Line #163 ShockingElimination/HellsKitchen


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3	[[folder: Season 1]]
4	* Carolann. She made food (albeit, one dessert) which was liked, whereas Dewberry was weak in service and was ripped into by Chef Ramsay for doing very little. In fairness, Dewberry did at least take a bit of initiative, whereas Carolann just stood at the dessert station doing nothing until Ramsay ordered her to help her team, which he saw as proof of her "turning her back" on them. Carolann was also the first of several victims of Ramsay's inability to override the nominations this season, with it being strongly implied that Jeff or Jimmy would have been eliminated had they been nominated.
5	* 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 Dewberry almost walked out of service due to the stress of the competition, which Ramsay called "cowardly".
6	* Jeff. Suddenly abandoned his team on his own terms (a first), and allegedly hurt himself trying to fight Ramsay when the latter confronted him over him leaving service, which was cited as why he got eliminated.
7	* Mary-Ellen. She was disastrous on appetizers, but prior to that, she had been the blue team's most consistently good performer after Michael and Ralph, the two professional chefs. The decision shocked the other chefs and left Jessica in tears. Moreover, she was put up against Andrew, who was consistently bad in the services and repeatedly disrespectful towards Ramsay. In that service, however, Andrew showed improved discipline, which proved instrumental in his survival.
8	* Chris. He was the most experienced chef of the season but was betrayed by Michael, who, choosing the nominees, promised not to nominate Chris but nominated him alongside Elsie (the least experienced chef that season) in a strategic move. It paid off as Ramsay eliminated Chris for failing to live up to his experience. Again, the decision shocked the other chefs and left Elsie feeling guilty, with Ramsay using it as a reminder that eliminations are not always predictable.
9	* Elsie: She was a strong competitor but got swamped on the fish station during the Final Four Service when her teammates refused to help her out. What makes this worse is that Jessica was on her second time up for nomination in a row, and arguably had a worse service than Elsie.
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12	[[folder: Season 2]]
13	* Larry, the first chef ever to be medically evacuated. It came out of nowhere too as earlier that night he was fine, but suddenly he had breathing problems and had to be taken to the hospital for recovery.
14	* Gabe. He was the first chef to be nominated by Ramsay himself and not the team, which was very much an unexpected twist. Ramsay decided that he was too nice after letting his teammates take over his station, sparing Giacomo and Tom, who were worse in that service.
15	* Giacomo. Purely for the fact that he received one nomination vote, compared to three for Tom. Though he forgot to even ''turn the oven on'' and was eventually kicked off the meat station, which saved Tom for another day.
16	* Maribel. She was eliminated over Virginia (on her third time up for elimination) and Sara (whose exotic ideas on the menu put the red team so far behind the blue team, and argued with Ramsay), simply based on Ramsay's decision that she wasn't leadership material. Granted, Virginia and Sara both had good services in the past while Maribel had generally been between mediocre and outright bad, but on that particular night her performance was, if anything, the ''least'' bad of the three remaining red team members.
17	* Garrett. Was up against Virginia on her fourth time, but his performances were getting worse, and sending up raw chicken was the last straw for Ramsay.
18	* 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. What also kind of helped Virginia was that her attitude was better than Sara's, the latter of whom was getting nastier by the episodes prior to her elimination.
19	* Keith. He was a consistent chef and was named Best of the Best/Worst four times, but his leadership was so bad on his last night that Virginia, a far less consistent chef than him, progressed to the final instead.
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22	[[folder: Season 3]]
23	* Aaron, who suddenly passes out during the third episode's punishment and gets eliminated in the hospital. There were signs that health was getting worse in the first three episodes though, and the punishment was the final nail in the coffin.
24	* [[EnsembleDarkhorse 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.
25	* 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. In that particular night, he cooked food not onto order, and when he did get a risotto out, it was raw. That incident finally caused Ramsay to lose his patience with Josh, especially he had kept him around due to his position as a Junior Sous Chef, but by then, he was done for. On top of being the first to be eliminated during service, Josh remains the only black jacket to be eliminated during service.
