Tom Pauley

“

He's lucky that I've signed a thing saying I wouldn't touch anybody here.

”

Hometown	Belleville, NJ
Occupation	Former Stockbroker
Statistics
Challenges Won	1
Services Won	1
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	3
Placement	8th
Episode Eliminated	8 Chefs

Thomas "Tom" Pauley (December 31, 1962 - July 1, 2023) was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 8th place.

Season 2

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 201 - 12 Chefs

The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen on a bus and were greeted by Jean-Philippe. They celebrated with some champagne glasses, got to know each other, and had a first look at the restaurant. Afterwards, Ramsay walked through the hallway, opened the dining room doors, and greeted the contestants by introducing himself and announcing that only one of them would win the competition. The only way that person would win though was to impress him, and he asked all of them to cook their signature dishes.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Tom could not find a corkscrew to open his wine bottle, so he was forced to open it with a knife. However, the strikes against the wine bottle broke it, and he admitted that it looked a lot easier in the movies. He was the sixth person to have his dish judged by Ramsay, but when the latter lifted his dome, he became fearful. However, he stepped forward, Ramsay saw that he was sweating, and he called himself a schweatzer. He made shrimp scampi with cooked Caesar salad, but that shocked Ramsay as he was never served a cooked Caesar salad before in his life. Finding the concept disgusting, Ramsay took the Caesar salad off the plate and into his hands before spitting out the shrimp. However, he claimed he could handle the criticisms, and if Ramsay did not care, he would not have broken his chops. After the challenge, he was placed in the blue team because Ramsay declared that for the first time ever, the teams were divided by gender, men in the blue team and women in the red team. He was the only one who applauded that decision and claimed he did not have to check on anybody and could not ask for a better situation.

During prep, Tom knew that the men wanted to get out before the women. Still, he was sweating in the food, and Ramsay warned him that they were in danger of getting closed before even opening and told him to start over. He did so and put a headscarf on to contain the sweat. However, his mishap caused the blue team to finish prep hours after the red team completed theirs.

During dinner service, Tom was at the appetizer station. Before the first ticket arrived, Ramsay reminded him not to sweat in the food and warned him that he did not care if he did the first order himself. Later, he sent up raw scallops, and Ramsay told him to start the table again and move his ass. However, he felt he was lost in the woods. An hour later, he got his refire accepted, and appetizers were leaving the blue kitchen, making him feel he did well despite a slow start. After Ramsay had dealt with an angry customer about a pumpkin risotto, a fire erupted on his stove. He tried to put it out by blowing on it but was unsuccessful. Eventually, he was saved by Gabe, who turned the gas off for him. Minutes later, he failed to notice his stove was still off due to the fire incident, and he was slow to communicate with Ramsay about it. Ramsay told him to think with his head next time. After three hours with barely any food sent and the customers shouting, "I want my food!", Ramsay shut down both kitchens. The blue team won the dinner service.

Tom thought Ramsay was pointing him out at elimination due to his performance on the appetizers. But he thought if he could pull it together, Ramsay might be rooting for him to win.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 202 - 11 Chefs

The following day, after only two hours of sleep, the contestants were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann playing cowbells at 5:24 AM. They were told to go outside immediately. Once outside at the loading area, Ramsay recalled how the previous service was embarrassing. Afterwards, Ramsay wanted them to know how much food they wasted last night as a restaurant would never survive with a lot of waste. To get his point across, Ramsay ordered the chefs to jump into the dumpsters and pull out all the garbage from last night. During the task, Tom called it humiliating. After that, Ramsay told the contestants that he did not want another large amount of waste in the competition ever again, and he knew that Hell’s Kitchen was fair game before being grateful that the former did not force them to eat the trash. Now that the chefs understood the lesson, Ramsay ordered them to clean up because they stunk.

During the Perfect Steak Cut Challenge, Tom was the final person from the blue team to have his attempt judged and hoped to have made enough for his team. When he looked at his pile, he thought the steaks were not bad. As his steaks were accepted by Ramsay, Maribel became fearful. In the end, he had five steaks accepted, but it was not enough, and the blue team lost the challenge 11-12. Despite that, his performance was praised by Ramsay. When he heard the women's reward, he arrogantly said big deal as he wanted to become an Executive Chef, not be on vacation. The blue team was punished by cutting all the steaks for the next dinner service, as a steak special would be featured. During the punishment, he wanted to sweep the floor with the women.

