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Hell's Kitchen (American TV series)

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This article is about the American television show. For the New York City neighborhood, see Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan.
Hell's Kitchen
Title Card for Hell's Kitchen
Created byGordon Ramsay
Directed byTony Croll (season 1)
Brad Kreisberg (seasons 2-5)
Sharon Trojan Hollinger (season 6-present)
StarringHead Chef:
Gordon Ramsay
Sous Chefs:
Scott Leibfried
MaryAnn Salcedo (season 1-3)
Gloria Felix (season 4-5)
Heather West (season 6)
Andi Van Willigan (season 7-present)
Maître d':
Jean-Philippe Susilovic (season 1-7)
James Lukanik (season 8-present)
Opening themeFire by the Ohio Players
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes105
Production
ProducersITV Studios
Granada America;
A. Smith & Co.
Consulting Producer: Daniel Kay
Original release
NetworkFox
ReleaseMay 30, 2005 (2005-05-30) –
present
Related
Hell's Kitchen (UK)

Hell's Kitchen is an American reality-television cooking competition (based on a series of the same name, broadcast in the UK) broadcast on Fox. It is hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

The program debuted on May 30, 2005. The ninth and most recent season premiered on July 18th, 2011.

Hell's Kitchen has surpassed The Apprentice (hosted by Donald Trump) in number of non-celebrity-contestant seasons and has not attempted to bolster ratings with major format changes. Each season has aired consecutively on a yearly (or twice yearly) basis. Due to continued strong Nielsen ratings, in November 2010, Fox held auditions for contestants for a ninth season, which premieres July 18, 2011.[1]

Format

The format of the program is similar to the United Kingdom version, with a red team and a blue team competing in various cooking challenges for most of the season; once the number of remaining contestants is reduced to five (or six in seasons 4-8), the two teams combine to become a single black team and compete individually.

Each episode begins with a team or individual challenge; the winning chef or team may get a reward, while the losing team or players are required to perform some form of manual labor, usually consisting of kitchen duty in preparation for the dinner service but may also be cleaning the dormitories or decorating the restaurant for a particular event. It may also take the form of "punishment fitting the crime," meaning preparing the same foodstuffs that were used in the challenge for a dinner service. This punishment sometimes includes a lunch consisting of less palatable parts of those foodstuffs.

During dinner service, teams are responsible for preparing food to Gordon Ramsay's very demanding taste and appearance requirements as well as within a limited time frame. Ramsay does not prepare any of the foods, and only supervises the outcome, dispatching the correct preparations to the dining hall. He may throw away an entire plate of food due to one element being off, requiring the team to re-prepare the dish or the entire table if necessary, and usually sends a barrage of insults and obscenities to the responsible player or team. If Ramsay sees failure in a specific area in the kitchen, he may force one player to take over for another. In more recent seasons, if he sees complete failure in one or more chefs, he will kick the responsible individuals out of the kitchen for the remainder of the service. If the entire kitchen is in a debacle, Ramsay may end the dinner service prematurely, often using his catchphrase "Shut it down!" or "Switch it off!"

After the dinner service, Ramsay will select the winning team who may get an additional reward. In earlier seasons Ramsay would name the best member of the losing team as the "Best of the Worst" and have them pick two teammates for elimination, though in more recent years the Best of the Worst is generally not used unless one of the losing team turns in an exceptionally good performance, and nominations are decided on via a consensus of all the losing team members. Alternatively, if the service is exceptionally bad (or good), Ramsay may declare no team the winner (or name the teams as joint winners), requiring both teams to nominate someone for elimination. Sometimes Ramsay overrules the nominations and chooses someone else entirely. When the game is down to a single team but still more than three people, the winning player (or "Best of the Best") will sometimes be asked select the two to be nominated. Each nominated player has a chance to plead their case to Ramsay, but he makes the final decision, at which point the eliminated player hands over their chef's jacket, which he forcefully hangs up on a hook until the hook pokes a hole in the jacket and also sends an above photo of the player up in flames to symbolize their elimination. If one of the players turns in an exceptionally bad performance, then Ramsay may eliminate them while the service is still in progress. An additional elimination may also occur at the end of the episode as normal; usually this occurs if the already-eliminated chef's team was still able to win despite losing a member. Often players will voluntarily exit the competition either due to medical conditions or their own free will.

When the competition is down to the final two players, Ramsay splits the Hell's Kitchen dining area into two sections, and each of the two final contestants runs their own restaurant; each contestant is allowed to choose the decoration, style, and menu for his or her restaurant. Six previously eliminated contestants return as aides to help the two finalists to prepare the meals. Ramsay will use his observations of how the finalists work in the kitchen and with their teams, not just during the final service, but throughout the whole competition as well, and feedback from the patrons of each restaurant, to select the ultimate winner of the show.

