History Series / HellsKitchen

** Whenever a contestant is eliminated, Chef Ramsay will almost always make some comment about how utterly worthless and incompetent they are, even if the departing chef had been flawless until screwing up in their last service (the best example of this being [[spoiler: Anthony's elimination]] in season 11). The only real exceptions to this are contestants who make it to the Black Team before leaving (unless they do horribly during their last service), and contestants who are forced to depart because of illness or injury.
** Another major exception: [[spoiler: Nilka in Season 7]], who was thrown out during dinner service, and yet met by Chef Ramsay outside and told how good of a job [[spoiler: she]] had done as a whole.

* AndZoidberg: Season 9 finale: [[spoiler: ''"All the past contestants! And Tommy's ass."'']]

** Carol in S5 got sent home despite her team winning. There are also several cases of contestants being sent home even if they aren't up for elimination, sometimes even in the middle of dinner service if they keep fucking up badly enough. [[spoiler: Jeremy from season 11]] is among the most recent to have experienced this - though in that case, it was getting increasingly and painfully obvious that the person was in over their head (among other things), as Gordon himself pointed out.

** [[spoiler: Season 12 brings us Nicole]]. Even though both teams had to nominate two people for elimination, and all four nominated had good reason to be nominated that night, Chef Ramsay chose them instead. Of course, they had plenty of reasons to be eliminated as well.

** [[spoiler: Gia from Season 16]] was eliminated even though [[spoiler: she]] was on the winning team. During the exit interview, was not happy when getting eliminated, and argued that the eliminated person should have been the nominated ones even though Ramsay has full control.

** Another circumstance is chefs quitting. [[spoiler: Joy from season 12]] was arguably the best chef of the season, but quit at the second black jacket service.

** Then there was Season 11, Episode 18 where returning WINNERS of past seasons came back to compete with the current black jacket chefs. They turned in a solid performance where 95% of their diners said they'd be happy to return. But their victory was not as flawless as the runners up, surprisingly enough ([[spoiler: mostly because of Paul and Nona's minor flubs]]).

** One memorable example from Season 14 Episode 4 is when the red team put up Monique and Sarah, because they were worried that Ramsay would send home Meika, who fell apart that night, if she went up with Monique, whom they wanted gone.[[note]]T, the one that got the team to do this, never seemed to realize that Ramsay can [[AnyoneCanDie send anyone home, regardless of who's put up.]][[/note]] [[spoiler: Chef Ramsay called Sarah's name, causing Monique to mock the rest of the team for trying to get her sent home, only for Chef Ramsay to follow it up with, "Back in line." Monique was shocked, and the rest of the red team started laughing. Then Ramsay called Meika up and sent ''her'' home instead. A twist most fans saw coming, but it blindsided the red team.]]

** As seen in season 11 where it -- unfortunately for the chefs -- comes up multiple times: food that has no right to be served ([[spoiler: Jeremy tried to serve the ''sample'' dish Gordon made a few hours ago and that had been sitting out for that entire time, for instance; the dish could've made someone sick, and Jeremy became one of the few chefs to get fired from a winning team for it]]).

** Barbie's mere ''existence'' in Season 10 seemed to be one for the red team, who were always quick to blame her for pretty much anything and any sort of conversation with or about her quickly devolved into a screaming match. Looking back, Barbie [[spoiler: never seemed to form an alliance with any of her teammates, which probably made her a convenient scapegoat. She was far from the worst one on the team and even bailed out the Blue Team on meats in the episode where Chef Ramsay handed out the black jackets.]]

* BornUnlucky: [[spoiler: Despite being Season 14's strongest and most consistent contestant from beginning to end, Meghan lost 5 dinner services and 7 consecutive team challenges, mostly due to her teammates' ineptitude. Subverted in the end by winning the season.]]

