Best Hell's Kitchen Contestants

Was this guy real?... The stuff he was pulling off on the show was like deep blue hero tale from some Greek epic. One handed almost throughout the season, he never screwed on the line, won a challenge over an Indian cuisine of which he had no experience and never ever gave up on his fellow team members. He was totally inspiring. I have never seen anyone like him ever on HK. I was compelled to ask, if he was so good with just 1 hand, how awesome would he be with both.?

Dave is definitely the best contestant in Hell's Kitchen history. This guy only had one hand working properly, and he was still cooking like a steam train. He won tough challenges with only one hand. Overcame excruciating pain, and won Season 6. No doubt, the best chef in Hell's Kitchen. Hands down.

Dave Levey is a prodigy. The only other person who could've beat him in a competition is the one who ended up as the runner up (Kevin). Even with a broken arm he was able to make amazing food, become a great leader, and inspire everyone. No one has even SCATHED the achievements of Dave ever since. Too bad the Araxi treat him as poorly as they did. Best Chef ever.

This man is my Idol. He is such a wonderful man and he cooks like a pro. Can’t beat the one-armed bandit!

Only one to keep her cool and not get catty! Strong person on and off T.V.. She seems to be the most successful post Hells Kitchen too!

She was practically the only one who stayed calm and collected throughout the whole season! Christina also, when she makes a mistake, always makes an epic comeback! Not only that, but she is very, very humble and has a great personality! She can also snap like Gordon if you try and mess and provoke her, like she did with Jackie in s15, I think. No wonder why she's slowly becoming (unless she already is! ) Gordon's right-hand! Love you, Christina! Truly my favourite from ANY season!

How is Rock higher than Christina!?! Rock had a terrible attitude and scary temper. Not leadership quality at all! Christina was liked and respected by all who worked with her. She in turn respected everyone in the kitchen. Flawless cooking!

Rock was a great chef. Yes he had a temper, but he worked hard, led his team, and performed very well in almost every service. They are both great, but Rock is more iconic than Christina.

She's a fantastic chef, 'enough said.

He deserve to win hell's kitchen season 9.
He is a better chef than Paul.
I don't know how chef Ramsay give Paul won.

I was SO disappointed when Paul won over Will, one of the few times I felt Chef Ramsay made the wrong call. Will was rock solid through out the competition & was never put up for elimination by his teammates. He was an outstanding chef, leader & teammate. Definitely a Hell's Kitchen All Star! (How awesome would it be if they did a season of Hell's Kitchen All Stars with former runner ups & chefs who made it to final 3 all gunning for redemption? )

They are doing an All Stars series now, but people who made it to black jackets but didn't make it to the top two are taking part, so no Will and no redemption - Aquaturtle

One of the few chefs with so much respect. Doesn't let anything personal get towards himself. No such thing as a threat to him and like he's been calling it since the first day at hells kitchen, his only real threat is himself. With a great personality like that, anybody would be glad to cook under him. Like everyone says, I kinda wished he won over Paul and felt that they just wanted to Paul to win just because they played the deceased family card. - hk99

Will or Paul NEVER betrayed Jennifer because if they didn't picked her, Gordon Ramsay would of picked her anyways.

He was the most competent in that season.

Are you CRAZY?!?! Rock was a beast in the kitchen, 100% deserved to win. None of the chefs in season 3 came close to matching Rock's talent!

He completely deserved to win

He rocks

So consistent, never failed and dominated. He even has his own knife company. I think he was more professional than some of the other chefs throughout the seasons.

The best chef I've ever seen in hell's kitchen

Michael was a good cook shuted up and won

The one who brings the "quality test" into hell's kitchen.

He's a really good chef his style is amazing he could have been in the finals the only person that was amazing on the blue team

Pure injustice that he didn't win Season 11. Consistent, confident, always very calm (The only contestant that didn't get flustered at any point) The insult lies in that the winner lost her job at Caesar Palace leaving the real winner unrewarded.

Him not giving up or asking to be switched to the red team just proves who he is. I think Chef Ramsay regretted his decision by giving him Sous Chef in Gordon Ramsay steak. - ClashingWizardWill92

While the other Season 11 Blue Kitchen chefs basically backstabbing each other, Jon on the other hand, was just staying on course (or staying on target), to earn the black jacket, finished on the final three, and got the job offer on one of the Ramsay's restaurant. He deserved my respect!

After watching through the entire season. I only remeber 2 times where Jon's performance was subpar. On the pressure cooker challenge where his lamb legs were slightly undercooked and on the first dinner service where one of his rossottos was stuck to the bottum of the pan (which automatically got his ejected from the kitchen). Overall he was a great chef and easily one of my favorites.

