1. Format

2. Staff

3. Opening sequence

4. Contestants

5. Contestant progress

6. Episodes

7. Notes

8. References

9. External links

Season 6 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on the Fox Network on July 21, 2009 and concluded on October 13, 2009.

Despite suffering a fractured wrist early in the competition, Executive Chef Dave Levey won the season and was awarded a Head Chef position under Executive Chef James Walt at the Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia, the first time the prize was a position at a Canadian restaurant.^[1]

Format

The first half of each episode consists of a team challenge, in which the winning side gets a reward of some sort of leisure activity, while the losing side has to clean up and prepare both kitchens, as well as some activity that is not so pleasant. Afterwards, the teams compete in executing a dinner service, during which Ramsay can impose additional punishments or kick chefs out of the kitchen. The losing team(s) nominates chefs to be considered for elimination. Ramsay can also nominate chefs, and ultimately sends a chef home. At six chefs left, the teams merge to one, and the chefs compete as individuals.

Staff

Gordon Ramsay returned as the head chef, blue team sous chef Scott Leibfried, and Maître d' Jean-Philippe Susilovic as well. Heather West, the winner of Season 2, became the new sous chef for the red team, she replaced Gloria Félix who was the sous-chef for the previous two seasons.

Opening sequence

The chefs appear in a Hell's Kitchen style carnival. A second version was shown from episode 2 onwards featuring Robert taking the place of Dave who now appears before Tennille.

Contestants

Initially, sixteen chefs began the competition, and were joined by a seventeenth, Robert Hesse from the previous season, in the middle of the first episode.^[1]

Notes

Contestant progress

Each week, the best member (determined by Ramsay) from the losing team during the latest service period is asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two is meant to be sent home by Ramsay. On some weeks, there is a variation in the nomination process, depending on the losing team's (or even winning team's) performance.

Episodes

Each episode consists of a challenge with a reward, a service and an elimination.

{{Episode table

Sixteen new contestants arrive at Hell's Kitchen and meet with Jean-Philippe at the front entrance. He shows them tips from former contestants: Bonnie Muirhead and Aaron Song (season 3) and Colleen Cleek (season 5) to avoid mistakes in future dinner services.

Team challenge: For the first time in this series, the signature dish presentation is being doubled in the first team challenge, and the chefs are divided into men (blue) and women (red) teams. The team with the most dishes appreciated by Ramsay would win the challenge. Tek, Tennille, Tony, Jim and Van all impressed Ramsay with their dishes. Dave and Joseph earned compliments for the meat that they cooked, but both failed to cook the vegetables properly and lost out; Joseph was also berated for refusing to try his own dish because he wanted a fork. Kevin had cooked his filet steak well, but his choice of using a coffee sauce cost him. Ramsay disapproved of Ariel's duck as it was badly undercooked, same with Suzanne's risotto, and Andy and Lovely's dishes fell flat. Sabrina's chipotle wrapped tenderloin was too spicy, and Amanda was berated for making a simple french toast dish which Ramsay said takes three minutes to make, and seemingly attempting to get Ramsay drunk on tequila. Even Louie's sausage gravy was found disgusting. Finally, Melinda's poached lobster tail dish missed its main component: a lobster tail. In the end, the men won the challenge 3-2.

Reward/punishment: The men were rewarded with a lunch at Hell's Kitchen featuring dishes from Ramsay's London West Hollywood restaurant, while the women had to clean both kitchens.

Service: Season five contestant Robert Hesse and his wife were the guests for the night's dinner service. The women got off to a bad start as Lovely sent burnt fondants to the pass before the restaurant had even opened. Later she felt overwhelmed, and left the kitchen for nearly an hour. Melinda had to cook the same pasta dish nine times as Tek did not manage to deliver an acceptable serving of scallops for her dish. Melinda also wasted much pasta, because of her lack of attentiveness - on one occasion, when Ramsay said it was not yet cooked, Melinda binned the portion instead of cooking it out. When Ramsay found the trashed pasta, he angrily asked what she was thinking, but she was too spaced out to answer. The errors were not only on the appetizer station, as Amanda accidentally put the salmon wraps in the freezer instead of the fridge, making it impossible to serve the five salmon dishes on order. For the men, Jim had well-cooked scallops on his first attempt, but cooked the wrong amount. Both he and Kevin managed to get a steady supply of appetizers moving out of the blue kitchen. When they reach the entree stage, Louie put raw lamb in the oven without seasoning or searing the rack and also tried cooking his own garnishes at the meat station. When Ramsay saw that, he quickly stopped him from doing Joseph's work, and denied Joseph's request to change stations with Louie. Louie's lamb finally made it to the pass as poorly cut pieces of meat, and Ramsay discovered his stash of meat that he had wasted over the course of the night, leading him to be immediately eliminated. Ramsay shut down both kitchens and named the men the winning team on being able to served a few entrées.

Automatic elimination: After Louie served poorly cut pieces of lamb and wasted a huge amount of meat over the course of the night, Ramsay lost his temper and eliminated him on the spot. Louie is responsible for the fastest exit in Hell's Kitchen history not caused by illness, as well as being the 4th contestant to be eliminated during service.

Robert's return: After both kitchens closed, Ramsay went out into the dining room to speak to Robert, and personally invited him back into Hell's Kitchen for another chance to win the competition. He accepted Ramsay's invitation and lined up with the men for the post-mortem.

Elimination: The women nominated Amanda and Melinda, although Amanda thought that Lovely should be up instead of her. Ramsay eliminated Melinda for her horrendous performance on the appetizer station as well as being the main reason for the red team's defeat.

