History YMMV / HellsKitchen

** In Season 2, Heather remarks during her punishment how the only station Virginia didn't do bad at was the fish station, which she argued was the easiest station to be placed on. This statement becomes harsher when you consider that, as of Season 22, the fish station has been one of the most notorious stations on Hell's Kitchen, with it being responsible for the most eliminations. This isn't just [[TheLoad Raj]] either as several strong contestants, many of whom were considered to be early frontrunners including [[LargeHam Van in Seasons 6 & 17]], [[Determinator Nilka in Season 7]], [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Natalie in Season 9]], [[OnlySaneMan Anthony in Season 11]], [[TheOneGuy Jon in Season 11]], Alison in Season 14, [[HandicappedBadass Kevin when he returned in Season 18]] and [[LittleMissBadass Cheyenne in Season 21]], have all been eliminated after a bad night on the fish station.

** The fanbase are divided about what to think about Season 9's blue team. They're either viewed as wholesome group of friends that you want to succeed with [[AwesomeEgo Paul]], [[TheLeader Will]], [[NiceGuy Tommy]] and (when she joined in Episode 3) [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Natalie]] being [[EnsembleDarkhorse among the most beloved contestants from Season 9 along with Jennifer]] and as a refreshing change of pace from the drama from the Season 9 red team or they're viewed as contemptable fratboy douchebags with [[SmallNameBigEgo Brendan]], [[JerkAss Chino]], and (while the hatred towards him cooled after his death) [[LazyBum Jonathon]] being [[TheScrappy among the most hated contestants from Season 9 up there with Elise]]. There's also [[WhatTheHellHero Will and Paul's betrayal of Jennifer]] which left a sour taste in the fanbase's mouth.

** Season 9's blue team. They're either considered one of the most wholesome groups in Hell's Kitchen with [[AwesomeEgo Paul]], [[TheLeader Will]], [[NiceGuy Tommy]] and (when she joined in Episode 3) [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Natalie]] as being [[EnsembleDarkhorse the most beloved final four of any blue team in Hell's Kitchen history]] and as a refreshing break from the drama of the red team or they're viewed as contemptable fratboy douchebags with [[SmallNameBigEgo Brendan]], [[JerkAss Chino]], and (while the hatred towards him cooled after his death) [[LazyBum Jonathon]] being [[TheScrappy among the most hated contestants in Season 9 up there with Elise]]. There's also [[WhatTheHellHero Will and Paul's betrayal of Jennifer]] which left a sour taste in the fanbase's mouth.

*** Season 17 (All Stars) is easily the most divisive season of the show. Some fans love it because of all the drama and for seeing chefs from different seasons all interacting with each other. Other fans hate it because of all the drama, especially with Elise who was arguably worse than she was in Season 9. The questionable elimination decisions and [[spoiler: Michelle's]] ''highly'' controversial win don't help this season in the slightest.

** Season 9's blue team. They're either considered one of the most wholesome groups in Hell's Kitchen with [[AwesomeEgo Paul]], [[TheLeader Will]], [[NiceGuy Tommy]] and (when she joined in Episode 3) [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Natalie]] as being [[EnsembleDarkhorse the most beloved final four of any blue team in Hell's Kitchen history]] and as a refreshing break from the drama of the red team or their viewed as contemptable fratboy douchebags with [[SmallNameBigEgo Brendan]], [[JerkAss Chino]], and (while the hatred towards him cooled after his death) [[LazyBum Jonathon]] being [[TheScrappy among the most hated contestants in Season 9 up there with Elise]]. There's also [[WhatTheHellHero Will and Paul's betrayal of Jennifer]] which left a sour taste in the fanbase's mouth.

** Ava's elimination in Season 20. There are quite a few people who believed she should've been sent home first due to serving Ramsay raw salmon during the alcohol challenge. Other fans thought that, while there wouldn't be a chance Ava would win Season 20, that she should've at least had a chance to prove herself on the line in an actual dinner service and argued that her raw salmon (which can, at worst, make people sick) was still a bit better than [[TheScrappy Matthew's]] raw chicken (which can, at worst, kill someone).

