This is the inaugural season of ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...

''. Season 1 aired starting on May 30, 2005 and concluded on August 1, 2005. The series was filmed over 3 weeks in November 2004. Michael Wray from Fort Collins, Colorado, won the first season of ''Hell's Kitchen'', thus winning his own restaurant in Los Angeles named Tatou (he was offered to go to London to work under Gordon Ramsay, but later declined due to family reasons). This was the first season where the teams were not separated by gender at the start, which wouldn't happen again until season 18. This was also the only season where Ramsay addressed the show's progress on camera to the viewers, rather than just a voice-over explaining eliminations. The show was taped in Los Angeles at

KCOP KCOP-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KTTV (channel 11). Both stations ...

, in a converted former

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcast facility that previously hosted shows such as ''

The Joker's Wild ''The Joker's Wild'' is an American television game show that aired at different times between 1972 and 2019. In the show, contestants answer questions based on categories determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine. The show's ...

'' and ''

Tic-Tac-Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...

'' in the late 1970s to mid-1980s.

Sous chefs and Maître d'hôtel

* Sous chefs –

Scott Leibfried Scott Leibfried (born March 9, 1971) is an American chef and culinary consultant best known for his work hosting and participating in cooking-related competition programs ''Hell's Kitchen'' and the ''Food Network Challenge''. Leibfried was born i ...

and Mary-Ann Salcedo *

Maître d'hôtel The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...

– Jean-Philippe Susilovic

Chefs

The 12 contestants were initially divided into the Blue team and the Red team, but not based on gender as in all the following seasons (exceptions being seasons 18 and 21). The contestants were:

Contestant progress

Each week, the best member from the losing team during the latest service period ("least bad" as determined by Ramsay) is asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two is sent home by

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a tot ...

. * *Mary Ellen and Chris were supposed to join but couldn't, so Dewberry and Wendy replaced them.

Episodes

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

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell's Kitchen (American season 1) Hell's Kitchen (American TV series) 2005 American television seasons