Hell's Kitchen (American TV series) season 4

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Hell's Kitchen
Season 4
Hells kitchen dvd season 4 raw uncensored.png
Region 1 DVD cover
Hosted by Gordon Ramsay
No. of contestants15
Winner Christina Machamer
Runner-upLouis Petrozza
No. of episodes15
Release
Original network Fox
Original releaseApril 1 (2008-04-01) 
July 8, 2008 (2008-07-08)
Season chronology
 Previous
Season 3
Next 
Season 5
List of episodes

Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen was cast in October 2007, and began airing on the Fox Network starting on April 1, 2008. [1] [2] The show was originally planned to air later in the season but instead was aired as a replacement for shows that were affected by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. [1] Episode 5 of season 4 garnered the highest viewership in the show's history at 11.94 million viewers. [3]

Contents

Culinary student Christina Machamer won the season and was awarded a "senior sous chef" position with a $250,000 salary at the Gordon Ramsay at The London restaurant in The London West Hollywood hotel [4] [5] – not an executive chef position as mentioned in show-related publicity and press releases. [6] The London West Hollywood restaurant opened on May 27, 2008, while the series was still airing. [4] [5]

Production location

This season was filmed in the warehouse district in Culver City, California.

Sous chefs and Maître d'hôtel

Contestants

There were 15 chefs (eight men and seven women) who competed in season four. It is the first season to begin with an odd number of contestants, repeated in season 6 with a total of 17 contestants (because of the addition of a contestant from the previous season).

ContestantAge (at time of filming)OccupationHometownResult
Christina Machamer 25Culinary Student St. Louis, Missouri Winner
Louis Petrozza47Catering Director Charlotte, North Carolina Runner-up
Courtney "Corey" Earling25Private Chef Brooklyn, New York Eliminated before finals
Jennifer "Jen" Gavin [lower-alpha 1] 24 Garde Manger Chicago, Illinois Eliminated after twelfth service
Robert "Bobby" Anderson37Executive Chef Niagara Falls, New York Eliminated after eleventh service
Matthew "Matt" Sigel35Sous Chef Pine Hill, New Jersey Eliminated after tenth service
Louross Edralin24Hotel Cook Las Vegas, Nevada Eliminated after ninth service
Rosann Fama33Law office receptionist & Former Cook Staten Island, New York Eliminated after eighth service
Benjamin "Ben" Caylor29Electrician & Former ChefCharlotte, North CarolinaEliminated after seventh service
Shayna Zadok28Catering Company Owner Buffalo, New York Eliminated after sixth service
Vanessa Gunnell31Line Cook Bozeman, Montana Quit before fifth service
Craig Schneider30Sous Chef Coram, New York Eliminated after fourth service
Jason Underwood29 Youngstown, Ohio Eliminated after third service
Sharon Stewart31Room-service chefLas Vegas, NevadaEliminated after second service
Dominic DiFrancesco43Stay-at-home Dad Catawba, South Carolina Eliminated after first service
Notes
    1. Chef returned to Hells Kitchen again on season 18, finished at 15th place.

    Contestant progress

    Each week, the best member (as determined by Ramsay) from the losing team during the latest service period was asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two was sent home by Ramsay. In Episode 1, the teams selected captains for service, though Ramsay changed both captains during service.

    No.ChefOriginal teamsFirst
    switch
    Second switchIndividualsFinals
    401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414/415
    1ChristinaWINNOMBoWWINNOMWINWINNOMWINNOMBoBINNOMWINNER
    2PetrozzaLOSEWINBoWLOSEWINWINNOM [n 1] WINBoWININININRUNNER-UP
    3CoreyWINBoWLOSEWINWINWINWINBoWWINNOMINNOMOUT
    4JenWINNOMLOSEBoBWINWINWINWINNOMINNOMOUT
    5BobbyNOMWINLOSEBoWWINWINLOSEWINLOSEINOUT
    6MattLOSEWINLOSENOMWINNOMWINNOMWINOUT
    7LourossBoWWINLOSELOSENOMWINNOMWINOUT
    8RosannWINLOSELOSEWINWINNOMWINOUT
    9BenLOSEWINLOSENOMWINWINOUT
    10ShaynaWINLOSELOSEWINWINOUT [n 2]
    11VanessaWINLOSENOMWINLEFT
    12CraigLOSEWINLOSEOUT
    13JasonLOSEWINOUT
    14SharonWINOUT
    15DominicOUT
    Notes
    1. Chef nominated themselves
    2. Chef was eliminated despite being on the winning team

    Episodes

    Seaton, Leslie (November 12, 2007). "Hell's Kitchen: Season 4 Premiere Announced". BuddyTV . Retrieved March 31, 2008.
  1. Fox Returns Series to Production. The Futon Critic.
  2. 1 2 "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . May 7, 2008. p. E14 via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Scattergood, Amy (May 1, 2008). "Gordon Ramsay L.A. reservation line is open!". LA Times . Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  4. 1 2 "Gordon Ramsay opens news restaurant in West Hollywood". Yahoo. June 5, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
  5. "Hell's Kitchen". Futon Critic. April 8, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  6. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . April 9, 2008. p. E10 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . April 16, 2008. p. E9 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . April 23, 2008. p. E11 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . April 30, 2008. p. E12 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . May 14, 2008. p. E9 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . May 21, 2008. p. E13 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . May 29, 2008. p. E13 via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . June 4, 2008. p. E8 via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . June 11, 2008. p. E11 via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . June 18, 2008. p. E11 via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . June 25, 2008. p. E11 via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . July 2, 2008. p. E8 via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . July 9, 2008. p. E10 via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Prime-Time TV Rankings". Los Angeles Times . July 16, 2008. p. E10 via Newspapers.com.
  20. No.
    overall
    No. in
    season
    TitleOriginal air dateU.S. viewers
    (millions)
    341"15 Chefs Compete"April 1, 2008 (2008-04-01)11.85 [7]

    Fifteen chefs arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and were driven to Hell's Kitchen, unaware Chef Ramsay was accompanying them in disguise. When they arrived, they met Jean-Philippe and each chef took turns impersonating Ramsay, who then revealed himself to the chefs.