Inspiring, great guy. Definitely a person people would love to work with in the kitchen. Too bad he was sabotaged by Jen in that season. Completely deserved to win.

True Chef, right here. If you had taken out the Jen incident, there wouldn't have been a competition. He was also so honest and seemed very nice.

How did he not win!?

Not really, chef's that won some seasons were men, but maybe they have more passion and determination, and cooking ability, men who won like Rock and Dave have those too, but Louie doesn't he said women are the best at Cleaning so it's right up there alley, he was a good chef but I think Christina is a little better

Petrozza was the most honest and humble man on the show. Sure he was a little bit messy but he deserved to get to the final.

Amazing guy. Had he been in pretty much any season besides Season 6 he would have won. Great chef, leader, palette, creativity, and personality.

He would have easily have defeated the winner of any other season, with the possible exception of Heather in season two. It was unfortunate that he had to compete with Dave, who was in a class by himself.

I wish they'd stop bringing him back. He crashed and burned so hard in season 18. He may have done really well the first time he competed, but I don't think he cares about Hell's Kitchen as much as he used to.

He deserved to win.I felt bad fir him and his family especially his son his father could have won.He was better than most of the Hell's Kitchen.If Dave didn't broke his arm or Kevin broke his arm too,maybe it will be like season 1 were both if them are equally as good

I can't even begin to go into how much I don't want to vote for Scott. I thought he was an absolutely ridiculous competitor the entire competition, and I didn't think he'd even make it past the final ten. But honestly, I'm glad he won, he had the single biggest comeback I've ever seen on Hell's Kitchen, and, although I personally was rooting for Jason for most of the season, I can definitely say he was deserving.

He had a really rough start, but now he's made a comeback and is in the final 2. Like Gordon Ramsay has said, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

He made an excellent comeback and proved to Chef Ramsay that it's perseverance and grit that gets you ahead in the competition.

Despite he was kissing everyone's ass he kept trying to get stronger and stronger and learnt from his mistakes he deserves respect

Very heartbreaking he had to leave the competition for his own sake. He should won in my opinion. Amazing guy with such talent. Keep it up Motto! - ndog

The most beautiful contestant ever, and never seen such a consistent attitude ever. From the first two episodes I could see she would win, I was 99% certain the entire time. So many moments you could see she would win - For example the steak night, she had about 10-12 steaks resting at all times, then you remember Giovanni from season 5, the steak house executive, that fell flat on his face even with a helper (Robert) on his station. Meghan handled it flawlessly on her own.

Very impressive person and maybe my most favorite contestant ever, maybe after Keith from season 2 or Petrozza from season 4.

She is consistent in almost every service and a great leader. She is one of the best chefs I have ever seen on Hell's Kitchen that she should be around at least the top 20. - ndog

This is the best contestant ever in Hell's Kitchen history not one bad dinner service flawless all throughout the competition great leader has a strong passion for cooking and a strong chef. See at first I thought Jillian from season 8 was the best chef ever but when I saw Meghan I saw she was even better and an even stronger chef.

Slay

She took her defeat in the finals the best out of all the runner ups of the show. Plus, she's very talented, has a great attitude, and is an amazing chef overall. Definitely one of the best contestants on the show.

She was just perfect as it comes to cooking, having always delivered in the highest standard. She might not have been maybe the most exciting or extravangant, but in my opinion the best COOK in HK. Also very intelligent, friendly, hard-working, funny and beautiful. Ramsay did see that and I think she was one of his all-time favourites contestants.

I think Season 5 might be the only season I disagree on the choice of the winner. During most of the season, Paula had better services than Ramsey and she also made a lot less mistakes than Danny overall. Her lone elimination nomination wasn't really one. - Cre47

Better than any winners prior to her season. Gordan Ramsey said so himself.

She's genuinely my favourite, she rarely made mistakes throughout her whole stay! She was easily the winner of that season from day 1 - Aquaturtle

I knew from the very start Ryan was going to win, she had all the qualities needed to be a head chef. She was carrying every team she was on Red, Blue and Black. What I love most is how she found her voice. I am so happy she is a head chef.

She consistently won challenges and rarely if ever messed up on the line. She had personality and style and masterful technique. She is a master of the kitchen, and should be regarded as one of the greatest, easily up there with Dave and Christina.

