Characters / Hell's Kitchen - Seasons 4 to 5

Main: Hell's Kitchen

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Season 4

Christina Machamer

"I'm a complete package. I look great in a pair of heels, I can read a book, and I can cook."

Occupation: culinary student

Age: 25

Billed from: Saint Louis, Missouri

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• Aloof Ally: Sometimes had shades of this given the dislike she immediately encountered from most of the Red Team, as well as her habit of carrying herself in a very controlled and quiet manner. Also, she stated that she didn't care about her teammates at one point, and only cared about finishing a service.
• Bash Brothers: With Corey; they bickered a lot, and even nominated each other after the final three service. But when picking their teams for the final service, Christina (who had second choice) was worried that Petrozza would choose Corey first, and it even seemed that Corey was worried about it (but Petrozza picked Bobby). They personally disliked each other, but worked very well together in service.
• Batman Gambit: After Jen rigged the nomination votes, she works out with Corey and Petrozza who the strongest of them is, forcing Ramsay to eliminate Jen instead of Corey.
• Breakout Character: Much like Rock, she has made numerous appearances in future seasons of the show.
• Brutal Honesty: In the season finale, she openly dissed Hell's Kitchen's default decor to the face of the show's production designer (i.e. the person who selected said decor). For an encore, she was similarly scathing with the options for serving staff outfits that Jean-Philippe presented her.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Was constantly targeted by her teammates for purely personal reasons, but was worth it in the end when she won.
• Genre Savvy: When Ramsay cooked for the remaining contestants and their families, she realised that there might be a twist later and together with her parents began picking apart the dish. She was proven correct when the Black Jackets then had to recreate that same dish.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Christina really hated it when Chef Ramsay told her she came sounding like a cheerleader rather than a head chef.
• Informed Flaw: The Red Team, (especially Jen and Rosann) nominated her, because they saw her as arrogant, despite Rosann screwing up on garnish. Fortunately, Ramsay saw through it.
• Oh, Crap!: She has a big one when it looks like the team's plan to get rid of Jen backfires and Ramsay looks like he'll eliminate Corey instead.
• Only Sane Woman: One of the very few members of the Red Team who didn't fall into the cliquey crap. Chef Ramsay realized this and recognized her for it. On elimination night, he asked who the Red Team nominated and Christina told him it was Shayna. Surprised about it, he asked Christina who she would personally nominate, and she said Rosann. He thought THAT made sense.
• Revenge Before Reason: Heavily averted. In Episode 3, where she was named Best Of The Worst, Corey expected Christina to put her up due to Corey's attempt to eliminate her in the previous episode. However, Christina would instead nominate Vanessa, who actually had a worse service than Corey. While Christina said it was to keep her enemies closer, one could also see this as her refusing to play Corey's games and instead take the competition seriously.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: Was frequently targeted by her teammates who, despite their comments stating otherwise, were jealous of her skills. If she was on Survivor, she likely would have been sent home early, but since Ramsay has the final say...
• True Companions: Became this with Corey and Petrozza against Jen.
• Weak, but Skilled: Prior to winning the contest she had been cooking professionally for three years.

Placement: Winner

Christina's Winner Comment - "Oh, my goodness. Holy fucking shit! I am, like, so happy on 10 different levels, I can't even explain it. Hey, Mom and Dad, guess you don't have to worry about me anymore, I'll be okay. I'm really happy, it's almost like a fairytale, you know? I guess it really does happen to people, even big goobers like me. Mostly, what I'd like to say to Chef Ramsay is, 'Thank you for your trust and your faith in me.'"

Ramsay's Winner Comment - "Christina had the least amount of experience coming into Hell's Kitchen, but I saw something in her that is quite special. She had the best potential across any other chef in Hell's Kitchen, and in my business I think long-term. I definitely, definitely made the right choice."

(Louis) Petrozza ^note He tragically passed away in November 2019 from lung cancer.

"I'm gonna nominate myself; I can't pick any of these guys, they work too hard."

Occupation: catering director

Age: 47

Billed from: Charlotte, North Carolina

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• The Ace: While Petrozza wasn't a perfect chef, he was far and away the strongest chef on the blue team, and even his weaker services were never really nomination worthy.
• Always Second Best: When it's down to the Black Jackets, he comes second to Christina in three consecutive challenges by the slimmest of margins. The same happens in the final service.
• Badass Boast: "People ask me what my specialty is, but I don't have a specialty, I can cook anything."
• Cool Old Guy: Age 47, and while not the oldest chef the show has seen, he is the oldest to do well on the show.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Seemingly played straight with his Signature Dish, "Hen In a Pumpkin", which a baffled Chef Ramsay noted just came off as rather bland; strongly subverted from that point onward, as he proved to be one of the most consistently good chefs of the season.
• Covered in Gunge: Despite him being the strongest chef on the Blue Team, he constantly had problems keeping himself and his station clean, leading Ramsay to say he "works like a pig".
• Crazy Enough to Work: In one service, Louross was having trouble with the beef wellington as it was over cooked. Petrozza decides to cut a sliver off and it's medium well. Louross keeps repeating that it won't get past Scott... and then comments that it was the most "ghettoist thing ever" when it did.
• Deadpan Snarker: "It's some dry-ass chicken".
• Establishing Character Moment: His "Hen In a Pumpkin" Signature Dish remains one of the show's most bizarre, but Petrozza taking the criticism of it in good humor establishes him as one of the nicest and most selfless chefs to ever grace Hell's Kitchen.
• Father to His Men: In one episode, he offered himself to be eliminated because, even though the Blue Team did horribly, they didn't deserve to be eliminated so soon and they really were working hard. What makes this more poignant is that the others at the time (Ben, Louross and Bobby) were nominating each other to deadlock the vote and were expecting Petrozza to do the same. Ramsay complimented that Petrozza "was a gentleman" for taking the blow.
  • In turn, his teammates liked him a lot and were very passionate about helping him win the competition when they came back.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Had one in Episode 2 and was about to leave the competition. Bobby's kind words were enough to get him back in the kitchen and helped him become runner-up that season.
  • He had another one in the season finale, when it was revealed that his kitchen was out of appetizer ingredients. It eventually required Bobby to rescue him by working out he could create a lobster risotto from the ingredients they had to hand, and likely played a big part in Petrozza only finishing as runner-up.
• Honor Before Reason: No matter how badly the Blue Team screwed up in the 7th service, he couldn't bring himself to nominate any of them and actually nominated himself; Ramsay has actually ELIMINATED contestants for nominating themselves, but Ramsay recognized Petrozza's graciousness. It probably also helped that Ramsay was gunning for Ben and would eliminate him instead of Petrozza.
  • He also helped Louross with the beef wellingtons (See Crazy Enough to Work) while the other members of the Blue Team would've just let Louross suffer.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Louross, Bobby, Ben, and eventually Christina and Corey.
• Last-Name Basis: As seen below, he went by his surname, Petrozza on the show to avoid confusion with Louross.
• Nice Guy: Is almost universally considered the most likeable chef ever on the show, helping his fellow teammates in service, and even letting himself be nominated because he just couldn't let his teammates be eliminated after just one lousy service. This even extended to his confession cams, which easily stood out compared to several of the other chefs.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: However, even Petrozza has his limits. In his Confession Cam after Jen started being nice, he tears her down and his tone of voice is very icy on how Jen was just sucking up to Ramsay.
• One-Steve Limit: His first name is actually Louis, but he went by his surname on the show, likely to avoid confusion with Louross.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: See above.
• Out of Character Is Serious Business: Him tearing Jen apart in his Confession Cam, showed that he wasn't liking Jen being a kiss-up.
  • His breakdown early on in the season counts as well when you factor in his overall behaviour.
• Running Gag: Just couldn't maintain a clean, organized station to save his life.
  Chef Ramsay: Crap on top of crap on top of crap on top of crap.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Chef Ramsay eventually came to accept this part of him as he made up for it with the food he produced.
  Chef Ramsay: That's nicely cooked, that filet mignon. I don't give a fuck if you work like a pig from now on if your meat's excellent!
• Sole Survivor: After Bobby and Matt were eliminated, he was the last man left in the Black Jackets.
• Take a Third Option: After a service that ended horribly for the Blue Team, Petrozza couldn't pick any of his teammates as his nomination for elimination, and with Louross and Ben nominating each other and Bobby nominating Petrozza, to break the deadlock, Petrozza ultimately decided to nominate himself, feeling that he too was responsible for the failure. For his selflessness, despite having the most nominations for elimination, Ramsay ultimately eliminated Ben for his failure on meat.
• True Companions: Became this with Christina and Corey against Jen.

Placement: 2nd

Petrozza's Runner-Up Comment - "It's been a tough journey. It's been hard, it's been painful, it's been long, but it's been good. It's been good. I've met so many beautiful people, so many beautiful people. How priceless is that?"

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Courtney "Corey" Earling

"I have a problem with people who treat me like a dumb blonde."

Occupation: private chef

Age: 25

Billed from: New York, New York

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• Bash Brothers: With Christina.
• Bookends: At the start of the competition, Corey was gunning to get rid of Christina by any means necessary, even if it was unfair to her. This of course resulted in Christina and Corey being not on great terms for the first half of the season. After Matt came along however, Corey realized that the only chance she had to avoid not being on the losing team was to work with Christina. This of course resulted in their relationship improving, and come the final service, Corey was Christina's star chef and helped her win over Petrozza.
• Brutal Honesty: Had quite a bit of this in the very beginning.
• Deadpan Snarker: Had her moments of this, particularly towards Matt.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Went from one of the biggest bitches in the show's history, to nominating herself to hopefully get rid of the FAR worse Jen. Unlike many of the other bitches on the show, she was savvy enough to work out early on that the bitch act wasn't working, and started behaving more reasonably.
  • This even extended to service, where she and Christina would sometimes be forced to work together. Instead of using the time to pick fights, the two of them would work towards churning out the necessary dishes to Ramsay's standards.
• Graceful Loser: Corey took her elimination pretty well, saying that she underestimated the challenge of Hell's Kitchen, and was happy Ramsay saw her as a good chef even if she didn't win.
• I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Said this herself at the very beginning when she nominated Christina and Jen for nothing more than personal reasons (which she blatantly admitted). She started growing out of this behavior as the season went on however.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: You'd never know her full name by watching the show.
• Taking the Bullet: She did this twice after getting into the Black Jackets. Aside from the aforementioned successful effort to get rid of Jen, the other time was after the all-round Epic Fail of the first Black Jacket service, after which Matt and Christina were nominated. When the nominations were being given however, Corey said that she had done worse than Christina and should be up there instead of her. Ramsay, however, called her and Christina out along with Matt, who eventually ended up getting kicked out.
• True Companions: Became this with Christina and Petrozza against Jen.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Made the most epically misguided nomination decision in the show's history in Episode 2, when she decided to put up Christina and Jen in the belief that she could get rid of a strong competitor — only for Ramsay to kick Sharon out instead.
  • Genre Blind: Admitted in a later interview that she never watched a single episode of Hell's Kitchen before entering.

Placement: 3rd

Corey's Elimination Comment - "I came in here just thinking it was going to be an easy cakewalk, and it wasn't, it was really hard, but I didn't give up. I kept cooking, I kept fighting, and I learned a lot from it. I think the compliments Chef gave me are invaluable, and I'm glad that he saw me for what I am. I did want to win Hell's Kitchen, I honestly thought that I had it. You know, the fact that I didn't, just means that there's something else out there for me."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Jennifer "Jen" Gavin

Also Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans)

"I think Chef Ramsay may need to read a couple of books. He has no idea what he's talking about, and he has absolutely no idea who he's talking to."

