EAT, SKI, LIVE is on a mission to end the stigma of mental health issues and help others know they are not alone. Chef Lee Wright is a millennial professional chef who has achieved extreme highs and crushing lows. When Lee was 16, he apprenticed under Michelin Star chefs Heston Blumenthal and Clive Dixon. At 20, Chef Lee was one of the youngest contestants on MasterChef: The Professionals TV Series in the United Kingdom. He has worked in gastropubs, restaurants, hotels, and event venues in the UK, Norway, and Australia. Chef Lee even cooked for the late Queen Elizabeth and her staff in Buckingham Palace.
After Chef Lee’s appearance on MasterChef: The Professionals TV Series, Chef Lee implored Jill Hammergren, a producer in the U.S., to help him develop a TV series. Their friendship deepened, and Jill learned of Chef Lee’s love of water skiing and that he was a competitive slalom water skier. Those components launched the initial concept for the EAT, SKI, LIVE TV series.
While those early fantastic experiences were educational, rewarding, and career-boosting, they also proved detrimental to Chef Lee’s mental health and overall well-being. The hospitality industry is highly demanding and stressful, especially for high-achieving chefs. Many factors include unreasonable expectations and pressure from owners, customers, and suppliers. Working conditions are often deplorable. There aren’t enough people staffing all the necessary positions in the kitchen. Chefs also lack other resources, receive low compensation rates and little-to-no benefits, and face the insurmountable problem of long hours and lack of sleep. For many chefs and others working in hospitality, this often results in anxiety, depression, addictions, physical illness, and, for Chef Lee, a mental breakdown.
Having a Stress Reliever
As Chef Lee’s responsibilities and stress grew in his working conditions, so did his struggles with his mental health. After Chef Lee endured four mental breakdowns over ten years, they knew that it was now more critical than ever to share Chef Lee’s journey with audiences around the world.
Now, they are developing a documentary called EAT, SKI, LIVE: A Professional Chef’s Journey to Find Mental Health Wellness and Balance to share Chef Lee’s personal, raw, and heart-wrenching journey, as told through his lived experiences. It will also focus on Lee’s family and friends’ experiences as they share how Lee’s breakdowns affected them. Lee’s love of slalom water skiing and his drive to develop a global TV series keep pushing him to achieve mental health wellness and to help others facing similar situations heal by ending the stigma of talking about and addressing mental health issues.
The EAT, SKI, LIVE TV series is a unique recipe that combines purposeful and intentional mental health activities with food, action, adventure, travel, and lifestyle events. It engages audiences in meaningful engagements with Chef Lee Wright and promotes positivity, optimism, gratitude, and acceptance. Every episode has a Discover Your Balance segment that empowers, encourages, educates, and supports a visual and interactive activity that helps people find balance and promotes mental health wellness.
According to the mental health charity MIND, each year, one in four people in the UK experience a mental health issue. In the US, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says one in five Americans live with mental illness, yet only half receive treatment. The World Health Organization also reports that depression and anxiety disorders are the top causes of ill health and disabilities around the world.
RESOURCES
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
UK Mental Health Charities and Organizations