Hell's Kitchen (American TV series)

This article is about the American television show. For other uses, see Hell's Kitchen (disambiguation).

Hell's Kitchen
Genre	Reality television
Created by	Gordon Ramsay
Directed by	Tony Croll (season 1) Brad Kreisberg (seasons 2–5) Sharon Trojan Hollinger (seasons 6-)
Starring	Gordon Ramsay
Narrated by	Jason Thompson
Opening theme	"Fire" by the Ohio Players
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	12
No. of episodes	186
Production
Executive producers	Arthur Smith Kent Weed Gordon Ramsay
Running time	42 minutes
Production companies	ITV Studios America A. Smith & Co. Productions
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	May 30, 2005 (2005-05-30) – present (present)
Related
Hell's Kitchen (UK TV series)

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. The most recent season, Season 12, premiered on March 13, 2014 and ended on July 24, 2014. Fox has announced that Hell's Kitchen has been renewed for a 13th Season, premiering on Wednesday, September 10, 2014.

Format

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. Each season brings twelve to twenty aspiring chefs to 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. Gordon Ramsay breaks the chefs into two teams most often based on gender, with women on the red team, and men on the blue, and are given a chef's jacket with labels of that color. The chefs compete in these teams, barring any reassignments by Ramsay, until only five or six chefs are left, which they are brought into a single common team wearing black-labeled jackets, though they now compete individually to be one of the final two. Each episode typically includes one challenge and one dinner service, following which a chef is eliminated from the game.

In challenges, the teams or individual chefs are tasked with a cooking challenge by Ramsay. The type of challenges are varied, ranging from ingredient preparation, meal preparation, taste tests, and other challenges. The first challenge of each season is a signature dish cookoff, giving the chefs the 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 try to recreate a dish Ramsay has prepared by taste only, and a taste-test challenge where chefs identify ingredients without sight or sound. The winner of the challenge is either determined by a scoring system set for that challenge, or based on Ramsay's and/or guest judges' opinions. The winning team or chef is typically rewarded with 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 dinner's meal, or having to prepare the food for both kitchens.

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 during a dinner service 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 plates including risotto and Beef Wellington, and are given a few hours before each service to prep their ingredients. They are also given silverware sets that they get to keep, regardless of their progress. Ramsay demands that all orders for one 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 of his trusted sous-chefs, each monitoring one of the kitchens who will also demand the same standards. The sous-chefs shift to helping to fill available positions once the chefs are on a single black team. One such service in this time period allows each chef to run the pass as part of a quality-control test (i.e. spotting mistakes that are sent up by either Ramsay or one of his sous-chefs).

Ramsay desires to complete every dinner service, but 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. Once the dinner service is complete, Ramsay determines which team (if not both) is the losing team and informs them to come up with chefs to be nominated for elimination (Although there have been joint-winning teams in the past (twice in Season 4, once in Season 7, 8 & 11)). This may be a task assigned to the "best of the worst" on the team, or may be a group consensus. Ramsay regroups the teams and hears out the nominations from the losing team(s) in the dining hall. After giving these nominees the chance to defend themselves, Ramsay selects one to hand over their jacket and "leave Hell's Kitchen", later symbolically placing that jacket on an empty sharp hook below a picture of that chef, in a row in his office; the hook pokes a hole in the jacket and ignites that chef's picture signalling their departure. Ramsay is free to ignore these elimination rules if he sees fit. He has frequently eliminated chefs during the middle of the service if their performance is abysmal, or may override the provided nominations with his own selection. If an eliminated chef has performed exceptionally well, he may allow that chef to keep their jacket as a token of their success up to that point, if he sees fit. At the end of each episode, as he is seen heading back to his office to hang up the eliminated chef's jacket, there is a voice-over of him explaining his reasons for eliminating that chef. There have been times where chefs were taken out of the competition for medical reasons or they may leave on their own free will; though the latter is not encouraged, their wishes are ultimately honored.

