Let’s imagine that you’re a chef hoping to make it big. Suddenly, the opportunity comes up to audition for Hell’s Kitchen, the popular reality show that pits you against other passionate culinary professionals for a chance to work with the world-renowned — and frighteningly intense — Michelin starred chef Gordon Ramsay. You make it through rounds of auditions and finally get word that the television network would, in fact, like you as a contestant on the upcoming season. But, this puts you in a tricky place. Your skills are in the spotlight now and you’d better perform in order to avoid that shame-filled walk out of the kitchen that so many contestants before you were forced to take.
ADVERTISEMENT
But, it’s not just the straight fear of Gordon Ramsay’s grimace that courses through your veins. It’s the fact he carries with him an incredible ability to make contestants feel downright awkward in front of their peers. No one wants to receive a soul-crushing lecture in front of a whole staff of kitchen workers from anyone, much less Ramsay. And, since it’s a reality show, personalities can clash, unexpected things often happen in the blink of an eye, and contestants are left scrambling to get back on track after it all goes down. This is life on Hell’s Kitchen and, sometimes, things get real awkward, real fast. But, you’ve already punched your ticket, so get ready to take the ride and see some of the most awkward moments on Hell’s Kitchen.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ramsay called one of the contestants a “plank”
YouTube
Anyone who’s watched footage of Ramsay on his slew of reality shows, from MasterChef to Kitchen Nightmares, must know that he’s never been one to mince words. By now, every contestant surely realizes this, which is why their worst nightmare must be finding themselves on the receiving end of one of his epic reprimands. Alas, Hell’s Kitchen wouldn’t be as popular as it is if the host was a soft-spoken beacon of positivity who built everyone up as often as possible. No, viewers tune in to see Ramsay tear into the fearful faces of those trying to impress him. So, you’d better believe he held nothing back in the pilot episode of the series.
ADVERTISEMENT
At one point in the episode, Ramsay stood in front of covered dishes cooked by all the contestants. One by one, he revealed each meal, called the contestant who cooked it to the table, and gave a brutally honest opinion of their work. When one contestant, an executive chef named Chris, approached the table to see how his cedar plank-cooked salmon fared, he was met with a brutal Ramsay insult almost immediately. After hearing Chris’s description, the host was unimpressed. “I think you’re a plank,” Ramsay said. “Plank means ‘an idiot.'” After tearing apart the salmon dish, Ramsay instructed Chris to “be a good plank, and get back in line.” Ouch! It may have been one of the worst dishes to come out of Hell’s Kitchen.
ADVERTISEMENT
One Hell’s Kitchen chef left the roe on scallops
YouTube
No one can argue about how hard it is to impress a chef with a resume full of Michelin stars. But, when it does come time to step up to the plate, you have to do everything you possibly can to make sure you take a swing at that metaphorical pitch and crank it out as far into the outfield as you can. Even though it’s tough to ensure every single nook and cranny is covered in a chaotic kitchen, much less on a reality show set, the basics must be done well, lest you incur the wrath of Ramsay. One contestant named Michael realized he completely missed something very basic about his scallop dish and quickly learned how awkward things could get.
ADVERTISEMENT
Once Ramsay pulled the metal lid off the dish, Michael timidly approached the table. The host stabbed a scallop with his fork and held it up to the contestant, who almost instantly knew that he had screwed up big time. Ramsay, confused at what he was seeing, asked Michael, “What is that?” to which the contestant sheepishly responded, “The roe, sir.” As anyone who likes scallops knows, the roe, or eggs, are always removed before serving. Ramsay forced Michael to take a bite of the roe. Even though the contestant told Ramsay he didn’t think “it’s that bad,” the host swiftly told Michael that he has “the palate of a cow’s backside.”
Hell’s Kitchen contestants argued about kitchen efficiency
When you bring a bunch of random people together on a reality television show, the casting directors know exactly who they want on set. After all, drama sells, so the personalities of the people selected will likely clash over the course of the show. Fights get ratings and, even though it’s a bummer that people have to quarrel, it’s kind of the point of reality television, at least if you’re being honest with yourself. The contestants chosen for Hell’s Kitchen are no different and so they have frequently found themselves at odds over their culinary strategy.
During one lunch table team meeting, things got heated quickly after Chris, an executive chef, tore into fellow contestant Jeff over kitchen efficiency. As Ramsay often loudly reminds everyone, efficiency is the name of the game when it comes to restaurant service. Chefs who are little more than an efficiency roadblock do not go unnoticed. Chris, clearly upset by how Ramsay felt about his team’s kitchen performance, began to vent, with Jeff singled out as the source of the problem. Jeff asked Chris, “What do you have on my a** today?” He then got up from his seat in anger while Chris implored Jeff to wait while he finished his sentence. Needless to say, Jeff disagreed with the point Chris was making and stormed off, leaving the rest of the team to sit around the table in ultra-awkward silence.
People who have never made their own pasta have no idea how much energy it takes to produce all those strands of starchy goodness. Home chefs make the easy choice of buying the premade dry stuff because tossing a handful of fettuccine into boiling water is a heck of a lot easier to prepare. But, in order to know just how talented the show’s contestants were, one Hell’s Kitchen challenge involved two teams making their own pasta as quickly as possible. And the way the pasta was presented had several contestants looking pretty unusual.
