Several contestants have split the fanbase on their likability.
Season 1
- Both finalists, Michael and Ralph, suffer from this, especially Michael. His fans see him as one of the most badass chefs in the show's history, his detractors accuse him of being a Karma Houdini and Manipulative Bastard who had no right to win the season. Ralph also gets this due to being a man with major Small Name, Big Ego problems, albeit an attitude he backed up in spades when in the kitchen. The fact that both sabotaged fan favorite Elsie doesn't help matters.
- Chris. His fans say that he was one of the better chefs of the season (although not as good as Michael and Ralph), and many felt he was screwed over by Michael. His detractors on the other hand dislike his pretentious and contemptuous attitude towards his teammates.
Season 2
- Keith and Virginia. Keith was actually fairly popular for most of the season, but a lot of his fans jumped ship when he Took a Level in Jerkass after accusing Ramsay of having favoritism for Virginia, although some fans did side with his accusation. As for Virginia, fans either saw her as cute and endearing or as a weak chef who didn't deserve to go as far as she did, and the biggest Creator's Pet the show has had — most fans don't begrudge her staying in the competition long enough to outlast her Arch-Enemy, Sara, but her surviving over Keith was a step too far for some. It didn't help that she also managed to survive over the much more popular Rachel, albeit largely because she actually ended up as the Best Of The Worst in the week when Rachel was eliminated.
- Garrett. Some fans dislike him for his sexist comment towards Heather (albeit he was provoked and it was mainly to get under her skin), and his blow-up at Keith when he didn't select him to go on a reward with him. However, others do enjoy him being a Determinator and his interesting past of being a reformed criminal.
Season 3
- Jen. While most will agree that she was the most consistent female chef that season, as well as one of the more level-headed, there is a not insubstantial group of fans who will never let her live down the pasta bin incident.
Season 4
- Corey. Fans either saw her as entertaining and providing one of the show's greatest rivalries with Christina, as well as one of the greatest redemptions, or they saw her as petty and too bitchy, even after she started being nicer.
- On that matter, Christina herself. While some fans appreciated her underdog journey as well as her rivalry with Corey, others will not let her live down the fact she burned Ramsay twice during service. There's also people who believe she should've lost to the far more beloved Petrozza.
Season 5
- Robert from Seasons 5 and 6. A lot of fans like him for his passion, energy, heart, and comic relief. But there are some fans who see him as an arrogant ass. It doesn't help that some of his haters only saw him in Season 6, where not only was he not as good, but he also attempted to sabotage Dave in the finale out of spite.
- Colleen. Many people found her one of the worst chefs in the entire show, despite being a culinary instructor. However, many liked her for her being a Determinator and tenacity, as well as her refusal to give up, which softened a lot of people's opinions on her.
Season 6
- Amanda. You either find her ditziness cute or incredibly annoying and obnoxious. Her being the main reason that Kevin lost didn't help much, although some fans were happy due to it allowing the far more popular Dave to win.
- Suzanne and Tennille. Unlike Carol and Andrea from the previous season, who both proved to be unlikable on their own, Suzanne and Tennille were both decent people on their own. They had their own fans taking a side in their conflict, with everything coming down to viewers' outlook.
Season 7
- Autumn. Some fans found her personally annoying or condescending, such as in the egg frying challenge. However, many fans were also rooting for her due to her status as The Friend Nobody Likes, and thought she was treated very unfairly by the other chefs and was much better than they gave her credit for (especially when compared to most of this season's Red Team).
- Holli. Her fans find her one of, if not the most attractive winner in the show's history, as well as praising her for being one of the Only Sane Women alongside Nilka. On the other hand, others find her one of the blandest winners in the show's history, and find that her Dark Horse Victory wasn't deserved over the more popular Jay. Her showmance with him is also rather divisive as well, with fans finding it either charming or abrupt.
