Chrissa Schmerler

“

Maybe I am a little quirky and different, but... I don't know what to tell you, it is who I am.

”

Hometown/Residence	Bellmore, NY
Occupation	Food Truck Chef/Owner
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	1 out of 5
Challenges Won	0
Services Won	0
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	18th
Episode Eliminated	18 Chefs Compete

Chrissa Schmerler was a contestant on Season 14 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 18th place.

Season 14

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 1401 - 18 Chefs Compete

When the chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen, the doors were locked, and they noticed that Ramsay was on the roof. Then, he said that in order to see if the chefs were 100% committed, they would jump onto an air mattress from the roof, but Chrissa believed that she would break her neck if she would attempt it. While she was more eager to jump after seeing Enrique and Ruth doing 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, Chrissa was the sixth person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Michael. She made a ginger-crusted chicken breast, revealing that she got inspiration from the cookie aisle at the grocery store. Despite Ramsay being grateful that she did not get inspiration from the pet food aisle, he spat it out, deemed it hideous, and she scored only one point, much to her embarrassment as she was not used to people spitting out her food. The red team lost the challenge 28-31, and they were punished by resetting the dining room for the opening night and sealing confirmation letters in envelopes.

During prep, Chrissa proved to be the only woman unsure of what to do. She also struggled to make a risotto, which T said had too much garlic, not enough salt, and lacked chives and lobster. She also confided to T that she felt terrified, and wanted to run out of the restaurant. Before service began, Ramsay noticed that she looked unfocused, and she asked to go to the bathroom, which a bewildered Ramsay allowed. During dinner service, she was on the garnish station with Sarah. She proved to be completely lost on what to do once again by repeatedly checking the tickets and annoying Sarah and Sous Chef Andi by asking if she should work on desserts or help other people. After Meghan was sent to help Sarah, Chrissa was seen wasting time doing very little to help. After Ramsay noticed this, she was sent to the dining room to help T on the tableside dish. Chrissa could be seen on the garnish station with Sarah before the red team was kicked out of the kitchen.

The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. While Chrissa was not formally considered, she earned the ire of her teammates by doing dishes instead of being part of the discussion, causing Christine to accuse her of not caring about what was going on, before breaking a mug. She said that she didn't want to argue and was helping by making coffee for the team, despite T not wanting some. Then, she asked for the reasons of her nomination, and despite Sarah reminding about how she looked unfocused during most of the service, she retorted that she was. Meghan asked if she was focused, then why did she have to go over to Chrissa's station to help.

Chrissa was the red team's second nominee for elimination, with Monique being the first, and they were called down with Christine. During her plea, she took offense to Christine's comment that she was not taking the competition seriously with the bathroom incident before service, said that she needed only one more service to prove Ramsay what she had and that she was not the reason the red team was kicked out. She was eliminated for being way out of her league and being completely clueless about her situation. She almost left without giving Ramsay her jacket, and had to be reminded to give it to him. During her exit interview, she delusionally felt that she was a beast in the kitchen, and argued that her bathroom emergency was not a sign of weakness.

Ramsay's comment: "There's nothing more terrifying to Chrissa than jumping off a building. But there is nothing more terrifying to me than the thought of having her as my next head chef."

Nomination history

Week 1	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Chrissa returned to her Big Cheese food truck.

Trivia

• She is the fifth contestant to get eliminated on opening night as the second nominee for elimination, following Tiffany (Season 3), Dominic (Season 4), Sebastian (Season 11), and JP (Season 13).
• She is the second contestant to have no confessionals while wearing their chef jacket, following Jason (Season 9).
• She is the seventh female contestant to get eliminated on opening night, following Carolann (Season 1), Polly (Season 2), Tiffany (Season 3), Melinda (Season 6), Stacey (Season 7), and Lisa (Season 8).
• She is the only contestant of that season to never have won a challenge.

Quotes

• (After seeing the ladder fall) "There's no way this is really gonna happen. I'm breaking my neck and I'm going to the ambulance."
• (Explaining her signature dish) "That is ginger crusted chicken. I was in the cookie aisle, I was trying to get ideas and they had ginger cookies."
• "I'm really not used to people spitting out my food, so it was embarrassing."
• (After Ramsay asks if she's alright) "No... I... needed to go to the bathroom before dinner service."
• Chrissa: "I just wanna run out of here, I'm not even gonna-" T: "What do you mean you want to run out of here?" Chrissa: "I'm just terrified, it's scaring me."
• (After breaking a mug) "Who puts a shelf with no backing behind it?"
• (After being eliminated) "I'm not gonna cry, because I know I'm too good for this shit. But it's very heartbreaking, because I know I'm a beast in the kitchen. Chef Ramsay asks before dinner service, 'Are you okay?', that makes me weak because I pee? Maybe I am a little quirky and different, but... I don't know what to tell you, it is who I am."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Chrissa's Intro Spot

Chrissa's Confessional

Chrissa in Red Jacket

Christine, Chrissa, and Monique Nominated

Chrissa Eliminated

Chrissa's Signature Dish (Episode 1)