Wendy Liu

“

I think Gordon is gonna love the fact that I'm a perfectionist.

”

Hometown	Millburn, NJ
Occupation	Account Manager
Culinary Education	Graduate from The Institute of Culinary Education
Statistics
Challenges Won	0
Services Won	2
Times as BoW/Announcer	0
Times Nominated	1
Placement	9th
Episode Eliminated	Day 3

Wendy Liu was a contestant on Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 9th place.

Season 1

Episode 1

Main article: Episode 101 - Day 1

The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen and celebrated with a champagne glass and getting to know each other. After some time, Maître D' Jean-Philippe and Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann greeted them, revealing that their first test began now.

During the Signature Dish Challenge, Wendy asked if anybody was using a certain knife, which Chris said that he was. She felt Ramsay would love her perfectionist attitude. She was the third contestant to have her Signature Dish judged by Ramsay. She served fried rice with Chinese sausage, but she did not know Ramsay would come, so she did not put the lobster in it. Ramsay found it unimpressive as she must have known he would come. After the challenge, she was placed in the blue team, along with Jessica, Mary Ellen, Ralph, Michael, and Andrew.

During dinner service, Wendy was at the garnish station. After two hours, she ran out of potatoes. After one of her team's tables went to the kitchen to talk with Ramsay, and very few entrées were served, he closed both kitchens. The blue team won the dinner service, but Ramsay specified that her team did not win and that they are just safe. Back at the dorms, Jeff confided in her that he might be going home because all his tables hated him.

Episode 2

Main article: Episode 102 - Day 2

The next day, at 5:55 AM, Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann went into the dorms with cookware and banged them together to wake up everybody, with Dewberry originally thinking it was somebody with a gun. During the Squid Cleaning Challenge, Wendy sent up her plate and felt Ramsay would love her perfectionist. However, she scored no points, and when she claimed that she could not remove the skin off of one of them on time, Ramsay accused her of blaming the squid. The blue team lost the challenge 5-6, they were punished by cleaning all the squids for the next dinner service and having no air conditioning during service. Back in the dorms, while Andrew felt like he let his team down, she reminded him that she did not score either. When Ralph asked her what the Chinese translation of "we will never lose again" was, she said it out loud in the exact pronunciation, with Ralph wanting it to be the blue team's battle cry as his teammates repeated it as well.

During prep, Wendy was lost trying to get organized on her station. During dinner service, she was at the appetizer station. When she brought her first risotto to the hot plate, Ramsay told her the rice was undercooked, and she had to start over. With the help of Ralph, who wanted to get the job done, the refire was accepted, to Ramsay and customers' relief. After Jean-Philippe was physically assaulted, Ramsay closed both kitchens down. The blue team won the dinner service for serving a few main courses.

Episode 3

Main article: Episode 103 - Day 3

Before the Five Course Meal Challenge, Wendy said goodbye to Michael as the latter was transferred to the red team. She was the third person from the blue team to have her dish judged by Ramsay, cooked the fish entrée, and went up against Chris. She made a ginger scallion pan-roasted salmon with bok choy, it was deemed not bad by Ramsay, and she scored that round over Chris. The blue team lost the challenge after a tiebreaker at three each, and they were punished by cleaning the dorms.

During dinner service, Wendy began on the appetizer station. At one point, she put cold water to cook spaghetti, as she thought cold water was boiling faster than hot water, dismaying Ramsay. When her lobster spaghetti went out to the critics, Melissa Clark felt that the lobster was too chewy for her. When she moved to the meat station, she was lost on time, giving 10 minutes to Ramsay for her lamb to be cooked, only to be corrected by Ralph, who gave 5 minutes, much to Ramsay's relief. Since she did not eat meat, she needed Ralph's help on how to cook it. Her lamb arrived at the critics' table, but it received mixed reviews as Kate Krader found it overcooked, while Clark liked her medium-rare cook. When she struggled to get her sauce heated, Ramsay said she was making pathetic answers and gave her one last chance. After very few customers received their main courses, Ramsay closed the kitchens. The blue team lost the dinner service, and Ralph was named "Best of the Worst."

Wendy was Ralph's first nominee for elimination, with Andrew being the second. During her plea, she knew her performance was terrible but wanted another chance. In the end, she was eliminated for her poor performance on all three services, and Ramsay stated that it was painful to work with her. During her exit interview, she knew it was a horrible night and that nothing went right, felt that she let everybody down, and was disappointed that she could not go further in the competition.

Ramsay's comment: "Wendy, well you know, it's about time I put you out of your misery!"

Episode 10/11

Main article: Episode 110/111 - Day 10

Wendy returned for the last dinner service of the season because Chris did not. When she returned, a clip of her forgetting the potatoes during the opening night was shown. After Andrew, she was Ralph's second pick and was followed by Dewberry.

During prep, Andrew showed Wendy the cut he did on his thumb. She was disgusted, claiming she could not even look at it and told him to see a medic. When Andrew returned from the hospital, she was happy and hugged him. During dinner service, she was at the appetizer station. She realized she did not have enough pans on the appetizer station and got confused about Ralph's order. Seeing her getting confused, Ralph decided to help her out, but that meant spending more time on her station than the hot plate, which Ramsay noticed. Later, she moved to desserts and successfully completed service for him. Ralph eventually lost the finals to Michael.

Nomination History

Week 1	Win
Week 2	Win
Week 3	Nominated

Post Hell's Kitchen

• After her appearance on the show, Wendy returned to her career in account management.
• She got married and is now known as Wendy Liu-Nelius.

Trivia

• She is the first member of the blue team ever to be eliminated.
• She is the first contestant of Asian-American to compete, also the first contestant of Chinese origins.
• She and Jeff LaPoff are the first pair of contestants to leave the competition on the same episode. However, she was eliminated normally, while Jeff withdrew from the competition.
• She is the first female contestant to never to win a challenge. This doesn't count Carolann, who never had an opportunity to win one.
• She is the first vegetarian chef to compete.

Quotes

• "I think Gordon is gonna love the fact that I'm a perfectionist."
• (Presenting her signature dish) Wendy: "This is fried rice with Chinese sausage. Had I known you were coming, I would have put lobster in it." Ramsay: "You knew I was coming."
• "I thought cold water was supposed to boil faster than hot water."
• "我们不会再输了 (We won't lose again)."
• ("After being eliminated") "It's been an absolute horrible night, nothing went right, I feel like I let myself down, I let the team down, and I let Chef down. I'm disappointed that I didn't get further. I think that's really the biggest emotion I'm feeling right now."

Gallery

• Chef
• Dishes

Wendy's Intro Spot

Wendy in Blue Jacket

Andrew and Wendy Nominated

Wendy Eliminated

Wendy as Returning Chef

Wendy's Signature Dish

Wendy's Five-Course Meal Dish (Episode 3)