Susan Heaton

“

You're blonde too, Chef Ramsay. So what does that say about you?

”

Hometown/Residence	Whittier, CA
Occupation	Culinary Student
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	0 out of 1
Blind Taste Test Score	1 out of 4
Challenges Won	10
Services Won	5
Times as BoW/Announcer	2
Times Nominated	5
Placement	5th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	5 Chefs Compete Part 3

Susan Heaton was a contestant on Season 11 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 5th place.

Season 11

Episode 1/2

Main article: Episode 1101 - 20 Chefs Compete Part 1

Main article: Episode 1102 - 20 Chefs Compete Part 2

When she was waiting for the Hell's Kitchen bus, Susan declared that she was not doing failure despite her very little experience, and that winning the competition was the only option. On the bus, Ramsay surprisingly told the chefs to meet him in Las Vegas. Arrived there, they were greeted by showgirls, got on a double-decker bus for a tour of the city, and eventually got tricked in believing they would go on a Las Vegas 4D experience. However, they arrived in front of a live audience where Ramsay was waiting for them, and she felt overwhelmed, saying it could not get any better.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Susan was the third person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Jeremy. She served her lamb and couscous, but Ramsay immediately asked her how many fingers he was holding, which she answered five. So, acknowledging she was not blind, he told that her lamb was raw, before asking her if she was trying to kill him and threatening her with elimination. When he tasted the couscous, he spat it out saying it was overcooked, and asked her if it was funny, which she answered not by nodding her head. Neither she or Jeremy scored a point.

The red team eventually won the challenge 5-4, and they were rewarded with a night out in Las Vegas, meeting Celine Dion, and get VIP tickets for the latter's show. The Celine Dion wax sculpture really excited Susan, and after the concert, she said that the whole experience was unforgettable and that she would never get the opportunity of repeating that ever.

The next day, during prep, Susan acknowledged that the red team was screwed because of Gina's confused state, but on the other side, she felt that they were a stronger team without her. When Ramsay guaranteed a complete service, she was a little bit worried as it was their first night in Hell's Kitchen, and that it was not an easy thing to do.

During dinner service, Susan was on the garnish station with Danielle. When she saw Gina constantly flipping her scallops, she urged her to not do it anymore. When Gina sent those scallops, she said that was not the way the red team wanted to start, but when Ramsay deemed them excellent, she could not believe those were the immaculate scallops. When the red team moved on to entrées, Danielle revealed her that she never worked in a brigade before, which surprised her who could not believe Danielle was a head chef, while asking if she was the head chef of a hot dog stand. Later, when the black kale was missing, she and Danielle did not answer, she urged Danielle to get it together, and she was annoyed because she was having to tell everything that Danielle was supposed to do, which she called babysitting her, even neglecting her own garnishes. Then, she sent her garnishes to the pass, but they were rubbery, and she was the second person from the red team to be kicked out of the kitchen, even though she blamed Danielle for being completely lost. The red team eventually won the service.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 1103 - 19 Chefs Compete

The next morning, some soldiers from the US army came in Hell's Kitchen, went to the dorms, and gave a very brutal wake-up call to the chefs by screaming and yelling to get up. When the teams were challenged to climb up the wall, Susan managed to get some lobsters into her team's bucket. The red team managed to get 31 lobsters in their bucket, compared to the blue team's 37, but fortunately for them, that was only the first part of the challenge.

During the Lobster Cleaning Challenge, Susan was paired with Cyndi. They scored the second point for the red team, and near the end, they scored another one. The red team won the challenge 11-8, and they were rewarded with a day on an 85-foot luxury yacht, a master sushi chef preparing them lunch, and a massage. Aboard, Susan called the yacht massive, gorgeous, beautiful, and felt like a VIP.

During dinner service, Susan was on the meat station with Ja'Nel. When the red team had to start a table over, she tried to motivate the team by saying they would get through it. Later, when Danielle was working on three risottos, she tried to help her but said it was not her job to make sure Danielle was having her shit done. After that, she and Ja'Nel gave seven minutes on their entrées to be ready, she was eager to redeem herself on the lamb after her royal screw up during her signature dish and knew that she could cook the shit out of the lamb. She brought her lamb to the pass, but Ramsay returned it for being raw while asking her if it was a joke for her and reminding her signature dish. Because of that mistake, the entire red team was kicked out of the kitchen, shutting down the service.

Both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate two people each for elimination. During deliberation, Susan was reminded of the raw lamb incident by Ja'Nel, but she put the blame on appetizers for that. However, she was considered by Jessica for not knowing raw, which infuriated her, and she left the conversation before the final decision was made.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 1104 - 17 Chefs Compete

The next morning, all the chefs went outside for the next challenge and saw Ramsay, dressed in a running suit, and a lot of runners waiting in front of a start/finish line. He introduced the HK3K Service Challenge, and when he asked for a volunteer to run the course, Susan raised her hand for the red team but was not chosen. During the challenge, she was on the smoothie station. She was confident as she was making them every day, and claimed herself to be a smoothie queen. However, Ramsay berated her because she was not working with finesse and slowing down the kitchen, as she was working like a slob. Then, she realized that she could not plate her smoothies because she had to cook them, much to Nedra's confusion. When she started blending her smoothies, she received help from Nedra, and gave her clear instructions. Because of Nedra's help, she succeeded to send her smoothies. The red team eventually won the challenge and were asked to go help the blue team finish their entrées. They were rewarded with a day at Temecula Valley's Wine Country for wine tasting and making, and flew on a private jet to get there.

