Hell's Kitchen/What an Idiot!

Given the nature of the show, Hell's Kitchen is bound to have a few of its contestants make some stupid, or even embarrassing mistakes. Made even more disastrous considering these are meant to be professionals.

In General

Each season kicks off with a Signature Dish challenge, where Gordon wants to see these aspiring chefs "on a plate".

You'd think: They would try to use fresh ingredients, since Gordon Ramsay is not a fan of using pre-made ingredients in a professional environment.
Instead: You will get a few who do use pre-made ingredients, and they will proceed to be chewed out by the chef for it.
You'd also think: that these chefs would also take full advantage of the 45 minutes they are given.
Instead: some of them will make something that will take 20-30 minutes at most, and in one instance, 3 minutes. These contestants often get labelled as The Ditz for that season.

As Gordon Ramsay is the host, and thus the head chef in Hell's Kitchen...

You'd think: if a chef cocks up on a dish or an order, they would at least apologise for their errors, reply with "Yes chef!" and work to correct their mistake.
Instead: some of them will try to argue with Chef Ramsay, insisting they are in the right. These contestants often earn themselves a Scrappy status from fans of the show as a result, and the ire of their teammates, too.

Specific Moments

Season 1

After losing the challenge in one of the later episodes, the blue team loses the challenge, and are punished by having a code lock on their storeroom door, which they have to use each time they want ingredients.

You'd think: that at least one member of the blue team would memorise the code on hand, at have them open the door for their teammates each time they go to the storeroom.
Instead: while Ralph was able to memorise the code, Andrew decides to try and cheat out of his punishment by putting a layer of tape over the lock.
Unfortunately: Sous Chef Scott catches him in the act, and promptly tears him a new one. Scott punishes the blue team further by limiting them to getting one ingredient from the storeroom each time they visit.

Season 2

Season 3

During the third dinner service, two of the women display poor kitchen practises; Jen pulls spaghetti out from the trash and tries to recook it, while Joanna almost serves rotten crab meat without realising it.

You'd think: Both of them would own up to their mistakes.
Instead: Jen openly admitting that she was wrong to reuse trashed food, but Joanna didn't own up to using rancid crab. She even tried to rationalise Jen's mistake as the reason why she should go home. Chef Ramsay quickly points out that her mistake was far worse than Jen's.
As a result: Joanna is eliminated that night, and Jen is given a warning.

In the first black jackets service, Josh hastily cooks 5 pans of risotto before the restaurant has even opened. As we all know, Ramsay gets angry when food is cooked ahead of time.

You'd think: that Josh would take this to heart, and not cook food ahead of the order coming through. Since his now has a black jacket, he is now under more intense scrutiny than before, so he ought to avoid giving Ramsay reason to eliminate him. In addition, Josh cannot afford to have another terrible service, since he has not had a good service all season.
Instead: Josh continues cooking dishes ahead of time (now spaghetti), and does so multiple times despite Ramsay telling him not to, pushing the chef's patience almost to the breaking point.
As a Result: Josh becomes the first contestant to be eliminated in the middle of service after one of his risottos came back undercooked.

Season 4

Season 5

During the double steak night service, each team takes turns cooking and serving. Since the blue team won the preceding challenge, they had the choice whether they cooked first, or serve. They chose to cook first, and as a service begins, Ramsay tell's Ben: "Desserts, pick up!"

You'd think: Ben would interpret this as "Man the dessert station!", for the end of the service when desserts are pushed out. If Ben wasn't sure what Ramsay meant by this, he could ask. He'd get chewed out for it, but he would at least know for sure.
Instead: Ben interprets this call as "Bring the desserts!", resulting in him making a chocolate brownie and a sundae, and bringing them to the pass almost as soon as the service begins. Even Seth pointed out how comically stupid this move was.
As a result: Ben was under Gordon's watchful eyes for the majority of his stay in Hell's Kitchen, and was frequently picked on for his mistakes. That night, the blue team predictably lost that service.
The Kicker: The blue team never even reached the dessert phase off their service.

In the final team service, Carol decides to make gratin dauphinois, a potato dish in which consists of thinly sliced potatoes baked in milk or cream. However, she makes a complete pig's ear of them by cooking them when the order came in, instead of cooking them during pre-service prep. This results in them requiring 10 minutes to finish, which is far too long to keep a customer waiting.

