History ShockingElimination / HellsKitchen

* Tennille. She was the only person that night to have a bad service (did terrible on the fish station, and didn't communicate properly), but nobody expected Ramsay to eliminate her right after service with no elimination ceremony and no nominations. The only other person that could have been considered was Dave, but that was only on his injured wrist getting worse to the point Ramsay was afraid it could lead to worse problems down the line. However, Dave successfully pleaded to Ramsay no to eliminate him for the injury (especially because Dave had a strong night regardless of said flare up), and the latter decided to eliminate Tennille right there and then as he refused to prolong her agony.

* Joy; a self-inflicted example. After being incredibly consistent throughout the season, Joy broke down after Ramsay called her out for failing to communicate with the fish station, and she argued with him before leaving the kitchen and angrily throwing off her jacket. Even Ramsay himself admitted it was one of the most shocking things he had seen in his life.

* Ji. Colleen and Lacey had been nominated, the former after absolutely tanking the fish station and being kicked out of service, and the latter for her poor attitude and abandoning the team in prep. However, Ji had slipped and injured her ankle pre-service, and by elimination, it had become so painful that she couldn't even stand unaided and volunteered to be eliminated. The other women were livid that Lacey hadn't been sent home (though her salvaging the fish stations after Colleen crashed and burned would ''probably'' have saved her regardless).

* Kevin. Before the season began, '''everybody''' thought he would repeat his success from season 6 and make it into the finale again. However, he struggled in the last two services, and not even a change in the red team was able to bring him back, forcing Ramsay to eliminate him for lacking passion. This also served as a big reminder for the other chefs to get their shit together, or else.

* Hassan. Started the season as one of the strongest chefs, but while he did start making mistakes in his first two episodes on the red team, they were nothing compared to his last night, serving raw chicken twice to the VIP table. However, Dannie had a bad night too, screwing up scallops to the point Chef Ramsay had to cook them for her and was less consistent overall than Hassan. Still, Ramsay probably expected more from Hassan given his strong start, and his failure to lead the red team to service victories was becoming apparent.

* Carol. She became the first chef to be eliminated on a winning team (strictly by technicality, however, as the red team's customer satisfaction was higher than the blue). While Ben and Robert (who were up for elimination) made mistakes that night, Carol's potato dish was severely undercooked because she thought they needed to be cooked when the order came in (the dish was Au-gratin dauphinoise, which Ramsay said they needed to be cooked ''On top of all that, she had a miserable night on meat, leading Ramsay to truly believe she had given up, and eliminated her over the two men.

* Jillian. She was not nominated once, thanks to her being more consistent than Nona and Russell, the next best two. However, in her last service running the pass, she failed to notice any mistakes and had to be prompted by Ramsay to take control.

* Jessica. Ramsay felt that Jessica's heart was not in the competition after her bad performance on the fish station, but she started off the competition strongly, while Susan had communication problems all that night on the meat station. Also, Ray was so slow in the dining room that his team had to waste time re-doing their appetizers and was also on his second consecutive nomination.
* Dan. He was one of the best members of the Blue Team in terms of cooking ability, but his attitude was so bad that Ramsay eliminated him over Barret, who served raw chicken to sous chef James's pregnant wife.

* Simone, who suddenly blurts out to Chef Ramsay that she can leave, sparing Mike and [=DeMarco=]. Though it most likely would have been her or Mike leaving anyway.

* Kashia. While she struggled on fish, it was the ''seventh time'' Scott had been nominated for elimination. However, half of his nominations were [[ButtMonkey solely because his team hated him]], and even though he talked back to Ramsay that night, he did apologize.

* Rochelle. While she was weaker in leadership than Jason/Scott, many viewers felt Rochelle should have been in the final for her consistency.

* Ashley. Was eliminated after only her first nomination over Roe and Aaron (both on their second), and Steve (on his third, though his first was admittedly stupid). She'd done better throughout the competition than them, but she was the catalyst for the red team being kicked out of service by sending raw calamari to the Italian Consulate's table.