Occupation: chef garde manger

Age: 24

Billed from: Chicago, Illinois

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• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: She wasn't above sabotaging others to get her victories.
• Evil Gloating: This quote sums it up:

  THAT'S WHAT YOU GET BITCHES!

• The Friend Nobody Likes: She found herself playing for both teams at separate points during the season. Neither the men nor the women appreciated her ego problems, bossy attitude, or propensity for backstabbing.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Subverted. When it was down to the final four, she started acting nicer to her fellow competitors, but they immediately saw through her act, and her confession cams made it obvious to the audience that it was fake.
• Long Speech Tea Time: Gave a very, very long speech when she was first nominated. Saw that Chef Ramsay was irritated and tried to wrap it up more quickly, but still went on and on. The kicker was that she never needed to go into such length as Ramsay had clearly been gunning for Sharon (who Corey didn't nominate) after she performed miserably on the meat station.
  Jen: May I say one more quick thing chef?
  Chef Ramsay: Oh fuck me.
• Minor Insult Meltdown: In the seventh service she tried to call the ticket for a table. Ramsay gave her a firm but fair rebuke, reminding her that he was in charge and that having different people calling tickets just causes confusion. It was a very light reaction on his part (especially compared to the Atomic F-Bomb that Sous Chef Scott delivered to Season 7's Benjamin when he did the same thing), but Jen immediately went into a massive sulk, as she believed she had earned the right to lead the Red Kitchen alongside Ramsay, which only got him further pissed off at her attitude.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Jennifer, but she went by Jen during the show.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Only where Chef Ramsay was concerned. To everyone else...
• Properly Paranoid: Towards the end of her time, Jen knew everyone was sick of her attitude and wanted to get rid of her, and thought they were so threatened by her talents that they had to get rid of her. Wrong reasons, but same goal.
• Sassy Black Woman: Very mouthy, often acting like a female black stereotype at times.
• Sore Loser: Can be seen sulking in the finale right before the winner is declared.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Was pretty tolerable earlier on, but not long after, she became more of a backstabbing, manipulative jerk that everyone knows her for.
• Two First Names: Jen Gavin

Placement: 4th

Jen's Elimination Comment - "From day one, I came here banking on the fact that I would make it to the top, and I know I had a really good chance of winning this, but I need to improve on my attitude. The competition started to get the better of me. This was a great opportunity, but this is the end of it for me, and it hurts. I just have to stay positive and stay strong. Do what I do best, which is cook."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "A good chef should not only be consistent with their cooking, but with their attitude. I never knew which Jen I was going to get at dinner service, and that's why it was her time to go."

Robert "Bobby" Anderson II

"I'm the black Gordon Ramsay! You know, he's the president, and I'm the four star general!" It has to go that way!

Occupation: executive chef

Age: 37

Billed from: Niagara Falls, New York

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• The Big Guy: Easily the tallest chef of the season.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Outside of his first and last service, Bobby was easily one of the strongest links in the kitchen, with Gordon even once awarding him with the Best of the Worst distinction due to him feeling safe whenever Bobby was in the kitchen. Challenge wise however, Bobby usually performed pretty poorly in those.
• Deaf Composer: Bobby is actually allergic to shellfish, something that Gordon points out while he's cooking salmon and shellfish in the same pan.
• Four-Star Badass: He was previously in the armed forces, and outside of a few early struggles, he was one of the strongest chefs on the blue team.
• Gentle Giant: He's the tallest chef of the season, but he's really quite friendly save for a bit of arrogance. He even lampshaded this in his elimination comment.
• Graceful Loser: He took his elimination very well, saying that he came in with his joy, and he was leaving with it too.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Petrozza. It's very telling that while he was ready to nominate Petrozza at one point, he only did so with the goal of causing a deadlock, not because Petrozza was actually bad. He was actually the one who managed to get Petrozza back in the kitchen (See Rousing Speech).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he started out pretty arrogant and had a bit of an arrogant streak throughout the remainder of the season, he was easily one of the most pleasant chefs on the blue team, alongside Petrozza and Louross.
• Leader Wannabe: Was definitely this in Episode 1. He boasted that he was a four star general and was assigned the Blue Team's leader badge. He was completely ineffectual and didn't help the Blue Team at all. Chef Ramsay tore his badge off and gave it to Louross, but by that point, it was too late to rescue the protracted service, which ended with the Blue Team serving nothing; he was nominated for the first elimination (which claimed Dominic) and got his act together afterwards.
• Nice Guy: Overall, not nearly as horrible as some of the other chefs this season.
• Rousing Speech: In Episode 2, he went to Petrozza and got him out of his funk.
• Sergeant Rock: Was in the armed forces and declared himself a four star general.
• Took a Level in Badass: Early on, he cooked and behaved like a bozo, but after Episode 1, he quickly dropped most of his pretentiousness and became the second most consistent male chef of the season after Petrozza.

Placement: 5th

Bobby's Elimination Comment - "I do get misunderstood, because I'm 6'4", and they think I'm going to try to bully my way through, and they get the opposite of that, you know? I'm a warm, and I'm a joyful person, and that makes people feel so comfortable around me. I told Chef Ramsay, 'Man, thanks for the opportunity. Thanks for having me.' It came down to his decision, and he chose the general, and he— he saluted me farewell. I walked into Hell's Kitchen with my joy, and I'm leaving with my joy."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Although Bobby was big in stature, he fell short in a number of areas. I kept waiting for him to emerge, but he never did. So, that's why I have to say over and out, General Bobby."

Matthew "Matt" Sigel

"My Signature Dish is going to help me stand out, because I'm a true culinarian. I understand what Gordon's looking for."

Occupation: sous chef

Age: 35

Billed from: Pine Hill, New Jersey

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• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: His "exotic tartar" Signature Dish consisted of raw venison, raw quail egg, lime zest, olive oil, diver scallops, caviar and white chocolate. Unsurprisingly, it made Ramsay vomit.
• Can't Take Criticism: One of his biggest flaws is that he reacted poorly to criticism. Any time he did get critique, he would always mutter under his breath for others to "shut up" rather than try to improve his cooking.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He was very odd, and several of the contestants thought he was insane. For further proof, look at his Cordon Bleugh Chef description.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: His exotic tartar made Ramsay vomit.
  • Attempted to be this again in Episode 6 when he suggested a sushi pizza on a tortilla for Melinda's sweet 16. The Blue Team rightfully ignored him.
• Crazy Enough to Work: While one contestant in each of the previous seasons (Michael in Season 1, Heather in Season 2, and Melissa in Season 3) had been moved over to the other team for one reason or another, Matt was the first contestant to specifically ask to be moved. Ramsay, who had been seemingly on the verge of eliminating Matt, granted his request, leading to Matt spending another four weeks in the competition and even making it to the Black Jackets.
• Deadpan Snarker: He had his moments of this, particularly towards Ben.
• Dirty Coward: Would tell others, including Gordon Ramsey, to "shut up" under his breath, but when confronted by Ramsey himself on his rude comments, he immediately starts acting more obedient and apologizing.
• The Eeyore: A rather creepy version of this. When spoken to he always looked as though he would break down into tears at any given moment and rarely if ever smiled unless something unfortunate was happening to someone else. That, combined with his Jerkass personality, made him one of the most unpopular contestants of this season.
• Fat Idiot: Really wasn't bright at all, making constant blunders in the kitchen.
• Four Is Death: Was eliminated after being nominated for the fourth time.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: It's quite telling that in a team that had Jason in it, that Matt was probably the most disliked chef on the blue team. He constantly whined and complained when people didn't listen to him (for justifiable reasons), he was never very useful during service, and he was extremely immature.
• Graceful Loser: For all his whining and complaining, he actually did take his elimination quite well, saying that he was happy he got to work with Chef Ramsay.
• Hypocritical Humor
  Matt: I mean Chef Ramsay is giving us pearls of wisdom like they're coming out of the Japanese giant oyster. If you don't listen to Chef Ramsay's advice, there's something mentally wrong with you.
• In-Series Nickname: When he was playing for the Red Team, they called him "Mattie".
• Jerkass Has a Point: While he is unpopular for his immature attitude, he was actually correct in saying the only reason Ben was surviving so long was because he was hiding behind the far stronger Bobby and Petrozza.
• The Load: After Jason was "put to sleep", Matt was easily the weakest chef on the Blue Team and then the Red Team and then the Black Jackets; he only had one good service period in the competition. There's a reason why he is labeled as one of the worst Black Jackets in the show's history.
• Manchild: Had immature attitude problems, constant blunders during service, and was emotionally unstable. Corey summed it up best.
  Corey: Matt seems to be like a 5-year old trapped in a 35-year old body.
  • A notable moment was shown after the Blue Team lost the chicken cutting challenge in Episode 3. Matt threw a big temper tantrum when changing into his farm clothes in front of Craig simply because Craig lost the challenge for them.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Matthew, but he went by Matt during the show.
• Picked Last: For the final service, Matt became the final member of Christina's team as Petrozza felt he could deal with Jen over him. He was bitter over this, but Christina got him to work more efficiently with a little bit of sweet-talking.
• Sanity Ball: Only in Episode 5, but he did try to get the Blue Team to work together and communicate when they were failing miserably at it.
• That Came Out Wrong: Finally fed up with the Blue Team and facing elimination, Matt insisted he'd do better if Gordon placed him on the Red Team, stating "I have no shame in working with women, Chef!" Naturally, his new teammates didn't take very well to that statement.
• The Rival: To Ben.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Episode 7 was very good to him. He not only performed surprisingly well in both the challenge and the service, but he got the satisfaction of watching Ben, who had been the biggest bully towards him, get eliminated. Unfortunately, he immediately went back to being terrible, and was eliminated just a few episodes later.
• What Could Have Been: Was offered to return for Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans), but turned it down as his wife was pregnant at the time.

Placement: 6th

Matt's Elimination Comment - "Hell's Kitchen is a lot different than what you think. The whole teamwork thing was tough. I did my best. I'm happy as far as I came. I may be the first of the final six, but my career is not over, and it's going to keep growing. My dream came true, I got to work with Chef Ramsay. That's the best thing that could ever happen to my life."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "There once was a boy named Matt, who's kitchen performance fell flat. He was far from neat, miserable on meat, so I kicked him out and that's that."

Louross Edralin

"You just need to get into your groove, as if you're making loooove to the kitchen."

Occupation: hotel cook

Age: 24

Billed from: Las Vegas, Nevada

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• Anime Hair: Sported a mohawk in this season, and thus easily stood out appearance wise from the rest of the cast.
• Badass Decay: Initially, he seemed like the blue team's major front-runner, where his likable personality and his decent leadership skills quickly becoming apparent during the disastrous first service, even managing to be labeled as the Best of the Worst for his efforts. Come the fifth episode however, Louross started to tank, failing to display any of his leadership skills at the start and getting worse and worse. It eventually culminated in him being booted right before the black jackets, before Matt.
• The Determinator: As seen in this quote.
  Louross "I get put down and criticized no matter what! I maybe a small Filipino man, but you know, don't underestimate me, because I'm still here. I stand my ground no matter what."
• Hope Spot: During the disastrous first service for the Blue Team, he took charge and whipped the Blue Team into shape...although customers had started walking out by that point. For what it's worth, he was labeled as the Best of the Worst for that service.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Petrozza.
• Keet: Ramsay noted that he was very energetic.
• The Leader: Was this on the disastrous first night when Bobby flopped at leadership.
• Nice Guy: Easily one of the nicest chefs on the blue team.
• Older Than They Look: He's quite short, has a mohawk and overall looks like he's in his teens. If you were surprised to learn that he was 24 when this season was filmed, it's understandable.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Initially, one of the better male chefs in the season but eventually, he struggled too much.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: A non-romantic version with Corey; the two were never on the same team until the finale, but they got along very well, which came in handy for the final service when they had to carry the team due to Matt turning in yet another terrible performance.
• Unusual Euphemism: Had several throughout the season, mainly involving fish.
  Louross "Make love to that fish, man!"

