J Maxwell

“

You know I don't need Chef Ramsay's opinion anymore, I've got it. But uh, it's time for J Maxwell to do his own thing.

”

Hometown/Residence	Clifton Park, NY
Occupation	Food Court Chef
Kitchen Experience	12 years
Culinary Education	Johnson and Wales University
Statistics
Challenges Won	3
Services Won	2
Times as BoW/Announcer	1
Times Nominated	1
Placement	10th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	10 Chefs Compete
Images of Jason Maxwell

Jason "J" Maxwell was a contestant on Season 5 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 10th place.

Season 5

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 501 - 16 Chefs Compete

Thousands of chefs auditioned for Hell's Kitchen in the series' biggest turnout. However, only three hundred arrived at Hell’s Kitchen and met Jean-Philippe and Ramsay. Out of the three hundred, sixteen were selected to compete. Jean-Philippe began calling out the chefs chosen to compete. While not seen, J was one of the sixteen called to compete.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, J was the tenth person to have his dish judged by Ramsay. He made chicken alfredo, but Ramsay graded it an "F". After the challenge, Ramsay asked both teams to decide on a team name for the opening night. Per Robert's suggestion, they picked Blues Brothers. Ramsay admitted to liking the name when they announced it before service.

J was at the meat station with Seth during dinner service. Although they were ready with their lamb entrée, it was stalled due to Wil's problems at the garnish station. The blue team lost the dinner service because of Giovanni's poor performance as a waiter. They were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, he and Ben objected to Seth's claim that he did great and told the latter he had a lot to learn.

J was not nominated for elimination and corrected Seth, who mixed up the nominees, by saying that Seth was the first nominee, Wil the second, and not the other way around.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 502 - 15 Chefs Compete

While going back to the dorms, J was unhappy that Seth survived elimination and believed the latter lacked both skills and desire.

The following day at 5:49 AM, a marching band came into the dorms and played loudly, and the chefs woke up. Sous Chefs Scott and Gloria ordered the chefs to get downstairs, and they were led outside to find Ramsay. Wanting both teams to learn how to respect their products, Ramsay had them go to their crates and gather all the scallops into their colored buckets. During the Scallop Cleaning Challenge, J presented six scallops, but the first couple were rejected. Ji prayed that they were all terrible, while Robert prayed for at least one point from him. He admitted that he had never worked with fresh scallops before. Fortunately, the last scallop was accepted, and the blue team won the challenge 36-35. They were rewarded with a helicopter tour of Catalina Island and a submarine ride. During the reward, he got concerned over Seth's knowledge of Ramsay's personal life and compared him to a stalker.

During dinner service, J was at the dessert station. He was not shown much during service. The blue team won the service. At elimination, he gave an emotional standing ovation during Ji's departure, along with everybody else in the room.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 503 - 14 Chefs Compete

The following morning, the Sous Chefs woke up the contestants at 6 AM with cowbells and told them to get dressed and out the front door to the SUVs. The barely awoke chefs were driven to an unknown place. They went to a meat processing plant, and Sous Chef Scott showed them where each cut of the beef was on a cow. During the Meat & Cow Challenge, J felt that had Giovanni gone up first instead of Ben, they would have had all eight correct on the first try. He was the first person on his team to attempt the second part of the challenge. He ended up with three incorrect answers. After Seth finished with six wrong answers, he got aggravated. The blue team won the challenge. They were rewarded with a private jet trip to Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez, California, where they had a wine tasting and a steak dinner with Ramsay.

During the Steakhouse double dinner service, J was at the garnish station with Seth for the first seating. He told Charlie to wake up after the latter showed obliviousness towards his rag catching on fire. Later, he expressed dismay when Charlie revealed he did not know how to butcher a filet tenderloin. During the second seating, where he was a waiter, he was seen sending back a shrimp Caesar salad that had raw shrimp in it. The blue team lost the dinner service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. He knew Seth deserved to go home during deliberation but struggled with who would go up with him.

J was not nominated for elimination, and after he announced the nominees, Seth tried to argue against it. However, he sternly reminded Seth that Ramsay had asked him for the nominations.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 504 - 13 Chefs Compete

During the Football Team & Cheerleaders Breakfast Service Challenge, J was at the hash brown station with Robert. Ramsay pulled him and Robert over in the middle of service when they poorly served hash browns on their plates. Ramsay yelled that they were not serving pigs, though Robert blamed him for the poor plating. The blue team lost the challenge and was forced to clean up the dining room and kitchens and prep them ahead of that night’s service. Back at the dorms, he reminded Danny about his earlier claim that he was the strongest of the blue team.

