Every Hell's Kitchen Season Ranked Worst To Best

"Hell's Kitchen" is one of the most deliciously addicting reality shows out there. From watching arrogant aspiring chefs crumble under the pressure of working on a long shift for the first time, to seeing the prep of world-class dishes, to the backstabbing drama of the show's contestants, there are so many elements of "Hell's Kitchen" that make for great entertainment. And of course, there's the internationally famous Gordon Ramsay, who never has a shortage of loud profanities and angry outbursts to subject the competitors to.

The show has been going strong for 20+ seasons. But because of the long history of "Hell's Kitchen," there were bound to be seasons that didn't deliver as much as the audience wanted. Some seasons had a lively cast of personalities and plenty of surprise twists that kept us coming back for more, while others floundered around with needless bickering between contestants and a lack of interesting challenges. And as fun as it is seeing Gordan freak out on chefs who fumble with even the most basic culinary tasks, it sometimes felt that he was ratcheting up the anger for no reason.

Here, we rank all of the seasons of "Hell's Kitchen" from worst to best. The scores included here are the average scores for each season from IMDb. So read on to relive the lows and highs of "Hell's Kitchen."

Season 7 of "Hell's Kitchen" has a few interesting moments: It is the only one where the red team lost every single dinner service, and is the first where two competitors were eliminated on the same night.

Other than that, the season doesn't have as much going for it. The petty bickering got to be too much at times, and Gordon Ramsay's profanity-laden shouting seemed more over-the-top than usual, going from entertaining to almost unbearable. Holli Ugalde was the winner of "Hell's Kitchen" this time around, who's remembered for little more than the vanity she displayed throughout the season (she even said "I'll play that cute factor. Let's put it this way: I'll work just as hard as everyone, but I'll look better doing it"). However, Holli wasn't able to become the head chef at Ramsay's Savoy Grill in London due to issues with her visa, making this season a bit of a waste.

Season 11 is one of the longest in "Hell's Kitchen" history, as it featured 22 episodes, as well as beginning the biggest cast of competitors at 20. A fun new change to the show was that its opening Signature Dish Challenge was conducted with a live audience, which meant that the more ... colorful ... personalities got a chance to shine in front of a crowd.

And because this season was so long, it meant that the flaws were more drawn out. This season saw the red team dominating the team challenges, winning 10 out of 12. However, the blue team's constant failures made the season flat and predictable. There was plenty of opportunity for Gordon Ramsay and the show's producers to shake things up a bit, but audiences were left with too many episodes that mostly repeated themselves.

One of the more memorable aspects of Season 5 was the large number of surprising eliminations, which made up for what was otherwise a pretty standard season. Jason "J" Maxwell was eliminated during a dinner service for overcooking scallops. In the very next episode, Lacey D'Angelo was eliminated during dinner service as well, due to her inability to handle the meat station. In fact, she was even pulled aside by Gordon Ramsay and given a final warning for her performance, but that wasn't enough to get her back on track.

Some other notable eliminations include Ji-Hyun Cha leaving the show due to an ankle injury that left her in a wheelchair (she did manage to complete a dinner service despite her injury), and Colleen Cleek and Carol Scott being eliminated by Gordon himself despite them not being up for nomination.

This was yet another mostly mediocre season, but it wasn't without some enjoyable twists and turns.

Things got off to a rocky start for all of the contestants, as both teams were kicked out of their first dinner service due to the many mistakes made in each kitchen, which meant that four chefs were nominated for elimination. And while only one chef — Gaurav Navin — was eliminated, both teams got an immediate lesson in the consequences of failing during a dinner service.

However, things didn't get much better for the red and blue teams, as in the third episode of the season, they achieved a "Hell's Kitchen" first. Because of their extremely bad performances during dinner service, Gordon Ramsay had each team nominate three chefs for elimination, making season three the first and only to have six total nominations. One of them, Simone Hammond, volunteered to leave the show, to which Gordon agreed.

