There tends to be a few chefs that begin as The Scrappy, but they either redeem themselves as the season goes on, or are in retrospect regarded as having not been as bad as initially believed.
Season 1:
- Andrew. Sure, he started out as a massive prick to his teammates, but as soon as he realized that his attitude would get him nowhere, he tried to improve himself, albeit without success. However, his final service where he not only worked through a sliced thumb, but helped Dewberry when he was feeling faint from the heat and also managed to recover his station gained him a lot of fans, and nowadays, he's looked at more positively.
Season 4
- Bobby. In the first service of that season, he was assigned to be the Blue Team's captain, and screwed up royally, to the extent that Ramsay took the captain's badge off him and gave it to Louross halfway through the service. The only real reason he survived elimination that week was because he was put up against Dominic, who was probably the worst chef ever to have appeared on the show up until that point. In the following weeks, though, he improved, being named the Best Of The Worst in the fourth service, and became one of the more liked chefs from that season's bunch, starting with helping Petrozza after his near-quit. It got to the point where many fans were genuinely upset when he got kicked off the show in favor of Jen, and when All-Stars rolled around, many wanted Bobby to return.
- Corey. At first, she talked down to her teammates, used her good looks to manipulate the Blue Team (this only worked with Jason, ironically enough), and nominated Christina and Jen early on for strategic reasons even though they were strong chefs. By the halfway point, she figured out that she needed to be more pleasant, and even put aside her differences with Christina to help her and Petrozza get rid of Jen, who by that point did deserve to go home.
- Matt. When he started, he was pretty much a Manchild who whined and moaned about not having any respect from the Blue Team. However, his switch to the Red Team saw him improve, with his best performance that following service by far and being much happier, as well as calling out Ben for hiding behind stronger chefs like Petrozza and Bobby. Unfortunately for him, it was subverted in the next few services, where he struggled and returned to his original whiny attitude.
- Speaking of which, Ben to some. While he was very much disliked for his arrogance and attempts to throw Louross under the bus, he was praised for going all out to help Petrozza in the finale, and even calling out Jen for her poor attitude. Unfortunately, this too became subverted in light of his behavior outside the show.note
Season 5:
- Ben could be this. While he received a mixed reaction due to his cockiness in the start, Ben showed that behind all his bravado, he genuinely cared about the Blue Team. Him being one of Danny's biggest supporters and eventually helping him win helped tremendously.
Season 9:
- Elise may be the Scrappy Queen, but she did redeem herself when she became Paul's first pick (second overall) and was easily the hardest-working member of his team. She even worked with her Arch-Enemy Carrie without either of them coming to blows. Say what you will about her behavior throughout the season while she was competing, but she really did help Paul out big time. However, it's fully subverted when she came back for All Stars, coming to a full boil during the finale where Nick constantly berates her for hinting at sabotaging Michelle's service, and crying her eyes out when Michelle eventually wins.
Season 10:
- Barbie. In the beginning, the fans could not stand her passive-aggressive demeanor as much as her teammates. However, once the Red Team turned increasingly dysfunctional, Barbie decided that she'd be better off keeping her mouth shut and just focusing on the cooking. This proved to be a wise move since it kept Barbie away from the excessive drama that befell her teammates, while she improved her abilities in the kitchen. This was most notable when Barbie picked up Tiffany's slack during prep and dinner service later, despite Tiffany blaming her failures on Barbie, and also very notable a little later on when she had a great service alongside her teammates and then was ordered by Ramsay to take over the Blue Team's meat station, where she led them into finishing their service by cooking and communicating flawlessly. As a result, the fans warmed up to Barbie considerably. But again, like Elise above, it ultimately became subverted in All-Stars.
Season 11:
- Dan might have become this. Known for being a complete jerk with bad ego problems throughout his run during the season, he still kept those traits for the final service, to the point that Mary was stuck with him on her team and had to throw him out early. However, at the end when it was revealed that Ja'Nel won, he shows a true Pet the Dog moment by hugging the sobbing Mary, apologizes to her and promises to make it up to her one day. Outside of the show, he has also revealed himself to be very friendly and cordial in online forums and social media, and still expresses regret at his behavior on the show, especially in the finale service.
Season 13:
- In-Universe for Sterling. When he was on the show, the rest of the contestants were sick and tired of his positive attitude. When he was switched to the Red Team, the Blue Team was visibly relieved and the Red Team annoyed. By the time he was finally asked to leave, without even a nomination, after a terrible service, all the contestants looked crushed. When he returned for the finale, he was Bryant's second pick, and by far the most competent and hardworking cook on either team, picking up the slack after Bryant kicked Frank out of the kitchen for bombing both appetizers and garnish. Bryant called him his "rock" and had absolutely nothing but good things to say about him in the confessionals.
