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Hell's Kitchen is an American reality competitiontelevision series based on the British series of the same name, and also hosted by celebrity chefGordon Ramsay. It has been broadcast on Fox since 2005. Each season, two teams of chefs compete for a job as head chef at a restaurant, while working in the kitchen of a restaurant set up in the television studio. In a typical episode a single contestant is selected for elimination from the competition.
Hell's Kitchen was a British cookery reality show, aired on ITV, which features prospective chefs competing with each other for a final prize. Four series aired between 2004 to 2009, three presented by Angus Deayton and the most recent by Claudia Winkleman.
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the mediums of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television is ultimately the primary way for a chef to become a celebrity, some have achieved this through success in the kitchen, cook book publications, and achieving such awards as Michelin stars, while others are home cooks that won competitions.
Gordon James Ramsay Jr. is a British chef, restaurateur, writer, television personality, food critic, and former footballer. Born in Johnstone, Scotland, and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Ramsay's restaurants have been awarded 16 Michelin stars in total and currently hold a total of 7. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001. First appearing on television in the UK in the late 1990s, by 2004 Ramsay had become one of the best-known and most influential chefs in British popular culture.
Hell's Kitchen has run for 18 seasons plus specials and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards. On February 26, 2019, Fox renewed the series for a nineteenth and twentieth season.[2]
Format
Hell's Kitchen is a reality television show that uses a progressive elimination format to narrow down a field of 12 to 20 aspiring chefs to a single winner over the course of one season. The U.S. version of Hell's Kitchen follows the format of the UK version though the show is recorded and not performed live, nor is there audience participation in the elimination of chefs. The show is produced at Hell's Kitchen, a modified warehouse in Los Angeles that includes the restaurant, dual kitchen facilities and a dormitory where the chefs reside while on the show. They are also given knife sets that they get to keep, regardless of their progress.[3]
At the start of each season, Gordon Ramsay breaks the chefs into two teams. With the exception of the first and most recent seasons, this puts women on the red team and men on the blue team; each is given a chef's jacket with panels of that color on the shoulders. The chefs remain on these teams throughout most of the competition, but Ramsay may reassign a chef to the other team if the team numbers are uneven or if he feels the chef will perform better on the other team. Each episode typically includes a challenge and a dinner service, followed by the elimination of a chef. When only five or six chefs remain, they are brought into a single common team wearing black-paneled jackets. From this point onward, they compete individually to be one of the final two.
This article contains contestant information and episode summaries from Season 1 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen. Season 1 aired starting on May 30, 2005 and concluded on August 1, 2005. Michael Wray from Fort Collins, Colorado, won the first season of Hell's Kitchen, thus winning his own restaurant in Los Angeles named Tatou. This was the first season where the teams were not separated by gender at the start, which wouldn't happen again until season 18.
The eighteenth season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on September 28, 2018 on Fox. Gordon Ramsay returns as host and head chef, and Season 10 winner Christina Wilson and British MasterChef judge James "Jocky" Petrie return as the red and blue sous chefs, respectively, alongside maitre'd Marino Monferrato. This season features eight new contestants battling eight returning veterans. For the first time, the winner of this season will receive a position as an executive chef at Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen Restaurant at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Challenges
In challenges, the teams or individual is tasked with a cooking challenge by Ramsay. The type of challenges are varied, including ingredient preparation, meal preparation and taste tests. The first challenge of each season is a signature dish cook-off, giving the chefs an opportunity to show Ramsay their cooking.
A signature dish is a recipe that identifies an individual chef or restaurant. Ideally it should be unique and allow an informed gastronome to name the chef in a blind tasting. It can be thought of as the culinary equivalent of an artist finding their own style, or an author finding their own voice. In practice a chef's signature dish often changes with time or they may claim several signature dishes.
Each season typically includes one or more challenges that allows teams to construct several dishes either for a banquet to be held the next dinner service or as part of designing their own menus. Other challenges typically include a "taste it, now make it" task, where chefs must attempt to recreate a dish Ramsay has prepared after tasting it only, and a "blind taste-test" where chefs identify ingredients while blindfolded and wearing sound-blocking headphones. Some challenges have been full breakfast or lunch services, where the team completing the service first is declared the winner.