During dinner service, Susan was on the fish station with Mary. Before tickets entered, she and Ja'Nel motivated the red team saying they could do it. At one point, she served perfect scallops, and later, she reminded Jessica to let her know when she would need the scallops. After asking the latter if she was cooking one or two portions of risotto, she was baffled as Jessica was cooking too much risotto for one portion, which Ramsay would not tolerate.

The red team eventually lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people. During deliberation, Susan declared that the meat station was the one that fucked the team up the most, therefore considering Danielle and Jacqueline.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 5

Main article: Episode 1105 - 16 Chefs Compete Part 1

During the Protein Identification Challenge, Susan was paired with Cyndi, and they were the second pair to compete for the red team. They landed on the chicken tacos, and they got the right protein on their first attempt. On Ja'Nel and Jacqueline's last turn, she was nervous and acknowledged they had to figure out their protein quickly.

The red team eventually won the challenge 6:37-10:33, and they were rewarded with a day at Malibu, in a $15M beach house, as well as getting there in convertibles. During the reward, Susan was excited to see Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece as she knew they were the king and queen of the beach. When she tried the wakeboarding activity, she fell in the water twice.

During breakfast service, Susan was on the smoked salmon station with Mary. She was not seen at all, but the red team lost the service as they failed to complete their tickets before the blue team, and they were asked to nominate two people.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 6

Main article: Episode 1106 - 16 Chefs Compete Part 2

Back in the dorms, Susan acknowledged that the mood in the red team was low, and hoped that the women would swallow their pride.

During dinner service, Susan was on the appetizer station. When the first ticket was called, Amanda told her that she would wait on her call before dropping the scallops, and she did not want to disappoint Ramsay after he asked her to lead the appetizer station. After stating that it was the most nervous she ever felt since the beginning of the competition, she called one minute on her risotto, but Amanda told her to slow down. When she walked with her first risotto, Amanda did not flip her scallops yet, but it was accepted. With appetizers coming out, she was motivated to drive the team, but she sent her risotto without letting anybody else fire their own food, which annoyed Amanda, so she aggressively told the latter to pay attention. Despite the lack of communication between those two, the last appetizer was sent out. When Amanda was ready to walk with her scallops, she was not ready yet, but she sent them to the pass anyway. When she sent her risotto a few moments later, it was undercooked, and a furious Ramsay ordered her to start again. Her next attempt was accepted, and the red team moved on to entrées.

After a lot of mistakes, the red team was kicked out of the kitchen, but Susan thought that Ramsay was already pissed because of the blue team. Both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate two people each.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 7

Main article: Episode 1107 - 15 Chefs Compete

The next day, both teams went in the dining room, where Ramsay introduced the Chinese Dish Creation Challenge, along with the Samurai statue that was placed there. When the countdown began, everybody ran to the plate of fortune cookies that was in front of the statue, but when they arrived, it started moving, making everybody flinch and laugh. Then, Sous Chef Andi brought the red team's basket of giant fortune cookies that would be carried with chopsticks, and during the first part, Susan was not seen much. During the second part, she was in charge of the chow mein course, and she did not know how to organize six dishes between eight people. She was the last person from the red team to have her dish judged, presented her rice noodle with pork, which was deemed good, but was criticized for not having a lot of contrasting colors, and she lost the round to Anthony.

The red team lost the challenge 3-4, and they were punished by cleaning both kitchens for the next service, as well as making potstickers and steam dumplings from scratch, and eating balut eggs for lunch. During the lunch, Susan found the egg disgusting but wanted to get it over with as they had a lot of work to do.

During dinner service, Susan was on the meat station. When the red team moved on to entrées, she looked confused, did not answer Jessica's time request, took her chicken out of the boiling pot, and moments later, it was accepted. Then, she thought that Ramsay felt confident about her running the meat station on her own, felt ahead of her game, but when she sliced her lamb, she discovered it was raw. She called those lamb son of a bitch as they were taking forever to cook, went to the convection oven to cook them further, and Ramsay urged her to hurry up. She knew that everybody was yelling at her, but could not make the oven cook any faster, and when she took out the lamb from the oven, it dropped on the floor, much to her own dismay. She revealed her mistake to her teammates, and gave five more minutes for the chef's table, with Adam Shankman, at the chef's table, being aware that she screwed up his order. After, she gave four minutes, and when Ramsay called her blondie, she corrected by saying five minutes, much to Jessica's annoyance, but after, she corrected again by giving seven minutes, much to Ramsay's dismay. Eventually, all the tickets were served, and the service was completed.

Both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate their two weakest chefs each. During deliberation, Susan was targeted by Jessica for her bad timings, but she retorted that she should not always put the blame on others for her mistakes. Then, she was considered by Jacqueline for her bad communication, but she reminded that she was on meat by herself, that communication should have gone either way and was convinced that she was not the weakest chef, before declaring that she would put the biggest fight of her life to stay if she would be nominated.

Susan was the red team's second nominee for elimination, with Jessica being the first, and they joined Dan and Raymond from the blue team. During her plea, she admitted that her timing and communication were off, but promised that she would come back and fight. She survived elimination, and while being dismissed, she was determined to put everything on the table to fight as her goal was to win the competition.

Episode 8

Main article: Episode 1108 - 14 Chefs Compete

While going back to the dorms, Susan promised her teammates that she would never disappoint again, Mary told her how glad she was about her still being there, both of them hugged, and she felt over the moon about it. However, she admitted to her teammates that she had a very poor performance, but could not wait to prove herself to her teammates that she deserved to be there.

