“ | Chef Ramsay is really intimidating. | ” |
Cameron Spagnolo was a contestant on Season 14 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 17th place.
Season 14[]
Episode 1[]
- Main article: Episode 1401 - 18 Chefs Compete
When the chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen, Cameron tried to open the front doors, but they were locked. Moments later, he noticed Ramsay on the roof and compared him to an angel. Then, Ramsay revealed an air mattress, saying that the chefs would jump on it from the roof in order to see if they were 100% committed. While he was more eager to jump after seeing Enrique and Ruth do it, Ramsay revealed that it was not necessary as those two were stunt people, and asked the chefs to cook their signature dishes.
During the Signature Dish Challenge, Cameron was the eighth person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay and went up against T. He made coriander rubbed rack of lamb, Ramsay praised it for having a nicely cooked lamb, and he scored four points. The blue team won the challenge 31-28, and they were rewarded with a Hummer limousine ride to Saint Rocke, in Hermosa Beach, to meet William Shatner, and had a picture taken with the latter and Billy Sherwood.
During dinner service, Cameron was on the appetizer station with Nick. While he knew that the appetizer station would set the tone for the rest of the night, his risotto was rejected for not having enough butter or salt. Despite that, the blue team eventually won the service.[1]
Episode 2[]
- Main article: Episode 1402 - 17 Chefs Compete
During the Crab Challenge, Cameron was in a boat with Nick, Milly, Adam, and Brendan for the first part, and they managed to collect five crabs. During the second part, he was paired with Brendan, and they were seen getting two of their attempts accepted. The blue team lost the challenge 7-10, which made him feel that they themselves were the reason they lost, and they were punished by prepping shrimp, clams, and lobster for a seafood special during the next service.
During the punishment, Cameron told the men to wear gloves when cleaning the sea urchins as they were poisonous, but Brendan felt that he was delusional on how good he was. Josh was annoyed by his know-it-all attitude and warned him to have his big feet up his ass. He realized that his teammates were annoyed by his attitude, and left the blue kitchen in the middle of the punishment. However, while he believed that he was the strongest cook on the blue team, the rest of the men were pissed that he left, even when he decided to come back and help. Despite that, he apologized to Josh over his attitude, and the latter accepted his apologies.
During dinner service, Cameron was on the fish station with Brendan. He got confused about Milly’s response for appetizers and sent raw scallops. While he knew that he fucked up, Ramsay told him that he was cooking the scallops with too much oil in the pan, before giving him a demonstration on how to properly cook them. However, he felt intimidated by Ramsay’s presence, continued to struggle on the refire, and when he sent his scallops, they were overcooked. In the pantry room, he took the blame for that incident, and after Brendan sent burnt salmon, Ramsay forced the two of them to eat their mistake at the chef's table, and he felt very humbled by the situation. He was kicked out of the kitchen, along with Brendan and Michael, and back in the dorms, tried to reassure Brendan that he would not go home.
The blue team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Cameron considered Michael as he was the weakest chef on the blue team. However, Michael reminded him about how he was pushed away by him before he dropped his scallops, and was considered by Milly and Bret for his poor performance on fish, with Bret adding that he should go home if he could not cook scallops in front of Ramsay. However, he stated that he would fight to stay in the competition if he was nominated.
Cameron was the blue team's first nominee for elimination, with Michael being the second. During his plea, he said that he could learn from his mistakes, but Ramsay noticed that he was looking very nervous, and despite reminding him that he was there to help, he admitted that he crumbled when Ramsay came to his station earlier. He was eliminated for his poor performance on fish, and being too intimidated by Ramsay's presence. During his exit interview, he admitted that was not as smart as he thought he was.
Ramsay's comment: "Cameron was too intimidated to perform when I was watching him. So I did him a favor and made sure that he doesn't have to be around me anymore." [2]
Episode 16[]
- Main article: Episode 1416 - Winner Chosen
Ramsay mentioned that his favorite challenge was taking Cameron's jacket, mocking him for being intimidated to which Milly stated that the blue team had discussed that matter every day since it happened.[3]
Nomination history[]
Week 1 | Win |
---|---|
Week 2 | Nominated |
Post Hell's Kitchen[]
- After his appearance on the show, Cameron went working at Yale Club, in New York City and is still working there today.
Trivia[]
- His elimination became a running gag throughout the season, as Ramsay mocked his "I feel intimidated" line and declared, during the end credits of the final episode, that eliminating him was his favorite challenge of the season.
Quotes[]
- (After seeing Ramsay on the roof) "It was like seeing an angel. I thought he was just gonna have, like, wings just pop out of the back of his coat and be like (whip noise)."
- "Chef Ramsay is really intimidating."
- (While being forced to eat the salmon that he ruined) "Very humbling for me."
- (After being kicked out of the kitchen) "I wanna throw up... but I just ate so much salmon."
- (To Ramsay) "I crumbled when you came over my shoulder, I-I'm-I'll be honest. You're intimidating, I lost it, I lost it."
- (After being eliminated) "I really really wanted to win, to show everybody that I'm a good cook, I'm a great person and I deserve it. You know I buckled under the pressure, I was intimidated and a I lost my sense of cooking and it cost me. I'm not as smart as I think I am, I guess."
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ (March 3, 2015). "Episode 1401 - 18 Chefs Compete". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 14. Episode 1.
- ↑ (March 10, 2015). "Episode 1402 - 17 Chefs Compete". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 14. Episode 2.
- ↑ (June 9, 2015). "Episode 1416 - Winner Chosen". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 14. Episode 16.
Hell's Kitchen Season 14 |
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Staff |
Gordon Ramsay (Head Chef) • James Avery (Blue Team Sous Chef) • Andi Van Willigan-Cutspec (Red Team Sous Chef) • Marino Monferrato (Maître d'hôtel) |
Contestants |
Sarah Baumert • Randy Bell • Nick Peters Bond • Monique Booker • Michael Dussault • Meghan Gill • T Gregoire • Mieka Houser • Bret Hauser • Christine Hazel • Adam Livow • Milly Medley • Brendan Pelley • Alison Rivera • Chrissa Schmerler • Cameron Spagnolo • Michelle Tribble • Josh Trovato |