Season 8
- Curtis. Some people think that he was one of the worst chefs in the show's history, due to him never having a stand-out performance in either challenges or services, as well as managing to get Boris nominated over him. Others believe that Curtis was robbed, as he was put on a station that he was clearly weak on, and think that Raj and Vinny had more glaring issues during the service he was eliminated in. Context
- Raj. Some people think his incompetence is endearing and is an effective comedy relief, while others think he was not fit at all for the show. That said, he was popular enough to get a video of his "highlights," if you can even call them that, on the show
on the official Hell's Kitchen Youtube channel. - Rob. Some fans find him to be decently funny (although, not to Raj's level), while his detractors found him to be a pretty weak chef in general, where he only got to the top eight due to the chefs before him being far lower quality chefs. He also has detractors due to his It's All About Me attitude in the second service, where he refused to help out Curtis on the sushi station, ultimately resulting in Curtis's elimination, and then turning around and complaining about not receiving help from his teammates in later services.
- Trev. Some fans dislike his jerkish and often whiny attitude, as well as his refusal to own up to his mistakes. On the other hand, some fans point out that Trev does deserve to have a bit of an attitude towards the Blue Team, as he was primarily the Butt-Monkey of the group, and one of the biggest in the show's history. Many fans also appreciate how he at least tried to work with Raj, and how more often than not, he was probably the sanest person on the Blue Team that season only behind Louis. His confessionals also gained him a good number of fans, with many people loving his Deadpan Snarker tendencies.
- Jillian. Some think she was one of the most consistent chefs, while others think she just got lucky in a season that had noticeably lower quality chefs. Her being the Only Friend to Sabrina also doesn't help, as well as her primarily being on the appetizers and garnish stations.
- Nona. While some fans like her for calling out Sabrina's immature behavior and Russell for threatening physical violence on Trev, solid leadership in the finale and having a solid palate (such as when she scored 3 out of 4 in the Blind Taste Test and won the always difficult Taste It, Now Make It challenge), others dislike her for her inconsistent performances, and she is often seen as one of, if not the weakest winner in the series because of it. Her diva-like behavior when she returned as part of a veteran team in Season 11 didn't help.
Season 9
- Paul is an interesting case, as while he was generally well-liked in that season and was undoubtedly a strong chef, many people believe the far more popular and talented Will should've won over him. His Season 11 and 12 appearances where he became an Insufferable Genius didn't help much.
- Krupa. While she is one of the nicest chefs of the season, and was considered of the favorites, she did up losing half her fans due to her poor performance in the finale, costing Will the victory.
- Elizabeth has a mixed reaction. While she is considered one of the saner chefs of the season, there's also a lot of people who will not let her live down the Hawaiian planning service.
Season 10
- Clemenza. While he was fairly well liked throughout the season for his Large Ham attitude and being abrasive, but willing to comfort others, as well as his Rousing Speech that not only saved him from elimination, but gained him many fans in the process, he ended up losing many fans after he was picked last for the final service, resulting in him nearly walking out on Justin. Although to be fair, chefs like Patrick (who failed as a leader), Royce (who was notoriously inconsistent), and Robyn (who had a horrible temper) were chosen before him, and they all ranked lower than him in the competition, which does make his reaction somewhat justified.
Season 11
- Sebastian. Some fans believe that he didn't deserve to be eliminated first solely due to personality issues, especially over the far worse Jeremy, who also was trying to avoid blame, and his "Zacky Wacky" line, which became a very popular quote in the season. Others believe his elimination was entirely fair, as he was kicked out of the kitchen and attempted to return several times, and others found him trying too hard to be funny, which resulted in some fans finding him annoying.
- Barrett. While he is clearly one of the nicest chefs of the season, he has some detractors due to his severe incompetence, with his final few services literally containing two examples of his cooking nearly ''killing'' someone.
- Ray. While he does have his fans for being the oldest chef in the competition to date to the extent that fans were angry when Zach sabotaged and managed to get him sent home, others dislike him for his more immature behavior despite his age and not being able to accept responsibility for his mistakes.
- Michael. Some people lump him in with Jon and Anthony as being one of the more competent chefs on the infamous Blue Team. Others however, dislike his Hair-Trigger Temper and his comment about him making sacrifices, where he admitted he didn't take his son home out of the hospital and worked instead.
