Reddit Is Celebrating The Worst Chef Mistakes On Hell's Kitchen
Television audiences love it when a reality TV or game show contestant earns themselves a spot in the blooper reels. Seriously, some of the best television moments have emerged from participants saying or doing the wrong thing. Fans of "Family Feud" will never forget the dumbstruck look on Steve Harvey's face when he asked for a word that follows "pork" and someone responded, "upine" (via BuzzFeed). Then there's the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" contestant who said that George W. Bush's first name was "Edmund" (per Ranker). And there's the "Wheel of Fortune" player that guessed "An Ace of Kidneys" instead of "An Act of Kindness" (via YouTube).
While it's easy to laugh at these seemingly boneheaded blunders from the comfort of one's recliner, viewers need to remember that the human mind often goes blank in front of an audience or a TV camera. This brings us to the contestants of "Hell's Kitchen. " Not only do they have to contend with a television audience, but they are under the watchful (and highly critical) eye of Gordon Ramsay. And those aren't necessarily the worst parts of being a contestant on "Hell's Kitchen." After enduring Ramsay's scathing tirades, the snipes of their fellow competitors, and functioning on very little sleep, they're bound to make mistakes.
That doesn't stop "Hell's Kitchen" enthusiasts from occasionally taking pleasure in what they deem the stupidest mistakes made by the show's competitors. And Redditors are enjoying singling out the contestants' most embarrassing moments.
A contestant retrieved pasta from the trash
When Redditor u/Inevitable-Tomato-81 asked r/HellsKitchen, "What are some dumb/bad mistakes that contestants have made?" responses poured in. The post originator contended that it was when season 4's Christina Machamer cooked red meat and fish in the same pan. The top comment, however, involved what many thought was the most disgusting thing ever seen on "Hell's Kitchen." In the show's 3rd season, Jen Yemola threw out pasta only to discover that it was needed on the next ticket. She decided to retrieve it from the garbage, give it a rinse, and serve it to the diners. Fellow competitor Julia Williams was disgusted by this move and told her to return it to the trash (via YouTube). Redditors agreed, voting this no-no straight to the top.
Another popular choice was when season 13's contestants were asked to cook for a dog show and Sade Dancy thought she was supposed to make dog food. Predictably, her decision to create a canine dish led to compromises in presentation, prompting Ramsay to say that her meal resembled, "dog poop on a plate" (via Hell's Kitchen Fandom). With commenters saying it gave them a good giggle and that the dish looked exactly like wet kibble, this truly was a memorable faux pas. Another famous fail came at the expense of the premiere season's Wendy Liu who told Chef Ramsay, "I thought cold water was supposed to boil faster than hot water." Ramsay's perplexed expression is forever imprinted in viewers' minds.
Raw flour doesn't belong in mashed potatoes
It's clear that many "Hell's Kitchen" contestants struggle. Under such stressful conditions, it's not unexpected — and Redditors seem to remember these mishaps with vivid clarity. One responder called out the cook who put "flour in the mashed potatoes?" That would be season 12's Melanie Finch, the contestant who decided that a great way to thicken up her mashed potatoes was to add raw flour and serve it to the judges (via Hell's Kitchen Fandom). Others agreed that Rochelle should have placed third instead of Melanie and that she should have lost her black jacket.
Another user called out season 5's Colleen Cleek for "mistaking salt for sugar." When Cleek assumed that a container of white granules was salt, she converted her risotto into a sickly sweet mess that Ramsay called "the worst risotto he's ever tasted in his entire cooking career" (via Facebook video), quickly illustrating what happens when you assume. The members of R/HellsKitchen were also appalled by the fact that season 3's Bonnie Muirhead threw out a perfectly good tray of monkfish that was needed for the dinner service because she thought it smelled bad.
The Reddit Hell's Kitchen community came up with a myriad of epic fails from "Hell's Kitchen," but these were voted the worst — right up there with the "Family Feud" contestant who responded to the prompt, "Name an animal whose eggs you'd never eat for breakfast" with, "Hamster."