The Biggest Scandals To Hit Hell's Kitchen

"Hell's Kitchen" has been captivating viewers since 2005. In fact, the show is still pulling in millions of viewers consistently. It's not surprising: Every season of this addictive cooking show promises drama, impressive food (as well as plenty of less than impressive food), and a fair amount of shouting and grimacing from Gordon Ramsay.

The top British chef is no stranger to controversy. He swears like a sailor and is constantly churning out insults. In fact, that's part of the reason why so many viewers tune in to watch him on "Hell's Kitchen." After all, who can forget the iconic idiot sandwich meme? Side note: We're sorry to spoil it for you, but that meme didn't actually come from "Hell's Kitchen," but a parody of the reality series on "The Late Late Show with James Cordon." That said, Ramsay has dished out plenty of real harsh criticism on the show (calling people "donkey" is one of his personal favorites).

But sometimes, it seems that Ramsay and the "Hell's Kitchen" production team have gone too far. In fact, contestants have complained of bullying and even compared the set of the show to a prison. One former participant even said they left the show feeling borderline suicidal. If you want to learn more about "Hell's Kitchen" and its controversies, you can find some of the biggest scandals to ever be associated with the show below.

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In the third season of "Hell's Kitchen," which aired in 2007, contestant Jen Revak (then known as Jen Yemola) provided viewers with one of the show's most iconic (and quite frankly, gross) scenes. Pastry chef Revak was seen throwing pasta in the trash, and then retrieving it after she realized it was part of another order. It was top-notch entertainment for viewers, but Revak has since spoken about how her time on the show was less than enjoyable.

In a 2009 interview with The New York Times, the chef explained that before production on her season started, she was kept locked in a hotel room for "three or four days." She added that all forms of entertainment were taken away, including books, phones, newspapers, and CDs. "I was allowed to leave the room only with an escort," she recalled. "It was like I was in prison."

The interview was published more than 15 years ago, but restricting access to phones and the outside world is still commonplace on reality TV shows. Often, this is done to reduce the chance of leaks, but it's also a tool to ramp up the drama. If contestants are bored and frustrated, they're more likely to create drama and entertainment. Mark Andrejevic, an associate professor of communications studies at the University of Iowa, told The New York Times, that making people tired and vulnerable is "the bread and butter of reality television."

Another thread that ties together many reality TV shows, including "Hell's Kitchen," is sleep deprivation. Again, some contestants have hypothesized that this could be a tool to make them more irritable, which paves the way for more entertaining drama. It's also a symptom of very long working days and very early mornings.

Another former contestant called Elsie Ramos (who appeared on "Hell's Kitchen" in 2005), also told The New York Times in 2009 that she recalls never sleeping more than five hours a night while filming the show. Research suggests that five hours of sleep each night is not enough for most adults. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most adults need seven or more hours of sleep each day to function properly. This amount also helps to reduce stress, improve mood, and increase attention span.

Other contestants corroborated Ramos' story to The New York Times, which reported that contestants often had to film dinner service scenes until 11 p.m. After that, it still wasn't bedtime, as they had to discuss who to nominate for elimination. Nope, still not time for bed yet. According to the newspaper, exit interviews often wouldn't finish until about 2 a.m. Some contestants likely take up smoking to deal with the stress in lieu of sleep. In 2010, executive producer Andrew Smith told Delish: "We started with four smokers in Season 2. Then we ended up with 10!"

A number of awkward and embarrassing things have happened on "Hell's Kitchen." For example, there was the time when one of the chefs made a very basic error by leaving the roe (eggs) on his scallops before serving. Another chef was seen absentmindedly throwing lobster tails in the trash, even though they were cooked and ready to serve. Sometimes, chefs have simply walked off the set, and other times, contestants have mixed up key ingredients (like cooking veal instead of filet mignon).

However, according to former Season 6 contestant Tek Moore, not all of these silly mistakes could actually be blamed on the chefs. Moore, who placed 12th in her season, told the New York Post in 2015 that sometimes, producers would deliberately mess around with ingredients. "[They would] swap out your salt and sugar," she said. "People would look like f***ing a**holes." Revak also told the publication that one of her fellow contestants was axed after claiming in a confessional that the show was "rigged."

