Matthew Francis Johnson

“

Pressure is on.

”

Hometown/Residence	Duluth, MN
Occupation	Food Vlogger
Culinary Education	The Culinary Institute of America
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	2 out of 5
Challenges Won	0
Services Won	0
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	2
Placement	17th
Episode Eliminated	Temping the Meat
Images of Matthew Francis Johnson

Matthew Francis Johnson was a contestant on Season 20 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 17th place.

Season 20

Episode 1/2

Main article: Episode 2001 - Young Guns: Young Guns Come Out Shooting

Main article: Episode 2002 - Young Guns: Temping the Meat

The eighteen Young Guns arrive at Las Vegas on a bus heading to Hell's Kitchen, and they drove past the real Hell's Kitchen restaurant. The bus arrived at Hell's Kitchen, where Marino greeted the chefs. Marino explained that Ramsay created a museum to celebrate the past nineteen seasons in honor of the twentieth season. Giving the tour were Shakala and Sean, who led the chefs into the museum. As the chefs toured the museum, they saw photos of past contestants, hung jackets, the Hell's Kitchen Wall of Fame, and lines said from the past seasons. Then, they see video clips of moments from the show. The last stop was an exhibit of the doors used to reveal the winner of each season. Sean said that the final part of the tour was a documentary film about the show's history. However, the curtain pulled back to reveal an audience waiting for them and Ramsay on a stage behind them. Once on stage, Ramsay explained that the museum was meant to showcase the past, while the eighteen of them were the future. Ramsay added that the desire to become a chef was a dream for many young people, and food has evolved over the years since the show began. So, Ramsay announced that the winner of that season would become his protégé, shocking Matthew as that was a great prize. Also, Ramsay announced that the winner would also become the new Head Chef at Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Afterwards, Ramsay announced the Signature Dish Challenge and gave the chefs 45 minutes to cook their dishes.

Matthew was making cioppino two minutes left during the Signature Dish Challenge, explaining that this was the dish he had when he came out to his parents. He was the second person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Keanu. However, he felt stressed as everyone was sizing him up, and he knew cioppino was a tricky dish to cook in 45 minutes. He told Ramsay that he made food videos and was the one who had his hands hold the ingredients, but Ramsay asked if that meant he was a hand model. However, he said he did show his face a few times and presented his cioppino. While Ramsay found the presentation to be classic, he discovered that he forgot to remove the shrimp's shit sack, much to his dismay. Ramsay asked him why he did not clean it properly, and he said he failed to notice it. An insulted Ramsay offered him a bite of the sack, but he refused as Keanu reminded him to get the poop out. Payton found it hilarious that he served Ramsay literal poop. Ramsay accused him of being drunk while making the dish and gave him two points. After Jay served raw roux, he deemed it a rookie mistake as a dark roux took forever to make. The blue team lost the challenge 28-30, and they were punished by taking in deliveries for ingredients to make stock.

During the Alcohol Challenge, Matthew was making a bourbon-rubbed chicken with a cream sauce. He knew he had to bounce back after the Signature Dish Challenge but felt he bounced back and shined. When the blue team went through who to pick for the Top Three, his dish was well-received by Jay as he thought it was executed well. He was a part of the blue team's Top Three and was the final person to have his dish judged by Ramsay. However, Ramsay hoped he would bounce back after serving a shrimp with the poop sack. He presented his bourbon-glazed heir-lined chicken breast, but while it was praised for having a rustic presentation, Ramsay saw something after cutting through. The rest of the men were called up, and it turned out that his chicken was raw, angering Ramsay as that made it into the Top Three. Jay was dismayed as the men missed that and feared that it would make them look bad. After Victoria served clean shrimp, Ramsay made a jab against him. He lost out to Steve, and was named by the latter as the first of the blue team's worst three for the raw chicken.

After tasting the dishes, Ramsay named Matthew as the blue team's nominee for having the worst dish, and he joined Ava from the red team. During his plea, Ramsay accused him of being a spent horse, but he felt he was trying to keep up with the fast pace of the kitchen and felt rushed. However, Ramsay reminded him that he had 45 minutes to cook his dish. Despite that, he wanted another chance to convince Ramsay that he could do better. He survived elimination after Ramsay sent him back in line but was ordered to wake up. While going back to the dorms, he knew he had to keep trying and push forward.

