Maria Torrisi

“

Plain and simple.

”

Hometown/Residence	Scranton, PA
Occupation	Kitchen Supervisor
Culinary Education	Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts - Las Vegas
Culinary Inspiration	Home Economics Teacher
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	1 out of 1
Challenges Won	1
Services Won	1
Times as BoW/Announcer	1
Times Nominated	1
Placement	12th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	12 Chefs Compete Part 2

Maria Torrisi was a contestant on Season 7 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 12th place.

Season 7

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 701 - 16 Chefs Compete

Before the Signature Dish Challenge, Maria was surprised that Ramsay was hugging a female chef as that was not his type, because he was not personable. Moments later, she was shocked when he kissed that chef, only to discover that she was his wife. During the challenge, she was the first person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Salvatore. She presented her pan-seared filet mignon with blue cheese Beurre blanc, while being confident that Ramsay would love her food. He deemed the dish delicious as the steak was tender and cooked perfectly, and she won the round over Salvatore.

The red team lost the challenge 3-4, and they were eventually punished by cooking breakfast in bed for the blue team the next morning. Back in the dorms, Maria found her Henckel knives on her bed, and stated that they were the best, as well as the last set one should order in their life. Moments later, all the women were focused on studying the menu for the opening night while being confident about it. The next day, during prep, she was confused if she had to use her own arm as a measurement, and declared she was nervous as she did not want to disappoint Ramsay because he was her idol.

During dinner service, Maria was on the meat station with Jamie. At one point, when Ramsay ordered the red team to touch Jamie's unacceptable beef, she acknowledged it was cold, and started to laugh out loud. Ramsay schooled her by telling there was nothing to laugh about as no entrées were leaving the kitchen, but she laughed again. Ramsay asked her what was funny, she answered that nothing was, but because of that, she was kicked out of the kitchen, along with Jamie and Fran. Back in the dorms, she was angry about being kicked out only for laughing, and compared all of them to a bunch of clowns. When Benjamin and Salvatore were kicked out, she told both of them to not feel that bad while padding the latter on the arm.

The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people. During deliberation, Maria was considered by Nilka for being a little bit frazzled, but she reminded that she was kicked out before entrées started to be sent out. She also called it complete crap as she did not think she did as bad as other people on her team.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 702 - 15 Chefs Compete

The next morning, at 5 am, the chefs were awakened by an alarm clock amplified all over the dorms by Sous Chefs Scott and Andi. During the Egg Relay Challenge, Maria was paired with Nilka, and they were the first pair to compete for the red team. They gave a perfect performance as all four of their eggs were accepted, making her very proud of herself.

The red team lost the challenge 10-11, and they were punished by taking a delivery of a giant tuna, cutting it, cleaning it, and gutting it for the next service. During the punishment, Maria disagreed with Autumn's way of cutting the tuna as the latter left the skin, and she acknowledged that the skin was always the first part they were removing, while not understanding what Autumn was doing. Before service, she was unapologetic when Autumn over seasoned the water, saying that she should own up to her shit.

During dinner service, Maria was on the dessert station. She was not seen at all, both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate one person each. During deliberation, she tried to convince her teammates to nominate Autumn for not being able to season the water properly before service as it was a basic mistake, which Siobhan agreed with.

Maria was not nominated for elimination, and she deemed Jamie as the worst chef on the red team when Ramsay asked them that question. While being dismissed, she regretted her decision to push her teammates to nominate Autumn, acknowledging it was a bad decision.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 703 - 13 Chefs Compete

Back in the dorms, when the men were arguing over Jason's nomination, Maria was happy to see that as the men were falling apart and were right where the women wanted them to be.

The next morning, the chefs went to the dining room, where Ramsay introduced the Marching Band Lunch Service Challenge while revealing they would be serving the marching band of the University of Southern California. During the challenge, Maria was assigned as a floater, and at one point, being determined not to lose another challenge, she jumped on the grill station to help Jamie. She was upset that the latter was always saying that she had it, and decided to drive the bus for her, which Jamie allowed her to do. Because of her help, Jamie's burgers finally made it to the dining room. Near the end, she was seen aggressively rallying her teammates vocally to complete the last few tickets.

The red team won the challenge, and celebrated by cheering and hugging each other, while Maria was very proud and excited about that win. They were rewarded with a day at the Malibu Beach Inn, being driven there in vintage cars, and a soccer match against Ramsay and his own family. During the ride to Malibu, she told her teammates they deserved it, and acknowledged it was the start of a new beginning, while adding that the men were feeling shitty at that moment.

During dinner service, Maria was on the appetizer station with Nilka. When she sent her first risotto to the pass, it was overcooked and under-seasoned, and she admitted that she did not cook that much risotto before. Her second attempt was still overcooked and stuck to the plates, she was embarrassed, and Nilka acknowledged that she was lacking self-confidence. So, she received help from Nilka, and because of that, her third attempt was accepted. Later, she and Nilka tried to convince Autumn to leave Fran alone as she was insisting the latter would go see a medic after an injury, and when Fran did, she and Nilka took over the meat station for a quick moment. However, she did not understand what temperature was called for the beef, much to Ramsay's dismay.

The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people. During deliberation, Maria was considered by Siobhan, and when Jamie was considered as well, she agreed saying that she always said that she had it, and that the only thing she had was an excess amount of weight. Then, she was considered by Jamie, which infuriated her, who asked why she should be nominated, while reminding that at least she got the team out of the gates.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 704 - 12 Chefs Compete Part 1

The next morning, the chefs went downstairs, where Ramsay introduced the Craps Challenge. When he revealed the craps table, Maria was worried as she was from Las Vegas, and told it was bad news. She was the fifth person to roll the die for the red team, landed on T, and chose turnips after revealing that it was all she was thinking about. During the cooking, she agreed with Ramsay, who suggested not to slice the duck too early, by saying it took a second to slice it. But when Autumn insisted that it was time to plate, she was annoyed and just wanted to tell Autumn to shut up.

