Elimination Ceremony

Elimination Ceremony
Season 1's Jeff and Dewberry being nominated for elimination.
Gameplay
Description	A ceremony where the losing team(s) nominate one or two of their own for elimination.

The Elimination Ceremony is one of the main aspects of Hell's Kitchen and is used to decide who goes home each night.

Overview

After each service, Ramsay will ask the losing team (or teams) to nominate people they think deserved to go home that night. In the first four seasons, Ramsay would name one person from the losing team as "Best of the Worst" and gave the person the sole responsibility of nominating who they felt should go home. From Season 5 onward, the entire team will be tasked with the nominations, and very rarely would Ramsay name somebody "Best of the Worst" unless their performance was outstanding compared to their teammates.

The losing team (or teams) goes back to the dorms to discuss who should go up for nomination. Everything from what happened that night or on performance overall is taken into consideration.

After deliberation, the losing team (or teams) go back downstairs to the dining room where Ramsay is waiting. The winning team is also present, watching from the sidelines. Ramsay will then ask somebody from the losing team who their nominees were, and that person will announce that nominee with a short explanation of why they were picked. Afterwards, Ramsay will call those people down to the front, and on rare occasions, call down who he felt deserved to be down as well. In the rarer moments, Ramsay can overrule a nomination if he thought that person did not deserve to be nominated and pick who deserved it more. Once down, the nominees are given a chance to plead their case on why they should stay in Hell's Kitchen, and Ramsay can ask them questions if he so chooses. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay will announce who was going home. However, it can be the initially nominated person or somebody else Ramsay felt has overstayed their welcome despite not being nominated. The eliminated chef is then required to turn in their jacket to Ramsay and walk out of the restaurant to give a final interview about their experience.

However, on rare occasions, if a chef performs well enough throughout the competition or impresses Ramsay in some way, they are allowed to keep their jacket as a reminder of their achievements.

At the end of each elimination ceremony, Ramsay will head back to his office with the eliminated chef's jacket and hang it up on a hook. He will also usually make a comment describing why he eliminated the chef from the competition. In Season 1, Ramsay would hang the jackets in the order of who was eliminated. From Season 2 onward, the coat hanging was followed by the eliminated chef's portrait burning up, leaving only the HK logo behind.

Different variants

On some occasions, Ramsay will change up the eliminations if he so chooses.

Withdrawal

More information at Withdrawal.

Ejection

Season 3's Josh getting eliminated in the middle of dinner service.

If a chef performs very poorly during dinner service, Ramsay loses his patience and eliminates the chef on the spot. The eliminated chef is required to hand over their jacket, head back to the dorms to pack up, and leave through the loading area where a taxi is waiting for them. On eleven different occasions, Ramsay has ordered chefs to leave through the front doors in front of the diners. The times it happened were:

