Have they thrived since their glory? Or have they faded and dulled like an old table cloth? Let's take a look:
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, such as
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.
It is rumored that he is now in Arizona teaching cooking classes 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. Today
she works as the executive chef at
Ciao Baby in
Commack and Massapequa Park, where she was executive chef
for over a year. Today, Heather is now chef at Thatched Cottage, a catering venue in
Centerport.
Rahaman “Rock” Harper
won
Hell’s Kitchen Season 3. His
prize was to become the Head Chef at
Terra Verde at Green Valley Ranch in
Henderson. After his one-year contract was complete, he then went on to work in
restaurants throughout Washington, DC. He then found the perfect job for him at
the time, 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 has
also just opened a new restaurant called
fatShorty’s, which strives to serve some
of the best sausage, mussels and cold beer to its customers.
Christina Machamer won
Hell’s Kitchen Season 4, and the prize
was 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. He became Sous Chef under Stephen Kalt at
Fornelletto at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic
City, New Jersey. Originally, he was supposed to be the Head Chef at another
restaurant built at the Casino. When he didn’t
become Head Chef, Danny quit and began consulting. He then created a
catering company called Back From Hell Catering, poking at his experience in
"Hell's
Kitchen.” He then joined with a group of investors that wanted to create a surf
bar with food. He was Chef of the
Gnarly Surf Bar & Grill near the
Intracoastal Waterway in Central Florida for a period of time.
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. However, as we mentioned
earlier, he was treated
like a line-cook. He worked at Araxi Restaurant until the end of the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games. Currently, he is in Nashville helping his sister with
her music career.
Holli Ugalde won
Hell's Kitchen Season 7, which was supposed to
follow with the position as
Executive Chef at The Savoy in London.
However, she could not get a visa to work in the UK. Ugalde called that
explanation an excuse, saying, "I don't know if they even applied for my
visa." Ugalde accepted an undisclosed amount of cash instead. She had a
job as the Signature Chef of a new restaurant in B Ocean Hotel in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida called
B’stro on the beach. She
now lives in southern California and has a signature line of cookware that she
has been promoting on her
website.
Nona Sivley won
Hell's Kitchen Season 8, along with the prize
position as Head Chef at
LA Market at JW Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles as
well as the opportunity to be a spokesperson for Rosemount Estate Wines. She is
now working as
Chef de Cuisine at LA Market with Celebrity chef
Kerry
Simon.
Paul Niedermann won
Hell’s Kitchen Season 9, which was
supposed to be a prize of head chef at
BLT Steak in NYC. Instead
he will now be working under chef Cliff Crooks, a season two contestant of Top
Chef.
Christina Wilson won
Hell’s Kitchen Season 10 and she is now
the head chef of Las Vegas-based
Gordon
Ramsay’s Steak Restaurant at Paris, working under Kevin Hee. She also came
back for a guest appearance on Hell’s Kitchen season 11.
It seems there is a serious trend that either HK winners do not
get their prize, 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!
