Polly Holladay

“

I've had six sons, I had them all naturally, and if I can endure that, Hell's Kitchen is gonna be nothing for me!

”

Hometown/Residence	Ben Franklin, TX
Occupation	Caterer
Statistics
Challenges Won	0
Services Won	0
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	12th
Episode Eliminated	12 Chefs

Paula "Polly" Holladay was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 12th place.

Season 2

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 201 - 12 Chefs

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. Afterward, 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, Polly was the third contestant to have her dish judged by Ramsay. She revealed she cooked for most of her life, and after birthing six sons, she could handle Hell’s Kitchen. She served an undone focaccia bread with garlic dipping oil, but it was poorly received as Ramsay stated he would rather eat poodle poop and refused to eat it. After the challenge, she was placed in the red team as Ramsay decided that the teams, for the first time, would be divided by gender. All the men in the blue team and all the women in the red team.

During prep, Polly revealed that she never went to culinary school and had to pay close attention to what was said so she could get the job done. During dinner service, she was at the appetizer station. On the first few tickets, she was already struggling at the appetizer station and was helped by Rachel, Maribel, and Sous Chef Mary-Ann. Her first risotto was overcooked, glued to the plate, and the mushrooms were missing. However, Ramsay was more dismayed that she produced a dish like that even with help and asked if she was happy to send that. She answered no, and Ramsay told her to trash it and start again, which she called demoralizing. When Ramsay asked her for a time on the refire, she said six minutes, but Sara tried to overshadow her by saying two minutes. When an annoyed Ramsay asked who was running appetizers, she said she was and pushed Sara off her station. A hurt Sara told her not to crawl up her ass like a hemorrhoid just for trying to help. When she sent her refire to the pass, Ramsay asked her to taste it, and she said it was bland. So, Ramsay refused to serve it and asked her to start again. An hour and a half into dinner service, she was on her fourth attempt at her first risotto, but Ramsay was fed up as they put more food in the trash bin than he had seen in ten years. So, Ramsay made her switch stations with Heather, making her the new kitchen donkey and the latter running appetizers. She felt that things were going downhill by now, and being nice was not cutting it. After three hours with barely any food sent and the customers shouting, "I want my food!", Ramsay shut down both kitchens.

The red team lost the service, and Heather was named the "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, Polly felt like an idiot, especially when Sara tried to overtake her on appetizers.

Polly was Heather's first nominee for elimination, with Virginia being the second. During her plea, she said her maturity would outshine her lack of experience. She was eliminated for being the worst performer of the night and lacking knowledge and experience. During her exit interview, she knew that while her family would be surprised to see her back so soon, she was happy to have left being herself instead of becoming a conniving person.

Ramsay's comment: "This is a journey, and right now, we're going to hell and back, each and every week, to make sure we find the right person. And Polly? No chance!"

Nomination History

Week 1	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Polly returned to her previous career as a caterer and became a food blogger for a few years.
• She appeared in several magazines and interviews.
• She now owns her own catering company called Rolling with the Food Snob.

Trivia

• She is the first-ever contestant to have received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.
• She is the second female contestant to never compete in a reward challenge and be eliminated on opening night, following Carolann (Season 1).
• She and Tom are the oldest contestants of their season, at age 43.

Quotes

• "I've had six sons, I had them all naturally, and if I can endure that, Hell's Kitchen is gonna be nothing for me!"
• (After serving unacceptable risotto) "It can be pretty demoralizing to begin with, depending a lot on, you know, your first showing in the kitchen."
• (To Mary-Ann) "Throw that away?"
• (Telling Chef Ramsay why she should stay) "I have the maturity and the depth that maybe some of the younger girls don't have, And I don't have the culinary knowledge, but I've proven over my life that I can take challenges and face them and make the best out of them."
• (After being eliminated) "I think my family will be surprised because they fully expected me to come here and kick some butt. I would rather be nice and lose than to be somebody who’s conniving and win."

Gallery

Polly's Intro Spot

Polly's Signature Dish

Polly in Red Jacket

Polly's Confessional

Polly and Virginia Nominated

Polly Eliminated

External links

• Polly Holladay on Instagram
• Polly Holladay on Twitter