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Hell's Kitchen Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22


Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox between May 30 and August 1, 2005. Professional chef Michael Wray, from Fort Collins, Colorado, was the winner of that season, originally won his own restaurant named Tatou, in Los Angeles, and got the opportunity to learn under Ramsay at London, but declined because of family matters.

Contestants[]

12 contestants competed during this season. The contestants were (in alphabetical order):

Contestant Age Occupation Hometown
Andrew Bonito 24 Office Assistant Livingston, NJ
Jessica Cabo 26 Headhunter Huntington, NY
Jimmy Casey 25 Purchasing Supervisor Williston Park, NY
Mary Ellen Daniels 27 Bartender Belmont, MA
Jeffery Dewberry 33 Pastry Chef Stockbridge, GA
Jeff LaPoff 28 Finance Manager Orange, NJ
Wendy Liu 32 Account Manager Millburn, NJ
Chris North 35 Executive Chef Yorktown Heights, NY
Ralph Pagano 36 Professional Chef Livingston, NJ
Elsie Ramos 40 Mother of Six Maywood, NJ
Carolann Valentino 33 Server's Assistant Dallas, TX
Michael Wray 27 Professional Chef Fort Collins, CO

Contestant progress[]

At the end of each episode, one chef from the losing team is eliminated by Ramsay, after being picked by the "Best of the Worst", determined by Ramsay after the last dinner service.

# Chef Original
Teams
Team Switch Black Jackets Finals
101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110/111
1 Michael BoW WINNER
2 Ralph BoW NOM [1] BoW RUNNER-UP
3 Jessica BoW BoW NOM NOM [1] OUT [2]
4 Elsie BoW NOM OUT [3]
5 Jimmy OUT
6 Andrew NOM NOM OUT
7 Chris BoW OUT
8 Mary Ellen OUT
9 Wendy OUT
10 Jeff NOM LEFT
11 Dewberry NOM OUT
12 Carolann OUT
  1. 1.0 1.1 Chef was nominated by Ramsay.
  2. Chef was eliminated for having the lowest rated dish.
  3. Chef was nominated by Ramsay and eliminated.
Final Service Brigades
Michael Ralph
Jessica Andrew
Jimmy Wendy
Elsie Dewberry
   
Color Legend
NOM Regular Nomination Ramsay Nomination Voided Nomination
OUT Regular Elimination Ramsay Nomination Without Nomination
MISC Ejected during service Quit or Hospitalized Best of the Best/Worst


Episodes[]

Here is a list of all the episodes of the season, with links for the detailed articles.

# Image Title Airdate
01 Chefs together (thumbnail for E101) Episode 101 - Day 1 May 30, 2005
Episode Rundown: 12 new chefs and the staff were introduced, the teams were divided, and one chef is eliminated not even twelve hours after their arrival.
02 Team Challenge (Thumbnail 102) Episode 102 - Day 2 June 6, 2005
Episode Rundown: The first challenge, a fun reward, and a sweaty punishment took place, and an unusual delivery and physical assault happened during service.
03 Michael moving into the Red Team Episode 103 - Day 3 June 13, 2005
Episode Rundown: The first team switch occurred, one chef's attitude produced a shocking exit at dinner service, and one chef's luck ran out.
04 Screencap for Episode 4 Episode 104 - Day 4 June 20, 2005
Episode Rundown: The blue team won their first challenge, the red team accomplished a first during service, and the chefs learned that Ramsay was constantly watching them.
05 Screencap for Episode 5 Episode 105 - Day 5 June 27, 2005
Episode Rundown: The first theme night and double booking happened, as well as an unexpected elimination of the most experienced chef occurred.
06 Episode 106 Red vs. Blue Menu Episode 106 - Day 6 July 11, 2005
Episode Rundown: The first-ever Blind Taste Test happened, the first menu was created by the chefs occurred for dinner service, and a satisfying elimination of the most hated chef of the season occurred.
07 107 Screenshot Episode 107 - Day 7 July 11, 2005
Episode Rundown: The competition changed in a significant way before the challenge, and meltdowns by two people at dinner service occurred.
08 Season 1 Ep 8 Episode 108 - Day 8 July 18, 2005
Episode Rundown: Some backstabbing was involved, a total meltdown happened during service, and for the first time, nobody was safe from elimination.
09 Souffle rising (thumbnail) Episode 109 - Day 9 July 25, 2005
Episode Rundown: The three finalists had to make bread while sleepwalking, and saw their families for the first time since their arrival, not knowing their fates were in their hands.
10 Episode 10 thumbnail Episode 110/111 - Day 10 August 1, 2005
Episode Rundown: Ralph and Michael designed their own restaurants, chose their brigade for the final service, and one of them was declared the winner of Hell's Kitchen.

Trivia[]

  • This is the only season in the show’s history to not have a dinner service that ended with both teams losing. This kind of dinner service ending didn't occur until Season 2 Episode 4.
  • This season is tied with Season 7 for the fewest members of the blue team getting eliminated, with only 3.
  • This is the only season where Gordon Ramsay and Jean-Phillippe give confessionals during a challenge or dinner service.
  • Until Season 18, this was the only season to date where the teams were not separated by gender at the beginning. This will continue again in Season 21.
  • This season was filmed at the former Los Angeles FOX affiliate studio, KCOP-TV.
  • This is one of three seasons to have imbalanced gender positions as out of the 12 chefs that competed, 7 were male and 5 were female, the others being Seasons 4 and 6.
  • This is the only season where Gordon addresses the show's progress on camera to the viewers, rather than just a voice-over explaining eliminations.
    • This is also the only season to not have the coat hanger and burning picture sequence after the departure of contestants. Instead, it shows filtered footage of Gordon stabbing the chef's jacket through a hook under their picture and then showing a zoom in of the chef's name on the jacket before the "Next Time" preview roll.
  • This is the only season which featured the contestant build their own menus before finals, and based on the vote of the customers (in this case, each contestant's family member) on that night would be decided the contestant's fate on the competition.
  • This is the only season where the episode titles were named after days elapsed.
  • As this was the first season, a couple of staples were introduced for the series, such as:
    • The first-ever Signature Dish Challenge in Episode 1.
    • The first-ever team switch which occurred with Michael in Episode 3.
    • The first-ever withdrawal and quitting with Jeff in Episode 3.
    • The first-ever Blind Taste Test in Episode 6.
    • The first-ever Running the Pass challenge in Episode 10, although this is the only season to featured the test during finals, as the rest of the season, the test was moved before finals during dinner service, and being as one of the aspects that would be decided the contestant's fate on the competition.
  • Future reappearances:
    • Michael would return a couple of times such as Season 3, where he was a guest judge at the final challenge, and Season 5, where he and the three other winners greeted the winner. He also made a cameo at the Season 6 finale.
    • Ralph returned by a phone call on Season 10, to give some encourage to one contestant of that season, Royce, as Ralph is his boss at the time.
  • This is the only season to this date where 5 out of the 12 contestants had non-culinary jobs.
  • This is the first season when a contestant won without being nominated for elimination.
Hell's Kitchen (U.S. TV series)
Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7Season 8Season 9Season 10Season 11Season 12Season 13Season 14Season 15Season 16Season 17: All-StarsSeason 18: Rookies vs. VeteransSeason 19: Las VegasSeason 20: Young GunsSeason 21: Battle of the AgesSeason 22: The American Dream
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