shot in 2018 and producers spent two-and-a-half years getting it ready to air. But at long last, the newest season is upon us, and it promises to be one of the very best. While past seasons almost always make a trek to Las Vegas, this season took place entirely in Sin City. It also featured some really phenomenal talent. Amber Lancaster is just one of the many talented chefs trying their hand at the $250,000 and executive chef position at Lake Tahoe’s Hell’s Kitchen restaurant grand prize. 

Though Amber Lancaster, 32, is currently getting noticed around town as a chef (she appeared four times on Guy Fieri’s Guy’s Grocery Games prior to Hell’s Kitchen), she wasn’t always planning on becoming a chef. According to the Arizona Daily Star, during her freshman year of college at the University of Arizona, Amber was certain she was on her way to law school. Majoring in political science, Amber admittedly spent most of her first semester partying. When she went home for Christmas, she sat down at her uncle’s kitchen table and confessed she was struggling. Her uncle, who was himself a successful lawyer, asked her a question that would change her entire life: “If you could do one thing every day for the rest of your life where money was no issue, what would you do?” Amber said she would cook. 

Amber dropped out of the University of Arizona and enrolled in the Scottsdale campus of Le Cordon Bleu. She took off for advanced training in Paris and earned her Grande Diplôme in 2008. After graduating, Amber stayed in France for three years working in Guy Savoy’s and Hôtel de Crillon’s kitchens. In 2011, she moved to Chicago and studied molecular gastronomy with chef Grant Achatz at his Michelin-rated restaurant Alinea. Amber says that while she’s never once filled out an application for a TV show, not even for Hell’s Kitchen, she has “been very lucky in [her] career.” She says her luck is simply word of mouth. People talk and eventually they find her. Perhaps it’s luck, perhaps it’s word of mouth, or perhaps it’s simply that Amber is doing what she loves, and that kind of happiness is exhilarating to be around. Whatever it is, she certainly owes it all to that life-changing conversation with her uncle. 

Source: Arizona Daily Star