The winner of the challenge is determined by either a scoring system set for that challenge or by Ramsay's and/or guest judges' opinions. The winning team or chef receives a reward (a recreational activity away from Hell's Kitchen and other potential prizes), while the losing team or chefs are forced to do a mundane task, such as cleaning the kitchens, preparing a specific ingredient for the following dinner, having to prepare the food for both kitchens, and sometimes eating something unsavory (such as food waste blended into a smoothie) for lunch.
Dinner service
For dinner services, the chefs are expected to work their station (such as appetizers, meat, fish, or garnish) on the kitchen line to prepare food in coordination with their teammates and to Ramsay's high standards for quality and presentation. Dinner service is for about 100 guests (volunteers for the show), with each diner expecting to receive an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. The chefs are given menus and recipe books by Ramsay to study and memorize, which include some of Ramsay's more difficult dishes including risotto and Beef Wellington. The chefs spend several hours before each service preparing their ingredients.
Risotto is a northern Italian rice dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. The broth can be derived from meat, fish, or vegetables. Many types of risotto contain butter, onion, white wine, and parmesan cheese. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy. Saffron was originally used for flavour and its attractive yellow colour.
Beef Wellington is a preparation of fillet steak coated with pâté and duxelles, which is then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. Some recipes include wrapping the coated meat in a crêpe to retain the moisture and prevent it from making the pastry soggy.
Menus may be customized for a specific dinner service, such as ethnic-themed dishes or plates that resulted from the earlier challenge. Some seasons feature a service allowing for the teams to develop their own menus, which are reviewed by Ramsay for quality and presentation beforehand. Later seasons may feature a private dinner service, where each team must serve a five course meal to 12 guests, with each member leading their teammates to prepare one course. Dinner services may include additional challenges. A chef from each team may be asked to serve a table-side meal for their team, serve celebrities sitting at the kitchen's chef's table, or act as a server for the evening taking and fulfilling orders. After the chefs are on a single black team, Ramsay will use one dinner service to ask each chef to run the pass to test their quality control, including deliberate mistakes made by the sous chefs or Ramsay himself.
During a service, Ramsay demands that all orders for each course for a table go out together, and will send back entire orders if one item is improperly prepared, such as being over- or undercooked or not seasoned correctly. While the chefs are in two teams, Ramsay is assisted by two trusted sous-chefs, each monitoring one of the kitchens, demanding the same standards and alerting Ramsay to any issues. Ramsay's goal is to complete every dinner service, but exceptionally poor kitchen performance by one or both teams will cause him to close one (or both sides) of the kitchen early and send the team(s) back to the dorms. Ramsay may also evict individual chefs from the kitchen based on repeated poor performances during a service, and on rare occasions (once every two seasons on average), may eliminate a chef on the spot.
Elimination
Once the dinner service is complete, Ramsay gathers everyone in the kitchen, announces which team is the losing team, and directs them to select two chefs from their team as nominees for elimination. Often, both teams are declared losers, or a different number of chefs may be requested for nomination. In some cases, Ramsay has named both teams winners, but still requires both teams to nominate someone for elimination. This is a group consensus, but Ramsay may occasionally name a chef "best of the worst" on their team and instruct them to choose the nominees. This concept, however, has faded away over time due to the "best of the worst" sometimes making nominations based on personal bias rather than kitchen performance. Ramsay has also on some occasions declared that nobody would be sent home, but those cases are generally accompanied by a double-elimination, a team reassignment, or occur after someone has been sent home immediately due to insubordination or exceptionally poor performance.
Ramsay reassembles the teams in the dining hall and hears out the nominations from the losing team(s). Ramsay may also nominate other chefs for elimination if he believes it appropriate. After giving these nominees the chance to defend themselves, Ramsay selects one to hand over their jacket and "leave Hell's Kitchen." On rarer occasions, Ramsay can overrule nominations or even eliminate a chef who has not been nominated, even a chef on a winning team.
The eliminated chef is shown leaving the restaurant, providing some last thoughts on the experience. After dismissing the chefs, Ramsay goes back upstairs to his office. He symbolically hangs the chef's jacket on a sharp hook below their picture in a row with the others, igniting the chef's picture and signaling their departure. During this scene, there is a voiceover of Ramsay explaining his reasons for eliminating the chef. If an eliminated chef has performed exceptionally well, Ramsay may allow them to keep their jacket as a token of their success up to that point, if he sees fit.