The next morning, both teams went to the dining room, and they were taken outside by Ramsay, who introduced the Farm Animal Challenge. During the first part of the challenge, Susan was dismayed about Nedra being terrified of the animals, even stating that it was they who were chasing her. She was the fourth person from the red team who entered the pen, and she chose a duck and quinoa combination. During the second part, she learned that John Shook, from the restaurant Animal, was invited as a guest judge, and she was excited about that as she wanted to go to that restaurant for a long time. She was the second person from the red team to have her dish judged, her duck breast with quinoa was deemed simple but tasty by Shook, and she won the round over Anthony.

The red team won the challenge 3-2, and they were rewarded with a day at the Aquarium of the Pacific, as VIP guests. During the reward, the women were enjoying swimming with the fish, Susan called it an opportunity of a lifetime, and was very happy that the red team was back on their winning streak.

The next day, during prep, Susan convinced her teammates that they would win as it was their service. During the Family Night dinner service, Susan was at the dessert station. When the first children entered the dining room, she found them cute, and when the red team had to start an entire table over because of Jacqueline's mistake, she convinced her teammates that it would only happen once. Later, she was impressed by Mary's huge improvement as she was coming into her own, and later, she praised the good communication between the women as she knew that it was what Ramsay was looking for. After the red team served all of their tickets, they were asked to go over to the blue kitchen to help the men out, and the service was completed.

The red team won the service by a mile, and while being dismissed, Susan acknowledged that the red team was beating a horrible team and wondered if only women would be the final six.

Episode 9

Main article: Episode 1109 - 13 Chefs Compete

The next morning, both teams went to the dining room, where Ramsay introduced the Steak Creation Challenge, and during the challenge, Susan agreed to work with Nedra. She felt good about using a raspberry chipotle sauce for their dish, and did not know if Amanda should use the sauce for her dish when the latter asked her. During the judging, she could not believe that Zach used around 55 ingredients for his filet mignon, did not present her dish, but she and Nedra tied the round with Zach.

The red team won the challenge 4-3, and they were rewarded with a day by the pool at the Wilshire Hotel, with a 360-degree view of Los Angeles, as well as a manicure and pedicure. Susan deemed it the perfect reward on Los Angeles' hot spot as they were owning the rooftop, told that the men were missing out something fantastic, that she was enjoying every moment of it, and declared that she would only come back to Hell's Kitchen to win the service and make the blue team feel bad again.

During the Steak Night dinner service, Susan served prime rib tableside. When the red team moved on to entrées, she went to the dining room with the prime rib that she took out of the convection oven, went to her first table, but when Jacqueline and Amanda were caught not doing anything, she was called back into the kitchen while sarcastically thinking that she was called down to be said that Jacqueline was an amazing chef, and she was asked by Ramsay if she told Jacqueline to stop serving her entrées, which she answered not. She added that it was worthless if Jacqueline could not perform when the light was on her, and after four of her teammates were kicked out, she was reintegrated back in the kitchen, and she completed the service, along with Ja'Nel and Mary. The red team lost the service, and they were asked to nominate two people.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 10

Main article: Episode 1110 - 12 Chefs Compete

Back at the dorms, Susan and Ja'Nel both said they put Amanda up because she was folding during service, and told the latter to pick up her slack.

During the Quinceañera Planning Challenge, Susan asked Brianna what her favorite appetizer was, with the latter explained she loved cheese. During the cooking, she commented that the women knew what it was like to be fifteen before, and called it an amazing opportunity to cook for Brianna. She was not seen presenting a dish, the red team won the challenge 3-2, and they were rewarded with a trip to Knott's Berry Farm.

During prep, Susan was concerned about Amanda as she wasn't feeling good, and wanted to have a successful service. During the Quinceañera dinner service, she was at the dessert station. She was not seen much, except for telling Amanda to bring the tuna up. Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, she felt the biggest problem that night was the tuna incident Amanda caused.

She was not nominated for elimination.

Episode 11

Main article: Episode 1111 - 10 Chefs Compete

Back at the dorms, Susan felt she was breaking out in pimples due to the stress of the competition, and Nedra used her grandmother’s method of putting an egg to her face.

During the Presentation Challenge, Susan was called forward to collect the red team's ingredients in the vacuum air chamber. Despite being confident initially, she got frazzled as she was collecting her ingredients, with Nedra commenting that she herself would be better suited for collecting the ingredients. Near the end of the challenge, she called beauty on a plate simple, opted not to slice her meat, and was confident that her dish was both cooked great and looked beautiful. When Ramsay and Jennifer Garcia looked at the dishes, she confidently felt her dish was visually stunning and it would be picked. However, Ramsay and Garcia questioned her decision to keep her meat whole instead of slicing it as it looked big, and her dish was not chosen for judging. The red team eventually won the challenge 269-257, and they were rewarded with a photoshoot for Star watch and received Vitamix blenders. During the reward, she was beside herself in excitement as she was ready to wear anything other than chef clothing.

When the red team came back from their reward, Susan felt refreshed and ready for more relaxation, although that assumption soon became false. During the Private dinner service, she asked Mary if they were using the mushroom stock, Ramsay snarkily said they were, and asked if she was stupid as well as blonde. However, she argued that she was not naturally blonde, she was only reminding Mary, and even reminded Ramsay that he was blonde as well. She led the New York striploin course, but was scared as they had problems with steaks recently, and hoped they could get them right at this stage of the competition. Unfortunately, they were still raw, forcing her to ask the blue team for more time, and felt like an asshole. When Ramsay accused her of forcing the blue team to overcook their steaks for her team, she argued against that as Nedra told her to get it together. Deciding to plate now, she nervously sliced one, only to find it was cooked perfectly, but Ramsay berated her for not dressing the plate and called her a disgrace. Despite that, she got her course was sent out.

Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate one each. During deliberation, Nedra argued that Susan was more of a weak link than herself, and Mary reminded her about the off-steak timings. While she felt she was a huge contribution to the red team, nobody voiced their support, frustrating her as she refused to go home as she was going to fight.

Susan was not nominated for elimination, but when Ramsay asked her if she was better than Nedra, she answered that she had the finesse and passion, which Nedra lacked.

Episode 12

Main article: Episode 1112 - 9 Chefs Compete

Back at the dorms, Susan hoped for Nedra not to hold any hard feelings towards her, but the latter said she had no time for her bitches and their shit before collapsing into her bed. She hoped they could start tomorrow on a clean slate before going to Nedra and asking if they were still friends. However, even though she noted that she and Nedra became very close from the start, she did not want to be associated with someone who was failing, as Nedra ranted about how everybody picked on her. After she left, Nedra disappointingly felt she and her used to be close.

The next day, at 4:50 AM, the chefs were sound asleep as Sous Chefs Andi and James came into the dorms and woke them up with air horns and pots. While that startled Nedra and Anthony, the chefs were ordered to head downstairs, and Ramsay announced that both teams would create their own menus for that night’s service. As the red team worked on ideas, Susan shot down Nedra’s citrus salad along with her weird sea bass idea, and when Nedra suggested a weird scallop dish idea, she said she had no idea how that could work. Frustrated that her team was not agreeing to her choices, Nedra told them to kiss her whole hoo-ha, but she felt the former’s ideas were all over the place. When Nedra suggested gumbo, she felt the dish was overindulgent and did not make sense, especially when Nedra suggested using hen in it.

During prep, Susan wanted to kick into high gear, called it chaos in the kitchen, and that it sucked to have five chefs in the kitchen, but only four of them working. While Nedra hoped Ramsay would like her gumbo as he worked hard on it all day, she hoped it to be the best gumbo Ramsay has ever eaten if it took a lot of prep time. When it came time for Ramsay to look at their dishes, she was sweating more than ever and got dismayed when their dishes were criticized, and Ramsay reminded them that their dishes were supposed to knock out the blue team’s, before commenting that they had a lot of work to do. However, since there were only 20 minutes left until service began, Susan asked how they could get all that fixed on time. After getting their revamped dishes ready, she prayed for Ramsay to give them the thumbs up as they had no more time to fix things up, but fortunately, Ramsay liked them.

During dinner service, Susan was on the garnish station. When Nedra did not give Cyndi anything to do, she asked why this was happening, before openly telling Nedra to talk to Cyndi, which Ramsay appreciated. Later, she was slowing down on garnish before sending up her mushrooms. However, Ramsay was confused as it was supposed to be sautéed mushrooms as there was a lot of liquid in the pan, and after he drained it, Mary decided to help her out as she could do that along with searing off her beef. However, she felt she was not learning anything new from Mary, said she was not an idiot and got her refire accepted as she felt the red team were finally communicating. Near the end of service, she wanted the final order to be finished, and the red team completed it with no problems.

The red team won the service, and Susan was glad they won because if they lost, she would have been nominated. However, their celebration was cut short when Ramsay called the dorms and told Mary to bring the entire team down to his office, making Nedra nervous as she did not know what to expect. There, Ramsay told the red team that he wanted them to have a meeting and decide who was joining the blue team after elimination as he wants that person to be both a fighter and a leader who could whip the men into shape. She could not wait to volunteer as she wanted to show Ramsay she could turn a losing team into a winning one and told her teammates her intentions. However, much to her annoyance, her teammates agreed with her too much to the point where everybody wanted to go, and Ja'Nel wanted to draw names from a hat and leave it to fate. After Mary shook a jar up, her name was not chosen.

Episode 13

Main article: Episode 1113 - 8 Chefs Compete

Continuing from the previous episode, an irate Ramsay sent the red team back into the red kitchen and gave them two minutes to discuss who was going into the blue team, yelling that he did not ask them to pull names out of a hat like a fucking game show. Both Cyndi and Susan did not want to go if Zach was in the blue team as she was certain he was going to be eliminated. She said goodbye to Nedra as the latter was reassigned to the blue team.

The next day, both teams came downstairs to find presents with wrapping paper in the color of different country flags, and Susan said she loved presents. During the International Cuisine Challenge, she wanted to go up against Zach, and they landed on Japan, their ingredients were soy sauce, miso, bok choy, daikon radish, and ramen. That excited her as she loved Japanese food and was confident she was going to beat Zach, before saying Konichiwa in response. During the cooking, she struggled to figure out how the rice cooker worked, with Cyndi feeling the former was treating it like R2D2. With eight minutes left, she smelled something burning. During the judging, Susan was the last person to have her dish be judged by Ramsay and Bowen. She presented her crusted ahi tuna with white miso Daichi and sautéed bok choy. It was praised for being fantastic and harmonizing the palate, and she felt there was no way Zach could beat her now. She won the round to Zach, and she was happy to have won it for her team.

The red team won the challenge 3-1 and were rewarded with a $2,000 shopping spree at Kitson, lunch at Mr. Chow’s, and brand new cookware. During the reward, she felt she was a kid at Disneyland, and they spent a lot of cash on new clothes. During lunch, the red team toasted to their best day, and she wanted their winning streak to continue.

