Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 4)

Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen began airing on the Fox Network starting on April 1, 2008.^[1][2] 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.^[1]

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^[3][4] - not an executive chef as mentioned in show-related publicity and press releases.^[5] The London West Hollywood restaurant opened on May 27, 2008, while the series was still on-air.^[3][4]

Production location

This season was filmed in the warehouse district in Culver City, California.

Chef and staff members

• Chef - Gordon Ramsay
• Sous chefs - Scott Leibfried, Gloria Felix
• Maître d' - Jean-Philippe Susilovic

Contestants

There were 15 chefs who competed in season 4 and was the only Hell's Kitchen season to have 15 chefs compete compared to 12 from the last three seasons.

Contestant	Age	Occupation	Hometown
Bobby Anderson	37	Executive Chef	Niagara Falls, New York
Ben Caylor	29	Electrician & Former Chef	Charlotte, North Carolina
Dominic DiFrancesco	43	Stay-at-home Father	Catawba, South Carolina
Corey Earling	25	Private Chef	Brooklyn, New York
Louross Edralin	24	Hotel Cook	Las Vegas, Nevada
Rosann Fama	33	Law office receptionist & Former Cook	Staten Island, New York
Jennifer "Jen" Gavin	24	Garde Manger (cold food line cook)	Chicago, Illinois
Vanessa Gunnell	31	Line Cook	Bozeman, Montana
Christina Machamer	25	Culinary Student	St. Louis, Missouri
Petrozza !Louis "Petrozza" Petrozza	47	Catering Director	Charlotte, North Carolina
Shayna Raichilson-Zadok	28	Catering Company Owner	Buffalo, New York
Craig Schneider	30	Sous Chef	Coram, New York
Matthew "Matt" Sigel	35	Sous Chef	Pine Hill, New Jersey
Sharon Stewart	31	Room-service chef	Las Vegas, Nevada
Jason Underwood	29	Sous Chef	Las Vegas, Nevada

Credit order: Petrozza, Shayna, Ben, Craig, Rosann, Corey, Dominic, Jen, Christina, Jason, Matt, Louross, Vanessa, Bobby, Sharon. This was the first time the chefs were shown working in the kitchen for the credits. Previously, moving images were shown.

Episode progress table

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.

#	Chef	401	402	403	404	405	406	407	408	409	410	411	412	413	414/415
1	Christina	WIN	NOM	BoW	WIN	NOM	WIN	WIN	NOM	WIN	NOM	BoB	IN	NOM	WINNER
2	Petrozza	LOSE	WIN	BoW	LOSE	WIN	WIN	NOM	BoB	BoW	IN	IN	IN	IN	RUNNER-UP
3	Corey	WIN	BoW	LOSE	WIN	WIN	WIN	WIN	BoW	WIN	NOM	IN	NOM	OUT
4	Jen	WIN	NOM	LOSE	BoB	WIN	WIN	WIN	WIN	NOM	IN	NOM	OUT
5	Bobby	NOM	WIN	LOSE	BoW	WIN	WIN	LOSE	BoB	LOSE	IN	OUT
6	Matt	LOSE	WIN	LOSE	NOM	WIN	NOM	BoB	NOM	WIN	OUT
7	Louross	BoW	WIN	LOSE	LOSE	NOM	WIN	NOM	WIN	OUT
8	Rosann	WIN	LOSE	LOSE	WIN	WIN	NOM	WIN	OUT
9	Ben	LOSE	WIN	LOSE	NOM	WIN	WIN	OUT
10	Shayna	WIN	LOSE	LOSE	WIN	WIN	OUT
11	Vanessa	WIN	LOSE	NOM	WIN	LEFT
12	Craig	LOSE	WIN	LOSE	OUT
13	Jason	LOSE	WIN	OUT
14	Sharon	WIN	OUT
15	Dominic	OUT

     Contestant was nominated for elimination but prevailed

     Contestant was nominated for elimination by Chef Ramsay

     Contestant was eliminated

     Contestant voluntarily left the competition

     The winner of Hell's Kitchen

Ratings

#	Air Date	Rating	Share	18-50	Viewers (m)	Weekly Rank
1	April 1, 2008	7.5	11	5.7/14	12.55	#16
2	April 8, 2008	6.9	10	5.4/13	11.63	#19
3	April 15, 2008	6.6	10	4.9/12	11.08	#16
4	April 22, 2008	6.9	10	5.1/13	11.56	#19
5	April 29, 2008	7.2	11	5.5/15	12.26	#16
6	May 6, 2008	6.7	10	5.2/13	11.25	#18
7	May 13, 2008	7.1	11	5.5/14	12.40	#17
8	May 20, 2008	7.1	11	5.6/14	12.60
9	May 27, 2008	5.6	9	4.4/12	9.50
10	June 3, 2008	5.6	9	4.4/12	9.36
11	June 10, 2008	5.5	9	4.2/12	8.81
12	June 17, 2008	5.1	8	3.9/11	8.17
13	June 24, 2008	4.8	8		7.70
14	July 1, 2008	4.9	8		8.03	#15
15	July 8, 2008	5.3	9

