Hell's Kitchen (American season 7)

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.[1]

Hell's Kitchen
Season 7
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes15
Release
Original networkFox
Original releaseJune 1 (2010-06-01) –
August 10, 2010 (2010-08-10)
Season chronology

Similar to Season 6, the winner and runner up avoided being nominated for elimination. This is the first season to featured the double elimination before the finals, and continued as a tradition on later seasons, except season 15 to 17, which return with normally single elimination before finals from the past six seasons.

Banquet chef Holli Ugalde won the season, she was promised to be the head chef position at Chef Ramsay's newly renovated restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in London. Filming had concluded on February 2009, 16 months prior to seventh season premiere, when the hotel reopened in 2010; however, Ugalde was not given the job. Ramsay stated that the American Ugalde could not work in London due to visa problems, but Ugalde called that explanation an excuse, saying, "I don't know if they even applied for my visa." Ugalde was later awarded an undisclosed amount of money in compensation and retained her title as the winner of season 7.[2]

Opening sequence

The intro depicts the chefs in a literal hell's kitchen with Ramsay as the devil.

Contestants

16 chefs competed in season 7.[1]

Contestant Age (at time of filming) Occupation Hometown
Siobhan Allgood 25 Pub Executive Chef Rockledge, Pennsylvania
Edward "Ed" Battaglia 28 High School Cooking Teacher Burlington, New Jersey
Jamie Bisoulis 26 Sous Chef Chicago, Illinois
Salvatore Coppola 35 Pizzeria Chef Laurel Springs, New Jersey
Jason Ellis 37 Personal Chef Greenville, South Carolina
Andrew Forster 28 Farmer West Babylon, New York
Scott Hawley 32 Executive Chef Modesto, California
Nilka Hendricks 28 Line Cook Glen Cove, New York
Frances "Fran" Klier[3] 44 Catering Chef Rockville Centre, New York
Benjamin Knack[lower-alpha 1] 33 Culinary Instructor Elmont, New York
Autumn Lewis 29 Personal Chef Chicago, Illinois
Jason "Jay" Santos 32 Executive Chef Melrose, Massachusetts
Stacey Slichta 38 Private Chef Buffalo, New York
Michael "Mikey" Termini 29 Line Cook Santa Cruz, California
Maria Torrisi 24 Kitchen Supervisor Scranton, Pennsylvania
Holli Ugalde 24 Banquet Chef San Bernardino, California
Notes
    1. Chef returned to Hells Kitchen again on Season 17, and was runner-up.

    Contestant progress
    Original teams First switch Second switch Third
    switch    		 Individual Finals
    No.Chef701702703704705706707708709710711712713714715
    1 Holli LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN IN IN IN IN WINNER
    2 Jay WIN LOSE WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN LOSE LOSE WIN IN IN BoB IN RUNNER-UP
    3 Benjamin WIN LOSE BoB WIN WIN WIN LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN IN NOM NOM OUT
    4 Autumn LOSE NOM LOSE NOM WIN WIN WIN NOM NOM NOM NOM IN NOM OUT
    5 Jason WIN NOM WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN LOSE LOSE WIN IN OUT
    6 Ed WIN LOSE WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN NOM LOSE NOM OUT
    7 Nilka LOSE LOSE LOSE BoB NOM LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE OUT
    8 Fran NOM LOSE NOM WIN BoW NOM NOM NOM OUT
    9 Siobhan LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN LOSE NOM[n 1] NOM OUT
    10 Salvatore WIN LOSE WIN BoB WIN WIN OUT[n 2]
    11 Scott WIN LOSE WIN NOM NOM[n 1] OUT
    12 Maria LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN OUT
    13 Jamie LOSE NOM[n 1] OUT
    14 Mikey WIN OUT
    15 Andrew WIN LEFT
    16 Stacey OUT
    Notes
    1. Chef was nominated by Ramsay
    2. Chef was eliminated despite being on the winning team

    Episodes
    No.
    overall    		No. in
    season    		TitleOriginal air dateU.S. viewers
    (millions)
    791"16 Chefs Compete"June 1, 2010 (2010-06-01)6.20[4]

    Seventeen new chefs (one of which was Ramsay's wife, Tana in disguise) were surprised by members of the press, where Ramsay promised the first dinner service would be completed.

    Signature dishes/team challenge: Teams were divided into men (blue) and women (red) and each chef cooked a signature dish to be judged by Ramsay. Ramsay calls 1 chef up as she showed her dish, and he was impressed, so he started to kiss her. However the chefs don't realize that the chef Ramsay kissed is his wife, Tana to make a point on who has their game. Once again, the men's dishes competed against the women's dishes. Maria's filet mignon scored over Salvatore's bucatini all'amatricana (given that he used pre-made pasta for his dish), Benjamin's lobster agnolotti scored over Holli's halibut wrapped in a banana leaf, neither Jamie's cream of chicken kiev or Scott's duck breast scored a point (Ramsay refused to eat Jamie's dish as he found a toothpick embedded in the meat), both Siobhan's ahi tuna and Mikey's lobster-stuffed brie scored points, Jay's steak scored over Stacey's fish, Jason's grits scored over Fran's dish and Autumn's chicken scored over Ed's fish. Lastly, neither Nilka's chicken wings or Andrew's steak tartare scored a point, giving the men a 4-3 win.

