Read on to see how the winners of the first 11 seasons of Hell’s Kitchen are doing!
The
first ever winner of Hell’s Kitchen, Season 1, was Michael
Wray. When he first won he chose to travel to London to train under Chef Gordon Ramsay,
then later decided to focus on his family and stayed to be head-chef in some
prominent Los Angeles restaurants, like The Standard.
Since then, not only has he started his own custom knives company called Skull
and Cleavers, but he also tried to open his own restaurant in Arizona called HK1. Sadly however, it never
materialized due to lack of funds. Last we heard, Chef Michael Wray is residing
in Arizona and teaches cooking at an Arizona college.
Heather
West was the winner for Hell’s Kitchen Season 2.
For her prize, she was to become Executive Chef at Terra Rossa, an
Italian restaurant at Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas. However, Heather only
became Senior Chef for one year. She then went on to become Head Chef in a
restaurant called Monterey Restaurant in Long
Beach, New York. Having made a
name for herself in the greater New
York area at upscale eateries
like Ciao Baby in Commack
and Massapequa Park, and Thatched Cottage in Centerport, Heather is now the Executive Chef at
Schafer’s in
Port Jefferson, NY.
Rahaman“Rock” Harper was the Season 3 winner. He enjoyed his prize
as the Head Chef at Terra Verde at
Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, NV. After his one-year contract was
complete, he then went on to work in restaurants throughout Washington, DC
before finding the perfect fit as the Director of Kitchen Operations for D.C. Central Kitchen, a
non-profit that feeds, educates and strives to save thousands from chronic
homelessness, poverty and crime. He and business partner Aaron Gordon opened fatShorty’s in a D.C. suburb, it closed its doors in October 2013. Guess we’ll have to wait
and see what Chef Harper has in store for us next!
Christina Machamer won Hell’s
Kitchen Season 4, and the chance to become Executive Chef at the Gordon Ramsay restaurant
in the London West Hollywood Hotel. Instead, she was given the position of
Senior Chef under Executive Chef Andy Cook. She then took some time off to
study wine and viticulture at The Culinary Institute at Greystone in Napa Valley.
Today she works at B Cellars,
helping to create wines that go well with food as well as helping around the
winery and interacting with guests.
Danny
Veltri won Season 5 of Hell's Kitchen and became Sous Chef under Stephen Kalt at Fornelletto at
the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic
City, New Jersey. He later
created a catering company called Back From Hell
Catering, poking fun at his experience in "Hell's
Kitchen.” Soon after, he partnered with a group of investors to create Gnarly Surf Bar & Grill near
the Intracoastal Waterway in Central
Florida, where he was Head Chef. Today,
Chef Veltri is helping Chef Erik Amalfitano and management at Flip Flops establish a new menu.
Dave Levey won Hell's
Kitchen Season 6, and the prize of Head Chef
at Araxi Restaurant and Bar in
Whistler, British Columbia.
Unsatisfied with his role in the kitchen, he left the position shortly after
the end of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Currently, he is in Nashville helping his sister with her music career.
** SIDE NOTE: It looks like Holli has left her website and social media accounts in the past with her restaurant career. We tried to visit her website, but found it had been hacked and implanted with a virus. If you're dumb enough to check it out anyway, here's some friendly advice - do not click on the warning popup. Clicking on that will actually infect your computer. Just do a force-shutdown of your computer or device and never visit that site again.
By
the way, did anyone else notice the apparent trend that either HK
winners do not get their prize, or get the title of the prize/but not
the responsibility, or the winner leaves their position as soon as their
contract is fulfilled? It almost seems pointless to go through all the pain and
suffering that we witness season after season. However, every winner seems to
say the same thing about the show… it is the BEST experience of their lives!
Umm... did you notice that Ja'Nell Witt was an addict and could not receive the job for that reason. I hope you weren't including Witt in your last paragraph. She made a decision to use drugs. As for a chef position, I know a position should be earned through experience. No one just goes on a reality show to get a job... oh wait these people did.
ReplyDeleteSome of these contestants seem incapable of behaving professionally let alone running a restaurant kitchen.
Ya that was an excuse ... drug use in the restaurant industry is extremely high and generally overlooked unless someone is looking for a reason to fire someone.
DeleteYea, because all of those past winners on American Idol aren't doing anything now. It's just a TV show right? Kelly Clarkson hasn't been selling albums for how many plus years because of a TV show, right? Oh, and lets not forgets that most of the contestants that enter Hell's Kitchen have a degree in culinary arts. Therefore, they have experience. You also don't seem to know shit, considering the fact Ramsey has been in this business for YEARS, owns MULTIPLE five star restaurants BEFORE he even started Hell's Kitchen. Yea, because it's a reality show it suddenly untrue and staged bullshit. I love hearing people complain who doesn't know their facts.
Deletenowhere does it say that she is an addict
Deletemaybe she just had some herbal cigarettes...but reading the other fates of those winners it seems more likely that they just didn't really want her there...
She failed a drug test but that doesn't mean she's an addict and deserved to lose her job. That thinking is just plain naive. Every restaurant you've ever been in had a cook back there who smoked weed. In fact, I bet you've enjoyed many dishes that were first created while someone was high and getting creative with ingredients because they were hungry. So don't be judgmental and don't say drugs never did anything for you.