Once two chefs remain, they 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. Ramsay will assure that all menu items meet his standards for high cuisine, and will oversee the service to make sure the high quality standards he expects are retained but otherwise does not get involved, allowing the two remaining chefs to demonstrate their ability to run the line to him. Ramsay will use his observations, those from the diners, and other sources to make a decision on who is the winning chef. This process is announced by having the two chefs stand at two different doors from his office, and telling them to turn the door handle and open it; only the door of the winning chef is unlocked. 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.

Cast

Gordon Ramsay is the head chef. The narrator is Jason Thompson. Jean-Philippe Susilovic, a Belgian maître d' comes from Petrus, one of Ramsay's London restaurants and appeared in the first seven seasons and later returned for the 11th season. He left after Season 12. Susilovic was also the maître d' for the first series of the original British version. James Lukanik replaced Susilovic for the eighth-tenth seasons.

Each team also has the services of one of two sous-chefs. The sous-chefs are Andrea "Andi" Van Willigan (from season 7 onwards) and James Avery (from season 11 onwards). Previous sous-chefs were Mary Ann Salcedo, Gloria Felix, Season 2 winner Heather West, and Scott Leibfried.

Head Chefs

• Gordon Ramsay

Sous Chefs

Blue Team

• Scott Leibfried (Seasons 1 – 10)
• James Avery (Seasons 11 – present)

Red Team

• Mary-Ann Salcedo (Seasons 1 – 3)
• Gloria Felix (Seasons 4 – 5)
• Heather West (Season 6)
• Andrea "Andi" Van Willigan (Seasons 7 – present)

Maître d's

• Jean-Philippe Susilovic (Seasons 1 – 7, 11 – 12)
• James Lukanik (Seasons 8 – 10)
• TBA (Seasons 13 - present)

Production

Broadcasting

The theme song is "Fire" by the Ohio Players. When the U.S. version is broadcast in the UK, Italy, Portugal and some countries (shown on the table below), it features only the instrumental version of this song.