Hell's Kitchen is somewhat rare among elimination-style reality shows in that all of the responsibilities of judging and eliminating fall to a single person, Ramsay, instead of a full panel of judges, or a majority vote by the contestants. Additionally, Ramsay has the power to override the basic format of the competition, such as ignoring the losing team's nominations for elimination, eliminating contestants from a winning team, eliminating contestants in the middle of dinner service, or changing around team members.

Cast

The show is hosted by Gordon Ramsay and narrated by Jason Thompson. Jean-Philippe Susilovic, a Belgian maître d' comes from Petrus, one of Ramsay's London restaurants and was appeared in the first seven seasons. Susilovic was also the maître d' for the first series of the original British version. James Lukanik replaced Susilovic since the eighth season.

Each team also has the services of one of two sous-chefs. Scott Leibfried has appeared in all seasons, the other sous-chef is Andi Van Willigan (from season 7 onwards). Previous sous-chefs are MaryAnn Salcedo, Gloria Felix and Heather West.

Chefs and Maître d's Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Gordon Ramsay ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Scott Leibfried ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
MaryAnn Salcedo ♦ ♦ ♦
Gloria Felix ♦ ♦
Heather West ♦
Andi Van Willigan ♦ ♦ ♦
Jean-Philippe Susilovic ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
James Lukanik ♦ ♦

Production

Broadcasting

The theme song of the show is "Fire" by the Ohio Players. Hell's Kitchen USA when broadcast in the UK, Italy and Portugal features only the instrumental version of this song.

Country Station Current Season Notes
Arab League Middle East MBC 4 Unknown
Southeast Asia STAR World Season 8
 Australia Go! Lifestyle Season 8 Previously carried by Nine Network and Lifestyle Food Network
 Belgium VT4 Season 4 [2] (ended) Broadcast as Hell's Kitchen USA and left uncensored. Also shown on AB3 (Season 3[3])
 Brazil Club Casa TV Season 5[4] Also available on GNT and Liv
 Bulgaria Nova Television Unknown Previously broadcast on Nova+
 Canada CityTV Current Bleep censored; simsubbed with Fox in most areas. Reruns available on Food Network Canada
 China ICS Season 4
 Czech Republic TV Barrandov Season 7
 Finland MTV3 Season 6 The title is translated as Kauhukeittiö which means "The Kitchen of Horrors". Profanity is left uncensored.
 France TMC Season 4 Season 4 will air on June 26, 2011[5].
 Germany VIVA Season 5
 Hungary Viasat3 Season 6 Season 6's last episode was broadcast on August 13, 2010. No episodes have been broadcast since then.
 India TLC Season 4
 Ireland TV3 Season 6(ended)
 Israel yesStars Next Season 7 Previously broadcast on yesStars Drama
 Italy Sky Uno Season 8(ended) Also available on Cielo where the title is translated as Hell's Kitchen-Il diavolo in cucina which means "Devil in kitchen". On SKY Uno airs 2 episodes per night.
 Japan Fox Life Season 2 Season 1 started on November 8, 2009. and Season 2 started on May 7, 2010.
 Malaysia Star World Season 8 Bleeped and pixelated to mask profanity. Astro mutes all profanity.
 Mexico Casa Club TV Season 5[4] Also available on Liv.
 The Netherlands Net 5 Season 8
 New Zealand TV2 Season 7[6] All profanity censored. Late night re-screenings of Hell's Kitchen on TV2 are completely uncensored.
 Norway TV3 Season 7[7]
 Philippines Star World Season 8
 Poland TVN Style Season 7 Previously carried by Polsat and kuchnia.tv
 Portugal SIC Radical Season 8 Season 4 and onward uncensored
 Slovenia Kanal A Unknown Reruns on TV Pika
 Sweden TV3 Season 7[8] bleep censored when shown during the daytime, night time airings not censored.
 Turkey FX Season 6[9]
 Ukraine CITI Season 7
 United Kingdom ITV2 Current Broadcast as Hell's Kitchen USA (Gordon Ramsays' Hell's Kitchen USA from Season 8). Censored during watershed hours.[10]
 United States Fox Network Current bleep censored and pixelated to mask profanity

In Turkey, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Korea, Ireland, Slovenia, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Japan, all the profane language is transmitted uncensored, however in Hungary and Italy, the show is dubbed with local voices, so the original voices can't be heard clearly.