Episodes

Episode 1

• Original airdate: April 1, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 401
• Overview: The 15 new chefs arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, Chef Ramsay disguised as a "man and a wig" with a surprise and ride on a bus with them. When they arrive in Hell's Kitchen, they met Jean-Philippe and parodied Chef Ramsay's attitude to say the key ingredients. Afterwards, Chef Ramsay removes his mask and reveals that is Ramsay himself with his hair.
• Signature dishes: The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their signature dishes. Craig was the first up with his jerk-seared Chilean sea bass over rum raisin risotto, which Chef Ramsay thought was way too sweet. Chef Ramsay also argued with Craig about his oversized chef's hat. Jen's Dungeness crab and corn risotto with lobster tail was immediately spit out by Ramsay as the rice was raw. Matt's dish, "Exotic Tartare", appeared to make Ramsay vomit due to its combination of raw venison, caviar, raw quail egg, lime zest, olive oil, capers, scallops, and white chocolate. Dominic's chicken dish left Gordon with something that lacked excitement. Rosann, a receptionist in a law office, received compliments from Chef regarding the perfect seasoning of her spicy mussel soup. Ramsay found Petrozza's "Hen in a Pumpkin" dish interesting, complete with greasy potatoes, dry cornish hen and unseasoned pumpkin. Vanessa's pan-seared halibut was complimented by Chef Ramsay for its seasoning and texture, "the best dish by a mile so far". Bobby, "the four star general", presented his Hawaiian butterfish with a red butter Thai sauce. However, Ramsay considered deep-frying the fish to be very lazy. On blue team, only Ben received any feedback that was somewhat positive for his dish, which Chef Ramsay deemed to be unremarkable, but "not bad."
• Teams: Red (women) and Blue (men).
• Captains:

Blue: Bobby was selected by his team to be captain. During service, Ramsay demoted him and designated Louross captain.

Red: Vanessa was selected captain by her team. During service, Ramsay demoted her and designated Rosann captain.

• Dinner: Things didn't look too promising before the start of service. Ramsay asked Bobby, then Matt, and then Petrozza what the entrées were. But none of them could remember a single item, while Christina (who had her hand raised the whole time) correctly remembered all five entrées. During service, Jason was still in the dorms when the first order came in the blue kitchen, prompting Ramsay to shout down the corridors in order to get him in the kitchen. Neither Jason nor Sharon could get their appetizers out. Chef Ramsay kicked Sharon off her station and replaced her with Jen, who managed to get the job done. Dominic threw about 30 overcooked scallops in the bin, while Jason twice failed to give Ramsay a good risotto; Ramsay made Jason eat the second risotto. Both Vanessa and Bobby failed to show leadership and were replaced by Rosann and Louross. Corey overcooked a chicken, which led Ramsay to throw it against an oven. Jason finally got his appetizers out, but the customers had already left. No entrees were served.
• Winner: None. The service never went beyond the appetizer stage, and that was barely completed by the women's team. Chef Ramsay proclaimed this service to be the worst start ever in Hell's Kitchen history, and criticised Bobby and Vanessa for both being terrible leaders, Jason for "sinking" the Blue kitchen, and Corey for overcooking the chicken. The Blue team were not only named the losers for not serving any food whatsoever before the customers walked out, Chef Ramsay named their performance as the worst in the entire history of the show. Louross was declared the Best of the Worst for managing to get the team somewhat organized after he replaced Bobby, and was assigned to select the two candidates for elimination.
• Nominees for elimination: Bobby was easily chosen as the first nominee, as the entire team agreed that he had utterly failed as a leader. Louross was torn between Jason and Dominic as the second nominee; while he thought Jason had been the worst cook of the night, he ultimately nominated Dominic on the grounds that he had also been a poor performer and had very little professional experience.
• Elimination: Dominic was eliminated. After elimination, Chef Ramsay noted that Jason "dodged a bullet", and that Bobby's survival was mostly due to him being able to admit that he had been a poor leader.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "To be a great chef you need to have passion, talent, and creativity. Dominic had passion, but that was it."