- Santos. He was initially disliked for conspiring with Steve and Aaron to sabotage their teammates, and his cockiness and arrogance. However, as the season progressed, and Aaron and Steve were eliminated, he eventually stopped his attempted sabotages and started admitting his mistakes.
Season 15:
- Jackie. During the season, she earned her teammates' dislike by incidents such as being called the cancer of the Red Team by Sous Chef Christina for using an expletive on a sheet of prep notes, making fun of Ashley's breast implants for attempting to nominate her, and dumping a cigarette ashtray on Kristin. In the finale, she was Ariel's first pick and leads Ariel to victory by taking over both the meat and fish station after Dannie storms out of service due to getting flagged for overcooked pork.
Season 16:
- Johnny, to an extent, as while he still has many detractors, his hatred has died a bit once he came to consider his actions on the show an Old Shame.
- Matt. When he started, he looked to be an expy to Season 6's Joseph due to his arguing against both his teammates and Ramsay. But after talking with Ramsay after thinking about quitting, he improved his attitude and became more helpful to his teammates. However, it's completely subverted in his last two episodes, where he goes back to being a full-blown Scrappy, openly arguing with both his teammates and Chef Ramsay, and refusing to own up to his mistakes. In his exit interview, he even threatens to fight Chef Ramsay if he ever runs into him in the streets. Just like Joseph threatened to do.
Season 17 (All Stars):
- The reunion season featured a few people being seen in a better light than their previous seasons:
- Giovanni mended fences with Chef Ramsay after the infamous "dickface" screaming match that got him eliminated in Season 5.
- Benjamin wasn't as critical or snobbish as he was during Season 7, and was overall much nicer than he was previously.
- Robyn, while starting off the same as she did in Season 10, improved her attitude when she was switched to the Blue Team, and became a little more consistent each episode.
- Nick is by far the biggest example, as he went from a Base-Breaking Character to a major fan favourite, due to becoming a bit less bitchy than in Season 14 and improving his cooking skills big time, being the most improved of all of the All Stars.
Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans):
- This second reunion season has seen this occur to two of the returning chefs:
- Roe became more consistent and was less abrasive than she was in Season 13.
- Trev didn't whine as much as he did in Season 8, opting to snark about his predicaments instead.
- Gizzy. While she was initially disliked for her arrogance and constant trash-talking of the veterans, she did start to gain fans as she proved herself in challenges and toned down her ego. It even got to the point that people were furious that she was eliminated in the much-hated Cook For Your Life Challenge, especially over Scotley, who was taking more levels in jerkass as the season progressed.
Season 19 (Las Vegas):
- Cody was initially disliked due to his perceived arrogance and not backing up his boasts. But after some failures, he got humbler, nicer, and became one of the nicest members of the Blue Team of that season. Even some detractors were won over when his Batman Gambit to get rid of Marc worked and some were angry that he didn't make it to the finale.
Season 20 (Young Guns):
- Antonio, who, similarly to Season 4's Bobby, tried to assert himself as a leader in the first service, but his leadership mostly just consisted of him saying "Bounce back, baby!" He toned down his ego quite a bit after moving to the Red Team, as well as becoming more consistent, leading to the fans warming up to him.
Season 21 (Battle of the Ages):
- Ileana initially wasn't very well liked for being a massive Elimination Houdini despite being probably the weakest out of the 20-Somethings, and starting arguments during service. As the season progressed however, Ileana started to improve, which didn't go unnoticed by fans. Sadly, she didn't improve fast enough, and got the boot eight episodes in courtesy of the Cook For Your Life challenge.
- Sommer was initially disliked for her emotional attitude whenever she puts herself first and messes up, as well as trying to deflect the blame whenever she messes up, as well as playing a hand in getting Nicole eliminated. As the season progressed however, she would calm down considerably, and it resulted in fans acknowledging her growth.
- Despite starting well liked, Abe would start getting hatred for his Never My Fault attitude, where he would claim that he was being put up for elimination because the other chefs were in an alliance, as well as arguing with Alex. After his second nomination, it appears he learned, as he no longer started causing drama, and even mended fences with Alex, resulting in a far better reaction, and some were even sad upon his elimination.
Season 22 (The American Dream):
- Jason to an extent. At the start of the season, he was disliked for his Small Name, Big Ego attitude, on top of constantly failing to back up his claims and making excuses while doing so. While not without his detractors, many fans started to notice that as the season went on, Jason did start to improve in attitude, making less offensive remarks and seemingly trying to work with his team, especially when compared to Carmen. Despite his ego still remaining, some fans have actually started to enjoy Jason for his antics, finding them hilarious rather than irritating … until the Charity Night Service, where he returned to the Scrappy Heap by not only bombing during service, but blaming anyone but himself and worst of all, somehow surviving while the more consistent and much more likable Donya went home instead.
