Season 1 Episodes 1

The first episode of Season 1 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on May 30 2005. On that episode we got to know the contestants of that season and the staff, the teams were divided and one contestant is eliminated not even twelve hours after arriving in Hell’s Kitchen.

Please watch the full episode before you read (below) to avoid spoilers about this episode

Intro

All the contestants arrived in Hell’s Kitchen and celebrated with a champagne glass and getting to know each other, Then Jean-Phillippe and Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann greeted them and gave them 45 minutes to cook their signature dishes.

Signature Dish Challenge

Andrew’s absolute penne was called “Absolute Dogshit” after Ramsay spat it out and then Ramsay told him his 10 years of experience in kitchen were a waste. Mary Ellen’s endive salad was deemed boring and Wendy’s fried rice with Chinese sausage was unimpressive as she did not put lobster in it because she did not know he was coming. Jimmy’s pan-seared chicken breast stuffed with Portabella mushrooms and goat cheese was overcooked outside and raw inside and the carrot tops were bitter, so Ramsay refused to taste them. Ralph’s seared tuna with Hong Kong noodles was called shit by Ramsay and after he told him he was number one at his restaurant, Ramsay did not miss the opportunity of making fun of him in front of everybody. Elsie’s turkey tacos were deemed not bad despite a terrible first Impression. Dewberry’s baked spaghetti was overcooked and compared to children’s food. Chris’s plank-roasted salmon was raw, and when he talked back to Ramsay, he was immediately put in his place by him when Ramsay told he had a lot to learn. Jeff served a steak with mushrooms and sauce and while the sauce was nice, the mushrooms were salty and the steak was overcooked so Ramsay ranked it 1 out of 10. Jessica’s shelled crabs cooked Cajun style were way too hot and Michael scallops which still had the roe on them with a quail egg were disgusting. Finally, Carolann’s chicken parmesan was the only dish who received praise because the chicken was very moist and cooked to perfection and the presentation was appealing.

Teams

Immediately after the challenge, the teams were built. The members of the blue team were Andrew, Mary Ellen, Jessica, Wendy, Ralph and Michael and would be working with Sous Chef Scott. The members of the red team were Jimmy, Elsie, Dewberry, Chris, Carolann and Jeff and would be working with Sous Chef Mary-Ann.

Before service

The first dinner service happened the same day that the contestants arrived in Hell’s Kitchen. So they had to learn 5 appetizers, 5 entrees and 5 desserts in a couple hours. During prep, Chris was shown to be very pretentious as he was mocking his teammates for having less knowledge than he did, claiming he would rather be on a team of dishwashers because they at least know how a kitchen was ran. Ralph and Jeff were assigned as waiters and would work with Jean-Philippe in the dining room.

Dinner service

In the red kitchen, Elsie was on the appetizer station. The first risotto she brought to the pass was completely overcooked, like if it was glued to the plate. When Ramsay waved it around, none of it moved. So, he trashed it and Elsie had to start over. One hour after opening in the blue kitchen, Michael ran out of lobster spaghetti and when he told Ramsay about the problem, Ramsay told him that as long as they got live lobsters and pasta, there was no reason to take it out of the menu. So Michael ran in the back store to get live lobsters. One of the blue team’s table got up to the kitchen and talk to Ramsay about the long wait, but when they arrived to talk with him, he told them to shut the fuck up and told the blue team to ignore the bimbos. So the ladies went back to their table and after that when Chris sent an overcooked salmon to the pass, Ramsay smacked the fish in his chest, telling him to redo the whole table over. Then, Jimmy sent what Ramsay called “a dog’s dinner” to the pass and while asking him if he would serve that, Jimmy answer he would not and Ramsay smacked it in his chest exactly like he did with Chris.