* Hassan. Started the season as one of the strongest chefs, but while he did start making mistakes in his first two episodes on the red team, they were nothing compared to his last night, serving raw chicken twice to the VIP table. However, Dannie had a bad night too, fucking up scallops to the point Chef Ramsay had to cook them for her and was less consistent overall than Hassan.

* Dewberry. Like Carolann, he made some food that was well received, whereas Jeff just had his second shockingly bad service, was hated by everybody else, and was described by Ramsay as a "shit cook". The one thing that saved Jeff was the fact that Dewberry almost walked out of service, which Ramsay called "cowardly".

* Larry, the first chef ever to be medically evacuated. It came out of nowhere too.

* Sara. Sara's performances were getting worse, and really struggled to keep up with Heather and Keith, but Virginia was on her ''fifth'' time up for elimination, and her performance that night was so bad Ramsay revoked her immunity that she won the challenge before. Inexplicably, however, Ramsay offered Virginia her immunity back, and when she agreed to it, Sara was automatically eliminated.

* Aaron, who suddenly passes out during the third episode's punishment and gets eliminated in the hospital.

* Josh. Not based on his performances, as they had been terrible, but he became the first chef to get eliminated ''during'' service, which was very much unforeseeable at the time.

* Vanessa. She ended up taking herself out, much like Ji would one season later, all over a burn injury she sustained. Despite early inconsistencies, she became one of the stronger competitors leading up to this.

* LA. Despite Carol and Andrea having worse performances than her, she was eliminated simply for lacking creativity and leadership. Not forgetting that he had eliminated Lacey earlier that night for her abysmal performance on the meat station (albeit her team still won that night's service after she was kicked out).
* Carol. She became the first chef to be eliminated on a winning team (strictly by technicality, however, as the red team's customer satisfaction was higher than the blue). While Ben and Robert (who were up for elimination) made mistakes that night, Carol's potato dish was severely undercooked because she thought they needed to be cooked when the order came in (the dish was Au-gratin dauphinoise, which Ramsay said they needed to be cooked ''before'' service) and tried to fix them by pouring more cream onto already crunchy potatoes (It didn't work). By that point, Ramsay truly believed she had given up, and eliminated her over the two men.
* Giovanni. Was eliminated on his first time up for elimination, while Andrea was on her third. Despite Andrea being worse than him (to the point she was kicked out for a bit for not remembering an order), Giovanni argued back against Ramsay after being called "dickface".

* Tennille. She was the only person that night to have a bad service (did terrible on the fish station, and didn't communicate properly), but nobody expected Ramsay to eliminate her right after service with no elimination ceremony and no nominations. The only other person that could have been considered was Dave, but that was only on his injured wrist (and he successfully pleaded with Ramsay to let him stay).

* Siobhan. She was not especially impressive, but it was a little surprising considering she was up against Fran, who had arguably done a lot worse that night and had been nominated several times before.

* Jason. Was put up against Benjamin who everyone hated and even tried to read out the orders when it wasn't his place to do so (even Sous Chef Scott yelled at him for it). Admittedly, however, Jason didn't show the same strength of a leader as Benjamin, which was possibly Ramsay's deciding factor.

* Emily. She was a weak performer on the red team, but Melissa was on her second straight nomination and made a big mistake in all five services, in this case managing to overcook ''all twenty-three'' of the red team's filets before [[EpicFail the team even finished appetizers]].

* Anthony. While his final performance was decidedly problematic, he had been one of the most consistent chefs of the season and had not been nominated once, while Zach was nominated for the fourth time, and with good reason: he ran out of Wellingtons and needed ''twenty minutes'' to get back on track, forcing Ramsay to take Susan's extras, and eventually, Ramsay just kicked him off the station and finished it himself.

