Rachel Brown was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 7th place. On May 9, 2007, she committed suicide at her home in Texas, by gunshot.
Personality
Rachel was the most hard-working chef of that season. She had one of the most likable personalities, and was very honest. She was the first to admit her mistakes when she made some, even to the point that she nominated herself for elimination. She developed a strong friendship with Heather, and had a running feud with Sara.
Season 2
Episode 1
Rachel served butterfly shrimps with chocolate sauce as her signature dish. It received mixed reviews as Ramsay called it weird, the shrimps were cooked beautifully but were spoiled by the chocolate sauce which was far too much. After the challenge, she was placed in the red team because Ramsay declared that for the first time ever, the teams are divided by gender, men in the blue team, women in the red team.
Before service, Rachel volunteered to be the kitchen donkey, but Heather was eventually chosen over her. During dinner service, she was on the fish station. She helped Polly on appetizers for her first ticket. Apart from this, she was unnoticed during that service, which Ramsay shut down the service after some customers shouted "I want my food!" all over the dining room. The red team lost the dinner service, and Heather was named "Best of the Worst".
She was not nominated for elimination.
Episode 2
After a brutal wake up call where the Sous Chefs were playing cowbells, the contestants were asked to get outside immediately. All the contestants had to get in the dumpsters to collect the trash from the last service. During the Steak Challenge, Rachel gave one of the best individual performances of the red team, by scoring three acceptable steaks. Her team won the challenge 12-11, and was rewarded with a helicopter ride to have lunch at The Saddle Peak Lodge with Ramsay.
The next morning, after a phone call from a hospitalized Larry, she learned, along with the other contestants, that he would not return to the competition.
During dinner service, Rachel was on the garnish station. She was not very noticed during that service as she did not make the most mistakes. After three hours, despite the red team rallying to get the main courses out, Ramsay made her and her team stand in front of the pass to have a look in the dining room. When almost every customer left, Ramsay shut down both kitchens. Her team won the dinner service.
Episode 3
After Gabe's unexpected elimination, Rachel acknowledged that there is nobody who is really safe at elimination.
During the Relay Challenge, Rachel was the second of her team to go. Virginia successfully communicated all the information that she would need to continue, and started making the sauce for the salmon. During her second 15 seconds relay, she failed to tell Maribel the third dish, which was tortellinis. The red team won the challenge 2-1, and was awarded a day on a yacht with Ramsay.
During dinner service, Rachel was on the dessert station. She was very unnoticed during that service, except at one point where she was helping Maribel on the meat station. Her team won the dinner service for serving more main courses than the blue team.
Episode 4
Back in the dorms, Tom went on the patio and talked with Rachel and Heather about how he did not care because he felt it was only a game. She told him that she and Heather were born to do this.
The next morning, Ramsay noticed that Rachel was emerging as a leader on the red team, along with Sara and Heather. After that, she said goodbye to Heather, who was transferred to the blue team. After a trip to Los Angeles where the contestants went to Pink's Hot Dogs, they got back at the restaurant to prep the kitchen for the first lunch service of Hell's Kitchen. Sara felt that Rachel would crumble after Heather's departure.
During the Lunch Service Challenge, Rachel went on a power struggle with Sara as both of them wanted to take the reins of the red team. When she saw Sara was struggling on the pizza station, she came and helped her, but it was not appreciated by her, and was accused to send square pizzas by her. She noticed that Sara should have asked for help if she needed some. Despite this, the red team completed their orders, and celebrated along with the children in the dining room. However, they lost the challenge as their food was rated 9,84 out of 10, compared to the blue team's 9,85. They were punished by cleaning the dining room, where the children left a big mess. During the punishment, she was annoyed by Sara's childish behavior, as she felt she busted her ass to get her team to win, and that Sara did not care that they lost. So, both of them became rivals. She also mimicked a chocking gesture to the neck with her pencil when Sous Chef Maryann smashed a cake to the ground for them to eat.
During prep, the red kitchen was too silent because of the animosity between her and Sara. The red team also had to get ice because the ice machine of the restaurant was broken, as the second part of their punishment.
During dinner service, Rachel was on the appetizer station. She did not communicate well with Sara when she was about to plate her first appetizer. Sara did not understood her on her first three calls. After that, she sent stiff risottos to the pass, and Ramsay asked her to start again. When he asked her if it was because Heather was gone, she answered that it was not. On her second attempt, she got from an extreme to the other by sending a risotto with too much liquid, which he compared to a soup. She acknowledged her mistake and declared Ramsay would have a great opportunity to get rid of her because of it. After 45 minutes, she only served 6 tables of appetizers. Much later, her and Virginia sent quail dishes with the bones still on them. She said to Ramsay she has to get used to his procedures. Ramsay schooled her about that comment, and delegated her to get some ice for the restaurant at the supermarket. When she arrived there, she realized she forgot money to buy it. So, she got on her knees and begged the man in front of her to pay for her, which he accepted. On her way back, she fell to the ground and ripped one of her bags. After that, she arrived at Hell's Kitchen, poured the ice into the machine, and came back to the kitchen, stating that she busted her ass. When Ramsay noticed that the Wellingtons were covered all night with egg whites instead of egg yolks, she acknowledged the mistake, but did not seem to care about it, like if it was not important. That was the final straw for Ramsay, and he pulled the red team off telling "Fuck the lot of you!". Ramsay declared both teams losers, and told them to nominate one member each for elimination, before kicking both teams out of the kitchen.