The following day, everybody noticed that Larry was missing, and Tom asked if anybody saw them. Neither Gabe, Heather, nor Virginia could find him, but Rachel was not happy when he started to trash talk Larry.

During dinner service, Tom was at the meat station. When Ramsay called the first ticket, he asked him to repeat the order, which Ramsay refused, and was told to read the ticket himself. An hour into service, he had a communication breakdown with Giacomo, who was on garnish. His duck and chicken were ready, but he could not send them up due to Giacomo's problems. Three hours into service, Ramsay made him and his 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. The blue team lost the dinner service, and Garrett was named "Best of the Worst". During deliberation, he asked Giacomo about the fried cabbage, but the latter argued that it happened based on poor communication. However, he accused Giacomo of screwing him up, while the latter did not want to be the target like he had been his entire life. When he insultingly told Giacomo to get a haircut, the latter felt the former was doing everything to stay as nobody wanted to leave.

Tom was Garrett's second nominee for elimination, with Giacomo being the first. During his plea, Ramsay asked him how many entrées he served that night, but he answered zero because of a lack of coordination. He promised he would never let that happen again. Ramsay believed him by sending him back in line, therefore surviving elimination.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 203 - 9 Chefs

Back in the dorms, Giacomo asked Tom how it felt to have Ramsay send him back in line, and he said he was relieved and felt Ramsay would love to see him win as he was the oldest. The following day, he answered Ramsay on the phone and told everybody to get in the dining room immediately.

Tom was the first to go for his team during the Relay Challenge. He received information about the three dishes of the challenge: chicken, tortellini and salmon. He found pre-made tortellini to cook with, but Ramsay caught him trying to use the pre-made tortellini and reminded him that the kitchen was stocked on items to make fresh ones. He successfully communicated all the information that Giacomo would need to continue. When the challenge ended, he was confident as the red team only had two dishes instead of three. However, during Ramsay's critiques, he tried to interject because he wanted to say something, but Ramsay told him to stand up straight as he was lying on the counter like a big fat slob. He retorted that nobody would want to get in a street fight with him and felt Ramsay was lucky he signed a contract stating he would never touch anybody on the show.

The blue team lost the challenge 1-2, and they were punished by participating in Laundry Day. During the punishment, he felt the women should have lost the challenge instead as, despite trying not to be sexist, women were better at laundry than men. Later, the men jokingly asked him to show them how to wash by hand, but he told them off as he refused to wash by hand

During dinner service, Tom was at the fish station. At one point, Keith asked him to get some tomato sauce, but after Garrett took a batch of tomato sauce on the garnish station, Keith told him to do not mind anymore. Despite that, he continued making it, stating he had already started. When Ramsay asked him what he was doing as they already had tomato sauce, he said Keith told him to, but the latter said he had it. He was furious at Keith and accused him of throwing him under the bus. Later, Ramsay made him switch to the garnish station because of Giacomo's lie to Ramsay, but he burned his hand while grabbing a pan, acting like if it was torturing him. Keith looked at his hand, but was unsympathetic, saying he should take it like a man and move on. He accused Keith of burying him when he reminded him about the sauce incident, leading the latter to say he could not take it anymore. As he was still complaining about his burned hand, Ramsay asked him to show it, but saw nothing and told him that he did not need a drama queen as he was forty-three years old. However, he still claimed that his hand hurt and that he would puke. Minutes later, he ran out of mashed potatoes, discouraging Ramsay. When Ramsay asked him what he was doing, he looked confused and was accused of giving up. Keith told Ramsay that they made more mashed potatoes during prep, but believed he burned them, which he revealed to be the truth. When he declared he was trying to make an ass out of himself, Ramsay congratulated him by saying he successfully did. After many frustrations in both kitchens, Ramsay decided to shut down the restaurant.

The blue team lost the service, Ramsay only wished that Tom would cook more, and they were tasked to nominate one person each for elimination. During deliberation, he refused to lobby for his place to stay as he felt it was the same as quitting, but Keith said he was pissed about how he worked. After, he challenged Keith to vote for him, even though the latter argued it was not an easy decision. Later, he talked to himself alone on the patio as he kept saying he was trying.

