All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!
No matter if there's a chef who's considered weak overall or a front-runner, often times they will have at least one major flaw that will ultimately sink them.
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Season 1
- Despite having no kitchen training, Jessica was the second most consistent chef on the blue team next to Ralph, and her performances up until the black jackets showed. However, one thing Jessica could not master was creating original dishes as most of what she made were poorly received by Ramsay. This would lead to her elimination at the final three as her dish got only vote of satisfaction from the final three's families.
Season 2
- Rachel was fairly competent in the ktichen, and was probably the most consistent chef in the red kitchen alongside Heather for the first three episodes. However, what became her flaw was that once she made a mistake, she tended to panic and make even more mistakes that snowballed into even bigger ones. As such, her final two episodes saw her completely fall apart, and she was gone not long after.
- Sara was a solid enough chef throughout the season, and had some level of leadership ability. However, what ultimately screwed her was her inability to have decorum in the kitchen. Many times when she was called out for her mistakes, Sara would either react inappropriately or get an attitude with Chef Ramsay, causing her to gradually lose respect with him throughout the season.
- Keith was a fairly consistent chef all things considered and really the closest thing to a challenge to Heather, but what ultimately sunk him was his lack of leadership skills. Throughout the season, Ramsay saw potential in him, and tried to push him into becoming a leader for the blue team. However, Keith's leadership was not only poor as he never tried to show any sort of leadership, but the moment he got criticized by Ramsay, he got uppity and gave an attitude, making it borderline impossible for him to be taken seriously as a leader. Come the running the pass segment, which saw Keith do a downright awful job whilst Virginia at least took some level of control, and he wound up being eliminated.
- Virginia was strong in challenges, and could pull off a good service if she put her mind to it, but what ultimately sunk her was her lack of foresight. Virginia had a bad habit of coming off as insensitive at best, and couple that with her usual poor performances and the belief that Ramsay was favoring her, that meant she was unpopular among her fellow contestants. Perhaps the best example of this came during the finale, where she selected Keith, Giacomo, and Tom, with the idea that her victory would be even more impressive leading them to victory, completely forgetting that now Heather had three genuinely strong chefs on her team in the finale. To make matters worse, she bluntly stated that Giacomo and Tom sucked and Keith was meant to pick up the slack, leaving the only two chefs who had the very least had a chance of liking her demotivated from the get-go and Keith even more upset at her, forcing Virginia to bribe them to work for her.
Season 3
- What quickly derailed Tiffany's chances of winning was her stubbornness. In her one and only service, she denied there was a communication issue on the Red Team, and constantly brushed off help from Julia when it came to cooking eggs, something that she had been failing at for a while now. It took Ramsay to finally put Julia on the appetizers, and even then, Tiffany was more annoyed that Julia had to help her than the fact she failed to cook eggs.
- Brad was a solid chef on the line and was probably the second most consistent chef on the blue team after Rock. When it came to leadership however, he struggled so badly at it that he wound up being eliminated right before black jackets, over Josh nonetheless.
- While Josh was lucky to make it the Black Jackets considering how poorly he performed, what ultimately sunk him was his refusal to change course. Throughout the season, he seemed to have it in his head that he did nothing wrong, which spelled disaster for him in the first black jacket service. Instead of not firing food before an order came to be, he instead fired spaghetti a head of time twice. This did him no favors when an undercooked risotto came back, and it ultimately resulted in him being ejected mid-service.
- Despite being a front-runner for much of the competition, Julia's biggest flaw was that she was not a formally trained chef. Her skills were enough to make her the most consistent female chef throughout the season, but when it came time to make specialty dishes, she couldn't match up.
Season 4
- Shayna was a strong chef for the most part, but what ultimately sunk her was her slowness. Despite never actually having a performance that was outright bad at any point in her time on the show, she wound up annoying her teammates and Ramsay one time too many with her slow and overly meticulous working style, resulting in her elimination.
Season 5
- Lacey's biggest flaw was without a doubt her quitter attitude. It's shown that when she really put her mind to it, she can be a legitimately solid chef and even a good leader. The issue was however that at the first sign of trouble, she would completely shut down and try to quit, and this ultimately alienated her from being liked by her team.
- One of Carol's biggest issues was her tendency not to think things through on dishes that could have been great. In the Bar Mitzvah Challenge, she made a blue cheese stuffed burger, but not realizing that the birthday boy may not like the strong taste of it would cost the red team the win. Then, during the Menu Service, she made potato gratin dauphinoise but, instead of cooking them before service began, she decided to cook them on order. This led to raw and hard potatoes, and one of the reasons Carol was eliminated that night.
Season 6
- Much like Shayna above, Jim's biggest weakness was his slowness. While he wasn't terrible so to speak, he never really moved with much urgency, causing Ramsay to believe he lacked passion.