Chefs may be eliminated from the competition due to medical reasons, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Chefs that violate the competition's rules may be immediately eliminated. Chefs may also exit the competition voluntarily for any other reason; though this is not encouraged, their wishes are ultimately granted (with reasons by Ramsay explained, if applicable).
Once the number of chefs drops below a certain level (usually once 5 or 6 are left) they are awarded black jackets and assembled into a single team. Eliminations continue until two are left.
Final service
In the finale, the final two chefs are each given the opportunity to develop their own menus and lead a brigade of former competitors through a full dinner service on their own. In the first five seasons, this included the opportunity to decorate half of the Hell's Kitchen restaurant to their liking. Prior to the dinner service, the two chefs compete in a challenge to prepare their menus, and the winner will earn the advantage of picking their brigade of chefs first. Ramsay will ensure that all menu items meet his standards for high cuisine prior to service, and he and his sous chefs will oversee the service to make sure that his high quality standards are retained, but does not otherwise get involved, allowing the two remaining chefs to demonstrate their ability to run the line. The finalists are allowed to reassign stations, or even kick their teammates out of the kitchen should they see fit; the latter has happened four times in the show's history.
Ramsay uses his own observations and those from the diners and other sources to decide who is the winning chef. He has two doors in his office leading out to the balcony above the Hell's Kitchen seating area. Each chef stands at a door and Ramsay tells them to both turn their handles at the same time. After a commercial break, only the door of the winning chef is unlocked allowing the winner to walk through and be greeted by the crowd below. The winning chef receives two prizes including the opportunity to work as the head chef or executive chef at a restaurant of Ramsay's choosing, as well as a cash prize of $250,000.[4] In a similar manner to the voiceover at each elimination, Ramsay has a voiceover to explain his reasons for choosing that chef as the winner. In addition, the winner hangs a picture of themselves alongside the previous winners that is seen at the restaurant's front entrance.
Gordon Ramsay is the head chef. Jason Thompson is the narrator. Jean-Philippe Susilovic, a Belgian maître d'hôtel, comes from Petrus, one of Ramsay's London restaurants and appeared in the first seven seasons and later returned for Season 11. He left after Season 12 and was replaced by Marino Monferrato for Season 13. Susilovic was also the maître d'hôtel for the first series of the original British version. James Lukanik replaced Susilovic for Seasons 8–10.[5] Each team also has the services of one of two sous-chefs. The current sous-chefs are Season 10 winner Christina Wilson and James "Jocky" Petrie. Previous sous-chefs were Mary Ann Salcedo, Gloria Felix, Season 2 winner Heather West, Scott Leibfried, James Avery, Aaron Mitrano and Andi Van Willigan. In Season 15, Wilson filled in for Van Willigan-Cutspec who was getting married at the time of filming but returned for one episode when her reception was one of the themed dinner services for that season. Van-Willigan returned in season 16 but was replaced by Wilson again for Seasons 17 and 18 due to personal reasons.
Production
Broadcasting
The theme song is Fire by the Ohio Players. When the U.S. version is broadcast in the U.K., Italy, Portugal and some countries (shown on the table below), it features only the instrumental version. The instrumental version also appeared in the uncensored DVD release for the U.S. version.
Setting
For the show's first two seasons, the Hell's Kitchen restaurant set itself was housed in the former studios of Los Angeles television station KCOP at 915 North La Brea Avenue, in Hollywood, which at one time hosted production of game shows Tic Tac Dough and The Joker's Wild.[6] KCOP was acquired by News Corporation in 2001 and its studios were integrated with those of Fox affiliate KTTV in 2003, leaving the La Brea facility vacant.[7] Originally the studio was put up for sale, but in the end they were retooled for the production of Hell's Kitchen. The dining room area was the location of the former KCOP news studios, and living quarters for the contestants were built behind the restaurant.[8] Before season three, the Hell's Kitchen facility was moved to Century Studios at 3322 La Cienega Place in Los Angeles. Since the fourth season, Hell's Kitchen's venue has been located at 8660 Hayden Place in Culver City.[citation needed] According to Arthur Perkins, the soundstage is only open for audience members when taping is taking place.[9] The studio sits on the former location of the famous RKO Forty Acres backlot, which was used in movies such as Gone With The Wind and television series such as The Andy Griffith Show and Adventures of Superman. The studio building sits on the location of the military camp seen in the television series Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C..