Season	Chef Count	Chef	Reason
Season 3	Five Chefs	Josh Wahler	Josh kept firing appetizers not on order, frustrating Ramsay. When one of the diners sent his risotto back for being raw, Ramsay lost his patience and eliminated Josh on the spot, ensuring he turned in his jacket by following him after he left the kitchen.
Season 5	Ten Chefs: Five on both teams	J Maxwell	J started the night poorly when he overcooked both kitchens' rice supply, forcing Ramsay to pull the risotto off the menu. Then, J had a poor performance on fish, serving a burnt salmon and overcooked scallops. Eventually, Ramsay lost his patience and eliminated J on the spot.
	Nine Chefs: Five on the Red Team and Four on the Blue Team	Lacey D'Angelo	Lacey had a complete meltdown on meat, to the point where she said she had no idea what she was doing, much to the annoyance to both her teammates and Ramsay. Ramsay had enough when Lacey sent up a poorly cut lamb where the bone was thicker than the meat and eliminated her on the spot.
Season 6	Sixteen Chefs: Eight on both teams	Louie Cordio	When the men got to entrées, Louie almost put a rack of lamb into the oven without searing it off first until Ramsay stopped him. Then, Ramsay caught Louie prepping garnishes when it was not his place, and when the latter did send up his lamb, Ramsay accused him of biting into one of the pieces as it looked ragged. Even worse, Ramsay found out that Louie wasted most of the lamb supply for the men, angering him to the point he eliminate the latter on the spot.
Season 7	Seven Chefs: Four on the Red Team and Three on the Blue Team	Nilka Hendricks	Nilka had a meltdown on fish, which included serving raw scallops, a raw turbot, and served a lobster tail with the wrong sauce. Despite Ramsay giving her a strict warning, Nilka sent up a raw lobster tail, and she got eliminated on the spot. Nilka begged Ramsay not to send her home and even came back into the kitchen to continue cooking. However, Ramsay stood by his word and had others force her out of the kitchen.
Season 12	Seven Chefs: Four on the Blue Team and Three on the Red Team	Michael Gabriel	Gabriel had problems on fish that night, including cooking scallops not on order and sending up overcooked scallops for a ten-top table. However, Gabriel's problems with the salmon were the main problem as his first attempt was dry, the second had soggy skin, and the third attempt was raw. This mistake was the last straw for Ramsay, and he eliminated Gabriel on the spot before ordering him to walk out the front entrance.
Season 15	Fourteen Chefs: Seven on both teams	Kevin Ridlon	Kevin had poor timings on scallops as he dropped them when Alan needed five minutes on his dish and served an overcooked serving. Although Ramsay showed Kevin how to cook the scallops properly, he ended up serving a refire that was both overcooked and raw. That caused Ramsay to lose his patience and eliminate Kevin on the spot.
Season 17		Josh Trovato	Josh's performance on garnish was slow and frantic to the red team's liking, but what drove Ramsay up the wall was Josh holding cold garnishes in his hands when the cooked proteins were at the pass. So, Ramsay kicked Josh out of the kitchen, but the latter decided to come back and fight for a second chance after some time. However, despite Ramsay praising Josh's big heart and talent, there was no other way for him to continue any longer. Josh was eliminated on the spot and ordered to walk out the front entrance.
Season 18	Fifteen Chefs: Eight on the Blue Team and Seven on the Red Team	Jen Gavin	Jen performed poorly on garnish and showed an attitude towards her team, Sous Chef Jocky, and even Ramsay. At one point, Jen served up under portioned leeks for two duck dishes, but when Ramsay showed her and the veterans the pan, she accused him of dumping the pan out and trying to make her look like a fool. Infuriated by that, and along with Jen continuing her accusations, Ramsay eliminated her on the spot and sent her out the front entrance, warning the other veterans they would be ejected from the competition as well if they didn't get a grip.
Season 19	Thirteen Chefs: Seven on the Blue Team and Six on the Red Team	Peter Martinez	Peter had a frantic performance on garnish, needing both his team and Ramsay's help at specific points. Then, Ramsay asked the blue team if they had what it took to become his next Head Chef, but while most said yes, Peter, who was growing disillusioned with the competition, said no. With that, Ramsay eliminated Peter on the spot, and after packing up at the dorms, he walked out the front entrance.
Season 20	Twelve Chefs: Six on both teams	Kevin Argueta	Kevin had a terrible start on fish as he sent three raw lobster tails up for the first order in an hour. Then, he stalled on entrées with his salmon, causing Steve and Trenton's lamb to go overcooked. Seeing that Kevin was not bouncing back from his mistakes that night and not having his head in the game any longer, Ramsay had no other choice but to eliminate him on the spot.

Trivia

• Josh (Season 3) is the first chef to be eliminated during dinner service and is the only black jacket chef to be eliminated in that manner.
• J (Season 5) is the first person on the blue team to be eliminated during dinner service.
• Lacey (Season 5) is the first female to be eliminated that way.
• Season 5 is the only season where Ramsay eliminated two people in this situation and the only time it happened in two consecutive services.
• Louie (Season 6) is the fastest person to be eliminated during service, having been eliminated during the opening night.
• Nilka (Season 7) is the first person on the red team to be eliminated during dinner service.