Season 12
- Jason, the runner-up, has a mixed reputation in the fanbase. Many fans love him for his fun, Large Ham personality, consistency in the kitchen, and a beard worthy of a Viking. Other fans don't like his moments of arrogance, and there was his infamous blowup with Sandra (though he did at least apologize). And, similarly to Season 2's Keith and Virginia, there is a lot of debate over whether he or Rochelle should've been in the finale.
- Kashia. Some fans like her sweeter moments and believe that she can cook. On the other hand, she had her fair share of detractors due to her Hair-Trigger Temper whenever she gets called out, especially in the later stages in the competition, and her Never My Fault attitude, although she grew out of it by the time she was eliminated. Like Joy, she also gained some flak for constantly trying to throw Scott under the bus.
- Melanie. She has many fans for her good looks as well as her talent and mostly consistent services. However, she has quite a few detractors who feel like she could be annoyingly cocky at times, and also dislike her habit of sitting out punishments that involve manual labour, making her teammates do those jobs while using the excuse of "being weak". Her being allowed to keep her Black Jacket over the far more popular Rochelle didn't help.
Season 13
- Bryant. While some fans do believe that he's certainly talented and a far more likable finalist than someone like Russell, others dislike his Hair-Trigger Temper and acting like a Sore Loser whenever he lost challenges, although this was thankfully averted when he lost to La Tasha in the finale. There's also some people who think that Sade should've been in the final two over him.
- Jennifer. Her fans enjoy her for being a Defrosting Ice Queen who slowly mellows out throughout the course of the season, as well as being a Determinator who was hospitalized twice in the season and still came back to have a good service, while her detractors still saw her as having a Hair-Trigger Temper (although not to Bryant's extent), and still found her too aggressive.
- Additionally, there's Santos. Initially starting out hated for teaming up with the similarly hated Steve and Aaron to sabotage their teammates. While some fans admit that Santos did get better and started taking accountability for his mistakes, he still has some detractors as some still not forgive him for what he attempted to do, and being considered one of the most forgettable black jackets in the show's history. Him also receiving one over chefs like Fernando and especially Sterling didn't help matters.
Season 14
- Bret from Seasons 14 and 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans). Many fans love his passion for cooking and confidence in the show and sympathized with him over his past and his injury forcing him out of the competition, due to him being seen as a major front-runner. However, others found him arrogant and disliked his abrasive and extremely emotional attitude, which some state gets old after a while. His return in Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans) resulted in him becoming even more polarizing, particularly when he called himself an emotional ass n-word, leaving many fans shocked.
- Nick's appearance was very much this. Fans did enjoy his Deadpan Snarker tendencies, as well as his friendship with Michelle to the extent that he was the only person who called out Meghan when she tried to nominate Michelle due to "process of elimination". note On the other hand, fans pointed out his more bitchy side that tended to come out, as well as his more rude moments. Thankfully in All-Stars, he toned this down, and became much more well-liked.
- Milly from Seasons 14 and 17 (All Stars). Fans love how passionate he is and how he can even be a nice enough guy despite being rough and blunt. On the other hand, detractors of him point out how he eventually entered scrappy territory on both his seasons after taking a level in Jerkass, with him managing to sabotage and eventually send home Randy in Season 14, and refusing to pitch in during punishments or service, and after being called out by his teammates over his lack of finesse and fine-dining experience, insisting in the confessional that their opinion towards him has "nothing to do with cooking" in All-Stars.
- T from Seasons 14 and 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans). During her initial appearance she was one of the more popular contestants for almost never putting a foot wrong in service or challenges, and for consistently calling out chefs with terrible attitudes (such as Monique) or who were just unqualified to be there (such as Chrissa). However, towards the end of that season she started to become a little more divisive for her jerkass behavior toward Michelle, perhaps the most universally popular contestant from the season. Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans) rendered her a lot more divisive, as she appeared to have Took a Level in Jerkass while becoming a far less consistent chef in the intervening years, and she ended up exiting the competition at a relatively early stage, doing perhaps the most damage to the reputation of any of the chefs who came back for Seasons 17 or 18.
