Lacey D'Angelo was a contestant on Season 5 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 9th place.
Personality
Lacey was the main antagonist of season 5. She was a very lazy and whiny team player. She often walked out of prep and punishments to camp up in the dorms. She also threatened to quit multiple times, and had to be persuaded back by her teammates. As a result, that turned the red team against her, and eventually the blue team when she was transferred, particularly Robert, who said he would become a crack whore if she would win.
Season 5
Episode 1
During the Signature Dish Challenge, Lacey was the fifth person to have her dish judged by Ramsay. She made a chicken and blackberries dish, and Ramsey called the dish "Definitely corporate" and saying whoever would eat the dish would straight after vomit. According to her, that dish was not her on a plate, and hoped that Ramsey would hold on to her and give her a chance to stick around, saying that she "can definitely do a whole lot better."
During prep, Lacey's attitude already started to piss off her teammates when she stated she did not want to be on a station until she knew where everyone else was, and her constant complaints while prepping did not help. She then left during the middle of prep and went back up to the dorms, declaring she was quitting, which angered her team even more. She did eventually decide to return, but she already made a bad impression on her team. When the teams were lined up, the women revealed their new team name, which was "Team Saffron". It was eventually changed to "Spice Racks" after a request from Colleen. Five minutes before service, Coi asked her to help with the soufflés, but they got into an argument over her choice of leaving for most of the red team’s prep. Ramsay saw this and defused the argument.
During dinner service, Lacey was on the fish station. Her first order of scallops came out raw, and Ramsay informed her that her gas was not on. The red team eventually won the dinner service because of Carol's strong performance as a waitress.
Episode 2
Back in the dorms, Coi tried to apologize for their argument, but Lacey argued that she lacked the experience her team had. While she admitted that she might be the weakest red chef, she did not want to quit.
During the Scallop Cleaning Service, Lacey only got three of her six scallops accepted. When Ramsay judged her batch, she showed an expression of shock when he revealed she sliced one of her scallop three times, leading Ramsay to mimicking her facial expression. Her team lost 35-36, and the punishment was to prepare a raw bar for the next dinner service. She was dejected by their loss and cried in her bed. Ji tried to comfort her and urged her not to give up, but she still felt that she was not cut out for the competition, despite Paula being the worst performer during that challenge. When the red team was getting ready for punishment, she did not want to go as she claimed she was not feeling well, which infuriated Carol who chewed her out for her attitude. Six hours into the punishment, she decided to come downstairs and help, but by that time, the red team were disgusted by her attitude and wanted her gone.
The next day, Lacey decided to better her attitude for her team. During dinner service, she was on the meat station with Coi. At one point, Ramsay called her over to show Colleen how to properly cook scallops. After Colleen's failures on the fish station, Ramsay reassigned her to the fish station. Her team eventually lost service. Despite helping Colleen that night, Carol still wanted her gone as she felt Lacey was not fit to run a kitchen due to not helping out during the last punishment.
Lacey was the second nominee from the red team, with Colleen being the first. She survived elimination after Ji announced that she wishes to quit, but she did give Ji an emotional standing ovation, along with her teammates and the blue team.
Episode 3
Back in the dorms, Andrea confronted Lacey, saying that she got lucky that night and that she better prove herself, but she argued back, saying that Andrea just turned on her bitch switch. However, the rest of the red team agreed with Andrea and confronted her, asking if she was actually serious about being here, but she told them all to shut the fuck up.
During the Meat & Cow Challenge, Lacey was the second person to attempt the cow part of the challenge, but scored six incorrect answers. Her team lost the challenge and their punishment was to carry two large sides of beef and eat cow offal. She got exhausted after carrying the first beef side and vomited while eating the offal.