During dinner service, J was at the appetizer station with Giovanni. When Seth served rubbery scallops, he said the former did not have the basic cooking skills. Later, one of his Caesar salad dishes had a lettuce butt in it, and Jean-Philippe sent it back to the kitchen. He took responsibility for it, and an angry Ramsay smashed it on the ground while asking him if he was stupid. He said he was not but felt like a jackass due to an easy mistake. Giovanni could not believe he missed the butt as it was a small salad. Despite his blunder, the men continued to serve their appetizers and moved on to entrées. Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, Robert brought up his lettuce butt incident as one of the three major mistakes that night. Giovanni reminded him that the salad was small enough to see the butt, and Robert said there was no excuse to make a mistake in a professional setting. However, he argued that mistake should not be enough to get nominated.

Before asking for nominees, Ramsay said that one incident that day bugged him. He explained that if a customer got served a miscooked steak, it could easily be recooked. However, if a salad had a lettuce butt in the dish, then that was how reputations got ruined. Ramsay ended his rant by calling J a butthead. He was not nominated for elimination, but Ramsay hinted he should have been. After Seth's elimination, he and his team welcomed Lacey as a new teammate.

Episode 5

Main article: Episode 505 - 12 Chefs Compete

When both teams were driven to an Asian supermarket, J said he shopped in Asian markets all the time and had several ideas about what to cook. During the Asian Fusion Challenge, he was paired with Giovanni for the meat dish. They were the final pair from the blue team to have their dish judged, and they went up against the pair of Andrea and Colleen from the red team. They served a beef pizzaiola, but he struggled to say the name and needed Giovanni's help. While it was deemed a good concept, it had undercooked rice. They lost that round to the pair of Andrea and Colleen, and the blue team lost the challenge 1-2. They were punished by making fortune cookies and decorating the entire dining room with origami.

During dinner service, J was at the meat station. He cut his Wellingtons and told Ramsay he needed more time as they were still raw. Sous Chef Scott revealed that his fan was on low instead of high, and Ramsay chewed him out for his mistake. He admitted he should have checked the oven and felt like a donkey. Later, his chicken came out raw, and Ramsay reminded him that no entrées had left the blue kitchen in the past fourteen minutes, telling him to get a grip. He dismayingly said he messed up on everything that night and was ordered to get a grip. Lacey asked for a time on the lamb, but he realized he had forgotten the order. Growing more frustrated, Ramsay angrily told the blue team to communicate before kicking the trash bins. Lacey could not believe he had forgotten an order, and Ramsay called him terrible.

Both teams were named joint losers, and Giovanni was named "Best of the Worst" for the blue team. During deliberation, J called his performance a disgrace and was concerned about who Giovanni would nominate.

J was Giovanni's nominee for elimination and joined Andrea from the red team. He said he had the skills and confidence to cook during his plea, but Ramsay retorted that he could not get started that night. He admitted he had no excuse for his poor performance and called it the worst performance in his career. He survived elimination. While being dismissed, he refused to mess up again.

Episode 6

Main article: Episode 506 - 11 Chefs Compete

Back at the dorms, J looked at a picture of his son and broke down into tears as Giovanni gave him some reassurance. Then, J promised his son that he would never have another terrible service like the previous one.

During the Bar Mitzvah Planning Challenge, J said it was nonstop cooking for the chicken soup. The blue team won the challenge 2-1, and they were rewarded with a trip to Skin Haven spa for a day of relaxation. He admitted that he had never got a facial before during the reward as he never spent money on spa days.

During the Bar Mitzvah dinner service, J was at the appetizer station with Giovanni. He brought up his salads, but he accidentally dressed two salads when one was not supposed to be dressed. That caused Ramsay to order him to snap out of his funk while he called the screaming intimidating. The blue team won the service.

Episode 7

Main article: Episode 507 - 10 Chefs Compete

Before the Leftovers Challenge, J claimed he could make a five-course meal out of anything, leftovers or canned food. He said goodbye to Giovanni as the latter was reassigned to the red team. He was the fourth person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Andrea. He made a lobster with fennel and leek broth, but it was too simple and Ramsay said he expected more. He lost that round to Andrea, but he felt he got robbed on that round.

