Josh Wahler

“

Food is sex. Everybody likes sex and everybody likes food, and I want to make people feel like they just had great sex.

”

Hometown/Residence	Miami Beach, FL
Occupation	Junior Sous Chef
Culinary Education	The Art Institute of New York City
Statistics
Blind Taste Test Score	0 out of 3
Challenges Won	2
Services Won	3
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	3
Placement	5th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	5 Chefs Compete

Joshua "Josh" Wahler was a contestant on Season 3 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 5th place.

Season 3

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 301 - 12 Chefs Compete

The twelve new aspiring chefs were heading down to Hell's Kitchen in SUVs, while getting to know each other on the ride. Once they arrived at Hell's Kitchen, Jean-Philippe introduced himself, but before he could go into how he and Ramsay met, the latter appeared and told the former to cut the crap. Afterwards, Ramsay ordered the contestants to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Josh was the fourth person to have his dish judged by Ramsay. When he came up, he claimed that food was the same as sex, adding that he wanted people to feel that they had great sex. He made foie gras, but Ramsay saw the dish was raw. While he argued that the dish was not raw, he begrudgingly agreed that it was salty. After the teams were formed, he called it important for the men to bond as they wanted to smack the crap out of the women.

During dinner service, Josh was on the meat station along with Aaron. When Aaron had to leave for a bit due to his dizziness, he took over the meat station but found out that all of the meat Aaron cooked was ruined, leaving the men with no meat to continue service. Despite that, the blue team won the dinner service.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 302 - 11 Chefs Compete

At 5:56 AM, Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann woke up the chefs with pots and pans, with Josh sarcastically stating that he loved it. Before the Dover Sole Challenge, he felt it would not be a problem as he loved working with fish. He gave the best individual performance of his team with 4 properly cleaned fish. The blue team lost 8-9, and after hearing the red team's reward, he was upset as the men should be fishing instead. Their punishment was to clean the remaining Dover Sole for next service.

Later that night, the women got into more revealing outfits which excited Josh and Eddie as they used Bonnie to help them with menial tasks. During prep, Rock believed he was trying too hard to be a leader as he was leading by speaking rather than through an example.

During dinner service, Josh was on the meat station. After Eddie cooked more spaghetti than needed due to people taking over his station, Ramsay told him and Brad to leave Eddie alone. His first Wellingtons turned out to be overcooked, and while he said his refire would be ready in three minutes but called that incident an atomic bomb. Then, he was forced to admit that his second Wellington had raw pastry, leading Ramsay to feel they were sinking like the titanic. Later, Ramsay caught Josh holding a dry chicken before slamming it with his palm. That caused a frustrated Ramsay to call him a donkey, and it was one of the reasons the blue team got kicked out of service. The blue team lost the dinner service, and Rock being named "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, he told Rock that he did not deserve to go home.

Josh was Rock's second nominee for elimination, with Eddie being the first. During his plea, Ramsay accused him of being a fake full of piss and wind, but he argued against that and felt horrible over his embarrassing night. He survived elimination as Ramsay decided to give him another chance. While being dismissed, he believed he needed to watch his back because some people wanted him out.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 303 - 10 Chefs Compete

Back at the dorms, Josh was not happy with Rock nominating him and felt the latter was trying to get rid of him, especially with Aaron's declining health. Rock talked to him and reminded him that they were not leaders yet, but he brushed it aside as being the latter's opinion. That comment pissed Rock as doing something he could not do would make him look like an idiot.

During the Army and Navy Service Challenge, Josh and Brad had to take over Aaron's spot at the omelet station to get food out, but it was not enough. The blue team lost the challenge, and he was upset that they should have nailed breakfast items, and they got killed. They were punished by doing KP Duty by prepping 1000 pounds of potatoes and onions. During the punishment, he felt like dog crap and after Aaron collapsed and had to go to the hospital, he was scared for him. Later, he tried to make a system, but Rock accused him of not knowing how to be a proper leader and wanted him to shut the fuck up. After the punishment, the blue team discussed about naming a leader, and he changed his vote for Brad. Rock accused him of changing his vote out of spite for nominating him, and he confirmed it is.