During prep, Matthew and Payton discussed the plan for meat as he refused to give up. During the 300th dinner service, he was at the meat station with Payton. Ramsay began entrées in both kitchens, and he knew it was his last chance to see if he could fit in Ramsay's kitchen. He walked up the lamb, but Ramsay took it to the end of the line and had everyone feel it. He said it was rare but immediately corrected himself by saying it was raw. However, Ramsay was unamused because he was smiling about it, especially as it was in front of Mike Tyson and ordered the men to get it together. Feeling that he was dragging the men down, Payton took command of the meat. When it came time for the VIP order, neither he nor Payton could remember what was on order. Ramsay could not believe that they could forget the order and had them apologize to Tyson, much to Payton's embarrassment. In a desperate attempt to see that the chicken was correct, he used a digital thermometer to check the cook. However, Trenton could not believe he had that. When Ramsay asked the men for a time on the order, chaos emerged as Payton and Antonio gave out two different timings. Frustrated by that, Ramsay brought the men down to the front of the pass for an explanation. He claimed that they were going too fast, but Ramsay ordered the men to call out the order multiple times. Then, Ramsay forced them into the pantry for a meeting. Antonio told him not to use pacing as an excuse and told the men to communicate and focus. Despite coming back into the kitchen, the blue team was kicked out after nobody had an idea of timings or what was going on.

The blue team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Antonio considered nominating the entire meat station, Payton and Matthew. He said things were a mess before then, but Payton accused him of not communicating with him all night and thought he was mentally checked out. Still, he did not think he should carry the blame by himself. In the end, the men agreed with him and Payton as their nominees as both were ready to plead their cases.

When the blue team came downstairs, Ramsay showed the men Matthew's meat thermometer he left behind in the kitchen and was shocked they still could not produce cooked proteins even with that. He was named the blue team's first nominee for elimination, with Payton as the second, and Jay joined them. Ramsay reminded him about his uncleaned shrimp in the Signature Dish Challenge, his raw chicken in the Alcohol Challenge, and raw lamb at dinner service. Feeling that his attitude sucked, Ramsay did not bother hearing his plea and eliminated him for being the worst performer out of all the Young Guns so far. Before leaving, Ramsay told him to get it together if he wanted to stay in the culinary industry and gave back his thermometer, telling him to use it the next time he cooked a protein. During his exit interview, he thought he would have stayed longer and claimed that he could cook meat before feeling he never got the chance to show Ramsay who he truly was.

Ramsay's comment: "Matthew may be considered a chef on the internet, but unfortunately, I had to taste his food, and that's why I had to block him from the competition."

Nomination History

Week 1	Nominated
	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, Matthew works at Freshly as a R&D Chef and Content Manager for Freshly Inc. and has continued with his YouTube channel.
• He has also written an adventure book for young adults.
• In 2022, he competed on The World Cook, a TV cooking competition that also featured 15 other chefs from around the world.
• In 2023, he produced the feature film Scraps.

Trivia

• Before his appearance on the show, he formally worked at Tasty, a company by BuzzFeed where chefs shares their recipes.
• He is the first contestant from the state of Minnesota.
• He is the oldest contestant of the season, at 24 years of age.
• He is the first contestant to receive a formal nomination and the second to be subsequently eliminated without a plea, following Melissa (Season 3).
• He is the fifth contestant to be eliminated on the opening night who did not score a 1 out of 5 in the new format of the Signature Dish Challenge after Pat (Season 16), Ben (Season 17), Scott (Season 18), and Eliott (Season 19). He is also the second contestant to do so that did not rank last place in their season.
• Due to Ava's elimination in the Alcohol Challenge, he is the sixth contestant to get eliminated on opening night without ranking last place in his season, following Tiffany (Season 3), Melinda (Season 6), Lisa (Season 8), Steven (Season 9), and Eliott (Season 19).
• He is the fourteenth male contestant to get eliminated on opening night, following Dominic (Season 4), Wil (Season 5), Louie (Season 6), Steven (Season 9), Tavon (Season 10), Sebastian (Season 11), Gaurav (Season 12), JP (Season 13), Mark (Season 15), Pat (Season 16), Ben (Season 17), Scott (Season 18), and Eliott (Season 19).
• He is the second contestant to be eliminated on the opening night that was nominated more than once, following Eliott (Season 19).

Quotes

• (About his signature dish) "Oh no, crap. I didn't take out the crap, I didn't de-vein it and I'm like 'shoot'!"
• "Pressure is on."
• (After being eliminated) "I definitely hoped I could last longer, but Hell's Kitchen is hell for a reason. Yes I used a meat thermometer, but I promise I can actually cook real food. I really wanted chef to see who I am, but I feel like I just never had the chance."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Matthew in Blue Jacket

Matthew's Confessional

Ava and Matthew Nominated (Elimination Challenge)

Payton, Matthew, and Jay Nominated

Matthew Eliminated

Matthew's Signature Dish (Episode 1)

Matthew's Alcohol Dish (Episode 2)

External links

• Matthew Francis Johnson on Instagram
• brainfoodmfj on YouTube