Eliminated on the Winning team

Season 5's Carol being eliminated despite the red team winning service

Even if a team wins a dinner service, Ramsay can sometimes eliminate somebody from the winning team if they performed very poorly compared to the other chefs. The times it happened were:

Season	Chef Count	Chef	Reason
Season 5	Seven Chefs: Four on the Red Team and Three on the Blue Team	Carol Scott	Despite the red team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Carol as she was responsible for undercooking the team's gratin dauphinoise in the first place and did not attempt to bounce back.
Season 7	Ten Chefs: Five on both teams	Salvatore Coppola	Despite the blue team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Salvatore for his constant struggles and having only one good service out of the seven so far.
Season 8	Thirteen Chefs: Seven on the Blue Team and Six on the Red Team	Raj Brandston	Despite the blue team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Raj for being the worst performer in the first three services and painfully showing he was out of his depth.
Season 11	Sixteen Chefs: Eight on both teams	Jeremy Madden	Despite the blue team winning the breakfast service, Ramsay eliminated Jeremy after the former caught the latter trying to serve a sample plate of scrambled eggs.
Season 14	Eight Chefs: Four on both teams	Randy Bell	Despite the blue team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Randy for showing a lack of leadership and experience.
Season 15	Ten Chefs: Five on both teams	Joe Ricci	Despite the blue team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Joe because he continuously struggled in services.
Season 16	Fifteen Chefs: Eight on the Red Team, Seven on the Blue Team	Gia Young	Despite the red team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Gia for giving up on garnish and not improving her attitude after giving her a warning.
Season 17	Sixteen Chefs: Eight on both teams	Ben Walanka	Despite the blue team winning that night's service, Ramsay eliminated Ben as he feared the latter's health problems would hinder him in the long run.

Trivia

• Carol (Season 5) is the first chef to eliminated while on the winning team.
• Salvatore (Season 7) is the first male to be eliminated while on the winning team.
• Ben (Season 17) is the earliest chef to be eliminated while on the winning team, having been eliminated after the opening night.
• The longest streak of this variant is four seasons, beginning from Season 14 and ending at Season 17.

Eliminated during the Post-Mortem

Season 6's Tennille Eliminated during the Post-Mortem

If an individual performed very poorly during dinner service, Ramsay could just cut to the chase during the post-mortem and eliminate that person on the spot. The times it happened were:

Season	Chef Count	Chef	Reason
Season 6	Four Chefs	Tennille Middleton	Tennille was the only black jacket chef who performed poorly that night, and Ramsay decided not to waste any time eliminating her as he did not want to prolong her agony.
Season 13	Ten Chefs: Five on both teams	Frank Bilotti	Frank had a horrendous performance on fish, which led to the red team's defeat. Although Ramsay asked the red team to name two people for elimination, he quickly changed his mind and eliminated Frank on the spot.
	Seven Chefs: Four on the Red Team, Three on the Blue Team	Sterling Wright	Sterling's poor performance on fish led Ramsay to eliminate him during the post-mortem.

Trivia

• Tennille (Season 6) is the first person to be eliminated during the post-mortem.
• Frank (Season 13) is the first male to be eliminated that way.
• So far, all the contestants who were eliminated during the post-mortem were from the fish station, in which they had a poor performance.

Double Elimination

Season 11's Amanda and Barret. Both eliminated after the Quinceañera Service.

Starting from Season 7, assuming there are four chefs remaining. Ramsay would make a shocking announcement that he would be cutting the field in half right before the finale during elimination, therefore eliminating two chefs instead of one. However, outside of this, Ramsay can eliminate more than one person in a single night, making good on an earlier warning he gave to the chefs. The times it happened were:

Season	Chef Count	Chefs	Reason
Season 11	Twelve Chefs: Six on both teams	Amanda and Barret	After both teams performed poorly on the Quinceañera dinner service, Ramsay eliminated both Amanda and Barret for being the worst performers of the night.
Season 15	Five Chefs	Manda and Jared	After a poor performance from both Manda and Jared, Ramsay decided to eliminate both of them.
Season 16	Ten Chefs: Five on both teams	Shaina and Matt	After both teams performed poorly at dinner service, Ramsay eliminated both Shaina and Matt for being the worst performers of the night.
	Five Chefs	Kimberly and Paulie	After a poor performance, both Kimberly and Paulie were nominated for elimination. Ramsay decided to eliminate both.
Season 21	Eighteen Chefs: Nine on both teams	Charlene and Zeus	After a poor performance from the blue team at dinner service, Ramsay decided to eliminate Charlene for being the worst performer, and Zeus for nominating himself.
	Fourteen Chefs: Seven on both teams	Billy and Alyssa	After both teams performed poorly on Trenton and Macee's Wedding Service, Ramsay decided to eliminate both Billy and Alyssa for being the worst performers of the night.
Season 22	Six Chefs	Leigh and Dahmere	After a mediocre performance from both Leigh and Dahmere, Ramsay decided to eliminate both of them.