    Ramsay then gave the contestants video demonstrations on how to cook various dishes, with a fire alarm siren preceding each video.

    Reward/punishment: The guys were treated to breakfast in bed, with the women being forced to cook and serve it to them.

    Service: Jay and Nilka served tableside chicken caesar salad. Both kitchens struggled through service. In the red kitchen on appetizers, Stacey forgot to season the scallops before cooking them and then proceeded to overseason them while at the same time undercooking them, leading Siobhan to help her. Fran also undercooked potatoes, mistook crab for lobster, and earned Ramsey's ire by saying she was afraid of him (Ramsey). Things didn't fare much better on entrées with Jamie serving cold steak and Maria laughing after Ramsey reprimanded the former. This led Ramsey to throw Maria, Jamie and Fran out of the kitchen and bring Nilka into the kitchen. However, Stacey failed to provide Ramsey accurate times on when her fish would be ready, causing Ramsey to throw her out. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore got off to a bad start on appetizers by burning the shallots for the risotto twice until Ramsey delegated him to making salads (sarcastically stating he couldn't burn that), while Benjamin took over. However, Benjamin was reprimanded for tasting the risotto with a spoon and then using that same spoon to stir the risotto. Salvatore then tried to cook potatoes in a cold pan and Benjamin struggled to properly cook the risotto (putting the stock in before the rice). Ramsey then kicked both of them out after they failed to properly communicate with him on how long it would be, and brought Jay into the kitchen. On entrées, Mikey served raw halibut after being pressured by Scott to bring it up and got thrown out after serving it raw again. Ramsay then merged the teams together, and under the leadership of Ed, service was completed, fulfilling Ramsay's promise of completing the opening service for the first time in Hell's Kitchen history. Ramsay named the men winners for making fewer mistakes, and the women were told to nominate two chefs for elimination.

    Elimination: Stacey and Fran were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Stacey for her lackadaisical attitude and awful performance on fish.

    Ramsay's comment: "It's a good thing Stacey's a private chef. Her food wasn't good enough for the public."
    802"15 Chefs Compete"June 8, 2010 (2010-06-08)6.29[5]

    Team Challenge: The contestants were divided into pairs; each pair had to cook four egg dishes in four different styles (soft-boiled, poached, scrambled and sunny side up) in five minutes. Since the red team had one less chef, Siobhan worked on her own, but accepted help from Autumn, which resulted in most of her eggs being disqualified by Ramsay. The men won 11-10.

    Reward/punishment: The men were treated to a helicopter tour of Los Angeles and a champagne lunch with Ramsay and Jean-Philippe on top of a skyscraper. The women took in deliveries of tuna and prepped it for service.

    Service: Scott and Fran served table-side tuna tartar, but Fran struggled to find her way in the dining room until Jean Phillipe helped her. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore was kicked out for not remembering the desserts but was allowed to come back after looking at the recipe book. On appetizers, Mikey repeatadly undercooked the risotto on the first table, which completely backed up the kitchen. When the kitchen finally managed to get the table out, the risotto was returned from the dining room for still being undercooked. On entrées, although Salvaltore provided a perfectly cooked wellington, Jason undercooked the chicken and then tried to quickly fry it off in an attempt to get it up on time until Ramsey stopped him and made the team start the ticket over. Andrew served liquid mashed potatoes and argued with Ramsey ultimately ending with him exiting the competition. In the red kitchen, Autumn put too much salt in pasta water before service and was scolded for taking over appetizers from Siobhan, who Ramsey was equally mad at for allowing her station to be taken over. The women finished appetizers well before the men, but on entrees, Nilka fell behind on garnish and lost track of the orders while she, Holli, and Jamie struggled to time the orders correctly. Jamie also served scorched salmon, which caused Ramsey to angrily smash it against the counter top.

    Andrew's exit: After Andrew added poor mashed potato to a fresh pot and argued with Ramsay about it, the latter kicked him out. Andrew then began to leave the building, thinking he was thrown out of the competition, and though Jean-Philippe tried to talk Andrew back into the contest, saying there were many people who would want to be in his shoes, Andrew took off his shoes and walked out, making him the second chef since Season 1 to quit mid-service. Andrew received no comment, and though he walked out wearing his jacket, his jacket and burnt photo was seen when Ramsay hung up Mikey's jacket.

    Despite both teams finishing service with no further ejections, Ramsay named both teams losers and told them to nominate one chef for elimination.

    Elimination: The women nominated Autumn and the men nominated Jason. However, Ramsay questioned Autumn's nomination, and sent her back in line after Maria admitted that Jamie was instead the worst chef on the team. However, Ramsay spared Jamie and Jason, and instead eliminated Mikey for his second terrible service performance in a row.

    Ramsay's comment: "Mikey was all about appearances. Unfortunately for him, it didn't appear he could cook."
    813"13 Chefs Compete"June 15, 2010 (2010-06-15)4.84[6]

    Team challenge: In a Team Communication challenge, teams served lunch to members of the University of Southern California Marching Band and Cheerleaders; the team that finished first won. Jason was scolded for not calling back the order and worked slowly on salads, holding up his team, until Benjamin helped him. Maria and Jamie fought over control of the grill, while Scott served an undercooked burger. The women narrowly won their first challenge in a close finish.

    Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with a trip to the beach and played soccer with Ramsay and his family while the men had to clean a portion of the Los Angeles River.

    Service: Before service, Fran burned her hand carrying a pot of hot water, but refused to see a medic. Holli and Salvatore were chosen as maitre d' assistants, but Salvatore struggled with misspelling and poor handwriting and contemplated quitting the competition (it was later revealed he was unable to attend school when he was younger due to helping support his family), but Jean-Philipe convinced him to stay. In the blue kitchen, Scott served poor potatoes and earned his team's ire by trying to give unwanted help, but the men did well on entrees thanks to Benjamin's strong performance on meat. Jason was slow on garnish, but recovered. In the red kitchen, Maria needed Nilka's help to get risottos out, Fran struggled on meat and Ramsay eventually forced her to see a medic, while Jamie burned carrots and mashed potatoes. Siobhan took over, but lost track of her work on fish in the process; both teams completed service. Ramsay named the men the winners, praising Benjamin.

    Elimination: Fran and Jamie were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Jamie for being a consistently poor performer and surrendering control of the garnish station to Siobhan.

    Ramsay's comment: "To be a great chef you need creativity, leadership qualities and passion. Jamie had passion."
    824"12 Chefs Compete Part 1"June 15, 2010 (2010-06-15)6.22[6]

    After the elimination, Ramsay pulled Salvatore aside and encouraged him to fight back after his poor performance. Before the next challenge, Scott and Salvatore sat down together to go over the recipes.

    Team challenge: Each chef rolled a die with letters on each side of it, then having ten seconds to call out an ingredient starting with that letter.[lower-alpha 1] The teams then had 30 minutes to create a dish using those ingredients. The men made a pan roasted halibut with a bacon, pea and crab ragu, a salsify puree and a salad of crab and endive, while the women made a mango glazed pan seared duck with ham, pureed turnips and beets. The men won after the women's duck was cooked with too much "fat" left on.

    Reward/punishment: The men were told they were going skydiving, but discovered they were going to be in a vertical wind tunnel for the day. The women cleaned the entryway to Hell's Kitchen and prepped both kitchens for service. During punishment, Maria had a meltdown, but Sous Chef Andi gave her a pep talk to calm her down.

    Service: Service included numerous celebrities as well as special guests on the chef's tables. The blue team's special guests were Debi Mazar and her husband, Italian chef Gabriele Corcos, while the red team's special guests were Kevin Frazier and his wife. Also in attendance was Carrie Preston. In the blue kitchen, appetizers ran smoothly thanks to Jason (with Scott attempting to provide some unwanted help to him), with the only problem being Salvatore serving raw snapper, but he recovered and managed to have a strong performance on fish for the rest of service. On entrees, Ed served hard potatoes, and Scott struggled on meat by first delivering undercooked steak and then raw wellingtons. Despite these problems, Scott managed to recover and the blue team was able to successfully complete service. In the red kitchen, Siobhan twice failed to realize that lobster was mistakenly labeled as crab and thus served a crab capellini with lobster, but after that, appetizers ran smoothly. Entrees ran relatively trouble free, thanks to a strong performance from Nilka on meat, with the only problem being Autumn dropping a piece of salmon onto one of her burners and Ramsay scolding her for acting casual about it. Ramsay considered the service to be an improvement and named both teams winners, though he had each team nominate one chef for elimination. Nilka and Salvatore were named Best of the Best on their teams and were asked to choose the nominees.

    Team change: Nilka nominated Autumn, while Salvatore nominated Scott. No chef was eliminated, but Ramsay substituted Autumn to the men's team and Scott to the women's team.

    Ramsay's comment: "After our best service yet, I've decided to give Autumn and Scott another chance. But they better excel or they'll both be gone."
    835"12 Chefs Compete Part 2"June 22, 2010 (2010-06-22)5.68[7]

    Team challenge: Each chef brought a pig in a pen to get an ingredient listed on the pigs collar, totaling 3 pork items and 3 side items. The teams then had to create three dishes, each with pork as the primary ingredient and one further ingredient. The red team got ham hock, tenderloin, blood sausage, apple, prunes and sweet potato, while the blue team got bacon, pork chop, loin chop, cabbage, pinto beans and bok choi. The blue team's roasted pork loin scored over the red team's blood sausage and prunes, but the red team's fennel-encrusted pork tenderloin scored over the blue team's honey-glazed bacon. Finally, Jay and Salvatore's pork chop with pinto beans scored over Maria and Scott's sweet potato soup as the soup used ham hock as a garnish, when it was supposed to be the main ingredient.

    Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with a trip to Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa while the red team had to give the pigs in the pen a bath.