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.[11] 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.[12] 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 on behind the restaurant.[13] Before season three, the Hell's Kitchen facility was moved to 3322 La Cienega Place in Los Angeles. Since the fourth season, Hell's Kitchen's venue was located at 8660 Hayden Place in Culver City.[citation needed]

Seasons

New Features Winner Prize/epilogue
Season 1: May 30 - August 1, 2005
  • 12 chefs competing in two teams
  • Final five combined into one team
  • Final three participate in semi-final
  • Final two redesign their respective halves of partitioned restaurant
  • Six former contestants return for last dinner service
 Michael Wray Accepted an offer to work with Ramsay in London, but returned to US after a few days; after return, made custom knives; formerly the head chef at Tatou in Los Angeles, California[14][15]
Season 2: June 12 - August 14, 2006
  • Teams divided by gender at start of competition
  • First contestant to leave for medical reasons
  • First time a teammate's nominations for elimination were overruled and a different contestant was eliminated
 Heather West Former senior chef of Terra Rossa at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Summerlin, Nevada (contract has since expired); currently the executive chef at the Monterey Restaurant in Long Beach, NY and was a sous chef for season 6 of the show
Season 3: June 4 - August 13, 2007
  • First contestant kicked out during dinner service
 Rahman "Rock" Harper Head chef of Green Valley Ranch's Terra Verde in Henderson, Nevada; served as the executive chef at Ben's Next Door in Washington D.C. in early 2009[16]
Season 4: April 1 - July 8, 2008
  • 15 chefs competing
  • Final six combined into one team
 Christina Machamer Senior sous chef under Gordon Ramsay at the London in West Hollywood with a $250,000 salary[17][18]
Season 5: January 29 - May 14, 2009
  • 16 chefs competing;[19]
  • "Hall of Fame" of past winners
  • First time a contestant on a winning team was eliminated
 Danny Veltri Chef working under head chef Stephen Kalt at the Italian restaurant Fornelletto in the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey with a $250,000 prize.[20][21] Veltri resigned his position after only a few months, in August 2009[22]
Season 6: July 21 - October 13, 2009
  • 17 chefs competing
  • First time a contestant from a previous season came back
  • Signature dishes are the first challenge
  • Restaurant is partitioned but not redesigned by finalists
 Dave Levey Chef at the Araxi Restaurant, under Executive Chef James Walt, in Whistler, British Columbia[23][24][25]
Season 7: June 1 - August 10, 2010
  • Guaranteed completion of first dinner service
  • Four chefs participate in semi-final then two are eliminated
 Holli Ugalde Executive Chef at Gordon Ramsay's new restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in London. However, Ugalde was not given the job, with Ramsay citing visa problems. A cash prize was given as a replacement.[26][27][28][29]
Season 8: September 22 - December 15, 2010
  • Eight former contestants return for last dinner service (instead of usual six)
 Nona Sivley Head Chef at the L.A. Market restaurant at the JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, as well as have an opportunity to be a spokesperson for Rosemount Estate Wines[30]
Season 9: July 18 - TBD, 2011
  • 18 chefs competing
 Head Chef at the BLT Steak restaurant in New York City, New York. [31]

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.[32]

In the 2011 People's Choice Awards Hell's Kitchen was nominated for Favorite Reality Show & Gordon Ramsay was nominated for Favorite TV Chef[33]

Other media

DVD releases

Visual Entertainment has released the first two seasons of Hell's Kitchen on DVD in Region 1.[34] Season 3 was released in Canada on August 10, 2010 and in the USA on September 21, 2010.[35] Season 4 was released on November 16, 2010 in Canada and on November 9, 2010 in the US.[36]

In Region 4, Shock Entertainment has released seasons 1-5 on DVD in Australia.[37]

DVD name Ep # 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 10 August 10, 2010 September 21, 2010 February 2, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA - Season 4: Raw and Uncut 14 November 16, 2010 November 9, 2010 April 1, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA - Season 5: Raw and Uncut 14 August 2, 2011[38] August 2, 2011[39] November 27, 2009
Hell's Kitchen USA - Season 6: Raw and Uncut 15 September 6, 2011 [40] September 6, 2011 [41] March 9, 2011[42]
Hell's Kitchen USA - Season 7: Raw and Uncut 15 TBA TBA May 11, 2011[43]
Hell's Kitchen USA - Season 8: Raw and Uncut 15 TBA TBA May 11, 2011[44]
Hell's Kitchen USA - Season 9 N/A TBA TBA TBA

Video games

Hells Kitchen: The Game
Developer(s)Ludia
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Platform(s)Nintendo DS, Wii, Windows, iPhone OS
ReleaseSeptember 11, 2008
Genre(s)Sim

On September 11, 2008, Ubisoft released Hell's Kitchen: The Game for the Nintendo DS, Windows, iOS and Wii, which features the likeness of Ramsay, and the many important tasks shown in the U.S. version of the show.[45]

On April 2, 2009, Ludia and Social2u released the official Facebook version of the Hell's Kitchen game.[46]

