Where Are They Now?: Former Contestants

[Nysha]

On 7/20/2016 at 11:36 AM, hkalex said:

From what I've seen about the show, it's like putting rats in a cage purely to see which one survives above the rest.

I agree. I'm not sure why I keep watching because by the end, I hate all of the contestants. They're vile, the men especially, who never seem to own up to their mistakes and consistently believe they're better chefs than the women simply because they're men.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

When the GF and I ate at Gordon Ramsay's BURGR in Vegas a month ago, I specifically asked about Season 10 Winner/Season 15 Sous Chef Christina Wilson. Turns out she's no longer the Executive Chef at BURGR, as she has now been promoted to kind of a "roving troubleshooter" role at all of Ramsay's Las Vegas restaurants, or at least that's what the waiter told me. He also said she was a GREAT boss to work for.

And I highly, highly recommend BURGR's "Uber Cheese Burger." We're talking Food of the Gods here.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Sir RaiderDuck OMS

[AZChristian]

We saw Christina when she was working at the GR Steakhouse at the Paris Hotel in LV.  She went from that to executive chef at BURGR, and from there onward and upward.

I agree about the food at BURGR.  We got two different burgers and had them cut in half so we could each taste both.  No disappointment at all.  And I can never go to a fast food hamburger joint again.  I'm spoiled by BURGR.

[snowblossom2]

Yes! I ate at BURGR and it spoiled me. It is soo good. Hands down best burger I've had and blows Bobby Flay's burger chain out of the water

[InDueTime]

Ariel, the Season 15 winner, was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on Friday, March 10.  I don't know if anyone else saw it, but she was playing for charity.  She won $10,000.

[mojoween]

I have watched every episode of this show and I could not pick Ariel out of a lineup of six women, one of whom is named Ariel.  I seem to have lost my ability to retain information from reality shows lately.

[Lemonemm]

Paulie came to a sad end: 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/paulie-giganti-‘hell’s-kitchen’-contestant-dies-of-drug-overdose-at-36/ar-BBA88Bd

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, Lemonemm said:

Paulie came to a sad end: 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/paulie-giganti-‘hell’s-kitchen’-contestant-dies-of-drug-overdose-at-36/ar-BBA88Bd

This is already being discussed in the Media thread.

[threebluestars]

Was just at Burger (they've rebranded - it's Gordom Ramsay Burger now) and the food was fantastic. Christina showed up while we were there, jumped on the pass and was super hands on - just like Ramsay is when he shows up. It was nice to see she's in a higher position now - from what I know she travels to his different restaurants keeping tabs on things and making sure it's all running smoothly.

[AZChristian]

4 minutes ago, arieswriting said:

Was just at Burger (they've rebranded - it's Gordom Ramsay Burger now) and the food was fantastic. 

Once you've had a burger there, you can never go to McDonald's again.  

[Star Aristille]

Hassan Musselmani, who was eliminated earlier than many of us ever would've expected in season fifteen, competed on Chopped this week, in the September 5 episode of the show.  He's apparently a food truck chef, and he competed with three other food truck chefs.

He didn't win, though.  He was chopped in the dessert round, which was the final round of the competition.

If you needed any proof as to whether or not the show does bring on real chefs, then this should be proof of that at last.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Star Aristille

[Major Bigtime]

I know they have real chefs, with real talent. But they throw in the wannabes for unnecessary drama.

[nitrofishblue]

They have to put in the cannon fooder chefs. These are the ones that are so stupid you wonder how they made it to adulthood Gives people something to bitch about until they get down to the last four. They need some humor in the beginning.

[OoogleEyes]

On 4/26/2017 at 11:50 AM, threebluestars said:

Was just at Burger (they've rebranded - it's Gordom Ramsay Burger now) 

They should have renamed it Gordan Ramsay burGerrrrrrrrrrrrr

[cooksdelight]

Kristin Nicole, the blonde runnerup last season, she is a hoot! I steered some friends to her restaurant in Vegas and she really showed them a fun time. She works for Ramsay, has ever since she didn’t win. Sometimes, not winning has it’s rewards.