26	* Julia. Made more prominent that Josh was eliminated that same night prior, but Ramsay stated that someone else would be eliminated. The other person up for elimination that night was Rock, who'd had what was easily both his own worst performance and the worst performance of any of the chefs remaining after Josh's mid-service ejection, but had been a lot more consistent than Julia overall. Ramsay himself was struggling as to who he should eliminate: the one who showed so much potential and was determined to get to the high point of his career, or the one who made the biggest amount of progress in a short amount of time.
27	* Jen. It depends on whether you look at just her last service or her overall performance. She had the worst service of the final three but was much more consistent overall than Bonnie.
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30	[[folder: Season 4]]
31	* Sharon. Her elimination came as a shock to fellow teammate Vanessa and the blue team (who won the service thanks to having sent out more entrees) as she wasn't put up for elimination. Corey attempted to get rid of either Christina (who she hated until later in the season) or Jen (who she considered a threat) which made it look like Sharon would be safe. It isn't really that shocking when you consider she performed miserably on the meat station and in the opening service. Ramsay even admitted he couldn't eliminate Christina or Jen, feeling that Sharon was unable to convince him she could cook in the two services she was in.
32	* Craig. Even though Ramsay accused Ben of not taking the competition seriously (after he cheered despite the blue team being four tables behind the red team) and Matt being the worst performer of that night (to the point where he sent a raw chicken leg to a ''child''), Ramsay couldn't overlook Craig's own problems that night on top of his terrible attitude towards the red team that were sent to help the blue team complete service. His "I don't know percentages" quote also didn't help.
33	* Vanessa. She ended up taking herself out, much like Ji would one season later, all over a burn injury she sustained on her hand (although according to Vanessa in an interview, she would have lost the use of said hand had she kept going). Despite early inconsistencies, she became one of the stronger competitors leading up to this.
34	* Shayna. She was up against Rosann, who sent raw steak to the birthday girl, and Matt, who sent dried fish to the birthday girl's mom and got his station replaced by Bobby. After a heated exchange with Ramsay, Matt concludes that he would rather work with the red team because his teammates hate him. Shayna was eventually eliminated for just being slow, then Ramsay agrees with Matt and puts him on the red team.
35	* Rosann. She made a lot of simple mistakes and was severely disorganized, but Ramsay originally saved her, before changing his mind and sparing Christina and Matt, both on their third nominations (although Christina's previous two were [[ButtMonkey solely because her team hated her]]).
36	* Louross. Petrozza nominated Louross, a solid performer who had just had by far his worst service, and Jen, a chef that nobody got on with and had just had an awful performance in her own right on desserts. Ramsay polled the chefs; the other chefs all chose to save Louross, but Petrozza voted to eliminate him. Ramsay agreed with the latter, much to the other chefs' devastation.
37	* 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 [[note]]This is due to her believing that the chef is going to eliminate Jen instead of Bobby, which is probably one of the reasons why she decided to choose Bobby to be with Jen[[/note]], but this time, Ramsay disagreed.
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40	[[folder: Season 5]]
41	* Sarah[[note]]During Season 5, Sarah was known as the male chef Will, but has since transitioned.[[/note]]. 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.
42	* 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). Ramsey, however, was impressed that she'd decided to soldier on up until this point, and let her keep her jacket.
43	* Charlie. Again, he was put up for elimination against Seth. Like Gabe from Season 2, he arguably did not have the worst service the night -- in the kitchen at least, since he did a terrible job as a waiter in the second half of the service -- he was eliminated but was eliminated for being too nice. Seth, by contrast, had managed to waste roughly half of a tenderloin while trying to cut fresh filet mignon, and even Giovanni, who escaped nomination, arguably did worse than Charlie in the service.
44	* 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 on the show and was a mess at every station so far. The raw pastry incident mention earlier likely didn't help her chances either.
45	* 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). What saved Andrea and Carol though was that LA seemed to be going through the flow and not being assertive (as seen in the last couple of services where she went silent on the team with no emotions, and the fact she dropped out of the Blind Taste Test without putting up a fight).
46	* 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 began) and was caught making a hasty effort to recook them, even though by then they were long gone. 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.
47	* 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" and he had an epic meltdown on meat that led to him indirectly burning Robert when the latter tried to help.
48	* Robert. He was with the other chefs enjoying the prize restaurant when he excuses himself...OK, so far so good. But then, he ends up in the hospital, and when he returns, he reveals he had heart problems, which causes him to announce his resignation.