You'd think: that Carol would simply scrap her idea and come up with an alternative potato dish instead.
Instead: she desperately tries to save her potatoes by pouring more cream over them, only to caught by Ramsay. As Andrea summed it up: "There was no saving those potatoes. I mean they looked like shit, they looked like fucking shit... awful!"
As a Result: Although the red team won service that night, Carol was eliminated later that night, and became the first contestant to be eliminated in such a fashion.

In the first black jacket service, Ben's chicken special is on the menu, but Giovanni makes an absolute mess of one portion, resulting in Ramsay infamously addressing the latter as "dickface".

You'd think: Giovanni would simply admit his mistake, apologise to Ben for fucking up his special, and working to correct the problem. Also, Ramsay's insults are never on a personal level, and Giovanni should remember this after seeing the amount of shit Ben got throughout the season.
Instead: Giovanni unwisely answers back to Ramsay by replying: "Yeah. But I'm not "dickface", chef!" Cue a mass Oh Crap reactions from Paula and Danny as Chef Ramsay storms right up to Gio and proceeds to scream in his face for talking back to him.
As a Result: Giovanni is eliminated that night for his outburst.

Season 6

During the signature dish challenge, Joseph serves undercooked Brussels Sprouts to Ramsay, who then asks him to taste it.

You'd think: That Joseph just takes a bite of his own cooking without issue.
Instead: He demands that Ramsay gives him a fork, then argues with him over something as mundane as an undercooked vegetable.

During the second elimination, Joseph is asked to give the names of two nominees from the blue team, and why.

You'd think: Joseph would simply name one and why, then the second, as everyone else before and after him has.
Instead: He tells Ramsay that the nominees could speak for themselves, prompting the chef to call him a smartass.
You'd then think: Joseph would take the hint and call the nominees out properly.
Instead: He calls out their names, but doesn't give proper reasons for it. This leads into a heated argument between Joseph and Ramsay, with Robert and Suzanne attempting to get him to knock it off.
You'd finally expect: Joseph to just calm down and apologise.
Instead: Joseph throws his jacket off and storms right up to Ramsay and threatens to beat him up.
As a Result: Ramsay finally has enough of Joseph's horrific attitude and orders him to leave.

For the Welcome Home Party challenge, the staff sergeant's wife relays her husband's likes and dislikes to Robert and Suzanne.

You'd think: That both contestants would listen carefully to what the sergeant's wife has to say.
Instead: Robert relays all the necessary info (soul food, grilled lobster, baked potato, etc.) to his team, but Suzanne doesn't, opting to make dishes she wanted to make, even rejecting Tennile's idea for a jumbalaya sauce.
As a result: The red team lost the challenge 2-1.

Also, during the actual service that night, Tek was having some real issues on the grill.

You'd think: That Tek would realise that the grill in the kitchen works differently to how it works at home.
You'd also think: Tek would listen to Ariel and Tennile, who were telling her that the grill's purpose is to just add sear marks, and the meat has to be cooked in the oven.
Instead: Tek blows off her teammates, and continues to treat the grill like the one at home. The steaks come out charred on the outside, but blue raw in the middle.
To add insult to injury: Her problems on the grill hold up the red team so much that the blue team had to come in and help them serve all of their entrees.
As a Result: Tek was eliminated that night.

Season 7

In Episode 2, the teams are split into pairs, and instructed to cook eggs with four different methods. Siobhan is asked to work alone due to the red team being down one team member. In spite of this, Autumn suggests that Siobhan works with her and Fran as a trio despite Ramsay's order.

You'd think: Siobhan would tell Autumn to piss off since flaunting Ramsay's orders could only end in disaster, especially after experiencing his wrath when mistakes made by accident. Following his orders would at least give the team a chance to win this challenge.
Instead: Siobhan agrees to team up with Autumn and Fran, and together, the trio produces a batch of eight eggs. Unfortunately, Chef Ramsay finds out that Siobhan had disobeyed his orders to work solo, and is naturally upset.
As a Result: The trio's eggs are disqualified, costing the red team the challenge.
Furthermore: Autumn continues to cement herself as a pain in everyone's ass in service later that episode by over seasoning pasta water.

Also in Episode 2, Andrew gives Gordon a portion of mashed potato so runny that Sous Chef Scott likened it to "potato soup".