** Ava's elimination in Season 20. There are quite a few people who believed she should've been sent home first due to serving Ramsay raw salmon during the alcohol challenge. Other fans thought that, while there wouldn't be a chance Ava would win Season 20, that she should've at least had a chance to prove herself on the line and argued that her raw salmon (which can, at worst, make people sick) was still a bit better than [[TheScrappy Matthew's]] raw chicken (which can actually kill someone).

** Natalie's elimination in Season 9. While there are some fans that feel like Ramsay made the right decision by eliminating Natalie, [[BadassDecay she started off strong but her performances got worse as the season went on]] with Episode 11 being her third elimination nomination, there are just as many fans who argue that Natalie's elimination was the result of ExecutiveMeddling so that [[TheScrappy Elise]], who also had a terrible service, lied straight to Ramsay's fave by blaming [[EnsembleDarkhorse Tommy]] for her wellington's being destroyed and [[EliminationHoudini was on her fourth elimination nomination]], could be kept on the show a little bit longer at the expense of Natale ([[EnsembleDarkhorse one of the more beloved contestants from Season 9]]).

** Natalie's elimination in Season 9. While there are some fans that feel like Ramsay made the right decision by eliminating Natalie, [[BadassDecay she started off strong but her performances got worse as the season went on]] with Episode 11 being her third elimination nomination, there are just as many fans who argue that Natalie's elimination was the result of ExecutiveMeddling so that [[TheScrappy Elise]], who also had a terrible service and [[EliminationHoudini was on her fourth elimination nomination]], could be kept on the show a little bit longer at the expense of Natale ([[EnsembleDarkhorse one of the more beloved contestants from Season 9]]).

** Jon in Season 11 did very well in almost every challenge... but the rest of the Blue Team, with the sole exception of Anthony [[spoiler:before his collapse]], were so terrible that he wasn't able to enjoy any of the rewards because they lost all but two challenges. Nevertheless, Jon took it all in stride, and managed to win the second individual challenge after Black Jackets were given. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he came up just short of making it to the finale, but he became the first male contestant that Ramsay allowed to keep his jacket]], and today, he works at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas under Season 10 winner [[spoiler:Christina]].

** One of the most universally agreed upon eliminations that people believe happened way too early was Season 15's [[spoiler:Hassan Musselmani]], who Ramsay chose to eliminate over Dannie in week 7. [[spoiler:Hassan]] throughout the first 6 weeks had proven himself to be a powerhouse amongst the men. So much so that Ramsay felt that sending him to the Red Team would give the girls a spark. Instead, he ends up having his first bad performance of the season, which also happened to be his last since said performance resulted in his elimination. Thus, leaving many viewers confused as to why he deserved to go since he wasn't even given a second chance to try to make up for his bad week. One theory people have is that the reason he got kicked off despite his competency was that Ramsay was angry and embarrassed that [[spoiler:Hassan]] put in a bad performance during a special event. Said event being previous sous chef Andi's wedding reception. By the time of the season finale, it's quite common to see the viewers claiming that [[spoiler:Hassan]] should have been amongst the chefs brought back for the final service teams.

* VindicatedByHistory: When it first aired, Season 10 wasn't liked by the fans due to the amount of SmallNameBigEgo chefs, multiple cliffhangers, and more drama than needed. However, as time went on, people started to see some of the season's more shining moments such as the first-ever perfect score on the Blind Taste Challenge, more of TheScrappy chefs getting their karma at certain points, and [[EnsembleDarkhorse Christina Wilson]], who many refer to as the most successful winner to date (indeed, many of the comments on YouTube refer to Season 10 as "Christina's origin story"). Plus, the number of cliffhangers was not as bad compared to Season 11.