* Nick. Was never nominated once and was a profound leader and chef throughout the entire season. Ramsay even chose him first to be in the “Finale”, calling him the most improved chef in Season 17. Unfortunately, in the final challenge, his beef entreé lost out compared to Michelle’s and Benjamin’s, causing him to be eliminated just before the final service.

* Frank. Granted he did have a miserable service that night and was the main reason his team lost. However, he was eliminated ''right'' after service (which hasn't been done since Tennille in Season 6). What makes it more interesting is that Ramsay would normally let the person who left for medical reasons be the person eliminated that service (Steve left due to a bad knee), but Franks performance made an exception to the rule.

* Carol. She became the first chef to be eliminated on a winning team (strictly by technicality, however, as the red team's customer satisfaction was higher than the blue). While Ben and Robert (who were up for elimination) made mistakes that night, Carol's potato dish was severely undercooked because she thought they needed to be cooked when the order came in (the dish was Au-gratin dauphinoise, which Ramsay said they needed to be cooked ''before'' service) and tried to fix them by pouring more cream onto already crunchy potatoes (It didn't work). By that point, Ramsay truly believed she given up, and eliminated her over the two men.

[[folder: Season 17 (All-Stars)]]

[[folder: Season 18 (Rookies vs Vets)]]

[[folder: Season 19]]

* Fernando. Both he and Roe made the same mistake that night (not bringing up enough food for all twelve plates and being relatively weak leaders for their courses), yet Fernando was eliminated because Ramsay "felt that he wasn't ready to be a leader" even though Roe had been far less consistent overall. In that episode Sade was arguably worse, being a poor leader while serving burnt fish, while Santos didn't even cook anything when it was his turn to lead.

* Steve. He was a seemingly ideal winner's pick throughout the entire season, but was cut in the final 5 over Brynn, who was less consistent overall and made more mistakes than him that 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. However, his elimination was to do with the fact that did not help a struggling Josh during service until Ramsay told him to. Had Brad shown more initiative, then chances are it would have been Bonnie or Josh who was eliminated. Another contributing factor is the menu was largely Brad's idea and diners overwhelmingly favored Reds Teams menu to the extent it took over 30 minutes before Blue even received their first ticket.

* Steve.

* Vanessa. She ended up taking herself out, much like Ji would one season later, all over a burn injury she sustained. Despite early inconsistancies, she became one of the stronger competitors leading up to this.

* Wil. His performance was awful, but at least he 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 Wil's decision to nominate himself proved that his heart wasn't really in the competition and eliminated him, an act which shocked even the other chefs.
* Ji. Colleen and Lacey had been nominated, the former after absolutely tanking the fish station and being kicked out of service, and the latter for her poor attitude and abandoning the team in prep. However, Ji had slipped and injured her ankle pre-service, and by elimination it had become so painful that she couldn't even stand unaided and volunteered to be eliminated. The other women were livid that Lacey hadn't been sent home (though her salvaging the fish stations after Colleen crashed and burned would ''probably'' have saved her regardless).

* Colleen. She was eliminated despite J (Ramsay actually disagreed with Giovanni's decision to nominate J, suggesting that Robert was more suitable due to his bad attitude over being called Bobby, even though Robert spoke to Ramsay of the matter) and Andrea (Ramsay agreed with LA's choice, even going as far as to label Andrea as being "useless" before shutting down service) both crashing and burning on their respective meat stations. Colleen's only major mistake that night was serving raw pastry to the VIP (Tanya Steel), which was sent back. But Ramsay decided to spare J, Robert, and Andrea and eliminated Colleen as she hasn't had any good services since her time one the show and was a mess at every station so far. The raw pastry incident mention earlier likely didn't help her chances either.