Tom nominated Giacomo for elimination, reminding the latter about the oven incident, and all of his three teammates nominated him. During his plea, he felt he was the sharpest guy in the competition despite lacking culinary skills. Despite receiving the most votes from his team, he survived elimination. However, Ramsay reminded him that he had dodged yet another bullet, and told him to thank Giacomo for being the worst that night. While being dismissed, he said that he was pissed by his teammates' votes against him and was ready to make them regret it.

Episode 4

Main article: Episode 204 - 8 Chefs

While returning to the dorms, Tom was pissed at his teammates for nominating him and said they would regret their decision. He confronted Garrett as he thought the latter had his back and expected he would have his, but Garrett argued that it was not an easy decision. Later that night, he commented that he had nowhere else to go if he was eliminated, as he went through four jobs in his life and was running out of chances to change careers. He went on the patio and talked with Heather and Rachel about how he brought more than the 2-year-olds, but Heather felt he was not getting it. She felt he was underestimating their experiences as chefs, the sacrifices they made, and that he should not be cooking. When he claimed that he sacrificed everything to be there, Heather and Rachel got irritated about his comment, with the former commenting that she gave up time with her family to cook. However, he said he only cared about the money, disgusting Heather as she cared about the experience, and Rachel told him that she and Heather were born to do that. Heather was not happy that he was treating cooking like a game because it was all she knew to do, but he simply did not care.

The next day, Tom and the blue team welcomed Heather as a new teammate. When Ramsay announced they were all going out to visit the most popular restaurant in Los Angeles, he thought they were going to Spago, only to get upset when they arrived at Pink's Hot Dogs. He revealed he worked at a hot dog place when he was in college, Ramsay invited him to go behind the counter to make a hot dog, and when he did, Keith stated that he belonged there. He made himself a chili cheese dog, and afterwards, Ramsay asked him to get out before he sweated in the food, referring to his incident during the opening night’s prep. After that, Ramsay declared Hell's Kitchen would open for lunch for the first time ever. He ran back to the restaurant, along with the other contestants, to prep his kitchen with only two hours to go.

Tom was at the salad station during the Lunch Service Challenge. He got into an argument with Garrett, who was arranging his station for him, but Heather calmed both down. The blue team completed all their orders and was declared the winner when the children rated their food 9.85 out of 10, compared to the red team's 9.84. They were rewarded with a day at the Santa Monica Beach amusement park to feel like children again.

During dinner service, Tom was at the meat station. Before the first ticket, Heather asked him if his pan was hot enough. When the blue team began working on entrées, he told Ramsay he never started cooking the quail that was called an hour before, angering the latter. After that, he revealed that the first Wellingtons that were needed were undercooked, but Keith reassured Ramsay that they could be ready in four minutes. After that, he was schooled by Ramsay about his miscommunication. An hour and a half into service, Ramsay was irritated by his way of organizing his cooking as he was cooking orders for the next tables and not listening to him. After Ramsay accused him of not having passion, the duck in his pan began to burn, and Ramsay had to tell him to leave it and remove the pan from the stove. In the process, Ramsay called him a dick and a donkey. Then, Ramsay asked Keith to get on the meat station to cook for him and was told to shut up, open his big eyes, and watch what Keith was doing. After a lot of frustration in both kitchens and only half of the dining room served, Ramsay threw his apron and towel at him and kicked both teams out of service.

Both teams were named joint losers, and they were asked to nominate one each. During deliberation, Tom stayed apart from the blue team, talking to himself at the table with empty chairs, trying to convince himself he would come back the next day.

Tom was the blue team's nominee and joined Virginia from the red team. They were later joined by Rachel, who nominated herself. During his plea, he felt that he was not going to give up, would not let the humiliation get to him, and was ready to show Ramsay that he was not going easily. However, he was eliminated for being a consistently terrible performer and lacking the experience to work in a kitchen. During his exit interview, he said that he loved working in the kitchen and was not going to give up on his dream, but found it scary to look for a job now before asking Ramsay for a recommendation.

Ramsay's comment: "Tom's got a big heart, sadly he's a really crap cook. Why on earth he's ever decided to attempt to become a chef? We'll never know."