Deletehttp://www.tmz.com/2013/08/23/hells-kitchen-winner-janel-witt-failed-drug-test-cocaine-caesars-palace/
Delete"Hell's Kitchen" champ Ja'Nel Witt tested positive for cocaine ... and that's why she wasn't allowed to accept the head-chef position at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Vegas
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/08/23/hells-kitchen-winner-janel-witt-failed-drug-test-cocaine-caesars-palace/#ixzz3ShfUeTwn
a lot of people here seem to be upset that failing a drug test and losing her job was bs but i dont think a lot of them know what the fuck fine dinning is. You can not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol in any job. i mean really what job have any of you worked where thats ok? no one cares how stressful a job is, its your job to be the cook and its your job to be a good example for your crew. so what if some of them can cook while being high it doesn't excuse shit. people who are high also fuck up during work. my father works day in and day out at his restaurant for 14 hours a day 6 days a week and i never see him smoking it up. welcome to the real world people, drugs are fine when your a kid but when your an adult you better act like one.
DeleteThe poster of the thread is clearly a donkey. You think just because it's on tv that it's not real? Are you serious? Do me a favor. GET OUT!!
DeleteThey don't hand over multi million dollars restaurants to game show winners. The title head chef is usually relegated to lead chef in a working kitchen being subordinate to an executive chef or a director in the organization. It has always been just one year contract.
ReplyDeleteIf the intent is not to give the winners the actual job then they shouldn't portray it as such. I am sure that the contract that the contestants sign spell this out but it is still a lie and they shouldn't be allowed to do this.
DeleteDavid levy isn't cooking food he's cooking drugs.
ReplyDeleteIf the winner cannot perform the duties as Executive Chef due to lack of knowledge and experience then they are given a different position for their year contract. That is not the fault of the show
ReplyDeleteSomeone who can make sense of this!
DeleteIt makes sense you enter selling a story that you are the best cook and or chef and you get out to the rest as Gordon Ramsay he cannot have some rookie take the lead and run his businesses into the group. Some seasons you can see they all just weak right up until the end where he doesn't even know but the show must continue and he can't just allow a weak chef in his kitchen. Some people do make a great success no great chef had it easy they all failed, got fired and kicked out of kitchens being a winner is just a boost not a garunteed career
I love Nona she's the best winner out of all the winners!
ReplyDeleteFat mess you mean
DeleteI agree she was
DeleteDavid Levy got busted for being in a heroin trafficking ring
ReplyDeleteThe show misrepresents the prize, just as it misrepresents much of the "reality" portion of the actual events.
ReplyDeleteIf executive chef is not the guaranteed position, then the show should not suggest as such. They could simply say the contestant wins a position on staff with Gordon Ramsey and a $250k salary.
Hell's Kitchen is a big joke! The only thing these chefs are qualified to cook is Risotto, Salmon, Beef Wellington and Scallops! That's all they cooked on each and every episode of HK for 12 years! And of course who could forget Gordon Ramsay repeating the same shit over and over again. This show is one big joke.
ReplyDelete"By the way, did anyone else notice the apparent trend that either HK winners do not get their prize, or get the title of the prize/but not the responsibility, or the winner leaves their position as soon as their contract is fulfilled? It almost seems pointless to go through all the pain and suffering that we witness season after season."
ReplyDeleteI have a serious issue with this comment by the Author because they're not considering a different perspective about this, or really thinking into why the contract is only one-year long.
If you come back to this comment, then please let me help explain this to you. I mean this sincerely, by the way. No snark.
You said that it seems pointless because they're leaving after their contract is fulfilled but it's really not.
You see, the reward isn't a lifelong career at one of Gordon's Restaurant. The real reward is basically to give you a quarter of a million dollars to be his apprentice for a whole year as an executive Chef.
Do you have any idea how valuable that is? How many doors that opens up for that chef? Also that 250 grand.
It's for the winner to open up their own restaurant and pass their own food out onto the world. Hell's Kitchen is about creating a whole new wave of chefs and awesome restaurants. It's not just a reality TV show.
That is so true. When they win, they have a chance to become executive chef, not a guarantee. Hollie didn't win cause of her visa. Dave was a line cook but still! The chance of winning, opening your own resturant, winning money, is the chance they want to take.
DeleteYassss!! About a chef or line cook in every restaurant in America smoking weed and creating great new dishes! Just today, I saw a Mexican cook some fantastic new hambone soup. Didn't know such a dish could be a culinary classic!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to do the research. I must say that most of them at least went on to have successful careers that I'm sure are attributed to the experience on this show. Many weren't perhaps head chef material, but nevertheless, they at least were given jobs or cash when the winner wasn't suited for the Head Chef position. I don't fault the reality show for that.. after all, they do have a business to run when it comes down to it.
ReplyDeleteread Anthony bourdain's kitchen confidential.....drugs are everywhere.....at least they were in his day....and moving around from kitchen to kitchen is common as well....
ReplyDeleteLosers leave Ja'Nell alone. She isn't the first in history to do drugs. Ramsey supports her and so do I. LOL! #blowingyouaraspberry
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Chef Scott the comeback kid? I don't see him in the list of previous winners.
ReplyDeleteHe died
DeleteNona é a melhor!💙
ReplyDeleteAs for the drug testing, all casinos have to drug test and the gaming commission takes it very seriously
ReplyDeleteCan we just talk about how the four winners who have moved on to become executive chefs are all women (including Mrs. Witt). Get it, girls.
ReplyDeleteIf you listen, Ramsey states the prize as the title of Executive Chef with a salary! Title and actually doing the job is two different things!
ReplyDeleteThe contestants need to be selected more carefully if the position offered does not meet the experience of the contestant.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Look at this year, Jackie has only been cooking for 4 months ! She's dirt and obviously only still on for the entertainment factor.
ReplyDeleteRamsey should just be straight with everyone and tell the audience that the winner get $250k and the opportunity to intern at one of his restaurants. The show is totally misleading!
ReplyDelete