Hell's Kitchen (television)
See other uses for the term Hell's Kitchen.
Hell's Kitchen was the name of a cookery-based reality show first broadcast in the UK on ITV in 2004, featuring chef Gordon Ramsay and presented by Angus Deayton. The show, which ran nightly for two weeks, placed ten celebrities in a specially constructed London restaurant kitchen with the task of catering for a clientèle of famous people. The celebrities were Edwina Currie, Abi Titmuss, Matt Goss, Belinda Carlisle, Al Murray, Dwain Chambers, Tommy Vance (who replaced Roger Cook), Jennifer Ellison, James Dreyfus, and Amanda Barrie. Jennifer Ellison was declared the winner after a series of public elimination votes (as per Survivor or Big Brother).
The second series featured ten members of the public competing for a prize of £250,000 with which the winner could start their own restaurant. They were split into two teams of five, one red - tutored by Gary Rhodes, and the other blue - led by Jean-Christophe Novelli. A new and much larger restaurant was built to accommodate the fact that there were now two kitchens. The only things that remained the same in the second series were the music and the presenter, who was still Angus Deayton.
US version
The US version of Hell's Kitchen also starred Gordon Ramsey, and aired on the FOX television network. The show featured 12 ordinary people (some with chef and restaurant experience, some without) competing to own a "million-dollar restaurant" of their own.
The show was taped at a converted former news broadcast facility on La Brea Boulevard near Willoughby in Los Angeles, California.
The format of the program was the same as the UK version, with a red team and a blue team competing in various cooking challenges. The restaurant's maitre d’, Jean Philippe, came from Petrus, one of Ramsey's London restaurants. Each team also had the services of one of two sous chefs: Maryann and Scott.
Season one
Season one featured the following contestants; on the red team, Carolann, Elsie, Dewberry, Jeff, Chris and James; on the blue team, Ralph, Michael, Mary Ellen, Wendy, Jessica, and Andrew. Each week, the best member from the losing team during the latest service period ("best" as determined by Ramsay) is asked to nominate two of their fellow teammates for elimination; one of these two is sent home by Gordon Ramsay.
- Episode 1: May 30th, 2005.
- Nominees for elimination: The red team's Carolann and Dewberry. Carolann was eliminated.
- Episode 2: June 6th, 2005.
- Team challenge: Cleaning squid. The team that could clean and prep the most squid received a dinner with Ramsay. The red team won, and the losing blue team had to prepare squid while the dinner was taking place. The losing team also had their kitchen's air conditioning turned off during the next restaurant service period.
- Nominees for elimination: The red team's Jeff and Dewberry. Dewberry was eliminated.
- Episode 3: June 13th, 2005.
- Michael was transferred to the red team in order to even out the number of contestants on each team.
- Jeff, a member of the red team, walked off the show. Ramsay still eliminated a contestant from a team, meaning that two contestants left during this episode.
- Team challenge: Ramsay asked the teams to cook him a five-course meal of original dishes. The catch was that they only had 10 minutes of shopping time at a local supermarket, and only $100 per team to spend at the market. The red team won the team challenge, winning an evening out at a pub with Ramsay while the losing blue team stayed behind to clean the dorm. The red team also won the next service period. Although both teams had difficulty preparing meals on time, the food critics in the restaurant preferred the meals prepared by the red team.
- Nominees for elimination: The blue team's Wendy and Andrew. Wendy was eliminated.
- Episode 4: June 20th, 2005.
- Team challenge: Ramsay passed the two teams to JP, his maitre'd, for a lesson in how to properly set a dining table. The teams then had to replicate a sample table containing over 90 items within a 5 minute time period. The blue team won the team challenge and received an afternoon of spa treatments, while the red team had to clean/polish all the glass and silverware. An additional penalty was that the red team had to take time away from their food prep to set all 100 tables in the restaurant before the next service period.
- Both teams learned how to cook pigeon and frog legs.
- During the service period, Ramsay promised that the first team to complete all of their orders, no matter how long that takes, would be safe from elimination. Despite their handicap of starting their food prep later than the other team, the red team pulled ahead and won the service period.
- Nominees for elimination: The blue team's Andrew and Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen was eliminated.