Trivia

• Amanda and Barret (both from Season 11) are the first pair of chefs to be eliminated on the same night during the elimination ceremony.
• Manda and Jared (both from Season 15) are the first pair of chefs to be eliminated on the same night during the elimination ceremony as black jacket chefs.
• Seasons 15, 16, and 22 are the only seasons to date where Ramsay eliminated two black jacket chefs on the same night.
• Seasons 16 and 21 are the only seasons where Ramsay eliminated two chefs on the same night in two different elimination ceremonies.
• Charlene and Zeus are the first pair of chefs to be eliminated on the same night during the elimination ceremony while under the same team.
• Season 21 is the only season to date to have two different double eliminations during the team phase of the competition.

Elimination Challenges

More info at Cook For Your Life Challenge, Black Jackets Challenge and Final Menu Challenge.

Season 18's Jose, Bret, Scotley, Gizzy, Heather, and Roe competing in the Cook For Your Life Challenge.

In Season 12, Ramsay introduced the Cook For Your Life Challenge. It was an elimination challenge where two chefs would cook against each other for the chance to stay in the competition. The loser was automatically eliminated.

From Season 16 onward, the Black Jackets Challenge was updated to become this. Each chef competed for a black jacket, and the lone chef that did not get one at the end was eliminated.

In Season 17, since there are three chefs competing in the finals, the Final Menu Challenge was used as an elimination challenge where the person who had the lowest score in the challenge will be eliminated.

In Season 19, Ramsay made a shocking announcement during the Creative Shrimp Challenge by revealing that the person with the worst overall dish would be sent home. Kenneth had the worst dish and was eliminated.

In Season 20, Ramsay announced that the Alcohol Challenge was an elimination challenge. The person with the worst dish overall was eliminated. Ava had the worst dish and was eliminated.

Season 21's Creative Chicken Wing Challenge was supposed to be an elimination challenge, but the intended victim, Ileana, convinced Ramsay to spare her.

Trivia

• Jessica (Season 12) is the first person to be eliminated during an elimination challenge.
• Andrew (Season 16) is the first male to be eliminated that way.
• Alex (Season 21) is the only person to survive an elimination challenge and win the competition.
• Ileana (Season 21) is the only person that survived an elimination challenge despite Ramsay initially deciding to eliminate them.

No Elimination

One of the rarest forms of the Elimination Ceremony. Even if a team was asked to nominate somebody for elimination, Ramsay would not send anybody home for a couple of reasons. These include:

• Reassigning somebody or multiple people to the other team or teams.
• If both teams performed strongly enough for Ramsay not to send somebody home.
• If somebody left the competition before or during dinner service, and Ramsay considered it to fill in on the quota.

Probation

This scenario only happened in Season 11. At the Elimination Ceremony, Ramsay would confiscate the nominee's jacket, but allow them one more chance to prove they deserved to compete in Hell's Kitchen. The chef on probation had to either be part of the winning team in the following team challenge or perform strongly at the following dinner service to regain their jacket. If they failed to do so at the end of service, Ramsay would automatically eliminate them.

Dan, Ray, Mary, and Nedra were the four chefs on probation after being nominated by their teams following a joint loss in the fifth service.Dan and Ray got their jackets back after the blue team won the Chinese Dish Creation Challenge. Mary and Nedra got their jackets back after putting in strong performances on appetizers during the following service.

Best of the Worst

In the first four seasons, Ramsay would name one person from the losing team (or teams) as the Best of the Worst (BoW for short). This role is given to the person who performed the best amongst their team at dinner service, or had showed improvement over the course of their time on the show. This person is given the task to nominate their own teammates for elimination, often discussing with other chefs to help their decision. Beginning with Season 5, this role was given out rarely as Ramsay instead decided to have teams make a group decision.

A rare form of BoW is Best of the Best (BoB for short). This role is given to the person who had a standout performance in an otherwise great dinner service, and they have the same power as a BoW. In the case of Seasons 17 and 19, Ramsay named one chef from each team as the BoB for having standout performances in challenges. In Seasons 20 and 21, Ramsay named the winners of the Punishment Pass as the BoB and tasked them to nominate chefs who had the worst dishes from their teams.

