Hell's Kitchen

***Hell's Kitchen*** is an American reality television cooking competition (based on the British series of the same name) broadcast on Fox. It is hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Two teams of chefs compete for a job as head chef at a restaurant.

A typical episode begins with a challenge between the teams; the winning team gets some sort of a reward that usually involves some sort of "field trip" outside the Hell's Kitchen, while the losers are given "punishment" that usually involves some sort of arduous or revolting task.

The second part is a dinner service, where each team works in its own kitchen, attempting, under close and hypercritical supervision from Chef Ramsay, to complete the service without getting kicked out before finishing for too many errors.

The usual wrap-up involves whichever team is declared the loser of the dinner service chosing two of their own to be considered by Chef Ramsay for elimination.

There are many possible variations; BOTH teams being ousted before the end of dinner service is an example that has occurrred on more than one occasion.

## Format

*Hell's Kitchen* is a reality television show that uses a progressive elimination format to narrow down a field of twelve to twenty 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.

At the start of each season, Gordon Ramsay breaks the chefs into two teams. Most often this is based on gender, with women on the red team and men on the blue; 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; 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-panelled jackets. From this point onward, they compete individually to be one of the final two.

### 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.

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, 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 earcovers. 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 menial task, such as cleaning the kitchens, preparing a specific ingredient for the following dinner or having to prepare the food for both kitchens.

### Dinner service

For dinner services, the chefs are expected to work their station (such as 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.

Menus may be customized for a specific dinner service, such as ethnic-themed dishes or plates that resulted from the earlier challenge. One service per season allows for the teams to develop their own menus, which are reviewed by Ramsay for quality and presentation beforehand. 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, may eliminate a chef on the spot.

### Elimination

Once the dinner service is complete, Ramsay determines which team is the losing team and informs them to come up with two chefs to be nominated for elimination. Occasionally, Ramsay declares that both teams have lost, or requests a different number of chefs to be nominated for elimination. 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.

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 signalling 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 that chef 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).

### Final service

In the finale, the two remaining chefs are each given the opportunity to develop their own menu 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 tasting contest, 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.

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. 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.