Jen Revak also said that she received little support from producers after she threw the pasta in the trash and fished it out again. She felt humiliated, so she asked them for support, claiming her "life was over." She recalled that nobody on the "Hell's Kitchen" team provided any support after the incident, even though it could have impacted her career and livelihood.

In the same interview, Jen Revak told the New York Post that she struggled immensely after leaving "Hell's Kitchen" and trying to go back to normal life. She was so stressed that she didn't get her period for six weeks, for example. She also said she felt "borderline suicidal." She told the publication: "Certain things about [the show] made me feel poorly about myself." Fortunately, Revak did recover. In fact, she even told the New York Post that she would consider doing more reality TV for more exposure. However, not everyone has the same experience as Revak. Depression is a huge risk for reality TV contestants. In fact, research suggests that, since 1986, around 38 people have died by suicide after appearing on reality TV.

Sadly, "Hell's Kitchen" has been associated with suicide deaths. Joseph Cerniglia, who appeared on the show in 2007, died by suicide in 2010. Rachel Brown, who was in Season 2 of "Hell's Kitchen" in 2006, died by suicide in 2007.

Speaking about the tragedies to CBS News in 2010, Dr. Robert Yufit of the American Academy of Suicidology, said that he believed that Brown and Cerniglia likely had problems before "Hell's Kitchen." He said: "I would almost bet that the show itself should not be held responsible. I would say that the show might have tripped off something else that was going on in their lives."

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

In her interview with the New York Post, Jen Revak says that before she went on "Hell's Kitchen" she felt "starry-eyed and dreamy" about the idea of the show. But when she arrived, she quickly realized that most things on the set were faked for entertainment. She claimed that producers fed lines to Gordon Ramsay through an earpiece, for example, and that there were double-sided mirrors to hide cameras.

However, when Alex Najar spoke to Mashed in 2022, he recalled a different experience. In the exclusive interview, he said that what viewers see during "challenges and services is raw," adding that producers did not come in and interfere with contestants, other than to explain the rules of challenges to them. "I had some ideas going in of, is it somewhat scripted?" Najar, who appeared on Season 21, said. "No, there's no script at all. They're smart with it. They get a lot of egotistical chefs and pit them up against each other, which is awesome."

The drama on "Hell's Kitchen" isn't for nothing. Gordon Ramsay and the producers, of course, dangle a carrot in front of the participants in the form of a top chef job and a cash prize of $250,000. But things aren't always as they seem. Dave Levey, for example, went on to work at Araxi Restaurant & Bar in Whistler, British Columbia after winning Season 6. He had initially thought he would take the head chef job at the restaurant, but in the end he was made a line cook.

Holli Ugalde, who won Season 7, was also told she would be given a job at the Savoy Grill in London. But she claimed that she was never actually given documentation to make it happen. In 2024, in an episode of the Vice documentary series "Dark Side of Reality TV," Ariel Malone (who won Season 15) claims that she also missed out on her prize. Malone claims she was supposed to work at BLT Steak in Las Vegas as an executive chef, but ended up taking pictures with people as "paid talent."

However, some winners have had more positive experiences. Christina Wilson, winner of Season 10, for example, has had an entire career working for Ramsay. She started off in Las Vegas' Gordon Ramsay Steak restaurant before becoming executive chef at Gordon Ramsay Burger. Now, she's even the vice president of culinary for Gordon Ramsay North America.

As we've alluded to already, Gordon Ramsay hardly has a reputation for being a nice guy. He swears constantly and seems to be always dishing out insults. This is arguably part of what has made him such a success in the TV world, but for contestants, it's not so fun. In fact, in Vice's documentary, Elsie Ramos claims that "everybody was afraid" and that Ramsay was a "fiery bully." Tek Moore added that this is a general problem in the industry, claiming that "chefs know how to verbally disembowel people."