During the Steakhouse double dinner service, the red team were assigned as waitresses for the first seating. Lacey came to the pass with one of her tables' salad for having anchovies in it. However, Ramsay reminded her that she wrote it on the ticket and called her “Britney Spears” and a “jumped up bitch” when she was about to cry. Later on, Jean-Philippe told her that she forgot to send one of her tables' ticket over. She then whined about never waiting tables before, but Jean-Philippe mocked her whining and sent her over to Ramsay. When Ramsay found out about it, he angrily shewed her away. During the second seating, she was on the dessert station. She was not seen much during that seating, but expressed annoyance when Colleen could not repeat an order back. Her team won the dinner service, but she was named the worst waitress from the red team based on the customer comment cards.
Episode 4
The red team won the Football Team & Cheerleaders Breakfast Service Challenge, and were rewarded with a camping experience at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
During dinner service, Lacey was on the appetizer station with Coi. She was not seen much during that service, which both teams lost.
Despite having a decent service, Lacey was the second nominee of the red team, with Colleen being the first, and joined Seth and Ben from the blue team. She survived elimination, and was transferred to the blue team, much to their dismay and the red team's relief.
Episode 5
Now on the blue team, Lacey told her new teammates that she would not cry at all, while feeling that the red team was ganging up on her, but Ben and Robert were doubtful.
During the Asian Fusion Challenge, Lacey was paired with Ben on the seafood dish. Their teamwork was rough as she thought Ben's instructions were annoying. Their dish was pan seared scallops with a sea urchin and caviar berblanc sauce, but it was deemed too salty. They lost the round, and eventually the challenge 1-2. They were punished by making fortune cookies and fold origami for the next service. Distraught by their loss, she wanted to quit the competition, which pissed Giovanni, who told her that even Seth never quit before. Then, Ben gave her a pep talk, urged her to have some more motivation to do well, and that the blue team needed her, though she thought he was lying to her. While she did annoy her team when they were making the fortune cookies, she helped them out with the origami folding, which got her in good grace with them. When an inebriated red team came back from their reward, she reassured the blue team that one of the red chefs would be leaving after the next service.
During dinner service, Lacey was on the garnish station with Ben. She was very vocal and led her team through appetizers, which Giovanni believed was motivation to beat the red team. Both teams lost, and Giovanni was named "Best of the Worst" for the blue team.
Lacey was not nominated for elimination as Giovanni acknowledged she did a great performance.
Episode 6
Before the next challenge, Ramsay told Lacey that she was starting to shine after the last service, and told her not to stop. She was not seen much during the Bar Mitzvah Planning Challenge, but her team won 2-1 and were rewarded with a spa day at the Skin Haven spa. During the reward, Ben told her that she really deserved the reward based on Ramsay’s comments, and she said she was having more fun with the blue team than she ever did with the red team. When she noticed the tension in the red team, she realized that without her, the red team were starting to turn on each other.
During the Bar Mitzvah dinner service, Lacey was on the meat station with Danny. When she brought up her brisket, Ramsay told her it was stone cold, and she started to panic as Ramsay kept asking her where the beef was. Despite her minor problems, the blue team won the service.
Episode 7
Before the Tapas Leftover Challenge, Lacey and the blue team said goodbye to Giovanni, who has just been transferred to the red team. During the challenge, she made a mushroom bruschetta with balsamic vinegar that had undercooked leeks, which Ramsay could not break apart. She did not score any point for the blue team, which eventually lost the challenge 2-3. They had to prep both kitchens for that night's service and polish the tapa plates.
During the punishment, she did not do a lot of work, while complaining about the amount of it they had to do. When the tapa plates arrived, she continued to annoy her teammates with questions, and her mistakes during prep finally angered Robert who called her out for her attitude and wanted her gone. Then, she threatened to quit if she would fight with anyone else, but J called her out on her decision, telling if she wanted to go, she could, and she left the blue kitchen to the dorms. Ben, despite losing his patience with her, came up and convinced her to stay since they needed her help, despite her knowing that he said the same thing to her before.
During dinner service, Lacey was on the garnish station. She was not seen much during that service, except at one point, where she acknowledged J's mistake of overcooking the rice was not a good way to start the evening, before the latter's automatic elimination. After that, she moved on to desserts for a few moments, before returning on garnishes. The blue team lost the service, and each member was asked to nominate one teammate for elimination. Back in the dorms, she got angry by Robert's criticisms of her attitude.
