Entering Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen” isn't for the faint of heart.
Known for showcasing the anxiety and intensity that comes with running a professional kitchen, Fox’s reality TV cooking competition instantly conjures up images of host and Michelin star chef, Gordon Ramsay, berating contestants as they attempt to complete a dinner service.
Now, Ramsay’s infamous ire has turned to Sacramento native Anthony Vo, executive chef for Sonrisa Senior Living in Roseville. Vo, along with 17 other chefs, competed in season 23 of Hell’s Kitchen, which is set to premiere on Sept. 26.
For 28-year-old Vo, the show was an opportunity of a lifetime that he’d dreamt about since he was five-year-old watching Ramsay on TV.
“I honestly never thought I'd have the chance to work with him, especially growing up watching him,” Vo told CapRadio. “I didn't go to culinary school. I didn't have a master chef. Everything I learned has either been me or [from] great chefs. So meeting Chef Ramsay and having him give me the validation — it's everything.”
Vo initially didn’t apply to be on the show. He landed the spot by happenstance, when a producer sent him a message through LinkedIn saying he would be a great fit and should apply. He quickly realized it was a real opportunity and decided to apply after talking with his fiance.
After a meeting with the producers and completing a physical examination, he flew to Connecticut to film the show earlier this year at Foxwoods Resort Casino — alongside his idol.
“When you meet your heroes, sometimes it goes bad,” he said. “But this time it was a fairytale.”
Vo was certainly on the receiving end of Ramsay’s infamous temper, but knew it was because of the expectation of excellence he held for all the contestants.
“We're all head chefs,” he said of this year’s cast. “We've all ran kitchens. We're not line cooks, we're not sous chefs, so he expected everything from us.”
While Ramsay lives up to his loud reputation, Vo said he saw a different side of the reality TV host that’s more akin to that of a teacher. His experience with Ramsay gave him more purpose than he already had to keep pursuing his culinary career.
“It was never a movie or never just TV to him,” he said. “It was actually about helping 18 chefs further their career. So I'm forever grateful to Chef Ramsay.”
As portrayed on Hell’s Kitchen, putting together dishes for hungry customers with cameras watching your every move can be a chaotic experience. But Vo has always been able to adapt to his surroundings.
Vo grew up without his parents and was, instead, raised by his grandparents. His grandmother was a sushi chef and worked at pho restaurants in Citrus Heights, where his love of food began. He would assist her with food preparation and helping around the kitchen with chores.
His favorite dish was congee. It's a traditional Vietnamese rice porridge dish, topped with pork floss, scallions, and an egg.
“That’s something my grandma always made for me growing up when I was sick or when I was sad,” he said. “That's usually my comfort dish … my signature dish.”
Vo’s life with his grandparents was upended when, as a teenager, he was placed in foster care after missing nearly the entire school year, aside from 2 days.
The experience was confusing for him. The foster care where he stayed was only a few blocks away from his grandparents house. All he wanted to do was to go home, but was now in a room with 20 other kids.
“I realized really quick that I was probably gonna be alone at a really young age,” he said. “I needed to get everything together now because if I don't then I'm most likely going to be in jail or homeless.”
Vo was eventually able to return home to his grandparent’s care. School may have been the source of painful memories after being away from the only family he had ever known, but it then became a spark of inspiration.
Vo’s career in the kitchen took off when he entered a culinary arts program at San Juan High School in Citrus Heights, where he learned to cook on the line and keep his station clean.
“Having a $2 million kitchen at 16 years old was kind of unreal,” he said. “There’s still some equipment that I don’t see to this day in restaurants that was offered to us at San Juan High School.”
From there, he worked at various restaurants and senior living communities as a prep cook and sous chef. He worked his way up to eventually becoming executive chef at Westmont Living, a retirement community, in 2017, before moving to MBK Senior Living in Orangevale in 2019. He is now the executive chef for Sonrisa Senior Living, where he’s worked since August of last year.
But as his passion for food developed, it would also be tested. Soon after becoming executive chef at Westmont Living, Vo was diagnosed with stage 3 oral cancer at the age of 21.
Vo says he knew something was wrong when his mouth began hurting and bleeding. This was followed by severe headaches.
“Here I am, 21. I just became a chef,” he said to himself as he sat in the doctor's office, contemplating his next steps. “I should be partying and celebrating, but now I have to plan my life for chemotherapy and radiation.”
Vo says the doctors removed a portion of his gum line and he temporarily lost his ability to taste.
“It’s been a tough journey,” he said. “It was one of the darker moments in my life. Pretty much everything hit the fan: Cancer, Grandma had Alzheimer's and [I] was trying to care for her, Grandpa had a stroke. That moment of my life was terrible.”
Food had been a constant as much as anything else in his life. As he spent his time in treatment, he contemplated giving up his life in the culinary world. But a book sent to him by a friend would alter that course.
It was “Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat” by Grant Achatz, who detailed his own journey after being diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2007.
With a new perspective, Vo took no pity on himself and began fighting the disease head on. His taste returned after two years and, with it, his love for food. He’s been in remission since 2021.
As his appearance on Hell’s Kitchen nears its premiere and his 30th birthday inches closer, Vo reflected on his journey.
“My teens were terrible. My 20s were tragic. And now, I have such a positive outlook on my 30s just because of everything I've been through. I survived so much … So thank you God, thank you to the doctors and to the family and friends that supported me through it.”
You can watch Vo on “Hell’s Kitchen” starting Thursday.