You'd think: Andrew, on garnish, would simply continue preparing a fresh batch that he had already started.
Instead: He decides to take the liquid mash to his new batch.
For Added Stupidity: He tries to be a smartass about it by claiming that this was the smart thing to do.
As a Result: Chef Ramsay takes Andrew into the dining room, and gives him a blistering Reason Why You Suck Speech. Andrew then literally kick off his shoes and leave the competition, not wanting to put up with being reprimanded.

In Episode 5, there is a challenge that involves cooking a pork dish with the team's chosen side. The red team gets blood sausage, sweet potato, apples, ham hock, and prunes. Pairing the pork tenderloin and apples is a no-brainer, but the team is unsure what to make with the other ingredients they have.

You'd think: The sweet potato would work well with the blood sausage since the former takes the savoury edge off the latter, and mixing the prunes and ham hock into a salad since the two ingredients have similar natural sweetness. Any dishes with those two combinations of ingredients would be the red team's go-to for a challenge of this nature.
Instead: Scott gets the "oh so brilliant" idea to do a prune purée to go with the blood sausage, and to go with a sweet potato soup with ham hock garnish.
As a Result: The blood sausage and prunes ended up tasting so foul that Gordon almost vomited from it. Even as she presented the dish, Nilka looked pessimistic and defeated, as she knew the dish wouldn't work.
To add insult to injury: Scott's sweet potato soup with ham hock garnish broke the rules of the challenge; the ham hock was supposed to be the main ingredient, while the sweet potato was to be the garnish, not the other way round.
As a Result: The red team lost the challenge, to no one's surprise.

In that same episode, the red team had lost the service, with Fran named Best of the Worst. This means she is responsible for naming two chefs from her team to be eliminated. She has three possible names to pick from: Siobhan, Scott, and Maria, since all three did badly enough that night to warrant a nomination. Before the chefs head down to the dining room for the elimination ceremony however, Scott tries to browbeat Fran into nominating someone over him, fearing that Gordon would get rid of both him and Maria if they're nominated, leaving the red team two members short.

You'd think: Fran would simply tell Scott to fuck off since it's blatantly obvious he's only trying to save his own ass, and that she would bear in mind that Gordon has never eliminated two chefs in the same night before (this wouldn't happen outside of the "running the pass" service until Season 11).
Alternatively: A double elimination is still a possibility though, and if Fran is worried that about it, she could nominate Siobhan instead of Scott. As mentioned previously, Siobhan can be justifiably nominated due to the myriad of mistakes she made that night, but not enough to were Gordon would eliminate her over Maria. This would show that Fran is thinking sensibly since Gordon literally wants the weakest chefs to be nominated.
On top of that: if a double elimination were to happen, that could work to the red team's benefit; since it would leave the red team 2 members down, Gordon would even the playing field by transferring someone from Blue team to join the floundering reds to help boost morale and bring some much needed leadership.
Or better yet: Fran should take into consideration that Gordon can (and will) disregard nominations and eliminate whoever he feels deserves it, even if that chef is on the winning team (which he would actually do 2 episodes later). Fran can't claim Genre Blindness this time though because a few episodes back, Gordon chose to eliminate Mikey despite his name not even being mentioned all night. You'd think Fran would remember this and consider that possibility, meaning that Scott's safety is not guaranteed.
Instead: Fran nominates Maria...and Nilka for some reason, because Nilka had been the red team's best performer thus far, and there was no reason to nominate her. Fran comes off as a gullible idiot because of this, and Gordon rejects her nominations and calls Scott and Maria up anyway; Maria is shown the door, Nilka is alienated by Fran, and the red team's morale is completely shattered, leading to yet another embarrassing defeat the next episode.
As a Result: Scott is eliminated the next episode after Gordon could no longer take his constant bragging, and his inability to back up his talk with skill.

In the second black jacket service, there was a point where Chef Ramsay steps out of the kitchen for a few minutes, leaving Sous Chef Scott in charge.

You'd think: all of the remaining chefs would just keep working, and try not to do anything stupid in Scott's presence.
Instead: Benjamin gets the smart idea to try and play leader in Gordon's absence by calling out the next ticket.
As a Result: Scott promptly calls him out for trying to usurp control of the kitchen, and not only threatens to leave right then and there, but proceeds to scream at Ben in such a manner reminiscent of Ramsay's confrontation with Giovanni after the "dickface" incident.