Season 8
- While Sabrina could pull off a good service every once in a while, what caused her to quickly lose respect was her immature attitude, on top of her immediately trying to throw chefs under the bus the first chance she got. While she did get it under control enough to make it to the black jackets, she reverted to her immature stage trying to throw Gail under the bus. It's enough to have Ramsay eliminate her, and tell her that she can be a good chef if she just loses the attitude.
- Russell was undoubtedly a strong chef and could lead, but his horrible and standoffish attitude often overshadowed his skill. It was to the extent that even when Russell was making decent leadership moves in the finale, it was all for nothing as everyone, save for Sabrina and Jillian, didn't want to help him win.
Season 9
- While Elizabeth was a strong chef on the line, she was horrendous when it came to leadership. The first time she was put in a leadership position, she wound up screwing over the Red Team by giving them the wrong instructions for the challenge, and her final night saw her get flustered on her charity courses, as well as messing up on her other courses as well. This would cost her chance to be in the black jackets.
- While Tommy had a myriad of problems, his inability to communicate in the kitchen was easily what was most notable about him. He often went quiet when being talked to, and although he said he actually did pay attention, his constant communication issues spoke otherwise.
Season 10
- While a fun chef overall, Brian's biggest flaw was his inability to be mature in services. Despite Brian nearly making to the Black Jackets, Brian had a bad habit of goofing off, resulting in Ramsay feeling Brian was not taking the competition seriously. After the finale, Ramsay told Brian that if he puts aside the silliness on the line, he could become a capable chef.
- Dana's biggest problem at the second to last service was her favoritism. When Justin ran the pass, she gave him attitude and didn't have a sense of urgency until Ramsay called her out on it. When Christina ran the pass, she became buddy buddy with the former despite struggling on fish. This ended up getting her the boot.
Season 11
- Throughout Sebastian's very short stay, he seemed to be more preoccupied with making a fool out of himself instead of actually making an effort to come off as a serious contender. This especially backfired when he kept returning to the kitchen after Ramsay kicked him out, which resulted in Ramsay eliminating him over Jeremy, who probably had an even worse service.
- Dan wasn't a bad chef at all, but much like Russell above, his attitude was what ultimately sunk him. Despite being one of the strongest chefs on the notoriously awful blue team, his incredibly volatile and arrogant attitude very quickly resulted in the blue team turning their back on him. It's telling that he was eliminated for this, which is a rarity as Gordon almost never eliminates chef due to their awful personality.
- Zach started out really well, but his inability to communicate in the kitchen wound up being his downfall.
- Despite being the big front-runner for much of the season, Jon's ultimate flaw was leadership. While he could hold his own in the kitchen, Jon was horribly ill-equipped to lead on his own, with his pass performance that season being so bad it cost him a spot in the final two.
Season 12
- Kashia was often hit-or-miss throughout the season, but still strong enough to make the Black Jackets. However what ultimately sunk her was her inability to control her temper when the pressure was on her, with her final service showing her becoming overwhelmed on the fish station resulting in her elimination.
- Joy seemed like a massive front-runner to win despite her manipulative tendencies, but what ultimately sunk her was her overreacting to mistakes. Outside of her first and last episodes, Ramsay never once yelled at her or even said anything especially negative about her cooking. When Ramsay finally yelled at her for something that was unquestionably her fault, she completely lost it and stormed out of the competition. Also not helping was whenever she made a mistake or realized something was wrong, she will immediately get emotional. Her reaction to her supposedly undercooked pork dish is an example, as soon as she plated it, she complained it didn't turn out right.
Season 15
- Eddie seemed like a solid pick to win for the first few episodes, but his lack of leadership skills wound up biting him hard enough to result in his elimination, especially over Jackie of all chefs.
- Hassan came off as the odds-on favorite to win based on his skill in the kitchen and his strong leadership on the Blue Team. However after being switched to the Red Team to help them out, it quickly became apparent that his biggest issue was adaption, as he was unable to deal with the pushback to his help from chefs like Dannie. In turn, it caused his own performances to suffer as a result, causing him to be eliminated in 11th place.
Season 16
- Aaron's biggest flaw was his inability to gain respect from his team. He wasn't a bad chef, and was easily the nicest guy on a notoriously toxic Blue Team, but being the youngest and most inexperienced chef compared to the rest of them meant that he was going to be the one ganged up on the most. This wound up resulting in his elimination, even after having a good service.
- What ultimately sank Johnny's chances of winning was his aggressive attitude getting in the way of common sense. This was best shown off when he claimed the blue team didn't sear off the sea bass before service after Shaina suggested he do so, and predictably, it resulted in him putting the blue team ten tables behind. That, alongside him trying to blame others for his mistakes, resulted in him being eliminated without Ramsay even wasting time with dragging it out.