    Service: Ramsay announced that tonight's service will be barbecue night with the service having two servings, with the teams taking turns cooking and working in the dining room. In the red kitchen, Fran had a strong performance on appetizers, but Maria served raw crab and fell behind on the refire while arguing with Holli who told her to pick up the pace. The entire team struggled with communication, eventually causing them to stop mid service and start arguing with another, which was only made worse by them doing it while Ramsay was calling out a ticket. Scott overcooked fried chicken and left his oven door open, which was a safety hazard, causing Ramsay to repeatedly berate him. The blue team did well in the dining room, their only problem being Salvatore's poor handwriting, which Ramsey forgave him for after he revealed he never went to school. Autumn took the chance to send as many dishes back to the red kitchen as she could, allowing her to send some of Siobhan's burger's back for being under cooked. After Siobhan served another undercooked burger, Ramsay angrily smashed it against the counter and ended service as their time limit was up. When the teams swapped, the red team were slow to get orders to the kitchen. Jay was strong on appetizers, but had to recook some due to Maria writing some of the orders incorrectly. Salvatore struggled to communicate on garnish. Autumn also undercooked ribs, and Ramsay criticized her for working and moving slowly. In addition, Jason got caught frying chicken and fries in the same basket, which led to Ramsay confronting him aggressively. Ramsay ended service after Jason revealed he was three minutes away on a ticket, with their time limit having expired. Ramsay named the blue team winners for their performance in the dining room; Fran was named best of the worst.

    Elimination: After receiving advice from Scott, Fran nominated Maria and Nilka but the nominations backfired after Ramsay nominated Scott and told Nilka to get back in line. Ramsay eliminated Maria for being the worst performer of the night and her lack of confidence.

    Ramsay's comment: "Maria was in over her head. On garnish, she was lost and her team paid the cost. That's why her life in Hell's Kitchen is dead."
    846"11 Chefs Compete"June 22, 2010 (2010-06-22)6.28[7]

    Team Challenge: The challenge was to make meals out of five mother sauces while not reusing any of the other twenty ingredients given to them. The blue team worked well together, but on the red team, Nilka, still angry over getting nominated last night, took most of the ingredients without consulting her teammates. To judge the dishes, Ramsay called on the help of his wife and mother. Fran scored over Salvatore on tomato sauce, as his pasta was undercooked. Jay and Siobhan then presented their hollandaise dishes, but Siobhan didn't realize she was cooking a pigeon instead of a Cornish hen and thus severely undercooked it. Because of that Ramsay refused to taste her dish. However, Jay's dish also missed the mark as his duck was overcooked and peas were undercooked, so Ramsay awarded neither of them a point. Both Holli and Ed made good tasting dishes for the velouté, despite Holli mistakenly identifying her sea bass as halibut when presenting, but the point was ultimately awarded to Ed. Similarly, Nilka and Jason made good dishes for demi-glace, but Ramsay gave Nilka's dish the edge. Benjamin then scored over Scott on béchamel, leaving the score at 2-2 tie. Ultimately, Ramsay gave the blue team the win, judging Jason's dish to be the best of the dishes not awarded a point.

    Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with a trip to Ye Olde King's Head British Pub in Santa Monica, California and each chef received a set of premium pots and pans. The red team cleaned and prepped both kitchens. During punishment, Siobhan suffered a mild allergic reaction from the cleaning supply, and was excused from cleaning the kitchens, though she did return to help prep.

    Service: Hell's Kitchen hosted family night, with a kids menu included. The blue team had a strong performance; Their only problems were Salvatore adding fresh rice to risotto when he forgot an extra portion and then lying to Ramsay about it, causing Ramsay to berate him, and Jason having to put an order of chicken back in the oven due to undercooking it and then not communicating to Ramsay about it. Under Benjamin's strong leadership, the blue team completed service. The red team struggled throughout dinner service. Siobhan didn't know she was supposed to be cooking the children's spaghetti and then attempted to cook it in cold pasta water. Nilka forgot to add lobster to a risotto and Fran overcooked scallops, but after that, appetizers ran smoothly. However, Scott proved to be the worst performer of the night. He first lost track of his orders and blamed his team for it, causing a lengthy delay for their entrees. He then served raw wellingtons which earned him a trip to the storeroom with Ramsay (Scott later revealed in a confessional he was aware they were undercooked but didn't think they were too bad to not be sent out). Afterwards, Scott burnt chicken and steak and forgot to put the gratin on the beef, resulting in Ramsay kicking the entire team out while he, Sous Chef Scott and Sous Chef Andi completed their service. Ramsay named the blue team clear winners.

    Elimination: Scott and Fran and nominated, but Fran thought Siobhan should have been nominated, so Ramsay called all three forward. Much to the red team's relief, Ramsay eliminated Scott for his arrogance and failing to live up to his executive chef position, saying that after six services he couldn't wait any longer for Scott to back up his talk.

    Team change: Ramsay then transferred Benjamin to the red team, believing that the red team sorely lack leadership, and tells Benjamin to make it better.

    Ramsay's comment: "If Scott could cook as well as he talks, he'd be the winner of Hell's Kitchen. Unfortunately for him, he can't."
    857"10 Chefs Compete"June 29, 2010 (2010-06-29)5.70[8]

    Team challenge: Both teams cooked meals for a 50th wedding anniversary, remaking three dishes that the wedding couple had at their wedding reception 50 years ago (Steak Diane, Chicken Kiev, and Trout Almondine). The blue team scored on Steak Diane, as Nilka didn't even know what Steak Diane was and thus made a dish that tasted too much of alcohol. For the chicken kiev, the red team's dish easily scored over blue team's dish as they had taken Salvatore's bizarre idea of making chicken meatballs for it and, if that wasn't bad enough, Salvatore had undercooked both of the meatballs. The trout almondine dish ended in a tie as the husband and wife preferred different dishes, but Ramsay broke the tie in favor of the red team.