Before dinner service, Josh told Ramsay that Brad was their leader. During dinner service, he was on the fish station. At one point, he had to help Jean-Philippe out in water delivery, but the previous punishment had him almost physically drained and he nearly tripped on the staircase. However, he did manage to complete the delivery, and returned to the blue kitchen. On entrées, he said he was not ready with his turbot, but Ramsay accused him of sabotaging Brad. He argued against that, but Ramsay said he deserved a kick in the nuts before ordering the men to start over. The blue team won the dinner service, and after elimination, he wanted to keep knocking the women out one by one.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 304 - 8 Chefs Compete

During the Blind Taste Test, Josh was the third person up for the blue team, and went up against Bonnie. He failed to correctly guess a single ingredient, and at one point, he guessed mango for pear. That led Rock wondering if he had a pear before. Ramsay could not believe a Sous Chef lost to a nanny, and he was disappointed that he let the men down. The blue team lost the challenge 3-5, and were punished by prepping both kitchens for the next service, and eat an offal platter. After seeing the platter, he thought the men would have won.

During prep, Josh felt sore as the men moved a lot with no sleep. During dinner service, he was on the appetizer station. He sent up his first risottos, but Ramsay found that he did not cook them properly and told him to get a grip. Despite that problem, he knew he had to get it right. He was later caught not doing anything on his station in the blue kitchen, causing Ramsay to order Rock to take over his station. Later that night, one of his crab spaghettis was sent back to the kitchen for being undercooked, but even after tasting it, he did not believe that it was raw and felt the customer was lying. After service was shut down, he was pissed that they closed down yet again when they were close to finishing. Both teams lost the dinner service, and for the blue team, Rock was named "Best of the Worst".

Josh was Rock's nominee for elimination, but he survived elimination after Ramsay overruled formal nominations and called Vinnie down instead of him. While being dismissed, he knew that despite Rock wanting him gone, he said that only Ramsay mattered to him.

Episode 5

Main article: Episode 305 - 7 Chefs Compete

On their way back upstairs, Rock asked Josh if he made the wrong decision by not nominating Vinnie initially, to which he angrily agreed 100%. He did not feel he should go home and knew Rock wanted him gone twice, but he also knew it was Ramsay's decision at the end. Rock tried to explain to him that his problem was that he was rushing through things, but he saw it differently, much to Rock’s annoyance as he felt the only way for him to win was if he and Brad fell flat.

Before the Wedding Planning Challenge, Josh found a bit of joy going outside as he had not won a challenge since the beginning. During the cooking, Rock told him to use every ingredient they had, and Brad told him to turn his overcooked lentils into a purée. He presented the blue team's fish entrée and went up against Julia. He presented their herbed convene sea bass with a vegetable broth, but it was criticized for a foul-tasting broth. He lost that round to Julia, but the blue team won the challenge 2-1. After their victory, he got excited since not only had the men finally won a challenge, but they were getting ready to see the women get reamed out.

The blue team went to the Exhale Spa for a day of pampering and relaxation. As the blue team raced upstairs to put on their robes, he called it a double positive because the men were uniting while the women were divided. During the reward, he said he could get used to winning and wanted to see Hell's Bitches go down the following day.

During the Wedding dinner service, Josh was on both the appetizer and garnish stations. On the couple's order, his lack of communication frustrated Ramsay, and when Sous Chef Scott found out that his risottos were not ready yet, Brad was sent over to help. Even though his appetizers were sent out, Ramsay sarcastically told him that he belonged on the front cover of GQ as Captain Dick. However, he felt he should be put in charge of Red Valley Ranch. When he sent up the sauce for the fish entrée, Ramsay told him it was stone cold, and he was forced to heat it up. The blue team eventually won the dinner service.

At elimination, Josh and the blue team reluctantly welcomed Melissa as a new teammate.

Episode 6

Main article: Episode 306 - 7 Chefs Compete (Again)

Back at the dorms, Josh welcomed Melissa to the blue team, and was happy that the sex barrier was finally broken.