Placement: 7th

Louross' Elimination Comment - No comment.

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Louross was never short on energy. He was just short... on cooking ability."

Rosann Fama

"I'm 33-years-old and I have the stamina and energy of a teenager, and I do not give up."

Occupation: Law Office Receptionist & Former Cook

Age: 33

Billed from: New York, New York

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• Break the Haughty: When she nominated Christina, Chef Ramsay asked her if she thought she was better than Christina. She asserted that she was. The next dinner services proved to Chef Ramsay and herself how wrong she was. She was eventually nominated by Corey who claimed she never wanted to work with her in a kitchen ever again, and eliminated.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Repeatedly tried to throw Christina under the bus and managed to throw Shayna under it, she was then nominated by Corey after the eighth service and was then eliminated, while Christina went on to win the prize.
• The Load: While she was consistently poor on the line, the Red Team attempted to shield her from elimination at every opportunity, repeatedly trying to throw Christina under the bus (and then successfully throwing Shayna under it) in an attempt to keep Rosann in. Eventually Corey nominated her after the second-last Red/Blue Team service, coming to terms with how bad she was on the line and saying that she never wanted to work with her ever again, and she was sent home.
• Team Mom: For the first few episodes she tried to be this, in part because she was the oldest female competitor from this season (albeit just 33 years old) and had a daughter who was 14 years old during filming. After Sharon got the chop early on and then Vanessa was forced out by her injury, however, it quickly became obvious that Rosann was the weakest remaining member of the Red Team, and she quickly turned into a Manipulative Bitch who tried to get her teammates thrown out at her expense.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Didn't return to the final service, so Ben came back instead.

Placement: 8th

Rosann's Elimination Comment - "I will definitely go back into the culinary business because it's a passion for me. I'm disappointed in myself, but I'm definitely going to tell my daughter that no matter what happens to you in life, you just keep on trying. Dust yourself off and never stop going for what you want."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "If the size of one's mouth corresponded with the size of one's talent, then Rosann would have been a world-class Masterchef. Unfortunately, she just has a big mouth."

Benjamin "Ben" Caylor

"Chef, I'm not used to the brigade system. It takes a little time to get adapted to it, and... that's it."

Occupation: electrician & former chef

Age: 29

Billed from: Charlotte, North Carolina

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• Arch-Enemy: While he had his disagreements with chefs like Louross and Jason, he had a particularly antagonistic relationship with Matt that wound up being one of the most defining aspects of his run. Ben, much like the others, disliked Matt for his strange and poor attitude and being generally weak in service, while Matt disliked Ben for not being strong himself and hiding behind the stronger Bobby and Petrozza.
• Bait the Dog: Was on the receiving end of this. After Gordon told him that he surprised him, Ben started to go on a tangent thanking Ramsay, before Ramsay finished his sentence by saying how surprised he was at how shit he was.
• Butt-Monkey: Some chefs were yelled at quite a bit, but Ben is notable for being absolutely destroyed and put through way more demeaning punishments than any other chef that season. It almost excuses his behavior.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Actually wasn't that bad in challenges for the most part outside of a few instances, and even made one of the few Signature Dishes that Gordon didn't have anything negative to say about. Service wise, he was pretty inconsistent.
• Don't Celebrate Just Yet: Ramsay's dislike of Ben was aggravated by a premature congratulatory high-five towards the end of the family night service, when the Blue Team were down to their last six tickets... the Red Team, however, were only TWO tickets away from victory, and were brought into the behind-schedule Blue Kitchen after finishing those tickets. Ramsay hanged this over him from that point.
• Graceful Loser: Despite being eliminated over Petrozza, who had the most nominations from himself and Bobby, Ben was not the least bit livid about it and actually took his elimination pretty well, saying he did his best and felt that if Ramsay felt he wasn't right, then he wasn't going to argue with him about it.
• Guys are Slobs: Had a notable moment when the girls were cleaning up the dorms, and he would be heavily criticized for leaving his tobacco spit everywhere.
• Ignore the Fanservice: When the girls tried to lure him into the hot tub, he wisely declined the request, realizing that they were planning something. Jason on the other hand didn't follow suit.
• Jerkass: Started out alright, but eventually started belittling Louross and acted like a smug asshole towards the women.
• Never My Fault: One of his more defining traits, as Ben would never actually take any sort of responsibility for his actions, instead blaming his shortcomings on "different techniques".
• Only Sane Man: Initially seemed to be one of the saner chefs early on, trying to prevent infighting within in the team. It quickly stopped however once he tried to shirk responsibility for his shortcomings.
• The Rival: To Louross as he believed he was weak, and, for a brief moment, Jason, as Jason didn't like the way he ran his mouth.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the finale, he managed to work both meat and fish (two notoriously difficult stations), without any problems whatsoever. This is especially impressive considering the station that resulted in his elimination was the meat station.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Even though he was an arrogant asshole for much of the time, in the finale he went all out to help his friend Petrozza win.
• What Were You Thinking?: Downplayed. While he did praise Corey for attempting to put up Christina and Jen to get rid of them, he did acknowledge that Corey might've played too hard early in the competition.

Placement: 9th

Ben's Elimination Comment - "I gave 100%, I gave everything I had, I put everything into it. You know in your heart if I'm the one for your kitchen or not, and I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass to try and get there."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Ben left a manual labour job, shovelling ditches to get back into cooking, but all he did in Hell's Kitchen was dig himself into a hole. A hole too deep to get out of."

Shayna Zadok

"Chill! Take the help, even if it's from a girrrrl."

Occupation: catering company owner

Age: 28

Billed from: Buffalo, New York

---

• Fatal Flaw: Her slowness. She never actually had a performance that was outright bad at any point in her time on the show, but after annoying her teammates and Ramsay one time too many with her slow and overly meticulous working style, she was gone.
• The Generic Girl: A nice enough woman, but in truth she had absolutely no chance of succeeding in this season's ultra-cliquey Red Team.
• The Perfectionist: Was extremely nitpicky over how her mango salsa for the Sweet 16 service was prepared, and blew up at her teammates (and Ben) when they didn't want to prepare it exactly to her liking. Note that she actually had legitimate reasons to do this — Ramsay would likely have chewed them out for half-assing part of the dish that scored the Red Team's only point in the preceding challenge — but the way she handled it so pissed off the Red Team that Corey, Jen and Rosann agreed even before the service began that they would nominate Shayna if they lost or tied the service.
• Pet the Dog: Was seen confronting a heartbroken Vanessa after the disastrous third service, and later helped her comb her hair after the latter had burned her hand.
• Team Mom: Was this during her time on the show, as she had a three-month old child at the time of filming.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She started a pan fire, which Vanessa tried to put it out, but suffered second-degree burns on her hand in the process, causing her to withdraw from the competition in the following episode.

Placement: 10th

Shayna's Elimination Comment - "I'd be a liar if I sat here and said, 'Oh, I'm glad to go home.' No, I'm not glad to go home! I wanted to be here, I wanted to win this, but you know what, there are great things to come for me. This has shown me that I can do what I set my mind out to do. "

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Shayna has a big heart, but at times I felt her heart wasn't here; it was back home with her newborn baby. She made far too many simple mistakes and that's why she's going back to something she's good at: changing diapers."

Vanessa Gunnell

"I sucked as a captain, and it was pretty bad."

Occupation: line cook

Age: 31

Billed from: Bozeman, Montana

---

• The Determinator: Despite her burned hand, she did her damnedest to stay in the game and worked her way through the next challenge. Sadly, by the fifth service it became clear that she couldn't function with one hand, and she made the difficult decision to withdraw from the show.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: After her burn injury, she realized that she couldn't continue in the competition and chose to withdraw.
• Heroic BSoD: Had one after a terrible performance on the meat station in the third service. She was lucky Jason was far worse.
• Leader Wannabe: Vanessa was named the team captain in Episode 1, but her leadership was quiet at best, hence the quote above. This led to Ramsay comparing her to a mouse and giving her captain badge to Rosann.
• Nice Girl: For all her faults, she was definitely the kindest and least bitchy of all the female contestants this season during her time on the show.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Vanessa suffered severe second-degree burns to her hand when she tried to put out a pan fire that Shayna had started, and the fire suddenly blew up and sent burning grease everywhere. Naturally she was in no condition to continue after this, and left during the following episode. In an interview after her exit, she revealed that she would probably have lost the use of that hand if not for being in an environment where she could get immediate medical attention.

Placement: 11th (Medical exit)

Vanessa's Elimination Comment - "I made my choice. My team is better off without me than with me. I don't consider myself a failure. Hell's Kitchen is an immersion in fire and it's too much for me."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "It's unfortunate that Vanessa's burn took her out of the competition. We'll never, ever know if she really had what it takes to win Hell's Kitchen."

Craig Schneider

"I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it!!!"

Occupation: sous chef

Age: 30

Billed from: Coram, New York

---

• Accidental Murder: Non-fatal example, but while working as assistant maître d', he was transporting a high chair and accidentally hit a woman in the back of the head with it. After JP pointed it out, Craig very timidly apologized.
• Companion Cube: His chef's hat. Ramsay wouldn't let him wear it in the kitchen, much to his dismay.
• Compensating for Something: Was asked this by Ramsay when he saw his chef's hat.
• The Ditz: Felt insecure about his height, so he always wore a 10 inch chef's hat. Because that'll get people to take you more seriously.
  • One shining example was during his elimination night.
  Ben: I'm just going to keep giving you 100% chef. Every day.
  Matt: And I'll give you 125%.
  (Chef Ramsay looks at Craig expectantly)
  Craig: I don't know percentages, but just over that.
  (Chef Ramsay slaps at his own knee in frustration)
• Epic Fail: In the "cut up a chicken" challenge he had more unacceptably cut pieces than all the Red Team combined ^note Jen and Shayna hacked off two pieces each, while Craig only perfected the two wings, severely butchering the rest of the chicken; Jason had also missed two pieces, but Craig's awful performance alone made it impossible for the Blue Team to even tie, so Bobby and Matt didn't have their chicken checked. Naturally, the other men were pissed off at him in the punishment that followed, especially Matt.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: When it became clear that his performances were not up to par, the blue team, mostly Ben and Matt turned on him. He did not do any favors though as he kept to himself most of the time.
• The Load: While he definitely wasn't the worst performer on the Blue Team this season — Dominic and Jason were far worse, and Matt and Ben weren't a whole lot better than Craig was — he never did well in any of the services, while also single-handedly losing Episode 3's challenge for the Blue Team, and then being easily their worst performer in the next episode's challenge.
• The Napoleon: The shortest of the guys this season, and had quite the temper, even going so far as to yell abuse at Chef Ramsay when being asked for times on what he was cooking.
• Never My Fault: He said that his problems with pasta were not his fault...despite being on the pasta station.
• Poor Communication Kills: What essentially sent him home, as he had numerous problems with communicating. If that wasn't bad enough, when everyone, including Ramsay asked him for times, he lost his patience and got disrespectful.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Heavily averted. He was one of the dopiest chefs that season, especially in his last service, which was the first family night service. And then there was his infamous "I don't know much about percentages" quote.
• What Were You Thinking?: Chef Ramsay called him out on this when he came into the competition with a chef's hat half his size. He made a snark about it, and ordered him to take it off after tasting his failed Signature Dish. The hat was never seen again.

Placement: 12th

Craig's Elimination Comment - "My dream when I came to Hell's Kitchen was to get my own restaurant, I didn't do the job I was supposed to. I had a lot more to prove. I'm like, like stunned and amazed. Like, that th-this sucks!"