    Reward/punishment: The red team were rewarded with dinner at a 1950s style diner and got to serve the guests of honor during service. The blue team had to decorate the dining room for the 50th-anniversary reception being held the following day.

    Service: Ed and Nilka served Steak Diane tableside. In the blue kitchen, the cake made almost fell over but was saved in time. The blue team had another strong service, with the only problem being Salvatore struggling on garnish throughout the night as he did not communicate with his teammates or Ramsay and repeatedly forgot garnishes for tables while at the same time bringing up the wrong amounts. The red kitchen was able to complete their service with few flaws. Appetizers ran well with the only problems being Siobhan being slow with the caesar salads, while Benjamin served raw and then overcooked crab cakes and rudely rejected Nilka's help. However, both managed to quickly recover. On entrees, Holli overcooked duck and served raw chicken, and Fran brought her garnish to the pass in a hot pan rather than draining it, causing Ramsay to berate her for this safety hazard. Although both kitchens completed service, Ramsay named the blue team winners for having less problems throughout the night.

    Elimination: While initially considering Holli and Fran, the team, after Benjamin's prodding, ultimately nominated Fran and Siobhan. However, Ramsay spared them due to the red team's improved performance and eliminated Salvatore for being a consistently poor performer and lack of improvement over seven services, making him the second chef to leave the competition despite being on the winning team.

    Ramsay's comment: "Salvatore had a big heart. Too bad he couldn't cook with it."
    868"9 Chefs Compete"June 29, 2010 (2010-06-29)6.33[8]

    Team Challenge: Each chef made a gourmet sandwich in 30 minutes. Because the red team had one more chef, they had to choose one sandwich to sit out, choosing Siobhan. The score ended in a 3-3 tie, so Ramsay used Siobhan's sandwich to declare a winner. Ramsay awarded the blue team the win, preferring Siobhan's sandwich over Fran's.

    Reward/punishment: The blue team was rewarded with wine tasting in a private jet with Ramsay, while the red team had to shuck peanuts and grind them into peanut butter. Ed and Autumn got drunk from the reward, giving them hangovers before service.

    Service: In the red kitchen, Fran undercooked the risotto, despite cooking the first one perfectly, while Siobhan burned scallops. Afterwards, Ramsay found a huge pile of discarded scallops on her station, and Siobhan argued with Ramsay she thought some of them looked good. As a result, Ramsay forced her to go out into the dining room and eat them, allowing Benjamin to take over. After Siobhan returned, Benjamin refused to let her back on the fish station and relegated her to desserts while he took over the fish station. Nilka then served raw chicken and after Fran served under dressed salad and under cooked risotto, Ramsey threw the red team out. The blue team struggled with communication throughout the night as a result of being hung over. On appetizers, Jason and Jay both got off to a bad start, with Jason serving overcooked scallops and Jay serving a bland and undercooked risotto, but both managed to recover and get appetizers out. However, Autumn was slow on garnish, didn't communicate with Ed on the meat station and served salty mashed potatoes. After Ed served raw duck, Ramsey threw the blue team out. An angry Ramsay declared no winner.

    Elimination: The blue team nominate Autumn and Ed while the red team nominated Siobhan and Fran. After hearing from the other three nominees, Ramsay eliminated Siobhan on the spot for her inconsistent performances, her lack of confidence, and allowing Benjamin to take over her station, the latter of which he deemed to have been such a sign of weakness that it justified her elimination regardless of what she intended to say in her defence. However, he praised her for her hard work before she left.

    Ramsay's comment: "Siobhan got pushed around a lot in Hell's Kitchen. So it was up to me to finally push her out."
    879"8 Chefs Compete"July 6, 2010 (2010-07-06)6.29[9]

    Team challenge: The contestants conducted a blind taste test to see which foods they can correctly identify. The blue team won 4-3, with Jay being the only contestant to correctly identify two ingredients, while Fran and Ed got none correct.

    Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with VIP passes to Sea World to swim with dolphins and spend the day at the park. The red team took in several deliveries of food for Gordon Ramsay at The London, West Hollywood.

    Service: Each team prepared their own menu consisting of four appetizers, entrees and desserts, with the customers deciding which menu to order from. Ramsay was not impressed with either menu, branding the red team's menu (mostly Benjamin's ideas) uninspiring, but was impressed with Holli's desserts. Ramsey hated the blue team's menu, finding it very simplistic which the blue team had aimed for in order to make it easy to execute. The blue team decided to revamp their menu at the last minute, but the red team ignored Ramsay's suggestions. As a result, the orders for the blue team's menu vastly outnumbered those of the red team. There were relatively few problems on appetizers save for Ed slicing duck too early and Benjamin rejecting Nilka's help with plating and having an undercooked risotto returned. Both kitchens saw poor performances on meat. For the red team, Fran undercooked chicken and steak, while blaming her teammates for not communicating with her when to fire the meat. Holli was berated for rushing Nilka on garnish, and Nilka boiled asparagus that was meant to be sauteed. In the blue kitchen, Autumn served raw pork twice, and Ramsay forced her to apologize to the customer. When she took too long on a steak, Jay kicked her off the station for Ed, and put her on desserts instead. Ramsay named both teams losers for coming up with poor menus and not executing them particularly well, and had them each nominate one chef for elimination.

