Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 4)
| Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 4) | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Fox |
| Original release | April 1 – July 8, 2008 |
| Season chronology | |
Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on the Fox Network starting on April 1, 2008. The show was originally planned to air later in the season, but instead was aired as a replacement for shows that were affected by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.
Culinary student Christina Machamer won the season and was awarded a "senior sous chef" position with a $250,000 salary at Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood – not an executive chef as mentioned in show-related publicity and press releases. The London West Hollywood restaurant opened on May 27, 2008, while the series was still airing.
This season was filmed in the warehouse district in Culver City, California.
Unlike the previous three seasons, this is the first season to feature a cinematic intro using live-action. It depicts the chefs, all shrunken down as they work about the kitchen.
There were 15 chefs (8 men and 7 women) who competed in season 4 and was the only Hell's Kitchen season to have an uneven number of chefs compete compared to 12 from the previous three seasons.
Each week, the best member (as determined by Ramsay) from the losing team during the latest service period was asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two was sent home by Ramsay. In Episode 1, the teams selected captains for service, though Ramsay changed both captains during service.
15 chefs arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and were driven to Hell's Kitchen, unaware Chef Ramsay was accompanying them in disguise. When they arrived, they met Jean-Philippe and each chef took turns impersonating Ramsay, who then revealed himself to the chefs.
Signature dishes: The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their signature dish. Vanessa's pan-seared halibut was chosen as the best, with Rosann's spicy mussel soup also getting good feedback, while Ben's dish was deemed "not bad". The remaining dishes were poorly received; Craig's jerk seared Chilean sea bass was too sweet, Jen served raw rice, Ramsay described Corey's dish as plain and Jason's as something that would not even pass as something tinned. Shayna burnt her protein and Ramsay found Dominic's chicken cacciatore boring, Petrozza's hen-in-a-pumpkin both bizarre and dry, and told Sharon her dish was not up to scratch. Christina's dish was ruined by "terrible execution" despite a good concept, Ramsay scolded Louross for not doing more and Bobby for deep-frying his fish, which he found lazy. Matt's exotic tartar received the worst review with Ramsay vomiting after sampling it.
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