Rachel was not nominated for elimination, but agreed when Ramsay told her it was her worst performance since her arrival. When he asked her if she was happy about it, she said she was not and volunteered to take Virginia's place on the chopping block, an offer Ramsay considered tempting. She survived elimination.
Episode 5
Back in the dorms, Rachel felt Ramsay had some choice words for her after her worst performance since her arrival, and felt he expected more of her because she has a lot to give.
The next morning, Rachel tasted some fine-dining dishes, which included caviar, cheese fondue, pâté, and chicken kebab. After a few minutes, Ramsay revealed that all those dishes were fake, and introduced the Blind Taste Test. During the challenge, she was forced to sit out to even the teams at 3 members each. Her team won the challenge 7-6, and were rewarded with a photo shoot for TV Guide. During the reward, Sara "blew gases" in direction of Ramsay, and Rachel thought that was really immature and that it just showed her true personality. When she came back from her reward, she talked to Heather about the power struggle in the red team because of her feud with Sara.
During prep, the red team was very confident, and did not seem to have much animosity in the air.
During dinner service, Rachel was on the meat station. On the first ticket, she already burned her duck and her pan was on fire. On one of her next orders, she sent overcooked quail, and Ramsay pulled all the team aside to taste it. After she declared it was a little overcooked, Ramsay tried to humiliate her by giving her glasses from a customer that Jean-Philippe brought to the kitchen. When Ramsay asked her if she really thought he was going to send that quail in the dining room, she got confused and did not know what to answer, and Ramsay pulled her back in the pantry room and asked her if she wanted to go home. After telling him that she will not let him down, and Ramsay telling her she already had, she got back in the kitchen ready to fight back. Two hours into service, her night continued to go down in flames when she sent rare Wellingtons requested medium. She was ashamed of that mistake and apologized to Ramsay, and when she told him she was afraid of telling him the correct time, he answered by telling her he was not scared to tell the truth, and concluded by saying he was nervous for her, which she responded she was too. An hour later, she overcooked some Wellingtons requested medium, and tried to hide the mistake by covering them with some sauce. However, Ramsay not being a fool, he could tell her Wellingtons were well done by touching it. That was the last straw for Ramsay, and he shut down both kitchens because of that mistake. Her team lost the dinner service, and Virginia was named "Best of the Worst".
Rachel was Virginia's first nominee for elimination, with Maribel being the second. She was eliminated for being the worst performer of the night, and completely screwing up her team. Before she left, Ramsay praised her hard work, and she received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview.
Ramsay's comment: "Rachel clearly couldn't handle it. She buckled, panicked, and actually screwed the kitchen completely. You've got no chance of running a successful business, if you can't handle one section."
Episode 10
When she returned for the last dinner service of the season, Rachel opened the door leading to the dorms, and was the first one to enter. She and Heather hugged each other for a very long time, as both of them have missed each other. She said she was really happy to see Heather in the finals, while saying that Virginia was a big surprise. During the selection, she was Heather's first pick, followed by Sara and Garrett. When Heather briefed her team, she reminded her feud with Sara, but would not let that get in the way of Heather's victory.
During prep, Rachel seemed very focus on the service coming up and to work well with Sara. During dinner service, she was on the meat station. An hour into service, many customers received their entrées, but at one point, she sent undercooked Wellingtons to the pass, which Heather told her to refire. When she sent it for the second time, they were perfectly cooked, and the president of the Red Rock Resort & Spa enjoyed his dish. Near the end of service, she was pushing desserts out of the kitchen, along with Sara and Garrett, and the team completed service.
When the teams were lined up, Ramsay congratulated and gave them a big round of applause. Before Heather left to the dorms, Rachel gave her a big hug. Heather eventually won the finals over Virginia, making her extremely proud.
Nomination history
| Week 1 | Safe |
|---|---|
| Week 2 | Win |
| Week 3 | Win |
| Week 4 | Nominated |
| Week 5 | Nominated |
Trivia
- She is the first contestant ever to receive a retrospective montage of her run without making it to the black jackets.
- She is the first contestant ever to nominate herself for elimination.
Quotes
- "I'm proud to be a redneck."
- "That man will not break me!"
- (To herself) "Rachel...you...are...pitiful! Rachel, you suck!"