[mlp]

Quote

Kristin Nicole, the blonde runnerup last season,

I just went to the thread for Season 16 to refresh my memory about something and the thread is completely blank.  According to the topic listings, Kristin was runner up to Ariel in Season 15.  So is "Season 17" an error or am I missing something that should be obvious?

[cooksdelight]

No, my mistake, I guess. I can’t tell you who won last year.

[mlp]

Maybe that was last year.  I don't remember either.  But my point is that the Season 16 topic is completely empty.  If this is really 17, where is 16?

[cooksdelight]

The Drogo Twilight Zone? :)

[Drogo]

They're still on the main page. I'll move them this week. 

[mlp]

I am sorry, Drogo.  I was afraid I was missing something obvious.  I didn't think to scroll down.  :(

[cooksdelight]

Season 15 runner-up Kristin is starting a new adventure at Pronto by Giada in Las Vegas. Ramsay stopped by and surprised her! And the new Hell’s Kitchen restaurant opened last night, I believe.

 

[aliya]

I hope this is in the right place. As usual, Ramsay shows just what kind of man he is.  It turns out that Christina used her winnings to buy a house in Philly. Now that she's doing so much in the Ramsay empire, she hasn't had time to fix up the place. Ramsay is footing the bill for renovation. What a good guy - and listen to how highly he speaks of Christina. She's done well and seems like a genuinely nice person to boot.

[nitrofishblue]

Does anyone know what chef Nona is doing now?

[cooksdelight]

1 minute ago, nitrofishblue said:

Does anyone know what chef Nona is doing now?

This from an online search, dated Dec. 2017:

Quote

Nona Sivley, 29. was a Sous Chef from Atlanta, Georgia. She was the winner of Season 8 of Hell's Kitchen and won due to her impressive improvement during the series and the passion she showed for cooking. After the show, she took up the Head Chef position at LA Market, with her winning menu being added to the restaurant menu. She left after three years to help her mentor Kerry Simon open his first restaurant Pork & Beans. After the restaurant opened she started her own catering business called Fizzy Peach. 

[galaxychaser]

Jessica Vogel died.

 

https://people.com/food/hells-kitchen-contestant-jessica-vogel-dies/

[jewel21]

So sad. She was so young.  It seems like the contestants on this show are cursed or something. This is not the first death. 

[cooksdelight]

It’s not just the contestants on this show, the business is rife with alcohol and drug abuse. It’s a crazy job, I couldn’t do it. 

[jumper sage]

I was just looking at "where are they now" for Hell's Kitchen.  I never caught on that a high percentage of winners are women.  I was also surprised at those that won who never actually got the job they won but went on to other places and thrived.  One contestant won the head chef job at one of his London restaurants and never go her working permit.  She says the show never put in for one.  The hiring entity needs to submit papers to the British government.  Interesting.

[OlfinBedwere]

On 13/10/2018 at 5:03 AM, jumper sage said:

I was just looking at "where are they now" for Hell's Kitchen.  I never caught on that a high percentage of winners are women.  I was also surprised at those that won who never actually got the job they won but went on to other places and thrived.  One contestant won the head chef job at one of his London restaurants and never go her working permit.  She says the show never put in for one.  The hiring entity needs to submit papers to the British government.  Interesting.

If I'm not mistaken, UK law requires (or required at the time) you to have attempted to recruit a UK or EU national for a job before advertising in other countries. Hence, any application for Holli would have been thrown out the minute the producers told the UK immigration authorities "Oh, we never advertised in the UK, we were giving the job away as a prize in a TV show."

[KHenry14]

7 hours ago, OlfinBedwere said:

If I'm not mistaken, UK law requires (or required at the time) you to have attempted to recruit a UK or EU national for a job before advertising in other countries. Hence, any application for Holli would have been thrown out the minute the producers told the UK immigration authorities "Oh, we never advertised in the UK, we were giving the job away as a prize in a TV show."