During dinner service, Susan was on the appetizer station. When the red team received their first order, she asked for somebody to taste her risotto for a second opinion, and Mary told her to add more salt, before explaining she was hovering appetizers due to her being inconsistent before. However, she only made risotto for four people instead of the two needed, Ramsay lectured her that she should not waste food like that at this stage of the competition, and told her to get her head out of her ass. That led her to feel she was going to get yelled at no matter what she did but refused to let it get to her. 45 minutes into service, she announced she was ready in one minute, but Ja'Nel revealed she did not drop her scallops yet, telling her to tell her when to drop them. However, she felt Ja'Nel would be left in the dust if she was dragging behind. When Ja'Nel sent raw scallops, that angered Ramsay as she was not paying attention to numbers, Ja'Nel was bastardizing scallops, and accused the red team of choking despite pulling down the menu items. Then, she accused Ja'Nel of drowning while dragging them down. After multiple mistakes, the red team got kicked out. With both teams kicked out, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to shut down both kitchens.

Both teams were named joint losers and were asked to nominate one person from each team. During deliberation, Susan felt that sending Ja'Nel up would be the easy choice as the latter got them kicked out. However, Ja'Nel asked if one bad performance automatically deemed her the weakest chef, refused to believe that without a fight, and reminded them that Ramsay asked them to nominate the weakest chef overall. While she felt they were all equally strong, Ja'Nel disagreed and considered her for nomination, even asking her if she felt she was a better cook than herself. She said she was and reminded Ja'Nel about her multiple mistakes that night, but the latter asked Mary and Cyndi which one of them would they want to have, herself or Susan.

Susan announced herself as the red team’s nominee but felt there was no reason for her to be nominated as she believed she did not make any mistakes, and she joined Nedra from to blue team. When Ramsay gave them 30 seconds to plead their case, she felt she came over leaps and bounds and wanted to be the best chef in Hell’s Kitchen. She survived elimination, and while being dismissed, she felt she was thrown under the bus, and refused to believe she was the weakest chef on the red team.

Episode 14/15

Main article: Episode 1114 - 7 Chefs Compete Part 1

Main article: Episode 1115 - 7 Chefs Compete Part 2

Back at the dorms, Susan wanted vodka for dinner, before calling the elimination ceremony bananas.

While Susan did not compete in the Touch Challenge, she was excited to try it out as well. During the Blind Taste Test, she was the final person from the red team to compete and went up against Zach. She could only get cauliflower, but the red team won the challenge 7-6, and she was happy she clinched it for her team. The red team was rewarded with a seafood lunch at Nobu in Malibu and horseback riding at the Santa Monica mountains. During the reward, she heard the waves rolling in.

The next day, Ramsay called the dorms and asked Susan to bring everybody downstairs, and after seeing a black jacket, she wanted it more than anything. During the King of the Hill Challenge, she wanted to do lamb as a way to redeem herself from the Signature Dish Challenge and wanted to show Ramsay how she made leaps and balls. Near the end of the challenge, she found her lamb to be undercooked in the middle, while Cyndi told her to step it up as she cannot hold her hand in an individual challenge. Eventually, she was forced to plate her dish as time was running out. She was the third person to have her dish judged by Ramsay and presented her lamb dish. Before tasting her dish, Ramsay recalled her poor history with that protein in the past, and while he loved her tenacity, she once again served raw lamb and did not dethrone Ja'Nel, therefore losing the challenge. When Zach claimed he was going to use the remainder of his beef for a tartare, she called bullshit. Back at the dorms, she was proud of Jon winning.

During prep, Susan revealed that she wanted Zach gone, and the only way to do that is to have a great service as the women were doing an equal amount of work. During dinner service, she was on the meat station. After Cyndi had some mishaps on the appetizers, she id not want Ramsay to yell at them in front of the VIPs. Later, Mary was nervous over her cooking meat as she had raw lamb during the Signature Dish Challenge, the King of the Hill Challenge, and during her time on meat in previous services, before calling it a big night for her as there was a good chance she would be eliminated if she did not. As she prayed to the lamb gods for redemption, Ramsay deemed the perfectly cooked to her excitement. When Ja'Nel left to the medic, she knew they could not afford to be a man down with only four chefs in the kitchen. When Zach struggled on meat, Ramsay decided to go into the red kitchen and take her extra Wellingtons from her station as she said they were cooked perfectly. While the women got their entrées completed and were now moving onto desserts, she went to the chef’s table and flirted with Jeremy Sisto, and said she had cabin fever over him, before hoping he would propose to her. However, Cyndi told her to stop flirting and help her with desserts.

The red team won the service, but Ramsay asked them to discuss who would go into the blue team after elimination. During deliberation, Susan asked the red team who they could afford to lose going into the blue team, and did want to go herself. When it was agreed Ja'Nel would be going, she was relieved as they had the best chance of the four remaining women all making it to black jackets.

After Anthony's elimination, Susan said goodbye to Ja'Nel as the latter moved into the blue team.

Episode 16

Main article: Episode 1116 - 6 Chefs Compete

During the Relay Challenge, Susan was in the second round, and called it chaos as the ingredients were all over the place. Then, her pan went on fire until Ramsay put it in the sink. On the fifth round, she was trying to get the garnishes ready, but Cyndi realized she forgot to tell her to sear the chicken. After Mary presented their mess of a lamb with bitter kale, she could not believe the former put up a mess of a dish. On the chicken round, Ramsay noticed the red team’s empty plate and she showed him the chicken on the tray. However, it was dry, leaving Ramsay disappointed that the red team produced something like that in 30 minutes, and called it a fucking disgrace. The red team lost the challenge 0-2, and they were punished by taking in deliveries of potatoes and onions, prep them for the Los Angeles Mission, and prep both kitchens for that night’s service. During the punishment, the red team opened the truck, piles of potatoes and onions fell out, and she admitted that the red team was not used to the feeling of losing a challenge. Later, she grew worried about Cyndi when the latter suffered from asthma.