    Elimination: The blue team nominated Autumn and the red team nominated Fran. Ramsay had both Autumn and Fran remove their jackets; Ramsay eliminated Fran, feeling that she had gone as far as she could, but commended her for her determination.

    Team change: As for Autumn, Ramsay tells her that being on the blue team is only making her worse, and reassigns her back to the red team, while noting that even though the red team didn't like her, she did have better performances there. This marks the first time a chef was sent back to their original team, not counting Jen Gavin and Matt Bloch from Season 4 who were sent back to their original teams only to receive black jackets shortly after.

    Ramsay's comment: "Fran wanted her team to communicate, but it seems the only thing her team agreed on was wanting her gone."
    8810"7 Chefs Compete"July 6, 2010 (2010-07-06)7.08[9]

    Team Challenge: The contestants each cooked a lobster dish with a 10-pound lobster, with three Michelin-starred chefs judging. As the red team had an extra chef, they chose Nilka's dish to sit out. Only one chef from each team earned a point: Holli and Jason. Ramsay deemed Holli's dish the best dish, giving the red team the win.

    Reward/punishment: The red team were treated to sampling caviar at a Petrossian Paris, and were each given $1000 for a shopping spree. The blue team cleaned the dorms and prepped both kitchens for service. However, when the red team returned, the blue team had still not prepped their own kitchen. For the first time, Ramsay decided that both teams would operate together in the red kitchen and that there would be a two and a half hour time limit for service to serve customers who would then be attending the theatre.

    Service: For winning the challenge, Holli served caviar tableside. Nilka continually struggled on fish throughout service. She first undercooked scallops twice on the first table of appetizers, earning a warning from Ramsay, and then was slow to serve turbot for one table. She then served it undercooked and dropped it on the ground after Ramsay gave it back. Ramsay had wanted her to put it back in the pan, and berated her for giving up. Things didn't get better for her on entrees; despite Jason having a strong performance on meat, Nilka nearly dropped her lobster after taking it out the oven and then earned a trip to the pantry with Ramsay after she brought up the wrong sauce with it. Ramsay sternly warned her that she needed to bounce back and was on her last chance. Despite Jay trying to help her, she sent up raw lobster, prompting Ramsay to eliminate her mid service. The team then completed the rest of their tables in the time limit nearly trouble free, with the only problem being Ed momentarily getting distracted and having some pans catch fire on garnish.

    Automatic elimination: After Nilka served raw seafood repeatedly, Ramsay lost his patience and eliminated her during service. Nilka then returned and pleaded to be given a second chance, refusing to leave until Ramsay forced Benjamin to help him get her out. The two teams rallied and finished the service with fifteen minutes to spare. Ramsay then met with Nilka at the back entrance after service and, despite telling her she was not ready for the head chef's job, calmly urged her not to give up on her dream and commended her previous performances before taking her jacket and sending her home via taxi. Nilka received the full elimination sequence at the end of the episode.

    Elimination: Despite both teams being named joint-winners, they were each told to nominate one chef for elimination. Though Autumn and Ed were nominated, Ramsay gave everyone a black jacket after having already eliminated Nilka.

    Ramsay's comment: "Tonight was the best service we've had in Hell's Kitchen, and that's why I rewarded the final six. Now, only the best chefs remain. Nilka was clearly out of her depth."
    8911"6 Chefs Compete"July 20, 2010 (2010-07-20)5.98[10]

    Individual challenge: In an individual challenge, the chefs had thirty minutes to create a great-tasting dish and make it look aesthetically pleasing. The dishes were judged on presentation by culinary students. From worst to best, the dishes were Holli, Jay, Jason and Autumn. Benjamin and Ed's dishes were singled out as the top two. The dishes were then judged by Tanya Steel of Epicurious on taste, who named Benjamin the winner.

    Reward/punishment: Benjamin received a makeover and photo shoot with Epicurious, as well as his dish being featured at the next dinner service, while the others cleaned the restaurant. Prior to service, the rest of the chefs expressed concern over Benjamin's over complicated dish from the challenge, which was on the menu that night.

    Service: Whoopi Goldberg was a special guest at the chef's table. On appetizers, Ed undercooked scallops and John Dory and got overwhelmed on the fish station due to the large number of halibut on order (Benjamin's challenge winning dish). Jason served a bland capellini but managed to recover. Autumn attempted to help Benjamin on the meat station, but Benjamin became non responsive to her and the rest of the kitchen and rudely rejected her help, causing Ramsay to berate him. Because of this, he slipped and dropped a chicken. Ed then repeatably undercooked halibut, which, due to the complicated nature of the dish and the amount of garnish on it, caused Jay to fall behind on garnish. After Ed started to again get overwhelmed with the halibut and broke one as a result, Benjamin jumped in, but his help proved largely ineffectual, with the both of them serving another undercooked halibut. At this point, nearly everyone started cooking halibut on their respective stations, causing such chaos that no one could remember what was on order. After Benjamin brought up cold steak, Ramsey berated him for not communicating with the rest of his team. After Ed overcooked scallops and Benjamin brought up meat entrées for the wrong table, Ramsay kicked them out while the remaining four completed service.