Before the Lobster Challenge, Ramsay reminded Josh that because he failed to identify lobster in the Blind Taste Test correctly, he was forced to sit out for the challenge to even both teams at three. However, he was allowed to advise his team but not to touch any lobster. During the cooking, he decided to advise Melissa's dish. The blue team lost the challenge 1-2, and were punished by taking part of Recycling Day. During the punishment, Melissa asked him and Brad if Rock always got that mad, but neither said they did not.

Before dinner service, Ramsay told the blue team that as the second part of their punishment, they would have to go and grab the lobster from the tank when the orders would come in the kitchen, and Josh volunteered to do it. During dinner service, he was on the garnish station. When the red team received their first order, he was sent out to get a lobster for the red kitchen, and he called himself the lobster bitch. He sent the red team’s lobster to Julia, though she would have preferred it already dead for service. When Melissa sent up thin scallops, he compared them to paper. Later, he prepared the mashed potatoes in the blue kitchen, but they turned out to be runny as he did not put enough salt into them. Rock accused him of being scattered, and an angry Ramsay compared the blue team to a bunch of babies. After a six top order came back for being overcooked, Ramsay sarcastically thanked him for the gloopy mashed potatoes and he shut down the restaurant.

The blue team lost the service and Ramsay reminded Josh that he was the only chef who still did not have a decent service. They were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, the blue team agreed to go by overall and nominated him and Melissa. However, he did not think he had one bad service, and if he were nominated with Melissa, Ramsay would have a hard time picking the worst of the two.

At elimination, before the team could announce who were the two nominees, Josh, along with Brad, was called down by Ramsay immediately after Melissa was eliminated. During his plea, Ramsay criticized his consistent poor performances and asked why he should stay. He thought he improved in every service and wanted to keep fighting. He survived elimination, and while being dismissed, he felt he deserved to stay in Hell's Kitchen and put his game face on.

Episode 7

Main article: Episode 307 - 6 Chefs Compete

Back at the dorms, Josh declared that was game time now that the battle of the sexes was back, but Brad felt it was more than that.

During the Leftovers Challenge, Ramsay saw Josh moving faster than ever. He knew the challenge was meant to create flavors out of the ingredients they had but felt confident about the men's chances. He was the second person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Jen. He made chicken leg with pea tendrils, but Ramsay criticized the heavily acidic sauce and that the chicken was undercooked. Ramsay even stated he expected more from him as he was a professional chef, but the dish was crap. He did not score that round, but the blue team eventually won the challenge 2-1. They rewarded with a paintball match against Ramsay. During the reward, he said that any employee would jump on the opportunity to shoot their boss and said it was time to hit Ramsay. He was the second person Ramsay took out, but he said that it was their best reward as no one had ever got to shoot at him before.

Before service, Ramsay allowed both teams to create their own menus. Despite Josh suggesting a Tucson Bean Soup, Brad ignored it.

During dinner service, Josh was on the meat station. Rock noticed that his pan was not hot enough for the lamb entrée, even though he argued that it was. However, Brad told the two not to snap and wanted to get through service. Still, Rock retorted that he did not wish the lamb to bleed out. Later, he did not communicate with Ramsay on his lamb in the blue kitchen, and one of his orders was boiled. That frustrated Ramsay, and he told him that his actions confirmed that he cannot cook at all and that his time in the competition was running out. Ramsay showed the men the tray of boiled lamb and called him a donkey. He got freaked-out and started calling for times, but Ramsay told him he would not trust him with a hot dog stand. When one of the female customers complained to Jean-Philippe that she felt insulted that the gentleman at her table was served first before her, he relayed it to Ramsay. In response, Ramsay yelled at him for his lamb. His next attempt at the lamb was raw, and Ramsay ordered him to get out of the shit. Seeing that made Rock believe that he could not handle Vegas if he could not handle that night, which was what he said all season. Ramsay ordered Rock and Brad for at least one of them to help him out, but neither one of them wanted to help him as the former wanted the latter to help. Brad spent more time prepping lamb than cooking, leading Ramsay to accuse him of giving up on him. With no one helping him, he said that it sucked. Fortunately, he finally got an acceptable order of lamb out, and the men managed to get their entrées out to the diners. While service ended, he felt he could be going home after his poor performance.