During prep, Susan was more concerned about their legacy dying if they could not perform strongly as they did before. During dinner service, she was on both the appetizer station and the garnish station. At one point, her risotto was accepted, and she said it was game on as it felt good pulling through. When Ramsay asked her for her risotto and capellini, and she sent them up. After Cyndi sent up overcooked lobster tail, Ramsay tossed it, had it ricochet off the wall, and she said they could not make stupid mistakes when black jackets were on the line. After both teams completed their final ticket, she felt the red team ended service on a high note, especially with her contributions that night.

Despite both teams being named joint-winners, Ramsay asked them to nominate one each. During deliberation, Susan felt she deserved extra credit for growing more, but Mary retorted that she also grew the most, especially since she was nominated five times before. Then, Cyndi said despite her hiccups, she was the strongest chef, but she could not see her like that anymore based on the mistakes the former made. However, Cyndi claimed that if it was not her herself, she and Mary would have been long gone.

Susan was not nominated, but when Ramsay asked the red team who they thought was the weakest chef, she said Cyndi, while receiving a vote from Mary. However, because Ja'Nel called her the weakest chef, she was called up to the front and joined Zach from the blue team. During her plea, she felt she could operate under pressure and could run a team, but Ramsay reminded her that the women felt she was the weakest chef. After Zach's elimination, Ramsay told her that she has come a long way and should be proud of what she accomplished, but while she might have a strong future when she left, it would not be tonight before sending her back in line, therefore surviving elimination. While being dismissed, she felt Ramsay changed his mind as he could not see her go home, and rather win Hell’s Kitchen alone without an alliance.

Episode 17/18

Main article: Episode 1117 - 5 Chefs Compete Part 1

Main article: Episode 1118 - 5 Chefs Compete Part 2

While going back to the dorms, Susan received comfort from the red team after her nomination and thought she was going home that night before expressing relief, while being scared at the same time. Then, she asked Ja'Nel why she disliked her, but the latter argued she was only nitpicking at the tiniest details and told Susan to take it or leave it. However, she felt Ja'Nel needed to get her eyes checked if she did not see her as a threat, before threatening murder if they deemed her weak again. Later, she and Mary talked about getting a Brazilian wax.

The next day, Susan got a message from her younger brother and reunited with him and her mother. She told her mother and brother how she was doing it for herself and was remotivated to win. After, Ramsay awarded the final five with black jackets, and she was the fourth person to receive hers. After changing and coming back downstairs, she said hers fits perfectly and felt she was more competitive than before.

During the Pressure Cooker Challenge, Susan got pork belly and said she loved eating it despite never cooking it before. During the cooking, she used fennel and leeks as they were her favorite ingredients. 20 minutes left, she kept lifting the cover off, which Mary knew was the one thing you should never do as the pressure dropped every time, and eventually, she opened it six times to Mary’s annoyance. Near the end of the cooking, she was proud of her work. She was the first person to have her dish judged and wanted to win despite having doubters. She made a pork belly with fennel and leek slaw and crispy skin, but it was criticized for having unrendered fat, which Mary knew would happen, and while Lesley Barger Suter praised the flavor of the slaw, she felt the dish was clunky, with Ramsay adding on that the pork was undercooked on top and cooked on the bottom. However, she scored 9 stars.

Susan lost the challenge to Mary, and was punished to help with Tree People which included digging up holes, slashing brushes, and shoveling mulch. In addition, she was also forced to participate in recycling day. As the chefs put on their jumpsuits, she saw that Cyndi’s was too big on her, Jon looked like a crazy person, and Ja'Nel was not as faltering as hers. During the punishment, she and Cyndi cleaned out a hillside, making her wish she picked mulching instead. At one point, she and Cyndi claimed that they saw something big crawl out of the Earth. With the first part of the punishment done, she dreaded what the second part would entail as they went back to Hell’s Kitchen. While sorting through garbage, she found Nedra’s headwrap from the beginning and felt she was not beautiful anymore because of the trash.

Later that evening, Ramsay called the dorms and asked Mary to bring everybody downstairs immediately. Having just gotten out of the shower, Susan had no idea what to expect and felt silly and embarrassed to have her towel on her head. Ramsay announced they would be competing against a team of returning champions, and when Season 4 winner Christina appeared, she expressed her respect to the former for being a female winner. After, Ramsay told the final five that he was not lying about them going up against the best, but she was confident they were better than the previous winners. However, Rock was not intimidated by her due to her towel on top of her head.

As the black jackets worked on menu items, Susan wanted to make an easy appetizer as it would lead them to success, but her sliders suggestion was shot down as Jon reminded her what they were up against, and they were on another fucking level. Then, Mary suggested they do duck multiple ways like a confit, but she could not see how it would fit in with the rest of the dish and that confit took a long time to make. Despite Mary suggesting they get up early to start prepping it, she rejected that idea, but the rest of the chefs agreed with the former. That led her to let them have their way, with the only hope is that they could execute it well. When talking about station assignments, both her and Cyndi wanted to be on meat as the latter felt she was better there than her, and then, Cyndi suggested they make her a floater as she was the weakest out of the five, and did not want to go down because of her. However, she refused to be a floater and felt Cyndi was having an ego trip, but reluctantly decided to let the decision stand as she hoped the latter was ready the following night, or else it was game over.

