Tony D'Alessandro

“

You don't need to go to culinary school because if you have a passion for cooking, you will succeed!

”

Hometown/Residence	Chicago, IL
Occupation	Culinary Store Manager
Kitchen Experience	5 years
Culinary Education	On-the-job training
Culinary Inspiration	Jamie Oliver
Statistics
Signature Dish Challenge Score	1 out of 1
Challenges Won	2
Services Won	1
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	14th
Episode Eliminated/Withdrew	14 Chefs Compete

Antonio "Tony" D'Alessandro was a contestant on Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 14th place.

Season 6

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 601 - 16 Chefs Compete

After receiving some tips from Jean-Philippe and former Hell's Kitchen contestants, Ramsay ordered all the chefs to cook their signature dishes.

Before tasting the signature dishes, Ramsay announced that for the first time ever, the Signature Dish Challenge would occur as a regular team challenge, with each contestant going head-to-head. Tony was the fourth person of the blue team to have his dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Amanda. He declared he was cooking at home and never went to culinary school, by adding that he did not need to go there because if he had a passion for cooking, he would succeed. He served mussels with chorizo, and his dish received praise from Ramsay for having potential. He won the round over Amanda, and eventually the challenge 3-2.

The blue team was rewarded with a dinner on the Hell's Kitchen patio, where they would eat dishes from Ramsay's London West Hollywood, in Los Angeles. During the reward, Tony enjoyed his dish, saying the flavors were exploding in his mouth. The next morning, because the blue team drank too much and not studied the menu, they were slow to do their prep.

During dinner service, Tony was at the dessert station. When Ramsay called out the first ticket, he was asked to recite the order back, but he struggled, declaring he did not know the recipes yet and thinking Ramsay would eat them alive. At one point, he was seen rallying behind Louie, who was struggling on the meat station. After Louie's elimination, service was shut down by Ramsay.

When the teams were lined up, Robert joined the blue team, and Ramsay declared the blue team winners for serving a few entrées out, compared to the red team's zero. At elimination, Tony and his teammates said goodbye to Robert, who was just integrated on the red team. While being dismissed, he declared elimination was sounding scary, while hoping he would not be next.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 602 - 15 Chefs Compete

The next morning, both teams got down in the blue kitchen, where Ramsay introduced the Shrimp Cleaning Challenge. Tony was the third person from the blue team to have his shrimps judged by Ramsay, and 9 out of his 10 shrimps were accepted, making him very proud of himself. When Jim got his shrimps judged, he compared that situation to a baseball game, at the bottom of the ninth inning. But, the blue team won the challenge 45-44, and they were rewarded with a day at Newport Beach for a lunch of seafood, shrimps and raw bar with Ramsay, and a dessert on a 40-foot mega yacht.

When they got back to the dorms and changed, Tony was excited to get out as he declared the restaurant was literally Hell. During the reward, when he saw Jean-Philippe wearing tight white pants, he declared he was having style, compared to himself when he was wearing tight pants.

During prep, Tony struggled to properly cut a grapefruit, so Kevin reached over and did it for him, but he did not appreciate, saying he jumped over and pushed him to the side, calling him a prick in the process. When Ramsay entered the kitchen, he told him to cut the grapefruit over a bowl so they could keep the juice and schooled him on the fact that he was standing still and looking oblivious. However, he threw Kevin under the bus, blamed the grapefruit, and when Ramsay asked him who butchered the grapefruit, which he claimed was looking like a hexagon, he answered that he did. When the chefs got on their stations after the briefing, he was the only one who was still not ready, and Ramsay told him twice to cut the grapefruit over a bowl, before threatening him to be kicked out before service would begin.

During dinner service, Tony was on the fish station. When Ramsay called the first ticket, he got so excited and thrilled to cook scallops that he cooked them without communicating with anybody. Ramsay asked him why he did that, while Jim told he never called scallops to be dropped, and Ramsay schooled him on that mistake. While redoing them, he managed to keep a positive attitude. On his second attempt, he told him he was ready with his scallops, but they were still raw. Ramsay questioned his vision because he could not spot that mistake despite having glasses, and asked him what could he cook, which he answered he could cook anything. Because of that mistake, he went into the dining room to tell the problem to Van, who did not appreciate and told him to move. So, he went back in the kitchen and was helped by Kevin who got very aggressive when he told to flip the scallops. Later, he could not believe a fight would erupt between Van and Jean-Philippe, and more moments later, Ramsay called an order and asked him for the halibut immediately. But, he did not understand his request the first time, so Ramsay asked him once again. He put the halibut in the pan, but Ramsay noticed he did not season it, discouraging him. Because of that, Kevin had to take over the fish station once again. When four of his teammates were on his station, Ramsay berated him for failing to control it. After a lot of struggle in both kitchens, Ramsay ordered both teams to send shrimp cocktails to the dining room and shut down both kitchens. He compared that situation as if Ramsay was having a machine gun and blowing everybody away.

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay named both teams losers and asked them to nominate two people each. During deliberation, Tony acknowledged he messed up straight away, and waited for Andy to do the same, but he did not, infuriating him.

Tony was the blue team's first nominee for elimination, with Andy being the second. The elimination was delayed until the following episode because of the Joseph incident.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 603 - 14 Chefs Compete

After Joseph's departure, Tony was called down with Andy, and joined Tennille and Lovely from the red team. He was eliminated for failing to keep up and allowing his teammates to take his station over. Ramsay gave no comment on Tony's elimination, and he received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence immediately after leaving.

Nomination History

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, he opened the gourmet fast food restaurant BIG & little's with his childhood friend Gary Strauss, which has excellent reviews. The restaurant was featured on an episode of Food Network's Mystery Diners and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Trivia

• He is the first male contestant ever to score a point during the Signature Dish Challenge.
• Unfortunately, his elimination was completely overshadowed by the Joseph incident.

Quotes

• (About Joseph) "I was like, DAMN!!!! Throwdown Chef Ramsay!!!!"
• "You don't need to go to culinary school because if you have a passion for cooking, you will succeed!"
• "BA-DA-BING! I've got the potential, and here it comes!"
• "Chef Ramsay is gonna eat us alive!"
• "Everyone's like freaking out, like Chef Ramsay is like walking over like with a freaking machine gun, and is like... (mimicking a machine gun) TATATATATATATATOW like he was gonna blow us all away!"
• (About confrontation of JP vs. Van) "Woah, woah!!! JP looks ready to pound him down!!!!! DAMN!!!!!
• "I love to cook, I love to make things taste, really good."
• (About preparing to cook fish) "I always season it, I didn't season it though."
• (After being eliminated) "I proved myself by being here, you know, I didn't get a chance to shine. So out I go, but I still think I have the palate of a God."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dish

Tony's Intro Spot

Tony in Blue Jacket

Tony's Confessional

Lovely, Tennille, Tony, and Andy Nominated

Tony Eliminated

Tony's Signature Dish