    Elimination: It appeared that Benjamin and Ed would be the two nominees, however, when Ramsay told the team to decide on two nominees based on "overall" performance, Autumn and Ed were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Ed for his disintegrating performances and unconvincing final plea.

    Ramsay's comment: "Ed was one of the favorites because of his strong start. Unfortunately, in cooking, it's not how you start, it's how you finish."
    9012"5 Chefs Compete"July 20, 2010 (2010-07-20)6.96[10]

    Individual challenge: The contestants went to a local supermarket, where they spent no more than $10 in ten minutes on ingredients for their dish, which they had 30 minutes to cook. Each dish was judged by a panel of three gourmands, who then come up with a price they would pay if they ordered this dish; the contestant with the largest average price won. Jason's tilapia dish ($16.00) ended up in last because he bought prepared ravioli. Benjamin's ratatouille dish ($25.00) was fourth, Autumn's veal dish ($27.33) was third, Jay's lamb dish ($28.66) was second and Holli finished in first with her tuna dish ($29.66).

    Reward/punishment: Holli chose Jay, as he came second, to join her and Jean-Philippe at The Peninsula Beverly Hills for a poolside lunch, followed by a $1000 kitchen equipment shopping spree. Holli's dish was also featured in that night's service. The others did laundry and dined on Spam sandwiches.

    Service: Ramsay had the contestants switch stations every several minutes to test their communication skills, in which each chef told the contestant replacing them what to do before moving on. The service was very rocky; Jay overcooked John Dory and Wellingtons and could not give a time for the refires; Benjamin held up Jason on garnish, overcooked tuna, and tried to take over scallops from Holli before undercooking them; and Jason overcooked scallops and halibut. At one point, Ramsay stepped out, leaving Sous Chef Scott in charge. Benjamin attempted to read orders at the pass, only to be berated by Scott. The team completed service, but Ramsay was far from impressed and had the team nominate two for elimination.

    Elimination: Jason and Benjamin were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Jason for his lack of leadership compared to the other chefs, but gave him encouragement.

    Ramsay's comment: "Jason was good enough to make it to the final five, but he just didn't instill the confidence I needed to see to be my head chef."
    9113"4 Chefs Compete Part 1"July 27, 2010 (2010-07-27)6.25[11]

    Individual challenge: Ramsay showed the chefs how to cook monk fish before having them verbally teach a novice how to duplicate Ramsay's dish. Jay won the challenge.

    Reward/punishment: Jay chose Holli to come with him on an aerial tour of Los Angeles on the Goodyear Blimp, the Spirit of America. Benjamin and Autumn did maintenance and cleaning work.

    Service: For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, the contestants chose which station they would work. Holli undercooked John Dory, Jay served bland risotto, Autumn undercooked scallops and Benjamin caused a beef wellington to split and had a lack of communication. However, all four chefs finished service, with Jay being named Best of the Best.

    Elimination: Jay nominated Autumn and Benjamin.[lower-alpha 2] Ramsay called Autumn and then Benjamin forward, only to order them back in line. After a great service, Ramsay decided it was impossible to send anyone home. Instead, he invited each of the contestant's family members to Hell's Kitchen for a brief visit (Benjamin's wife and daughter, Holli's son and best friend, Jay's mom and step-dad and Autumn's best friend and boyfriend).

    Ramsay's comment: "I decided to let all the chefs enjoy tonight's successful dinner service, but what they don't know is, after the next dinner service, I'll be cutting the field in half."
    9214"4 Chefs Compete Part 2"August 3, 2010 (2010-08-03)7.07[12]

    Individual challenge: Ramsay presented a dish and had the chefs taste it. In a "taste it, make it" challenge, they then had to recreate the dish in 45 minutes without knowing the ingredients. Jay came in last place despite getting both the puree (pear) and the garnish (pancetta) correct, as he used flank steak as the main protein when it was actually venison. Autumn was also eliminated for using bacon instead of pancetta. After Ramsay tasted the other two dishes again, he awarded Holli the win.

    Reward/punishment: Holli spent a trip with her family on a yacht, while the others cleaned the dorms. Benjamin complained of lower back and shoulder pains and initially decided to leave the competition, but stayed after talking to Ramsay.

    Service: Ramsay gave each of the chefs an opportunity to run the hot pass. During the chefs' time on the pass, they had to complete quality control checks, including sous-chef Scott sabotaging the food and Jean-Philippe leaving out an entree from an order. Jay had a very strong start, catching lobster instead of crab in a capellini and vice versa in a risotto. Holli had a nervous start and failed to notice a ticket with the wrong number of entrees, but recovered to send back an order of scallops only cooked on one side. Benjamin did not notice he had been given venison wellingtons rather than lamb wellingtons, but proved to be a strong leader and caught a New York strip in place of filet mignon. Autumn caught Jean-Philippe's ticket mistake, but failed to notice she had been given the wrong sauce and then angered Ramsay by not taking the mistake seriously. She then became excessively nitpicky and started sending back dishes which the other chefs and even Scott thought were cooked correctly.

