Gaurav Navin

“

We all have put finger in the food. WE ALLLL HAVE DONE IT!!!!

”

Hometown/Residence	East Stroudsburg, PA
Occupation	Executive Chef
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	0 out of 1
Challenges Won	0
Services Won	0
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	20th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	20 Chefs Compete

Gaurav Navin was a contestant on Season 12 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 20th place.

Season 12

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 1201 - 20 Chefs Compete

The twenty new chefs rode on a bus on route to Hell's Kitchen and during this time they had the opportunity to get to know each other. Upon arrival, they were greeted by Jean-Philippe who walked the chefs into Hell’s Kitchen but they walked into a service already going on with the food receiving positive comments and Ramsay expressing that the chefs in the kitchen were doing a splendid job. That confused the chefs, and once the service ended, Ramsay approached them and welcomed them as Gaurav started to feel weak in the knees. Ramsay explained that he did a soft opening to showcase the chefs what his expectations were, and asked if they could perform a service like the one they saw. Everybody promised they would, and Ramsay revealed that the winner would become a Head Chef at one of his restaurants, but first, they had to survive Hell’s Kitchen in Los Angeles, a place he deemed the capital of entertainment. Shortly after, patrons of the restaurant began putting on a performance. Afterwards, Ramsay announced it was time for the Signature Dish Challenge.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Gaurav expressed that he was concerned about working with other teammates in the kitchen, even asking if they were qualified enough to be in a kitchen. He was the seventh person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay, went up against Sandra, and presented his tuna steak with African spices. While he hoped Ramsay would be in a zen mode after the first bite, the latter deemed the dish dreadful and a big disappointment, and neither he nor Sandra scored that round. The blue team lost the challenge 4-5, and they were punished by resetting the dining room ahead of the opening service.

During dinner service, Gaurav was on the appetizer station with Mike. He felt the heat as it was his time to show what he was capable of, but felt risottos were not that tough due to cooking it a million times. However, he sent up a soupy risotto with barely any trace of rice. His second attempt had too much pepper, and Ramsay reminded him it was a risotto not a fucking vindaloo, even though he claimed he loved black pepper in his risottos. Later, he stuck his finger in the risotto to taste but having caught that, a disgusted Ramsay lectured to him that they do not stick their fucking fingers in their food and lick it before asking for some standards and threatening him with elimination if he did it again. While Jason called him an idiot for doing that, he was pissed that Ramsay would not take his risotto for only sticking his fingers in it. While he did get his fourth attempt accepted, it was not served due to DeMarco's overcooked lobster tail. Eventually, the blue team was kicked out after multiple mistakes.

Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, Anton nominated Gaurav for the finger incident alone which Richard called a disaster, but Gaurav claimed that everybody does that before asking who the second nominee was. He was later nominated by Scott and Gabriel.

Gaurav was the blue team's first nominee for elimination, with DeMarco as the second, and they joined Sandra and Nicole from the red team. During his plea, he felt he had all the passion and talent, even though Ramsay snarkily remarked he forgot about his fingers. He was eliminated for his poor performance on appetizers, refusing to own up on the finger incident, and Ramsay having nowhere else to go for him despite just meeting him. During his exit interview, he did not believe he was the worst chef out of the twenty and still claimed that everybody tasted their food with their fingers.

Ramsay's comment: "There's so many things about India that I love. It's a shame Gaurav isn't one of them."

Nomination History

Week 1	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, Gaurav returned to the kitchen and became the Senior Executive Chef for IMU Restaurants and Catering.
• He is currently the resident district manager for Chartwells, Carnegie Mellon University's primary dining vendor.

Trivia

• He and Bev (also from Season 12) are the eleventh and twelfth Asian-American contestant to compete, following Wendy (Season 1), Aaron (Season 3), Louross (Season 4), Ji (Season 5), Raj, Gail (both from Season 8), Chino, Gina, Krupa (all from Season 9), and Roshni (Season 10), as well as the third Indian contestant of Hell's Kitchen, following Krupa (Season 9) and Roshni (Season 10).
• He is the seventh male contestant to get eliminated on opening night, following Dominic (Season 4), Wil (Season 5), Louie (Season 6), Steven (Season 9), Tavon (Season 10), and Sebastian (Season 11).
• At 20th place, he is the second of the two lowest-ranked contestants in the show's history, the first one being Sebastian (Season 11). Coincidentally, both were working the appetizers station during the opening night service.
• He is the only contestant from his season to have never won a challenge.

Quotes

• "After taking first bite of my dish, he's gonna be in that orgasm, like, the zen mode."
• "Feeling the heat!! This is the time to show what I'm capable of, what my talents are. The whole G Package".
• "Are you kidding me, you gonna not take my risotto just because I checked the rice and then finely cleaned my finger with my tongue."
• "We all have put finger in the food. WE ALLLL HAVE DONE IT!!!!"
• (After being eliminated) "I definitely not the worst chef in that group of 20 people, definitely not. I understand that I tasted the food by my fingers, but everybody does it."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dish

Bev and Gaurav's Intro Spot

Gaurav in Blue Jacket

Gaurav's Confessional

Nicole, Sandra, DeMarco, and Gaurav Nominated

Gaurav Eliminated

Gaurav's Signature Dish