Team member added: After the elimination, Ramsay ordered Robert to join the women to balance out the teams. Ramsay then told Robert that while he did a good job last season, he'll be treated like everyone else.

Ramsay's comment: "Melinda was completely lost in space. So I sent her back to whatever planet she came from."

Team challenge: Each chef prepared shrimp for the next night's service, with each team scoring one point for each shrimp perfectly prepared. The red team had an extra member and Lovely sat out. Sabrina scored 7 and as well as Amanda with even 9, followed by Tek with 7 and Ariel with 6. Suzanne had 10 shrimp, though Robert scored an underwhelming 4 and Tennille only scored one, leaving the final total at 44. The first two members of the blue team posted the same scores as their red team counterparts, Andy and Van having 7 and 9; Tony then continued with 9. Joseph and Dave only managed 5 and 4, though Kevin had 9. Jim scored 2 which allowed the men to win 45-44.

Reward/punishment: The blue team ate at The Cannery Restaurant with Ramsay in Newport Beach followed by dessert on a yacht. The red team prepared shrimp and lemon wedges for the service. Meanwhile, at the Cannery, Joseph drew attention from his teammates with disrespectful comments towards Ramsay, that he just wanted to cook and was learning nothing by eating lunch. Dave criticized him for his comments.

Service: Ramsay had Van and Tennille cook and serve scampi in the dining room. Before service, Tony had a hard time preparing grapefruit to a point where Ramsay threatened to kick him out of the competition. Van accidentally served customers at the other team's table, and he chose to ignore Jean-Philippe's admonition to respect the dining room, leading to a heated confrontation between the two. Ramsay pulled them out of the kitchen to reprimand them on their behavior. Tony cooked scallops too early and brought them up raw. For the red team, Robert burnt shallots for a risotto. Tennille faced not only Ramsay's anger, but also her team's, for having served undercooked shrimp to a woman who was pregnant. Lovely repeatedly burned her fish and didn't realize that the gas on the stove was turned off, while both Andy and Sabrina served raw chicken. Kevin took over the fish station after Tony tried to cook a halibut without seasoning it, but he served it raw as well. After Sabrina burned a chicken, the service was deemed a lost cause, and Ramsay ordered the chefs to make shrimp cocktails for the diners (since they don't require any cooking), causing both kitchens to be shut down. No winner was declared.

Elimination: Ariel named Tennille as the first nominee for serving undercooked shrimp to a pregnant woman, and Lovely for her overall performance and experience. Ramsay then asked Joseph who the blue team's nominations were, but instead of doing so like everyone else, he decided to go on the counter-attack (for no apparent reason) and said "they can speak for themselves, they know who they are". Ramsay did not appreciate this answer and asked Joseph again for the blue team's nominations. Joseph announced Tony and Andy as the nominees, but gave no valid reason as to why they were nominated. Ramsay refused to accept the nominees and asked Joseph a third time for the blue team's nominees and why they were nominated. Joseph then confronted Ramsay by saying they chose as a group and there was no need to have pressure from anybody because they were men. A fed up Ramsay stepped forward and attempted to get Joseph back down to earth and follow directions, but this only made Joseph angrier and he started rambling about how he was not somebody's "bitch", and when several members of the red team scolded Joseph for getting hostile, the latter fought back and rudely told them to shut up. Tensions reached a breaking point when Ramsay finally lost his patience and said, "I ask the questions, you give the answers!", causing Joseph to tear off his jacket, walk right up to Ramsay and ask for a fight. The episode then ends with "To Be Continued...".

Joseph's exit: Following the replay of the previous episode where Joseph's confrontation started, two members of the crew stepped in to intervene in case of any physical contact. While Joseph repeatedly called Ramsay "nothing but a bitch" along with many other insults, Ramsay stood his ground, calmly told Joseph he had no respect, and eliminated him from the competition (marking the show's second voluntary exit at elimination following Ji from Season 5). Outside the restaurant, Joseph gave a very insulting interview, calling Ramsay a "limey prick" and saying he didn't need anyone talking to him like that. He also said that any restaurant would hire him, and they would be proud to have him there.

Elimination: Ramsay went back to business and asked Kevin to finally and civilly deal with the nominations. He nominated Tony and Andy properly and with valid reasons. Ramsay, while feeling Lovely had been the worst performer of the night, eliminated Tony for failing to control his station and being completely in over his head. Joseph received no elimination sequence, but his jacket and burned photo could be seen next to Lovely's. As for Tony, Ramsay did not give a comment, but his jacket was hung and his picture was burned.

Team change: Shortly afterwards, Ramsay returned Robert back to the men as the blue team was down two members.

Team challenge: The chefs were awakened at 2 A.M. with lights and sirens from fire trucks. There was no fire, but they were told to serve the firefighters a pasta meal consisting of chicken alfredo, meatball marinara, and a garlic bread appetizer; the first to serve all firefighters on its side would win. Andy and Lovely had trouble cooking garlic bread. However, Lovely quickly recovered with Ariel's help but Andy continued to slow down the rest of his team by only using two of the five available ovens. Eventually, Andy's bread made it out to the dining room. The red team were far ahead, but got pushed back, allowing the men to catch up when Sabrina didn't put enough chicken in the alfredo and Tek had a marinara sent back for an undercooked meatball. Both teams made it to the final ticket simultaneously, but the women narrowly won.

Reward/punishment: The women rode a helicopter to the Pacific Waters Spa. The men had to clean the firefighters' engines, to be followed by cleaning the dining area. During the team punishment, Dave sprained his wrist while Kevin sprained both ankles and they required treatment. Both opted to stay in the competition.