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51	[[folder: Season 6]]
52	* Louie. He had 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. It was probably due to a combination of his abysmal performance and Gordon wanting to give Robert a second chance after his medical evacuation in last seasons black jackets. Although Louie almost certainly would have been eliminated that night even if blue team won, Ramsay likely wanted to guarantee a spot in the blues for Robert and picked the biggest fuck up until that point to get tossed immediately just in case something transpired later during service that would get a red team member kicked out and leave no place for Robert to come back.
53	* Joseph. He was a decent chef, but for whatever reason, he felt compelled to let the planned nominees (Tony and Andy) speak for themselves, then tried to challenge Chef Ramsay to a fight. [[NoSell Chef Ramsay calmly eliminates him on the spot]].
54	* Tony. True, he had a hard time in prep and surrendered control of his station to Kevin. But he was eliminated right after Joseph had a complete meltdown and quit the competition during the same elimination process, which marked the first time where two contestants were eliminated in the same elimination ceremony. Additionally, Lovely (who also was nominated) had arguably been the worst performer of the night and Tony was stronger than her in both challenges prior to his elimination and in the first dinner service.
55	* Jim. He had never been an especially impressive performer, and just came off a performance so bad that Sous Chef Scott had to step in and do his job, but it came as a bit of a shock when Ramsay eliminated him for lacking passion, over Andy, who made numerous excuses and was less consistent.
56	* Robert. He was on his 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.
57	* Amanda. She was eliminated on her third nomination and had a miserable night on garnish. However, her performance was not bad when compared to Suzanne (who had terrible timing issues that led to the red team collapsing) and Sabrina (who had her second miserable night on meat). However, Ramsay spared the two due to their strong performances in the past, especially since he believed Amanda was too nice of a person to run a kitchen.
58	* 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.
59	* 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 not 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.
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62	[[folder: Season 7]]
63	* Andrew. After being sent out of the kitchen by Ramsay, JP, much like Andrea two seasons 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.
64	* Maria. She did have a bad night as both a chef (served raw crab hush puppies) and as a waitress (which included taking orders on Holli's tables that already took their orders and miswrote the wrong item). However, Scott was up on elimination for the second time in a row, had a bad night in his own right on the meat station (and leaving his oven door open), and his arrogance irritated his team. He even nearly managed to weasel his way out of being nominated by persuading Fran to nominate Nilka instead, but this backfired when Ramsay overruled.
65	* Salvatore, the second chef eliminated from the winning team. He had a bad night, but so did a number of chefs on the red team, such as Fran and Holli (the latter of whom escaped nomination in favor of Siobhan based on overall performance). Chef Ramsay simply couldn't overlook his 1 out of 7 track record with services.
66	* 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. Though in that particular service, she tried to send up boiled scallops that were fine and even talked back to Ramsay when she was called out for the mistake.
67	* Nilka. Up until that night, she had been a solid performer. But during that dinner service, she inexplicably fell apart. Her performance was so bad that Ramsay eliminated her mid-service. She tried to step back in, which led to Ramsay being forced to asking the other chefs to get her out. She did notably become the only person eliminated mid-service to get a proper send-off by Ramsay after the service ended.
68	* 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, Jason didn't show the same strength of a leader as Benjamin, which was possibly Ramsay's deciding factor.
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71	[[folder: Season 8]]
72	* Antonia, who suddenly came down with a migraine painful enough to have to be dragged out, and set a record for fastest elimination on the show.
73	* Curtis. Not in terms of his performance, as he was more directly at fault for the blue team's second service going down in flames with his horrible performance on the sushi, which collapsed the team before Raj's garnish could ever come into play. However, Raj ''still'' managed to get thrown out of service for making sides which hadn't been ordered and then nearly provoked his team-mates to violence with his condescending remarks after the service, which for most people was proof that Raj was just too much of a nutjob to succeed in the contest.
74	* 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]]. However, Emily had a poor plea to convince Ramsay to keep her around.
75	* Vinny. He started off as one of the blue team's standout competitors, and Ramsay remarked that he thought Vinny was the "one to beat". But he crashed out just before black jackets for his declining performances. That night, Gail had ''seven'' lobster capellini’s returned for being improperly cooked. Sabrina was also on her sixth nomination, though her decent performance saw her survive another day.