Country	Channel	Current season	Notes
Middle East	MBC 4	Season 7	Bleep censored and pixelated to mask profanity.
Southeast Asia	Star World	Season 9 (ended)	Premiered on October 17, 2011, but aired only three times a week. First new season to be aired outside of the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK.
	Fox	Season 11	Premiered on September 5, 2013.
Australia	One Season 5 air 2012/13, Lifestyle Channel	Season 9	Previously broadcast on GEM, Channel Nine, GO! and Lifestyle Food Network. Airings are usually uncensored.
Belgium	VIJF	Season 5	Broadcast as Hell's Kitchen USA and left uncensored. Also shown on AB3 (Season 5)
Brazil	TLC (Travel & Living Channel)	Currently Broadcasting Season 9 (one episode from Monday to Friday), and Season 8 (ended)	Bleep Censored
Bulgaria	Nova Television	Unknown	Previously broadcast on Nova+
Canada	City Omni Television Évasion	Current	Bleep censored and pixelated to mask profanity. Simsubbed with Fox in most areas. Reruns available on Food Network Canada which may be run uncensored. Also translated in French for Évasion in Quebec.
China	ICS	Season 9
Czech Republic	TV Barrandov	Season 4	Translated as Pekelná Kuchyně. Dubbed, profanity censored. After the seventh season was broadcast the fourth started over again.
	PrimaFamily	Season 1 (Upcoming)	/2O13 ?/, Czech version of Ramsay's original show . Translate as (Pekelná Výzva)
Estonia	Kanal 12	Season 3	With uncensored Estonian subtitles.
Finland	MTV3	Season 7	The title is translated as Kauhukeittiö which means "The Kitchen of Horrors". Profanity uncensored.
France	TMC	Season 5 (ended)	Season 5 has debuted in France on April 1, 2012 and has ended on July 2012.
Germany	VIVA	Season 5
Greece	Makedonia TV	Season 3
Hungary	Viasat3	Season 10	Season 7 and 8 ran simultaneously on Viasat 3. Airing of Season 10 begun on May 6, 2013.
Iceland	Stöð 2	Season 5
India	TLC	Season 6 (ended)
Ireland	TV3	Season 6 (ended)
Israel	yesStars Drama	Season 9	Previously broadcast also on yes Next HD Profanity is censored.
Italy	Sky Uno	Season 11 (ended)	Mutes some profanity. SKY Uno airs 2 episodes a night.
	Cielo	Season 11 (begin)	As above, and an additional advice warns about content.
Sky Uno	Season 1 (Hell's Kitchen Italia)	The curse words are not censored
Japan	Fox Life	Season 1, 2	Season 1 started on November 8, 2009 and Season 2 started on May 7, 2010. Profanity is bleep censored.
Lithuania	BTV	Season 1 in September 2012
Malaysia	Star World	Season 9	Bleeped and pixelated to mask profanity. Astro mutes all profanity. The ninth season premiered on October 17, 2011, but aired only three times a week. Season 9 is the first new season to be aired outside of the USA, Canada and the UK.
	Fox	Season 10 (ended)	Premiered on October 20, 2012 and it airs twice a week. aired with dual language English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Mexico Colombia Venezuela Argentina Peru Ecuador Bolivia Chile Uruguay Paraguay Panama Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Dominican Republic	TLC (Latin America)	Season 8	Previous broadcast on Liv (Season 5) and Casa Club TV (Season 1–4).
Netherlands	NET 5	Season 9	Profanity is censored
New Zealand	TV2	Season 10	All profanity censored during the daytime. Late night re-screenings of Hell's Kitchen on TV2 are mostly uncensored.
Norway	TV3	Season 8	Profanity is censored during the daytime. Late night airings are usually uncensored.
Pakistan	TLC	Season 6 (ended)
Philippines	2nd Avenue	Season 4	Mutes all profanity.
	Star World	Season 9	Same with Asia feed with the premiere date shown above, but only five times a week.
	Fox	Season 11	It premiered on September 2, 2013. Episodes completely uncensored.
Poland	TVN Style	Season 8	Previously carried by Polsat and kuchnia.tv
	TLC	Season 1-
Portugal	SIC Radical	Season 11	Season 4 subtitled and onward uncensored
Russia	Muz-TV(U)	Season 1–10
Singapore	Star World	Season 9	Subtitled in Chinese and censored
	Fox	Season 9 (ended)	Premiered on February 27, 2012 and concluded on April 2, 2012, airs three times a week.
Slovakia	WAU	Season 8	airs every work day
Slovenia	Kanal A	Season 1 in September 2012
Spain	Discovery MAX	Season 1
Sweden	TV3	Season 10 (Start October 31, 2012)	Bleep censored when shown during the daytime, night time airings not censored.
Taiwan	Star World	Season 9	Profanity is bleep censored and pixelated. Uncensored when shown after watershed hours.
	Fox	Season 10 (ended)	Premiered on October 20, 2012 and it airs twice a week.
Thailand	Star World	Season 9	Subtitled in Thai and censored
	Fox	Season 9 (ended), continues season 10	Premiered on February 27, 2012 and concluded on April 2, 2012, airs three times a week.
Turkey	FX	Season 9
Ukraine	CITI	Season 7 (ended)
United Kingdom	ITV2	Season 12 (Started: 6/17)	Broadcast as Hell's Kitchen USA (Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen USA for Season 8/9). Uncensored during watershed hours.
United States	Fox	Season 13 (Starts: 9/10)	Bleep censored and pixelated to mask profanity

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. 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. 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. 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. According to Arthur Perkins, the soundstage is only open for audience members when taping is taking place. 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 The 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, mostly due to editing techniques of the producers which 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.

One of the most controversial accusations of staging on Hell's Kitchen relates to an incident with contestant Joseph Tinnelly, who, during one elimination round, angrily confronted Chef 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.