How could Fox be so negligent to not have checked with UK Immigration to make sure that the winner would be able to take the job? That makes no sense whatsoever

[OlfinBedwere]

11 minutes ago, KHenry14 said:

How could Fox be so negligent to not have checked with UK Immigration to make sure that the winner would be able to take the job? That makes no sense whatsoever

The previous season had a job at a Canadian restaurant on offer - my I guess is that the producers just assumed that the UK's immigration requirements would be the same as Canada's, and didn't discover their mistake until it was too late. Believe me, getting the immigration requirements of another country wrong would be by no means the biggest screw-up committed by the producers of a reality TV show.

[chenoa333]

On 1/30/2018 at 4:43 PM, aliya said:

I hope this is in the right place. As usual, Ramsay shows just what kind of man he is.  It turns out that Christina used her winnings to buy a house in Philly. Now that she's doing so much in the Ramsay empire, she hasn't had time to fix up the place. Ramsay is footing the bill for renovation. What a good guy - and listen to how highly he speaks of Christina. She's done well and seems like a genuinely nice person to boot.

Thanks for that link! Christina is my favorite HK winner. And she must be one helluva fantastic employee and person for Gordon to do that . I could be wrong, but they never showed the upstairs of Christina's home which makes me wonder if Gordon only paid for the downstairs and the upstairs still needs renovating.

I'm sure the renovation was not very expensive since it was free advertising for My Houzz, the interior designer and the furniture store. But I'm happy for Christina. Well deserved.

[aliya]

6 hours ago, chenoa333 said:

they never showed the upstairs of Christina's home which makes me wonder if Gordon only paid for the downstairs and the upstairs still needs renovating.

I've never seen the show before or since, so I don't know if they only do one space (which was easy since this is a row house and it's pretty much a straight shot from the front door to the back) or what. Maybe Christina didn't want America seeing her bedroom.  Still, it was nice of Ramsay to do it.

[cooksdelight]

I read somewhere that because she’s only home a week or two each month, doing the renovation work has been slow. And if she’s in LA filming Hell’s Kitchen, even less time at home.

[InDueTime]

Since he's a current contestant, I didn't know if this goes here or in the media thread; but Bret has been arrested for drugs. 

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20181130/chef-hells-kitchen-contestant-arrested-on-drug-charges

[cooksdelight]

I don’t know FL law, but in NC someone has to witness the person using, selling (drugs and money exchanging hands) before an arrest warrant can be issued. Or use a confidential informant to buy. Which might be the case.

Drugs are rampant in the restaurant industry. 

[AZChristian]

7 hours ago, InDueTime said:

Since he's a current contestant, I didn't know if this goes here or in the media thread; but Bret has been arrested for drugs. 

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20181130/chef-hells-kitchen-contestant-arrested-on-drug-charges

First time he's ever stood still, and stopped crossing himself while looking adoringly at his parents in the sky.  

[mlp]

I can't imagine that Bret won this season so I'm guessing that GR et al are very thankful that he was eliminated whenever.  A second winner involved with drugs wouldn't exactly be good publicity.

[ByTor]

On 1/30/2018 at 7:43 PM, aliya said:

As usual, Ramsay shows just what kind of man he is.

I know the family of Michael from season 11, he concurs. He said Gordon Ramsay is an exceptionally nice person.

[galaxychaser]

On 12/2/2018 at 9:26 AM, AZChristian said:

First time he's ever stood still, and stopped crossing himself while looking adoringly at his parents in the sky.  

And kissed his wrists! What a comedian lol.

[OoogleEyes]

On 12/2/2018 at 1:35 AM, InDueTime said:

Since he's a current contestant, I didn't know if this goes here or in the media thread; but Bret has been arrested for drugs. 

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20181130/chef-hells-kitchen-contestant-arrested-on-drug-charges

Hee. I'm watching tonight's episode while reading this!