Hell's Kitchen (American season 7)


Season 7 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen aired on the Fox Network from June 1, 2010 to August 10, 2010. Gordon Ramsay returned as host, as well as Maître d' Jean-Philippe Susilovic and Blue Team Sous chef Scott Leibfried. Andi Van Willigan, a chef from Santa Monica, California became the sous chef for the Red Team.
Similar to Season 6, the winner and runner up avoided being nominated for elimination. This is the first season to featured the double elimination before the finals, and continued as a tradition on later seasons, except season 15 to 17, which return with normally single elimination before finals from the past six seasons.
Banquet chef Holli Ugalde won the season, she was promised to be the position at Chef Ramsay's newly renovated restaurant at the Savoy Hotel in London. Filming had concluded on February 2009, 16 months prior to seventh season premiere, when the hotel reopened in 2010; however, Ugalde was not given the job. Ramsay stated that the American Ugalde could not work in London due to visa problems, but Ugalde called that explanation an excuse, saying, "I don't know if they even applied for my visa." Ugalde was later awarded an undisclosed amount of money in compensation and retained her title as the winner of season 7.

Opening sequence

The intro depicts the chefs in a literal hell's kitchen with Ramsay as the devil.

Contestants

16 chefs competed in season 7.
ContestantAge OccupationHometownResult
Holli Ugalde24Banquet ChefSan Bernardino, CaliforniaWinner
Jason "Jay" Santos32Executive ChefMelrose, MassachusettsRunner-Up
Benjamin Knack33Culinary InstructorElmont, New YorkEliminated before Finals
Autumn Lewis29Personal ChefChicago, IllinoisEliminated before Finals
Jason Ellis37Personal ChefGreenville, South CarolinaEliminated after 12th Service
Edward "Ed" Battaglia28High School Cooking TeacherBurlington, New JerseyEliminated after 11th Service
Nilka Hendricks28Line CookGlen Cove, New YorkEliminated during 10th Service
Frances "Fran" Klier44Catering ChefRockville Centre, New YorkEliminated after 9th Service
Siobhan Allgood25Pub Executive ChefRockledge, PennsylvaniaEliminated after 8th Service
Salvatore Coppola35Pizzeria ChefLaurel Springs, New JerseyEliminated after 7th Service
Scott Hawley32Executive ChefModesto, CaliforniaEliminated after 6th Service
Maria Torrisi24Kitchen SupervisorScranton, PennsylvaniaEliminated after 5th Service
Jamie Bisoulis26Sous ChefChicago, IllinoisEliminated after 3rd Service
Michael "Mikey" Termini29Line CookSanta Cruz, CaliforniaEliminated after 2nd Service
Andrew Forster28FarmerWest Babylon, New YorkLeft during 2nd Service
Anastasia "Stacey" Slichta38Private ChefBuffalo, New YorkEliminated after 1st Service

;Notes

Contestant progress

Episodes

Each episode consists of a challenge with a reward, a service and an elimination.