Season 8

In Episode 2, Vinny is nominated by Gordon to be the blue team's assistant maitre'd for that night's service. He notices the Raj is in charge of sides and garnish, and has no faith in him to do a decent job.

You'd think: Vinny would just keep his mouth shut and do his job. Gordon will unleash his fury on Raj if mistakes on garnish are made, so it's not like Vinny would have anything to fear if orders are slow to leave the kitchen.
Instead: Vinny actively dissuades diners from ordering sides. One table informs maitre'd James about this, who then drags Vinny up to the pass to explain himself to Gordon. Gordon is naturally furious about this and promptly ejects Vinny from the service altogether, while Raj takes his comments that he has no confidence in him as a personal insult.
As a Result: Vinny is called up for elimination by the chef himself, narrowly avoids elimination after Curtis tanked on sushi so badly that he put the kitchen in the shit right out the gate.

Episode 3, and Raj manages to burn through the blue team's entire supply of Dover Sole just trying to serve the first few tables. Incensed, Gordon orders him to go out to the dining room and apologise to the affected customers and suggest alternatives.

You'd think: Raj would just do as he's told. He's already to thin ice as it is, so he'd be wise to not anger Ramsay any further. Also, since Raj has admitted to not coping well in a hot kitchen, he'd use this as an opportunity to coll off in the cooler dining room.
Instead: Raj protests that he can't go out to the dining room, simply because his jacket is filthy. He gets further pressed by the chef to get out there, even if he wore nothing but a thong.
You'd then think: Raj would just take the hint and bugger off out of the kitchen, since Ramsay is beyond irritated.
Instead: He decides to plead his case...to Scott, hoping he'd be more sympathetic. This naturally doesn't work when Scott loudly orders to get out there.
As a Result: Despite the blue team miraculously winning service that night, Raj is eliminated for his misadventures on fish.

Episode 7 is the annual Family Night in Hell's Kitchen, and of course, Gordon's family is in attendance. Their order comes in and on the order is a risotto, which Vinny is in charge of.

You'd think: the blue team would take extra care not to fuck this order up, especially considering he gets pissed off when they serve substandard food to people who aren't related to him. Also, you'd think Vinny would also not try and pull anything stupid here, considering he managed to piss of Chef Ramsay already after what happened back in Episode 2.
Instead: Vinny tries to sneak an old portion of risotto past Gordon, naturally infuriated that his family is being served food that's not up to standards.
As a Result: Gordon threatens to eliminate Vinny on the spot for being lazy.

In the following episode, Nona tries to do the same thing Vinny did and serve an old portion of risotto. However, unlike Vinny, Nona had the foresight to ask first.

You'd think: Nona would ask her Sous Chef, Andi if she should send it up. Sure, she'd get reprimanded for taking shortcuts, but she'd know for certain by asking someone who has worked with Gordon enough to know his standards.
Instead: Nona asks a fellow contestant, Gail. Gail tells her it's fine to send up, resulting in Nona getting chewed out for it. Instead of admitting it was a foolish move on her part, Nona tries to palm her poor judgement off on Gail, when she should have asked the far more experienced Andi for advice rather than a team mate with no prior knowledge of Gordon Ramsay's standards.

Season 9

In Episode 2, Brendan serves Gordon a piece of sea bass, but a suspicious Gordon quickly suspects that it was an old piece served 10 minutes prior.

You'd think: Brendan would just admit that it was an old piece. He'd get chewed out for being lazy, but hey! At least he'd be honest about it.
Instead: the moron decides to lie by claiming it was indeed a fresh piece of sea bass, only to come clean when Gordon threatens to turn the kitchen upside down to find it.
As a Result: Brendan is eliminated for lying about the sea bass. Gordon's parting shot sums it up perfectly:

Gordon: The only thing bigger than Brendan's ego are the lies he tells, and I can't have that in Hell's Kitchen.

The Kicker: In episode 11, Elise tried to do same thing by claiming that Tommy scored her beef wellingtons poorly, when cameras reveal that Tommy didn't even score them, even refusing to do so for her. Possibly because of Executive Meddling, Elise wasn't eliminated the night she tried this.

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