Seasons

Season	Original run	Winner	Runner-up	Reason for winning	Contestants	Winner's prize
01	May 30 – August 1, 2005	Michael Wray	Ralph Pagano	High standards	12	Tatou in Los Angeles
02	June 12 – August 14, 2006	Heather West	Virginia Dalbeck	Determination		Terra Rossa at Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas
03	June 4 – August 13, 2007	Rahman "Rock" Harper	Bonnie Muirhead	Leadership		Terra Verde at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson
04	April 1 – July 8, 2008	Christina Machamer	Louis "Petrozza" Petrozza	Potential	15	London West Hollywood in Los Angeles
05	January 29 – May 14, 2009	Daniel "Danny" Veltri	Paula da Silva	Maturity	16	Fornelletto at the Borgata in Atlantic City
06	July 21 – October 13, 2009	David "Dave" Levey	Kevin Cottle	Ability	17	Araxi Restaurant and Bar in Whistler
07	June 1 – August 10, 2010	Holli Ugalde	Jason "Jay" Santos	Confidence	16	Savoy Grill at Savoy Hotel in London
08	September 22 – December 15, 2010	Nona Sivley	Russell Kook II	Palate		LA Market at JW Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles
09	July 18 – September 19, 2011	Paul Niedermann	William "Will" Lustberg	Enthusiasm	18	BLT Steak in New York City
10	June 4 – September 10, 2012	Christina Wilson	Justin Antiorio	Passion		Gordon Ramsay Steak in the Paris Las Vegas
11	March 12 – July 25, 2013	Ja'Nel Witt	Mary Poehnelt	Composure	20	Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas
12	March 13 – July 24, 2014	Scott Commings	Jason Zepaltas	Artistry
13	September 10, 2014 – TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	18	TBA

Notes

Reception

Analyst Arthur Perkins credits the show's success with four factors:

1. Numerous cameras (up to 72) allow tight editing and capturing every action
2. A confessional booth reveals insights into competitors' characters
3. Ramsay's "enfant terrible" personality, impeccable credentials, and overall showmanship
4. Casting relatively unknown chefs

Perkins compared Ramsay's unusual showmanship to that of P. T. Barnum of the famed Ringling Brothers circus:

Ramsay's personality is so unusual that many watch him rant, rave and throw things. I consider him the "enfant terrible" of reality television. ... He has a fiery temper ... He practices ritual humiliation, verbal abuse and even occasionally physical abuse.

— Arthur Perkins, in Chef Wars: Hell's Kitchen, 2011

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.

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.

Other media

DVD releases

Visual Entertainment has released the first eleven seasons of Hell's Kitchen in Region 1. Season 11 was released on April 15, 2014.

In Region 4, Shock Entertainment has released seasons 1–8 on DVD in Australia.

DVD title	No. of episodes	Release dates
		Region 1 (CAN)	Region 1 (US)	Region 4
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 1: Raw and Uncut	10	April 8, 2008		December 1, 2008
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 2: Raw and Uncut	10	October 27, 2009	May 11, 2010	February 2, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 3: Raw and Uncut	11	August 10, 2010	September 21, 2010	February 2, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 4: Raw and Uncut	15	November 16, 2010	November 9, 2010	April 1, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 5: Raw and Uncut	15	August 30, 2011		November 27, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 6: Raw and Uncut	15	November 1, 2011	April 10, 2012	March 9, 2011
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 7: Raw and Uncut	15	June 5, 2012		May 11, 2011
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 8: Raw and Uncut	15	December 4, 2012		May 11, 2011
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 9: Raw and Uncut	16	August 27, 2013	September 10, 2013	TBA
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 10: Raw and Uncut	20	October 8, 2013	October 1, 2013	TBA
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 11: Raw and Uncut	22	April 15, 2014		TBA
Hell's Kitchen USA – Season 12: Raw and Uncut	20	TBA	TBA	TBA

Hell's Kitchen: The Game

Hell's Kitchen: The Game
Developer(s)	Ludia
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Platform(s)	Wii, Nintendo DS, Windows and iPhone OS
Release	September 11, 2008
Genre(s)	Sim

On September 11, 2008, Ubisoft released Hell's Kitchen: The Game for the Wii, Nintendo DS, Windows, and iOS which features the likeness of Ramsay, and the many important tasks shown in the U.S. version of the show.

Hell's Kitchen on Facebook
Developer(s)	Ludia / Social2u
Platform(s)	Facebook
Release	April 2, 2009
Genre(s)	Sim

On April 2, 2009, Ludia and Social2u released the official Facebook version of the Hell's Kitchen game.

References

• Perkins, Jr., Arthur E. (2011). Chef Wars: Hell's Kitchen. USA: Charleston. ISBN 9781456450236. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Official website
• Hell's Kitchen at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show