** Season 19's [[The Scrappy Amber]]. She tended to get over-emotional and constantly think everyone was out to get her personally, even when she was given legitimate criticism she refused to own up to. This was taken to its zenith once she was transferred to the blue team; she continually complained about wanting to go back to the red team, even when she ended up staying there ''longer'' than the red team. In the finale, when Jordan was chosen over her by Kori, she wouldn't stop nagging to Kori about it or in the confession cams when she was cooking for Mary Lou, and on top of that, she wasn't even PickedLast ([[TheScrappy Marc]] was, and even he didn't sulk about it). Needless to say, her teammates and viewers alike got tired of her whiny attitude real fast.

** Season 7's Salvatore was this in spades.
** Season 12's Rochelle was an instant fan favorite for her sweet and dorky personality and adorable laugh.

** Seasons 15-16 are also considered this, mostly due to their lack of talent and unlikable roster. Season 15 was noted for having much more arrogant and irritating contestants (Frank and Dannie specifically) and having an unremarkable winner, while Season 16 was plagued with the worst men's team in the show and keeping incompetent chefs for longer periods. The whole flirtmance between runner-up Heather and fellow contestant Andrew (who was revealed to be engaged) was also heavily scrutinized, although most fans do agree that Ryan was a solid winner. Most of these problems were thrown under for Seasons 17 (All Stars) & 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans) (although they were reunion seasons), and Seasons 19 (Las Vegas) & 20 (Young Guns) were praised by fans as being solid seasons with memorable and likable characters.

** A particularly sad example occurs when you rewatch Season 2, because of Rachel. After winning a helicopter ride to a restaurant, remarked that riding a helicopter was something she had to mark off her "100 Things To Do Before I Die List." Once in a confessional, she stated about herself "Rachel... you... are... pitiful! Rachel, you suck!" And then, after being eliminated: "You don’t quit having a dream, because one night... (breaks down and cries)" This became extremely chilling after news of her suicide the following year came out.

** Season 3's Julia states that she never went to culinary art school but she was willing to learn. On her elimination night, Ramsay stated that he would send her to culinary school.

** Season 11's new Blue Team sous chef, James, is also seen as this by many, as he has generally little presence (at times you may even forget he's there) and just doesn't have the inherent badass attitude, authority, and presence that Sous Chef Scott has and fans love. As time went on, however, he became liked by the fans due to his reliability with the other chefs. The next Blue Team sous chef, Aaron, had even fewer fans due to just lacking presence in the kitchen ([[OutOfFocus and screentime]]). However, the most recent Blue Team sous chefs have averted this; Jocky due to actually showing strong leadership and also for being much different from the other Blue Team sous chefs in the show, and Jason/Jay already had fans from his original season.

** Season 15 featured noticeably lower-quality chefs than in previous seasons (only 4 chefs scored a 4 on the Signature Dish Challenge and none scored a 5), coming off as jarring compared to seasons like 12 and 14 in particular. Doesn’t help that the season was also filled with shocking eliminations such as [[spoiler:Hassan, Joe, and Jared,]] a constant emphasis on the drama with chefs like Jackie, Frank, Ashley, and Jared, and a winner (Ariel) that left a lot of fans divided. Even worse, every chef from this season to return to All Stars (Ashley, Jared, and Manda) got eliminated early enough to not return to the finale as a team player, only further adding to the low-performance quality of this season.

** Every once in awhile, you'll see people wishing to see Season 5's Cha Ji-Hyun get another shot after she chose to leave the competition early due to twisting her ankle. Especially when her opening signature dish was amongst the best, and Ramsay's final words for Ji having [[WhatCouldHaveBeen missed potential]] written all over it.

