The Cook For Your Life Challenge is an individual elimination challenge in Hell's Kitchen, happening during the team section of the season.
Overview[]
Instead of a normal service, Ramsay will have a one on one interview with each chef, and give them an update on how they are doing in the competition. After each interview, Ramsay will ask the chef how they would rank his/her teammates from strongest to weakest.
The weakest chef from both teams would then compete in a competition to cook three dishes to be judged by Ramsay himself. The winner gets to stay in the competition, while the loser is automatically eliminated.
Season 17 introduced a new version where two to three chefs from each team each participated in the challenge, with the weakest chef overall being eliminated from Hell’s Kitchen. These would be based on what happened in the previous challenge of that day.
History[]
Season 12[]
Episode 9 of Season 12 marks the first time this challenge happened, when there were 12 chefs left, with 6 on both teams. After the interviews, it was revealed that the blue team deemed Richard as their weakest, while the red team deemed Jessica as their weakest. Both of them were tasked to create a risotto, scallops, and halibut in 30 minutes.[1] In the end, Jessica was eliminated after her lobster risotto was undercooked, and her halibut was overcooked. Before leaving, Jessica cried and begged for Ramsay to keep her in the competition, but Ramsay was unapologetic and Jessica eventually accepted her fate.[2]
Season 14[]
In episode 9, the challenge happened when there were 9 chefs left, with 5 on the red team, and 4 on the blue team. After the interviews, it was revealed that the blue team deemed Randy as their weakest, while the red team deemed Christine as their weakest. Both of them were tasked to make a risotto, a halibut, and a bread pudding. While both made mistakes, it was Christine's critical errors of forgetting a crucial part of the risotto, the tomato confit, and not using the prepared base for the bread pudding. Those mistakes led to her elimination.[3]
Season 17[]
In episode 7, the challenge happened when 12 chefs were remaining, with 6 on both teams. That season featured a few changes. Instead of interviews, Ramsay asked Michelle and Nick, who were the last chefs of their respective teams in the kitchen during the Last Chef Standing Challenge on who they thought were the three weakest chefs on their respective teams. Michelle nominated Barbie, Elise, and Manda, while Nick nominated Giovanni, Milly, and Robyn. The six chefs were tasked to recreate Ramsay's Champagne Oysters dish, with 30 minutes given. Ramsay judged the dishes, and any dish that would beat out another will send that person up to safety. Milly was the first to be safe, followed by Manda, Barbie, and Elise. In the end, Robyn's dish edged out Giovanni's, therefore eliminating the latter.[4]
Season 18[]
In episode 7, this challenge happened when 11 chefs were remaining, 5 on the red team, and 6 on the blue team. The format was mostly similar to Season 17, with three chefs from each team battling it out, only instead of asking the last chefs standing to nominate three people, Ramsay nominated the first three chefs on each team that left the kitchen during the Last Chef Standing Challenge. For the red team, it was Bret, Jose, and Scotley, while for the blue team, it was Gizzy, Roe, and Heather. Each chef had 45 minutes to create any dish of their choosing from a Farmer's Market that Ramsay placed inside Hell's Kitchen. Ramsay judged the dishes, and any dish that would beat out another will send that person up to safety. Bret was the first to be declared safe by Ramsay, followed by Heather, Roe, and Jose. Lastly, Scotley beat out Gizzy's dish, eliminating the latter.[5]
Season 19[]
In episode 8, the challenge happened when there were 10 chefs left, 5 on both teams. For that year, Ramsay had Cody and Nikki, who produced the best dishes in the Craps Challenge, hold private interviews within their teams and nominate two people for the challenge. Later that night, Nikki nominated Lauren and Jordan, while Cody nominated Marc and Amber. The four nominated chefs had 45 minutes to cook their own filet mignon dish with the same ingredients. Amber and Marc were the first two chefs to be sent to safety, and lastly, Jordan was the last chef sent to safety, therefore eliminating Lauren from the competition.[6]
Season 20[]
In episode 8, the challenge happened when there were 11 chefs left, 6 on the red team and 5 on the blue team. For the first time since Season 14, Ramsay held private interviews and used them to come to five chefs to compete in the challenge. The five included Sam, Josie, Keanu, Emily, and Victoria. The five chefs had 45 minutes to cook their own bone-in pork chop dish with the same six ingredients. Ramsay judged the dishes, and any dish that would beat out another will send that person up to safety. Sam was sent up to safety first, followed by Josie and Emily. Lastly, Victoria beat out Keanu's dish, eliminating the latter.[7]
Season 21[]