Service: Ramsay assigned Dave (who volunteered) and Lovely (who did not) to be waiters. Lovely was criticized for her general slowness, taking 42 minutes to bring in an order, and was slowed even further when a customer requested a rare Balmoral wine, which she collected from Ramsay's office. Tennille used too much oil in her scallops and her station caught fire after she got overwhelmed by her teammates and Ramsay all speaking to her at the same time. Andy attempted to cook too many scallops in one small pan, causing an argument between himself and Robert. Ramsay told Van to stop shouting because he was confusing his team, but was impressed with his risotto. Kevin also impressed with his performance on the meat station, despite his injured ankle. Robert was scolded for running in the kitchen and talking back after serving poor scallops. Amanda brought eight lamb chops instead of nine and flabbergasted Ramsay by incorrectly answering how many chops were required for three orders. Although both teams are able to complete their service, the red team finished first. The men had only one order left to win, but Robert forgot to cook the salmon, forcing a 12-minute delay on the final table. However, the men ultimately won the service after receiving 83% of the customers' cards, compared to the women's 81%.

Elimination: Ramsay named Ariel as best of the worst and told her she must pick two nominees for elimination. She selected Lovely and Tennille. Ramsay indicated that he thought Amanda should have been nominated rather than Lovely, but allowed the nominations to stand. With two chefs eliminated after the previous service earlier in this episode, Ramsay declared that no one will be eliminated, then tested Amanda's math skills once again. He also played off Joseph's diatribe by reminding the chefs, "I'm nobody's bitch."

Ramsay's comment: "Lovely and Tennille may think they've just received a gift, but what I have in store for them tomorrow will have them running for the door."

Team challenge: Each chef had to make sausages in pairs of two, by hand. The first team to make six strings of sausages that meet Ramsay's specifications would win. Ramsay chose Amanda to sit out as the women had an extra member. The blue team struggled, and one pair, Jim & Robert, produced nothing. The majority of the women were perfect, with only Ariel and Sabrina producing a line too thin, and the women won 6-4.

Reward/punishment: The women visited the Old World Village restaurant in Huntington Beach and got to celebrate in their very own Oktoberfest. The men had to clean up the dorms of both teams and this took a mental toll on Robert, who had yet to win a single challenge himself. When sous chef Scott reprimanded him for showing passion now that he did not in the challenge, Robert broke his broom in a fit of anger, reminding everyone how he almost died last season. Also, Dave received a call from his doctor, informing him that his sprained wrist was actually a fracture, and he had to go to the hospital to put a cast on for two weeks. Dave contemplated quitting the competition, and after seeking advice from Ramsay, he decided to stay.

Service: This service included Melinda Clarke, Dwight Freeney, Tom Green, John O'Hurley, Drew Lachey, Christopher "Kid" Reid and Kristy Swanson. Jim and Ariel were assigned to the dining room to prepare an Amuse-bouche appetizer. In the dining room, Jim's slowness and inattentiveness hindered his team. In the blue kitchen, Andy's lamb was undercooked and despite Robert doing well on the appetizers, Ramsay criticized him for yelling at Andy to the extent that the diners could all hear him. In the red kitchen, Lovely sent bland garnishes and had trouble keeping track of the orders. John O'Hurley's appetizer was sent back to the kitchen after Tek added too much salt, and Tek needed Tennille's help on the refire. Dave returned for service after being released from the hospital with a new cast and was assigned to desserts, with Ramsay complimenting him in the middle of service for working faster than anyone in the kitchen despite being injured. Suzanne was lectured for serving lamb chops with more bone than meat. On the last ticket, Ariel overcooked the tagliatelle, while Andy sent up raw chicken but bounced back after Sous Chef Scott shouted at him for more chicken. The men won the service after Van served the garnish before Lovely did. In the post-mortem that followed, Suzanne asked Ramsay for a "play-by-play" on the disappointing loss, but was shut down cold by Ramsay. Ramsay also pointed out that despite only having "eleven hands" (due to Dave's wrist fracture, and compared to the women's 14), the men were still able to complete the service.

Elimination: Sabrina was named Best of Worst, and nominated Lovely and Tek for elimination. Although Tek performed poorly with the appetizers, Suzanne was asked who she would send home and she chose Lovely. Ramsay agreed with the decision and sent Lovely home for her slowness, consistently terrible performance, constant excuses for her shortcomings, and her lack of improvement over the course of 4 services.

Ramsay's comment: "If people were named for their cooking, her name wouldn't be Lovely. It would be Useless."

Team challenge: For the special service, Marine Staff Sergeant Otis James had just returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq. To celebrate his return, Ramsay would be serving a dinner for his family and friends that included Otis' favorite foods, such as soul food, shrimp, and lobster. Each team had 45 minutes to cook one appetizer and two entrees, using pointers given by Otis' wife La Tasha as a guide. However, she only gave the instructions on Otis' favorite foods to Robert and Suzanne, which they would have to give to the rest of their teams. Robert proved to be a strong leader and effectively relayed the information and coordinated his team, leading Kevin to praise his leadership. However, Suzanne failed to mention any of Otis' likes or dislikes to her team and instead pushed for dishes she wanted to make based on the information, while ignoring her team's suggestions. Mrs. James then determined, by taste, which dishes Otis would like best. The red team scored on the appetizer with Ariel's Caesar salad with baked shrimp beating Kevin's Seafood style bouvais, but the blue team scored on both entrees for the 2-1 win. Andy's four cheese macaroni beat Amanda's bacon wrapped filet after the bacon fell apart, and more crucially, Robert correctly remembered that Otis preferred grilled lobster alongside a New York strip and potatoes, whereas Suzanne ignored Mrs. James' instructions and served a poached lobster with seafood pasta.