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "I can teach someone how to cook, but Craig was a bad cook with an even worse attitude. There was no hope for him."

Jason Underwood

"I'm chubby for two reasons: number one, I like food; number two, I don't work that hard."

Occupation: sous chef

Age: 29

Billed from: Youngstown, Ohio

---

• Establishing Character Moment: Jason's "It's "Jason, who won Hell's Kitchen and has his pocket full of money, and has to beat women off with a stick for God's sake"" comment cemented him as a huge sexist jerk to may of the fans.
• Epic Fail: The soufflé incident. That plus the fact that he pretty much threw in the towel when he didn't know the desserts (the menu also stumped Petrozza in the previous service, but he bounced back) and had to be talked into staying by Louross led to Ramsay eliminating him.
• Fat Bastard: In addition to being a completely incompetent fat cook, he was also one of the most sexist people to have ever appeared on Hell's Kitchen, which makes him unpleasant by default.
• Fat Idiot: He really wasn't smart at all and was one of the most incompetent cooks to have ever appeared in the American version of the Hell's Kitchen franchise.
• Hate Sink: His misogynist streak firmly cements him as this.
• He-Man Woman Hater: Constantly claimed men were much better despite being a bad chef. He somehow argued that women could make desserts though. This also became Hilarious in Hindsight when Christina, one of the women, won the season.
• Hypocrite: Constantly talked about how much stronger and smarter the men were compared to the women, simply because they were men. Started whining that he couldn't do manual labor when the Blue Team had to pick peppers as punishment. Directly after that, he fell right into Corey and Christina's trap of getting a man into the hot tub to rat out his team.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: After getting eliminated, he said he was going to go get drunk.
• Jerkass: Was pretty arrogant regarding the women, but was unable to back this up at all.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Bragged that the men would easily beat the women in the chicken cutting challenge because they were men. Not only did he cut less perfect chicken than four members of the Red Team, but the Blue Team easily lost the challenge (though they didn’t lose because of Jason but because of Craig).
  Chef Ramsay: (after Jason brings his chicken up to the pass) Did you fuck the chicken?
• The Load: Definitely was the worst cook on the Blue Team; his 0% performance in opening night with risotto prevented the Blue Team from serving anything, and then he failed on fish and desserts in the other two services. He was also mediocre in the two challenges.
• Never My Fault: He again made another dig at his female co-competitors when he was finally eliminated, saying "maybe he should have cried like they did" but was not going to resort to that "because he's a man". However, as Ramsay pointed out, it was his laziness and incompetence that got him kicked out.
• Oh, Crap!: After Chef Ramsay tells him not to eat any of the desserts, Jason starts laughing. Once Ramsay asks him what the desserts are, Jason's not laughing anymore.
• Straw Misogynist: One of the worst ones in the show's history, and that's saying a lot. Every episode, he kept on boasting about how weak the women were and how the men were bound to be strong because they were men (this didn't extend to the dessert section however). He was by far one of the weakest chefs to have ever competed in the history of the show and was eliminated in Episode 3. Even more ironically, the winner of this season was a woman.
• Tempting Fate: Claimed that desserts were tedious and beneath his skill level, and that "women can do desserts." He subsequently became one of very few chefs to be eliminated after a poor performance on the dessert station (though really more because of his nearly quitting).

Placement: 13th

Jason's Elimination Comment - "You know, the last girls that got put up on the block, they start crying! Well, maybe if I would have cried like some little pansy, some chick, you know, maybe I'd be back upstairs chillin' right now, but I can't do that. I'm a man. I sure as hell ain't going to cry about it. I am, however, gonna go get drunk."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "I kept waiting for Jason to show me some energy, to wake up, but he never did, so that's why I'm putting him to sleep."

Sharon Stewart

"I like to look nice, I don't think there's nothing wrong with that."

Occupation: room service chef

Age: 31

Billed from: Las Vegas, Nevada

---

• Character Tics: Sharon had a habit of sticking out her tongue during service. This creeped Ramsay out, who compared him to Hannibal Lecter and told her to stop.
• Confusing Multiple Negatives: After being accused of caring more about her looks than what she was cooking, she said the quote above in a Confession Cam insert... not seeming to realize that she'd just said it IS wrong to look nice.
• Dumb Blonde: One of the worst cases in the show's history, to the extent she was eliminated despite not being nominated.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: She certainly had far more confidence in her own ability than Chef Ramsay ever did, but ultimately couldn't back any of that confidence up in the kitchen. For that, she holds the unfortunate distinction of being one of the few chefs to be eliminated on a night they weren't nominated.
• The Load: Was by far the worst female competitor from this season. In Episode 1, she didn't manage to serve a single appetizer, and got kicked off the station after serving a risotto so strong it nearly gave Chef Ramsay garlic poisoning. Then in the following episode, she almost single-handedly destroyed the Red Team's service with a terrible performance on the meat station, causing Ramsay to eliminate her even though she hadn't been nominated.
• Shocking Elimination (In-Universe): Corey, Vanessa and the whole Blue Team were taken by surprise by Gordon choosing to eliminate Sharon as the former never nominated her.

Placement: 14th

Sharon's Elimination Comment - "I don't think Gordon liked me from the start. He just had the wrong image of me. But I'm not going to change anything about me, I'm not going to give up on my dream. I'll have my own restaurant one day. I'm a chef right now for a reason, I'm not going to give up."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Sharon clearly showed great attention to detail. Unfortunately, it wasn't for her cooking, it was for her makeup."

Dominic DiFrancesco

"I put up with my nine-year-old and my six-year-old hollering at me. Chef Ramsay has nothing on my kids!"

Occupation: stay-at-home parent

Age: 43

Billed from: Catawba, South Carolina

---

• Alliterative Name: Dominic DiFrancesco
• Bumbling Dad: Had absolutely no clue what he was doing, likely because his experience was mostly cooking as a stay-at-home dad.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: Played with; he really wanted the chance to work with Chef Ramsay, but his lack of professional training as a chef quickly made itself evident in the kitchen. Upon his elimination, Gordon acknowledged that Dominic did indeed have passion, but not the skill to carry himself forward.
• Never My Fault: Averted in one sense, since he admitted that his lack of experience was largely the cause of his bad performance, rather than trying to use it as a crutch to avoid blame in the same way that Ben did. Played straight in another, as he tried to say that he only did as badly as he did because Bobby didn't give him any direction.
• Spear Counterpart: Of Season 2's Polly, especially since they both claimed that Chef Ramsay would be easy to deal with because of their children, only to be the first ones eliminated.
• Tempting Fate: As a stay at home dad, he said that Chef Ramsay had nothing on his kids. He was petrified of him from the very start of the Signature Dish Challenge, feeling relieved that at least his dish didn't make him throw up (having directly followed Matt's dish, which did make Ramsay throw up). He got eliminated in Episode 1.
• This Is Gonna Suck: His reaction to Gordon revealing his Signature Dish?
  Dominic: Uh oh. That’s my dish.

Placement: 15th

Dominic's Elimination Comment - "Being here and being sent home first night is really a heartbreaker. I had an opportunity to work with Chef Ramsay. It was a dream of mine, but that dream was dashed."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "To be a great chef, you need passion, creativity and talent. Dominic had passion, but that was it."

Season 5

Daniel "Danny" Veltri

"Either you got it or you don't, and I've DEFINITELY got it."

Occupation: executive chef

Age: 23

Billed from: Edgewater, Florida

---

• The Ace: Easily one of the strongest chefs of the season, being the only chef of his season to completely avoid nomination.
• Achilles' Heel: Was consistently great at nearly every station he worked. But the station he hated the most was the garnish station, performing rather badly on his first night on it. He managed to improve (got awarded Best Of The Worst status on his second night on garnish), but he still had a little trouble with it on the third night.
• Badass Boast: Was an absolute MASTER of these.
  Danny: A lot of chefs get up here, and they say this is all they know how to do. You know what? Fuck that chef. This is all I want to do. You know that I have what it takes to run the restaurant Borgata.
  Danny: I'm here to fight to the bitter end. Watch out because I'm bringing the heat!
• Badasses Wear Bandanas: Wore one in every service.
• Bash Brothers: With Ben; they started off on a sour note (with Ben saying Danny "couldn't cook his cock") and things were often tense between them, but they ALWAYS had each other's backs in the kitchen. During the finale, Ben was Danny's first pick for his team.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Throughout the competition, he was never afraid to toot his own horn. But in the finale, he revealed that his late mother was his passion to keep pushing himself forward.
• Break the Haughty: He was rather arrogant at first, but he got better over time.
• Catchphrase: Variations of the above quote.
• The Cameo: Made an appearance for the 100th dinner service of Hell's Kitchen.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first service, Danny had a mouth and talked back at Ramsay when confronted over his overcooked scallops. This did not last after that as a talk by Robert set him straight and he showed Ramsay more respect the following service.
• Deadpan Snarker: He had a few moments of this.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Subverted. He clearly had pride in his high school nickname as "Velvet Hammer", even going as far to name his restaurant for his final service after it.
• A God Am I: Declared himself a "God of Cooking" in Episode 1. Bit of an exaggeration for sure, but he was a damn good chef.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Looked a lot better when he returned in Season 8, with a much shorter haircut.
• Heroic BSoD: Had one for a short while when he lost a challenge, where 76% of the chefs rated his dish as the worst. Andrea noted that it was the first time she ever saw him beaten down. He managed to pick himself up and recover his confidence by the next day however.
• Insufferable Genius: He could be best described as the Sheldon Cooper of HK contestants.
• Irony: Was very good at cooking seafood, which was his main specialty. But strangely enough, he didn't actually like seafood.
• Manly Tears: He was shedding these in his final confessional when it was revealed that he'd won. Considering his motivation.
• Out of Focus: For the first half of the competition, Danny didn't really stand out that much outside of his issues with Ben, as he was mostly consistent and kept himself out of drama. It wasn't until the top eight that he started to get more focus.
• Power Trio: With Ben and Robert.
• Smug Super: He was very, very confident about his skills, but he could easily back them up.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: With Paula in the finale, although they were on good terms.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As the competition went on, Danny became less arrogant than when he started, and matured quicker than any other chef by that point. Ramsay even lampshaded it as one of the reasons he won.
• Worthy Opponent: To Paula, resulting in one of the few finales where the outcome was a real nail-biter. Not only that, it appeared that Ramsay acknowledged how close the two were in skill level, and often pitted them against each other in challenges.

Placement: Winner

Danny's Winner Comment - "Unbelievable! This is the best I've ever felt, man, this is incredible, I can't believe it. I did it, man! I won! I'm going to be at Borgata in my own restaurant with a quarter million dollars, like, holy shit! When the door swung open, and it's just the most amazing experience I've ever been through. I love my mom so much, and it's just so sad that she had to go before her time. But I know that she's looking down, crying with me, just saying, 'You know, that's my boy, man. I knew he was gonna make something of himself.' And here I am, dude, the winner."

Ramsay's Winner Comment - "Danny won Hell's Kitchen because in a very short period of time, he grew more than any other chef I've seen. He now has the talent, the maturity to become a great head chef. Borgata Resort should consider themselves lucky, I know I would."

Paula DaSilva

"My mother, when I was little, made my whole room pink. Like everything was pink. I fucking hate pink!"