76	* Gail. It depends on whether you look solely at her last few services. She was more consistent than Trev but made bigger mistakes when she made it to black jackets. Ramsay himself expected her to go further based on her strong start.
77	* Jillian. She was not nominated once, thanks to her being more consistent than Nona and Russell, the next best two. However, in the service that had the final four run the pass, she failed to notice any mistakes and had to be prompted by Ramsay to take control.
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80	[[folder: Season 9]]
81	* Jason, who out of nowhere, started having trouble breathing during prep, and left almost as quickly as Antonia.
82	* Amanda. She did make a lot of screw-ups in her last service and admitted that she had completely lost focus after her initial screw-up. However, Carrie had been worse (with Ramsay even making the whole team ''go out into the dining room and apologize'' due to her bad performance on meat), and the other members of the red team all said that she was their weakest member.
83	* Gina. She was eliminated despite not being nominated. Elise passed the blame onto her, and Ramsay agreed, feeling that Gina was too quiet and had no fightback.
84	* 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.
85	* Jamie. She had some early struggles during service, burning a garnish and having 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.
86	* 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's mistakes that night were so bad that night that, along with Elizabeth, she 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.
87	* Elizabeth. Another chef who was more consistent than Elise, yet having two bad services in a row was enough for Chef Ramsay to eliminate her. Elise however, also did poorly both of those nights, getting nominated both times on top of many nominations before.
88	* 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]].
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91	[[folder: Season 10]]
92	* Guy. The other nominee, Clemenza, had struggled that night as his station was swamped with orders, and all five of his and Guy's teammates voted him as the weaker of the two, but the fact that he got through the night without being kicked off probably played a factor in his survival. Guy, while being consistent before, had many problems on the meat station, which didn't receive half the workload of the fish station. Finally, Clemenza's passionate survival plea, which earned a standing ovation from the red team, is likely what kept him alive.
93	* Roshni. While she also had trouble on the meat station, Patrick, on fish, sent up cold lobster twice, a mistake bad enough to get the entire blue team kicked out of the kitchen. 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.
94	* Patrick. On meat, he misread an order and sent up a raw piece of meat, getting him kicked out. While this would ordinarily be enough, the red team's bickering STOPPED service, leading to all of them being kicked out. Tiffany showed a lack of passion by answering said "like, a 9" to the question of how much on a scale of 1 to 10 she cared, and was sloppy and lazy, though Patrick was sent home, probably because Ramsay expects better from executive chefs like him.
95	* 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.
96	* Brian. Despite absolutely tanking on the meat station that night (he was so bad that Barbie, in the other kitchen, had to step in and do his job), he had been one of the more consistent chefs on his team (plus he got 3 out of 4 on the palate test, which is important to Ramsay and is rather uncommon, while Robyn got [[EpicFail zero]]). Robyn wasn't as bad that night, but was worse in terms of consistency, and attempted to throw her team under the bus that night. However, in all fairness, Brian's goofiness (which made him a fan favorite for some) contributed to his elimination, as Ramsay doesn't like it when chefs make jokes during service or don't take him seriously, and Brian had a knack for doing both, which combined with his terrible performance that night, pretty much sealed his fate.
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99	[[folder: Season 11]]
100	* Gina, who just suddenly quits at the start of a challenge of all places, all over her teammates (Nedra in particular) yelling at her too much.
101	* Christian. He drove the blue team into failure with his bad night on fish, but Jeremy had been nominated in both services and Danielle made numerous excuses about her lack of experience working in a brigade. Plus, Christian was one of only two blue team members to survive their first service.
102	* 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 it was also on his second consecutive nomination.
103	* Dan. He was one of the best members of the Blue Team in terms of cooking ability, but his attitude was so bad Ramsay eliminated him over Barret, who served raw chicken to Sous Chef James's pregnant wife.
104	* Amanda. Nedra managed to manipulate the team to nominate Amanda instead of her despite arguably being worse that night.
105	* Barret. Purely because it was the first instance in Hell's Kitchen history that two people were eliminated the same night in the traditional elimination process, instead of one being eliminated during service/quitting and then another traditionally.
106	* Michael. He had a few slip-ups here and there, but still was more consistent overall than Zach. Unfortunately, he had one disastrous service that saw him get eliminated over Zach. Even the women were shocked he got eliminated over Zach.
