Hell's Kitchen (American season 12)
Season 12 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on March 13, 2014 on Fox.
Gordon Ramsay returned as the head chef as well as Andi Van Willigan and James Avery as the red team's and blue team's sous chefs respectively. Jean-Philippe Susilovic also returned as the maître d'. This was the fourth season to feature an all-male final, and the first season to have two chefs quit. This season also for the first time to feature "Cook For Your Life" challenge, which featured on some of the seasons onwards. The winner of the challenge will be survive on the competition, and the contestant that failed the challenge will be eliminated.
Executive Chef Scott Commings won this season and received a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas; the prize was retained from the previous season, after Ja'Nel Witt failed her drug test. Scott was nominated seven times for elimination, breaking Christina Machamer's record of five nominations, and became the Hell's Kitchen winner with the most nominations. To date, he is the most recent male winner of Hell's Kitchen, and the final season which featured the 20 contestants competition-concept.
Opening sequence
The intro is stylized as a neo-noir comic book with the chefs each trying to claim hold of "The Knife Case of Destiny."Chefs
Twenty chefs competed in season 12. Jason Zepaltas previously competed in season 9 but left before the first dinner service after falling ill during prep. He is the second chef to have competed in two seasons, after Robert Hesse, and Zepaltas was the first chef until the All-Star season to present two signature dishes to Ramsay.| Contestant | Age | Occupation | Hometown | Result |
| Scott Commings | 36 | Executive Chef | Woodstock, Illinois | Winner |
| Jason Zepaltas | 31 | Sous Chef | Chicago, Illinois | Runner-Up |
| Melanie Finch | 24 | Line Cook | Woodland Hills, California | Eliminated before Finals |
| Rochelle Bergman | 27 | Catering Chef | Riverside, California | Eliminated before Finals |
| Joy Parham–Thomas | 25 | Kitchen Supervisor | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Left during 16th Service |
| Kashia Zollicoffer | 23 | Line Cook | Carthage, Mississippi | Eliminated after 15th Service |
| Michael Gabriel | 26 | Executive Chef | Spring, Texas | Eliminated during 14th service |
| Anton Testino | 39 | Head Chef | Butler, New Jersey | Eliminated after 13th Service |
| Richard Mancini | 48 | Executive Chef | Bloomingdale, Illinois | Eliminated after 12th Service |
| Sandra Flores | 36 | Sous Chef | Queens, New York | Eliminated after 11th Service |
| Ralph Johnson | 28 | Chef De Partie | Boston, Massachusetts | Eliminated after 9th Service |
| Jessica Vogel † | 29 | Line Cook | Spring Lake, New Jersey | Eliminated after Cook For Your Life |
| Beverly "Bev" Lazo–Gonzalez | 42 | Food Truck Chef | Whittier, California | Eliminated after 8th Service |
| Christopher "Chris" Eversole | 27 | Line Cook | Las Vegas, Nevada | Eliminated after 7th Service |
| Elizabeth "Beth" Taylor | 43 | Line Cook | Independence, Louisiana | Eliminated after 6th Service |
| Michael DeMarco | 29 | Line Cook | Scranton, Pennsylvania | Eliminated after 5th Service |
| Michael "Mike" Aresta | 38 | Chef Instructor | Keyport, New Jersey | Eliminated after 4th Service |
| Simone Hammond | 43 | Buffet Cook | Henderson, Nevada | Left after 3rd Service |
| Nicole Rutz | 33 | Baker | Morganville, New Jersey | Eliminated after 2nd Service |
| Gaurav Navin | 34 | Executive Chef | East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania | Eliminated after 1st Service |
;Notes
† Indicates that the contestant died after filming ended