A lot of people say that Ryan BARELY made any mistakes and...its true! I've seen her do like 2 small mistakes in the dinner services in Season 16 sure I bet she did more from what I remembered but she kept her chill and she excelled. - tacoperson

Top 50 maybe but not top 18 you give up a reward for drugs your pathetic

She just got busted for drugs, and lost that position in season 11, failed drug test

Too bad she made a bad decision for doing drugs, now nobody would want to hire her.

She shouldn't be on the list!

This guy started out as a douchebag but quickly matured during the show & gained the talent but most important maturity that allowed him to win Hell's Kitchen 5.

Danny was just awesome. He didn't whine that much. hell's kithcen is full with pussies. Danny wsn't one of them

I don't think he was a douchebag, I think he really saw the other chefs cook and knew he was better. Never complained and always seemed competent. Competed well in every challenge.

Why is he ranked lower than Ja'Nel?

He was really good and it was nice to see him flirting with Holli, it was entertaining.

Should have won - lampard287

What if Holli flirts with Andrew

This guy has a heart of gold, he's humourous and he's very talented. Especially considering Ramsay's hatred towards fat chefs

He was great during Season 5, but he was awful during Season 6.

He is so nice but in season 5 he was a hero and in season 6 he went to zero. - spodermanfan1000

He is the most underrated chef in hell's kitchen history. I would never understand why did ramsay eliminated robert over andy, andy was bad and was so horrible to see him making big mistakes. If I were ramsay, I would give robert a black jacket instead of suzanne, but not only I would do that, I would put him facing either dave or kevin in the finals of hell kitchen season 6

Great chef, great leader, only contestant to get perfect score in blind taste test, should have won.

5/12/2015 Milly just got a perfect score on the blind taste test. Justin is now the first contestant to get a perfect score on the blind taste test instead of the only. - ResistOppression

One of the top guys ever

A very talented chef. Although Christina's win was kind of a given, I would have liked to see Justin win.

One of the best chefs.

He may not look like a serious competitor but his passion, drive, and determination proves that he's always 100 despite not making it to the black jackets.

He was always so positive, supportive and never back stabbed anyone. I was happy to see him get as far as he did. Too bad he couldn't be put on season 16 to help balance out the men's terrible egos - they were all so horrible and crude that season. Sterling was definitely a class act!

Every person should aspire to be like chef sterling he had such a great attitude and may not have been the best but for sure a favorite

His elamination(can't spell) was kinda sad, because a nicest guy have to go. Heck he made Jennifer (who never liked people) cried! That's saying something!

She was more skilled than Nona and had a way better attitude than Russell! How did she not win?

She was the best of her season

Let's see, is it because she has been frequently defended Sabrina, that she is not at least in the top 20

Russel was so mean to everyone nona should of gone homeon day 1

I would say by far the best on the red team even though she had a lot of problems with some of the meat (especially lamb/venison)

Should be higher considering she won season 18 and had a way better personality than the Ariel who won season 15 - aceboogieog

She has grown a lot since Season 18 and I am so proud that she won this season. She truly deserved the win!

Seeing her on Season 18 easily puts her into the top 10 alongside the likes of Dave, Christina W and Ryan. She's way better than Winners like Scott.

To this day, I never understood why Anthony got eliminated over Zach. He was consistent, funny, and hard-working. The only bad thing about him is that he has a bad palate.

I'll never understand why Jon even nominated him over Zach in the first place. Sure, Anthony struggled in the beginning of the service, but he bounced back and was more consistent overall. Zach, on the other hand, only continued to go on a downward spiral, and in that service, not only did he struggle, but he also kept making excuses for his poor performance. - ResistOppression

Probably the only other guy in the season deserving of a black jacket.

Zach should have gone home before Anthony. Never made excuses for himself and bounced back on services. Season would have been dull without him.

The final 3 should've been him, Jon and Ja'Nel.

Ralph should have won this season, hands-down. Michael slipped through the cracks and back-stabbed his way to the win.

Ralph for sure was the better chef in season one my favorite all time Hell's Kitchen chef

Talented guy if michael wasnt there he woud have won.

Raplh sabatoged Andrew though

Didn't have any experience in a restaurant, ends up in final 4. That's very impressive!

Really love her spirit. She is a legend, able to recreate food just by watching. And she's got so much passion to her. Real Gutted to see that she's got to leave but I think Maybe Gordan Ramsey sees the stress she's under.

Elsie was a great chef with a good personality. She told Chef Ramsay that her team helped her even when they did not. They did not help her on purpose.

Most respectable female non-finalist contestant to ever set foot in Hell's Kitchen

T for "Terrific" is definitely true. She ran the pass very well. Very impressive. - ndog

T was the most consistent and the most composed and steady of season 14. Probably the best runner up so far.