Episode 10

Main article: Episode 210/211 - 2 Chefs/Winner

Tom was one of the six chefs that returned for the final dinner service. He was surprised that Virginia made it after being nominated several times like him. When the chefs came downstairs, a flashback of him sweating in the food while prepping for the opening night was shown. He was Virginia's second pick for her brigade, after Keith and before Giacomo. When Virginia promised to give the men $1000 if she won, it made him happy as he was unemployed due to competing.

During prep, Virginia got concerned about Tom and Giacomo as they did not perform well under pressure. During dinner service, he was at the meat station. As service began, he said he wanted to be on the winning team for once. When Virginia told her team to go faster, he started to give her attitude, thinking he did not want to be talked to that way because of his age. On entrées, Ramsay caught him standing idly, and Virginia told him not to stand around again. That angered him as he did not like getting ordered around by a woman. When he sliced a chicken roulade, he cut his finger and rinsed his hand under water. He showed his injury to Sous Chef Mary-Ann, and she told him to see a medic. When he went in the back to get some bandages on his finger, he showed his injury to Ramsay, who told him that it was nothing and that he did not need a big drama queen. He came back into the kitchen minutes later and asked what was needed. Virginia called out the order, and he struggled to get his order out on time as his team heckled him for the chicken. Virginia felt he failed to grasp three items, but he got his dishes out and the former pushed out entrees. When Virginia called out the following order, he did not pay attention and asked what was on the ticket. Ramsay told him to move and check the ticket himself. Virginia eventually lost the finals to Heather, and he did not win his $1000.

Nomination History

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Nominated
Week 3	Nominated
Week 4	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After his appearance on the show, he is now known as Tom Poley. He is a motivational speaker about his experiences in Hell's Kitchen.
• Unfortunately, on July 1, 2023, he passed away. The cause of death is unknown.

Trivia

• He was named the "Number 7" Worst Contestant on the Show on Top 10 WORST Hell's Kitchen Contestants by WatchMojo.
• He is the first Jewish contestant of Hell's Kitchen.
• He is the first contestant to be eliminated after a joint team loss and the first to be eliminated after a team is kicked out of the kitchen.
• He is the first contestant in the show's history to be nominated three times in a row.
• He and Polly are the oldest contestants of their season, at age 43.
• He is the second returning contestant to have sustained an injury during the final service, following Andrew (Season 1).
• He and Giacomo are the first two contestants to be nominated together twice, as well as the first two contestants to be nominated together twice in a row.
• He is the tenth contestant to pass away, following Rachel (also from Season 2), Aaron (Season 3), Keith (also from Season 2), Paulie (Season 16), Jessica (Season 12), Petrozza (Season 4), Genaro (Season 16), Sandra (Season 12), and Jonathon (Season 9).

Quotes

• "I sweat! I sweat all the time! I'm a "schweatzer"! Don't worry about that!"
• (After serving raw scallops) "I was like in the woods, like out of the gate. I was just like, "HOMINA, HOMINA, HOMINA!"."
• (After Ramsay noticed that his stove is off) "When the water spilled all over, it put out the pilot light. (laugh) That's what it was!"
• (To Ramsay): "May I speak?'' Ramsay: "May you speak? May you stand up straight and stop acting like a slob?"
• (After Ramsay complained about his attitude) "Who do you think you're talking to? You don't want to get in a street fight with me, trust me."
• (About Chef Ramsay) "He's lucky that I've signed a thing saying I wouldn't touch anybody here."
• "The women should have lost this challenge, and I'm not being sexist, but women... do laundry better than men!"
• "I gave up more than anybody."
• "I don't care about time. I care about money."
• "It's a game!"
• (To Ramsay) "I can't yell. I can't cry. All I have to do is I've got to do it (cooking)."
• (After being eliminated) "I love working in the kitchen. By no means have I given up. This is the path I've chosen. Ya know what's scary? I gotta go find a job. Hey, Chef, I need a recommendation."
• "Yes it does! Can't yell, can't cry, all I have to do is I gotta do it."
• "You got that doc?"

Gallery

Tom's Intro Spot

Tom's Signature Dish

Tom in Blue Jacket

Tom's Confessional

Tom and Giacomo nominated (Episode 2)

Tom and Giacomo nominated (Episode 3)

Tom and Virginia Nominated

Tom Eliminated

Tom as Returning Chef