Immunity

Considered a lighter form of the BoW/BoB, Immunity is given out to a chef as a form of reward if the challenge had it as the prize. The chef with Immunity was considered safe from elimination and would go through a normal dinner service. However, that does not mean they can keep Immunity as Ramsay would still look to the chef to perform as good as everyone else. In two separate occasions, Ramsay has had two immune chefs up for elimination, but he still kept them around as to honor his promise.

Because Immunity is considered a lighter form of the BoW/BoB, the chef has no power to nominate someone from their team unless Ramsay asked them himself. This happened to Season 11's Jon after the blue team lost the service.

Other Trivia

• Carolann (Season 1) is the first person in the show’s history to be eliminated, the first woman to do so, and the first person from the red team to do so.
• Dewberry (Season 1) is the first male to be eliminated.
• Wendy (Season 1) is the first person from the blue team to be eliminated.
• Jimmy (Season 1) is the first black jacket chef to be eliminated.
• Gabe (Season 2) is the first chef to be eliminated after Ramsay overruled the initial nominees.
• Melissa (Season 3) is the first chef to be eliminated without nomination. Jim (Season 6) is the first male to be eliminated that way.
• Louie (Season 6) is the first person to be eliminated before the season's first elimination ceremony was held.
• Melinda (Season 6), Lisa (Season 8), and Steven (Season 9) were all eliminated after the first elimination ceremony of their respective seasons without ranking last place in them. Melinda is the only one to have done so without being the first person eliminated that season.
• Season 7's red team is the only team to date to have nominated at least one of their members for elimination after every dinner service.
• Kenneth (Season 19) is the first person that was eliminated before the first dinner service.Ava is the first female to be eliminated that way.
• Autumn (Season 7), Sabrina (Season 8), Elise (Season 9), Clemenza (Season 10), and Scott (Season 12) are tied for the record of having the most nominations in an entire season, with seven. Scott (Season 12) is the only one that held that record and still won.
• Elise holds the record for the most overall nominations from one contestant in the show's history, with twelve (seven on Season 9 and five on Season 17, including the Cook For Your Life Challenge). She also holds the record for the most nomination survivals, as she survived all twelve of them.
• DeMarco (Season 12) and Josh (Season 14) hold the record for the most consecutive nominations, with five.
• Joseph (Season 6) holds the record for the shortest tenure of anyone whom Ramsay asked to reveal the team's nominees for elimination, only having participated in two challenges and services before quitting.
• Scott (Season 12) and Dafne (Season 21) both hold the record for the longest tenure of anyone whom Ramsay never asked to reveal the team's nominees for elimination, and both emerging as finalists in their respective seasons.
  • Additionally, of any winner of the show, Scott holds the record for the fewest number of times asked to reveal his team's elimination nominees at zero.
• Christina (Season 4), Trev (Season 8), and Paul (Season 9) jointly hold the record for the most number of times having announced their team's elimination nominees at five. Trev is the only non-winner to hold that record.
• Michael (Season 1), Heather (Season 2), Danny (Season 5), Dave (Season 6), Holli (Season 7), Christina (Season 10), La Tasha (Season 13), Meghan (Season 14), Ryan (Season 16), Ariel (Season 18) , and Ryan (Season 22) are the eleven chefs that avoided elimination and won their respective seasons.
• Kevin (Season 6), Jay (Season 7), Will (Season 9), T (Season 14), Heather (Season 16), Benjamin (Season 17), Mary Lou (Season 19), and Johnathan (Season 22) are the eight chefs that avoided elimination and finished as a runner up in their respective seasons.
• Jillian (Season 8), Dana (Season 10), Jon (Season 11), Melanie (Season 12), Sade (Season 13), Heidi (Season 16), Nick (Season 17), Kiya (Season 20), and Sammi (Season 22) are the ten chefs that avoided elimination and finished in third place in their respective seasons.
• Motto (Season 18) is the only chef that avoided elimination and finished in fourth place in his respective season.
• Joy (Season 12) is the only chef that avoided elimination and finished in fifth place in her respective season.
• Gordon Ramsay did not have plans to overrule nominations in Season 1 or 2. This changed in Season 3 on "Episode 304 - 8 Chefs Compete".
• Seasons 12, 15, 20, and 21 are the only seasons where Ramsay asked for three nominees for elimination.
• Season 22 is the only season where no contestants are nominated by Ramsay.