“ | When Chef Ramsay calls my name, like I have to- I have to pinch myself now. Like I'm here, like... it's amazing. It's surreal. | ” |
Raneisha Conerly was a contestant on Season 22 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 13th place.
Season 22[]
Episode 1/2[]
- Main article: Episode 2201 - The Dream Begins
- Main article: Episode 2202 - Tad Overwhelming
The eighteen new chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen, where Marino awaited them. The chefs entered Hell's Kitchen and noticed the past winners from each season before entering the dining room. To give the chefs some inspiration, Ramsay decided to have them walk through the famous doors and have a taste of what it felt like to win. Afterwards, the chefs got to know each other before the Sous Chefs arrived, explaining how their time in the competition helped their careers. Afterwards, a guitar player appeared and played the national anthem as four other doors appeared behind the curtain, each figure explaining their journey for the American Dream. After Ramsay stepped out, he welcomed the chefs to the twenty-second season, where they were celebrating the American Dream. Ramsay said the three celebrities the chefs saw were proof of the American Dream and that Hell's Kitchen was part of the American Dream. Raneisha said that winning would solidify her story of a small-town girl making it far. Ramsay said the winner of that season would become his Head Chef at Hell's Kitchen in Caesars Las Vegas with a salary of $250,000. Then, Ramsay told the chefs that their Signature Dish Challenge was about to begin.
During the Signature Dish Challenge, Raneisha was the second person from the red team to have her dish judged, and she went up against Ryan. As she went up, she wanted to pinch herself as Ramsay asked what her inspiration was. She said her six children inspired her, as did her sister's three kids, as she adopted them after she passed away from Covid. Also, she said she learned cooking from her grandmother before presenting her shrimp and grits with a dill sauce. The grits were undercooked, but Ramsay gave her three points because they tasted good. When she saw Claudia giggle during her critique, she feared that the former would be a problem.
The red team won the challenge after a 29-point tie. They were rewarded with a day at a Beverly Hills Mansion. During the reward, Raneisha was stoked to enter a mansion, and the women took in the sight from the backyard. At dinner, she asked Ramsay what he was looking for in a head chef. Ramsay said that he was looking for someone who was prepared to learn and focused, making her stunned that he answered her question.[1]
Raneisha lost the Creative Scallops Challenge as her dish was not chosen to be in the top three. When the chefs returned to the dorms, she felt like a thirty-eight-year-old kid on Christmas after receiving her knife set.
During dinner service, Raneisha served a seafood ceviche in the dining room with Melissa. She was not seen that night, and both teams were named joint losers. They were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, she suggested nominating the person who served raw chicken. Then, she said they got kicked out for raw meat and giggling before asking what they would do.
She was not nominated for elimination.[2]
Episode 3[]
- Main article: Episode 2203 - Citizens of Hell's Kitchen
Back at the dorms, Leigh asked Raneisha for salad pairings on the salmon and scallop dishes to ensure she was right. Then, she accidentally fell over in her chair and feared she would be a meme afterwards.
During the American Citizen Brunch Service Challenge, Raneisha was at the waffle station with Sandra. She helped Sammi get the crab cakes out. When Claudia served raw chicken, she was determined to avoid repeating the latter's mistake, as chicken and waffles were comfort food for her. She got the refire accepted. The red team lost the challenge, and she blamed Carmen for not listening to the ticket and timing, which would not have caused the latter to rush. She screamed at Carmen over the latter’s excuse, which was loud enough for the guests to hear. An annoyed Sandra told her to stop as they were embarrassing themselves in front of the guests.
The red team was punished by cleaning up all the confetti in the dining room by hand. During the punishment, Raneisha knew the staff would look at every nook and cranny to see if they missed something.
During dinner service, Raneisha was at the meat station with Carmen. At one point, she got annoyed by her partner’s attitude, demanding that Carmen focus on the meat station. Later, she sent up a blue steak, causing Ramsay to bring the women into the back room. Ramsay showed them the raw steak and ordered the women to have a quick meeting and get it together, or else they were done for. She took responsibility for the raw steak and said the refire could take three minutes. Once they returned, she said there was no time to waste as they were in Hell’s Kitchen and served her refired steak. However, it was raw again, and Ramsay kicked the women out of the kitchen.
Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, Raneisha pointed out that Carmen gave inconsistent timings. After some bickering, she left the room as she could not stand to be near Carmen and felt the latter was not taking responsibility for her mistakes. After more bickering, a frustrated Sandra told everyone to shut up as they were getting nowhere.
She was not nominated for elimination.[3]
Episode 4[]
- Main article: Episode 2204 - Gimme an H!
Back at the dorms, Raneisha comforted Donya as the latter released the tears, and she knew the latter had to stop being hard on herself.
During the American Classics Challenge, Raneisha challenged Mattias and their dish was pizza. While cooking, she made a pizza dip with deep-fried pizza chips, but Sandra did not understand what she was thinking. Still, she went with her plan. She was the seventh person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and presented her pizza dip. It intrigued Ramsay, but he was not impressed with the outcome of the dip as there were too many things in it. While Ramsay understood her attempt to think outside of the box, he told her she went to Pluto, and she lost that round to Mattias. Afterwards, she felt she had gone too far with her dish. The red team lost the challenge 6-7, and they were punished by baking bread for the following service, which included grinding the wheat by hand.
During dinner service, Raneisha was at the appetizer station with Leigh. As the women received their first order, she noticed the nerves she and Leigh had. Still, she wanted to do appetizers and show Ramsay she could step up. However, she served a carbonara with too much sauce, and Sous Chef Christina called her out for trying to lie as she had seen her do it earlier. Leigh was not happy she did that, but she got her refire accepted. The red team won the service, and she was thrilled to see a male chef leave that night.[4]
Episode 5[]
- Main article: Episode 2205 - Just Bring the DARN Fish!
Back at the dorms, Raneisha was mad that Jason was not owning up to his mistake, and she confronted the latter for lying to Ramsay and being too egotistical. As Jason argued back, she looked to her team for support. However, the women left as Donya told her that Jason was the men's problem.
During the Protein Identification Challenge, Raneisha told Melissa and Leigh to use langoustine instead of crab, but it was wrong. She was paired with Sammi, and they were the final pair from the red team to compete. Their dish was monkfish and rabbit. Melissa prayed that the two had it together, but their first attempt, scallops and chicken, was wrong. They also got turkey and swordfish wrong, along with seabass and squab. However, they got their fourth attempt accepted, ending the women's turn. The red team lost the challenge 13:14-6:39, and they were punished by taking in deliveries of Alaskan salmon and prepping them for the following service. During the punishment, she tried reassuring Sammi as it was a new experience for some of them after the latter got upset by her slow fileting.
During dinner service, Raneisha was at the meat station with Sandra. Before she dropped the scallops, Ramsay told her to communicate with Carmen about the appetizers as he did not want overcooked scallops. The dishes were sent up, but Ramsay gave her a greasy overcooked scallop to feel and showed the women raw lobster tails. Having no idea what happened, Ramsay asked the women if they could get a grip and raise their standards. Then, Sandra had her walk the refired scallops, but they were overcooked. On entrées, she and Sandra served their halibut without telling Leigh. Near the end of service, she was forced to show Ramsay Sandra's burnt salmon in the pan. The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Sammi reminded them they had to refire scallops three times, but she argued that she only messed up on one order. She refused to go home as she knew what was at stake.
She was not nominated for elimination.[5]
Episode 6[]
- Main article: Episode 2206 - Fusion Confusion
Back at the dorms, Raneisha knew the red team must get through it together, as she had enough of the drama herself. She was getting stressed by the tensions between the women.
During the Fusion Cuisine Challenge, Raneisha went up against Ryan, and she hit Japanese when she meant to hit Italian. After Ryan hit French, she admitted to never working with Japanese cuisine before but was ready to see how it went. During the cooking, she made a poke bowl, revealing that her family was nearly poor and wanted to win so she could care for her children. She was the sixth person from the red team to have her dish judged and presented her poke bowl with Brie, grapes, langoustines, and duck. The ingredient list made everyone raise an eyebrow, and Tony Messina criticized the dish for looking dark and grey and for losing the langoustines. She lost that round to Ryan, and the red team lost the challenge 3-4.