Reward/punishment: The men spent the day flying in a mock dogfight with professional aviators from Air Combat USA while the women prepared the dining room for the celebration with Ramsay's wife Tana giving specification help. Additionally, Tennille was angry at Suzanne for most of the punishment for misleading the entire team by not offering clues such as "soul food", which her idea to make a jambalaya would have meshed well with but for Suzanne shutting it down cold.

Service: Tana opened the service, and featured Otis' favorite foods as well the challenge winning dishes on the menu. The blue team had a near perfect service, with the only problems being Jim getting overwhelmed on the grilling station, due to the large number of surf & turf dishes on order, and struggling to recite the orders when questioned by Ramsay. However, he got away with this when Ramsay became distracted by a burning pan on Van's station, which allowed Kevin to quickly help Jim get reorganized. After that, entrées went out with no problems, although Andy and Kevin irked Dave and Jim respectively by giving unwanted help on their stations. The women started off well enough on appetizers, although Sabrina was slow serving a stuffed mushroom and then served it cold but quickly fixed it. However, the women completely fell apart on entrées as Tek repeatedly served raw and burnt steaks while also forgetting that a hamburger was part of the order, and thus caused a big stall in the red kitchen. When Tek finally managed to cook some acceptable steaks, the order still couldn't be sent because Amanda had undercooked the lobster. A frustrated Ramsay called all the men in, except for Kevin who was on desserts, to help the women after they had completed their entrées. Ramsay named the men the clear winners while berating the women for failing to send a single entree while the men completed theirs with injured members.

Elimination: The women decided to nominate Tennille and Tek. Tennille, however, thought she improved in that night's service and thought Amanda should have been nominated. Ramsay agreed and called all three up, and quickly sent Tennille back in line after she pleaded her case. Although Ramsay felt Amanda lacked the emotional strength to win Hell's Kitchen, he ultimately picked Tek to leave Hell's Kitchen as she was accountable for the steak fiasco, which ruined any chance of the women even completing service, and for being a consistently poor performer.

Ramsay's comment: "I kept on waiting for Tek to emerge. She couldn't even handle her station. Tek had a total meltdown."

When the Red Team went back to the dorms, Ramsay had a quick private talk with Amanda. Concerned about Amanda's ability to handle the pressure of being in Hell's Kitchen, he told her that her performance in services needed to improve quickly.

Challenge: Each team had 45 minutes to create a low-calorie meal, consisting of an appetizer, an entreé, and a dessert, with the entire meal containing less than 700 calories; the team with the most items selected by Ramsay would be the winner. The women did well under Sabrina's leadership, due to her experience making low calorie food, and managed to finish with 694 calories between their dishes. However, the men struggled to stay within the 700 calorie limit and wasted a lot of time trying to reduce it after learning they were 300 calories over. This led them to cut their portions down and eventually left them with barely enough time to cook, having to settle on just having 594 calories between their dishes. After cooking, the team's presented their dishes to Ramsay for judging. On the appetizer round, Ramsay liked both Tennille's seared scallops with a mango chutney and Kevin and Van's shrimp salad and awarded both teams a point. On the entrée round, Ramsay liked Ariel and Sabrina's cottage cheese and mushroom stuffed pork cutlet, but since Jim and Robert had trimmed their pork cutlet with soba noodles and broccolini down to such an extent, in an attempt to reduce the calories, that Ramsay called it a child portion and therefore awarded the point to women. For the last round, the dessert, Amanda and Suzanne presented a fruit bowl with lemon and coconut milk, which Ramsay enjoyed, while Dave and Andy presented a crêpe with a fruit compote and yogurt cream. Unfortunately, Ramsay laughed at the men's crêpe dessert when it was revealed and described it as "the crap [one eats] after a heart bypass surgery." He awarded the point to the women who won the challenge 3-1.

Reward/punishment: In addition to their low-calorie menu being cooked on both sides of the dining room, the women were also rewarded with a day at Venice Beach and learned how to play volleyball with Annett Davis. On their return to the dorms, each member also received a gift basket which included a Vitamix blender and Ramsay's book, Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite. The men spent the day prepping both sides for that night's service. They also had to drive a Conference Bike to a market to pick up more produce. This proved costly for Robert, as the operation of this vehicle was more than he could take — after returning to Hell's Kitchen, he was rushed to a hospital, experiencing shortness of breath and dizziness. Due to this, he was unable to participate in that night's service.

Dinner service: For the dinner service the women's low calorie dishes from the challenge were included as specials on the menu that night. The men had a terrible start; Jim backed up the kitchen on the first table by continually cooking the risotto incorrectly, first putting too much pepper in it and then serving the second attempt bland. Ramsay called the second attempt baby food, and Van described Jim as a zombie in service due to not showing any emotion. After Jim again served an improperly seasoned risotto, sous chef Scott was told to take over the station which allowed the blue team to finally get appetizers out. However, on entrées, Dave got yelled at by sous chef Scott for cooking the wrong garnish, and both he and Kevin struggled to communicate properly. Andy failed to pay attention to Ramsay's orders and repeatedly undercooked and overcooked the halibut. Over on the red team, Ariel "boiled" the scallops but managed to recover. Tennille cooked spinach ahead of time and was almost kicked out of the competition after back-talking to Ramsay over not making enough mashed potatoes; after a heated argument with Ramsay in the corridor, she promised to hold her tongue and get the job done, and Ramsay allowed her to return. Sabrina forgot to cook a portion of chicken, poorly sliced it, and had pork returned from the dining room for being undercooked. After a raw lamb that Sabrina thought was medium well was sent back from the red dining room, Ramsay closed the kitchen down and deemed both teams losers. This loss marks the worst start for any team in Hell’s Kitchen history, with the red team having six consecutive service losses.