This toxic culture was witnessed by director John Wells, while he was researching the film "Burnt" with Bradley Cooper, who plays a chef. According to Wells, he saw a chef in a Michelin Star restaurant burn another chef with a spatula. He also recalled seeing an employee get hit in the face with a hot steak for making a mistake.

However, some believe that Ramsay should be doing more to improve the culture. In 2018, restaurant critic Jay Rayner criticized a clip of the British chef shouting abuse at employees during "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA." In the post on X, Rayner acknowledged that this behavior is part of "restaurant kitchen culture." However, he also called Ramsay a "sad, inadequate man." He added: "Because he suffered violence and abuse as a young cook, Ramsay thinks it's character building and so the cycle continues. All he's doing is glamourizing bullying."

For the most part, Gordon Ramsay's aggressive behavior is limited to shouting and swearing, but in the past, things have gotten physical. In 2004, while filming an episode of "Hell's Kitchen," Ramsay ended up shoving one of the contestants. At the time, a spokesperson for Ramsay told The Scotsman that the incident was a "minor matter" and a contestant had ended up with a sprained ankle. They added that because doctors had told the injured contestant to rest, he would no longer be participating in "Hell's Kitchen."

Ramsay later clarified that he did not intend to hurt anybody, but the contestant had fallen and injured their ankle as a result of the altercation. "I'm Gordon Ramsay, for goodness sake," he said. "People know I'm volatile. But I didn't mean to hurt the guy." Regardless of whether or not the incident was intentional, the consequences were serious. In the end, Granada, the production company for "Hell's Kitchen," had to pay the contestant $124,000 to settle the incident out of court.

In a 2010 interview with the New York Post, Robert Hesse, who was a contestant in 2009, explained that, during his season, Ramsay had bodyguards to prevent things from getting physical against him. "If you saw the episode where the military guy snapped (and challenged Ramsay to a fight in the parking lot), those are his bodyguards," he explained. "They are ready for anything."

As mentioned earlier, Jen Revak has spoken of having all forms of entertainment, including phones and newspapers, removed from her possession before filming. Seth Levine, who appeared on Season 5, backed her up to the New York Post. During the same interview as Robert Hesse, he explained that everything was removed during filming, recalling: "It is just you by yourself in L.A. in this pit of fire." Levine added that if the rules are broken, producers are not happy at all. "There was one time that one of us got a hold of a newspaper, and it was like all hell broke loose," he said. "They came over and ripped it out of our hand!"

However, in Levine's experience, the "Hell's Kitchen" team was supportive after the show stopped filming. He said that contestants on his series were sent to a "beautiful house" and offered spa-like treatments and haircuts. "It is kind of like decompression before you go back into society," he noted.

Another contestant who enjoyed the experience, but struggled with the rules around entertainment and communication, was Season 20 winner Trenton Garvey. He told Mashed in an exclusive interview that having no outlet at all was challenging, and that he wasn't allowed to even call his fiancé. "Couldn't watch TV, couldn't listen to radio. So you're just stuck," he said. "I spent the time trying to read the recipes they gave us ... staying away from the drama."

The casting process on "Hell's Kitchen" is thorough. Executive producer Andrew Smith told Delish that the team, of course, looks for passion, but they also want people who can tough out the process. "Our cast members are line cooks and garde-mangers," he said. "They're in the trenches." But amid the search for the next culinary star, sometimes, the casting process fails to weed out troublemakers.

In Season 3, one contestant, known as J.R. (not to be confused with JR Robinson from Season 13) , was allegedly disqualified from the show for spreading nasty rumors about fellow contestants. This is all internet rumors, as there isn't much information available about the mysterious J.R., but he allegedly also started leaking spoilers about "Hell's Kitchen" online.

That said, one of the contestants who did appear on Season 3, Joanna Dunn, shared in a Facebook post in 2018 that, in her opinion, J.R. "was dismissed from the show early" after producers realized that he wasn't "a really good fit." Indeed, there is no record of J.R. appearing on the show in Season 3, suggesting that he may have been cut from production early. Dunn also claimed that J.R. had spread rumors about her that had cost her a job.