During prep, Susan deemed Mary a completely different person when around meat after seeing the latter butcher the duck, and got nervous. Then, she doubted that the confit would be ready on time, and when it was not cooking fast enough, she knew would happen. After the duck dish was criticized, she was not hopeful about their chances.

During dinner service, Susan served as a floater, notes that the five of them technically never worked in the same kitchen until now, but wanted to beat the champions as it would be historic. When she asked Ja'Nel to help her on the tartare, the latter refused as she had too much risotto, frustrating her as she called Ja'Nel pathetic for babysitting two pans of risotto over her fifteen tartares. So, Mary came to help her, and it allowed her to get their next order out. 45 minutes into service, she and Ja'Nel were working on their final order of appetizers, but Ramsay told her to let Jon know she was working capellini and when to drop his scallops. While she claimed the capellini could take four minutes, Ramsay reminded her that it takes two minutes, making Jon irritated by her inconsistency. When Jon dropped his scallops, she asked for three minutes, but he refused to let her force him to hold off, and Ja'Nel got irritated by her inconsistent timings as Ramsay ordered her to get a grip. While Jon walked his scallops, she was nowhere near ready, and Ja'Nel questioned how she was able to get far, before being called a joke for making these mistakes by now. While Ramsay called her stupid and how her mistakes made him crazy, she was able to get the capellini up on time. After Cyndi discovered her Wellingtons were raw, she, who wanted to be on meat, noticed that the former was having issues with her timings, and wanted Cyndi to get their final ticket out as they had a chance to beat returning champions.

The black jackets lost the service as they had a 93% approval rating compared to the champion's 95%, and they were asked to nominate two people for elimination. During deliberation, Jon considered Susan for the capellini incident, but she felt it was a small mistake that should not send her home.

Susan was named the first nominee, with Cyndi as the second, but she deemed the latter and Mary as the weakest chefs as Mary backed down when the pressure came along with being too nice. During her plea, she said she had a lot of passion through her blood, and that she had everything it took to run Ramsay’s restaurant. She survived elimination, and while being dismissed, she decided to take control of her destiny as nobody else would stop her.

Episode 19

Main article: Episode 1119 - 5 Chefs Compete Part 3

Back at the dorms, Susan tried to make peace with Mary over what she said at elimination and even tried to sympathize with the latter's dilemma.

The next day, Ramsay revealed that a burger was making its way into more 5-star restaurants, and the one on the plate was one he served back in London which could cost around $100. Although Susan called it ridiculous, she felt that’s how Ramsay got rich and asked why she did not think of that before. During the 10 Portions Gourmet Burger Challenge, she felt they had to make a diva styled burger for Jean-Philippe. She decided to make a healthy burger with a Greek feta yogurt spread as she wanted it to represent her healthy lifestyle, and felt nobody else would do copy her. However, she was nervous as she did not make burgers, and burned her buns. While she felt she had a good selling ability and talked about her healthy burger, Marino Monferrato commented that he liked the guilt she was trying to avoid. She lost the challenge as her burger was deemed the worst, angering her as it was ammunition for everybody else to vote her off, and she could not afford that.

Susan was punished by doing all of Jean-Philippe’s daily chores, and during the punishment, she revealed she hated washing cars as she would rather send hers to a car wash as they belonged there. Later, Ja'Nel warned her about what type of vacuum nozzle she was using, but the latter annoyingly called her a perfect person and claimed she knew what she was doing.

During dinner service, Susan was on the garnish station. After receiving their first order, Susan knew that with five of them in the kitchen, they were all fighting for one position. When Antonio Sabato Jr. came to eat in the chef's table, she called him attractive in person. When Mary struggled on sliders, she walked the former's third attempt, although she did not know if it was one order or two. On entrées, she felt she would be a strong voice on garnish, but did not respond to Ramsay’s questions for the Wellington garnishes until a second time. To make matters worse, her garnishes were burnt, Ramsay ordered her to wake up, and she complained that it sucked. Despite getting her refire accepted, she called out times for an entrée order when they have not served the appetizer for the same ticket. A frustrated Ramsay called her Dumbo for that mistake, Mary asked what she was thinking, but she claimed that they fired it already. That served to be the final straw as Ramsay told her to run the pass herself before leaving the kitchen with Sous Chef Andi, and a dismayed Jon felt they were fucked thanks to her. Nearly two hours into dinner service, with no Head Chef or Sous Chef in the kitchen, she wanted to prove to her team she would not crumble and wanted to keep service running on the pass. After getting an order out, Ramsay and Sous Chef Andi came back, with her fearing what he was going to do. However, Ramsay went back to business, and the final five completed their final order.

After service, Ramsay asked the final five to name two people for elimination. During deliberation, after much thinking, Susan named Mary her first nominee for being overwhelmed, although Cyndi was more upset about the Dover sole the latter presented. When Ja'Nel wanted to nominate the weakest chef overall, she felt the former was not accepting her weaknesses. After, Ja'Nel considered her the weakest chef overall, but she asked if holding down her station made her weak. However, that comment set off Ja'Nel as she claimed she was better than her in a lot of ways; better palate, moved more quickly, had more creative ideas, but she sarcastically called her humble based on the list. Then, an argument between her and Ja'Nel erupted as the latter called her a rookie.

