The fourth season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on Fox on April 1, 2008, and concluded on July 8, 2008. Gordon Ramsay returned as host and head chef, while Scott Leibfried returned as the Blue Team's sous-chef and Gloria Felix debuted as the Red Team's sous-chef, replacing Mary-Ann Salcedo. Jean-Philippe Susilovic returned as maître d'.
This season was won by culinary student Christina Machamer, with catering director Louis Petrozza finishing second.
Filming for this season took place in October 2007 at a warehouse located in Culver City, California. It was originally supposed to air later in the 2007âÂÂ2008 TV season but instead aired as a replacement for shows that were affected by the 2007âÂÂ2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The fifth episode garnered the highest viewership in Hell's Kitchen history at 11.94 million viewers.
Machamer received the senior sous chef position at the prize restaurant â not the executive chef position as mentioned in show-related publicity and press releases. The restaurant opened on May 27, 2008, while the season was still airing.
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.
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