Episode 2

• Original airdate: April 8, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 402
• Group punishment: For wasting over $1000 in food in the previous episode, the contestants were awoken by Scott and Gloria with bullhorns and rushed outside, where Chef Ramsay forced them to pick up the wasted food -- delivered via garbage truck -- with their bare hands, and place them in clear bins.
• Challenge: The contestants were to fillet a large halibut in uniform pieces, each weighing 6 ounces, trying to leave little waste. At the end, each team had 41 pieces cut and deemed acceptable by Chef Ramsay, leading to the series' first tiebreaker. The tiebreaker consisted of one person from each team who had to choose an accepted fillet that was the closest to six ounces. The Blue team won when their piece weighed 5.9 ounces; the Red team lost with their 4.8 ounce piece.
• Reward/Punishment: The Blue team are transported via Rolls Royces and Bentleys to a superyacht, where they enjoy dinner with Chef Ramsay and Jean-Philippe. The Red team stayed behind to prepare the seafood for the next night's service. During the punishment tension arose between Corey and Jen, as Jen repeatedly accused Corey of being solely responsible for the defeat in the challenge, while Christina unknowingly annoyed Corey by trying to give her tips on how to prepare for the service.
• Dinner: To help out Jean-Phillipe, Rosann and Craig each become an assistant maître d' for their respective teams, while their teammates cook. Chef Ramsay threatened to eliminate Petrozza before the service even began after he was unable to remember the menu, but he was eventually able to correctly remember it with help from Bobby. The teams started well, with Corey in the Red team and Bobby in the Blue team doing well on appetizers despite poor communication in both kitchens. Things quickly went downhill when the service moved onto entrées, though; the Red kitchen was bought to a halt by Sharon's bad performance on the meat station, while in the Blue kitchen Jason did poorly on the fish station and Petrozza got his orders mixed up on the meat station. Rosann and Craig both struggled in the dining room, as Craig accidentally hit a woman on the head with a chair he was carrying, while Rosann revealed partway through the service that she had only given in half of her tickets, not wanting to overwhelm the Red kitchen, which put her team hopelessly behind with no hope of catching up. Chef Ramsay, disappointed with the progress, closed the service.
• Winner: No winner, though the Red team was designated the worst team, since they barely served any entrees while the Blue team managed half of theirs. Corey was named the "Best of the Worst".
  • Nominations: Corey nominated Christina, for "strategic reasons", claiming that she treated her like "a dumb blonde"; and Jen, for "personal reasons", saying that she distracts her from working. The red team was shocked by Corey's nominations. Despite this, Ramsay accepted her nominations. Christina broke down crying while trying to justify why she should stay, while Jen talked for an excessive length of time listing her accomplishments.
• Eliminated: In a shocking turn of events, Ramsay eliminated Sharon over Christina and Jen. Chef Ramsay said, "Before I make my decision, I would like to say that this is the most important prize ever and I'm not going to give this job to someone I don't believe in. And there is someone here, that I just don't believe in. So the person leaving Hell's Kitchen is... Sharon!" Sharon was eliminated for struggling on the first two dinner services, showing Ramsay that "she couldn't cook".
• Chef Ramsay's Reason: "Sharon clearly showed great attention to detail. Unfortunately, it wasn't for cooking. It was for her makeup."
• Note: Although Ramsay had vetoed nominations in the past, this is the first time Ramsay eliminates a non-nominated chef despite accepting the original nominees.

Episode 3

• Original airdate: April 15, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 403
• Challenge: The contestants were to make perfect cuts of a chicken, part by part, without cutting too much meat or having portions of other parts on a part of the chicken. At the end, the Red team won with a near-flawless performance, only having four portions between the entire team deemed as unacceptable (two each from Jen and Shayna, with Corey, Christina, Rosann and Vanessa each having a perfect eight) , while Craig single-handedly lost the challenge for the Blue team by having six of his portions rated as unacceptable.
• Reward/Punishment: The Red team visited the Saddle Ranch Chop House, a western-themed restaurant on the Sunset Strip, where they met restaurant regular Aaron Song, a former contestant from the show's third season. The losing Blue team was transported to a field in the country to pick peppers (during the punishment Ben tossed peppers at Craig and Jason decided not to work as much as the rest of the group).
• Dinner: In a similar incident to what happened to Petrozza during the previous episode, Jason was thrown out before the start of service for not being able to remember the menu. Louross eventually got him back in, but Jason still couldn't remember the menu, and even said that he wanted to quit the show before finally being able to remember the menu with much prompting from Ramsay. Bobby was chosen by Chef Ramsay to cook the service's chicken special tableside as a second part of the Blue Team's punishment. As for the rest, both teams in the kitchen were able to complete their appetizers, but were barely able to begin the entree portion. Vanessa, on the Red team, served the meat undercooked, while Rosann later burned the meat, starting a fire in the kitchen. Things weren't any better in the Blue team, as Craig struggled on the appetizers and argued with his team-mates, while Ben overcooked and later undercooked the salmon and angered Chef Ramsay by trying to blame his mistakes on "different cooking techniques." Later, Jason couldn't get the soufflés to rise properly, and suggested solving the problem by coating their rims with sugar and cocoa (which he should have done at the start of the service); upon hearing this suggestion, Chef Ramsay repeatedly banged his head on the counter in frustration. With dinner practically never served, and Chef Ramsay near the end of his rope, he closed service and declared both teams losers. On his way out of the kitchen Bobby waved to a group of customers he had served earlier, which only further infuriated Ramsay.
• Winner: No winning team. Chef Ramsay had Petrozza and Christina, both Best of the Worst for their teams, nominate a person from their team for elimination. Petrozza nominated Jason for wanting to give up earlier and his string of bad services. Christina thought about nominating Corey as revenge for her actions in the previous episode, but ultimately selected Vanessa for struggling on the meat station. Chef Ramsay told Vanessa that she had one more chance before eliminating Jason, as he was too slow and had tried to quit earlier when he could not stand the pressure.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "I kept waiting for Jason to show me some energy, to wake up, but he never did. And that's why I'm putting him to sleep."