107	* 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 on his fourth nomination, 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.
108	* 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.
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111	[[folder: Season 12]]
112	* 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 considering she was on her second nomination in a row and the red team were losing faith in her abilities.
113	* [=DeMarco=]. He only made one mistake in service by serving a raw egg (which wasn't even his fault as it was Ralph who cooked it), and Gabriel and Richard themselves were responsible for the blue team's loss. However, [=DeMarco=] was on his ''fifth'' nomination in a row, and the fact that Ramsay warned him he was on his last chance sealed his fate.
114	* Chris. While he struggled on the pizza station, the feeling, particularly on social media, was that Chris had shown potential and that Ralph should have been eliminated for refusing to even admit his faults on the meat station.
115	* Richard. While he lacked Gabriel's determination and desire to succeed, he was more consistent than Gabriel overall, only being nominated once aside from the ''Cook for your life'' challenge, compared to five for Gabriel.
116	* Kashia. While she struggled on fish, it was the ''seventh time'' Scott had been nominated for elimination and in that particular night, he ''snapped'' at Ramsay (mostly due to the frustration of being the ButtMonkey of the series thanks to likes of Joy and Anton). Despite Ramsay questioning Scott's ability to listen after said incident, Scott survived because his night, besides that incident, wasn't terrible, half his nominations were due to being thrown under the bus by his teammates, and he was slowly improving. In contrast, Kashia's performances were getting worse and her attitude was growing more volatile, so even if Ramsay got offended by Scott's outburst, he couldn't ignore Kashia's ongoing problems.
117	* Joy; a self-inflicted example. After being incredibly consistent throughout the season, to the point where many fans were treating it as a ForegoneConclusion that she would be the winner, 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.
118	* Rochelle. While she was considerably weaker in leadership than either Jason or Scott, especially Scott, many viewers felt Rochelle should have been in the finale for her consistency. On the flipside, fans who agreed that Rochelle wasn't ready to be a head chef felt that she should've at least been allowed to keep her jacket instead of Melanie.
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121	[[folder: Season 13]]
122	* Denine. Granted, she was on her second consecutive nomination, but that night Kalen refused to let Denine help her, despite being assigned to the same station. Kalen tanked the meat station [[NeverMyFault and blamed Denine for it]], [[BlatantLies despite footage being shown of Denine trying to help but Kalen refusing]], but Ramsay eliminated Denine anyway.
123	* 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, which Ramsay deemed the biggest insult of the night.
124	* Steve. In episode 8, he suddenly winds up with a leg distension, which causes him to get eliminated for his own safety. Chef Ramsay even called him a solid competitor.
125	* 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 Frank's performance made an exception to the rule.
126	* Aaron, who, when asked why he should stay in Hell's Kitchen, instead says winning will not help his own personal goal, and quits right there. Even Chef Ramsay admitted it was shocking, though Aaron probably would have left anyway.
127	* 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. However, Santos might have been saved because this was his first time up to be nominated, while it was Fernando’s second time.
128	* Sterling. He was eliminated right after service after being the only member of the red team to have a bad service and just missed out on a black jacket. However, while he was commonly hated by his teammates due to his positive attitude and quirkiness, he defied the odds and lasted longer than Ramsay expected him to. Ramsay even allowed him to [[PetTheDog keep his jacket for his spirit and determination]].
129	* Santos. His only mistake was a minor overseasoning of salad, while Roe served a raw steak (''[[EpicFail the steak dish she created]]''). Plus, it was Santos's third nomination, while it was Roe's fifth. However, Ramsay decided that Santos just "bounced around the kitchen" without doing anything productive and sent him packing.
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131
132	[[folder: Season 14]]
133	* Mieka. She had three bad services in a row, getting the Red Team kicked out in her last two. However, the rest of the team wanted Monique (who was weak in her own right) gone, so they put Monique up for nomination with Sarah (a strong competitor who just came off her weakest service) to try and get Monique eliminated. However, Mieka was eliminated anyway.
134	* Sarah. She started off strong (as stated) but quickly worsened and was eliminated on her third nomination. Christine was also on her third nomination and had been less impressive across the competition. Ramsay considered switching Sarah to the Blue Team but decided that she had lost all confidence in herself and eliminated her.