** With Season 17 being an All Stars season, one can't help but wonder why Season 3's Julia wasn't among the returning chefs given that, as stated upon her exit, Ramsay hoped she would return after graduating from culinary school and knock the competition out of the water. It could also extend to others as many seasons (1-4, 8, 11-13, and 16) did not have any representatives at all, leaving a number of people irritated that fan-favorites such as Season 4's Bobby, Season 11's Jon, and Season 12's Rochelle did not appear. In addition, the fact that only chefs who received Black Jackets in their first season were brought back left fans of Season 13's Sterling, Season 8's Vinny, and Season 10's Brian disappointed that they were not offered a second chance. This additionally prevented chefs who went home only because of injuries, like Season 5's Ji and Season 14's Bret, from trying again.

** Above everyone else, Raj is the king of this. With the sole weird exception of Russel, season 8's resident Jerkass, he had major beef with everyone, argued over fault, was massively incompetent enough to almost sink his last service on his own and was thus despised by his team who were glad to see him eliminated despite winning that service (through no help of Raj, as the red team did just a bit worse rather than the blue team accomplishing anything). His antics have made him the most beloved attraction of the show and he is considered the most fun to watch except maybe Sterling.
* VindicatedByHistory: When it first aired, Season 10 wasn't liked by the fans due to the amount of SmallNameBigEgo chefs, multiple cliffhangers, and more drama than needed. However, as time went on, people started to see some of the season's more shining moments such as the first-ever perfect score on the Blind Taste Challenge, more of TheScrappy chefs getting their karma at certain points, and Christina, who many refer to as the most successful winner to date (indeed, many of the comments on Youtube refer to Season 10 as "Christina's origin story"). Plus, the number of cliffhangers was not as bad compared to Season 11.
* {{Wangst}}: Lacey from Season 5, who had a tendency to start whining and crying after performing poorly, and would frequently complain about how her teammates hated her (in reality, it was this that was the cause of most of it).

** Season 19's Amber. She tended to get over-emotional and constantly think everyone was out to get her personally, even when she was given legitimate criticism she refused to own up to. This was taken to its zenith once she was transferred to the blue team; she continually complained about wanting to go back to the red team, even when she ended up staying there ''longer'' than the red team. In the finale, when Jordan was chosen over her by Kori, she wouldn't stop nagging to Kori about it or in the confession cams when she was cooking for Mary Lou, and on top of that, she wasn't even PickedLast ([[TheScrappy Marc]] was, and even he didn't sulk about it). Needless to say, her teammates and viewers alike got tired of her whiny attitude real fast.

** Natalie's elimination in Season 9. While there are some fans that feel like Ramsay made the right decision by eliminating Natalie, she started off strong but her performances got worse as the season went on with Episode 11 being her third elimination nomination, there are just as many fans who argue that Natalie's elimination was the result of ExecutiveMeddling so that [[TheScrappy Elise]], who also had a terrible service and [[EliminationHoudini was on her fourth elimination nomination]], could be kept on the show a little bit longer at the expense of Natale ([[EnsembleDarkhorse one of the more beloved contestants from Season 9]]).

** Additionally, [[BaseBreakingCharacter Virginia]] from Season 2 was decried as the absolute worst finalist in the show's history due to her poor performance in the kitchen, as well as the fact that she was seen as a CreatorsPet. With the uncut services in 2023 airing however, many fans pointed out that Virginia's mistakes were very minimum and she did display some actual talent. While she is still considered the weakest of the finalists, people have been more understanding as to ''why'' she made the finals. Despite remaining the weakest finalist, her status as worst finalist is now a toss up between her and 8's [[The Scrappy Russell]] who likely only made the finals despite his status as a massive jerk because of 8's general lack of talent and him simply being among the least bad of a lackluster group.

** Additionally, Virginia from Season 2 was decried as the absolute worst finalist in the show's history due to her poor performance in the kitchen, as well as the fact that she was seen as a CreatorsPet. With the uncut services in 2023 airing however, many fans pointed out that Virginia's mistakes were very minimum and she did display some actual talent. While she is still considered the weakest of the finalists, people have been more understanding as to ''why'' she made the finals. Despite remaining the weakest finalist, her status as worst finalist is now a toss up between her and 8's Russel who likely only made the finals despite his status as a massive jerk because of 8's general lack of talent and him simply being among the least bad of a lackluster group.