Episode 4

• Original airdate: April 22, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 404
• Group punishment: After Jason left and the remaining chefs returned to their dorms, Chef Ramsay ordered both teams to clean up their kitchens. Corey snuck out of the Red kitchen and went to bed.
• Challenge: Before the challenge, Chef Ramsay asked the teams who they felt their strongest members were. The women all put Jen forward as the strongest cook (apart from Corey, who put herself forward), while the men put forward Ben in an effort to restore his standing with Chef Ramsay (who had yelled insults at him as he walked back to the dorm). The contestants were to make perfect strands of pasta, with the team with the most pasta by weight winning. One member from each team was required to sit out and allow the pasta to be hung on their arms; Matt volunteered to do this for the Blue team, while the Red team decided that Shayna was their weakest member and made her sit out. In a near-repeat of the previous challenge, the women's performance was virtually flawless, while Craig had a lot of trouble and slowed the men down. The Red team won with 6.57 lbs of pasta, compared to just 5.48 lbs for the Blue team.
• Reward/Punishment: The Red team was taken via Hummer limousine to the Pacific Park amusement park at the Santa Monica Pier. The Blue team prepared the night's service for both teams, while Ben unwittingly volunteered to clean up after the animals in the petting zoo set up outside for Family Night. The returning women were particularly amused by this aspect of Ben's punishment, given that they had a lengthy argument with him after the challenge, due to his habit of leaving bottles filled with tobacco spit around the dorms.
• Dinner: Both teams cooked a special family menu, given to them just hours in advance. On the Red team, Vanessa got the team off to a flying start on the appetizers, but was sent to the hospital after she severely burned her hand while putting out a burning pan that Shayna had accidentally set fire to. Despite being down a team member, Jen pulled the Red team together, and they succeeded in completing their service. Meanwhile, on the Blue team Matt served raw chicken and tough hamburgers, while Craig struggled on the pasta station and seemed rather surly answering Chef Ramsay. Also, Ben congratulated his teammates for a job well done -- while there were still six orders waiting in the queue (versus two for the Red team). Once the Red Team finished service, they were then sent to help the Blue Team; unfortunately, during that time Craig still would not accept help (or as Shayna put it: "Take the help, even if it's from a girl") and yelled at his teammates and Ramsay (or as Rosann put it, "You've got some attitude, son"). After the service ended, Vanessa returned to Hell's Kitchen and revealed that she had sustained a second degree burn and might require reconstructive surgery, but said that she intended to continue in the competition for as long as she could.
• Winner: The Red team was the season's first winner, with Jen, nominated for elimination earlier, being the best cook. On the Blue team, Bobby was selected Best of the Worst, and nominated Craig and Matt for elimination for their poor performances. Chef Ramsay decided that another person from the blue team needed to be up there, and cited "He knows who he is!". Ben stepped forward, due to his celebratory actions despite the blue team being far behind the red team during service. Ben claimed he would continue to give chef Ramsay 100%, while Matt piped up with 125%. Ramsay then looked at Craig, expecting an answer, to which Craig responded, "I don't know what a percentage is." Chef Ramsay chose Craig for elimination.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "I can teach someone how to cook, but Craig was a bad cook with an even worse attitude. There was no hope for him."

Episode 5

• Original airdate: April 29, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 405
• Challenge: The contestants were to make a gourmet-style pizza; the most delicious pizza, as determined by Chef Ramsay, won. Also, the winning team's pizza would be on the menu for dinner service. The Red team won with Jen's "Little Bit of Italy, Little Bit of France" pizza, with the improperly prepared mushrooms on Ben's pizza costing the Blue team victory.
• Reward/Punishment: Before leaving the kitchen to take the Red Team on their reward, Chef Ramsay gave the Blue Team a pep talk, saying that they had talent and that the only thing that was missing from the team was teamwork. The Red team was taken by helicopter to the Square One restaurant in Santa Barbara, California, home of the "$90 Burger" and their truffle "fries". The Blue Team stayed behind to prepare for the night's service. The team, particularly Louross, took the defeat hard since they had lost every challenge and service (apart from the halibut challenge) so far. Ben and Louross argued during the punishment, with Ben criticizing Louross from breaking down in front of Ramsay before the punishment began, saying "There's no room for bitches in this game right now."
• Withdrawal: Although Vanessa had managed to struggle through the team challenge, the pain of her burnt hand became significantly worse during prep, to the point where she was unable to work effectively. After talking with Chef Ramsay, Vanessa decided that she should leave Hell's Kitchen, as her injury was not likely to heal much during the course of the season, and she didn't want to be in the kitchen working at only half power.
• Dinner: The blue team selected Ben from to deliver pizza orders. Matt couldn't cook decent eggs for the scallops, forcing Bobby to take over. Shayna undercooked the beef wellingtons. Rosann struggled on the vegetable station, forcing Ramsay to send the beef wellingtons alone. Ramsay also told Jen to take over Rosann's station. Louross had trouble cooking steak, but Petrozza managed to fool sous chef Scott by slicing the sides of the beef so they were "steaks". Although Christina and Jen were both supposed to be on the dessert station, Jen refused to help Christina, leaving her struggling with the souffles. Ramsay then ordered a reluctant Corey to help her. Both teams completed their service.
• Winner: For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, Chef Ramsay declared the teams as joint-winners. However, he still required each team to nominate a member for elimination. Louross acknowledged that he had been the weakest member of the blue team and nominated himself, while the red team initially decided on Rosann. However, Jen, who considered herself the leader of the Red team and felt that Christina was standing in her way, persuaded Corey, Rosann, and Shayna to change their votes to Christina. Ramsay was shocked by Christina's nomination, and went on to briefly interrogate the red team about their decision. In the end, he decided Vanessa would be the only one going home and saying that it was his gift to both teams for completing a full dinner service; thus nobody else would be dismissed.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "It's unfortunate that Vanessa's burn took her out of the competition. We will never, ever know if she really had what it takes to win Hell's Kitchen." (Chef Ramsay's reason on Vanessa's withdrawal was stated prior to dinner service. However at the end of the episode, Vanessa did receive her full elimination sequence.)