While the first season of "Hell's Kitchen" is not the worst season of "Hell's Kitchen," it's still not a terribly great season, either. Revisiting that inaugural season today is an odd viewing experience; the pacing of the show is not as refined as it is today, and the inclusion of Gordon Ramsay and Jean-Phillippe's confessionals during challenges and dinner services feels out of place, often being a distraction and lowering the tension of the episode's most important moments.

Still, Season 1 did introduce many of the elements that would become staples of the show long afterward. For example, it was the first time that the Signature Dish Challenge was featured and the first time a chef was switched to the opposing team. It also included the first time a contestant left the show, with that distinction going to Jeffery "Jeff" LaPoff, who stormed out during a dinner service after insulting Gordon.

The second season of "Hell's Kitchen" was more refined than its predecessor, and even added some fun new challenges that would become series standards. It was the first season to split the teams up by gender, which resulted in some heated battle-of-the-sexes moments, and would become a common team format for many following seasons. Another standout was the introduction of a service other than the usual dinner service, this time in the form of a lunch service for a bunch of screaming kids, who also graded the dishes served to them.

Heather West was the chef who came out on top this season, and for good reason: In addition to being a strong cook and a determined leader, Gordon Ramsay was extremely impressed when she burned herself during an early service — bad enough to require medical attention — and still managed to give orders as she was being escorted out of the kitchen.

Some interesting changes were made to the show's tenth season, including the splitting of several episodes into two-parters. And while this resulted in a longer season than usual, there was enough drama and surprises to keep it from feeling too drawn-out.

One of the big shakeups of the season came in Episode 15 when both teams competed in a challenge in which they had to whip up risotto, cod, and rack of lamb in a tag-team race. However, both teams failed miserably, from burning the risotto to a butchered lamb and more. And so, instead of one team being treated to some time at a Santa Monica beach club and a helicopter tour of the coast, both teams were punished with arduous prep for the upcoming dinner service — including detailing the SUVs and giving the restaurant a deep clean.

While "Hell's Kitchen" sometimes runs the risk of adding too many changes or not enough changes to its format, the show is at its best when it changes things just right to keep things fresh while also refraining from relying on shock value alone to entertain.

Season eighteen – officially titled "Hell's Kitchen: Rookies vs. Veterans" – is one of those seasons that strikes that perfect balance, this time in the form of introducing eight new competitors who must go up against eight previous competitors. Some surprise guests included British "MasterChef" judge James "Jocky" Petrie and season 10 winner Christina Wilson who served as sous chefs throughout the season.

The winner of this season was season six contestant Ariel Contreras-Fox, who won the position of executive chef at Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen Restaurant at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Season 8 of "Hell's Kitchen" had plenty of surprising developments, and even ended with a nice touch of drama. The winner for this season was Nona Sivley, who was rewarded with the position of head chef at the L.A. Market restaurant at the JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. He even got the chance to work for Rosemount Estate Wines as their spokesperson. While this could've been a pretty standard celebratory moment in the show, it was spiced up with a resentful Russell Kook II accepting the second-place spot without an ounce of grace, and even going as far as blaming the team members he selected for the final service for his loss.

Another memorable bit of drama happened in episode twelve when Gordon Ramsay stormed out of the kitchens in the middle of the dinner service, one of the few times he's done so.

For eagle-eyed viewers, they'll notice that "Pan-Seared Scallops" was misspelled as "Pan-Seared Scwallops" in numerous episodes. But hilarious typos aren't the only highlights from Season 19, as there was plenty tumult and excitement to enjoy here.

For starters, the very first challenge involved each chef being given 45 minutes to prepare a shrimp dish, with the winner being included on the menu for that season's dinner service. However, the chef with the losing dish would be immediately eliminated, with Kenneth McDuffie being the one sent home before he even had the opportunity to participate in his first dinner service.

There was also some tragedy, when Drew Tingley complained about body cramps and was ultimately sent to the hospital, which prevented him from finishing the rest of the season. Also, there was the unexpected mid-service elimination of Peter Martinez, who openly admitted to not having what it takes to compete in "Hell's Kitchen" any longer, an attitude that Gordon Ramsay obviously has no time for.