Maribel Miller

“

I was myself throughout the process, my husband will see that, and he'll be proud of me, and my daughter will be, too, and that's all that counts to me.

”

Hometown/Residence	Brooklyn, NY
Occupation	Cafeteria Chef
Statistics
Blind Taste Test Score	2 out of 4
Challenges Won	4
Services Won	2
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	2
Placement	6th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	6 Chefs

Maribel Miller was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 6th place.

Season 2

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 201 - 12 Chefs

During the intro, Maribel was one of the three chefs shown to be competing. The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen on a bus and were greeted by Jean-Philippe. They celebrated with some champagne glasses, got to know each other, and had a first look at the restaurant. Afterwards, Ramsay walked through the hallway, opened the dining room doors, and greeted the contestants by introducing himself and announcing that only one of them would win the competition. The only way that person would win, though, was to impress him, and he asked all of them to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Maribel was the fifth person to have her dish judged by Ramsay and presented her Argentine plantain soup. Ramsay spat it out as he found it garlicky and hot and compared the presentation to baby vomit. She deemed it an embarrassment but also called Ramsay a wimp for not liking the spices. After the challenge, she was placed in the red team because Ramsay declared that, for the first time, the teams were divided by gender, men in the blue team, and women in the red team.

During dinner service, Maribel was at the dessert station. When the first ticket arrived, she helped Polly, who was already struggling with appetizers. When she saw Virginia struggle on meat, she wished she was on meat instead and wondered why Ramsay had her standing around like a smuck. Three hours into service, Ramsay shut down the service after some customers shouted, "I want my food!" all over the dining room. The red team lost the dinner service, and Heather was named "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, she expressed anger as she was not allowed to cook.

Although considered by Heather, she was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 202 - 11 Chefs

The following day, after only two hours of sleep, the contestants were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann playing cowbells at 5:24 AM. They were told to go outside immediately. Once outside at the loading area, Ramsay recalled how the previous service was embarrassing. Afterwards, Ramsay wanted them to know how much food they wasted last night, as a restaurant would never survive with a lot of waste. To get his point across, Ramsay ordered the chefs to jump into the dumpsters and pull out all the garbage from last night. After that, Ramsay told the contestants that he did not want another large amount of waste in the competition again. Now that the chefs understood the lesson, Ramsay ordered them to clean up because they stunk.

During the Perfect Steak Cut Challenge, Maribel was the final person from the red team to have her attempts judged. She got two accepted. She became fearful when she saw Tom's steaks get accepted. The red team won the challenge 12-11, and they were rewarded with a helicopter ride to The Saddle Peak Lodge to have lunch with Ramsay. During the reward, she was shocked by Ramsay’s friendlier personality.

During dinner service, Maribel was at the appetizer station. Forty-five minutes into service, Heather helped her get appetizers out, and even when the former suffered from a burn, Heather still directed her. After Heather left for the hospital, she dropped some spaghetti on the floor. Ramsay told her to get a restaurant with only one table in it because, with more, she would be doomed. Three hours into service, despite the red team rallying to get the main courses out, Ramsay made her and her team stand in front of the pass to look in the dining room. When almost every customer left, Ramsay shut down both kitchens. The red team won the dinner service.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 203 - 9 Chefs

Back in the dorms, Maribel was shocked about Gabe's unexpected elimination and thought that Tom would have been eliminated over him, referring to him as fat.

During the Relay Challenge, Maribel was the third on her team to go. During her first 15 seconds relay, Rachel failed to tell her the third dish was the tortellini, so she never worked on it and was working only on the chicken and salmon. She tried to find out what was the third dish herself but never succeeded. During the final relay, she never told Sara what was the third entrée, which was the tortellini. After seeing the blue team's three dishes over their two, she felt bad that she screwed up by not hearing the third item. The red team eventually won the challenge 2-1 and they were awarded a day on a yacht with Ramsay. When the women left to go change, she felt a lot of weight lifted off her shoulders.