Episode 6

• Original airdate: May 6, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 406
• Challenge: The contestants prepared appetizers and entrees for Melissa, a girl celebrating her "Sweet 16", to vote on; the team with the most chosen dishes won. The Blue team triumphed.
• Reward/Punishment: The Blue team spent a day kart racing, followed by treats at the Simon LA restaurant. The Red team decorated Hell's Kitchen for Melissa's party, under the supervision of party planner Francesco, and Melissa's mother.
• Dinner: Melissa and her mother Lori are the VIP guests, whom Ramsay wants to make sure get proper service. Christina forgot the mushrooms and Parmesan Cheese in Melissa's risotto. Matt had trouble keeping up with the fish station, stalling the blue kitchen. Both Melissa's and Lori's entrees returned to the kitchen, much to Ramsay's dismay. Rosann had undercooked Melissa's steak, and Matt had overcooked Lori's halibut. After failing again to produce a medium-well steak, Ramsay took over Rosann's meat station and cooked the steak himself. Matt then sent out raw halibut, causing Bobby to become fed up and push Matt off his station. Ramsay was furious at Matt for allowing Bobby to do that. Shayna struggled on the garnish station and Chef Ramsay told her that she's too slow. Both teams completed their service. The dinner service was followed by a concert by Melissa's favorite band The Pink Spiders.
• Winner: The Red Team appeared to have won with a 99% approval rating as opposed to the 98% that the Blue team managed, but Chef Ramsay said that he couldn't name a losing team on a difference of just 1%, and announced the teams as joint winners for the second service in a row. Matt thanked Ramsay for his generosity, only for Ramsay to rebuke his thanks, much to the amusement of the rest of the Blue Team. Ramsay made it clear that this time someone would be eliminated, and told each team to nominate one person for elimination.
• Nominees for elimination: Matt realized that he was certain to be the Blue team's nominee for his poor performance on the fish station, as well as failing twice to cook Lori's halibut properly, and stormed off to his room. The Red team chose Shayna for her slow speed in the kitchen (Jen had wanted to nominate Christina again, but Corey talked her out of this, adding that Christina was not likely to be sent home when Rosann and Shayna had been far worse in the service). Chef Ramsay was taken aback by Shayna's nomination and asked Christina who would she nominate personally, and she chose Rosann. Ramsay agreed and had Rosann step forward with Matt and Shayna.
• Eliminated: After briefly hearing from Shayna and Rosann, Chef Ramsay had a lengthy argument with Matt and appeared to be on the verge of eliminating him, when Matt asked to be moved over to the Red team, telling Chef Ramsay that if he did so, he would see who the real failure in the Blue team was (strongly implying Ben). Ramsay considered Matt's words and sent him back in line, before finally eliminating Shayna, saying that while she was a solid, hard working cook, she was too slow to ever be a truly great chef.
• Team Change: Matt's wish to move to the Red team was granted, effective in the next episode.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "Shayna has a big heart, but at times I felt her heart wasn't here. It was back home with her newborn baby. She made far too many simple mistakes and that's why she's going back to something she's good at: Changing diapers."

Episode 7

• Original airdate: May 13, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 407
• Challenge: The contestants had a blind taste test to see which foods they could identify by taste. To even up the teams, Chef Ramsay asked Jen to sit out on this challenge. The Blue team performed dismally in the first part of the challenge, as Petrozza only successfully managed to identify chicken, while neither Bobby nor Louross could identify a single item of food between them. The Red team, meanwhile, successfully identified five items of food. The final pairing was between rivals Matt and Ben, guessing the ingredients in a bowl of Clam Chowder. Both of them successfully identified one ingredient on each turn they took, but Ben was unable to catch up due to the poor start by his team-mates, meaning that the Red team won.
• Reward/Punishment: The Red team spent the day at the patio, which was converted into a spa. The Blue team cleaned the kitchen and the dorms. In addition, Ben was called to serve iced tea to the Red team.
• Dinner: The service quickly got off to a rough start, as Rosann on the Red team burnt her scallops, while on the Blue team Bobby cooked his scallops correctly but Louross forgot to provide the garnish; an early instance of the communication problems that would plague the Blue team throughout the night. Jen tried to call the orders for one Red table, which led Chef Ramsay to rebuke her and remind her that he was in charge, in turn causing Jen to become angry and non-responsive for the rest of the service. Matt and Christina rallied the team and pushed forward with strong performances on the appetizer and meat stations respectively, but the team was dragged down by Jen's attitude and Rosann's poor performance on the fish station. On the Blue team Ben got his orders mixed up, ran out of ingredients and undercooked nearly every meat entree on order, and only made Chef Ramsay angrier by trying to claim that it wasn't his fault because he wasn't used to cooking on the line. The few entrees that Ben did manage to serve were returned almost immediately, which caused Ramsay to finally lose his patience and shut the service down.
• Winner: Neither team won, though Chef Ramsay declared the Blue team the losers, due to their continual lack of communication. Matt, who volunteered to transfer to the Red team at the end of the previous episode, was singled out as the best member of the team (Ramsay stating that he served out "the best risotto of the night"). Among the Blue team members, each was asked to nominate who should leave the team, and the team members decided to rig the vote and cause a deadlock. Ben and Louross nominated each other, Bobby nominated Petrozza, while Petrozza, who disagreed with the idea to rig the vote and did not want to nominate his team members, nominated himself. Ultimately, Chef Ramsay chose Ben for elimination without giving him the chance to explain why he should stay, and before sending the teams back to the dorms, he praised Petrozza for his selflessness (stating that he was the "most gracious man on that team").
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "Ben left a manual labor job digging ditches to get back into cooking, but all he did in Hell's Kitchen was dig himself into a hole. A hole too deep to get out of."