** In episode 13 of Season 9, [[spoiler: a team of "All-Stars" comprised of former Black Team competitors from previous seasons is brought in to challenge the current team. Season 5's Ben, Season 6's Tennille and Van, and Season 8's Jillian and Trev competed, but ultimately lost to the Season 9 Black Team of Will, Jennifer, Paul, Tommy, and Elise.]]
** Occurred again in episode 16 of season 10 [[spoiler: this time, with a team of 6 runner-ups. The team of Season 8's Russell, Season 7's Jay, Season 6's Kevin, Season 5's Paula, Season 3's Bonnie, and Season 2's Virginia scored a clear victory over season 10's black team.]]
** Done [[RuleOfThree yet again]] in episode 18 of season 11 [[spoiler: with a team of five Hell's Kitchen ''winners'', consisting of Season 3's Rock, Season 4's Christina, Season 6's Dave, Season 8's Nona and Season 9's Paul. The returning team won again, although the season 11 black team came close.]]

** Likewise, the entire season 7's Red team. Out of all the dinner services how many did they manage to win outright? A grand total of [[spoiler: zero. Unless you count the fact that Holli became the season's winner by running her Red team, which consisted entirely of former Red team contestants.]]

** Several of the contestants have also had their moments (especially Rock from Season 3, who went on [[http://youtu.be/rbX9RqiInts?t=1m33s this huge angry rant]] about losing a challenge, and as a punishment, being forced to dig through trash to recycle anything that's recyclable. [[spoiler: Made even WORSE when Rock is asked to head to the photo shoot of where the ladies and Ramsay were at, only to pick up MORE trash to recycle, which upon returning made him SERIOUSLY pissed.]]) During all of this, he [[BewareTheNiceOnes lets out about a dozen in 3 minutes of air time.]]

** For some seasons, fans are divided over whether or not the runner-up deserved to lose. Prominent examples include: [[spoiler: Season 4's Petrozza, Season 5's Paula, Season 9's Will, Season 11's Mary, and Season 15's Kristin.]]
** This also applies to contestants who finished in third place or lower. [[spoiler: Prominent examples include Jillian in Season 8, who was much more consistent than either Russell or Nona (though she didn't have much fine dining experience beforehand, as well as slipping up a little bit in her last two services), Jon from Season 11, whom many fans consider to be the best cook that season (even if his leadership qualities were questionable), and Nick from Season 17, who was probably the best chef that season but was eliminated in a decision in which Ramsay had no input.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Plenty of contestants have mentioned that they have had very unpleasant life experiences and are using the competition as an opportunity to propel themselves into success. Notable examples include Garrett from Season 2 ([[spoiler:former prisoner]]), Robert from Season's 5 and 6 (former drug addict who grew up with an abusive father) Siobhan from Season 7 (grew up in a broken home with an alcoholic mother), Barbie from Season 10 (husband was murdered), Jessica and Joy from Season 12 ([[spoiler:formerly homeless]]), JR from Season 13 ([[spoiler: formerly homeless]]), Milly from Season 14 ([[spoiler:formerly homeless on multiple occasions]]), and Kristin from Season 15 ([[spoiler:kicked out of two high schools and formerly under house arrest]]).

** Dave from Season 6. He hurt his (off-hand) wrist in Episode 3, and kept on going despite the obvious disadvantage of reduced mobility in one hand AND the occasional nerve pains he gets if he tries to lift something too heavy. In Episode 13 Gordon expressed real concern for Dave's well-being, and Dave's response was (paraphrased): "Chef, if you don't think I'm a good enough chef that's fine, but please don't get rid of me because of my wrist." Gordon listened. [[spoiler: And then Dave went on to win it.]] Doubles as Badass since Dave managed to keep it under wraps during the entire show and Gordon later called out another chef for a similar injury (Andy). He had cut off the tip of his finger by accident during prep and claimed that he lacked a finger and was handicapped. Gordon spectacularly exploded in his face about how Dave had been working with an injured hand for the past few episodes and didn't complain. Plus, in the same episode that Andy got hurt, Dave took care of his stations and Ramsay states this:

*** The first two challenges of season 10 have had the [[spoiler: blue team lose by more than one point; the final score was 5-3 in the signature dish challenge and then a whopping 6-2 in the scallop challenge]].

