History ShockingElimination / HellsKitchen

* Natalie. True, she was clearly struggling under the pressure at that point in the competition, but [[TheScrappy Elise]] outright lied to Ramsay's face and he called her on it. This was an offense that got Brendan kicked off the very same episode in which he tried it. In addition, Elise and Elizabeth's mistakes were so bad that night that both of them got kicked out of the kitchen. Instead, Elise gets to stay to compete for another day. For many fans complaining about the show being plagued with ExecutiveMeddling, this episode was the final nail in the coffin.

* Natalie. True, she was clearly struggling under the pressure at that point in the competition, but [[TheScrappy Elise]] outright lied to Ramsay's face and he called her on it. This was an offense that got Brendan kicked off the very same episode in which he tried it. Instead, Elise gets to stay to compete for another day. For many fans complaining about the show being plagued with ExecutiveMeddling, this episode was the final nail in the coffin.

* Roshni. While she also had trouble on the meat station, Patrick, on fish, sent up cold lobster twice. The fact that Roshni was on the chopping block for the fourth time, while Patrick was only on his second, is likely what kept him alive for another night.

* Brad. He had been the only consistently decent performer out of the men (apart from eventual winner Rock), but after two below-par services, Ramsay chose to eliminate him over the consistently terrible Josh. What likely played a major factor was that the menu for the night's dinner service was largely his idea, and diners overwhelmingly favored the Red Team's menu to the extent it took ''over 30 minutes before the Blue Team even received their first ticket''. It didn't help that Brad didn't help a struggling Josh until being told by Ramsay. Had Brad shown more initiative, then chances are he would have made it to the Black Jackets.

* Aaron. He made no mistakes at all in that service, and Ramsay even questioned why the Blue Team had nominated him (overall performance) but was eliminated anyway for being too soft-spoken and not being able to earn his team's respect, as stated. This spared Devin and Johnny, who had poor performances on garnish and fish respectively. Heather stated in the ConfessionCam that she felt that was a [[KickTheDog very backstabbing move]] [[WhatTheHellHero on the Blue Team's part,]] and that it would [[LaserGuidedKarma come back to bite them in the ass.]] However, upon his departure, Ramsay ''did'' [[PetTheDog praise Aaron]] for his passion, telling him he can cook and not to stop. Rare for such an early elimination into a season (the 5th).

* Natalie. True, she was clearly struggling under the pressure at that point in the competition, but Elise outright lied to Ramsay's face and he called her on it. This was an offense that got Brendan kicked off the very same episode in which he tried it. Instead, Elise gets to stay to compete for another day. For many fans complaining about the show being plagued with ExecutiveMeddling, this episode was the final nail in the coffin.

%%The first-eliminated contestant in this season is now known as Sarah. Please do not re-add her deadname to the article.
* Sarah. Her performance was awful, but at least she had the good grace to take responsibility for it. Seth, on the other hand, seemed totally unaware of what he'd done wrong. However, Ramsay decided that Sarah's decision to nominate herself proved that her heart wasn't really in the competition and eliminated her, an act that shocked even the other chefs.

* Donya. While Donya was on her third nomination in a row (her fourth in total) and had one of the weakest showings of leadership in the Charity Night dinner service, many fans argue that she was still more consistent and likeable when compared to Jason (who was on his ''fifth'' nomination, had an even worse performance that night, and even tried to blame Sous Chef Christina for not showing how to properly make the soufflés). The decision to send Donya home over Jason angered a lot of fans, once again accusing Ramsay and the producers of keeping problematic chefs around for ratings like they did with Elise. Fortunately for all concerned, Jason was eliminated in the next round and failed to make Black Jackets.

* Leigh and Dahmere. Both were looked at as strong favorites for winning the season, the latter especially for his strong leadership skills and even being the Best of the Worst on two separate occasions, and the two of them were even coming into the black jackets without a single nomination under their belt. However, much like Cheyenne above, both would screw up ''massively'' in the first Black Jacket episode, with Leigh not knowing how to properly slice a wellington forcing Ramsay to give an impromptu demonstration. However, Dahmere would downright crash on the fish station, sending up several undercooked fish, and it was enough for Ramsay to eliminate them both in a double elimination.