    Elimination: Instead of asking the chefs who should be nominated for elimination, Ramsay told the chefs to each say why they should advance to the final. Autumn was the first chef to be eliminated, but Ramsay commended her for her passion and dedication. Ramsay then chose Jay and Holli to advance to the final, eliminating Benjamin, though Ramsay encouraged Benjamin to never give up.
    9315"2 Chefs Compete"August 10, 2010 (2010-08-10)7.09[13]

    Individual challenge: Holli and Jay traveled by limo to The London West Hollywood where, to a crowd of fans, they had one hour to cook five dishes: an Amuse-bouche, a cold appetizer, a hot appetizer, a fish course and a meat course, to be judged by five chefs from Ramsay's restaurants in England. Jay won 3-2.

    Jay was granted the first pick in drafting a team using the six chefs eliminated prior to the final.[lower-alpha 3] Jay picked Benjamin, Jason, and Fran, while Holli picked Autumn and Nilka, and was left with Siobhan.

    Service: Among the customers were Holli and Jay's relatives and friends. In the red kitchen, Siobhan got stalled on amuse bouches and struggled on garnish. Nilka served overcooked venison, and Autumn fell behind on garnish and refused to take help from her team as she believed that they had no idea what they were doing. In the blue kitchen, Fran burned scallops and got overwhelmed, Jason served raw lamb and had some meat returned for being poorly sliced, and Ramsay noted that Benjamin appeared to be leading more than Jay, warning Jay to step up and run the kitchen. Both teams eventually rallied and finished service.

    Winner: The winner was then determined by Ramsay, based on comments of the diners and his own observations. Holli and Jay stood in front of a closed door; Holli's door opened, making her the seventh winner of Hell's Kitchen; Jay took his defeat graciously.

    Ramsay's comment: "Holli won because she has grown as a chef more than any other chef in Hell's Kitchen. At the start, she was barely noticeable. But then, she got her confidence. She emerged and there was no holding her back. I'm absolutely thrilled she'll be working with me at the Savoy Grill in London."[lower-alpha 4]

    Notes
    1. Scott rolled H and went for Halibut, Jason rolled E and went for endive, Ed rolled S and went for salsify, Benjamin rolled C and went for crab, Jay rolled P and went for peas and Salvatore rolled B and went for bacon. For the women, Fran rolled B and went for beets, Nilka rolled S and went for shallots, Autumn rolled M and went for mangoes, Siobhan rolled H and went for ham, Maria rolled T and went for turnips and Holli rolled D and went with duck.
    2. Autumn's nomination ties her with Sabrina Brimhall from season 8, Elise Wims from season 9, Clemenza Caserta from season 10 and Scott Commings from season 12 as the most nominated contestant in the history of the show, at seven nominations.
    3. Ed did not return, so Siobhan took his place as the last person to be eliminated prior to final eight.
    4. Because winner Holli chose not to work to London due to Visa problems moments after the season ended, she decided to keep her cash prize.[2]

    References
    1. First names only are given onscreen. Last names and biographical information per Hell's Kitchen Bios at Fox site
    2. "London's Savoy hotel reopens but without Hell's Kitchen winner Holli Ugalde". The Daily Telegraph, via PerthNow. 2010-11-29.
    4. Hibberd, James. "'Got Talent,' 'Hell's Kitchen' debuts rise in ratings", The Hollywood Reporter; section "The Live Feed", June 02, 2010
    5. "TV Ratings: Tuesday June 8, 2010 (Glee goes out on a [Demo] high note!)", TheTVAddict.com, June 9, 2010
    6. "TV Ratings: Tuesday June 15, 2010 (NBA, Lakers Dominate)", TheTVAddict.com, June 16, 2010
    7. "TV Ratings: Tuesday June 22, 2010 (The only thing JILLIAN is losing is viewers!)", TheTVAddict.com, June 23, 2010
    8. "TV Ratings: Tuesday June 29, 2010 (Reruns Rule on CBS)", TheTVAddict.com, June 30, 2010
    9. "TV Ratings: Tuesday July 6, 2010 (America loves its Reality, with TALENT, KITCHEN & WIPEOUT up across the board)", TheTVAddict.com, July 7, 2010
    10. "TV Ratings: Tuesday July 20, 2010 (Gordon Ramsay Scares Up a Demo Win)", TheTVAddict.com, July 21, 2010
    11. "TV Ratings: Tuesday July 27, 2010", TheTVAddict.com, July 28, 2010
    12. "TV Ratings: Tuesday August 3, 2010 (FOX wipes out the Competition in the 18-49 year-old Department)", TheTVAddict.com, August 4, 2010
    13. "TV Ratings: Tuesday August 10, 2010 (Slightly more than 18 viewers tune into the CW's Canadian Import 18 TO LIFE)", TheTVAddict.com, August 11, 2010
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