The next day, the women were waiting on Maribel, as she started to feel homesick as she missed her daughter and husband. While trying to focus by prepping her station, she cried, and Heather tried to comfort her as they needed her to stay strong. During dinner service, she was at the meat station. Two hours into service, the red team served many entrées out, with the lamb Wellingtons being the most popular item. However, that put more pressure on her. When she declared she only had six Wellingtons when eight were on order, Heather got dismayed. She was forced to tell Ramsay about the situation, and he told her to get lamb and pastry to make some fresh Wellingtons. But, when he called her fucking useless, she sarcastically said she loved him too. Afterwards,Jean-Philippe came to the kitchen to tell Ramsay that one of the red tables was about to leave. When Ramsay informed the women, she declared she needed seven minutes, and the table reluctantly agreed. Then, she sent up raw Wellingtons that were supposed to be rare, and Ramsay told her to get them in the oven. After getting screamed at multiple times, she was starting to tune out Ramsay as the table continued to grow restless. Later, the lady from the "walking out" table came to the kitchen to speak to Ramsay, she told them her Wellington was coming in 45 seconds, and the countdown began. Unfortunately, the Wellingtons she brought were undercooked, and because of that, the table walked out. After seeing that, Ramsay accused her of giving up and not caring and decided to shut down both kitchens.

When both teams lined up, Ramsay reminded Maribel that she was the cause of her team not completing their tickets, which she was aware of. Despite that, the red team won the dinner service.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 204 - 8 Chefs

The following day, Maribel and the red team said goodbye to Heather, who was transferred to the blue team. After a trip to Los Angeles, where the contestants went to Pink's Hot Dogs, they returned to the restaurant to prep the kitchen for the first lunch service of Hell's Kitchen.

During the Lunch Service Challenge, Maribel said it was for the kids. At one point, she came to help Sara, who was struggling at the pizza station, along with Rachel. Sara did not appreciate it as she felt she did not need help. Despite that, the team finished all their tickets on time and celebrated with the children in the dining room. However, the red team lost the challenge as their food was rated 9,84 out of 10, compared to the blue team's 9,85. They were punished by cleaning the messy dining room after the children left. During the punishment, she called the mess a rainbow-colored mess on the floor.

During dinner service, Maribel was at the garnish station. When the red team was about to complete their first order of entrées, her mashed potatoes were overcooked to the point Ramsay compared them to glue. Ramsay asked her to make some fresh ones and told her if it was the last thing to eat in the country, he would rather starve. While Rachel was gone to get ice at the supermarket, she, along with Virginia and Sara, succeeded in sending out many entrées. She acknowledged that Rachel's absence made the kitchen run smoother as Ramsay was not constantly yelling at them. After a lot of frustration in both kitchens and only half of the dining room served, Ramsay kicked both teams out of the kitchen. Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate one each. During deliberation, she was considered for elimination by Virginia for being a weaker cook than Rachel and Sara. Still, she considered Rachel the weakest for holding the team back due to her poor performance on appetizers.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 5

Main article: Episode 205 - 7 Chefs

The next morning, Maribel noticed that Ramsay had arranged a table with some high-quality appetizers. She tasted some fine-dining dishes, which included caviar, cheese fondue, pâté, and chicken kebab. After a few minutes, Ramsay revealed all those dishes were fake and introduced the Blind Taste Test. She was the first person from the red team to compete, went up against Keith, and knew how important it was for the red team to win as they have been getting into arguments lately. She correctly guessed potato and seared tuna, and the red team won the challenge 7-6. They were rewarded with a photo shoot for TV Guide. During the reward, she called the women's positive vibe a party.

When Maribel returned from the reward, it did not take long for her to feel home sick again, as she was missing her daughter and husband very much. She tried to focus on the grand prize but said it was hard when she was away from her family.

During dinner service, Maribel was at the appetizer station. When a froi gras came back in the kitchen for having hair on the plate, she said she had black hair, but Ramsay did not care what color it was. However, she said it could have been Jean-Philippe’s hair and suggested that Ramsay ask him that. Despite that, she was able to produce an acceptable risotto. After three hours, Ramsay shut down both kitchens because of Rachel's problems at the meat station. The red team lost the dinner service, and Virginia was named "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, she and Sara told Virginia to nominate Rachel for screwing up service.

Maribel was Virginia's second nominee for elimination, with Rachel being the first. During her plea, she said she had a humble background thanks to her Cafeteria Cook position but felt she was improving thanks to being in Hell’s Kitchen. Despite being reminded about the black hair incident, she survived elimination. While being dismissed, she lost her trust in Virginia for nominating her.