- Meghan, as while some people like her for her no-nonsense attitude and consistency throughout the show, to the point where she is often considered one of the most dominant winners in the entire series, others dislike her for her arrogance and demeaning attitude towards Michelle, especially when she decided to put Michelle up for elimination instead of Milly in Episode 14, despite the fact that former didn't do anything wrong during service while the latter had a rough night on the fish station. Although, given just how much of a dominating force she proved to be throughout the season, it's definitely fair to say that Meghan at least has the skills to back up her ego.
Season 15
- Jackie has her fans for bringing such a goofy and hammy personality to the show, making her very entertaining to watch. Her friendship with Ariel was also seen as heartwarming to many, especially in the finale episode where she seemed to be Ariel’s strongest and most vocal supporter, clearly more determined than anyone to help her win during the final challenge, and can even be heard cheering for Ariel the loudest when she won. However, she also gets a lot of hate for her subpar-to-mediocre skills in the kitchen, terrible attitude, crass behavior, and extremely confrontational personality, with even Sous Chef Christina calling her cancer for the Red Team at one point. The moment where she dumped an ashtray on Kristin did not help at all and had many viewers arguing that she should have been eliminated on the spot. She was also kept around farther than some less dramatic and roughly similar or better skilled contestants.
- The season's winner, Ariel Malone, could also qualify. Some fans are genuinely unimpressed by Ariel due to her combative nature and feel that Kristin or Ashley were much better choices for the Season 15 winner. Ariel's defenders, however, often argue that they don't mind having a villainous winner and appreciate how Ariel was able to win the competition despite having a spraint ankle for most of the competition.
Season 16
- Heather from both Season 16 and Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans). Most people agree that she is actually a fairly solid chef, typically holding her own in services and doing well in challenges (remarkably getting a 5 on her signature dish in both seasons). However, her detractors dislike her fairly crass attitude and mannerisms, and her moments of being a Hypocrite and Never My Fault, especially in Season 18 (Rookies vs. Veterans). Her showmance with Andrew in Season 16 (despite him being engaged) also cost her much popularity with both the audience and even other contestants. On the other hand, her supporters point out her moments of being a Reasonable Authority Figure, especially towards Aaron's elimination and Kimberly winning a Black Jacket over Andrew in Season 16. Her two biggest offenses typically comes from surviving elimination over other contestants who are much more well-liked and popular (Heidi in Season 16 and Kanae in Season 18). Her second is her hypocritical moments almost being perfectly timed to happen after she insulted others, especially in Season 18.
- Also from Season 16, Koop. While he is considered one of the nicer members of the Blue Team (compared to Andrew, Matt, Paulie, and Johnny), many were turned off by his infamous "bitch server" comment and his Sore Loser attitude, particularly when he broke a chair in a fit of rage that unsurprisingly resulted in his elimination.
- Genaro is disliked by some for his exceeding lack of passion, but others sided with him over Johnny yelling at him, finding the latter to be overreacting. Other factors in his favor include Johnny becoming a scrappy in the following episodes, along with Genaro's untimely death at 32.
Season 17 (All Stars)
- While starting as a Dark Horse in Season 14, Michelle's appearance in Season 17 (All Stars) made her into this. While she did gain fans in Season 17 (All Stars) due her mature and reasonable demeanor in dealing with Elise, trying to make peace with her even if the latter refused to, and setting personal issues aside for the sake of professionalism in the kitchen, others found her to be less consistent than before, and having a habit of not owning up to her mistakes. She also ended up losing a lot of fans after she threw a water bottle at Elise, which some state should've resulted in Michelle being kicked off the show for that. Her eventually winning the season after being given a pep talk by Gordon in a storage room didn't help, leading many to believe the season was rigged in her favor.