Elimination: Each team had to nominate one person for elimination. The women nominated Sabrina, although she thought Tennille should have gone up instead. The blue team settled on nominating Andy, though he convinced them to nominate Robert, who was absent from service. Upon discovering this, Ramsay said that Robert would not be eligible for elimination, but he would be automatically eliminated if he did not return for dinner service the following week, forcing the men to pick Andy. After Ramsay deliberated with the nominees, he ultimately chose Jim because he didn't show any passion for his work. Before leaving, Ramsay told Jim, "I can teach a chef how to cook but I can't give you a heart. You're not the Tin Man and I'm not the fucking Wizard of Oz. Give me your jacket, please."

Ramsay's comment: "At times I thought Jim was sleepwalking, but then I realized that he had no passion. And that's why it was time for him to leave Hell's Kitchen."

Team challenge: Each team rolled a die which had letters on twelve sides. Whichever letter it showed, the chef had to name an ingredient starting with that letter.^[8] They then had to cook using the ingredients.^[9] The men won the challenge with their braised haddock with fig and tomato sauce and angel hair pasta, because the women put so much garlic in their puree, it "obliterated everything else", despite Tennille having warned Ariel to make it less pungent.

Reward/punishment: The men got to go to Las Vegas where they toured the city in a limousine and then had an overnight stay in a high-class suite at the Palms Casino Resort. The women had to unload and unpack boxes of food being delivered to Hell's Kitchen, including wine for Jean-Phillippe. In addition, they had to perform duties in the kitchen as well as cleaning and prepping for the next service. The women were awoken at 1:15 AM to accept yet another delivery of food.

Service: The men were still a down man with Robert still in hospital, while the women were sick of Suzanne. Just before service began, Robert returned. The men felt that the team dynamic worked better without Robert, and as a result, they snubbed him, and he wandered around doing nothing for the pre-service before finally going upstairs to eat a cheeseburger. For the first time ever, each team had a chef's table on their side of the kitchen, which remains in the kitchens throughout the series. Ramsay assigned Dave and Van to take the orders for the chef's table, but Dave didn't let the guests choose their appetizers while Van struggled to explain what the entrées were; even worse, two of Van's sea bass were returned to the pass from the dining room due to having pieces of plastic wrap in them. Robert struggled on the meat station by making lamb chops smaller than the bone itself and had a messy work station. After Robert served raw rabbit, Ramsay yelled at Kevin for not stopping to regroup with the team and shut down the blue kitchen. The women had a decent service with the only problems being Sabrina cooking garnish in a dirty pan, until Ramsay stopped her, and Ariel holding up Amanda's fish due to not having the pasta ready in time. The women finished their service, serving both chef's tables, giving them their first and only dinner service victory of the season. Since the guests at the chef's table liked Dave's appetizers (even though he had refused to let them choose their order), he was named best of the worst and told to nominate two men for elimination.

Elimination: Dave nominated Robert for his weak service and continued absence, and Van based on his poor performance. Ramsay also brought Andy forward at the nomination, feeling that he had yet to show that he was capable of winning Hell's Kitchen. Ramsay first sent Van back in line and then, after heated pleas from Andy and Robert, ordered Andy back in line and eliminated Robert. Ramsay noted that Robert had more services than any of the remaining chefs and his latest poor performance cost him his stay.^[15] Before leaving, Robert said that his culinary career wasn't over, to which Ramsay replied, "I can't wait to see you."

Ramsay's comment: "Robert's closing plea was quite entertaining, but I'm not looking for a performer. I'm looking for a Head Chef, and Robert's not that guy."

Team challenge: The chefs were challenged to a blind taste test. Since the women had an extra member, Tennille was told to sit out. Each chef was then given 4 ingredients to taste and they had to identify it correctly to receive points for their teams. The team with the most points would win the challenge. Ariel scored 2 over Van's 1, Suzanne scored 2 over Dave's 1, while Kevin and Sabrina each scored 1. Andy and Amanda each scored 1, giving the women a 6-4 win after Andy guessed his second to last ingredient wrong.

Reward/punishment: The women visited Opaque at the V Lounge in Santa Monica with Ramsay. The men made sorbet for tonight's service, took in a delivery of fruit, and cleaned the glasses for the sorbet. They were also served a smoothie made of leftover duck and risotto for lunch.

Service: Ariel served the sorbet tableside since the red team had an extra member, while the blue team had to have anyone who had spare time serve it. The men were able to complete their service with few flaws. Van served up a bland risotto but quickly fixed it, however, it was met with a mixed response in the dining room. Andy briefly confused the rest of the kitchen due to not communicating what tables were next, but Ramsay quickly got the men back on track. Additionally, Andy ran out of mashed potatoes for the last few remaining orders, but Dave was able to successfully cook up a new batch quickly despite his injured arm. The red team had several major problems during the service. Suzanne cooked her sea bass early, putting pressure on Sabrina to quickly get out the lamb, which ended up undercooked, and Ramsay temporarily removed Sabrina from the kitchen and forced her to eat the lamb. Amanda made too much tagliatelle but managed to recover. Later, Suzanne held up a table's orders too long due to delays in cooking the sea bass, and Ramsay forced them to redo the table after the sea bass crumbled. Close to the end of dinner service, Amanda jumped in to help Suzanne on the fish station, though when the halibut was undercooked, Suzanne pinned the blame on Amanda. Nevertheless, both teams completed their service and the blue team were declared the winners. Ramsay noted that the men won despite being one cook down and he especially singled out Dave for his performance.