135	* Bret. He was one of the more consistent members of the blue team so far, but suddenly had excruciating back pains when he went to the bathroom (he had a history of slipped discs).
136	* Randy. Was eliminated in Episode 11 for seemingly having declined in recent services and caving under pressure, even though the Blue Team had won that night. What makes it more so is that Randy was eliminated for poor leadership. While he was able to complete his course, Josh had to have his course taken over by Ramsay because he overcooked the red team's entire supply of tuna and had declined in recent services like Randy.
137	* Alison. She 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).
138	[[/folder]]
139
140	[[folder: Season 15]]
141	* Vanessa. She was struggling, but the team hadn't agreed to nominate her when she was eliminated. Ariel defied the team's consensus of Meese and Manda and instead named Vanessa as the second nominee. Meese herself was on her second straight nomination, discarded meat she cooked right, and struggled to communicate in the kitchen.
142	* Meese: While she hasn't been the most impressive chef at the time, her only mistake that night was serving mashed potatoes on a tray poorly. Jackie, who was nominated next to her, served very pink chicken, argued with Sous Chef Christina, and her volatile attitude was really getting on her teammate’s nerves (even Christina went as far to call her the "cancer" of the red team). However, Meese was on her third time up for elimination, didn't communicate well with her team, and the potatoes were meant for Kris Jenner's table (which Ramsay saw as a big insult, causing him to call the recently finished blue team to come and help).
143	* Eddie. He did mess up a bit in his last service, but otherwise had been consistent throughout, whereas Joe and Jackie were both on their second nominations.
144	* 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. The fact that he performed so poorly on such an important night, being Sous Chef Andi's wedding day, likely contributed to his elimination.
145	* Joe. He did screw up on garnish that night, but his mistakes were minor, and the blue team was able to complete service, while Jackie, Ariel, and Ashley were so bad the red team was kicked out.
146	* Chad. A minor example, as he was on a downward spiral, and served undercooked French toast in that service. However, Jackie had similarly weak performances, even serving raw chicken in that service, and had a much worse attitude as well.
147	* Jared. It seemed like he would make it to the final four service after he survived elimination over Manda. But Ramsay then eliminated him as well in a double elimination and the service prior to the final consisted of only three chefs for the first time since Season 6.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder: Season 16]]
151	* Pat. Granted he didn't do well on appetizers and Paulie took over, he was nominated alongside Matt, who did horribly on the fish station and was kicked out along with Genaro. Matt also stood up to Ramsay, insisting to look at the cameras to prove that Andrew told Matt to send the scallops up.
152	* Jessica; a self-inflicted example. She was one of the Red Team's best performers in the first two services but nominated herself after making one mistake tableside in the third service and packed her suitcase, which convinced Ramsay that she had given up and spared Gia, who sunk the service with her awful performance on the meat station.
153	* Gia. Her elimination was mostly shocking because she was eliminated despite being on the winning team and almost half the chefs had their jaws on the ground, and partly because the blue team got kicked out on the last ticket whereas the red team survived the night with no one getting kicked out. Otherwise, it's not surprising at all. She was hated by all her teammates due to her bad attitude, outright ''lied'' to Ramsay about a wound, had a bad night on the garnish station (requiring Ryan to jump in and save it), and seemed to give up when Ramsay confronted her on it. This spared Koop (who struggled on the fish station) and Aaron (who was doing decent in services but lacked confidence and communication).
154	* [[EnsembleDarkhorse 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).
155	* 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.
156	* Koop. He was up for nomination the second time, while Paulie was on his third time and was less consistent overall. Even though Paulie served raw meat several times that service (compared to cooking different fish in the same pan, which was Koop's biggest mistake in the service) Koop's anger in the dorm room, where he broke a chair in anger, convinced Ramsay that he wasn't ready to be a head chef.
157	* Shaina. Was eliminated for getting worse as the competition went on, despite Wendy being on her fourth nomination and making several mistakes on the meat station that got the Blue Team kicked out.
158	* Matt. Exactly like Barret in Season 11, his elimination was shocking only because it was a double elimination in the traditional elimination process.