In the blue Kitchen, Andrew provoked Ramsay by asking if he would come down to tell him if the dessert he made was acceptable. So, Ramsay went to his face by telling him that he was not going to move from the hot plate and come down to him and that if he had a question, he had to come down to the hot plate himself. After her disastrous risotto, Elsie sent a second one hoping to redeem herself, which she successfully did. After a lot of struggling on the meat station, Jimmy was hoping to do the same as Elsie but when he went to the oven and grab the lamb, he did it with his bare hand, leading him to burn his left hand and see the medic. After Elsie was also struggling on the appetizer station, she reached over for some help from Carolann, which she was on desserts but the latter was doing nothing but staring at her team and waiting. When Jeff went to the hot plate ready to give his ticket to Ramsay, he was shut down by him telling he was not ready to take another order. In the blue kitchen, Wendy ran out of potatoes and the ladies who were called “bimbos” the first time went back to the kitchen one more time but were shut down even harder by Ramsay who asked Jean-Philippe to escort them back to plastic surgery. Despite some entrees were approved to get out of both kitchens, customers were so fed up of the wait that they walked out of the restaurant. After witnessing this, Ramsay shut down both kitchens.

Post-mortem

Ramsay chose the winning team by referring to the customers card. In the red team over half of the customers had an experience below average and got one only dessert. Jeff was disliked by everybody and after telling Ramsay that it was an horrible experience, Ramsay reminded him ironically that he wanted to win his own restaurant. In the blue team, Ralph was liked by most of his customers and Andrew sent four desserts out but nobody liked them. At the end, he declared the red team losers but told the blue team that they did not win and that they were just safe. Also he declared Elsie “best of the worst because of her consistency after her disastrous first risotto and asked her to nominate two members of her team for elimination.

Back in the dorms, Elsie did not like being in that position and Jimmy did not feel like talking to her as he knew he had no chance of staying after his poor performance. Carolann told Elsie that she kicked ass that night but Elsie left to lie down for a bit and brought Dewberry with her. Dewberry admitted that while he was not happy being here, he also did not want to leave the competition while Dewberry feared he would be sent home that night, Elsie promised Dewberry that he would not be going anywhere meanwhile Jeff confined in Wendy that he might be going home due to the fact that all of his tables hated him and Elsie began to decide who she would nominate.

Elimination

Elsie nominated Carolann because of her lack of knowledge and despite convincing Dewberry that he was not going anywhere, she made him her second nominee because of his lack of energy and interest. After hearing Elsie’s nominees, Ramsay told Jimmy and Jeff that both of them dodged a bullet. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Carolann because of her lack of teamwork and experience. During her exit interview, Carolann expressed anger that her opportunity was gone and felt very disappointed.

Ramsay’s comment: “Some can handle it, some can’t. I’m not interested in the ones who can’t!”

My Opinion

Hell kitchen look very odd to the hell kitchen now. I explain later on. The significance dish challenge was the first challenge of season one and hell kitchen and it is the important one to introduce yourself to Gordon Ramsay.

Hell kitchen look odd because Gordon is more tough on them. The kitchen is less organised than hell kitchen now. The narrator is more calm.

 Significance dish challenge

It was the worst significance dish challenge because almost everyone dish was bad to Gordon. For example Wendy didn’t put lobster in because she didn’t know he was coming but she was told he was coming by one of the Sous chef. I thought Elise dish was a bit basic to do and Dewberry’s dish looked a fucking mess.

Dinner service

Elise first dish of tonight didn’t move a tiny bit on the plate. The two ladies who came to the hot plate was asking to get told to fuck off. Chris have a plate smack off his chest after he know he sent it wrong then Jimmy said he won’t let chef do the same to him but seconds later Gordon did the same thing to Jimmy. Carolann don’t look like she can give a shit about her team. The ladies went back to the hot plate to get roasted by Gordon again. Dewberry didn’t move a muscle.

Elimination

I thought that Jimmy and Dewberry would be up for elimination because Jimmy burned his hand and cooked badly, Dewberry didn’t move at all and Dewberry to left hell kitchen but Carolann and Dewberry was up. I thought that it was a dick move pulled by Elise by telling Dewberry that she was not going up. I can see why Gordon got rid of Carolann also I thought that both of them give a shit excuse to stay at hell kitchen.

My comment: Dewberry didn’t move a muscle tonight, the only movement he did was leaving hell kitchen.