Occupation: executive sous chef

Age: 28

Billed from: Coconut Creek, Florida

---

• The Ace:
  • Without a doubt the strongest chef on the red team, whose only nomination was due to Andrea having immunity and deciding to send her up.
  • Ramsay also saw Paula as a strong contender as, in the eighth service, he was shocked when Paula sent up a salty risotto as never expected her to make a mistake like that.
• Achilles' Heel: Paula was very consistent and rarely made any mistakes, both in service and in challenges. The one exception to this was in the shucking scallops challenge. Only 1 out of her 10 scallops was acceptable. Since this was not a major skill for the show and was only required for one challenge, and the rest of the Red Team were more inclined to blame Lacey for the defeat, it never came up again.
• Deadpan Snarker: Could be bitchy and snarky at the best of times, though unlike her teammates (who tended to blow up at each other the minute they got even slightly irritated) Paula was smart enough to bottle her irritation up during the services and challenges and used the Confession Cam segments as an outlet for her frustrations, meaning she was able to get away with it much more easily.
  Paula: (About Colleen cheering with the cheerleaders instead of cooking) These cheerleaders were so cute, you know? It's when they get older and more annoying.
  Paula: I love it when people wear sunglasses inside a building. That was so like, ten years ago. Take them off.
  • She even does have her limits though and confronted Andrea and Carol about their behaviour after one particular service (with the aid of Giovanni).
• Epic Fail: For the scallop shucking challenge, she got a whopping one out of ten scallops accepted.
• For Want Of A Nail: While a lot of people expected her to win over Danny, her performance was mediocre at best due to not being vocal enough with Andrea when the latter was struggling on a halibut order.
• The Generic Girl: Until around the time Black Jackets were awarded.
• Informed Flaw: Once stated that she hated doing breakfasts and that she didn't have much experience doing them. She moved herself to the pancake station to avoid any harm. As a result, we never actually got to see this supposed weakness. Or the fact that she knew how to cover it.
• Not So Stoic: Was very composed most of the time. But as Confession Cam moments showed, even she had her frustrations with other people. But unlike a lot of other people on the show, she was smart enough to avoid starting up trouble and kept it bottled up until confession time.
  • There were a few times where she could lose her composure a bit. Like getting fed up with Giovanni's poor attitude during one of the punishments. Gio noted he never saw her that pissed off. She warned him if she was ever pissed off, he should get out.
• Only Friend: She was this to Andrea. This might explain why she wasn’t vocal enough when Andrea was struggling on a halibut order in the final dinner service.
• Only Sane Woman: The only woman on the Red Team (besides Ji, who left very early on) who didn't fall to in-fighting and had a level head throughout the competition.
  • During Coi's elimination after the Bar Mitzah service, she sees that Coi had a worse performance than Andrea. While Andrea wasn't as stellar as Chef Ramsay made her out to be, she wasn't bad either, only making a minor error with the risotto, and was also named Best Of The Worst during that service. Yet everyone said she was the weakest cook that night. In contrast to Coi who floundered on the meat station.
• The Runner-Up Takes It All: Danny ended up resigning after a short time from Borgata due to being demoted to sous chef. He did manage to open up a bar/grill in Florida though. Paula on the other hand was a semi-finalist in the James Beard Award for "Best Chef South" and is currently the executive chef of 1500° in Miami, which was named one of “The Best New Restaurants of 2011” by Esquire Magazine. Not bad.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: She was always nice looking. But she looked much nicer during the photo shoot. And also when she won a makeover.
• Ship Tease: She and JP got along pretty well during the makeover reward. The show hammed it up by playing romantic music and inserting twinkling lights.
• True Companions: It wasn't as pronounced as some of the other examples on this show, but it was clear that Paula and Andrea were close friends. It was on full display during the eliminations, as the rest of the Red Team desperately wanted Andrea gone, but Paula always stood up for her. Naturally, Andrea was Paula's first pick for her team in the finale.
• Worthy Opponent: To Danny in the finale. There were other badass contestants during the season's run, but none of them were as good as her or Danny. They often went at each other in challenges as Chef Ramsay struggled to decide whose dish was better as they were often similar in quality. They were both equally strong and consistent during past services and thus the ideal final two.

Placement: 2nd

Paula's Runner-Up Comment - "Danny, congrats man, you deserve this. Coming in second place in Hell's Kitchen is definitely not gonna stop me, there's so many doors that are gonna open up. I am not one least bit upset right now, I'm walking out of here a winner."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Andrea Heinly

"I am a force to be reckoned with. I have a loud voice, and I have loud thoughts."

Occupation: line cook

Age: 30

Billed from: Reading, Pennsylvania

---

• Ambiguously Brown
• Armor-Piercing Question: Was asked one by Danny.
  Danny: Have you ever run a kitchen?
  Andrea: Yes.
  Danny: How many people did you have in your kitchen?
  Andrea: I don't really want to go into details.
• Born Lucky: Once receiving a black jacket, Andrea would start struggling more and more, and it would even be to the point that she had one of the worst runs in black jackets. However, she would scrape by to third, with Giovanni having his dickface incident to keep her over him. That was followed by Robert being evacuated for health problems, and then receiving her immunity on the night her own Epic Fail below happened. Then, she managed to outperform Ben in the final four service, allowing her to move into the final 3. Unfortunately, her luck ran out when Danny and Paula both performed better than her on the pass, resulting in her elimination.
• The Determinator: Despite being constantly underestimated by her fellow teammates, she was always eager to prove them wrong. This was zigzagged at one point however, when she was kicked out through the front door by Ramsay. It took Jean-Philippe to encourage her to fight back.
• Distaff Counterpart: Attempted to be one for Chef Ramsay during her turn at the pass. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't able to pull it off.
• Epic Fail: The dinner service after she won her immunity. She completely tanked the fish station and was about as bad as Giovanni the night he was eliminated. Even though Ben had a rather bad start on garnish, Chef Ramsay decided not to eliminate anyone that night because he couldn't send Ben home in good conscience when Andrea was so much worse.
• Glass Cannon: As seen by her service where she managed to receive Best of the Worst, she easily could put in some really good performances during service. Unfortunately, she was just as prone to screwing up.
• Informed Flaw: After the bar mitzvah service, the rest of the Red Team (outside of Paula) were convinced that she was the weakest chef that night. Other than her putting in too few mushrooms in the first risotto, she didn't seem to have any other mistakes on the line. In contrast to Coi, who tanked on the meat station.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Yelling at the men on steak night turned into this.
  Andrea: Come on guys! We need orders. The ladies are ready to kick your... butts. (to LA) I forgot there were customers out there.
• Leader Wannabe: Often tried to assert herself as a leader. Most people just found her annoying when she did that.
  • This was particularly bad when she was on the pass. Her leadership style pissed Chef Scott so much, that he looked like he was about ready to kill her.
• The Millstone: She struggled throughout the final service, putting Paula's team well behind Danny's early on and helping ensure that her kitchen finished after his did. That being said, her station was fish and meat, meaning that swapping her for LA or Lacey wasn't really an option (LA had been very hit-or-miss on fish, and Lacey was spectacularly terrible when it came to meat).
• What the Hell, Hero?: On the night she won her safety card, she performed so badly that Chef Ramsay openly asked her if she was trying to sabotage everyone else. She firmly denied this, and given the level of shame she displayed on the Confession Cam, she was likely telling the truth.

Placement: 3rd

Andrea's Elimination Comment - "Hell's Kitchen for me has been one intense ride. I have given everything that I possibly could. I definitely have been through some gnarly moments, but that's what life is about. It's about figuring who you are, how much you can take, how much you've grown. I came, I performed, I gave it my best, and I'm taking the bronze home, as far as I'm concerned. I leave with no bitter taste in my mouth. I leave with no regrets whatsoever."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Benjamin "Ben" Walanka

Also Season 17 (All Stars)

"You couldn't cook my cock!"

Occupation: executive sous chef

Age: 26

Billed from: Chicago, Illinois

---

• Bash Brothers: With Danny. He may not have started on the friendliest terms with him, but they worked well together as a team in the kitchen. When he was on Danny's team in the finale, he put in an honestly strong effort and earnestly wanted him to win.
• Berserk Button: Of all the hurtful things Chef Ramsay said to him, the one he took offense to the most was being accused of sabotaging his own team.
  Ben: I gave every fucking inch of everything I had tonight! I certainly didn't deserve to be told I'm fucking everyone over. If Chef Ramsay thinks that I am sabotaging people, then send me the fuck home!
• Butt-Monkey: Dear god. The numerous times Ramsay would rail on Ben for even the simplest mistakes and even straight up telling him he wanted him gone makes you wonder if the former wanted to murder him on camera and not give a shit.
• Crocodile Tears: Mimicks these in the Confession Cam when mocking Lacey.
• The Determinator: He was far from consistent in terms of performance, but he always gave his all in terms of effort. No matter how often Chef Ramsay picked on him, he kept fighting. When he was eliminated, Chef Ramsay told him to hold onto his energy and attitude.
  • Twice he got kicked out of the kitchen. Both times, he came back and continued to cook.
• Formerly Fat: Maybe not fat but he was definitely a bit curvy in Season 5. But when he came back to compete in Season 9, he had underwent a very noticeable weight loss. Chef Ramsay couldn't really call him fat anymore.
• Informed Judaism: Up until the bar mitzvah episode. He was shown to be very proud of his heritage and showed it a lot that day. Other than that episode however, you couldn't really tell.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sparred with his teammates on occasion, but he never once let them struggle on their station without offering to help.
  • As much as he hated her, he was the only one on the Blue Team to never give up on trying to help Lacey.
  • Felt pretty torn up about choosing Danny and Paula for his nominations when he felt like they didn't deserve it. They didn't blame him though since Andrea was immune and he wasn't willing to nominate himself, leaving them as his only picks.
  • There's also the fact that despite his arguments with Danny, he would put in a very strong effort to ensure Danny won.
• Long Speech Tea Time: Gave a couple of these while explaining his dishes during challenges. He wouldn't stop until Chef Ramsay cut him off. Did this again when describing the reward for going to San Francisco to the rest of the Black Jackets.
• Never My Fault: Shades of this. While Ben was passionate, there were points where he would try to avoid taking responsibility for his mistakes. One example of this occurred at the final ten, where he would join in on the Lacey hate wagon in order to avoid nomination. Ramsay would call him up anyways, and Ben would own up to his shortcomings there.
• Oh, Crap!: His epic facial reaction after Seth butchered (and not in a good way) the filet.
• Only Friend: He tried so desperately to be this to Lacey once she was transferred, but eventually he got tired of her whininess.
• Power Trio: With Danny and Robert.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Well to a degree. For the most part, he was a good chef. But he seemed to have an overinflated view of himself, thinking he was the strongest member of the Blue Team, even though he was one of the most inconsistent cooks who got criticized a lot more often than he was praised. Most dinner services, he did something wrong that pissed off Chef Ramsay. Like serving deserts before appetizers.

Placement: 4th

Ben's Elimination Comment - "Being eliminated from Hell's Kitchen, I don't walk away sour, I don't walk away upset. I walk away with what an incredible experience this whole thing has been. Private planes and helicopters and dinner with Chef in San Francisco, I've definitely tasted the sweetness of this competition. You know, sad to go. You know, upset that I had to leave like this and certainly upset that I left at the time that I did, but I'll live to fight another day."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Robert Hesse

Also Season 6

"Can't take the heat, get out the kit-CHEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN!"