Episode 8

• Original airdate: May 20, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 408
• Team Change: Following the elimination round in the last episode, Chef Ramsay called for a volunteer from the Red team to move to the Blue team. Jen volunteered.
• Challenge: The contestants had to cook four dishes per team in 45 minutes, using all 20 ingredients on hand only once. The Red team won, after the Blue team used only 19 ingredients. During the challenge, Matt accidentally cut off a tip from one of his fingers, but returned after receiving first aid.
• Reward/Punishment: The Red team attended a photo shoot and interview for In Touch Weekly magazine. The Blue team spent the day doing laundry by hand.
• Dinner: The night's service included two food critics (Sophie Gayot of Gayot Publications and Merrill Schlinder of the Los Angeles Zagat Guide) among the customers who would order the same item from both kitchens for comparison. Neither Chef Ramsay nor the chefs were aware which orders were served to the critics. The Blue team managed to serve all its entrées successfully and received rave reviews from the critics. The Red team struggled to a point where Chef Ramsay threw them out and had the Blue team take over the rest of the dishes; the critics panned the Red team's dishes, with only Corey's appetisers getting any praise.
• Winner: Although the critics' opinions were somewhat academic considering how badly the Red team's service had collapsed, they were strongly in favor of the Blue team, resulting in an easy victory for them. Petrozza and Bobby were selected as the best performers of the night, though Jen was also praised for bouncing back after being uncooperative in the previous service.
• Elimination: Corey was chosen the Best of the Worst and had to select two contestants for elimination; she selected Rosann and Matt. Chef Ramsay chose Christina to join Matt and Rosann as nominees, and he selected Rosann to go back in line. However, Ramsay had second thoughts, and he eliminated Rosann.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "If the size of one's mouth corresponded to the size of one's talent, then Rosann would have been a world-class master chef. Unfortunately, she just has a big mouth."

Episode 9

• Original airdate: May 27, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 409
• Challenge: The contestants had to prepare three dishes; John Dory, chicken, and scallops. Each team had three members to compete; Louross was indirectly chosen by Jen to sit out. Only one chef from each team was allowed in the kitchen at a time, for only six minutes. When their time was up, the next chef took his or her place. The previous chef was given 15 seconds to brief the next chef. Chef Ramsay then compared the same dishes from each team for completeness, taste, and appearance to decide the winning team. The Red team won.
• Reward/Punishment: The Red team went to the beach with Chef Ramsay and Jean-Philippe, where they learned how to surf. The Blue team spent the day cleaning the restaurant's exterior, the flaming Hell's Kitchen sign, and the red carpet, which the Red Team trod upon when they returned from the beach.
• Dinner: Each team made their own menus. Customers choose from either team's menu; while it was initially announced that the team whose menu was chosen the most would be the winner, Chef Ramsay stated that the winner would be decided by quality, not quantity. The Red team collaborated on their dishes (though Matt felt he should have had more input) while on the Blue team Jen ignored her team-mates and largely devised the menu by herself. On the Red team, many of Matt's pasta appetizers were sent back, while Louross on the Blue team had difficulty sending out properly cooked filet mignon, and Jen prepared undercooked desserts. At one point, when Louross finally served up an acceptable filet mignon, the customers had already left, leading Chef Ramsay to tear and throw the leaving customers' ticket at Louross. Nevertheless, both teams were able to complete dinner service.
• Winner/Loser: Using quality as a determining factor, Chef Ramsay declared the Blue team the losers. Petrozza was declared the Best of the Worst and had to nominate two members for elimination; he selected Louross and Jen. Chef Ramsay then asked Petrozza who to send home. Petrozza chose Louross; Chef Ramsay agreed. Chef Ramsay then said that in the next service Matt and Jen would return to their original teams, as he felt their reassignments were not working.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "Louross was never short on energy, he was just short... on cooking ability."

Episode 10

• Original airdate: June 3, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 410
• United: While Chef Ramsay had previously told Jen and Matt that they would revert to their original teams in this episode, he decided to merge remaining six contestants into a united Black team a service earlier than planned (previously it had been done when there were five remaining contestants).
• Challenge: In the individual challenge, each contestant had 45 minutes to create a meal using the main ingredient given. Jen's ribeye and Christina's sea bass dishes both were standouts; Chef Ramsay chose Jen as the winner.
• Reward/Punishment: Jen won an overnight trip to Las Vegas, where she had dinner at the Green Valley Ranch resort and spa with last season's winner, Rahman "Rock" Harper. In a surprise, she chose Corey to join her. The others took several deliveries of food.
• Dinner: Several mishaps occurred, including Corey being burned. She wanted to stay, but Chef Ramsay insisted on her getting first aid first. Meanwhile, Matt's constant complaints about his migraine were affecting the team's performance, to a point where Chef Ramsay ordered him back to the dorm. Corey also burned her hand, and despite her pleas, Ramsay forced her out to the medic. However, after Jen burned the rice, Chef Ramsay declared the service a total loss, closing the kitchen.
• Winner/Loser: The team unanimously chose Matt to be nominated for his odd behavior and troubles on the meat station, followed by Christina, who was also on the meat station. When Corey said she should have been chosen based on tonight's service, Chef Ramsay agreed. Ultimately, Chef Ramsay told Matt to leave, much to the relief of the other contestants.
• Chef Ramsay's reason:
  "There once was a boy named Matt.
  Whose kitchen performance fell flat.
  He was far from neat,
  Miserable on meat.
  So I kicked him out, and that's that."