Elimination: Tennille was named best of the worst and had to nominate two chefs for elimination. She immediately chose Suzanne, having formed a dislike of her and her lack of teamwork, something the rest of team agreed with. After deliberating between Sabrina and Amanda, Tenille chose Sabrina, but Ramsay also called down Amanda to step forward with the chosen nominees. In the end, he eliminated Amanda; Although both Sabrina and Suzanne made major errors in service, Ramsay felt Amanda was too polite and was a far weaker performer overall than the other two nominees.

Ramsay's comment: "Amanda was a sweet girl, but sweet girls don't make great head chefs."

Team challenge: Each team had 20 minutes to make four crêpes, one for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. Ramsay and Jean-Philippe decided which ones were the best. Ariel scored over Van in the breakfast round but Andy scored over Tenille in the lunch round. Both Kevin and Suzanne scored in the dinner round but the women won the challenge 3-2 after Sabrina's poached pears and chocolate ganache were deemed delicious while Dave's were so soggy, due to him struggling to properly make the crêpe, that Ramsay compared it to diarrhea and refused to taste it.

Reward/punishment: The women learned how to be mime artists, followed by dining at La Cachette Bistro in Santa Monica where they were served foie gras. The men prepared both kitchens for a French-themed service. They also ate cow tongue, stale baguettes and head cheese.

Service: Prior to the start of service, Andy accidentally sliced off his fingertips while using a mandoline to slice potatoes, requiring medical assistance, but he returned at the start of service. Suzanne made several errors, including undercooking and overcooking the lamb and cutting meat too early. Sabrina also underseasoned the risotto, forcing Ramsay to grab Dave's risotto for comparison, and she was reprimanded again for not seasoning the frog legs. When Ramsay caught Andy putting too much dressing in a truffle salad, Andy tried to reason that his fingers on his left hand were injured (as he used his left hand to accomplish most tasks), but Ramsay reminded him that Dave and Kevin have been injured for weeks and neither complained about it. Dave cooked several of Andy's appetizers in addition to his regular assignment on the meat station, leading Ramsay to praise him and jokingly tell him that he "cooked ten thousand times better with one hand". After Andy struggled to make the crêpes, Kevin helped him, but this in turn frustrated Ramsay who kicked Andy out of the kitchen for not doing any work. In the red kitchen, Suzanne overcooked an entire table's worth of lamb, leading Ramsay to kick her and Sabrina out. Ariel and Tennille completed the red team's service with help from sous chef Heather. Ramsay, however, refused to declare a winner since both teams were missing members at the end of the service. This was the first time Ramsay ejected chefs individually from the kitchen (except for those eliminated during service), which would be a much more frequent occurrence in later seasons.

Elimination: Each team had to provide a nominee for elimination, which turned out to be Suzanne and Andy. Ramsay sent Andy home for his inconsistent performances and numerous excuses for his issues but praised him for having a big heart and urged him to stop panicking. Sabrina was also called up-front and was told to step up.

Team change: Even though Ariel and Tennille vocally wanted Suzanne out of their team, Ramsay told her to take off her jacket and informed her she would be joining the men, starting next episode.

Ramsay's comment: "Andy has had good and bad moments in Hell's Kitchen. Unfortunately, most of them were bad."

Team challenge: Ramsay flew to Whistler overnight. Via a video connection, he gave a tour of the Araxi restaurant, and introduced this episode's challenge: each team had 2½ hours (the amount of time it would Ramsay take to fly back to Los Angeles) to prepare three entrees using 15 ingredients, all native to Canada, without repeating any. In the red kitchen, Tennille and Ariel worked on a dish they thought was lamb, but was actually venison, something Sabrina had realized but neglected to inform them about. Former Olympic Medalists Sasha Cohen and Jonny Moseley judge each entree. Kein scored both points on the salmon entree over Ariel, but Tennille scored both on the venison entree over Dave, despite misidentifying tension as lamb. After Van's grilled shrimp with braised kale scored over Sabrina's Lamb, the blue team won the contest 4-2.

Reward/punishment: The blue team went with Ramsay to the Campanile restaurant where chef Mark Peele shows them stylish versions of everyday dishes, including a grilled cheese sandwich. They also received a "souvenir" – a tuque with Whistler's logo emblazoned upon it. The red team had to go to a farm to do various chores including milking the cows and cleaning the pig pen.

Ramsay's comment: "Sabrina wanted to be the head chef in Whistler. Now all she has to do, is take those red lips and whistle on out of here."

The remaining six chefs woke up to gifts congratulating them on making it to the Final Six. The chefs revealed their black team chef jackets.

Team challenge: The chefs were arranged in pairs (Ariel and Van, Dave and Suzanne, and Kevin and Tennille) and had 30 minutes to recreate one of Ramsay's signature dishes based on taste alone, and Ramsay would judge the dishes. All three pairs correctly identified the turbot but missed the puree, which was white onion. Kevin and Tennille were disqualified immediately for failing to plate their calamari, while Dave and Suzanne won the challenge for being the only pair to correctly identify passion fruit sauce. Suzanne still annoyed her teammates by being smug about the win, and Dave was particularly uncomfortable about going on the reward with her.

Reward/punishment: Dave and Suzanne had lunch with Ramsay, cooked by Hell's Kitchen season 4 winner Christina Machamer at Ramsay's London West Hollywood restaurant. Suzanne asked Christina many questions, shooting down Dave's attempts to talk to Christina. The other chefs prepped the kitchen and dining room for a special "couples" dinner service.