Occupation: sous chef

Age: 29

Billed from: Quogue, New York

---

• Arch-Enemy: He would become this to Lacey, due to him not liking her poor attitude.
• Berserk Button: Ramsay calling him Bobby did not do well for his attitude, earning him the ire of Ramsay. However, Robert later organizes a meeting, and reveals that Bobby is the name of his dad, and the two aren't on good terms with each other. Ramsay then drops the nickname and calls him Robert after that.
• Big Fun: The defining aspect of his personality. He even tried to make light of some his misfortune, like missing out on a reward because he was too fat to fit in a helicopter.
• Brutal Honesty: He did not pull any punches when describing his dislike towards Lacey.
• Break the Cutie / Break the Haughty: After fighting his way to the Black Jackets, he got a glimpse of the Borgata hotel and the reward restaurant. Only to have to withdrew because of health problems. He got a second chance in Season 6, but didn't manage to showcase his badass qualities from this season.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Slightly touched on in one episode, when he implied that he had an abusive father and said that he had a fucked up childhood. In outside interviews, he claimed that he had been addicted to drugs and been in foster homes. He grew out of it though and developed a passion for cooking.
• Deadpan Snarker: He had his moments of this, particularly towards Lacey.
• The Determinator: Almost died for the competition. Twice.
  • Once ripped his pants in the middle of service. He didn't care at all and nonchalantly continued to cook.
  Robert: I'll cook in my boxer shorts. I don't give a shit.
• Fat Bastard: Was this at times.
• Foreshadowing: In a scarily accurate confessional, after Lacey survived elimination once more, Robert compared her to a cockroach and that she couldn't be touched, but said that eventually her luck was going to run out and Ramsay was going to get rid of her. The very next episode, Lacey would absolutely tank the meat station and be ejected mid-service.
• Formerly Fat: If you look at recent pictures, he's really slimmed down.
• Genre Savvy: Robert, before revealing to Ramsay his past with his father, admitted to the red team that he knew that Ramsay had a father like his own.
• Happy Dance: He dances happily once Ramsay announces that Lacey was eliminated mid-service.
• Hypocrite: Called Lacey fat numerous times (not to her face, to the Confession Cam, though he did once tell her "nobody wants to see you in a bikini").
• I Am Not My Father: Robert's attitude was sparked by Chef Ramsay constantly calling him "Bobby", Bobby being the name of his father who he wasn't on good terms with.
• I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Said this a few times almost word for word. Despite saying that, he did become friends with a couple of the contestants in Season 5.
• Jerkass: Sometimes. Once said to the Confession Cam that he would step on anybody's necks if he deemed necessary. But he was still likable to a lot of fans (and his fellow contestants) because of his badass qualities, his determination/passion, and the fact that he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the other Jerkasses seen on the show. It also helps that he was arguably one of the funniest cooks to appear on the show.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He may have been rude about it, but he was right on the mark when he called Lacey out on her poor attitude. Also in Season 6, he was the only member of the Blue Team who actually confronted Andy about being The Load while everybody else on the team kept silent about his constant blunders.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: May have been a bit mean at times. But he had his moments where he showed how much he loved his wife and mother. And more often than not, he did get along with the other contestants.
• Large Ham: Emphasis on "Large".
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: After being diagnosed with pericarditis (a swelling of the sac around the heart), he was forced to drop out of the competition for his own safety.
• Power Trio: With Ben and Danny.
• Real Men Wear Pink:
  Robert: You ain't a man until you use the luffa. Straight up.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivered a pretty epic one to Lacey in Episode 7, calling her out for being a terrible team player.
  Robert: Dude, I swear to God, if you win this, I will hang up my coat and become a crack whore dude.
  • Felt so strongly about this, that he decided to give another one about her that night to Chef Ramsay when explaining her nomination. He called her out on her quitter attitude and how it wouldn't take her very far.
• The Rival: He served as this to Lacey once she joined the blue team, as he refused to put up with her whiny attitude.
• Smug Snake: Was this at times.
• The Snark Knight: Several of Robert's confessionals showed him as a pretty snarky individual who wasn't afraid to take shots at himself.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Chef Ramsay told Robert that he couldn't take the helicopter due to insurance problems over his weight, he was very upset. But then Chef told him that he could take a ferry ride instead, which Robert gladly accepted. But as one could imagine, ferry rides to Catalina Island take a lot longer than a helicopter would. As a result, by the time he finally got there... there was no time left for the reward and he immediately hopped back onto the ferry.
  Robert: What the hell did I win? A free fucking ferry ride?

Placement: 5th (Medical-induced quit)

Robert's Elimination Comment - "I knew I was coming in as the underdog. I knew I had to fight and scrap my way to the top. I have no regrets. I'm proud of every day that I've been here. I'm proud that I got to associate myself with one of the best chefs in the world. I'm leaving Hell's Kitchen so I have my health for my family, for my career. I feel like I've won."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Giovanni Filippone

Also Season 17 (All Stars)

"He molested that poor thing! People have gone to jail for worse, looked like he went at it with a jackhammer!"

Occupation: executive chef

Age: 37

Billed from: Destin, Florida

---

• 0% Approval Rating: In the first service, he was waiter, but completely sucked at it that he single-handedly cost the Blue Team the win.
• Achilles' Heel: The meat station was this if the steakhouse service and the first Black Jacket service are anything to go by. Ironically, he was an executive chef at a steakhouse.
• Berserk Button: While he did do a bad enough job in the steakhouse service to warrant being put up for elimination, he was furious (and not unreasonably so) at Seth wanting to eliminate him for no other reason than to get rid of a stronger chef.
• Epic Fail:
  • Oh lord, his final service, which might make a case for one of the worst single service performances in the show's history. While Giovanni wasn't exactly a perfect chef, he was a front-runner for most of the season due to his leadership skills. However, in his final service, he failed to communicate with Robert and Andrea, undercooked Ben's dish several times, talked back to Ramsay after being called "dickface", and put a hot pan in the cooler, resulting in Robert being injured and all but guaranteeing that he would be eliminated over the weaker Andrea, and on his first nomination no less.
  • Of course, there was also the time during the steakhouse service, where he failed to cook steaks properly when the Blue Team were in the kitchen, even though he was an executive chef of a steakhouse (Seth didn't help with his destruction of a backup filet, and the Blue Team lost the service as a result).
• Foreshadowing: In the first black jackets punishment, Giovanni would get fed up with the punishment, after breaking boxes of bottled water, and having to chase a seafood truck for being short two lobster, later to find out that the order was correct after all, as well as getting into an argument with Paula, who was trying to calm him down, foreshadowing that Giovanni was starting to come apart. Come that service, Giovanni would eventually crash and burn spectacularly and be eliminated that same night.
• Glass Cannon: He was a strong chef, but when Giovanni fell, he fell hard. The Epic Fail section above shows how bad it can get.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Had this when he put a sizzling hot pan in the fridge, which led to Robert burning his hand. He was very sorry about this. When he was eliminated, his last words to the contestants was another apology to Robert.
• Team Dad: Acted like this when he was transferred to the Red Team and got them to work better with each other, as well as keeping their spirits up.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Started off as a reasonably okay guy. But on his final night tried to talk back to Ramsay, which caused him to get screamed at in a big way, partly because he was having a terrible performance and was very emotional at the moment. In the finale he made no attempt to hide that he didn't give a damn who won.
• Too Dumb to Live: Talked back to Ramsay, of all people, after being called "dickface". No prizes for guessing how that turned out.
• What Were You Thinking?: This was pretty much Ramsay's and the audience's reaction to when Giovanni put a hot pan in the cooler, resulting in Robert being injured.

Placement: 6th

Giovanni's Elimination Comment - "I wanted a challenge, and that's what I got, I got a challenge out of it. I learned some great things, I did some things I've never imagined doing. I worked in a kitchen with a bunch of great people. I'll take some things from everybody here, I've learned from every single one of them. So I'll take that and move on. And, yeah, of course I wanted to win, I'm not gonna lie and say, 'Hey, well, it was just a challenge.' I wanted to win it, but not that I could do better than what I did. I tried doing my best, it wasn't good enough. Simple as that."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No comment.

Carol Scott

"I love pomegranate, it's a nice, fruity... fruit."

Occupation: sous chef

Age: 30

Billed from: Knoxville, Tennessee

---

• Arch-Enemy:
  • While no-one else liked Lacey anyway, Carol was the one who showed her the most undisguised contempt, to the point of openly blaming her for the challenge loss in Episode 2 (even though Paula was arguably more at fault), and then persuading the other women to nominate Lacey after the fourth service, despite her having done nothing wrong and Coi having tried to nominate herself.
  • After Lacey was moved to the Blue Team, Carol instead became arch-enemies with Andrea. They didn't particularly like each other beforehand anyway, but after Lacey was gone, they were constantly at each other's throats.
• Badass Decay: She certainly started off strong, but as her ego and her feud with Andrea played themselves out more in the kitchen, her work ethic gradually decayed throughout the competition. By the time of her final service, Gordon felt her heart and her head were no longer in the game and despite the Red Team winning, he sent her home.
• Berserk Button: Andrea and Lacey just brought out a nasty side of her.
• Better the Devil You Know: Averted in the final service, as Danny chose Carol, whom he had never worked with in the kitchen, as his last pick over Lacey, who was on the Blue Team with Danny for awhile. Probably a good choice, since Lacey was her usual whiny self the entire service, and Carol only made minor mistakes.
• Break the Haughty: Was very confident in her abilities, but also picked up the bad habit of constantly blaming her primary rival Andrea for their failings in the kitchen, and rarely relented. Then came her final service and Ramsay was so frustrated with her performance that he accused her of sabotaging the entire Red Team. Even though her team ultimately won, she considered herself lucky because she knew she had the worst performance by far, and didn't even waste time trying to shift blame to Andrea. She didn't seem at all surprised when Gordon eliminated her anyway, having lost faith in her ability.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • During the Bar Mitzvah challenge, Carol decided to make a stuffed burger with blue cheese, and ignored her teammates suggestion about using a milder cheese. Sure enough, it costed them the challenge and, to add insult to injury, Ramsay said he would not have used blue cheese in that burger.
  • The whole potatoes au gratin dauphinoise fiasco occurred because she thought they needed to be cooked on order, not before service. And instead of coming up with a new potato dish on the fly, she tried to salvage them by pouring hot cream over the potatoes. You can probably guess how Ramsay reacted to that.
• Epic Fail: In the "Red Menu vs. Blue Menu" service, she screwed up her potatoes au gratin dauphinoise by not cooking the entire pan before service, instead attempting to cook it to order. The dish eventually had to be thrown out and replaced with fingerling potatoes, which was after Ramsay caught her trying to pour cream in a vain attempt to save them. Then, she sucked on the meat station hard enough to get the service shut down. This led to her becoming the first chef to be eliminated from a winning team when Ramsay went off the board at elimination and accused her of sabotaging the Red Team and giving up.
• The Generic Girl: Other than her mutual hatred for Andrea, there wasn't much else about her that was noteworthy. It doesn't help that over half her screen time seemed to be over her relationship with Andrea (and the remainder was mostly her feuding with Lacey).
• Honor Before Reason: While she secretly rooted for Paula to win, she didn't blatantly sabotage Danny at all during the final service.
• Kaizo Trap: She was the first chef to be eliminated from the winning team for her awful performance with the Gratin Dauphinois.
• The Load: Despite making it to the top seven and getting incredibly close to the black jackets, Carol was a pretty mediocre performer. She barely avoided nomination early on due to Lacey ditching the team during punishment, and even on services she didn't do bad in, she tended to fade into the background.
• Shaped Like Itself: When explaining why she went with pomegranate for an ingredient in one of her dishes.
  Carol: I just feel like it's a nice, fruity... fruit.
• Tempting Fate: Even though the Red Team won the aforementioned "Red Menu vs. Blue Menu" service, it was most certainly not because of Carol's effort and she said she considered herself lucky to still be in the game after her disastrous performance. Unfortunately for her, Gordon had lost all trust in her and sent her home anyway.
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: She says this when she comes up with her brilliant strategy for cooking the Gratin Dauphinoise. It was to cook a whole bunch ahead, then reheat them to order, making mention of how smart this is and how nothing could go wrong. Not only did her strategy go horrifically wrong, but she would struggle badly on the meat station as well, resulting in her making Hell's Kitchen history by being the first chef to be eliminated from the winning team.