The blue team lost the challenge 2-3, and they were punished by prepping both kitchens for that night’s service and polishing the tapa plates. During the punishment, J said there was a lot of pressure to get everything ready, and he prepped the rice for the risotto. Later, the tapa plates arrived, and he felt they were busy all day. When the blue team went back to prepping the kitchens, he noticed that Lacey forgot to take the paper off the tray before putting it in the oven. When Lacey got annoyed by Robert's criticisms, he and Danny reminded her that the latter was trying to help her. When Lacey threatened to quit if she got into another argument with anyone, he was unmoved and told her to go if she wanted as he would do her work if she left.

During dinner service, J was at the fish station. When it was revealed that both kitchen's rice supply was overcooked, he took the blame. Lacey said the risotto was nasty and called it a poor start to the evening. At the same time, he said he did not need that as Ramsay was on him for the last couple of days. With all the rice overcooked, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe that he had to take the risotto off the menu for that night while yelling at him for screwing both teams up. Even though Robert liked him, the former said he sucked. Later, his salmon dish was sent up raw, and Ramsay told him that everything he touched so far was screwed. When he struggled with timings, Robert was annoyed by his problems as he was not recovering. His next attempt was burnt, and the third attempt came without sauce. Ramsay took him to the pantry room to give him a wake-up call, warning him he could not go further with him. Afterwards, he sent up his scallops to the pass in the blue kitchen, but they were overcooked and rubbery. That was the final straw for Ramsay, and he asked the entire team to touch them before eliminating him on the spot and asking him to leave immediately. He left his jacket in the pantry room, packed his stuff in the dorms, and left the restaurant by the loading area for a cab ride. During his exit interview, he said he did not belong in Hell's Kitchen and was disappointed to go. However, he said he would make a new dream and get a new restaurant opened up without Ramsay's backing. At the end of the episode, he received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.

Ramsay's comment: "I kept Ben and Lacey because J put the kitchen in such a hole that they never stood a chance. They're very lucky that I sent J packing."

Nomination History

Week 1	Safe
Week 2	Win
Week 3	Safe
Week 4	Safe
Week 5	Nominated
Week 6	Win
Week 7	Ejected

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, J became an Executive Chef at Glen Eddy in Niskayuna, New York.
• He used his fame to promote Autism awareness, being involved with some fundraisers because he discovered his son was autistic before entering the show.

Trivia

• He is the second contestant to be eliminated mid-service, following Josh (Season 3). He is also the first contestant to be eliminated mid-service during the team phase of the competition and the first mid-ejected contestant who was on the fish station.
• He is the first mid-service ejected contestant who received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence at the end of the episode where he was eliminated.
• He is the first contestant who competed with only one letter of his first name.

Quotes

• "Oh Lord, it's the dreaded... garbage... bags!"
• (About Seth) "He knows more about Chef Ramsay than Chef Ramsay. That's weird."
• "You've never cleaned a tenderloin?! Where have you worked? In your parents' house?"
• "Charlie, wake the fuck up, man."
• "J feels like a jackass because of that freaking butt of lettuce."
• (About the Asian Fusion challenge) "I shop at Asian markets all the time. I've got a good idea of all the different ingredients... I mean, not all of them, of course. I can't read it."
• "I fucked up everything. Everything. Every goddamn thing."
• "Yeah, I pissed off chef Ramsay, and I definitely didn't need that. Because, you know, chef Ramsay has been riding me hard the past couple of days."
• (To Lacey) "Lacey, if you got to go, then just go." (Lacey: I don't understand why everyone sticks with people yelling at me?) "No, no, no. Don't fight back, I'm serious. This is a professional kitchen. If you want to fucking go, go. I'll fucking do everything."
• (About Lacey) "Just shut the fuck up, get out of the kitchen, and let me do my job."
• (After being eliminated mid-service) "I'm here for a reason, and it's my boy and my wife. So, of course I'm disappointed. It was a tough day. My dream when I came to Hell's Kitchen was to win. So, uh, now it's time to move on and get my own restaurants going. You know, I don't need Chef Ramsay's opinion anymore. I've got it. But uh, it's time for J Maxwell to do his own thing."
• "Tomorrow's another day, let's do it!"

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

J's Intro Spot

J in Blue Jacket

J's Confessional

Andrea and J Nominated

J Eliminated Midservice

J Eliminated Mid service Part 2

J's Signature Dish

J and Giovanni's Asian Fusion Dish (Episode 5)

J's Leftover Dish (Episode 7)

External links

• J Maxwell on Instagram
• J Maxwell on Twitter