* Carol. She became the first chef to be eliminated on a winning team (strictly by technicality however, as the red team's customer satisfaction was higher than the blue). While Ben and Robert (who were up for elimination) made mistakes that night, Carol's potato dish was severely undercooked because she thought they needed to be cooked when the order came in (the dish was Au-gratin dauphinois, which Ramsay said they needed to be cooked ''before'' service) and tried to fix them by pouring more cream onto already crunchy potatoes (It didn't work). By that point, Ramsay truly believed she given up, and eliminated her over the two men.

* Louie. A terrible night, but getting eliminated midway through the ''first'' service was shocking, especially considering there have been many comparable opening night performances before and after, but only he got ejected this early.

* Robert. He was on first nomination compared to Andy, who was on his third and was flat-out told by Ramsay that he did not see him as a potential winner of the competition. Though he was the catalyst for the blue team being kicked out, had been consistently mediocre since his return from Season 5, and spent more time attacking Andy than defending himself, which sealed his fate.
* Van. Sure he had a bad night on the fish station (double embarrassing because he was a poissonnier), but he was put up against Suzanne who was worse than him, and refused to plate dishes (since Ramsay and Scott were frustrated to the point of leaving service for a bit) even though she volunteered to run the hot plate.

* Andrew. After being sent out of the kitchen by Ramsay, JP, much like with Andrea two season earlier, tries to talk him back in, but Andrew takes an offhand comment made by the Belgian literally and leaves, jacket still on and all. While he was called a "joke to the industry" by Chef Ramsay, he might have survived over Mikey (who was ''un''surprisingly eliminated that night) had he not left.

* Jason. Was put up against Benjamin who everyone hated and even tried to read out the orders when it wasn't his place to do so (even Sous Chef Scott yelled at him for it). Admittedly however, Jason didn't show the same strength of a leader as Benjamin, which was possibly Ramsay's deciding factor.

* Krupa. She did admittedly sink the red team with her bad performance on meat, and was on her second nomination, but Jonathon was on his second straight and had a bad night in his own right on meat before doing nothing but pass the blame onto Tommy.
* Jamie. She had some early struggle during service, burning a garnish and having a hair in the food, but was able to fight back. Carrie and Elise had both been bad enough to be sent up to the dorms, Carrie even having the gall to talk back to Ramsay before leaving. It didn't take long for the team to choose the nominations... only for Ramsay to send them both back in line, and to the shock of everyone throw out Jamie, claiming she was in over her head.

* Jennifer. She was more consistent than Elise, and generally considered the second favorite (after Will) to be the winner for the season. What really made it shocking was that both Paul and Will said Elise was a stronger cook. Jennifer [[WhatTheHellHero wasn't pleased about this at all]].

* Kimmie. She was eliminated on her first time on the chopping block while Robyn was on her third time. However, considering she was from Memphis, and made multiple mistakes on the catfish that led to the red team getting kicked out, Ramsay expected more from her and eliminated her, despite Robyn serving raw chicken twice in a row in that service, which singlehandedly led to the men being thrown out.

* Anthony. While his final performance was decidedly problematic, he had been one of the most consistent chefs of the season and had not been nominated once, while Zach was nominated for the fourth time, and with good reason: he ran out of Wellingtons and needed ''twenty minutes'' to get back on track, forcing Ramsay to take Susan's extras, and eventually Ramsay just kicked him off the station and finished it himself.
* Jon. Easily one of the best chefs of the season, was never nominated for elimination, and was a favored candidate to win the whole competition. Sadly, a subpar performance running the kitchen in episode 20 led to him not making it into the final two. At least he got to keep his jacket.

* Alison. She near single-handedly tanked the Red Team's service so badly that the Blue Team had to be called in to rescue them. Overall however, Alison had only made one or two very minor mistakes prior to that episode, with some fans feeling that she should have been given a second chance, and Josh should have been eliminated for yet another poor performance (albeit one that was nowhere near as bad as Alison's).

* Hassan. Started the season as one of the strongest chefs, but while he did start making mistakes in his first two episodes on the red team, they were nothing compared to his last night, serving raw chicken twice to the VIP table. However, Dannie had a bad night too, fucking up scallops to the point Chef Ramsay had to cook them for her, and was less consistent overall than Hassan.

