| Season Number: | 2 | ||||||||
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| Num Episodes: | 11 | ||||||||
| Network: | Fox | ||||||||
| Episode List: | List of Hell's Kitchen episodes |
Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen was cast during November 2005, premiered on June 12, 2006 and concluded on August 14, 2006. This was the first season of Hell's Kitchen to start a number of contestants divided to two teams by gender, which would become a tradition in subsequent seasons.
Sous chef Heather West won the season. Her prize was the position of executive chef at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas with a salary of $250,000, where she worked as chef at the Terra Rossa Restaurant. Runner-up Virginia Dalbeck had the worst streak of any finalist on the show, being nominated every single time apart from wins and "Best of the Worst" nominations.
Taping for the second season was done in the same building where the first season was taped.
This was the last season of the show to be filmed in .
The second season featured the following 12 contestants, who were initially separated onto blue and red teams by gender:
| Contestant | Age (at time of filming) | Occupation | Hometown | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heather West | 25 | Sous chef | Port Jefferson, New York | Winner | |
| Virginia Dalbeck | Salad chef | New York, New York | Runner-up | ||
| Keith Greene | 28 | Chef/bartender | Southampton, New York | Eliminated before finals | |
| Sara Horowitz | 31 | Deli manager | Dallas, Texas | Eliminated after eighth service | |
| Garrett Telle | 27 | Former Prisoner/Chef | Cedar Park, Texas | Eliminated after seventh service | |
| Maribel Miller | 31 | Cafeteria chef | Brooklyn, New York | Eliminated after sixth service | |
| Rachel Brown | 39 | Personal chef | Dallas, Texas | Eliminated after fifth service | |
| Thomas "Tom" Pauley | 43 | Former stockbroker | Belleville, New Jersey | Eliminated after fourth service | |
| Giacomo Alfieri | 21 | Pizza chef | Euless, Texas | Eliminated after third service | |
| Gabriel "Gabe" Gagliardi | 27 | Marketing executive | Chicago, Illinois | Eliminated after second service | |
| Lawrence "Larry" Sik | 38 | Fishmonger | Arlington, Texas | Hospitalized before second service | |
| Paula "Polly" Holladay | 43 | Mother of Six | Ben Franklin, Texas | Eliminated after first service |
Each week, the best member from the losing team during the latest service period ("best" as determined by Ramsay) was asked to nominate two of their teammates for elimination; one of these two was sent home by Ramsay.
| No. | Chef | Original teams | Switched teams | Individuals | Finals | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 201 | 202 | 203 | 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 | 208 | 209 | 210/211 | ||||||
| 1 | Heather | BoW | WIN | WIN | LOSE | WIN | WIN | IN | BoB | IN | WINNER | ||||
| 2 | Virginia | NOM | WIN | WIN | NOM | BoW | NOM | NOM | NOM | NOM | |||||
| 3 | Keith | WIN | LOSE | LOSE | BoW | WIN | WIN | BoW | IN | OUT | |||||
| 4 | Sara | LOSE | WIN | WIN | BoW | LOSE | NOM | IN | OUT | ||||||
| 5 | Garrett | WIN | BoW | LOSE | LOSE | WIN | WIN | OUT | |||||||
| 6 | Maribel | LOSE | WIN | WIN | LOSE | NOM | OUT | ||||||||
| 7 | Rachel | LOSE | WIN | WIN | NOM[1] | OUT | |||||||||
| 8 | Tom | WIN | NOM | NOM | OUT | ||||||||||
| 9 | Giacomo | WIN | NOM | OUT | |||||||||||
| 10 | Gabe | WIN | OUT | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Larry | WIN | HOSP | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Polly | OUT | |||||||||||||