Jean-Philippe Susilovic

Jean-Philippe Susilovic was the first Maître d'hôtel for Hell's Kitchen. He served as the Maître d'hôtel for the first seven seasons of the show, along with seasons 11 and 12.

Biography

Jean-Philippe joined Ramsay in 1995 in Ramsay's restaurant Aubergine. His experience in Michelin-starred restaurants broadened when he moved to the United States to work in restaurants such as New York's La Panetiere, Danube and Daniel's. In October 2001, he moved to the Middle East to work with Ramsay as the manager of Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek.

Personality

As the Maître d'hôtel, Jean-Philippe serves as the front of the house of Hell's Kitchen and would be the person handing out tickets to Ramsay more than often. Given that he has worked with Ramsay for many years, he knows exactly how high Ramsay's standards are, and often shows exasperation at the contestant's constant mistakes. Ramsay even described him as the best Maître d' in the world.

While he is milder than Ramsay is, he does have his own limits, best known in Season 6, when an argument with contestant Van almost resulted in a physical brawl in the restaurant. Despite it, he cares about the contestants' well being and even urged a few of them to fight harder to stay in the competition.

Main highlights per season

Season 1

On episode 2, a table of customers ordered pizza because they were tired of the long wait, but when Jean-Philippe told that they were not allowed to, that led to an argument between him and a very rude customer. This customer told him he had a Doctorate in Music from the USC, and he was assaulted by him with his pointer finger.
On episode 10, when Jean-Philippe was talking with Ralph about his restaurant, Ralph kept calling him "Jean-Pierre", much to his extreme annoyance.

Season 2

On episode 7, Jean-Philippe visited a twelve-top table that had a bachelorette party, and was a little bit embarrassed when he saw women's underwear being given out as gifts. Ramsay wondered where he was, and later, he was asked by the latter if he was trying to lose his virginity.

Season 3

On episode 5, Jean-Philippe was told by Francisco the Party Planner that the newlywed's parents were not served, but he did not want Francisco to bug him, so he told him to go talk about it with Ramsay himself.
On episode 8, he showed Bonnie, Rock, and Josh what needed to be cleaned in the dining room as part of their punishment. When Josh struggled with getting one of the cleaning machines to work, he snarkily told him that it did not run on solar energy and it needed to be plugged in.

Season 4

On episode 1, Jean-Philippe greeted the contestants and told them he was good for doing an imitation of Ramsay. He started to do his imitation, and asked for some contestants to do some themselves, before Ramsay revealed himself as an undercover contestant on the bus.
On episode 2, Jean-Philippe berated Craig after the latter took a chair and accidentally hit a woman in the head with it, demanding that he apologised.
On episode 4, when Jean-Philippe was asked to open Hell's Kitchen for Family Night, he was told by Ramsay to open his shirt and take his tie off. He was reluctant to do it, and when he went to open the doors, he almost missed the step, and Ramsay told him to walk straight, calling him a donut.
On episode 5, Jean-Philippe drove the Hell's Kitchen three-wheeled delivery cart to the contestants, and almost lost balance when one of the back wheels hit the step, making everybody laugh in disbelief.
On episode 6, Jean-Philippe reunited with Francisco the Party Planner, although he was not excited by it. During dinner service, before the first tickets came in, he and Francisco were joking about the latter's non-matching blue sky outfit and being "sparklelicious". When he noticed that Francisco was enjoying the chocolate fountain, he pulled him to the side, asked him to focus on his job and stop doing it, otherwise he would be kicked out of the restaurant.
On episode 8, Jean-Philippe supervised the blue team's punishment, and when he saw Jen being grumpy, he asked her if she could give him a smile, but she refused to. Later, he brought a crab to the back store to try and entertain Jen, without more success. Then, he asked her once again if she could smile, but she answered no, and when he asked her if she would be bitchy all day long, she answered she would.
On episode 9, Jean-Philippe was at the beach where the red team was having their reward, and at the end of the day, Ramsay grabbed him, threw him in the water and fought with him. At one point, he threw a completely soaked towel towards Ramsay.
On episode 11, Jean-Philippe was asked for some tickets, but he did not realize the glass door was just in front of him. Because of that, he head-butted the door, and Ramsay jokingly told to get a sign on the door saying "Open your eyes, you Belgian twat".