While Mary was the first nominee, it was a tie between Susan and Ja'Nel for the second nominee. Ramsay asked her why Ja'Nel was nominated, and she explained how Ja'Nel’s poor risottos meant she did not have the skills to become his next head chef. However, Ramsay called the three women down to the front. During her plea, she said she had the tenacity and passion before expressing the desire to win, but Ramsay reminded her how she nearly fired entrées on a ticket when they have not served the appetizers first. She was eliminated for her weak performances throughout the competition but before leaving, Ramsay told her not to underestimate her potential as he might have a job lined up for her. During her exit interview, she received a retrospective montage of her time on the show.

Ramsay's comment: "Susan had little experience, but she came a long way. She's not ready to lead my kitchen in Vegas, but I'm happy to say that she'll be leaving Hell's Kitchen as a real chef."

Episode 21/22

Main article: Episode 1121 - 2 Chefs Compete

Main article: Episode 1122 - Winner Chosen

Susan was one of the 10 chefs that returned for the final dinner service. She was Ja'Nel's second pick, after Cyndi, and was followed by Zach, Amanda, and Ray. Although she was surprised that Ja'Nel picked her given their feuds in the past, she felt the latter was seeing her talent.

Back at the dorms, Susan told Ja'Nel that they were here to make her look good, but commented that she never saw beef cheeks on a California menu before. Eventually, Ja'Nel left in frustration after the team disliked her menu, but she arrogantly felt they could make a better menu than the former could, and wanted Ja'Nel to listen to then. During prep, she feared they had two bad apples in the bunch, referring to Zach and Ray.

During dinner service, Susan was on the garnish station. After Ray served up a salad with little dressing, she dismaying commented it would be a long night if they could not even get salads right. While she got her prawns accepted, she later sent up burnt flatbread for the mussels. On entrées, Ja'Nel rejected her garnishes for being cold and underseasoned, and told her to make use of the space she had on the flat top. However, she told Ja'Nel to worry about something else, and with Cyndi’s help, the refire was accepted. Ja'Nel eventually won the finale over Mary.

Nomination History

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Safe
Week 3	Safe
Week 4	Safe
Week 5	Safe
Week 6	Nominated
Week 7	Win
Week 8	Safe
Week 9	Safe
Week 10	Safe
Week 11	Win
Week 12	Nominated
Week 13	Win
Week 14	Nominated
Week 15	Nominated
Week 16	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Susan returned to a career in HR and was Director/VP of People & Culture at Evisions
• She later moved to become VP of People at Bigleaf Networks in 2020.
• She also got married and is now known as Susan Fierro.
• On July 12, 2018, she gave birth to her son Owen.

Trivia

• She is the fourth contestant to be threatened with elimination at the Signature Dish Challenge, following Seth (Season 5), Sabrina (Season 8), and Jonathon (Season 9), and the second one to make it to the black jackets, following Sabrina (Season 8).
• She is the tenth contestant to be nominated consistently through the black jacket phase, following Jessica (Season 1), Virginia (Season 2), Andrea (Season 5), Suzanne and Ariel (both from Season 6), Trev (Season 8), Jennifer and Elise (both from Season 9) and Clemenza (Season 10). She is also the third of this bunch who didn't make it to the semi-finals.
• She is the only Black Jacket of her season to never to win an individual challenge.
• She is the fifth black jacket contestant to be eliminated after being nominated by Ramsay, following Elsie (Season 1), Ben (Season 5), Van (Season 6), and Clemenza (Season 10).
• She is the first contestant that was compliment by Ramsay in an elimination comment.
• She is the first contestant to win 10 challenges in a season. She is also the only female contestant to date to win 10 challenges.

Quotes

• "I cannot believe Danielle is a head chef. A head chef of what? A hot dog stand?"
• "I just dropped my lamb, guys."
• "BRING THE TUNA, NOW!!!!"
• "First of all, this is fake. You're blonde too, Chef Ramsay. So what does that say about you?"
• "I absolutely love Japanese food and I'm gonna beat Zach, "Ahh Konnichiwa"." (Thumbs up)
• "They love my dish! There is no way that Zach is going to beat me. This is why I called you out Zach!!"
• (After being eliminated) "Coming into the competition, I realized that there was gonna be people that were much more experienced than me. I'm in culinary school, and this was my very first experience working on a line. I'm most proud that no matter what challenge was thrown at me. I did not back down. I had a black jacket. You know, I made it very far in this competition. So I'm gonna be ready for whatever comes my way."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Susan's Intro Spot

Susan in Red Jacket

Susan's Confessional (Red Jacket)

Jessica, Susan, Ray, and Dan Nominated

Susan and Nedra Nominated

Susan in Blind Taste Test

Susan and Zach Nominated

Susan in Black Jacket.

Susan's Confessional (Black Jacket)

Susan and Cyndi Nominated

Susan, Ja'Nel, and Mary Nominated

Susan Eliminated

Susan and Amanda as Returning Chefs

Susan's Confessional (Returning Chef)

Susan in Blue Jacket

Susan's Confessional (Blue Jacket)

Susan's Signature Dish (Episode 1)

Susan's Chinese Dish (Chow Mein) (Episode 7)

Susan's Farm Animal Dish (Duck) (Episode 8)

Susan and Nedra's Steak Creation Dish (Filet Mignon) (Episode 9)

Susan's Presentation Dish (Not Judged) (Episode 11)

Susan's International Cuisine (Japanese) (Episode 13) (Episode 13)

Susan's King of The Hill Dish (Episode 15)

Susan's Pressure Cooker Dish (Episode 17)

Susan's 10 Burger Portions Dish (Episode 19)

External links

• Susan Heaton on Instagram