159	* Heidi. Next to Ryan, she was the most consistent female chef this season, and it looked like the two would be in the finale together. Unfortunately, while she was strong at the pass (only making one mistake), she was sluggish on appetizers, causing Ramsay to eliminate her over Heather.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder: Season 17 (All Stars)]]
163	* 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 in 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.).
164	* Giovanni. He lost the "Cook For Your Life Challenge" due to him putting too much pasta on his oysters and not using a lot of the champagne sauce. Robyn (the person he was up against) on the other hand had trouble opening her oysters, and two of them were punctured causing some fans to argue that the oysters alone should have caused Robyn to be eliminated instead.
165	* 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.
166	* Dana, given that she's considered as a frontrunner all season. While her last night ended up failing the Red Team due to performing badly in the meat station, this is her first nomination of all season compared to Elise who already has a lot of nominations in her belt. Unfortunately, this is one of the days where Elise ran her station (appetizers) well enough.
167	* 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.
168	* 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 [[ScrappyMechanic controversial final challenge]], his beef entreé lost out compared to Michelle’s and Benjamin’s, causing him to be eliminated just before the final service.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder: Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans)]]
172	* Jen. While the elimination itself wasn’t a surprise to anybody, how she was eliminated was unexpected. In the second service, Jen accused Ramsay of sabotaging her after having an abysmal night on garnishes which led to a huge argument, and ultimately Jen being eliminated mid-service.
173	* 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.
174	* Chris, who suddenly had bad visions from his recent accident return, and he told Chef Ramsay and Sous Chef Christina that he couldn't focus anymore. Even worse, this came after [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] in that episode's challenge.
175	* T. Following Kevin's elimination, she quickly became the overwhelming favorite to win, as many fans considered her the best chef never to have won the show (with the arguable exception of Kevin himself). She was eliminated in ''the very next episode'', after crashing and burning on the meat station.
176	* 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.
177	* Kanae. Was never nominated once, and during the Black Jackets Challenge, she was close to getting a black jacket, only to lose to Ariel, Mia, Bret, and Motto before competing against Heather. While she went more creative against Heather on her final dish, she lost out due to sweet prawns and underseasoned rice. Even the black jacket chefs were shocked by that decision as they all expected Kanae to win over Heather.
178	* Motto. One of the most consistent chefs of the entire season with so much promise and skill for an Executive Chef position in Vegas. However, his final night, he began to question whether he wanted the prize, ultimately choosing to nominate himself and further the culinary industry of Baton Rouge instead of working in Vegas. Ramsay and the other chefs were shocked at this decision, but the former accepted the decision and let Motto keep his jacket, asking Motto to call him when he is satisfied with the industry there.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder: Season 19 (Las Vegas)]]
182	* Kenneth. While he was clearly the weakest chef on the blue team, no one expected him to get sent home after a Cook For Your Life challenge [[EpicFail before the first service even started]].
183	* 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.
184	* 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 badly in the first service as well, barely avoiding nomination then.
185	* Peter. Despite his team's efforts to get his head back in the game, he answered ''no'' to one of Chef Ramsay's usual "Yes, Chef" questions and was summarily dismissed mid-service.
186	* 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]]. That said, Adam had been trying to hide how strong he was because he [[WrongGenreSavvy mistakenly thought that showing his strength early on would make him a target]], and Ramsay wants a leader.
187	* Nikki. She had shown tremendous growth over the course of the season and was really close to getting a black jacket after the first two black jacket challenges. Unfortunately, she lost the third and final challenge to Amber, who had been going on a downward spiral by that point.
188	* Declan. While not nearly as controversial as Nick's, Declan seemed destined to be able to tie with Mary Lou and Kori in the final challenge due to a very good dish review, only to receive a 7 and thus fail to tie.
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder: Season 20 (Young Guns)]]
192	* Ava. She was eliminated before the first service after the Alcohol challenge, having served raw salmon. While she definitely had a lackluster performance (also only getting a 2 on her signature dish), many felt she should have at least stayed over Matthew, who served raw chicken in the Alcohol challenge (unlike raw salmon, which can only cause illness, raw chicken can actually kill). Fittingly, Matthew would end up eliminated after the first service, in the same episode.
193	* Morgana. She started the season off strong as she was one of the two chefs to score a perfect five in the Signature Dish Challenge (the other being Sam) and never made a mistake in the first four episodes. But then comes Episode 5 where she goes completely quiet and struggled on fish all night. The fact she was eliminated on her first nomination over Payton's second (as he sent up the wrong garnishes and accused the red team of not having his back since the team switch) makes it more of a shocker.