Service: Kevin served salad and Porterhouse steaks table side. However, he was unable to actually serve the salads as Suzanne served two tortellini instead of three, and was then inconsistent on her timing for the refire, requiring Kevin to have to salad more than once. The kitchen only got further backed up when Ramsay noticed that Van was incessantly dropping beads of sweat into his scallop appetizers. Due to problems, appetizers eventually caught up with entrees while Van also under-cooked his halibut and Ariel burned her lettuce garnish. Ramsay, visibly losing his sanity, walked out of the kitchen with sous chef Scott, a first in the series. Tennille and Kevin took control of the kitchen. Ariel continued to struggle with staying in sync with the others, and Suzanne annoyed her teammates by refusing to plate dishes thinking she'd get the blame if they were poorly done. Ramsay returned to the kitchen to kick out Suzanne, Ariel and Van to the dorms, leaving Kevin, Dave and Tennille to finish the service themselves. Van became infuriated, and even though Ariel attempted to calm him down, Van walked out of the dorms. After Dave, Kevin and Tennille finished the service, Ramsay explained to them that they were not at fault for the worst service in his career, and asked them to nominate two of the other three chefs for elimination.

Elimination: Dave, Kevin, and Tennille quickly agreed on Suzanne as the first choice but were divided between Van and Ariel for the second. Dave wanted to nominate Ariel, hoping that this would increase the chance of Van, who Dave considered weaker, staying in the competition. When Tennille told Ramsay she thought Van should go up, this angered Dave as he felt betrayed by Tennille. Ramsay called the three nominees to step forward, and after each stated their case, Ramsay called Ariel down but sent her back in line. Ramsay eliminated Van for his back-to-back failures on the fish station, but told him he can cook, and that he should let the food do the talking instead of him.

Ramsay's comment: "Van may be a poissonier, but his performance on fish was anything but Van-tastic."

Challenge: For the first individual challenge, each chef had 45 minutes to cook an entree that not only tasted the best, but also was the most appealing to the eye. The editorial staff of Bon Appétit magazine judged the visual aspects, with the top two dishes judged by Ramsay and Bon Appétit editor in chief Barbara Fairchild for taste. Ariel's prosciutto-wrapped John Dory dish and Kevin's Caribbean Sea Bass made the top two and ended in a tie, with no consensus to as which was the best.

Reward/punishment: Kevin and Ariel joined Fairchild and Ramsay at the Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica for a photo shoot for a future issue of Bon Appétit and their entrees would be featured in that night's service. The others picked up litter off a stretch of road "adopted" by Hell's Kitchen, dressed up in jumpsuits, and transported on a prison bus. They also cleaned up the Hell's Kitchen complex as well and had aggravated Dave's broken arm, requiring him to wrap it in ice. Kevin, seeing this, tried to convince Dave to leave Hell's Kitchen, but Dave remained determined to stay until the end.

Service: The final five had a very rocky service. Tennille failed to notice that the rice she was using for her risotto was overcooked and, therefore, twice served overcooked risotto. After Ramsay saw that the rice was overcooked, Kevin confessed that he overcooked the rice in prep, and Ramsay berated him for his lack of standards. Luckily, Suzanne was able to find some properly cooked rice, which allowed the risotto to stay on the menu for the night. However, Suzanne burned scallops and undercooked Ariel's John Dory dish, and Ariel undercooked the chicken and poorly sliced lamb. Most tables in tonight's service were served incomplete with the final five struggling on their dishes in Ramsay's approval. Eventually, service was completed, but as Chef Ramsay expected this standard a long time ago, he merely said "Big deal."

Elimination: The team nominated Ariel and Suzanne for elimination for their many mistakes during service. Ramsay eliminated Suzanne, feeling that she was not only on a seemingly unsalvageable downward spiral, but as she had been up for elimination four times, had run out of chances, much to the relief of Tennille and the remaining chefs. Ramsay told Tennille she dodged a bullet as she deserved to be nominated.

Ramsay's comment: "Suzanne had a red jacket, she had a blue jacket, she had a black jacket. Now, she has no jacket."

Challenge: The chefs awakened and were greeted by Little Gordon, Ramsay's child version. After Little Gordon gave the contestants a brief show, the real Ramsay came in the dining room and gave them their next individual challenge. They had one hour to cook 80 portions of a vegetarian dish for 80. However, after the chefs had cooked their dishes, it was revealed that they'd be serving to children. Each of the children was served one portion of each contestants' dish. Tennille's stuffed eggplant was voted "yummiest" by 55% of the kids, making her the winner of the challenge. Dave's polenta tower with goat cheese and roasted peppers finished second in the challenge, Ariel's Vegetarian Lasagne finished in third, while 40% voted Kevin's Asian crepe with beet carpaccio as the "yuckiest".

Reward/punishment: Tennille was treated to a makeover in Beverly Hills and then went with Ramsay to Nobu in Los Angeles. She was treated to a sushi meal personally prepared by world renowned sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa. At the end of the meal, Chef Matsuhisa presented her with a brand-new set of authentic Japanese knives designed by Rokusaburo Michiba and manufactured by J.A. Henckels. Ariel, Dave, and Kevin cleaned up the mess left behind by the 80 children, which included scraping gum off the bottom of the tables.

Service: Kevin started off the service at the appetizers station, cooking delicious risotto. When Dave's wrist injury acted up once during service, Ramsay directed Dave to see a medic, though Dave assured him his wrist was fine. Tennille struggled badly in her scallops that did not make the mark and she burnt many of her fish. When the other chefs asked for cooking times, Tennille refused to respond, before eventually giving mixed signals. However, after getting blasted by Ramsay, she made a comeback and her subsequent cooking was perfect. Eventually, the service was completed "flawless".