Placement: 7th

Carol's Elimination Comment - "I came here with the attitude that I'm going to win this competition, I'm gonna be this famous chef that everybody wants to come and work for. It's very humbling to be standing here a loser."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Carol knew she was out of her depth in Hell's Kitchen. I just put her out of her misery."

Alicia "LA" Limtiaco

"He called me a cow... for the first time."

Occupation: Line Cook

Age: 22

Billed from: Las Vegas, Nevada

---

• Achilles' Heel: Scallops, to the extent she admitted she didn't know they came in shells. Averted however, as she put up one of the strongest performances on the red team.
• Berserk Button: Being called a "cow," to the point where when Ramsay called her that (and not even in a particularly angry tone) in the middle of a service, she was pretty upset in the Confession Cam insert that followed and pretty much said that if he said that to her outside the kitchen, she'd punch him in the face.
• Butch Lesbian: Outed herself as such within five minutes of the season premiere.
• Daddy's Girl: Implied. She compared two rewards to hanging out with her dad.
• Emotionless Girl: LA purposely invoked this as she didn't show emotion while cooking because she believed that was weakness. This backfired on her as it came off as lack of fight, leading to her elimination.
• Flanderization: This wasn't very noticeable at first. When Andrea and Paula first pointed this out, it came off as a bit of an Informed Flaw. But then she quickly seemed to have lost a lot of spirit and energy in the kitchen, reduced to a walking zombie.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Alicia, but she went by LA during the show.
• Truth in Television: Noted that going in with a lot of confidence ended up hurting, while being a little nervous was perfect. This is actually backed up by psychology research. People tend to perform better with an optimal amount of stress, not too much and not too little.

Placement: 8th

LA's Elimination Comment - "I definitely think Chef Ramsay made the wrong decision. Anything I did in there, I did it to the best of my ability. I'm big on not showing emotions in the kitchen. Emotions are weakness, and I will never be weak, never."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "LA was a real workhorse in the kitchen. I kicked her out of Hell's Kitchen because she lacks two crucial skills to be a great chef: leadership and creativity."

Lacey D'Angelo

"Do you REALLY wanna start something with me?"

Occupation: corporate buffet cook

Age: 24

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

---

• Accentuate the Negative: Not that she didn't have negative traits, but as mentioned below she wasn't always bad during service, but even when she wasn't it seemed like her teammates would deliberately vote for her and make her sound worse then she was in order to shift blame away from their own more glaring mistakes. Of course, had Lacey not driven her teammates nuts, she wouldn’t have been such an easy target.
• Achilles' Heel: Even though the meat station is generally regarded as the hardest one in the show, it's rare that a chef has imploded so spectacularly as soon as they went on it. Many noted that Lacey had actually been on meat in the second service, only to be reassigned to fish early on thanks to Colleen tanking hard on that station, and between that and Ji's injury in the same episode could potentially have gone home much quicker.
• Crippling Overspecialization: For her many faults, one thing she did do well was cook fish, as evidenced by the second service, where she took over from Colleen's spectacularly awful performance on the station and did so well that the Red Team would have won the service if not for Carol screwing up the last order. On the other stations however she was at best mediocre, and at worst flat-out terrible, especially on the meat station.
• Downer Ending: In addition to being eliminated in the middle of service, Lacey faced the harsh truth that her attitude alienated any friends she could have made.
• Drama Queen: Often complained, cried and threatened to quit over the most minuscule things, such as losing a challenge or having to prep the kitchen.
• Foil: In stark contrast with the Blues Brothers (Danny, Ben, and Robert). All three of them were hard working, energetic, passionate cooks who never gave up. Lacey's quitter attitude really highlighted that.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Due to her whining and claims to quit, she became this for both teams. Even Ben, who tried to motivate her on the Blue Team, eventually got tired of her shit.
• Glass Cannon: For much of Lacey's faults, when she actually tried in the kitchen and didn't get emotional, she could actually be a genuinely strong chef and even an effective leader. At the same time however, she was still notoriously prone to crumbling under the pressure.
• Hidden Depths: While Lacey is best known for her often whiny behavior, on several occasions she has shown to be competent and a potential leader. Unfortunately for her, her attitude often overshadowed this.
• It's All About Me: Only ever cared about her personal anguish. Never once thought about the team she was on and was largely uncooperative.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite Lacey's attitude, she was right that the red team ganged up on her for her attitude and ignored the other problems that occurred in the red kitchen. As soon as Lacey moved to the blue team, the red team began to implode.
• The Load: Both teams felt like she was this, as she constantly complained and threatened to quit, and was finally removed from the game mid-service.
• Misplaced Retribution: After Ji left, the other women rounded on Lacey and basically accused her of having stolen Ji's place in the competition. Leaving aside the fact that Ji's departure was entirely her own decision, realistically speaking there was no way Lacey was going home that night, considering that Colleen (and arguably even Carol, who wasn't nominated) had done far worse in the prior service than her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After getting eliminated in the middle of a service, she reflected on her mother's words, telling her not to make enemies there. She realized that since day 1, that was all she ever did. She said sorry to her Mom and that she should've listened. This was the one and only time she admitted that her alienation was her own fault.
• Never My Fault: To a lesser extent than most of the other chefs who try pulling this, mostly because Lacey could be occasionally competent, but she did try to blame her inexperience for her performances first as a waitress and then on the meat station (the latter of which got her kicked out and was effectively the last straw for Ramsay as far as amateur chefs go; he insisted that they put experience requirements in to bar future amateurs from applying for the show). More than anything, she blamed all the hate directed towards her on everyone else, almost never acknowledging that she brought this upon herself with her poor attitude.
• Picked Last: Danny, who had the last pick between Carol and Lacey, decided that he'd rather work with Carol (who had never been on the same team as him) than deal with Lacey again, leaving her on Paula's team. During prep she proved so bad that at one point Paula seriously considered firing her before the service even began, and having Sous Chef Gloria take over her station (though in the actual service Andrea was arguably worse, surprisingly enough).
• Prone to Tears: Easily crumbled under pressure and to cry as a result.
• Took A Level In Bad Ass: Zigzagged. In the first service she was unspectacular. In the second service she actually did a very good job of salvaging the fish station, and would probably have been named the Best Of The Worst if not for her abandoning the Red Team in prep. In the third service she was voted the Red Team's worst waitress. In the fourth service she was solid, but got put up for elimination anyway because the other women hated her, leading to her being put on the Blue Team. In the fifth service she had a point to prove, and was very vocal and assertive in an otherwise-disastrous service. In the sixth service she did a pretty terrible job taking charge of the brisket for a bar mitzvah, but fortunately for her the Blue Team won anyway. In the seventh service she again abandoned her team in prep but seemed to do okay in the actual service, not as badly as Ben and definitely not as badly as J. The eighth service was where she totally unravelled, not managing to successfully cook a single piece of meat and eventually getting the boot mid-service.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Helped set in motion the Disaster Dominoes that ended with Seth destroying the filet in the steakhouse service. Lacey forgot to hand in a ticket, and it was late in service by the time Jean-Philippe caught up with her and made her hand it in. Giovanni, having already had a bunch of steaks sent back, portioned the filets without knowing about the table Lacey missed, leaving him without enough filets. So, Ramsay ordered Seth to cut more filets, with disastrous results.
• Womanchild: Very, prone to whining, crying, and self-pitying.

Placement: 9th (Eliminated mid-service)

Lacey's Elimination Comment - "On one hand, it's a relief. I can get back to my normal life. But, you know, another part of me wishes to stay and learn more and have that chance to win, but unfortunately, I fucked up tonight and I can only look back on the positive things, which there weren't many for me. You know, my mom told me when I came here, 'Don't make enemies,' and that's the first thing I did and kept doing the whole time I was here. Sorry, Mom, I should've listened."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - No Comment.

Jason "J" Maxwell

"You've never cleaned a tenderloin?! Where have you worked? In your parents' house?"

Occupation: food court chef

Age: 32

Hometown: Clifton Park, New York

---

• Badass Boast: Gave a pretty good one when he got sick of Lacey threatening to quit while they were busy prepping the kitchens.
  J: You're what? You're leaving? Lacey, if you want to go, just go.
  Lacey: I don't understand why everybody's sticking up for people yelling at me.
  J: No, no, no don't talk back. I'm serious. This is a professional kitchen. If you want to fucking go, go. I'll fucking do everything.
  J: (Confession Cam) Just shut the fuck up, get out of the kitchen and let me do my job.
  • This became a lot less badass in retrospect since the following service, he ended up performing horribly.
• Epic Fail:
  • J somehow managed to overcook the ENTIRE supply of risotto for BOTH teams. His performance on fish station floundered even more, leading to him getting eliminated mid-service after a pep-talk with Ramsay failed to help.
  • During the fourth service, J left a massive end of lettuce in a slightly small Cesar Salad that got to the dining room, which Ramsay commented as "destroying reputations in minutes" in elimination that night. Then in the service after that he tanked hard on the meat station, in no small part due to him forgetting to turn the oven fan on.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He went by J in this season, even though Jason is his real name.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Delivered one of these to Seth. After Ramsay asked him for the Blue Team's nominees, J started to say that Seth and Charlie had been nominated, but then Seth butted in and flat-out accused J of lying, claiming that he hadn't really been nominated at all. J then coolly told Seth that Ramsay had asked him who the nominees were, and to kindly shut the hell up.
• Third-Person Person: Had a habit of saying his name a lot in the confessionals.
• The Worf Effect: Jason didn't start out too badly, starting as one of the more consistent chefs on the blue team. Unfortunately a few episodes in, J would start to severely slip, culminating in his ejection.

Placement: 10th (Eliminated mid-service)

J's Elimination Comment - "I guess I don't belong here, so I'll be going home. I'm here for a reason and it's my boy and my wife. So, of course I'm disappointed. It was a tough day. My dream, when I came to Hell's Kitchen, was to win. So now it's time to move on and get my own restaurants going. You know, I don't need Chef Ramsay's opinion anymore, I've got it. But it's time for J Maxwell to do his own thing."

Ramsay's Elimination Quote - "I kept Ben and Lacey because J put the kitchen in such a hole that they never stood a chance. They're very lucky that I sent J packing."

Coi Burruss

"If I get kicked off because of you, I swear to God I'm coming after you, Lacey!"

Occupation: cafe chef

Age: 22

Hometown: Austin, Texas

---

• Crippling Overspecialization: When it came to challenges, Coi was able to stand out there quite a bit, from her signature dish that garnered her praise, to her bar mitzvah dish that gained the only point on the red team. Service wise however, she tended to either not really stand out too much, or be one of the weaker chefs in service.
• Failed a Spot Check: Coi had a big one at the Bar Mitzvah service when she forgot to get the burgers from the pantry room when entrées began. And it only snowballed from there.
• The Generic Girl: Never really stood out in the Red Team.
• Sassy Black Woman: Looked like this at first, when she threatened physical violence against Lacey in prep prior to the first service. However, she apologized to Lacey at the start of the following episode, and for the most part behaved in a calmer and more rational manner for the rest of the season. The only time she lost her temper again was when she was struggling in what would turn out to be her final service.
• Sore Loser: She was pissed to be eliminated over Andrea after the sixth service, ignoring her own problems that led to her elimination.
• The Worf Effect: Got hit with this during the Bar Mitzvah service when she struggled on the meat station, leading to her elimination.
• Weak, but Skilled: Based on her strong signature dish, Coi definitely had some talent in the kitchen. Unfortunately, much of her talent didn't really transfer over to the line.

Placement: 11th

Coi's Elimination Comment - "I feel Andrea should be here right now. I'm angry for the fact that she wasn't seen as the worst. I don't feel like I should be going home."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "When this competition began, I thought Coi was going to be a really strong chef. But tonight, she was exposed when she couldn't even cook a bloody burger."

