Lewis Curtis

 

“

This country boy is on cloud nine.

”

Hometown/Residence	Beebe, AR
Occupation	Executive Chef
Statistics
Challenges Won	2
Services Won	0
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	0
Placement	14th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	14 Chefs Compete

Lewis Curtis was a contestant on Season 8 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 14th place.

Season 8

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 801 - 16 Chefs Compete

After James introduced himself, all the chefs put blindfolds on, and were taken to the prize restaurant, the LA Market, in Los Angeles. Then, they returned to Hell's Kitchen, and were asked to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Curtis was the third person from the blue team to have their dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Antonia. He made a lemon pepper chicken, but Ramsay called it shit. He scored no points, and neither did Antonia. Despite that, the blue team won after a tiebreaker and were rewarded with massages, champagne, and caviar up in the dorms. Later that night, he saw Raj perform drunken karate moves and suggested that he should take it down and save his energy for service, while admitting that he thought Raj would have a heart attack.

During dinner service, Curtis was on the meat station. He was not seen much as the blue team did not make it past entrées. Both teams lost the dinner service and were asked to nominate two people each.

He was not nominated for elimination. 

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 802 - 14 Chefs Compete

During the Sushi Challenge, Curtis was paired up with Trev. They had a difficult time making their sushi, and he referred to his sushi rolls as "dookie rolls". Fortunately, their sushi was not judged as the blue team had an extra pair, and the team won the challenge 16-15. They were rewarded with a wine tasting at Cellar 360 in San Francisco with Ramsay and dinner at the Water Bar Restaurant. He also got to keep his Morimoto knife that was used in the challenge. During the reward, he thanked the team for winning despite his poor performance. During prep, he tried to tell Raj that he was cutting the parsley incorrectly, but was ignored.

During dinner service, Curtis was at the sushi station. When he brought up his sushi rolls, Ramsay saw that he made three fat fucks and a minuscule piece and that his plate was not properly clean. Due to his poor performance, Ramsay was forced to send out one incomplete table of appetizers to the dining room. Two hours later, he sent up poorly cut sushi pieces without wasabi, which caused an impatient Ramsay to kick him out of the kitchen. The blue team lost after they were all ejected from service, and when Ramsay asked him what happened during service, he said that there was no excuse for his poor performance. During deliberation, Curtis persuaded his team to nominate Boris instead of him, when they initially voted to nominate him along with Raj.

Curtis was not nominated for elimination, but Ramsay decided to eliminate him as his poor performance on the sushi station was the reason why the blue team fell apart. During his exit interview, he was crying and apologized to his family because he did not reach what was expected of him.

Ramsay's comment: "Curtis might have been a good ol' boy, but unfortunately, he wasn't good at cooking."

Nomination History

Week 1	Safe
Week 2	Eliminated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, Curtis went back to work at the Lulav before cooking at various cookery events such as Farm to Table dining, and launched his own catering company called "Chef Lewis and Chef Rob Catering".
• He is currently Executive Chef at Harding University.

Trivia

• He is the only contestant from the state of Arkansas.
• He is the third contestant to be eliminated without nomination at the second episode of a season, following Sharon (Season 4), and Mikey (Season 7).
• He is the eighth contestant who was eliminated after Chef Ramsay overruled the initial nominations, following Gabe (Season 2), Vinnie (Season 3), Sharon (Season 4), Colleen (Season 5), Jim, Van (both from Season 6), and Mikey (Season 7).
• He is the third contestant whose show name was his surname, following Dewberry (Season 1) and Petrozza (Season 4).
• He is the only one in his season to never do a punishment.

Quotes

• (About Raj) "Just take it down a notch and let's put that energy towards your food!"
• (When making sushi) "Mine looked like a dookie roll instead of a sushi roll!"
• "One minute you're in the kitchen with Chef Morimoto, a dream in its own self, and then an hour later, you're in San Francisco. This country boy is on cloud nine."
• (To Raj chopping parsley) "You're not even cuttin'. You're just pattin' it down and brusin' it."
• (About his rejected sushi) "It looked like a staircase. I-, yeah, he got that one on me."
• (After getting ejected by Chef Ramsay) "Don't tell me to fuck off. Man, fuck that. I tried my best. At least like some motherfuckers, at least I fucking tried. Give me a break! Dammit."
• (After being eliminated) "Words can't even describe how I feel right now. I mean... this experience meant so much to me, so much to my family. I'm sorry daddy didn't give his best, but I swear to God, I'm gonna make it up to you (crying)."

Gallery

Curtis' Intro Spot

Curtis' Signature Dish

Curtis in Blue Jacket

Curtis' Confessional

Curtis Eliminated