Elimination: Just after service, Ramsay considered eliminating Dave because of his continuous pain, though Dave successfully pleaded his case that if he was to be eliminated, it was on his abilities as a chef and not on his injured wrist. Ramsay then told them he didn't want any nominations tonight, deciding to eliminate Tennille immediately for being the only chef to struggle during service. After Tennille broke down in tears, Ramsay continued to praise her during her farewell, calling her the biggest comeback this season, having previously told her no chef had ever cooked meat so well.^[12] The remaining chefs were likewise upset upon saying their farewells, in particular Ariel, who Tennille had been on a team with since the beginning.

The three remaining chefs went to the dorm rooms to relax and Ramsay called them downstairs for more business to attended to. After Dave's decision to stay, Ramsay surprised him with his fiancée and sister, followed by Ariel's fiancé and mother, and Kevin's wife and son so they could each spend time with their loved ones.

Challenge: The chefs had 45 minutes to cook a dish of randomly selected ethnicity.^[13] Each of their dishes were then judged by three chefs in their represented countries which include Eddie Wong, Thomas Ortega and Vikas Khanna. Ariel's dish received mixed response; while the flavors were felt to be decent, the sauce was too thin. Kevin did not receive any votes, having forgotten his sauce (similar to the challenge several weeks prior). Dave's dish immediately received criticism for serving pork, an animal largely considered taboo in large parts of India due to its Muslim population (something Dave had been aware of when preparing the dish), though was still felt to be the best. Dave won the challenge after receiving votes from all three chefs.

Reward/punishment: For the challenge reward, Dave joined his sister and fiancee for a lunch cooked by the judging panel, and he also won a complete set of Demeyere Cookware. Meanwhile, Ariel and Kevin polished numerous pieces of silverware and then prepared for the night's service.

Service: Each contestant took turns at the pass, in which they were tested on their leadership, as well as their ability to spot intentionally made mistakes introduced by sous chefs Scott and Heather. Kevin caught a sea bass instead of halibut but was bogged down by Ariel's lamb, and despite Ariel having warned Kevin that the lamb should not be separated from the bone, Kevin still had her prepare a new one. Dave's aggressive leadership was initially successful, but he missed spinach puree instead of asparagus puree in a risotto as well as a raw tuna, forcing Ramsay to pull him aside and tell him to improve. He later managed to spot weaknesses in the other dishes, earning praise from Ramsay. Ariel missed parsnip puree instead of mashed potatoes, but spotted salmon instead of sea bass. Despite her vocal leadership, Ariel was let down by Kevin on scallops, who had forgotten his orders and thus blamed her.

Elimination: Each chef nominated a person who they felt should not advance to the final service. Kevin and Ariel nominated each other and Dave decided to nominate Ariel. Ramsay selected firstly Dave, and then Kevin to advance to the final. However, as Ariel was saying her farewells, Ramsay told her to keep her jacket, as a token of her hard work and progression until that point. This was the first time an eliminated contestant had been allowed to keep their jacket (the first had officially been Ji, though she kept it as she was forced to withdraw from the competition).

Challenge: Dave and Kevin were taken by limo to the Bonaventure Hotel as the site of the final individual challenge. Dave and Kevin had 45 minutes to cook a dish "worthy of the Araxi" to be judged by five-person panel of chefs and gourmands. Dave made a venison dish while Kevin made a petite clam bake with lobster. Dave won the first two points, though Kevin rebounded, winning the next two. Dave won the final point, and thus the challenge 3-2.

Reward: Instead of prizes, Ramsay asked sous chef Scott for the "special deliveries" at the truck and opened the last six chefs eliminated from the competition, and Dave had first pick.^[14] Dave picked Ariel, Robert (who did return for the finale, unlike in Season 5 when he withdrew due to health), and Suzanne; Kevin picked Van and Amanda, and was left with Sabrina. Dave was in charge of the blue kitchen with Scott as sous chef, and Kevin had the red kitchen with Heather as sous chef.

Service: For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, Dave and Kevin did not redesign their own dining rooms, but they still created their own menus. Dave kept his menu simple, while Kevin had elaborate but time-consuming dishes. Each kitchen served 50 diners, including each preparing a meal for Araxi executive chef James Walt. Kevin's team was stalled by Amanda's raw and overcooked scallops. After her pan caught fire, Kevin had her and Van switch stations, with Van helping redo a risotto that was returned for being undercooked. Amanda overcooked a beef tenderloin on entrees, prompting Kevin to show her how to cook it correctly. Dave started off well, though there was some conflict with Robert over how many mushrooms to put in risottos, and Ariel often overcooked venison, which eventually led to Robert going over and helping her. Eventually, the two teams were neck-and-neck by the time dinner service ended. However, both teams finished the service strongly.

Winner: Ramsay determined the winner based on customer card's comments. He told Dave and Kevin to stand in front of two doors, with the winner's door opening. Dave's door opened, making him the sixth winner of Hell's Kitchen. Kevin took his defeat graciously.

Ramsay's comment: "Dave has a very natural ability and a very sophisticated palate. He fought through excruciating pain and excelled and went on to win Hell's Kitchen. He's gonna be an amazing asset to the Araxi Grill and Bar in Whistler and I'd like to wish him the best of luck, but honestly, I don't think he'll need it."

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Notes

References

External links

• {{official website|http://www.fox.com/hellskitchen}}
• Araxi Restaurant

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