In episode 8, the challenge happened when there were 11 chefs left, 6 on the blue team and 5 on the red team. For that year, Ramsay nominated the five chefs that did not have their dishes judged in the Game Meat Challenge. These five were Alejandro, Alex, and Vlad from the blue team, and Ileana and Tara from the red team. The five chefs had 40 minutes to cook their own chicken dishes with a vast array of ingredients. Ramsay judged the dishes, and any dish that would beat out another will send that person up to safety. Alejandro was sent to safety first, followed by Tara and Alex. Lastly, Vlad beat out Ileana's dish, eliminating the latter.[8]
Season 22[]
In episode 8, the challenge happened when there were 11 chefs left, 6 on the red team and 5 on the blue team. For that year, Ramsay held private interviews in his office and asked each chef to rank their teammates from strongest to weakest. After the interviews, Ramsay announced that the four chefs competing were Jason, Devon, Sandra, and Atoye. The four chefs had thirty minutes to cook a filet mignon dish of their own creation. Ramsay judged the dishes, and any dish that would beat out another will send that person up to safety. Jason was sent to safety first, followed by Sandra. Lastly, Atoye was sent to safety, therefore eliminating Devon from the competition.[9]
Season 23[]
In episode 8, the challenge happened when there were 11 chefs left, 6 on the blue team and 5 on the red team. For that year, Ramsay nominated the five chefs that failed to score a point during the Secret Ingredient challenge, Anthony, Brandon, and Lulu from the blue team, and Amanda and Ann Marie from the red team. The five chefs had forty-five minutes to cook a lobster dish of their own creation. Ramsay judged the dishes, and any dish that would beat out another will send that person up to safety. Brandon was sent to safety first, followed by Lulu and Amanda. Lastly, Ann Marie beat out Anthony's dish, eliminating the latter.[10]
Trivia[]
- This is the first elimination challenge to be introduced in Hell's Kitchen.
- Jessica (Season 12) was the first contestant to be eliminated by this challenge, while her rival Richard was the first contestant who survived it.[2]
- Giovanni (Season 17) was the first male contestant and the first blue team member to be eliminated by this challenge.[4]
- Milly (Season 17) was the first contestant who participated in this challenge and made it to the black jackets, while his teammate Robyn was the first female contestant who did.[4]
- Alejandro and Alex (both from Season 21) are the first contestants to survive this challenge and make it to the finals afterwards.[8] Alex is the only contestant to this date who went far from this challenge to win the competition afterwards.
- Season 20 marked the first time an odd number of contestants competed in this challenge.
- In Seasons 12, 14, 20, and 22, none of the chefs who participated that challenge make it to the black jackets.
- In Season 20, all the chefs who participated in the challenge were eliminated consecutively through subsequent dinner services and the Black Jackets Challenge.
- In Seasons 17, 18, 19, 21, and 23, a few chefs who survived this challenge either at least made it to the black jackets or the finals.
- In Seasons 19 and 22, filet mignon was the main protein used in this challenge twice.
Gallery[]
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dishes.png "Jessica (S12)'s Cook For Your Life Dishes.png (255 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Manda (17)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (961 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Milly (17)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (612 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Barbie (S17)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1.09 MB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Robyn (17)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (752 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Elise (17)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1,007 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Giovanni (17)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1.06 MB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Roe (18)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (997 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Bret (18)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (989 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Heather (18)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1.05 MB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Emily (S20)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1.46 MB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Alex (S21)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (245 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish_(Filet_Mignon).png "Jason (S22)'s Cook For Your Life Dish (Filet Mignon).png (1.12 MB)")
.png "Atoye's Cook For Your Life Dish (Filet Mignon).png (1,005 KB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish_(Filet_Mignon).png "Sandra (S22)'s Cook For Your Life Dish (Filet Mignon).png (1.03 MB)")
.png "Devon's Cook For Your Life Dish (Filet Mignon).png (1.44 MB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Anthony (S23)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1.34 MB)")
%27s_Cook_For_Your_Life_Dish.png "Amanda (S23)'s Cook For Your Life Dish.png (1.25 MB)")