The red team was punished by prepping ingredients for the carbonara for service, including shucking peas, dicing pancetta, and shredding parmesan by hand. During the punishment, Raneisha was upset by her performance as she thought she had a good dish. Atoye tried to perk her up, as the former knew she was a good person and wanted her to do well. As the women broke for lunch, she said she was close calling it quits, but she refused to do so. She said she had six kids who needed her and wanted to stay so she could make them proud of her. Afterwards, she was ready to push it for service that night.
During dinner service, Raneisha was at the fish station with Atoye. She was slow on dropping the scallops and did not acknowledge Ramsay’s order until Carmen told her to. Then, a fire erupted at the fish station, forcing Ramsay to come in and take care of it. Seeing no one leading fish frustrated Donya, but Sammi kept her and Atoye on course. Later, she served the fish, but her lobster tail was sent back for being raw. She refused to fold under Ramsay’s pressure, and the refire was accepted. Still, Ramsay told her he wanted both scallops and lobster tail perfect in one go. After Brad's departure, Ramsay asked both teams to nominate two each. During deliberation, she thought that night went well enough, but Leigh brought up the raw lobster tail that was sent back. She acknowledged it, while Carmen decided to base her nominations on the challenge that day. While she knew she did not score a point, she knew everyone had hiccups like herself and did not think basing it on the challenge was right.
Raneisha was the red team's first nominee for elimination, with Sandra as the second. They joined Jason and Jermaine from the blue team. During her plea, she knew she could be better in challenges and wanted to give Ramsay what he needed in services. She was eliminated for her inconsistent performances and lack of experience. Still, Ramsay acknowledged her determination and only wished she had more experience. During her exit interview, Raneisha was proud of making it far with what she knew and told the viewers that what they saw was who she was.
Ramsay's comment: "Raneisha had a really strong voice in the kitchen, but unfortunately, her cooking didn't speak loud enough."[6]
Nomination History[]
Week 1 | Safe |
---|---|
Week 2 | Safe |
Week 3 | Win |
Week 4 | Safe |
Week 5 | Nominated |
Trivia[]
- She is the second contestant from the state of Mississippi, following Kashia (Season 12).
- She is the seventh contestant to be eliminated after a joint victory, following Shayna (Season 4), Zach (Season 11), Sterling (Season 13), Josie (Season 20), Mindy, and Brett (both from Season 21).
Quotes[]
- (When going up against Ryan during the Signature Dish Challenge) "When Chef Ramsay calls my name, like I have to- I have to pinch myself now. Like I'm here, like... it's amazing. It's surreal."
- (After being eliminated) "At this point, I'm really proud of myself. My cooking skills, my knowledge got me here. And it got me this far, so that’s something to be damn proud of. And I was just a small-town Mississippi girl who wasn't too long ago homeless before I came here, so I gave all of Raneisha. Everything y'all saw, that’s me every day, 365."
Gallery[]
External Link[]
Raneisha Conerly on Instagram
References[]
- ↑ (September 28, 2022). "Episode 2201 - The Dream Begins". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 22. Episode 1.
- ↑ (October 5, 2022). "Episode 2202 - Tad Overwhelming". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 22. Episode 2.
- ↑ (October 12, 2022). "Episode 2203 - Citizens of Hell's Kitchen". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 22. Episode 3.
- ↑ (October 19, 2022). "Episode 2204 - Gimme an H!". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 22. Episode 4.
- ↑ (October 26, 2023). "Episode 2205 - Just Bring the DARN Fish!". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 22. Episode 5.
- ↑ (November 2, 2023). "Episode 2206 - Fusion Confusion". Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series). Season 22. Episode 6.
Hell's Kitchen: The American Dream |
---|
Staff |
Gordon Ramsay (Head Chef) • Jay Santos (Blue Team Sous Chef) • Christina Wilson (Red Team Sous Chef) • Marino Monferrato (Maître d'hôtel) |
Contestants |
Johnathan Benvenuti • Mattias Butts • Raneisha Conerly • Brad Delgado • Claudia Diawara • Sandra Gajovsky • Jason Hedin • Carmen Ibarra • Melissa Irons • Atoye Johnson • Dahmere Merriweather • Ryan O'Sullivan • Leigh Orleans • Devon Rosenblatt • Sammi Tarantino • Donya Taylor • Tad Walters • Jermaine Wright |