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Updated Jan 11, 2024. Link copied to clipboard. Summary. Hell's Kitchen season 1 winner Michael Wray had a bright future but faced addiction and tragedy after the show. He declined Gordon Ramsay's offer to mentor him in London due to his drug problem.
May 2, 2020 · 2 May 2020. By George Wright,BBC News. Fox. Michael and Gordon Ramsay in the final of Hell's Kitchen. After nine weeks of gruelling competition, chef Michael Wray faced his final test....
Nov 1, 2023 · Published: Nov 01, 2023, 13:31. Instagram/@skullandcleavers13. michael-wray. Every winner of Hell’s Kitchen gets the chance to start their career in ways that other up-and-coming chefs...
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- Overview
- Season 1
- Season 3
- Season 5
- Season 6
- Post Hell's Kitchen
Michael Wray was a contestant on Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen. He was the winner of that season and was given the opportunity to move to London to work under Ramsay and learn from him, which he accepted. However, he later declined due to family reasons, but he still took the $250,000 and kept the "Season 1 winner" title.
Episode 1
The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen and celebrated with a champagne glass and getting to know each other. After some time, Maître D' Jean-Philippe and Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann greeted them, revealing that their first test began now. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Michael called himself a dedicated chef and said that working with Ramsay was an opportunity of a lifetime. He was the eleventh contestant to have his dish judged by Ramsay. He served scallops with a quail egg but left the roe on the scallops, and when Ramsay asked him if he liked it, he started mumbling and did not know what to answer. So, Ramsay invited him to taste his dish with him, and when he told Ramsay that it was not bad, Ramsay told him that he had the palate of a cow's backside and that his dish was disgusting. After the challenge, he was placed in the blue team, along with Ralph, Wendy, Andrew, Mary Ellen, and Jessica. During dinner service, Michael was on the appetizer station. When Ramsay called out the first order, he was the only one to respond to Ramsay's order. At the same time, his teammates stood in silence, and Ramsay was forced to call it out again after calling it pathetic. After one hour, he ran out of lobster spaghetti, and when he told Ramsay about it, Ramsay asked him if they still have live lobsters and pasta. When he answered that they did, Ramsay told him there was no reason to take it out of the menu. After a lot of struggle in both kitchens, Ramsay decided to shut them down. The blue team won the service, but Ramsay added that they did not win and were just safe. After elimination, he said it was an opportunity in a lifetime before planning on taking out his teammates just to get it.
Episode 2
Back at the dorms, Michael told Jeff that he lucked out for not being nominated, with the latter saying that he had one more day to prove himself. The next day, At 5:55 AM, Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann went in the dorms with cookware and banged them together to wake up everybody, with Dewberry originally thinking it was somebody with a gun. Before the Squid Cleaning Challenge, Ramsay asked Michael if he ever cleaned squid before. When he said he did, he was forced to sit out to even the teams at five members each, although he did help his teammates by giving them instructions on how to clean squids. After hearing the reward about eating dinner with Ramsay, he called it cool as it does not happen to everybody in the world. The blue team lost the challenge 5-6, and they were punished with prepping the remaining squids for the next dinner service and cooking without air conditioning. He admitted how jealous he was that the red team was eating dinner with Ramsay while he was knees deep in crap during the punishment. Before service began, Michael knew that cooking with no air conditioning was bad as it would get hot and stressful quickly, but he wanted to pull through that. During dinner service. He was at the fish station. When Sous Chef Scott informed the team that it was 140 degrees right now, he commented on how hot it was. Ramsay then chewed him out, saying he does not need a drama queen, and reminding him that if the blue team have won the challenge, he would not have to cook without air conditioning. Afterward, he admitted that he should not have said that as Ramsay was the monarch in the kitchen. Despite the heat, the blue team was declared the winners after serving more entrées.
Episode 3
The next day, Ramsay switched Michael over to the red team to even up the team's 5-5. While shocked by the news, he knew that he had to embrace his new team to win. After he received a red jacket and moved into his new teammates, Ramsay said that the red team would benefit from this and told him this was a great opportunity for him to become a leader. During the Five Course Meal Challenge, Michael was skeptical about Jeff's soup idea but quickly became a clear leader in the red kitchen. Near the end of time, he decided to carve out the Hell's Kitchen logo out of mushrooms as a tribute to the restaurant. After Jeff scored, he was impressed that the former pulled out a win. He was the fourth person from the red team to have his dish judged by Ramsay, cooked the meat entrée, and went up against Andrew. He served a grilled porterhouse as the meat entrée. When Ramsay saw that he carved the Hell's Kitchen logo in a mushroom garnish, he called him a smartass and jokingly asked him if he got it tattooed on his butt, referring to the large number of tattoos on Michael's body. Despite that, Ramsay found it delicious, and he scored that round over Andrew. The red team won the challenge after a tiebreaker at 3, and they were rewarded with a night out with Ramsay at the bar, with drinks and a darts game. During the reward, he called Ramsay cool in his personal life. Jeff left a hot sheet on the counter during prep, and Elsie picked it up and burned her hand. During a short break, the red team, minus Jeff, gathered to discuss the latter as Michael expressed concern about how well they would work with someone they all shared animosity towards. Moments before opening, he and Chris helped Jeff, who was struggling to prep his station. During dinner service, Michael was on the appetizer station with Jeff. When Jeff brought two lobster spaghetti dishes that had no lobster, and the other had too many, he had to reach over and help him redo the spaghetti. When his crab risotto made it to the critics that were in the dining room, it received poor reviews. After Jeff walked out of Hell's Kitchen, he took the meat station over, and the red team rallied to get more tickets served. His lamb received great reviews from the critics as they found it better than the blue kitchen. However, their effort was not enough as tables walked out, unfed, and Ramsay shut down both kitchens. The red team won the dinner service.
Episode 10
Michael came back to judge Rock and Bonnie 's dishes during the final challenge. It was revealed he was working in his restaurant named Tatou, located in Los Angeles. He gave a point to Rock's fried chicken Surf n Turf, over Bonnie's prawn fettuccine.
Episode 15
Michael came back for the finale of that season, along with Heather (Season 2 winner), Rock (Season 3 winner), and Christina (Season 4 winner). He was seen when Ramsay introduced the recently crowned winner Danny to them and saw the unveiling of the Hell's Kitchen "Wall of Fame."
Episode 15
Aside from Heather, who was a sous chef that season, Michael came back for the finale of said season, along with Rock (Season 3 winner), Christina (Season 4 winner), and Danny (Season 5 winner). He was seen when Ramsay introduced the recently crowned winner Dave to them and saw the unveiling of the Hell's Kitchen "Hall of Fame."
•After his appearance on the show, Michael declined the opportunity to work under Ramsay in London for family reasons.
•He became Head Chef at The Standards restaurant in Los Angeles before opening his own restaurant called Tatou. But, when he tried to open another restaurant called HK One, he could not because of his financial problems. So, he opened his knife company called, Skull and Cleavers and teaches cooking classes.
Feb 24, 2021 · Chef Michael Wray was the first person ever to survive the flames of Hell's Kitchen and win over Gordon Ramsay, with his culinary skills. What is he doing now?
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.
Dec 31, 2023 · Wray’s victory in “ Hell’s Kitchen Season 1 ” began a tumultuous journey. While many would expect the winner of such a prestigious competition to ride a wave of success, Wray faced personal demons in the form of addiction, a struggle that is unfortunately not uncommon in the restaurant industry.