Episode 6

Main article: Episode 206 - 6 Chefs

Back at the dorms, Heather talked with Maribel about Rachel's elimination, but she assumed that the former wanted her to be eliminated. However, she did not care about it, saying Heather could say whatever she wanted as she refused to let people talk down to her.

The following day, at 6:32 AM, Sous Chef Scott and Mary-Ann woke up the contestants with megaphones, shouting all over the dorms and telling them to get outside immediately with their jackets on. An annoyed Maribel thought the brutal wake-up calls were over by now. During the Three Course Meal Challenge, she felt they were picking up the wrong things and heading the wrong way, as she had no faith in Virginia's leadership. During the cooking, Sara and Virginia micromanaged her, and she did not feel that her teammates had confidence in her. She was the final person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Heather. She made a Latin-inspired strawberry shortcake, but while Ramsay found it uninspiring, it was very palate-cleansing, much to her relief.

The red team won the challenge, and they were rewarded with a night out with Ramsay at three different restaurants in Hollywood. When the red team went out to sunbathe, Keith started attacking them for winning unfairly, and Garrett bitterly hoped they enjoyed their consolation prize as none of the three women deserved to be in the finale. During the reward, Maribel found the food to be exquisite at Providence, but at Nick & Stef's Steakhouse, she got annoyed at Virginia's poor attempt at asking the owner a question.

The next day, both teams were asked to come up with their own menus for that night's dinner service. While making the menu, Maribel tried to interject something but was shushed by Virginia. That annoyed her as she was the odd woman out of the red team, but she decided to let them do what they wanted. During prep, Virginia noticed she was moving slowly and wanted her to hurry up as it bugged her.

During dinner service, Maribel was at the garnish station. When Virginia struggled with her sashimi, Ramsay sent her to try and help her. While it worked, the red team was way behind, as it had been an hour since service started. Later that night, a lukewarm salmon returned to the pass because of her, and Ramsay said he could not believe the first thing she touched all night went out poorly. Because the red team struggled all night, Ramsay ordered the blue team, who had finished their service, to take over the red kitchen to finish service for them before he left the kitchen. The red team lost the service, and Ramsay asked each member of the team to nominate one person for elimination. During deliberation, Sara asked her where she was during prep, but she felt the former screwed up the most that night, with Virginia agreeing with her.

At elimination, Ramsay changed his mind and nominated all three members of the red team. During her plea, Maribel said she had a lot of drive and felt she was the red team's third wheel. Still, Virginia told Ramsay she tried to push her to say something, even though the latter shushed her during the menu planning. After Ramsay compared her to a rabbit bouncing around the kitchen and accomplishing nothing, she was eliminated for her lack of leadership and not achieving anything during service. Before she left, Ramsay praised her for her attitude and hard work. During her exit interview, she admitted that trying to be a team player compared to Sara and Virginia was her weakness and that her husband and daughter would be proud of her for being herself throughout the competition.

Ramsay's comment: "I'm trying to find someone that deserves a restaurant. Now to run that restaurant properly, you need a leader, and Maribel clearly can't lead a section, let alone a kitchen."

Nomination History

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

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Maribel became a novelty cake decorator at Nibbles Cakes in Delaware.
• Once Nibbles Cakes closed down, she started her own online Spice company, Weh-pah Spices, which has excellent reviews.
• According to her Instagram and Facebook, she is now known as Jennifer Miller.
• She had another child with her husband and still lives in Delaware.

Trivia

• She is the first contestant to be eliminated in an instance when Ramsay called the whole team forward.
• She did not return for the last dinner service of the season as she was supposed to, so Giacomo took her place. In an interview with "What Would U Ask? Podcast", she declined the offer as she had only just returned to New York after her elimination.

Quotes

• "I love you too, man... I love you too."
• (After being eliminated) "You know, Sara and Virginia were just out for themselves. I'm here trying to work as a team. I think that was my weakness. I was myself throughout the process, my husband will see that, and he'll be proud of me, and my daughter will be, too, and that's all that counts to me."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Maribel's Intro Spot

Maribel in Red Jacket

Maribel's Confessional

Maribel in the Blind Taste Test

Rachel and Maribel Nominated

Sara, Maribel, and Virginia Nominated

Maribel Eliminated

Maribel's Signature Dish

Maribel and Heather's Three-Course Meal Dishes (Episode 6)