194	* Kevin. He was a decent chef that seemed to be getting even better in the last couple episodes before his last episode. But in episode 7, he struggled on fish to the point of dragging service for everyone else, and just didn't seem to have the fight back necessary to succeed. He even got eliminated ''during'' service!
195	* Keona. She was establishing herself as a potential frontrunner and succeeded in both services and leadership on the line, yet was eliminated during the [[ScrappyMechanic infamous "Cook For Your Life" challenge]] due to her burnt pork. Chef Ramsay even pointed this out in his elimination quote, stating that she had many great qualities as a chef, yet was bogged down by one big mistake.
196	* 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. That said, he was quieter than Brynn, who at least convinced Ramsay that she was a better leader than Steve.
197	[[/folder]]
198
199	[[folder: Season 21 (Battle of the Ages)]]
200	* Zeus. He appeared to be an early favorite of the season with an impressive signature dish and nearly winning the punishment pass, and his dinner service wasn't even that bad. However, after the first service, he stated he didn't want to be there, and after Gordon eliminated Charlene, he would eliminate Zeus right after.
201	* Nicole. Many members of the red team felt she did nothing to help them during the third service and thought she was a liability down the line. Even Ramsay felt she was not leadership material after seeing her not helping them when they struggled. However, despite all these claims, Nicole was not seen making any mistakes that night and even fans questioned what happened when compared to the meat station (Sommer and Alyssa had a communication meltdown and served raw lamb) and Dafne (as she burned ''three'' salmon on one pan and wasted their supply). It didn't help that she had been improving a bit challenge wise at least.
202	* Alyssa. Solely because she was eliminated alongside Billy in a double elimination.
203	* Mindy. While she did have trouble on the apps station, Ileana stalled the entire kitchen on her wellington on the last order, and Abe had much more trouble on the apps station.
204	* Ileana. Despite being one of the worst examples of an EliminationHoudini, no one expected her to go out as early as she did, considering that more often than not, they usually stick around at least until around the top 10. She would instead be booted during the Cook For Your Life Challenge, where many were expecting Vlad, who had been [[BadassDecay falling apart]] recently and was far less dramatic than Ileana to be sent home.
205	* Abe. His performance was actually pretty solid that night for the most part outside of a missed salmon order, and Brett had a worse performance when he had to be bailed out on his station and could have been eliminated from the winning team since Ramsay has done that before. On top of that, Abe had managed to [[TookALevelInKindness correct his initially abrasive attitude]]. It was even mentioned that while Abe didn't have a bad night, Ramsay felt he was weaker than the rest of the remaining chefs.
206	* Sakari. Despite being OutOfFocus, he was a massive front-runner throughout the majority of the season, and even managed to find his voice and be labeled as the Best of the Best during charity night. However, an undercooked porkchop during the final black jacket challenge would cost him, and have him be sent home.
207	* Cheyenne. Similar to Sakari, she was one of the major front-runners of the season, being the only black jacket to avoid nomination. However, on the first black jacket service, she would crash and burn on the fish station, resulting in her being nominated for the first time and being sent home.
208	* Sommer. Initially starting out weak, she would take a big [[TookALevelInBadass step up]] and establish herself as a major front-runner due to her strong leadership. However, she would suddenly have the worst performance on the pass, resulting in her elimination, even over [[EliminationHoudini Dafne]].
209	[[/folder]]
210
211	[[folder: Season 22 (The American Dream)]]
212	* Melissa. She started out strong with a solid signature dish and winning the punishment pass, on top of being not only one of the strongest chefs on the red team, but having a relatively level-headed personality. But after she lied to Christina during a punishment and caused the whole red team to resent her for doing so, Melissa started to only look out for herself. This eventually culminated in her refusing to communicate with them in the fifth episode, and Melissa being eliminated that same episode over Sandra, who not only had a rough night on fish, but was also on her second nomination compared to Melissa's first.
213	* 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 after he failed to make it to the Black Jackets.
214	* 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 and overcooked fish, and it was enough for Ramsay to eliminate them both in a double elimination.

Context ShockingElimination / HellsKitchen