The fourth season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on Fox on April 1, , and concluded on July 8, The season was won by culinary student Christina Machamer , with catering director Louis Petrozza finishing second. This season was filmed in October at the warehouse district in Culver City, California. It was originally supposed to air later in the TV season , but instead aired as a replacement for shows that were affected by the — Writers Guild of America strike.
Episode 5 garnered the highest viewership in Hell's Kitchen history at Machamer received the senior sous chef position at the prize restaurant — not the executive chef position as mentioned in show-related publicity and press releases.
Fifteen chefs competed in season four. This was the first season to begin with an odd number of chefs. Each week, the best member as determined by Ramsay from the losing team during the latest service period was asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two was sent home by Ramsay. In Episode 1, the teams selected captains for service, though Ramsay changed both captains during service. They met Jean-Philippe and took turns impersonating Ramsay, who then revealed himself to the chefs.
Signature dishes: The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their signature dish. Ramsay considered Vanessa's pan-seared halibut "the best dish by a mile", while Rosann's spicy mussel soup was nicely seasoned and Ben's mashed potatoes and gravy were deemed "not bad". The other dishes were poorly received; Ramsay called Craig's jerk-seared Chilean sea bass a "pile of shit" and spat out Jen's Dungeness crab and corn risotto since the rice was raw, Corey's salad was described as "plain and boring" and Jason's dish as something that "wouldn't even pass as something tinned in a can".
Shayna's dish was burnt, Dominic's chicken cacciatore and roasted orzo was boring and Petrozza's Cornish hen -in-a-pumpkin was dry and bland, and the potatoes underneath were drenched in butter and oil.
