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This is really happening. He's right there. He's about to eat my food. Hi.

Ava Harren was a contestant on Season 20 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 18th place.

Season 20[]

Episode 1/2[]

Main article: Episode 2001 - Young Guns: Young Guns Come Out Shooting
Main article: Episode 2002 - Young Guns: Temping the Meat

The eighteen Young Guns arrive at Las Vegas on a bus heading to Hell's Kitchen, and they drove past the real Hell's Kitchen restaurant. The bus arrived at Hell's Kitchen, where Marino greeted the chefs. Marino explained that Ramsay created a museum to celebrate the past nineteen seasons in honor of the twentieth season. Giving the tour were Shakala and Sean, who led the chefs into the museum. As the chefs toured the museum, they saw photos of past contestants, hung jackets, the Hell's Kitchen Wall of Fame, and lines said from the past seasons. Then, they see video clips of moments from the show. The last stop was an exhibit of the doors used to reveal the winner of each season. Sean said that the final part of the tour was a documentary film about the show's history. However, the curtain pulled back to reveal an audience waiting for them and Ramsay on a stage behind them. As the chefs walked to Ramsay, Ava said she loved photoshoots as she recently competed in a bikini show, even revealing her muscles in the confessionals. Once on stage, Ramsay explained that the museum was meant to showcase the past, while the eighteen of them were the future. Ramsay added that the desire to become a chef was a dream for many young people, and food has evolved over the years since the show began. So, Ramsay announced that the winner of that season would become his protégé and become the new Head Chef at Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Afterwards, Ramsay announced the Signature Dish Challenge and gave the chefs 45 minutes to cook their dishes

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Ava said it was happening and was ready. She revealed that she ran a meal prep business in the red kitchen but planned to use her Ava's Flava Chicken to wow Ramsay. She was the eighth person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Alex. She told Ramsay she came from Alaska, making her the first Alaskan-born contestant in the show's history. She made Ava's Flava Chicken, but it had undercooked rice and bland broccoli, which Ramsay noted as she called it Flava Chicken. She scored two points as a result, and the red team won the challenge 30-28. They were rewarded with dinner at Gordon Ramsay Steak 2.0 and had three previous winners joining them: Season 17 Michelle, Season 18 Ariel, and Sous Chef Christina.

The following day, Ava said she respected mixologists and alcohol but also did not want to intake the calories.[1] During the Alcohol Challenge, she asked Megan and Morgana for some space on her station as she wanted to impress Ramsay after getting a two on her signature dish. She said Alaskans were well known for their salmon but would be shamed if she screwed up. However, her bourbon pineapple reduction burned when she poured the alcohol in, and it smoked up her pan much to her dismay. Turning her element down, she hoped her salmon would cook all the way through. Her dish was not chosen as the Top Three of the red team as it was undercooked, and Brynn felt her dish was the worst of the group. She was called up by Brynn as the first of the red team's Bottom Three dishes. She presented her bourbon marinated grilled pineapple with soy Worcester salmon. It was criticized for looking knackered and having raw salmon. Ramsay reminded her of the irony of her raw salmon as he knew Alaska was well known for salmon. She was disappointed because she served raw salmon.

After tasting the dishes, Ramsay named Ava as the red team's nominee for having the worst dish, and she joined Matthew from the blue team. During her plea, she felt she had excellent time management and leadership skills that could be brought to managing a restaurant. Still, she thought she focused too much on the flavors and not on the meat. She was eliminated for serving raw salmon. She knew she had high expectations during her exit interview but knew she failed on the first two challenges. However, she thought that Matthew should have been eliminated instead for serving raw chicken.[2]

Ramsay gave no comment on her elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence. However, her jacket and burnt picture were briefly shown during Alex's coat hanging sequence. She received the full portrait burning sequence during the recap in Episode 16.[3]

Nomination History[]

Week 1 Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen[]

  • After her appearance on the show, Ava returned to being owner of Avaflava's, a meal prep company, along with doing modeling,

Trivia[]

  • She is the first contestant from the state of Alaska.[4]
  • She is the third contestant to be nominated in the first individual challenge, following Nikki and Jordan (both from Season 19). From this bunch, she is the first female contestant to do so and being eliminated.
  • She is the second contestant and first female that was formally eliminated before the first dinner service, following Kenneth (Season 19).
  • She is the fourth contestant that did not compete in an opening night following Antonia (Season 8), Jason (Season 9), and Kenneth (Season 19).
  • She is the third contestant to rank 18th place that did not compete in an opening night, following Jason (Season 9) and Kenneth (Season 19).
  • At the age of 22, she is tied with Tavon (Season 10) for being the youngest contestant to rank last place.

Quotes[]

  • "This is really happening. He's right there. He's about to eat my food. Hi."
  • (After being eliminated) "My expectations coming into this competition was pretty high. I thought I had a good shot, but my first two challenges sucked. But at the end of the day, Matthew had uncooked chicken, and I think maybe he should be standing here."

Gallery[]

External links[]

References[]

Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns
Staff
Gordon Ramsay (Head Chef) • Jay Santos (Blue Team Sous Chef) • Christina Wilson (Red Team Sous Chef) • Marino Monferrato (Maître d'hôtel)
Contestants
Kevin ArguetaJosie ClemensPayton CooperSam GarmanTrenton GarveyBrynn GibsonMegan GillSteve GlennAva HarrenEmily HershKeanu HoganMatthew Francis JohnsonAlex LenikAntonio RuizJay SmithVictoria SonoraMorgana VeseyKiya Wilhelm
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