The red team lost the challenge, and they were punished by cleaning the front entrance of the restaurant, which included the floor, the carpet, and the mirrors, as well as prepping both kitchens for the next service. During the punishment, Maria wondered why they were cleaning as she thought prep was more important than vacuuming, and later, during prep, she started to be stressed out about the time as she acknowledged they had to prep the blue kitchen too, and was eager to finally get prep done.

When the men came back from their reward, Maria apologized to them without saying why, convinced her teammates to not hit the panic button, but when Sous Chef Andi informed the women that they were all losing their techniques, not going towards the win, and that they had only an hour left to prep both kitchens, she started to cry. Fran convinced her not to cry, and she left the kitchen to go to the hallway stairs, in tears. She declared that she was stressed out as she was working as fast as she could, sat on the stairs, thought that Ramsay would be very upset and eat them alive, and after, Sous Chef Andi went to talk to her. On the patio, she told the latter that she was really worried as everything in the kitchen was a mess, but she was motivated by Sous Chef Andi, who said she should step up her game as she was only working with food. Because of that, she was motivated, and said that she was right as she wanted to shine. When Ramsay asked both teams to line up, he told her to bring her lovely face, and she understood it as he thought she was pretty, which made her really happy.

During dinner service, Maria was on the appetizer station with Siobhan. She was not seen at all, both teams were named joint-winners, and for the red team, Nilka was named "Best of the Best". During deliberation, she was annoyed by Autumn's constant excuses for everything, and added that she sucked.

Maria was not nominated for elimination, and said goodbye to Autumn, who was transferred to the blue team, while welcoming Scott as a new teammate.

Episode 5

Main article: Episode 705 - 12 Chefs Compete Part 2

The next morning, the chefs were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Andi, who gave them butchering outfits to wear for the Pork Creation Challenge. During the first part, Maria was the last person from the red team to grab her pig, but she accidentally dropped one of them.

During the second part of the challenge, Maria was paired with Scott, and they were the last pair from the red team to have their dish judged. She presented a sweet potato soup garnished with ham hock, but she annoyed everybody when she could not stop talking and describing the dish, even herself. Ramsay told her to breathe and congratulated her for screwing her team as she and Scott broke the rules because the ham hock had to be the main ingredient and not a simple garnish. Because of that, she and Scott lost the round to Jay and Salvatore, and she was embarrassed and called herself an idiot.

The red team lost the challenge 1-2, and they were punished by cleaning the pig pen outside and giving the pigs a bath while wearing farming clothes. During the punishment, they struggled to wash the pigs as all of them were excited and constantly moving around.

During the Barbecue themed dinner service, Maria was on the garnish station during the first seating and a waitress during the second. The first hush puppies that she served were raw, and she was berated and ordered to start over. Fran tried to help her, Ramsay was furious that she was not answering, and when Holli asked her for a time, she became aggressive while telling her to snap down, and mimicked her gesture of going faster while telling that she needed to talk. During the second seating, in the dining room, at one point, Ramsay asked her for the ticket, but she was not listening, was called weird by Ramsay, and on the second time, she was reminded that the order was already taken by Holli earlier. She explained the situation to Ramsay, he asked her if she was trying to sabotage, which she answered not, and Holli explained that she took an order from one of her tables. She acknowledged her mistake while looking extremely lost and stressed out. Later, a customer received the wrong entrée, she was ordered by Jean-Philippe to bring the dishes back to the kitchen, and when she did, she acknowledged that she wrote the wrong thing on the ticket. Ramsay asked if she was lying, she answered not intentionally, but that angered Ramsay, he called her in the kitchen, she was dismayed about herself, explained the situation to Jay and Benjamin, and Ramsay took the plate and smashed it in the bin.

The red team lost the service, and Fran was named "Best of the Worst". On the patio, Maria acknowledged that she had a very poor performance, and targeted Scott, who she thought had a performance as poor as herself, but she was accused by the latter of not trying as he did.

Maria was Fran's first nominee for elimination, with Nilka being the second, and they were called down with Scott. During her plea, she acknowledged her very awful service, wanted to prove that she could do better, but Ramsay was not convinced that she was committed, having pride and passion, and she retorted that if she was not, she would not be fighting with him at that moment to stay. In the end, she was eliminated for being the worst performer of the night and way over her head. During her exit interview, she knew that she did not perform to her full capabilities, but still thought that Scott had a worse performance than her.

Ramsay's comment: "Maria was in over her head. On garnish she was lost, and her team paid the cost. That's why her life in Hell's Kitchen is dead."

Nomination History

Week 1	Safe
Week 2	Safe
Week 3	Safe
Week 4	Win
Week 5	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, she became a Sous Chef at a Hilton Hotel, before leaving the profession to work in healthcare insurance sales and claims.

Trivia

• She and Holli are the youngest of the season, at 24.

Quotes

• "Plain and simple."
• "Chef, nothing's funny."
• "You know we were all laughing. We are all a bunch of clowns."
• "LET'S GO, LET'S GO, OH MY GOD!!"
• (After being eliminated) "I really didn't show the heart. I didn't show all of my capabilities. But, based on performance alone, Scott had a worse service than me. Plain and simple."

Gallery

• Chef
• Chef

Maria's Intro Spot

Maria in Red Jacket

Maria's Confessional

Scott, Maria, and Nilka Nominated

Maria Eliminated

Maria's Signature Dish

Scott and Maria's Pork Creation Dish (Episode 5)

External links

• Maria Torrisi on Instagram