Accusations of staging
The series has drawn numerous online and editorial accusations of staging and dramatic license,[10] mostly due to editing techniques of the producers, who splice together several hours of footage from a dinner service, in order to make certain contestants appear as poor performers, later justifying their elimination. This was most obvious when one episode featured clips showing an already eliminated contestant in the background, still cooking.[11]
One of the most controversial accusations of staging on Hell's Kitchen relates to an incident with contestant Joseph Tinnelly from Season 6, who, during one elimination round, angrily confronted Ramsay, challenging him to fight, and was then escorted off the set. The incident drew immediate fire from critics as an overplayed and possibly faked scene, conducted to cause action and tension on the show in order to spark viewer interest.[12]
In a 2013 interview, Ramsay admitted that the vast majority of his anger towards contestants was acting, his on-camera rage being done to force contestants to give their all and that when off-camera he treated all contestants with friendliness and respect. Ramsay further stated he would often meet with eliminated contestants after their departure from the show, offering positive criticism and advice. Staff and production members further affirmed that in real life, Ramsay was a sociable and friendly person and most of the on-camera drama is played out for the benefit of the audience.[13]
↑ Season 1 winner Michael Wray was offered the alternative choice of working at Gordon Ramsay in London, but declined the offer in order to be closer to his family.
↑ Season 7 winner Holli Ugalde was refused a UK work permit, and so was awarded the cash prize in lieu of the job at the Savoy Grill.
↑ Season 11 winner Ja'Nel Witt's job offer was withdrawn after she failed a drug test, but she kept the cash prize. Due to a commitment on Witt's job withdrawal, season 12 winner Scott Commings later won the job offer after winning in the next season.
↑ Originally competed on season 9, but left before first dinner service due to illness.
↑ Season 13 winner La Tasha McCutchen and Season 14 winner Meghan Gill shared head chef duties at Caesars Atlantic City.
↑ Originally competed on season 14, finishing third.
↑ Originally competed on season 7, finishing third.
↑ Originally competed on season 6, finishing third.
Reception
Awards and nominations
Hell's Kitchen has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Art Direction for Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming category in 2007, 2008, and 2009. It has also been nominated for two Art Directors Guild Awards in the Television— Awards Show, Variety, Music or Non-Fiction Program category in 2007 and 2008, winning one in 2008. It has also been nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Series.
In 2009, Gordon Ramsay won an Astra Award for Favourite International Personality or Actor.[22]
At the 2011 People's Choice Awards, Hell's Kitchen was nominated for Favorite Reality Show and Gordon Ramsay was nominated for Favorite TV Chef.[23]
At the 2014 Reality TV Awards ceremony, Hell's Kitchen won an award for best new cast.[24] In 2015, Hell's Kitchen won awards for best overall show and guilty pleasure at the 2015 Reality TV Awards.[25]
Visual Entertainment has released the first fourteen seasons of Hell's Kitchen on DVD in Region 1.[48] Season 14 was released on March 15, 2016, and to the Blu-ray format for the first time.[49]
On April 2, 2009, Ludia and Social2u released the official Facebook version of the Hell's Kitchen video game.[56]
Related Research Articles
Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen was cast during November 2005, premiered on June 12, 2006 and concluded on August 14, 2006. This was the first season of Hell's Kitchen to start a number of contestants divided to two teams by gender, which would become a tradition in subsequent seasons.
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This article contains contestant information and episode summaries from Season 3 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen. Cast during February 2007, the third season started airing on the Fox television network on June 4, 2007 and concluded on August 13, 2007.
Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on the Fox Network starting on April 1, 2008. 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.
Christina Machamer is an American chef who won the fourth season of Fox Network's reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen. She was awarded the position of "senior sous chef" at Gordon Ramsay's new London West Hollywood restaurant where she earned a $250,000 yearly salary.
Season 5 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on the Fox Network starting on January 29, 2009. The season concluded on May 14, 2009. Gordon Ramsay returned as head chef, as well as sous chefs Scott Leibfried and Gloria Felix and maître d' Jean-Philippe Susilovic.