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: It's usually during the signature dishes portion in the season premiere that gives a good insight of what the contestant's personality is. Averted quite often in terms of skill however. It's not uncommon for decent contestants to have mediocre signature dishes. Or vice versa. In fact, half of the winners got mediocre or negative reviews for their signature dishes. [[spoiler: Dave from Season 6, Christina from Season 4, and Heather from Season 2]] got mixed reviews ([[spoiler: Dave cooked the ostrich well but undercooked the Brussels sprouts, Christina's dish had a good concept with bad execution, and Heather's empanadas were thick and hard to digest, but was the best dish offered by that point, while Michael from Season 1, Rock from Season 3, Danny from Season 5, Holli from Season 7, and Nona from Season 8 got terrible reviews on their dishes.]]) [[spoiler: Paul from Season 9, Christina from Season 10, Ja'Nel from Season 11, Meghan from Season 14, Ryan from Season 16, and Ariel from Season 18]] are the only winners who got positive reviews for their signature dishes.

** [[spoiler: Michael from Season 1, Heather from Season 2, Dave from Season 6, Holli from Season 7, Christina from Season 10, La Tasha from Season 13, Meghan from Season 14, Ryan from Season 16, and Ariel from Season 18]] were never nominated once and were rarely criticized during dinner service.
** [[spoiler: Meghan from Season 14]] only made two critical mistakes in the ENTIRE competition (and not until the service before black jackets were handed out): sending in raw steaks and failing to notice an intentional sabotage by the Sous Chef while running the pass.
** In Season 10, Episode 16, the current black jacket team faced off against past runner ups [[spoiler: (Season 8's Russell, Season 7's Jay, Season 6's Kevin, Season 5's Paula, Season 3's Bonnie, and Season 2's Virginia)]]. Throughout the entire night, the returning team only made one mistake [[spoiler: (Jay over seasoned one of his fish, which was quickly rectified by Kevin)]]. Chef Ramsay himself noted that he never saw food so meticulously produced in the red kitchen. It was a landslide victory for them. What made it more impressive was that none of them had ever worked with each other before, yet had better teamwork than their rivals who had been working with each other for weeks. The following season, when past winners showed up, they did NOT pull off a victory like this, only barely beating the Season 11 team.

** As of the sixth season, there's a new option: [[spoiler: send out ''shrimp cocktails'' to feed the diners without having to continue with cooking. The contestant chefs got it good for forcing him to do that.]] Luckily, that's a desperation tactic.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** This is played straight for vast majority of runner-ups in the finale. They often take their loss well, feeling proud of what they did and warmly congratulating the winner. [[spoiler: Russell from Season 8]] is the one runner-up to fully avert this trope. He was so sore about losing that he pledged to blackball his team from any city he worked in.

** The lack of cooperation among chefs in the same team combined with individual incompetence can sometimes cause a humiliation conga of its own for dinner services. It was the case for [[spoiler: Season 6 and Season 15's Red Teams, who managed to rack up 6 consecutive dinner service losses]].

* InSeriesNickname: The red team from Season 3 was dubbed by Chef Ramsay as "Hell's Bitches" due to their constant in-fighting - something they didn't manage to grow out of until [[spoiler: Melissa moved to the blue team.]]

** Barbie from season 10 often got blamed by the Red Team for their mistakes. Robyn, Kimmie and Tiffany would simply turn around and point their fingers to her at every damage the team took, though it was often their fault. She outlasted every one of them, [[spoiler: became a black jacket, and even after being eliminated, was a valuable asset on Christine's kitchen during her victory.]]
** Season 12's winner [[spoiler: Scott]] is, to this day, the winner who was sent up the most times for elimination.