Lacey nominated Robert, and she received votes from all three of her teammates. She was called down by Ramsay, along with Ben, but she survived elimination as J has already been eliminated earlier.
Episode 8
Back in the dorms, Lacey was confronted by LA about the fact that she was only lucky Ramsay did not care about what happened in the dorms, and LA questioned her about if she was really serious about being in the competition and becoming a head chef. She argued she was serious, but Robert told her that she should be learning from people with more experience like himself instead of fighting with them like she did with the red team. However, by that point, she felt that everyone has turned on her.
During the Blind Taste Test, Lacey was the third person on the blue team to participate, and only scored one point out of four. Her team lost the challenge 7-8, and was forced to serve lunch to the red team and prep both kitchens for that night’s dinner service. During the punishment, her negative attitude angered Ben and Danny, who wanted her gone.
During dinner service, Lacey was on the meat station. She had a complete meltdown as she admitted about having no knowledge whatsoever on cooking meat. She told Ramsay that she had no times on her meat to be ready, and could not figure out which one of her Wellingtons was a well-done one, despite Danny and Ben offering to help. Despite getting a wake up call in the pantry room, she sent up poorly cut lamb to the pass, and a fed up Ramsay eliminated her on-the-spot. When she came back in the kitchen to say goodbye to her team, the three men were not really responsive as they felt she was more of an annoyance than a help. While packing her stuff, she finally realized that her poor attitude turned everyone against her, and that she failed to uphold the promise she made to her mother, which was to not make enemies. Ramsay gave no comment on Lacey's elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.
Episode 14/15
During the season recap, Lacey received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence for the first time since her elimination.
Lacey came back for the last dinner service of the season because Robert was unable to. When she came back into the kitchen, Ramsay reminded her how she got eliminated in the middle of the eighth service. She was Paula's last pick, following Andrea and LA, and the last pick overall.
Back in the dorms, Paula, along with Andrea and LA, expressed concern that Lacey would exhibit the same poor attitude as she did before. While she promised her team she would try and behave, she was secretly upset by the fact that her team did not trust her. During prep, Paula gave her instructions on how to make the crème brulée, but managed to curdle the initial batch.
During dinner service, Lacey was on the appetizer and garnish stations. Her first scallop salad had overcooked scallops because of Andrea, but Ramsay chewed her out for trying to hide it from Paula. When she was on the garnish station, she got confused on orders for the garnishes and accused Paula of creating a menu too complicated for her to follow. Then, Ramsay told her to speed up, but she went back to her poor attitude, which led to her giving up until Paula sent LA over to help her out. When everyone called her for the spinach, it annoyed her and she said she had enough of getting yelled at. Paula eventually lost the finals to Danny.
Nomination history
| Week 1 | Win |
|---|---|
| Week 2 | Nominated |
| Week 3 | Win |
| Week 4 | Nominated |
| Week 5 | Safe |
| Week 6 | Win |
| Week 7 | Nominated |
| Week 8 | Eliminated |
Trivia
- She is the third contestant to be eliminated during service, the second in a row after J the previous night, the first to have switched teams to be so, and the first woman to be so.
- She is the second contestant who switched teams without making it to the black jackets, following Melissa from Season 3.
- After her appearance on the show, she became a cake baker, and after that, a Jamberry nails representative.
Quotes
- "I quit!"
- (To Andrea) "You just turned on your bitch switch!"
- "I can't cook meat, chef!"
- "I don't know, chef!"
- "I know when these episodes air I'm going to look like some dumb bitch. But I am not a bitch."
- "I'm so sick of stupid bitches."
- "What did you want me to do? Lie to him! Fuck it! I didn't know. I didn't lie to him."
- (About Ramsay) "Every thirty seconds, madam where is this dududu? Like shut up, so I can probably get you your well done Wellington."