* Aziza. She rushed and stacked garnishes, but none of her food was sent ''back''. Also, aside from cooking scallops too early in the fourth service and deep frying them as well, she made no other recorded mistakes throughout her ''entire'' run. Sure, she never really stood out in performance amongst her team, but she was never particularly ''bad'' either, while the other nominees (Wendy, Devin, and Paulie) made serious screw-ups in cooking food in both that service and previous ones.

* Ben. He only made one mistake in service by sending up a raw salmon and was on the winning team. The red team's nominees, Elise and Manda, had miserable nights of their own (Elise had major problems on the meat station which caused Ramsay to call over Giovanni from the blue kitchen to help, while Manda's problems on the fish station got the team kicked out). However, Ben had major health problems related to diabetes and nearly collapsed during service, and his previous poor performance this service convinced Ramsay to send him home. What makes this more shocking is that this is the ''earliest'' a chef from the winning team was eliminated (the previous holder was Raj from Season 8 who was eliminated from the winning team after the third service.).

* Van’s elimination had everyone’s jaw on the ground on both teams, and for good reason. While his final performance was mediocre at best, and had major communication issues, Van had been a consistent competitor throughout the season up until his elimination. What makes this even more shocking is that he was nominated by Ramsay, won the “Catch of the Day” challenge for the blue team, and arguably didn’t have the worst performance of the night. Barbie and Elise both had severe issues that night, argued throughout the whole service, and nearly tanked the red team, but both lived another day. For many people claiming that the show has been plagued with ExecutiveMeddling, this was another middle finger.

* Arguably Robyn may count due to Milly’s abysmal attitude during elimination and the punishment, and him suddenly having a particularly bad night, after having a hit or miss (albeit a mostly hit) track record, something that got Van eliminated. Although Robyn had the worst night, and argued with Ramsay, which may be the reason Milly got to be in the final four.

* Scotley. While his attitude was going south and had a poor performance on meat (at one point requiring Bret to help him ''slice'' a Wellington), Trev and Jose had many problems on fish that night, with a raw salmon from the latter getting the red team kicked out of the kitchen. Still though, Ramsay expected more from Scotley considering that he came into the competition with a strong attitude, but lately has not walked the walk. Being on his third nomination as well (compared to Trev’s second) probably didn’t help things either.

* Drew. The ''very first'' thing we see in episode 4 is him complaining of bad cramps and spells of dizziness, and is placed into a hospital as a result, with the announcement of his removal not happening until before dinner service.
* Brittani. She had a struggle on fish, and Nikki had to help her out, but this paled in comparison to Peter, who made his whole team start a ticket over thanks to not remembering to a start a pan for his fish, and then getting them kicked out when he overcooks it. Furthermore, he did bad in the first service as well, barely avoiding nomination then.

* Adam. The man had ''one'' mistake going into his boot episode, and one decidedly mediocre service was enough to get him eliminated over Marc, who not only had a far worse service, but went back to his [[NeverMyFault old behavior]].

[[folder: Season 20: Young Guns]]

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Season 20]]
* Ava. She was the weakest chef on the red team, but she was still much better than Matthew. Both of them had raw proteins in the first Cook For Your Life challenge, but whereas raw salmon (Ava) is survivable, raw chicken (Matthew) is not. Furthermore, Matthew also left the shit sack in his signature dish (though Ava had a bland dish in that challenge), and he went on to make raw lamb in service, had to rely on a meat thermometer he snuggled in, and laughed during service. He was unsurprisingly eliminated that night without getting to plead his case.

* Bobby. He was on the chopping block for the first time since opening night against Jen, who was on her third nomination and had a much worse service than him. Like at Louross' elimination, Ramsay asked the nominee, Christina, who she would eliminate. Christina wanted to save Bobby, but this time, Ramsay disagreed.