Episode 11

• Original airdate: June 10, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 411
• Challenge: In the individual challenge, each contestant had 45 minutes to teach a housewife how to make lobster spaghetti. The standouts were Corey and Christina; Christina won.
• Reward/Punishment: Christina spent time with Chef Ramsay and two other chefs, Mark Peel ("Campanile") and Ben Ford ("Ford's Filling Station"), learning the tricks of the trade, while her teammates cleaned the kitchen.
• Dinner: The dining room included a twelve-top (a dozen diners at a single table) that had to be served at the same time. At first Christina forgot the spaghetti, but redeemed herself by making a perfect one. Jen sent food out at the wrong time, undercooked and overcooked the John Dory, and her bad attitude slowed the kitchen down. After seeing that Jean-Phillipe started pushing out more meat. Bobby had difficulty cutting the wellingtons. Then Jean-Phillipe started pushing out chicken. When the twelve-top arrived, Christina and Corey put their differences aside to get twelve appetizers out at the same time and proceeded to work on dessert when they finished. Jen sent up raw fish, leading Ramsay to cook the fish himself. Petrozza couldn't keep up with everyone on the vegetable station. Even with Bobby's and Jen's bad performance dinner service was complete.
• Winner/Loser: Christina, the best contestant of the night, nominated Jen and Bobby for elimination. When Chef Ramsay asked Christina who she would like to send home, she chose Jen. However, Chef Ramsay picked Bobby for elimination.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "Although Bobby was big in stature, he fell short in a number of areas. I kept on waiting for him to emerge, but he never did. That's why I have to say, 'Over and out, General Bobby.'"

Episode 12

• Original airdate: June 17, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 412
• Challenge: In the individual challenge, each contestant had one hour to cook an entree for a lunch service of 80 pregnant women, with their votes determining the winner. Christina made Island Turkey Sandwiches (green plates), Corey made Grilled Salmon B.L.T.s (purple plates), Petrozza made Monte Cristo Sandwiches (yellow plates), and Jen made Calypso Groupers (orange plates). Corey failed to finish her food preparation, and had to leave the majority of the women waiting. Christina took advantage of this and offered her dish to people in Corey's line. Corey ended up in last place, and Jen followed finished third. Christina won this challenge, beating out Petrozza by only two votes.
• Reward/Punishment: Christina and Chef Ramsay visited the Lisa Kline boutique in Beverly Hills, where Christina spent over $1000 on new clothing. The rest got to clean up the dining room and polish silverware for that evening's service.
• Dinner: During service, all four chefs had problems: Jen overcooked the rice into mush and was slow on the scallops; Petrozza's area was dirty despite him sending out perfect dishes; Corey knowingly sent out raw John Dory hoping it would pass (it was sent back); and Christina burnt Chef Ramsay's hand -- twice. Corey asked Jen to cook the quail eggs for the scallops since Jen and was appetizers and eggs were part of her job. Jen didn't listen and said she was too busy, so Christina did it. However, Christina burnt the eggs, and both Christina and Corey asked Jen again to cook the eggs, to which Jen still did not respond to. Christina noted that she and Corey were working on multiple dishes simultaneously while Jen was stirring only one risotto. Ramsay noticed this and told Jen to do it, to which she finally did. Nevertheless, tonight's service was completed in record time and was declared a success.
• Elimination: The final four decided to vote on who should be nominated, each person would write down two names, but they could not vote for the same person twice. Corey read the first three votes out, which were for Christina. Corey then realized that someone must have voted for Christina twice, because she didn't vote for her. Despite not admitting to it, everyone deduced it was Jen. The rest of the votes were read out, and Christina and Jen were the nominees. However, Christina, Corey, and Petrozza plotted together to get Jen out, and decided to put Corey on the block instead of Christina. At the elimination, Chef Ramsay told Corey to say goodbye ... to Jen.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "A great chef should not only be consistent with their cooking, but with their attitude. I never knew which Jen I was going to get at dinner service and that's why it was her time to go."

Episode 13

• Original airdate: June 24, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 413
• Challenge: The remaining three ate one of Chef Ramsay's signature dishes with their parents and significant others. Afterward, each contestant had 45 minutes to replicate the dish, based on taste and looks alone. Corey was the only one to use cream to bind the lettuce (which Christina's mom repeatably told her daughter, but Christina didn't listen), and the only one to use raspberry creme in the sauce, which she both got correct. However, she was the only one to use buffalo filet (both Christina and Petrozza used venison striploin), which was wrong, and she ended up in third place. Petrozza was the only one to not have a pureé in his dish (Corey had a potato parsnip pureé and Christina had a white bean pureé), while Christina used an unnecessary binding agent. In the end, Christina won her third straight challenge. Ramsay told Petrozza that if he had some form of a pureé, right or wrong, he would have won.
• Reward/Punishment: Christina and her parents went on a tour bus through Hollywood, which included stops at two upscale restaurants. Corey and Petrozza crushed blocks of ice by hand and polished glasses.
• Dinner: In the final service as a team, the three also took turns at the "hotplate", directing the rest in Chef Ramsay's place. In addition, sous chefs Scott and Gloria, assisting with the cooking, were instructed to make one deliberate error for each contestant to see if they would spot the mistake while at the hotplate. Petrozza failed to notice there were no peas in the risotto, but was otherwise strong in command; Corey was rather weak in not only giving orders, but also spotted her mistake too late, pouring the wrong sauce on the beef wellington; Christina's service behind the stove was "crap", but she persevered at the hotplate, and correctly spotted her mistake with the wrong seasoning in the mashed potatoes. The service ended successfully.
• Elimination: Each contestant had to nominate someone -- Christina and Corey nominated each other, while Petrozza nominated Christina. Chef Ramsay named Petrozza and Christina to advance to the finals, while Corey went home, but Chef Ramsay acknowledged her to be talented.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: No reason was given for Corey's elimination nor she got the full elimination, though Chef Ramsay mentioned that his decision was based on her entire progress as a contestant. However, Corey's picture was shown burning at the recap of the next episode, although it did not show her jacket being hung.