** Season 5's Ben. Sure, he was rude to Danny on occasion, but that was mainly [[spoiler: because Danny called himself a better cook than Ben and even called him the worst cook of the remaining members of the blue team at one point, so it's natural that he'd feel at least a little insulted by that.]] His heart of gold comes through when [[spoiler: he puts their differences aside and tries his best to help Danny win the last dinner service rather than being apathetic about the whole thing like Lacey or Giovanni.]] Furthermore, he consistently tried to rally faltering teammates (even Lacey). He was by no means the best chef, but Ben did aim to help.

---> '''Chef Ramsay''': (''gently'') I don't want any nominations: I don't want to prolong your agony. [[spoiler: Come here, [Tennille]... [[InsigniaRipOffRitual take off your]] [[EliminationCatchphrase jacket and leave]] [[TurnInYourBadge Hell's Kitchen]].\\

--->'''Gordon:''' And by the way... [[spoiler: [[ThisIsGonnaSuck they don't like vegetables]]!]]

** In the season 5 finale, Lacey ended up on Paula's team when Danny picked Carol, not wanting to deal with Lacey again even though he had never worked with Carol yet knew she was subpar, but interestingly enough, Paula's FIRST pick, Andrea, made the most mistakes in the service, and [[spoiler: Danny won.]]
** In the season 9 finale, [[spoiler: Will, who won the challenge and thus got the first pick, tried to use this to his advantage: his foe Paul had already chosen Elise, and eventually the only two chefs left were Carrie, who Elise had at the top of her hit list while having at least some talent, and Krupa, who was a trainwreck by the end of her initial run on the show. Will chose Krupa, thinking that Elise's and Carrie's bickering would cripple Paul's chances. This blew up in Will's face SPECTACULARLY: Krupa was absolutely hopeless on her station, bringing Will's kitchen to a complete halt at one point, while Elise had her best service ever and never once argued with Carrie (there was still clearly some tension, but they managed to shut up), and Paul ultimately won. Oops...]]

** A particularly jarring example occurred in Season 12, where [[spoiler: Joy, after being one of the best chefs in the season, stormed out and tossed her jacket aside after being yelled at by Ramsay (worth noting that this is the the only time in which Ramsay specifically yelled at her).]] Ramsay himself noted how shocked he was at the whole thing.

* RuleOfSymbolism: During elimination, the Gate's glass doors typically have a fire pattern projected onto them, and [[FireAndBrimstoneHell steaming pots of water are left on the stoves visible behind the chefs]]. Someone ''entering'' the dining room through them is usually part of a challenge [[spoiler:or would be the family and friends of the contestants. [[OnceASeason Late in the competition]], Ramsay will these guests for a brief surprise visit to celebrate a great dinner service, [[EverybodyLives instead of evicting]] anyone]]. That's when the pattern is [[spoiler: or suddenly turns]] a much mellower dark blue.

** Season 12's [[spoiler: Joy pulled off one of these out of the blue]] after sinking on the fish station. [[spoiler: She was shown regretting it in the dorms, and wanted to ask Ramsay for a second chance, but she knew by then that she'd sealed her fate]].

** Joseph from Season 6, full stop. Not only did he mouth off in episode 1, he spent episode 2's reward challenge being a total {{Jerkass}} for no other reason than he felt like it. He then lost it when Gordon asked him for the nominees, culminating in [[spoiler: him asking Gordon "Do you want to take this outside?", told the other contestants to fuck off when they told him to chill out, and he was eliminated for a total lack of respect.]] What makes this worse is ''after'' this Joseph was bragging about all the restaurants who would want to hire him.
** Ben from Season 5, despite putting an amazing number of dishes in the bin for being inedible and constantly getting a deer in headlights look when it picked up, took offense to Danny calling himself the best chef on the Blue team and ranted how Danny 'couldn't even cook his cock.' Point of reference, [[spoiler: ''Danny was the winner of that season''.]] Also a master of the LongSpeechTeaTime.

** Season 11: Susan, calling herself the most grown even though it took nearly three quarters of the season to properly cook lamb; Zach, who was okay at first, but by the end he made a million excuses for each of his mistakes; Nedra, who thought her teammates were ganging up on her even though she was the clear weakest, and not accepting responsibility for her failures on the blue team; and of course, Dan, who had ONE good service, but was such a dick that his teammates couldn't stand him, and as such, he got angrier and angrier with them, and it just kept escalating [[spoiler: until his elimination]].

