Sherkenna Buggs

“

This country girl is here to win! Whoo! Go me!

”

Hometown/Residence	Grand Junction, TN
Occupation	Personal Chef
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	2 out of 5
Challenges Won	1
Services Won	1
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	17th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	17 Chefs Compete

Sherkenna Buggs was a contestant on Season 15 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 17th place.

Season 15

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 1501 - 18 Chefs Compete

When the chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen, they found out that they had to go to Las Vegas immediately. Arrived there, Sherkenna was shocked that they closed down the strip for them for the parade. After participating in said parade, the chefs met Ramsay at the BLT Steak, which was the prize-winning restaurant, and they were asked to cook their signature dishes there.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Sherkenna was the first chef from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Eddie. Before Ramsay tasted her dish, she revealed that she got her name from her mama and that the town she grew up in had 300 people with no restaurants. She made a crab-stuffed salmon, and while she was confident she would win Ramsay over, he criticized the presentation for being dreadful despite being tasty, and she scored 2 points. The red team lost the challenge 22-24, and they were punished by peeling 50 pounds of shrimp and making 1000 pounds of truffle mashed potatoes at Sterling Buffet.

During dinner service, Sherkenna was on the meat station. At one point, her Wellingtons got accepted, she celebrated after, and it was thanks to her that the red team were pushing out entrées. The red team won the service.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 1502 - 17 Chefs Compete

During the Dumplings Challenge, Sherkenna was paired up with Vanessa, but she was not confident in her partner's abilities. They only got three of their baskets accepted as her attempts were rejected. The red team won the challenge 13-12, and they were rewarded with a helicopter trip to Geoffrey’s in Malibu for a seafood lunch with Ramsay.

During dinner service, Sherkenna was on the fish station with Meese. At one point, she got confused when Ariel took Meese's snapper to the pass as they never asked for her help. When the snapper turned out to be raw, she was hoping Ariel would take responsibility for it, but Meese took the blame instead. Later, she announced that she never cooked an arctic char before, asked for how long to cook it, and Kristin gave her instructions on what to do. However, her arctic char’s skin came out black, even though she argued that it was lighter than her skin. Then, she continued to burn her arctic chars, and Ramsay was pissed as they went through five of them, before calling it a joke. After Dannie got the refire accepted, she thanked the former for the help.

The red team lost the service and were asked to nominate three people for elimination. During deliberation, Sherkenna was considered by Ashley for elimination, and when Meese reminded her about the arctic char incident, she argued that she at least admitted that she had no idea how to cook arctic char.

Sherkenna was named the red team's third nominee for elimination, with Meese as the first, and Ariel as the second. During her plea, she believed that she was passionate and that she asked for help when needed. She was eliminated for struggling on the arctic char and failing to bounce back from it. During her exit interview, she admitted that she did not bounce back from her mistakes, but knew that she learned more about herself and told the viewers that she would be heard from again.

Ramsay's comment: "When the arctic char was destroyed over and over, so were Sherkenna's chances of becoming a head chef."

Nomination history

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Sherkenna sued her former employers for failing to hold her position whilst she appeared on the show, and for an earlier incident.
• Sherkenna became a Personal Chef offering meal prep and is also a culinary instructor and cake maker.

Trivia

• She is the first contestant to get eliminated as the third nominee.
• She is the sixth contestant from the state of Tennessee, following Carol (Season 5), Jonathon (Season 9), Kimmie (Season 10), Sterling (Season 13), and Randy (Season 14).

Quotes

• "Dude they close down the strip for us."
• (After her wellingtons were accepted) "This country girl is here to win! *snaps fingers* Whoo! Go me!"
• "I'm like, 'Wait, let me pinch myself. Oh yeah, this is definitely real, boo. Most definitely real.'"
• "I'm lookin' like, *looks around* 'Why's she got the fish, the chicken's not even done! Honey, we didn't ask you [Ariel] for help and now you're all up in our Kool-Aid over here.'"
• (About the skin on her fish) "It's not burnt! It's lighter than my skin, and I know my skin ain't burnt because there is a whole lot of people blacker than I am."
• "Thank you very much, Dannie. The rest of y'all hoes, kiss my ass."
• (After being eliminated) "Tonight I just hit a bump in the road, and I never bounced back from it, and I completely lost focus. But at the same time, I learned more about myself. I might be small town, but I can get down. Be looking for me. Y'all will hear about me again."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Sherkenna's Intro Spot

Sherkenna in Red Jacket

Sherkenna's Confessional

Ariel (S15), Sherkenna, and Meese Nominated

Sherkenna Eliminated

Sherkenna's Signature Dish (Episode 1)

External Link

• Sherkenna Buggs on Instagram