Both teams were named joint-losers, and Josh's performance was deemed a disaster. The blue team was asked to nominate one person for elimination. During deliberation, he knew he would be an easy choice since he was up three times already, but he was tired of being the whipping boy. Then, he continued to vent how he was the whipping boy of the men for too long, but Rock felt that he would not be nominated constantly if he cooked better. As Rock left for a bit, Brad accused him of being bitter that the latter put him up for elimination twice in the past. He argued against it, but Brad said he would feel the same if he were in his shoes.

Josh was not nominated for elimination. While being dismissed, he knew he must be ready as his time was running out.

Episode 8

Main article: Episode 308 - 5 Chefs Compete

Back to the dorms, Rock bluntly told Josh personally as he did not believe the latter's energy could dictate a kitchen. Still, he told Rock that was his opinion because he was still here to win.

The next morning, Ramsay announced that the red and blue teams would now become the black team, and he was the only chef to take Ramsay's champagne spray head-on. Ramsay congratulated him for his new talent. He received his black jacket back in the dorms. As the chefs drove to Alhambra High School, he thought the trendsetters Ramsay mentioned were Hollywood.

During the Alhambra High School Lunch Challenge, Josh made a baked salmon with pineapple salsa, and used a casual approach to serve his dish to the high schoolers because he was confident he could win. However, he lost the challenge to Julia. Despite hoping Julia would pick him for the reward, she did not and he was punished by cleaning the dinning room. During the punishment, he struggled on one of the cleaning machines, which caused Jean-Philippe to snarkily tell him that the thing needed electricity, not solar energy. That amused Rock, but he said this was why cooks belonged at the back of the kitchen. He almost killed a vacuum cleaner when it picked up a chicken bone.

During dinner service, Josh was at the appetizer station. He was confident he could get the final five off to a great start with appetizers. Still, Ramsay noticed that he already cooked a risotto when there was no one on order yet. After seeing more cooked on the hot plate, Ramsay got confused and chewed him out as he lost money, calling him a donut. Then, Ramsay found out he had cooked spaghetti not to order. When asked if he did it in his restaurant, he said no and claimed it was a mistake. Ramsay told him that even his mother would cook it seven minutes before she wanted it and had him bin the order. Still, he continued cooking spaghetti not to order. Ramsay said that even a scummy Italian restaurant would cook that to order. Ramsay warned him that he was pushing him to the limit. One hour into service, his appetizers were finally leaving the kitchen. Unfortunately, one of his orders of risotto was sent back for being undercooked. That infuriated Ramsay, who berated him for that and yelled how he was screwing the tables. Having had enough of his poor performances, Ramsay eliminated him on the spot and ordered him to leave immediately. He walked out of the kitchen, but Ramsay ordered him to leave the jacket behind. Eventually, Ramsay followed him with the same order while angrily calling him a “fucking useless sack of shit.” He soon went up to the dorms, packed his belongings, and left through the loading area. During his exit interview, he admitted how he would have given up his right arm to continue service but bitterly admitted that his dream to win was now over. Ramsay did not comment on his elimination, and he did not receive a retrospective montage of his run.

Episode 10/11

Main article: Episode 310 - 2 Chefs Compete

Main article: Episode 311 - Winner Announced

During the season recap, Josh received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence for the first time since his elimination.

Josh was one of the six chefs who returned for the final service. When he came down in the kitchen, Ramsay reminded him how he was eliminated in the middle of the first black jacket service. He was Rock's last pick for his team, after Brad and Vinnie, and the last pick overall. Still, Rock said he would rather have him because of Julia's emotional state.

