Aziza Young

“

I don't know what squab is. I've never even heard of it. But I'm going to research squab-- I'm gonna Google it.

”

Hometown/Residence	Harrisburg, PA
Occupation	Kitchen Manager
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	2 out of 5
Challenges Won	2
Services Won	4
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	13th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	Let the Catfights Begin

Aziza Young was a contestant on Season 16 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 13th place.

Season 16

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 1601 - When the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

On the bus ride to Hell's Kitchen, the chefs were expecting to arrive at the restaurant, but it instead pulled up to an army base. After leaving the bus, the chefs lined up in front of their own duffel bags, and as the Drill Sargent was barking out orders, a tank pulled up behind him, and Ramsay came out of it. Then, Ramsay explained that before the chefs could enter Hell’s Kitchen, he wanted to make sure that they all had the discipline to survive, noting that the army was the perfect example to prepare them. After, Ramsay said that if they could survive boot camp, then he will be convinced that they were worthy of competing. After changing into their uniforms, the chefs were put through an obstacle course and jogged over to Ramsay who was in front of a giant wall, which he called the toughest challenge. After the chefs claimed that they were ready, Ramsay was happy to hear it as the wall fell on him, revealing the front of the restaurant, and a large crowd waiting for them. Now that he saw the chef’s commitment and desire to compete, Ramsay announced that it was time for them to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Aziza was the fifth person from the red team to have her dish judged and went up against Matt. She made a salmon dish, and while it was praised for tasting good, Ramsay called the presentation dreadful, even calling it something that you would want to eat in the dark, and she scored 2 points. The red team eventually won the challenge 28-25, and they were rewarded with a ride on a stretch Hummer limousine, dinner at the Takami Restaurant with Ramsay, and a chance to meet Christina (Season 4) and Scott (Season 12).

During dinner service, Aziza was on the garnish station. She was not seen that night, and the red team won the service by a mile.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 1602 - Crepe Grand Prix

Before the Crepe Grand Prix Challenge, Aziza asked if she could have a turn with the race car, but was disappointed when it was revealed that they had to race in golf carts, as she wanted to drive a race car. She was in a three-man team with Jessica and Shaina, and out of their third attempts, two of them were accepted, while the third one was rejected as it had less filling than crepe. The red team lost the challenge 9-10, and they were punished by participating in fish delivery day which included taking in seafood, prepping them for the following service, and drinking a fish guts milkshake. During the punishment, she threw up her milkshake.

Before dinner service, Ramsay asked the red team how their punishment was, none of them answered until Aziza claimed that the shake was the worst part. During dinner service, she was on the appetizer station with Jessica. At one point, she got the carbonara refire accepted after Jessica's mistake, and after Gia was told off for asking to make desserts, she accused the latter of tripping and urged her to get back in the game. The red team won the service after completing the blue team's service.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 1603 - The Yolks on Them

During the Ostrich Meat Challenge, Aziza was not seen during the first part. She was paired up with Wendy on the pearl, they were the final pair from the red team to have their dishes judged, and went up against Devin and Paulie. She made a pan-seared pearl with polenta and fried spinach, and while it was praised for having nurtured meat despite David McMillan not being a fan of deep-fried greens, she did not score for the red team. The red team won the challenge 3-1, and they were rewarded with a zip lining experience at Big Bear Lake and got to fly in a private jet.

During dinner service, Aziza was on the meat station with Gia. She was not seen that night, the red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 1604 - Surf Riding & Turf Fighting

Before the Protein Identification Challenge, Aziza excitedly wondered what their next challenge was after seeing a large table of proteins. She was paired up with Shaina, they were the third pair from the red team to compete, and they randomly picked squab and octopus. After getting their first two attempts incorrect, she said that her eyeballs were moving fast as she was trying to make sure they got the right proteins. After six failed attempts, they managed to get their seventh attempt, trout and octopus, half correct. After three more failed attempts, they were finally able to get the correct pairing on their eleventh attempt. However, she admitted that she had no idea what squab was, and wanted to google it later. When the pair of Devin and Koop struggled on the same dish, she wondered asked what a squab was if the blue team could not even figure it out. The red team lost the challenge 13 minutes and 41 seconds to 9 minutes and 46 seconds, and they were punished by making sausages from scratch and eating unknown proteins for lunch.

