| Hell's Kitchen Seasons | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox between May 30 and August 1, 2005. Professional chef Michael Wray, from Fort Collins, Colorado, was the winner of that season, originally won his own restaurant named Tatou, in Los Angeles, and got the opportunity to learn under Ramsay at London, but declined because of family matters.
Contestants[]
12 contestants competed during this season. The contestants were (in alphabetical order):
| Contestant | Age | Occupation | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Bonito | 24 | Office Assistant | Livingston, NJ |
| Jessica Cabo | 26 | Headhunter | Huntington, NY |
| Jimmy Casey | 25 | Purchasing Supervisor | Williston Park, NY |
| Mary Ellen Daniels | 27 | Bartender | Belmont, MA |
| Jeffery Dewberry | 33 | Pastry Chef | Stockbridge, GA |
| Jeff LaPoff | 28 | Finance Manager | Orange, NJ |
| Wendy Liu | 32 | Account Manager | Millburn, NJ |
| Chris North | 35 | Executive Chef | Yorktown Heights, NY |
| Ralph Pagano | 36 | Professional Chef | Livingston, NJ |
| Elsie Ramos | 40 | Mother of Six | Maywood, NJ |
| Carolann Valentino | 33 | Server's Assistant | Dallas, TX |
| Michael Wray | 27 | Professional Chef | Fort Collins, CO |
Contestant progress[]
At the end of each episode, one chef from the losing team is eliminated by Ramsay, after being picked by the "Best of the Worst", determined by Ramsay after the last dinner service.
| # | Chef | Original Teams |
Team Switch | Black Jackets | Finals | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110/111 | |||||
| 1 | Michael | BoW | WINNER | |||||||||||
| 2 | Ralph | BoW | NOM [1] | BoW | RUNNER-UP | |||||||||
| 3 | Jessica | BoW | BoW | NOM | NOM [1] | OUT [2] | ||||||||
| 4 | Elsie | BoW | NOM | OUT [3] | ||||||||||
| 5 | Jimmy | OUT | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Andrew | NOM | NOM | OUT | ||||||||||
| 7 | Chris | BoW | OUT | |||||||||||
| 8 | Mary Ellen | OUT | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Wendy | OUT | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Jeff | NOM | LEFT | |||||||||||
| 11 | Dewberry | NOM | OUT | |||||||||||
| 12 | Carolann | OUT | ||||||||||||
| Final Service Brigades | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael | Ralph | |||
| Jessica | Andrew | |||
| Jimmy | Wendy | |||
| Elsie | Dewberry | |||
| Color Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOM | Regular Nomination | Ramsay Nomination | Voided Nomination | |
| OUT | Regular Elimination | Ramsay Nomination | Without Nomination | |
| MISC | Ejected during service | Quit or Hospitalized | Best of the Best/Worst | |
Episodes[]
Here is a list of all the episodes of the season, with links for the detailed articles.
| # | Image | Title | Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 
|
Episode 101 - Day 1 | May 30, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: 12 new chefs and the staff were introduced, the teams were divided, and one chef is eliminated not even twelve hours after their arrival. | ||||
| 02 | 
|
Episode 102 - Day 2 | June 6, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The first challenge, a fun reward, and a sweaty punishment took place, and an unusual delivery and physical assault happened during service. | ||||
| 03 | 
|
Episode 103 - Day 3 | June 13, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The first team switch occurred, one chef's attitude produced a shocking exit at dinner service, and one chef's luck ran out. | ||||
| 04 | 
|
Episode 104 - Day 4 | June 20, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The blue team won their first challenge, the red team accomplished a first during service, and the chefs learned that Ramsay was constantly watching them. | ||||
| 05 | 
|
Episode 105 - Day 5 | June 27, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The first theme night and double booking happened, as well as an unexpected elimination of the most experienced chef occurred. | ||||
| 06 | 
|
Episode 106 - Day 6 | July 11, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The first-ever Blind Taste Test happened, the first menu was created by the chefs occurred for dinner service, and a satisfying elimination of the most hated chef of the season occurred. | ||||
| 07 | 
|
Episode 107 - Day 7 | July 11, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The competition changed in a significant way before the challenge, and meltdowns by two people at dinner service occurred. | ||||
| 08 | 
|
Episode 108 - Day 8 | July 18, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: Some backstabbing was involved, a total meltdown happened during service, and for the first time, nobody was safe from elimination. | ||||
| 09 | 
|
Episode 109 - Day 9 | July 25, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: The three finalists had to make bread while sleepwalking, and saw their families for the first time since their arrival, not knowing their fates were in their hands. | ||||
| 10 | 
|
Episode 110/111 - Day 10 | August 1, 2005 | |
| Episode Rundown: Ralph and Michael designed their own restaurants, chose their brigade for the final service, and one of them was declared the winner of Hell's Kitchen. | ||||
Trivia[]
- This is the only season in the show’s history to not have a dinner service that ended with both teams losing. This kind of dinner service ending didn't occur until Season 2 Episode 4.
- This season is tied with Season 7 for the fewest members of the blue team getting eliminated, with only 3.
- This is the only season where Gordon Ramsay and Jean-Phillippe give confessionals during a challenge or dinner service.
- Until Season 18, this was the only season to date where the teams were not separated by gender at the beginning. This will continue again in Season 21.
- This season was filmed at the former Los Angeles FOX affiliate studio, KCOP-TV.
- This is one of three seasons to have imbalanced gender positions as out of the 12 chefs that competed, 7 were male and 5 were female, the others being Seasons 4 and 6.
- This is the only season where Gordon addresses the show's progress on camera to the viewers, rather than just a voice-over explaining eliminations.
- This is also the only season to not have the coat hanger and burning picture sequence after the departure of contestants. Instead, it shows filtered footage of Gordon stabbing the chef's jacket through a hook under their picture and then showing a zoom in of the chef's name on the jacket before the "Next Time" preview roll.
- This is the only season which featured the contestant build their own menus before finals, and based on the vote of the customers (in this case, each contestant's family member) on that night would be decided the contestant's fate on the competition.
- This is the only season where the episode titles were named after days elapsed.
- As this was the first season, a couple of staples were introduced for the series, such as:
- The first-ever Signature Dish Challenge in Episode 1.
- The first-ever team switch which occurred with Michael in Episode 3.
- The first-ever withdrawal and quitting with Jeff in Episode 3.
- The first-ever Blind Taste Test in Episode 6.
- The first-ever Running the Pass challenge in Episode 10, although this is the only season to featured the test during finals, as the rest of the season, the test was moved before finals during dinner service, and being as one of the aspects that would be decided the contestant's fate on the competition.
- Future reappearances:
- Michael would return a couple of times such as Season 3, where he was a guest judge at the final challenge, and Season 5, where he and the three other winners greeted the winner. He also made a cameo at the Season 6 finale.
- Ralph returned by a phone call on Season 10, to give some encourage to one contestant of that season, Royce, as Ralph is his boss at the time.
- This is the only season to this date where 5 out of the 12 contestants had non-culinary jobs.
- This is the first season when a contestant won without being nominated for elimination.