"It's just suddenly donned what T stands for: Terrific" -Gordon Ramsay

T was the best runner up since Mary from season 11.

Shaky in season 14, but when he returned on all stars he was extremely consistent. And his comments were so funny it made the all stars season way more interesting to watch than it was.

Awesome in 14. Great in all stars. He definitely should have won All stars.

Too low for my liking

He had a awesome spirit. He was a good cook.
And when he left it proves how good of a cook he was
" I came into hells kitchen with my joy and I'm going to leave with my joy"

Four star General black Gordon Ramsay

His attitude is inspiring and he was always such a joy

He's a great guy, good chef. Kinda had a bad feeling about him at first when he was gloating on the bus though lol

Was the underdog right from the beginning, having more foes than friends. Ultimately she was able to beat the odds and conquer the Season 4 winner's title. - jimmy12lee

She was targeted more then I've seen any other Chef targeted, and she still won! There is also the fact that she won more challenges then any other Chef in Hell's Kitchen history.

Also Barbie takes the throne of being the most targeted chef nowadays

Not exactly Ja'Nel won allot more challenges than she did

Ji was one of the best on Season 5. But her injured ankle unfortunately took her out of the competition but she got to keep her jacket which was awesome. She should return for any future season of Hell's Kitchen!

She was great! Too bad she was injured, she should come back for season 12

Ji was a beast, but too bad she got injured very early into the competition.

Absolutely should return, I know she made her father proud and I know she would’ve had a black jacket if her injury never occurred.

This guy is crapping bats insane

He has a big heart, a ton of charisma & a fantastic sense of humour. Bottom line, Van was awesome!

This guy was not only a great chef, but a very funny guy! He's my favorite contestant from Season 6 along with Dave and Kevin.

I love this guy! He was very hilarious and relatable. Yeah he was a little slow mentally, but he's the kind of person you just wanna sit down and have a cold one with to be honest.

He's not a bad chef, but I definitely would not rank him as one of the top contestants. I think he lacked a lot of respect, and had a very poor attitude (particularly in the all stars season). I was glad to see him get eliminated.

Top 4 in a very strong season. Could easily have won some of the previous seasons.

Very talented, hard-working, and has a lot of passion. If he ended up in season 15, I think he could have easily won.

He should have won, me and my family were devastated when he left! He was such a passionate cook and I have never seen someone so genuine about food, considering I’m a cook myself. He deserves Number 1!

She only had 4 years experience coming into Hell's Kitchen, yet she kicked ass during her stay!

If she was in season 15, she would have easily won.

She's the best and doesn't deserve all the hate she gets! She is an extremely awesome and lovable and super nice contestant. She wasn't mean and wouldn't deliberately sabotage people like some thing. MICHELLE IS AWESOME AND I LOVE HER

Talented chef for a young person. She had been looked down on because of “inexperience”, but she definitely gave Elise and T from season 14 a run for their money by winning the All-Stars Season

There were a lot of awful contestants in season 12. Rochelle wasn't one of them. Kinda surprised she didn't make it to the finals.

A great attitude goes a long way. With some more restaurant experience, she would have at least made the final 2.

Very calm after cutting of her finger

Rochelle was one of my favorites and she had lots of talent but she did trip up during services out of nowhere but overall she was a good chef and she made it very far! - tacoperson

Very intelligent and hard-working. She wasn't my favourite but I think she deserved that black jacket.

She Was A good chef and should have been on the finale

Yes, she was a good chef, but being in the finale? I don't think so. She definitely wasn't better than Christina or Justin. - ResistOppression

Dana started off great didn't have much of a voice, than she gained it and there was no stopping her...until she got eliminated - spodermanfan1000

Very good chef. She deserves a position at a top notch restaurant.

She was my FAVORITE in season 10 she was nice and talented even though she didn't win she was one to remember, but lets just not remember when she came back in season 17 and her final serv--heh nothing. - tacoperson

How come Paul, the winner is ranked lower than Steven the first chef eliminated by Chef Ramsey (that means I don't include Jason's medical emergency)?

Great chef. I loved it when Jennifer told him she had a crush on him

Okay, maybe Will did deserve to win, but Paul being 65th is pretty bull to me. - VultureOnAcid

Great chef, but Will should've won.

Could have been one of the top contenders, but instead pulled up a Sarah-like meltdown in the latter episodes and was a disaster in the final service, nearly costing Meghan the win.