** Natalie's elimination in Season 9. While there are some fans that feel like Ramsay made the right decision by eliminating Natalie, she started off strong but her performances got worse as the season went on with Episode 11 being her third elimination nomination, there are just as many fans who argue that Natalie's elimination was the result of ExecutiveMeddling so that [[TheScrappy Elise]]], who also had a terrible service and [[EliminationHoudinin was on her fourth elimination nomination]], could be kept on the show a little bit longer at the expense of Natalie, [[EnsembleDarkhorse who was one of the more beloved contestants in Season 9]]. Still, there are others who feel that both Elise and Natalie should've been eliminated that night.

** The Season 6 premiere begins with JP lecturing the contestants on how their screwups result in his job being made much harder, noting that's gotten into confrontations with customers, Chef Ramsay, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers the kitchen door]]. [[TemptingFate Not one episode later]] and he infamously ends up nearly coming to blows with Van.

* ArchivePanic: As of the Season 21 (Battle of the Ages) finale, Hell's Kitchen has 330 episodes.

** Season 22 (The American Dream) managed to fix several issues that plagued some of the previous seasons. They finally got rid of the punishment pass elimination challenge, finally brought back six black jackets, had a strong balance of likable chefs and drama, and a final three that everyone agreed would be a satisfactory winner (Ryan, Johnathan, and Sammi).

** Season 18 (Rookies vs. Veterans) managed to fix some of the problems that were plagued in Season 17 (All Stars). Less drama, more of the scrappier chefs getting eliminated (Jen and Scotley are prime examples), eliminations that made sense (except for Heather winning a black jacket over Kanae), and a winner that most agree deserved it (Ariel).

** Ever since Season 14, every single chef who received the last Black Jacket[[note]]Josh, Manda, Kimberly, Robyn, Heather, Amber, Steve, and Cheyenne[[/note]] would perform horribly and be eliminated in the next episode after their first Black Jacket service. It was baffling that in ''eight'' straight seasons this incident always happened, leading fans to lament potential chefs in upcoming seasons to either succumb to the infamous "Last Black Jacket Curse", or someday finally break it. It's even more baffling considering that the previous two chefs to succumb to this curse[[note]] Steve and Cheyenne[[/note]] were labeled as massive favorites to win their seasons.

* TheScrappy: In season 9, Elise's infamous rivalry with Carrie, and their almost constant arguing, can render the show nigh unwatchable at times. Elise's unrepentant and selfish attitude alienated viewers to the point that when she returned for season 17's "All Stars", other contestants described her, within the show itself, as "the most hated ''Hell's Kitchen'' contestant ever".

* [[TheScrappy/HellsKitchen The Scrappy]]

%%Note: Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease does not apply to RealityTV, which is exempt from counting as RealLife. Removals on such a basis are unwarranted. Confirmed by a mod here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=68927&type=att#comment-190299

** Contestant wise, Scott was initially not well-liked for being seen as an undeserving winner who was nominated multiple times, yet won over chefs like Jason or Rochelle. As time passed however, people noticed that not only was Scott a pretty competent chef, but the majority of those nominations were a result of chefs like [[NeverMyFault Anton]] and [[ManipulativeBitch Joy]] throwing him under the bus. Nowadays, he's considered one of the better winners of the series.
** Additionally, Virginia from Season 2 was decried as the absolute worst finalist in the show's history due to her poor performance in the kitchen, as well as the fact that she was seen as a CreatorsPet. With the uncut services in 2023 airing however, many fans pointed out that Virginia's mistakes were very minimum and she did display some actual talent. While she is still considered the weakest of the finalists, people have been more understanding as to ''why'' she made the finals. Despite remaining the weakest finalist, her status as worst finalist is now a toss up between her and 8's Russel who likely only made the finals despite his status as a massive jerk because of 8's general lack of talent and him simply being among the least bad of a lackluster group.