    Signature dishes: The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their signature dish. Vanessa's pan-seared halibut was chosen as the best, with Rosann's spicy mussel soup also getting good feedback, while Ben's mashed potatoes and gravy was deemed "not bad". The remaining dishes were poorly received; Ramsay called Craig's jerk-seared Chilean sea bass a "pile of shit" and spat out Jen's crab and corn risotto since the rice was raw. Ramsay described Corey's salad as "plain and boring" and Jason's dish as "something that would not even pass as something tinned in a can". Shayna's dish was burnt, Ramsay found Dominic's chicken cacciatore and roasted orzo boring and Petrozza's hen-in-a-pumpkin both bizarre and dry, and tells Sharon her dish was not up to scratch. Christina's dish was ruined by "terrible execution" despite a good concept, Ramsay scolded Louross for not doing more and Bobby for deep-fat-frying his Hawaiian butter fish, which he found lazy. Matt's exotic tartar received the worst review with Ramsay vomiting after sampling it.

    Captains: For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, the teams were each told to choose a captain. The women quickly decided on Vanessa, while the men eventually chose Bobby, at the expense of not learning the menu for the first service.

    Service: None of the men knew the menu. Petrozza and Shayna served tableside amuse-bouche. While Petrozza was amicable with customers, Jean-Phillipe criticized his slowness. Sharon served a bland risotto followed by one that reeked of garlic, and was thrown off the appetizer station. Jen took over but ruined quail eggs by flipping them over despite serving acceptable risotto. Ramsay fired Vanessa as captain due to her weak leadership and had Rosann take over, and thanks to her strong guidance and Jen rebounding, the team finished appetizers, but could not serve entrees because Corey overcooked chicken. In the men's kitchen, Jason and Dominic failed to produce an acceptable dish between them. Jason was first reprimanded for smoking on the patio at the start of service and not being present when Ramsay called out the first order. He then served a bland risotto followed by a burnt one, which Ramsay forced him to eat. Jason also served underseasoned and congealed soup. Dominic repeatedly binned orders of scallops in his failed attempts to cook them before serving them overcooked. Ramsay also criticized him for holding scallops in his hands, even though Jason wasn't even close to completing the risotto. Bobby refused his teammates' requests for help, leading to Louross taking the initiative and leading the others, after which Ramsay had him take over from Bobby as captain. Jason finally served appetizers, but the customers had already left, leading Ramsay to shut the kitchens down. The women were named winners for serving all their appetizers; Louross was named Best of the Worst.

    Elimination: Louross nominated Bobby and Dominic. Despite Bobby's horrendous leadership, Ramsay eliminated Dominic for being out of his depth and performing poorly on fish, but warned Bobby and Jason that they had both "dodged a bullet."

    Dominic's 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 comment: "To be a great chef you need passion, creativity, and talent. Dominic had passion, but that was it."
    352"14 Chefs Compete"April 8, 2008 (2008-04-08)11.21 [8]

    Group punishment: Ramsay forced the chefs to pick up the wasted food from service and place it into cylinders.

    Team challenge: The contestants were tasked with filleting a large halibut into 6-ounce uniform pieces, trying to leave little waste. The women took a more slow, measured approach, compared to the men's quicker, more rash approach. Both teams had 41 pieces accepted by Ramsay, resulting in a challenge tie-breaker for the first time in Hell's Kitchen history. One person from each team had to choose an accepted fillet that was as close to six ounces as possible. The men won a 5.9-ounce piece selected by Ben, compared to a 4.8-ounce piece selected by Corey.

    Reward/punishment: The men were transported via Rolls-Royces and Bentleys to a superyacht, where they had lunch with Ramsay and Jean-Philippe. The women had to prepare the seafood for service.

    Service: Petrozza was threatened with elimination before service as he was twice unable to remember the appetizers, though he then did so with help from Bobby. Rosann and Craig were appointed assistant maître d's for service, but Craig accidentally hit a woman in the head with a chair and was forced to apologize to her, while Rosann revealed mid-service that she had only given in half of her tickets as she did not want to overwhelm the team, which then ended up adversely putting them behind. Corey and Bobby did well on appetizers, but both teams struggled with poor communication. Sharon put cooked meat and raw meat next to each other and forgot an order of beef, and was lectured for sticking her tongue out. Matt almost caused a fire on the garnish station, and Petrozza undercooked a steak and got numerous orders mixed up. Ramsay closed service after Jason served raw halibut twice, but named the men winners for serving more entrees; Corey was named Best of the Worst.

    Elimination: Corey nominated Christina and Jen, openly admitting she was being tactical in choosing people she disliked and saw as threats. After watching Jen's extremely long plea and Christina burst into tears, Ramsay spared them and eliminated Sharon for her second terrible service in a row, greatly upsetting Corey and shocking the other women.

    Sharon's 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 comment: "Sharon clearly showed great attention to detail. Unfortunately, it wasn't for her cooking, it was for her makeup."