Hells Kitchen on Facebook
Developer(s)Ludia / Social2u
Platform(s)Facebook
ReleaseApril 2, 2009
Genre(s)Sim

References

  1. ^ "Fox Sets Summer Programming Schedule". TV Guide. March 14, 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  2. ^ http://www.vt4.be/hells-kitchen-usa#progAfleveringen Retrieved October 16, 2010
  3. ^ http://www.ab3.be/programmes/2011-02-06.aspx
  4. ^ a b http://www.casaclubtv.com/hellskitchen/hotsite_cuartatemporada/hotsite_hellskitchen.shtml Retrieved October 15, 2010
  5. ^ "Hell's Kitchen : la saison 4 à partir de dimanche 26 juin à 20h40". Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  6. ^ http://tvnz.co.nz/hells-kitchen/show-603309 Retrieved February 8, 2011
  7. ^ http://www.tv3.no/program/hells-kitchen-usa-7 Retrieved June 1, 2011
  8. ^ http://www.tv3.se/program/hells-kitchen-usa Retrieved October 15, 2010
  9. ^ http://www.fxtv.com.tr/hellskitchen
  10. ^ http://www.itv.com/TVGuide/TextOnly/default.html?tvgPageNumber=1&tvgChannelName=ITV%202&tvgDayOffset=3 See 20.00
  11. ^ Reality TV Calendar. June 3, 2007. "Hell's Kitchen — Everything You Want To Know".[1]
  12. ^ 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)".[2]
  13. ^ Kaplan, Don. New York Post. June 29, 2005 (TV Wednesday section). "DRESSED TO GRILL ; 'HELL' ISN'T A REAL RESTAURANT".[3]
  14. ^ Eater LA: Tatou: Where's Michael Wray?
  15. ^ Short Order - Nypost.Com
  16. ^ Ben's Next Door
  17. ^ Scattergood, Amy (2008-05-01). "Gordon Ramsay L.A. reservation line is open!". LA Times. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  18. ^ "Gordon Ramsay opens news restaurant in West Hollywood". Yahoo. 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  19. ^ "Hell's Kitchen season 5 premieres Jan. 29". Fans of Reality TV. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  20. ^ 'Hell's Kitchen' winner makes debut at Borgata | Philly | 05/14/2009
  21. ^ 'Hell's Kitchen' winner Danny Veltri cooks up storm at the Borgata
  22. ^ Danny Veltri Update
  23. ^ Gordon Ramsay to bring Hell's Kitchen to Whistler
  24. ^ Travel | Bring Olympic-sized appetite to Whistler | Seattle Times Newspaper
  25. ^ http://www.araxi.com/ Araxi Restaurant
  26. ^ Carter, Helen (November 22, 2010). "Hell's Kitchen USA winner unable to take up prize after work visa denied". The Guardian. London.
  27. ^ http://www.foodiegossip.blogspot.com/2010/12/hells-kitchen-hell-of-embarrassment.html
  28. ^ "London's Savoy hotel reopens but without Hell's Kitchen winner Holli Ugalde". The Daily Telegraph, via PerthNow, 29 November 2010
  29. ^ http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/not_so_fast_zUnMSkvJ0SAvSj7GXag34O 'Hell' winner loses prize gig because of visa
  30. ^ homorazzi.com: "Hell’s Kitchen Season 8: Meet The Cast", August 23, 2010.
  31. ^ "Chef Gordon Ramsay Grills Choicest Cut of New Culinary Competitors on 'Hell's Kitchen'". Fox Broadcasting Company press release via TheFutonCritic.com. July 27 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ IMDB "Astra Awards (2009)"
  33. ^ People's Choice Awards 2011 Nominees - PeoplesChoice.com
  34. ^ Hell's Kitchen DVD news: Box Art for Hell's Kitchen - Season 1: Raw & Uncensored | TVShowsOnDVD.com
  35. ^ Hell's Kitchen DVD news: Announcement for Hell's Kitchen - Season 3: Raw and Uncensored | TVShowsOnDVD.com
  36. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hells-Kitchen-DVD-Updates/14254
  37. ^ EzyDVD Search - Hell's Kitchen
  38. ^ http://www.amazon.ca/Hells-Kitchen-Season-Raw-Uncensored/dp/B004XH9X54/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1304806674&sr=8-1
  39. ^ http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hells-Kitchen-Season-5/15299
  40. ^ http://www.amazon.ca/Hells-Kitchen-Season-Raw-Uncensored/dp/B0051O0NIE/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1306384824&sr=8-14
  41. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hells-Kitchen-Season-6/15418
  42. ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/817642
  43. ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/818868
  44. ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/818869
  45. ^ Hell's Kitchen: The Game
  46. ^ Hell's Kitchen on Facebook
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