Pat Tortorello

“

Take it easy with the Grandpa lines, I'm bringing the experience to the table, you know I'm a very, very young 47.

”

Hometown/Residence	Belleville, NJ
Occupation	Culinary Instructor
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	3 out of 5
Challenges Won	0
Services Won	0
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	18th
Episode Eliminated	When the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

Patricio "Pat" Tortorello was a contestant on Season 16 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 18th place.

Season 16

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 1601 - When the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

On the bus ride to Hell's Kitchen, Pat said that with his experience, he was a very young 47-year-old. While the chefs were expecting to arrive at the restaurant, the bus instead pulled up to an army base. After leaving the bus, the chefs lined up in front of their own duffel bags, and as the Drill Sergeant was barking out orders, a tank pulled up behind him, and Ramsay came out of it. Then, Ramsay explained that before the chefs could enter Hell’s Kitchen, he wanted to make sure that they all had the discipline to survive, noting that the army was the perfect example to prepare them. After, Ramsay said that if they could survive boot camp, then he will be convinced that they were worthy of competing. After changing into their uniforms, the chefs were put through an obstacle course and jogged over to Ramsay who was in front of a giant wall, which he called the toughest challenge. After the chefs claimed that they were ready, Ramsay was happy to hear it as the wall fell on him, revealing the front of the restaurant, and a large crowd waiting for them. Now that he saw the chef’s commitment and desire to compete, Ramsay announced that it was time for them to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Pat was excited when Ramsay announced the prized restaurant. He was the first person from the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Gia. Before tasting his dish, he revealed that he was 47 years old. He made a sea bass with light citrus risotto, Ramsay deemed it not bad, and he scored 3 points. The blue team lost the challenge 25-28, and they were punished by resetting the dining room and setting up the tables for the following service, and packing up the risers the audience were sitting at. During the punishment, he decided to take a break due to his age, but that annoyed Andrew as he was busting his ass, before declaring that he may not be hanging with the blue team any longer.

During dinner service, Pat was on the appetizer station with Paulie. On their first ticket, he boasted that he could cook risotto in his sleep, but despite claiming that it was in his blood, his risotto looked like vomit dipped in oil, much Ramsay’s confusion. Later, he was seen micromanaging Paulie's work, and that resulted in a risotto that was too salty. When Matt tried to use the cameras as an excuse for the raw scallops, he said that the latter must be out of his mind. After Matt and Genaro did not take responsibility for the raw sea bass, he called the two dumb and dumber.

The blue team lost the service, and while Pat stated that they would regroup, they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, he was considered by Andrew and Devin for elimination, with Matt criticizing him for cooking poor food that night, but he considered Genaro and Matt for elimination as he knew that the fish station was their downfall that night.

Pat was named the blue team's first nominee for elimination, with Matt as the second. During his plea, Ramsay asked him what he was doing that night, and while the latter admitted to some missteps at the start of service, he argued that the fish station destroyed the blue team’s service. Later, Matt called him the weakest chef on the blue team so far. He was eliminated for his poor performance on appetizers. During his exit interview, he was angry that he was eliminated, felt that the blue team had a poor performance altogether, and felt that the hardest thing was to face his students, before considering taking a vacation to hide out for a couple of weeks.

Ramsay's comment: "Pat is Italian, and couldn't even cook risotto. What a meatball. Ciao, Pat."

Nomination history

Week 1	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, Pat became an Area Manager at Performance Foodservice.
• He took part in 2017's Reality Reality, a charity cookery event.

Trivia

• Before his appearance on the show, he competed on the sixteenth season of Jeopardy! and he was a one-day champion. At that time, he worked as a corrections officer.
• He is the third Italian contestant of Hell’s Kitchen, following Salvatore (Season 7) and Clemenza (Season 10).
• He is the first contestant to be eliminated on the opening night who did not score a 1 out of 5 on the new format of the Signature Dish Challenge.
• At age 47, not only was he the oldest of the season, but he is also the oldest contestant in the show’s history who ranked in last place on his season.
• He is the tenth 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), and Mark (Season 15).
• He is the only contestant from his season to have never won a challenge.

Quotes

• "Take it easy with the Grandpa lines, I'm bringing the experience to the table, you know I'm a very, very young 47."
• "You know, I'm the old man of the crew and this is just ridiculous. I definitely need the young guys to step up during the punishment."
• "I could nail Risotto in my sleep, you know Italian kids don't eat little rice syrup, you eat risotto, so this is in my blood."
• (About Matt) "Matt, you gotta be out of your mind, bro!"
• (About Matt and Genaro) "You got dumb and dumber standing there looking at each other, like, "you tell him, I dunno you tell him, I dunno, I dunno, you tell him!!!" ANSWER THE QUESTION!!"
• (To Matt) "You can't blame me for your execution."
• (After being eliminated) "I'm definitely angry that I'm getting sent home tonight, I'm pissed! The whole blue team had a horrible performance tonight and they all pull me out because they're expecting me to be like super chef. Now, the hardest thing is gonna be going home and facing my class, I think I'm gonna take a little vacation and hide out for a couple of weeks."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dish

Pat's Intro Spot

Pat in Blue Jacket

Pat's Confessional

Pat and Matt Nominated

Pat Eliminated

Pat's Signature Dish (Episode 1)