Colleen Cleek

"I teach manners too, chef."

Occupation: culinary instructor

Age: 41

Hometown: Papillion, Nebraska

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• Alliterative Name: Colleen Cleek.
• Determinator: She was a bad cook, hands down. But what was commendable about her was that she never broke or cried, even with Chef Ramsay screaming terrible things at her every service, accusing her of robbing her students. The one compliment he ever gave her was during her elimination night, telling her he loved her tenacity and that she was strong. He told the other chefs that a lot of them didn't have what she had: fight.
• Dumb Blonde: Put sugar in the risotto instead of salt; even though the sous chefs switched the sugar and salt containers, she failed to notice. She reappeared in a video the next season telling the new chefs to taste their food so that they don't trigger this pitfall.
• Dumb, but Diligent: Colleen was easily one of the weakest chefs on the red team, but one thing Ramsay did respect about her was how she never broke down despite Ramsay clearly having it out for her.
• Epic Fail:
  • Mistakenly put sugar in her risotto instead of salt. Ramsay even called it the worst risotto he had ever tasted in his entire career.
  • One of only three contestants to date (along with Carolann from Season 1 and Jason from Season 4) who got eliminated for doing badly on the dessert section, which usually isn't even considered part of the normal service. What happened was serving a customer, that being Epicurious editor-in-chief Tanya Steele, a raw dessert that infuriated Ramsay to the point where he eliminated her despite L.A. not nominating her.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: She is a culinary instructor despite admitting she had never been to culinary school.
• The Load: Nice gal with a lot of resilience, plus she became the Team Mom for her short stay, but she was sadly the weakest female chef of the season. Every station she was on ended in failure and by the end of the fifth episode, Ramsay had enough.
• Nice Girl: For all the mistakes she made, she did have the nicest personality of any of that season's women, and while they knew from the start that she was a horrible performer, her teammates all liked her on a personal level and were sad to see her go.
• The Pollyanna: For all the shit she went through on the show, she still remained cheerful and exited the show smiling, optimistically hoping that Chef Ramsay would cook at her school one day.
• Too Dumb to Live: Begins with admitting she never went to cooking school despite teaching it and when bad mouthed by Ramsay also mentions she teaches manners. When she managed to somehow simultaneously burn and undercook a piece of salmon, Ramsay accused her of robbing her students. She reappeared in Season 6 care of a video to say not to make the mistake she did and mistake sugar for salt.

Placement: 12th

Colleen's Elimination Comment - "Chef Ramsay and Hell's Kitchen made me better. It made me a better person, it's gonna make me a better mom, it's gonna make me a better chef, and it's gonna make me a better instructor. And I hope that one day he'll cook at my cooking school."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "There was no place in the kitchen I could put Colleen where she wasn't a disaster. It's time for her to go back to where she belongs: teaching, because she certainly can't cook."

Seth Levine

"I may have screwed up the lamb, but at the end of the service Gordon and I will be like peas and carrots once again!"

Occupation: private party chef

Age: 27

Hometown: New York, New York

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• Cordon Bleugh Chef: His Signature Dish was a cinnamon-roasted rack of lamb which included honey glazed on ratatouille. Ramsay immediately spat it back up.
• Deadpan Snarker: He delved into this during his argument with Giovanni in the fourth episode.
• Does Not Understand Sarcasm: After Ramsay sarcastically congratulated Seth on his butchering of the filet mignon, off of which he had carved about half of the meat while trying to prepare it. Seth somehow thought he was being complimented, even though Ramsay had just screamed at him, thrown a pile of wasted meat right at him, and his teammates had commented on how badly he'd screwed up.
  Gordon: How could you do that?
  Seth: I uh, never butchered a filet before chef.
  Gordon: Congratulations, you just have.
  Seth: Thank you, chef-
  Gordon: Hey smartass, not in the right way, you fucking bozo!
• Epic Fail: Managed to waste over half the filet he was ordered to prepare by cutting far too much of it off, rather than just the fat, despite Charlie showing him how to do it correctly. To make things worse, it was the last supply the Blue Team had.
  Giovanni: He molested that poor thing! People have gone to jail for worse!
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: Really, really wanted to work with Gordon Ramsay, but was without much doubt the worst performer in this season. For what it's worth, he did acknowledge his skills lagged behind, but still expressed high hopes (he actually became a co-chef alongside Robert in a New England restaurant sometime after his appearance on the show.)
• In-Series Nickname: Ramsay constantly called him "Forrest," which Seth actually didn't seem to mind at all.
• Jerkass: A borderline case. He wasn't really that nasty, but wouldn't take responsibility for his mistakes, and openly tried to throw Giovanni under the bus after the first and third services in an attempt to get rid of who he saw as a strong competitor (even though there was a legitimate reason for Giovanni to be nominated both nights, given how badly he screwed the pooch on the grill and how badly he cooked on the grill itself despite being a steakhouse chef, respectively; his errors on the grill were what prompted Ramsay to demand a new filet prepped, which Seth "molested").
• The Load: Seth was unfortunately the dopiest chef on the Blue Team this season. He made some rookie mistakes in both the services and the challenges, and was despised by the rest of his team.
• Long Speech Tea Time: Went on one of these in Episode 3 when trying to state why he should stay.
  Ramsay: Where's the off button?
• Mirthless Laughter: Laughed when Ramsay criticized his Signature Dish, which Ramsay declared to be the worst he's ever tasted (which considering last season had a dish that made him vomit, that's saying a lot). Ramsay immediately tore into him.
• Press Start to Game Over: Was very close to being on the receiving end of this, as not only did Gordon find his signature dish the worst he's ever had, but he straight up laughed when Ramsay criticized it.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Tried to be this, but was too socially inept to realize that while memorizing Ramsay's birthday might have been a cute little touch, knowing the names of Ramsay's children and what cars he and his wife drive is a little creepy.
• Rule of Three: He was eliminated on his third nomination.
• Sarcasm-Blind: After Ramsay sarcastically congratulated him for butchering the filet, Seth thanked him, thinking he was serious. That made Ramsay angrier than he was before.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Was convinced that he was the second strongest cook on the Blue Team. Lampshaded by Ramsay in his post-elimination statement, saying "he had all the passion in the world, but the bottom line is, he's a crap cook."
• Stalker without a Crush: Never seemed to have a crush on Chef Ramsay. But he was a stalker, knowing more details about Chef Ramsay than Ramsay himself. It creeped everybody out.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • After Chef Ramsay criticized his Signature Dish, he laughed about it. For a Stalker without a Crush who knew his kids' names, you'd think he'd know not to do that.
  • Wiped his face, then wiped a pan, and then wiped his face again. With the same cloth.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: In the team challenge during his final episode, he was assigned to cook scrambled eggs for a junior high football team, and thought he'd impress Chef Ramsay by using a technique from one of Ramsay's own cookbooks. Unfortunately, Seth failed to realize that techniques that work for two or three servings don't really scale up to four dozen servings that well, resulting in him completely tanking the station and allowing the Red Team to easily win.

Placement: 13th

Seth's Elimination Comment - "My abilities and my skills definitely was what lagged behind. Not my confidence, not my passion, not my love for food. You know what, Chef Ramsay, you know, decided that it was my turn to go home, so I hope he welcomes the competition in New York when I open my restaurant."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Seth showed that he had all the passion in the world, but the bottom line is he's a crap cook."

Charles "Charlie" McCann (McKay)^†On March 4th, 2024, he tragically died in a motorcycle accident.

"He's trying to get a rise out of me, I'm not gonna give him the satisfaction. "

Occupation: prep chef

Age: 24

Billed from: Las Vegas, Nevada

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• Achilles' Heel: In the kitchen he was pretty weak, but not really any worse than Seth. However, he was by far the worst waiter on the Blue Team in the third week, which evidently proved the deciding factor for Ramsay when he and Seth had similarly poor performances in the kitchen, as Seth at least proved a reasonably competent waiter.
• The Generic Guy: Never really stood out compared to the other seven Blues Brothers.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Was forced to cut his goatee before the first service, due to Ramsay's concern about hair getting into the diner's food.
• Nice Guys Finish Last: Ramsay gave this pretty much word-for-word as the reason for his elimination.
• One-Hit Wonder: He was actually the only member of the Blue Team not to make any major errors in the first service. However, he made several mistakes on the appetizer station in the second service (albeit his team won the service anyway), before completely crashing and burning both in the kitchen and as a waiter in the third service, leading to his elimination.invoked
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His actual surname is McCann, but used the alias McKay on the show.

Placement: 14th

Charlie's Elimination Comment - "This is the first job I've ever been fired from. Chef Ramsay made the wrong decision. I did what I could and I worked my ass off for that guy. I'm confident in my ability, and if he didn't see that, that's his own bad."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Charlie is a prep chef, but I'm looking for a head chef. He seems like a nice guy, but you know where nice guys finish."

Ji(-Hyun) Cha

"My father has lived in the restaurant industry and he had no time for his children. I wanted to show my Dad what I can do in the kitchen."

Occupation: private caterer

Age: 33

Billed from: Palisades Park, New Jersey

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• Ensemble Dark Horse (In-Universe): Her Signature Dish was highly praised by Ramsay and she was considered one of the hot favorites, and when a sprain led to her choosing to leave the other chefs didn't want her to go. But she wanted to leave so she wouldn't bring down the Red Team, though Andrea pointed out that even with her broken ankle, she was more useful than those who were nominated. Both teams gave her a standing ovation as she left and Ramsay allowed Ji to keep her jacket as a token of her bravery.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Withdrew from the competition, worried that her injury would hurt the Red Team thus sparing Colleen and Lacey from elimination.
• I Coulda Beena Contender!: Given her strong Signature Dish, Ji could have been one of the strongest chefs this season, but an ankle injury cut it short.
• Nice Girl: Very kind and polite for the brief time she was on the show, and she was the only one of the girls who tried to comfort Lacey after they failed the scallop challenge.

Placement: 15th (Medical exit)

Ji's Elimination Comment - "I know I could've gone all the way. It sucks to leave, you know, because of the injury. I'd rather be leaving because of lack of skill or something, you know? Maybe it was just not meant to be."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "Ji showed great courage. Unfortunately, her injury got in the way of her dream. She had a chance to win this, but sadly, we will never, ever know."

William "Wil" Kocol^*a transgender woman, she changed her name to Sarah Kaye Phoenix in 2020. she is referred to by masculine pronouns and deadname here for the sake of continuity.

"Being on the receiving end of Chef Ramsay's rant, yeah, that sort of sucked."

Occupation: quality control chef

Age: 26

Billed from: Elgin, Illinois

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• Brutal Honesty: After he screwed up a garnish order, Ramsay told him he was shit. He promptly replied "Yes chef, I am shit."
• Ensemble Dark Horse (In-Universe): The rest of the Blue Team respected Wil for owning up to his mistakes, and told Ramsay that they had way more trust in him than they did the other nominee, Seth. Unfortunately, Ramsay eliminated Wil anyway.
• Honor Before Reason: Volunteered himself for nomination due to his performance on garnish, feeling that he had to own up to his mistake. This backfired on him as Chef Ramsay saw this as an act of weakness and lack of drive.
• True Blue Femininity: After his tenure on Hell's Kitchen, Wil came out as a transgender woman in 2020 and changed her name to Sarah Kaye Phoenix.

Placement: 16th

Wil's Elimination Comment - "I took a risk nominating myself. I fucked up tonight, plain and simple. Striking out the first time up to bat is very, very demoralizing. I feel very humbled right now."

Ramsay's Elimination Comment - "I found it strange that Wil didn't even have the will to succeed. He clearly didn't belong in Hell's Kitchen."