Season 6 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on the Fox Network on July 21, 2009 and concluded on October 13, 2009.
Season 7 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen aired on the Fox Network from June 1, 2010 to August 10, 2010. Gordon Ramsay returned as host, as well as Maître d' Jean-Philippe Susilovic and Blue Team Sous chef Scott Leibfried. Andi Van Willigan, a chef from Santa Monica, California became the sous chef for the Red Team.
MasterChef is an American competitive cooking reality TV show based on the original British series of the same name, open to amateur and home chefs. Produced by Shine America and One Potato Two Potato, it debuted on July 27, 2010 on the Fox network, following the professional cooking competition series, Hell's Kitchen.
The eighth season of Hell's Kitchen, an American reality competition television series starring Gordon Ramsay, premiered on the Fox Network on September 22, 2010, and continued until December 15, 2010. Sous Chef Nona Sivley won the competition, earning a head chef position at the L.A. Market restaurant at the JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, as well as an opportunity to be a spokesperson for Rosemount Estate Wines.
Season 9 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on July 18, 2011, on Fox and concluded on September 19, 2011, with a two-hour season finale. Jr. sous-chef Paul Niedermann won the season and was awarded a "head chef" position at BLT Steak in New York City, New York.
Season 10 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on June 4, 2012 on Fox and concluded on September 10, 2012. Chef de Cuisine Christina Wilson won the season and received a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Paris Las Vegas in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.
Season 11 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on March 12, 2013 on Fox.
Season 12 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on March 13, 2014 on Fox.
Season 14 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on March 3, 2015 on Fox. The prize is a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesars Atlantic City. Gordon Ramsay returned as head chef with Andi Van Willigan and James Avery returning as sous-chefs for both their respective kitchens as well as Marino Monferrato as the maître d'. Executive chef Meghan Gill from Roanoke, Virginia, won the competition, thus becoming the fourteenth winner of Hell's Kitchen.
The fifteenth season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen took place in October 2014 and premiered on January 15, 2016 on Fox. The prize was a head chef position at BLT Steak at Bally's Las Vegas. Country Club Chef Ariel Malone won the competition.
The sixteenth season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on September 23, 2016 on Fox. Gordon Ramsay returned as host/head chef, Marino Monferrato and Aaron Mitrano returned as maitre d' and blue kitchen sous chef respectively while Andi van Willigan-Cutspec resumed her role as sous chef for the red team after Season 10 winner Christina Wilson filled in for her in the previous season while she got married. This was also the first season since Season 13 to take a hiatus due to Fox's coverage of the 2016 World Series in addition to the holiday breaks. The remaining episodes of the season were moved to Thursday nights on January 5, 2017 as part of the network's midseason schedule. This is the first season to have episode titles other than the usual "(Remaining number of) Chefs Compete" and "Winner Chosen". This season was filmed between November to December 2014, shortly after the completion of the previous season, about two years before the season aired.
The seventeenth season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on September 29, 2017 on Fox. This season is the first in Hell's Kitchen history to have an all star edition as sixteen former contestants return to compete once again, and the winner of this season will receive the position as head chef at the first-ever Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen Restaurant at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. All of the returning chefs made it onto the Black Team in their respective seasons. Gordon Ramsay returns as host and head chef, Season 10 winner Christina Wilson returns as the Red Team's sous-chef replacing Andi Van Willigan-Cutspec, and British MasterChef judge James "Jocky" Petrie makes his Hell's Kitchen debut as the Blue Team's sous-chef replacing Aaron Mitrano. Marino Monferrato returns as the maître d'. The red team won only three of the nine dinner services during the team phase. As a result, they are the first team in the show's history to only have one member earn a black jacket. This was Season 14's Michelle Tribble, who previously finished in third place, and went on to win the competition.
↑ Reality TV Calendar. June 3, 2007. "Hell's Kitchen— Everything You Want To Know".
↑ Latzman, Darrell. Los Angeles Business Journal. June 30, 2003. "KCOP studio sale is latest chapter in duopoly shifting. (Up Front).(Fox Broadcasting puts television studio facility up for sale)".[dead link]
↑ Kaplan, Don. New York Post. June 29, 2005 (TV Wednesday section). "DRESSED TO GRILL ; 'HELL' ISN'T A REAL RESTAURANT".
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