Episode 14

• Original airdate: July 1, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 414
• Setup: Hell's Kitchen is divided into two, with Christina and Petrozza getting to design their own menus, ambience, and wait staff. As the builders remodeled Hell's Kitchen to their specifications, Chef Ramsay flew the two to New York City, to Times Square, where Chef Ramsay's London NYC restaurant is located. This is the venue of the final challenge.
• Challenge: Petrozza and Christina had 45 minutes to cook their signature dishes, which will be judged by five of Chef Ramsay's chefs. Petrozza won, three to two. Afterwards, Whoopi Goldberg made a brief appearance to wish the finalists luck.
• Reward: Petrozza got first choice of the six former contestants who will serve as the cooks for their restaurants. Both Christina and Petrozza won a trip to Dubai to spend five days at a resort and to dine at one of Chef Ramsay's restaurants while there.
• Cook selection: Five of the last six contestants eliminated were invited to return for the final service (Rosann did not return for unknown reasons; instead, Ben came in her place and was the last person prior to the final eight contestants). Corey, Jen, Bobby, Matt, Louross and Ben. At the end of part 1, Petrozza picked Bobby and Ben; Christina took Corey and Louross. Petrozza now had to choose between Jen and Matt. The episode ends here in a cliffhanger.

Episode 15

• Original airdate: July 8, 2008
• Episode recap: Hell's Kitchen - Episode 415
• Cook selection (part 2): For his final choice, Petrozza selected Jen; Christina got Matt.
• Pre-service preparation: During the final hours before service, the finishing touches were made on the contestants' restaurants, each with 13 tables serving 50 customers. In the kitchen, Christina and Petrozza briefed the cooks on their menus, while Chef Ramsay inspected the sample dishes and gave Christina and Petrozza last-minute advice. During the preparation time, Jen asked Ramsay for a letter of recommendation, while Matt openly displayed a negative attitude.
• Dinner service: Petrozza was a strong leader, with an eye for quality, but was crippled by Jen's attitude. Jen failed to produce a single onion ring and talked back to Petrozza, causing Ramsay to walk up to her and asked why she was so rude. Eventually, she managed to cook the onion ring to finish the order. Early on, while attempting to serve appetizers, Petrozza's kitchen ran out of prepared ingredients for two of the appetizers, but bounced back by putting risotto on the menu. Christina had some problems when some of her steaks were returned cold. She also endured another cook with an attitude problem, Matt. Matt also frequently served dishes that came out raw, a problem that he never overcame as a contestant. Now that he was no longer a contestant, Matt showed no more respect towards chef Ramsay and told him multiple times to "shut up" behind his back. At one point, Chef Ramsay offered to kick him out of the kitchen, but Christina declined. Despite these and other problems in both kitchens, the evening went well overall and everyone was served.
• Winner: The criteria for deciding a winner was determined by the comments from the customers, as well as Chef Ramsay's own observations. Summoning Christina and Petrozza to his office, Chef Ramsay gave them his final thoughts. Then, he had them step to a door "to their dream". Christina's door opened, signifying she was the winner. She was chosen for her full potential from day one and her ability to run a kitchen.
• Chef Ramsay's reason: "Christina had the least amount of experience coming into Hell's Kitchen. But I saw something in her that was quite special. She had the best potential across any other chef in Hell's Kitchen, and in my business I think long term. I definitely, definitely made the right choice."

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Seaton, Leslie (2007-11-12). "Hell's Kitchen: Season 4 Premiere Announced". BuddyTV. http://www.buddytv.com/articles/hells-kitchen/hells-kitchen-season-4-premier-13592.aspx. Retrieved 2008-03-31. 
2. ^ Fox Returns Series to Production. The Futon Critic.
3. ^ ^{a b} Scattergood, Amy (2008-05-01). "Gordon Ramsay L.A. reservation line is open!". LA Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2008/05/gordon-ramsay-l.html. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Gordon Ramsay opens news restaurant in West Hollywood". Yahoo. 2008-06-05. http://tv.yahoo.com/gordon-ramsay/contributor/1280114/news/urn:newsml:cp.org:20080605:TV-65918035__ER:1. Retrieved 2008-06-10. 
5. ^ "Hell's Kitchen". Futon Critic. 2008-04-08. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20080321fox08. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 

External links

• Christina Machamer's website

• Hell's Kitchen official Fox.com

• Hell's Kitchen program description and commentary at the Internet Movie Database website

Preceded by Season 3

Hell's Kitchen Season 4

Succeeded by Season 5