** Season 8: Russell [[spoiler: [[LaserGuidedKarma especially after he lost the finale]]]] and Sabrina.

** Averted in Season 6, which has a separate opening exclusively for the first episode so as not to spoil [[spoiler:the return of Robert from Season 5]]. Less noticeably, the new female sous chef is also absent, so as not to spoil the first episode reveal. [[spoiler: (It's Heather.)]]

** Season 11 has a really good example. [[spoiler: Blue team wins the service and so red must nominate two. That gets pretty heated but ultimately Ramsay chooses... someone on the ''Blue'' team to get eliminated since they had been doing so so so very poorly, he stated that the blue team's reward was getting rid of the dead weight.]]

** Although for some contestants, they reject other people's help and then prove that they really could cook by themselves. One of the best examples is Dave from Season 6, who continuously rejected people's offers to help him with his broken wrist. He said that he could and had to do things by himself. He proved that by [[spoiler: winning the competition]].

* WhamEpisode: Season 12's "Five Chefs Compete" episode has [[spoiler: Joy, one of the best chefs of that season (and arguably from any season), quitting during the middle of dinner service. Ramsay even lampshades how shocked he was at it all.]]

** Season 3, Episode 8: "I'm really sorry...[[spoiler: it's Julia."]] Which is then followed up by, [[spoiler: "I am personally going to send you to culinary school."]]
** This also happened in Season 5, Episode 11, when [[spoiler: Robert was explaining his medical condition and if he'd be returning]].

[[spoiler:'''Robert:''']] [[spoiler: [[NonGameplayElimination No]]]].

[[spoiler: '''Peter:''']] No, Chef, I don't.\\

[[spoiler: '''Peter:''']] I don't.\\

** Ridiculously averted by season 9's [[spoiler: Elise]], who made it to the final 4 despite being a manipulative, conniving bitch (which Gordon called her before she left).

* YouBastard: [[spoiler: Ramsay opened Season 7 by having his wife pose as a contestant, and making out with her while she was still in disguise.]] The other contestants responded with the stock phrase. [[spoiler: Holli even goes as far as to state she wanted to be in her shoes.]]

* 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.

* AnimatedCreditsOpening: Each season's opener is a showcase of its entire contestant lineup (with the exception of one season's first episode). The images of the chefs and Chef Ramsay are inserted in a whimsical computer-animated setting, such that each contestant is seen in close-up doing something amusing and cooking-related, in the current theme:

** Season 8: Literature/GulliversTravels, as the tiny contestants [[GulliverTieDown besiege Ramsay]] with [[LighterAndSofter food and cooking tools]] (said food causing him to [[BreakingTheBonds break loose in rage]]).

* This was slightly changed in the 2010 finale: The finalists were told they would be receiving a trip to Australia in the future. This was perhaps because they couldn't make a quick trip to London to see the restaurant of which they'd be placed in charge.

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]].

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, 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.

Recaps are available on Website/TheOtherWiki, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Kitchen_%28U.S._season_1%29 starting with Season 1.]]

Now has its own [[Characters/HellsKitchen Character Sheet.]]

''Hell's Kitchen'' features 12–20 chefs, selected from the thousands that apply each season, competing in various cooking challenges and working in the kitchen of a Hollywood soundstage turned into a fancy restaurant. The prize is a head chef position at a prestigious restaurant, usually with a $250,000 salary. Sounds simple enough, but what provides this show's appeal is that these aspiring chefs must compete and work together under the watchful eye of Ramsay.

* PetTheDog: When Julia, a line cook who was clearly very talented, but lacked the technical knowledge to keep up with the show's challenges, was eliminated, Ramsay actually recommended her to a culinary school and paid for her tuition there as well.