- Robyn. While she was hated in her previous season, and started off hated here, she did have an attitude improvement when she was switched to the Blue Team, and fans did find her friendship with Jennifer endearing. However, some fans believed that her cooking ability took a nosedive, and many fans were not happy when she managed to survive in elimination challenges over Jennifer and Giovanni. She also lost some fans by being The Load that kept messing up during the final service, but she got to stick around due to Benjamin being too much of a Nice Guy to truly kick her out of the kitchen. Thus, a lot of people blame Robyn as the sole reason for Benjamin not winning.
Season 18 (Rookies Vs. Veterans)
- Mia has become this. People can agree that she was the most consistent of the Rookies, and there's many people who find her attractive. However, some people find her arrogant to a fault, and feared that the season would be rigged for her to win (though this was ultimately subverted when she faced off and lost against Ariel in the finale). Her tendency to push the blame around, such as with Chris on opening night, can rub people the wrong way too. In particular, the time she blamed Kanae for her mistakes on fish after Tilly Ramsay's birthday service didn't help. Another party also exists that likes that she was a Base Breaking Character, and use her as an example of how not to compete if you expect to make it to the final two, because Mia's behavior during the competition influenced a lot of her team picks and how willing said team was to work for her.
- Motto. Initially starting as an Ensemble Dark Horse due to his Nice Guy personality and his quit being seen as graceful, some fans have started to point out that Motto likely wasn't going to make the finale, and felt that he quit to save face. Some question what could he have genuinely brought to Baton Rouge, noting that even Gordon himself would struggle to elevate their culinary scene. Additionally, there are a few fans that believe that he wasn't as nice of a guy as fans make him out to be, as he did join in on bullying Trev, although in all fairness, Trev had been burning his bridges lately.
Season 19 (Las Vegas)
- Kori. Some people lump her in with the rest of the final four in terms of talent and likeability, most notably encouraging Jordan to not relapse on her alcoholism and her and Cody buying Vitamix blenders for Mary Lou and Declan after they lost a challenge. However, others believe she had a mean streak that primarily consisted of sabotaging and not owning up to her mistakes, citing Syann's last service and the final 4 service as examples.
Season 20 (Young Guns)
- Trenton. While many people do agree that he is skilled, and appreciate that he was the one who broke the female winning streak, others dislike his moments of arrogance and his harsh leadership in the finale, especially when compared to Megan, who some believe should've won.
- Brynn tends to be considered whiny and annoying and scoff at her talking about her anxiety, while others rally behind her. Some also think that her forming a one-sided enmity towards Trenton really didn't help her, while others find her in the right for being annoyed with him. Some just find her one of the most overdramatic contestants of the season with how much she tended to cry.
- Kiya's split between arrogant bully and not an arrogant bully. A lot of her confessionals involving putting people down, tendency to blame others, and just not one to consider other's feelings have left her with a lot of detractors. Some, however, side with her on these viewpoints. When she started to fixate on Trenton and hate everything he did or said, some sided with her finding him too cocky, while others thought she's not helping herself and saying things like she wants to punch him to be going too far.
Season 21 (Battle of the Ages)
- Vlad very quickly became this. Many of his detractors dislike his loud and cocky attitude, while others point out that he can back up his ego, with his Signature Dish getting a perfect 5 out of 5, and also point out him helping out Ileana when he didn't need to during the Signature Dish Challenge.
- Tara as well. Initially starting out as an Ensemble Dark Horse for being one of the only competent 40-Somethings of the season, she would reach Base-Breaking status after Mindy was eliminated. While some fans felt bad that Tara was being targeted due to her age, others pointed out that she was making legitimate mistakes, which gave the younger chefs a decent excuse to put her up. Another thing that made people have issues with her is she would be extremely hypocritical, bashing the 20somethings for behavior she was the one actually doing, but she did seem to mellow out towards the end of the competition.
- Dafne additionally. She has many fans for her attractiveness, but also a number of detractors for being seen as generic and lacking in personality, as well as being an Elimination Houdini, with one example involving fan-favorite Mindy being put up over her despite Mindy doing nothing wrong all night. She only ended up getting more detractors when she threw Cheyenne under the bus (although Cheyenne had imploded badly,) and many fans started fearing that she was destined to win. Thankfully for some, she lost to Alex in the finale.