- Matt's biggest flaw overall was his pride. He was fairly consistent on the line and had some decent challenges. However, he was very proud of and stubborn about his cooking, and becomes incredibly defensive and angry if anyone criticizes him or his methods in the slightest, leading him to lash out at others. This contributed greatly to his elimination, where he argued no one helped him on the fish station the night despite not asking anyone for help, in the first place.
Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans)
- Mia seemed to be a favorite to win early on due to her strong performances in challenges and even getting much of the highlight when it came to the Rookies. However, what sunk her was her competitive nature, as it caused her fellow chefs to label her as hard to work with. It was even to the extent that her only real friend was Ariel, and unfortunately for her, Ariel was her opponent in the finals, and much of the stronger chefs were chefs she had rubbed the wrong way, resulting in her having a much weaker team overall compared to Ariel, who proceeded to wipe the floor with her.
Season 19 (Las Vegas)
- While Amber could have some strong performances, what ultimately sunk her was her ego. She constantly believed that she was the strongest chef overall, and unfortunately for her, she didn't deliver herself, which caused her to falter under pressure. On top of that, any sort of fair criticism about her was taken personally, and with Amber refusing to try and change her ways, that only resulted in her being heavily disliked by not only the blue team, but some members of the red team as well. That meant that even if she somehow made it into the finals, she would more than likely be curb-stomped by the other finalist.
Season 20 (Young Guns)
- Steve was without a doubt the most consistent chef on the blue team, and was considered the favorite to win for a while. However what ultimately did him in was his quietness. His first nomination occurred when he went silent on the final nine service, and resulted in him messing up, and at the final five, his reserved nature convinced Ramsay he was not fit to run a restaurant.
- Brynn was a strong chef who could be vocal, but her anxiety often got the better of her and it resulted in her making mistakes. It came to ahead while running the pass as Brynn could not get her emotions under control and it costed her a chance to be in the finale.
Season 21 (Battle of the Ages)
- Mindy was a solid chef on the line, but what ended up costing was her lack of self confidence on the line, which caused her to lose the support of the twenty somethings on the red team fast. It was even to the extent that she didn't argue against being nominated on the back of a legitimately good service for her.
- Ileana's biggest flaw was making dishes of her own creation. While she could bounce back from mistakes in service, she struggled to create dishes on the fly and ends up making mediocre to bad dishes. This struggle would be why she lost the second Cook For Your Life Challenge near the second half of the season and resulted in her elimination.
Season 22 (The American Dream)
- While Jermaine wasn't a bad chef, he just couldn't work on a station alone. Every time Jermaine was on a station with someone, he let someone else do the heavy lifting, while he mainly did some small things on top of not leading. When he was finally put on a station by himself, he absolutely crashed, and got eliminated for it.
- What ended up sealing Devon's fate was his perfectionist attitude. As a result of him wanting to do everything perfect, he tended to second guess himself, leading to him crashing and burning. In the seventh episode, his second guessing himself on meat led to the blue team being kicked out, and in the Cook For Your Life challenge, it resulted in his filet being overcooked, resulting in his elimination.
- Easily Donya's biggest flaw was being unable to separate herself from the line. While she was a strong cook on the line and could bounce back from mistakes, once she was put into a delegation role, she just couldn't help herself and do several things on the line, leading to other chefs having to lead for her. This bit her hard in her charity night, as this led to her being seen as not as willing to take initiative to step up as a leader, and she was eliminated as a result of it.
- Much like Julia from Season 3, Leigh's biggest flaw was her inexperience. While she was strong enough to make the Black Jackets and manage to stand a chance against the really strong talent of the season, it would only take her so far. Sure enough, her inexperience came back to bite her when she revealed she had no idea how to slice a wellington, one of the basics of Ramsay's menu.
- While Dahmere was an excellent leader and very well looked like one of the front-runners for the longest time, his biggest flaw was his lack of finesse. For all his strong leadership, where he failed most was handling disasters in the kitchen, as while he could handle himself fairly well, the moment he made a mistake, he was just unable to bounce back from it. This was especially prevalent in his final service, where he sunk on the fish station despite being incredibly consistent prior to that, and not being able to display any sort of leadership that night. Then come the finale, and his problems on meat nearly sank Johnathan's kitchen, resulting in him being switched out with Donya.
- Despite being the one expected to win the season, Johnathan's biggest flaw was his tendency to get too emotional for his own good. On top of his brief feud with Jason, he took a casual jab Ramsay made at him far too personally, and let that get in the way of his performance during the first Black Jacket service, which nearly resulted in him being nominated, only avoiding it due to Dahmere and Leigh crashing harder. During the finale, he filled his brigade up with people he liked rather than the ones he knew well, which led to Dahmere being a disaster on meat and costing Johnathan dearly. Contrast to Ryan, who took Jason as his second pick despite being aware of his attitude since he knew Jason's strengths, and his misfit team put on a near-perfect final service that clinched the victory for Ryan.