* In Season 12, the Red Team had this reaction when they found out they would be cooking for Ramsay's family

** "Tough decision" for when he's having trouble deciding the winner of a challenge.

** Minor ones include "Touch! Touch that!" for when he wants the entire team to examine one of their member's failures, "Have you given up?" during elimination and "Wake up!" for whenever a chef/team's head isn't in the game.

** "[Dish] is cooked ''perfectly''!" when a chef meets Ramsay's standards.

* 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.
* Dinner Service: The main meat of the show and where most of the drama happens. Both teams must cook for their half of the dining room (once they are down to the final six, the contestants become one team and must feed the entire dining room). The dishes must be cooked to Ramsay's exacting standards, and all food for each table must be ready at the same time. If it isn't, the culprits will quickly be established and dealt with by Ramsay. If an individual is failing on a section, Ramsay may kick them off that section or out of the kitchen altogether for the remainder of the service. In rare cases, Ramsay will eliminate a contestant in the middle of dinner service. If one or both teams just can't seem to get their shit together, he will kick the whole team out of the kitchen. At this point, or at the end of service, Ramsay will declare which team(s) lost, and tell them to nominate one or two individuals for elimination.
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.

''Hell's Kitchen'' is a LongRunner American adaptation of a British reality show. The original British version was a pretty standard "celebrities try to cook fine cuisine and fail hilariously" show, with the public voting for the winner, who would receive a decent-sized donation to their chosen charity.

Where the British ''Hell's Kitchen'' differed from other such shows was that its head chef and mentor, Creator/GordonRamsay, [[HarshTalentShowJudge didn't hold back in calling out the celebrities on their blatant incompetence]] (as opposed to the relentlessly cheerful chefs that normally appeared on these shows).[[note]]In his autobiography, Ramsay was clear that he would never, ever repeat the British format with completely inexperienced, egotistic and entitled people, as it reflected badly on his own professional skills and he was concerned at the damage it could potentially do to his reputation. He singled out a career politician with a sense of entitlement a mile wide - who refused to do what she considered as "menial work" (basic prep - she argued other people should be doing this for her) for special bile.[[/note]] This show caught the eye of some American TV execs, who decided they wanted their own version. The resulting new version was one of the few instances where the TransatlanticEquivalent was widely regarded as being better than the original.

''Hell's Kitchen'' features 12–20 chefs, selected from the thousands that apply each season, competing in various cooking challenges and working in the kitchen of a Hollywood soundstage turned into a fancy restaurant. The prize is a head chef position at a prestigious restaurant, usually with a $250,000 salary. Sounds simple enough, but what provides this show's appeal is that these aspiring chefs must compete and work together under the watchful eye of Gordon Ramsay.

* SelfDeprecation: Season 6 began with Season 3 contestants Bonnie, Colleen and Aaron giving the contestants three simple pointers - always make sure the stove is on (with footage of Bonnie absolutely shocked that she somehow completely missed this), always taste your food before you serve it (with footage of Ramsay being disgusted with risotto only for Colleen to reveal she accidentally put sugar in it), and there's no crying in ''Hell's Kitchen'' (with footage of an emotionally overwhelmed Aaron bursting into tears).

* ThrowTheDogABone: One of Ramsay's more endearing moments is when he allows a runner up keep their Black Jacket as a sign of making it so far, usually towards a third place chef. On rare occasions, he will allow a Red/Blue Jacket chef to keep their jackets should they have something amazing with their cooking abilities but just not enough to keep going. Ji in Season 4 is an even rarer example as [[HeroicSacrifice she willingly gave up her chance at the game due to her sprained ankle]] and Ramsay allowed her to keep her jacket because of it.

''[[OnceAnEpisode Jean-Philippe/James/Marino,]] [[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere open up Hell's Kitchen.]]''

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: The red team in Season 11 nominated Jessica in Episode 4 because they felt like she lacked confidence. Chef Ramsay was taken back that they would nominate her before a cook that would serve raw chicken. He asked Nedra to explain to him why Jessica wasn't a good teammate. She was unable to answer and Chef Ramsay had Jessica get back in line before she even made a plea.