History Series / HellsKitchen

** The Season 8 intro gives all the tiny chefs chipmunk voices.

Much of the show's appeal (even among those who normally hate RealityTV) comes from the fact that it features the same kinds of people that plague these types of shows... but in a shocking subversion, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they're punished for being stupid attention-starved assholes and rewarded for showing competence, maturity, and respect, both to each other and especially Chef Ramsay]].

* The Challenge: The chefs are divided into two teams and have to complete a challenge. The challenges vary greatly so the contestants never know what to expect, although there are some recurring challenges, like the Blind Taste Test, that appear every year. Commonly, the chefs must use unusual methods of determining the ingredients they will be cooking with, such as picking balls out of a pool, herding animals into cages or rolling a die at a craps table. The dishes they create will then be scored against each other, by Ramsay and sometimes additional guest judges. The team with the most points get rewarded (getting a massage, eating with Gordon at a fancy restaurant, etc.) while the losing team faces punishment, usually doing very tedious tasks such as mincing meat and grinding peppercorns by hand, sorting through rubbish, prepping both kitchens for dinner service, cleaning the dining room, or handling the food deliveries. When it comes down to the final six contestants, there is only one winner for the challenges, but sometimes they have the option to choose one of their fellow contestants to share the reward with. At this point, the punishments drop off. The losing chefs do the prep work for dinner that night, but that's because it needs doing and they're not off on a reward, so they do it. Starting in Season 17, the Punishment Pass, which can only be played once, came into play, where the contestant lucky enough to have it can avoid the punishment, should their team happen to lose, and send a contestant from the winning team to take their place.

** Season 4, episode 7. The Blue Team at the time (Ben, Louross, Petrozza and Bobby) are trying to eliminate each other left and right. Petrozza, however:
--->'''Petrozza:''' I nominated myself, chef.

* MatchCut: Season 2, Episode 4 features one where the winning team of the lunch-service kid's party challenge is sent to an amusement park. One shot shows them having fun at a balloon-popping dart challenge...transition to the losing team during their punishment cleaning up the dining room, popping the leftover party balloons with a knife.

*** Zach perhaps is the most surprising of the bunch since, as mentioned, he started off relatively sane. By the end of the team section of the season, he's grown to addressing himself in the third person and/or in his alter ego, dropping ManlyTears over mistakes and poor choices that he can't understand are such, and assuming way to much in random stuff such as Ja'nel touching his knee being a sign of something... while they're in a helicopter that's turning (that is, she's bracing herself on both Zach and Jon who were with her). And later still, he starts talking back and blowing off Gordon (but only in confessional) while being a Gordon's biggest fan in person.

--->'''Sandra''': [mockingly]] Oh, no pressure, its just my family!

** Also subverted in season 6. The finalists Kevin and Dave both had injuries (Kevin had sprain ankles, Dave and his arm) and this was from ''the same episode''. They somehow fought through the pain in order to fight each other one on one.

*** The show's editing style was also much calmer in the first season. The use of dramatic music is less omnipresent and generally reserved for major blowoff moments, giving more space for a proper creschendo. There is also a lot more time dedicated to the more casual conversations that take place in the kitchen, and the overall tone is more laid-back than what is to follow.

** Season 10's blue team was also pretty bad, while they won a decent amount of challenges, they fared far worse when it came to dinner service, as they only managed to win ''one'' service out of 14.

* AnyoneCanDie: Well, be eliminated rather than die, but this trope is what sets apart from most other shows. Anyone can be sent home, even if they have not been selected by their team mates, immunity, or on the winning team.

* ActuallyAGoodIdea: In the season one's finale, finalists Michael and Ralph ran a dress rehearsal for the final service by taking turns running the pass. When it was Ralph's turn, Michael deliberately sent up a risotto without any crab to see if the former noticed. Ralph did not, and the dish was sent out, only for the plate to comeback with the complaint. Ramsay noted that Michael made a smart move and in seasons after that, he used the same strategy to test the chef's ability to catch mistakes on the pass.