During prep, Josh sent over a piece of spaghetti to Rock which was too soft for him and had half of the supply the same. Rock told Josh to toss the batch away and admitted he would have to pay close attention to Josh for that night. Rock took Josh aside and gave him a pep talk, where he told him that he could be a good cook but needed to trust himself.

During dinner service, Josh was on the and fish station. He served crab cakes, but they were burnt. He said he needed one minute to refire them but argued with Rock’s order to get them up by thirty seconds. He argued he was trying his best and did not want Rock to push him too much. Then, he was caught cooking six crab cakes not on order, forcing Ramsay to warn Rock about it. Brad accused him of losing it as it brought down the team. Later, Rock noticed that he burned another crab cake and reminded him that only one order of appetizers left the kitchen in the last thirty minutes. Then, he burned another order of crab cakes and frustratingly admitted he could not cook one after Ramsay got on his case. Rock had enough and had him and Vinnie switch stations, a decision Ramsay approved.

After service, Rock said stated that if he could change one thing, it would be to win the final challenge just so he would not have had Josh on his team due to his poor performance that night. Hearing that pissed him off because he wanted to do his best but brushed off Rock's criticisms because he knew how to cook. Rock eventually won the finals over Bonnie.

Nomination History

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Nominated
Week 3	Win
Week 4	Nominated
Week 5	Win
Week 6	Nominated
Week 7	Safe
Week 8	Ejected

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, he became an Executive Chef at The Blue, before moving to 5300 Chop House, and then to Kung Fu Kitchen and Sushi.
• In 2016, he co-founded Born Foody, to help children in need, which was shut down in 4 months. He is now Chef de Cuisine of Fi'lia by Michael Schwartz at SLS Brickell.

Trivia

• He is the first contestant from Florida.
• He is the second contestant and the first male to be nominated on the first time their team lost and make it to the black jackets, following Virginia (Season 2).
• He and Melissa are the first two contestants who were not called down by Ramsay at elimination after being nominated.
• He is the first contestant and the only black jacket to this date, to get eliminated during dinner service. Because of this fact, he is the highest-ranked contestant to be eliminated mid-service, at 5th place.
• He is responsible for one of two of the most shocking black jacket exits ever, the other being Joy (Season 12). Coincidentally, both were ranked at 5th place.
• He is the first black jacket contestant who did not receive a retrospective montage of his run after being eliminated. He is also the only contestant to date who was ranked at 5th place to do so.
• He holds the record for the shortest tenure as a black jacket in the history of the show, with one incomplete service.
• In an interview after his run on the show, he revealed that he did not initially think he was eliminated when Ramsay kicked him out of the kitchen, so he had plans to put his jacket back on and return to the kitchen. He also claimed that if Ramsay had not come in the back store to get his jacket, he would have come back in the kitchen, and things would have escalated.

Quotes

• "Food is sex. Everybody likes sex and everybody likes food, and I want to make people feel like they just had great sex."
• (After blue team won the Wedding Challenge) "Two things are happening right now. Number 1: We finally got a win, and we feel great about it. Number 2: It's open hunting season on chicks, and we're about to start picking them off one by one."
• "Chef (Ramsay) wants to put me on the cover of GQ, it's all good, but I'm waiting for the chef to put me in charge of Green Valley Ranch!"
• I have no doubt in mind that this is one of the best rewards ever... I GOT TO SHOOT THE CHEF TODAY, come on how many people will ever get to do that?"
• (After being eliminated) "I would've given my right arm to stay in this service and keep fighting, because I came here with the dream to win. And... it appears it's over. It appears that uh... Green Valley Ranch is not in my future. Dream's over, guys."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Josh's Intro Spot

Josh in Blue Jacket

Josh's Confessional (Blue Jacket)

Josh and Eddie Nominated

Josh in Blind Taste Test

Josh and Brad Nominated

Josh's in Black Jacket

Josh's Confessional (Black Jacket)

Josh eliminated mid service

Josh eliminated mid service (part 2)

Josh (S3) as Returning Chef

Josh's Signature Dish

Josh's Leftover Dish (Episode 7)

Josh's 100 Alhambra High School Lunch Portions Dish (Episode 8)