Melinda Meaney was a contestant on Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 16th place.
Personality
Melinda was shown to be very flirtatious, especially at the Signature Dish Challenge, or to have no clue of what was going on at the moment. In the kitchen, she could be seen opening her eyes very widely, endlessly. She was very lunatic, as she trashed undercooked pasta which could still be cooked.
Season 6
Episode 1
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. Melinda was the fifth person of the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, and went up against Jim. She served a poached lobster tail with Portabella mushrooms, and started to be very flirtatious, but Ramsay could not find the lobster tail. When Ramsay asked where the lobster tail, she claimed she had some challenges during the cooking process, so Ramsay found it absolutely fucking pathetic, and trashed her dish. She lost the round to Jim, and eventually the challenge 2-3.
The red team was punished by cleaning both kitchens ahead of the opening service the following night. After their punishment, the women came up to the dorms and found their uniforms, knives, and cookbooks, which they had to learn by heart. The next morning, during prep, the women were already going full steam ahead and were confident as they studied the menu the previous night and rested.
During dinner service, Melinda was on the appetizer station with Lovely. Both of them were so inconsistent that they had to redo a cappelini dish of the first table eight times. On the eighth time, she was asked by Tennille if the pasta was cooked, which she answered it was, but Ramsay declared it was still undercooked. Despite that, she mistakenly tossed it in the trash anyway, which upset Ramsay as he meant for her to just put it back on the stove and cook it a little bit more. Then, Ramsay found out she trashed a lot of pasta since the beginning of the night, and started to take all of it out, while angrily asking her how much did she trashed, but she was too shocked to give an answer, keeping her eyes widely open. Ramsay said that she was making him fucking mad, and Tennille called her stupid.
After Ramsay shut down both kitchens, the teams cleared down and Melinda was still having her huge stare. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay warned her that she was running out of time in the competition. The red team was declared losers, and were asked to nominate two people for elimination. Back in the dorms, she was immediately targeted by Suzanne for lacking the passion and the knowledge, but she declared she was not done with Hell's Kitchen yet. In the end, the red team deliberated over her, Amanda, and Lovely.
Melinda was the red team's first nominee, with Amanda being the second. She was eliminated for being the worst performer of the night, the main reason why her team lost, and her lack of desire to be in the competition.
Ramsay's comment: "Melinda was completely lost in space, so I sent her back to whatever planet she came from."
Nomination history
| Week 1 | Nominated |
|---|
Trivia
- After her appearance on the show, she returned to her previous career as a private chef.
Quotes
- "My dish, that's very rich and succulent, that's luscious and velvety! You can just feel what's happening in your mouth, and satisfaction that comes."
- "I'm not done with Hell's Kitchen yet!"