Lewis Curtis was a contestant on Season 8 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 14th place.
Personality
Curtis was a nice guy, and could show a lot of emotion at some points. In the kitchen, he was struggling a lot during service, not even being able to make sushi.
Season 8
Episode 1
After James introduced himself, all the chefs put blindfolds on, and were taken to the prize restaurant, the LA Market, in Los Angeles. Then, they returned to Hell's Kitchen, and were asked to cook their signature dishes.
During the Signature Dish Challenge, Curtis was the third person from the blue team to have their dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Antonia. He made a lemon pepper chicken, but Ramsay called it shit. He scored no points, and neither did Antonia. Despite that, the blue team won after a tiebreaker, and were rewarded with massages, champagne, and caviar up in the dorms. Later that night, he saw Raj perform drunken karate moves and suggested that he should take it down and save his energy for service, while admitting that he thought Raj would have a heart attack.
During dinner service, Curtis was on the meat station. He was not seen much as the blue team did not make it passed entrées. Both teams lost the dinner service, and were asked to nominate two people each.
He was not nominated for elimination.
Episode 2
During the Sushi Challenge, Curtis was paired up with Trev. They had a difficult time making their sushi, and he referred to his sushi rolls as dookie rolls. Fortunately, the pair sat out of the judging as the blue team had an extra pair, and the team won the challenge 16-15. They were rewarded with a trip to Cellar 360 in San Francisco with Ramsay, got to taste wine, and ate dinner at the Water Bar restaurant. He also got to keep his Morimoto knife that was used in the challenge. During the reward, he thanked the team for winning despite his poor performance.
During dinner service, Curtis was on the sushi station. When he brought up his sushi rolls, Ramsay saw that he made three fat fucks and a minuscule piece, and that his plate was not properly clean. Due to his poor performance, Ramsay was forced to send out one incomplete table of appetizers to the dining room. Two hours later, he sent up poorly cut sushi pieces without wasabi, which caused an impatient Ramsay to kick him out of the kitchen. The blue team lost after they were all ejected from service, and when Ramsay asked him what happened during service, he said that there was no excuse for his poor performance.
Curtis was not nominated for elimination, but Ramsay decided to eliminate him as his poor performance on the sushi station was the reason why the blue team fell apart. During his exit interview, he was crying and apologized to his family because he did not reach what was expected of him.
Ramsay's comment: "Curtis might have been a good ol' boy, but unfortunately, he wasn't good at cooking."
Nomination history
| Week 1 | Safe |
|---|---|
| Week 2 | Eliminated |
Trivia
- He is the third contestant to be eliminated without nomination at the second episode of a season, following Sharon from Season 4, and Mikey from Season 7.
- After his appearance on the show, he went back to work at the Lulav before cooking at various cookery events such as Farm to Table dining, and launched his own catering company called "Chef Lewis and Chef Rob Catering".
Quotes
- (About Raj) "Just take it down a notch and let's put that energy towards your food!"
- (After being eliminated) "Words can't even describe how I feel right now. I mean... this experience meant so much to me, so much to my family. I'm sorry daddy didn't give his best, but I swear to God, I'm gonna make it up to you."