Season 5

One episode 3, Jean-Philippe told Lacey that she forgot to send one of her tables tickets, and mocked her whining when she argued that she never waited tables before. Later, when Charlie accidentally dropped bacon bits on a table, he chewed the latter out for his embarrassing performance.
On episode 5, Jean-Philippe was shown at the karate dojo for the red team's reward, dressed up in sumo attire and fighting against Ramsay, where he lost. According to Andrea, he did not look happy in the outfit.
On episode 6, Jean-Philippe worked for the third time with Francisco the Party Planner for the special Bar Mitzvah service. When Francisco dropped the birthday cake to the floor, he was furious and told Francisco to stay away from him.
On episode 10, after Andrea was about to leave Hell's Kitchen after being kicked out, Jean-Philippe stopped her and told her to fight back, which she did.
On episode 12, Jean-Philippe was approached by a diner who wanted to propose to his girlfriend, which he found very sweet, and he helped the diner by giving Ramsay the engagement ring to put in the woman's dessert.

Season 6

On episode 1, before the contestants were introduced, Jean-Philippe was seen nervously waiting in the entrance of the restaurant for the bus to arrive, as it was late. When it finally arrived, he exclaimed "Finally, the bus is there" in French. When the contestants regrouped in front of him, he declared that he would give them some tips on how to perform well as he was tired of being pushed around by everybody.
On episode 2, when Van refused to listen to him and ran in the restaurant, Jean-Philippe lost his temper, yelled at him, and both of them were pulled aside by Ramsay in the pantry room, where Ramsay told them to do their own jobs instead of interfering with the others. When they got out of the room, he sarcastically told Van "Ladies first!".
On episode 9, Jean-Philippe helped to judge the Crepe Challenge with Ramsay, even though Ramsay jokingly called him the second best palate, which was Belgian, as he could not afford a French one.

Season 7

On episode 2, when Andrew was about to walk out of the competition, Jean-Philippe tried to convince him to stay and fight back. He said to Andrew that a lot of people would like to be in his shoes at that moment, but despite his efforts, Andrew took his shoes off and walked out of Hell's Kitchen for good.
On episode 3, when Salvatore, who was working with him as an assistant maître d', was about to walk out of the competition, Jean-Philippe managed to stop and convince him to fight back, with success.
On episode 11, during the punishment, Jean-Philippe was asked by Ed if he should lay the forks sideways or straight, which he answered straight, before understanding the innuendo.

Season 11

On episode 2, Jean-Philippe made his return by entering by the front door with his luggage, before tripping on a chair. Ramsay told him that he was supposed to arrive the previous day, which he answered that he got delayed and really tried to be there in time, and Ramsay asked him to get changed quickly, while adding that he was not happy about that.

Season 12

On episode 2, Jean-Philippe informed Mike that he was serving the red kitchen's table even though he was in the blue team.

Trivia

He had a strong dislike for Francisco the Party Planner.
After his appearance on the show, he worked as a Restaurant Director at Pétrus, owned by Ramsay.
He is the first staff member to leave the show and come back for an eventual season.
He holds the record for the most seasons as the maître d', with 9.
Both Ramsay and Susilovic appeared in UK (only Season 1) and US versions.

Quotes

(To Van) "I'm going to explode here, I'm going to explode my friend, Listen to me. Listen, listen, listen LISTEN TO ME!!!!!!"
(To Van) "Ladies first."
Ramsay: "Hey! What's the matter between you two?"
JP: "There's a language barrier there."
Ramsay: "What do you mean there's a language barrier? He's [Van's] speaking English, you dick."
JP: "Yes, but he is from Texas."
(To Andrew) "There are I don't know how many people which would be willing to be in your shoes now."
(To Jessica) "Keep your smile because you might need it. It's the only weapon you have."