A contestant that showed great improvement in Season 11

She was the nicest person ever on Hell's kitchen. And she never cursed which in this day and age is a rarity. She was also very talented. She may not have been the smartest person but she was the most lovable.

She was responsible with dan finished first should have won!

Should be much higher

Too bad he had his famous downfall in the latter half of the episodes where he competed. Because he had what it takes to win the competition prior to becoming a bad chef from episodes 8-10!

Good cook and good attitude and the funniest chef there
And his hair pure amazing

Agreed could cook and was unlucky because Russell threw him under the bus

Such a shame she couldn't get a visa to travel to London. She was great.

One of the hottest chefs on the show.

When you talk about pure passion, this guy is hands down #1. He couldn't cook in the first service for the ninth season, which sucks. Because he was dehydrated, he was off the show. But, HE CAME BACK! He came back because he still wanted the position. Talk about determination.

I was so sad when he lost to Scott because no one had more passion than him. He really wanted it, but didn't end up getting it. It was heartbreaking. No one was better than him and that's why I think he should be higher on the list.

He is a great chef, many people think that had a terrible attitude, but he display that attitude with persons like mike and sandra, who are useless contestants. He was very consistent and it suprised me that he didn't win hell's kitchen 12 considering that he made a big comeback after he left season 9 because of a dehydration. He is a great chef and should be higher than rochelle.

He had great personality. My brother and I would just laugh when he'd scream, get mad, and do his evil laugh... dam he deserved the title more than Scott.

One of the best chefs what sucks is the fact he couldn't cook in the first service in season 9 but in season 12 he was awesome... too bad he lost to scott though

She deserves more than Heather in the finals - J1996

Wish she made it to the finale.

I think she has a pretty good chance of winning. She's a great leader, has a great attitude, and overall, she's been doing a great job so far.

She should be in the top 10 she carried her team, was extremely consistent, and hardly got called out by Ramsey ever.

She should be in the top 10. One of the best competitors ever to walk in to hells kitchen

How is jackie ranked higher than her?

She should not be on the best list. Jackie cooks for only three months, she has her fight back personality, and performed well in the final dinner service with Ariel. I do admit her progress. Unfortunately, she had problems at the beginning of the show, fighting with Kristin, and even disrespecting Christina. However, she does improve herself during the show.

Are you kidding me? Jackie was probably the WORST contestant in Hell's Kitchen history: Acts tough, can't cook to save her life, and is very unprofessional. This must be a troll.

She says she's only been cooking for three months?!? WHAT?!? however I do admire her fight back personality but she sometimes can be very rude.

She was awful, should not be on this list - dubs35

Agree with the two comments, but he shouldn't be on the list or at least not that high (he is as of now ranked higher that the winners of seasons 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13). He was eliminated even before Amanda and Suzanne and eliminated early enough that we has not part of one of the finalist's dinner service teams.

He always stay calm. I like that

How come Jim is ranked higher than Ariel? Jim was mediocre at best and even had sous-chef Scott to bail him out while Ariel was the best from the Red Team by a mile.

One of the funniest chefs ever, but definitely not near the best.

"Joseph, we're not at war, we're just in a kitchen. So calm down, and let's cook some carrots."

To this date, I still cannot figure out how she made it into the final two. I thought for sure she would have been voted off the first time she made a huge mistake in the kitchen. Nope! Even after being nominated every single time for screwing something up, she still got chance after chance (obviously everyone else saw something fishy going on, as she was the only contestant I saw Ramsay have that much of a soft spot for). She could do no wrong, and the excuse given was that she had this amazing "palate" that couldn't be beat, yet she couldn't even do the most basic skills in the kitchen. This doesn't mean I don't think she's a good chef, but I have watched other chefs make just one mistake and get the boot. Something just didn't add up, unless they kept her for the ratings.

Very honest true persons never try to be someone else or screw over people and not the best cook but got that thing than most people don't

She was probably the hottest contestants on Hell's kitchen

Aaanddd shes higher than keith..

One of the funniest contestants!

He should have gone much further than he had

With Robyn's downfall, Brian should've been the 6th place finisher with the black jacket, not her.

It's go time.

Good Palate, but I think Jillian deserves to win more than her. - ndog

Best palate and knew how to run a kitchen.

Lost a lot weight

Already nominated for elimination three times in seven services. Raw salmon, raw eggplant and screwed up lentils. Like Sarah, good on challenges but terrible in services. If it wasn't for Sarah's sudden nosedive she would have been gone already. So definitely should not be in this list

WHAT! Christine is good in challenges but she sucks hardcore in dinner service, she should NOT be on here!

Why Christine? She's very inconsistent in services.