During dinner service, Aziza was on the fish station with Shaina. At one point, she was almost finished with her scallops despite Heather not being ready, and Ramsay discovered that there was more liquid fat in the pan than he had in his fryers. That forced the red team to start over, Ramsay reminded her that he did not want fried scallops, and she promised not to send any. Eventually, she got her refire accepted, and she deemed her deep-fried attempt as a mistake that would never happen again. The red team eventually won the service.

Episode 5

Main article: Episode 1605 - Walking the Plank

During the Seven Seas Seafood Challenge, Aziza went up against Paulie, she picked the Indian Ocean, and their fish was wahoo, although she admitted that she had no idea what a wahoo looked like. During the cooking, she admitted that she never cooked with wahoo before, but was willing to take the risk. She was the fourth person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and presented her pan-seared wahoo with creamy vegetables. While it was praised for having delicious vegetables, it was criticized for having a raw center in the fish, and she lost that round to Paulie. The red team lost the challenge 4-5, and they were punished by taking in deliveries of vegetables, and prep them for a special seafood chowder appetizer the following service along with both kitchens.

During dinner service, Aziza was on the dessert station. At one point, she revealed that the red team agreed to knock it out that night, and helped out Wendy and Ryan with appetizers. The effort paid out as Estelle’s appetizers were accepted, and the red team was soon pushing out appetizers to the dining room. Near the end of service, she declared that the red team was not getting derailed, and they managed to complete their final ticket. The red team won the service.

Episode 6

Main article: Episode 1606 - Let the Catfights Begin

During the Ingredient Crossword Challenge, Aziza spelled out chicken per Shaina's suggestion, but she spelled it in the middle of the board. During the cooking, she found out that her chicken was raw, but decided to plate it despite that. Because the red team had an extra person, her dish was pulled off for having raw chicken, even though she was pissed that she had yet to show Ramsay her creativity. The red team eventually lost the challenge 16-17, and they were punished by helping Marino with chores for Family Night which included, inflating balloons, resetting the dining room, baking a special batch of cookies for the kids, and organizing crayons.

During the Family Night dinner service, Aziza was on the garnish station. At one point, she decided to be ahead by having all her garnishes ready for the entrées to be served, but Ramsay caught her cooking way too many garnishes that were being stacked further away from her station. Despite that, she recovered from her garnish mishap and sent them up to Ramsay’s approval. Both teams were named joint losers and were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, Shaina accused her of going down the most, but while she admitted that she was overzealous at the start, she felt that she was getting pinned the blame when others shared it.

Aziza was named the red team's first nominee for elimination, with Wendy as the second, and they were joined by Paulie and Devin from the blue team. During her plea, Ramsay asked her what happened that night, and she believed that she got too far ahead over her sides and that her drive came from the kitchen. However, Ramsay told her that she fitted the definition of "the lights are on but no one's home". She was eliminated for her poor performance on garnish, but before leaving, Ramsay praised her for being passionate. During her exit interview, she felt she was not the weakest chef but appreciated the lessons she learned during Hell's Kitchen and was ready for the next chapter.

Ramsay's comment: "Aziza has four kids at home. I think they need her more than I do, unless of course, they're hungry."

Nomination history

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Win
Week 3	Safe
Week 4	Win
Week 5	Win
Week 6	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Aziza became a Private Chef, teaches culinary classes, and does pop up experiences in her home through Chat & Chew Popup.
• In February 2018 she won a cookery award.
• She has competed on the cooking show Chopped.
• On May 27, 2020, she appeared on an episode of Nightline talking about racial profiling.

Trivia

• She is the first contestant to be eliminated when both teams lost in her season.
• She and Gia are the first two chefs to have the same surname and compete on the same season.

Quotes

• "I have never even heard of squab... you: "I'm going to research it," ...I'm going to Google it."
• (After getting wahoo as her ingredient) "I've never made woohoo before."
• (After being eliminated) "I don't feel like I'm the worst cook here. I'm upset, but at the same time I learned so much while being here, so I'm not disappointed in myself. I'm just I know what I have to improve on. So it's just a chapter that's over. Now it starts a new chapter, and you only go up from that."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Aziza and Devin's Intro Spot

Aziza in Red Jacket

Aziza's Confessional

Aziza, Wendy, Paulie, and Devin Nominated

Aziza Eliminated

Aziza's Signature Dish (Episode 1)

Aziza's Ostrich Meat Dish (Pearl Cut) (Episode 3)

Paulie and Aziza's Seven Seas Seafood Dishes (Wahoo) (Episode 5)

Aziza's Ingredient Crossword Dish (Not Judged) (Episode 6)

External links

• Aziza Young on Instagram
• Aziza Young on Twitter