All of the other contestants and I gathered at the pickup lane at the airport, waiting for the Hell's Kitchen limo to round the corner. I took this time to examine my competition. There were fifteen other chefs aside from myself that were going to be competing against each other this season. Eight men and eight women. Thinking back to past seasons, I wondered which chefs were put here just to stir up drama. My wondering was cut short with an almost uncanny interruption.

One of the women, dressed in a low cut floral top, white skirt and with bleached blonde hair decided to gather everyone's attention. Or at least, the attention of the people that weren't already staring at her near exposed breasts.
"Oh my GOD can you guys believe it!" She bounces in place, jiggling. "I'm like, actually here. Of all the applicants I got picked! I can't wait to see which of you makes it to the final five with me." she grins wickedly like the Cheshire cat,

"Should be real easy, my competition doesn't look very... fierce." her eyes quickly flit about the contestants, stopping on me for what seemed to be just a second longer than the others.

One of the few to not be at a loss for words was a middle-aged, stout and balding man who scoffed at her,

"This is Hell's Kitchen not Keeping Up with the Kardashians unless you keep your cooking skill in those tits then I doubt you'll make it to the final five with that self-absorbed attitude. This is a team game."
Though he was stocky, his voice was commanding, and surprisingly the blonde looked sheepish at being talked down to. She hadn't even come up with a snarky retort by the time that a tall man in a suit approached us.

"Hell's Kitchen contestants?" he questioned the group then continued after seeing our collective nods, "please follow me." he then started walking towards the exit.

Our bustling group of contestants all happily followed him to a sleek black limousine with the initials "HK" branded on the side parked just outside the loading gate. All of us looked giddily at each other. I can feel excitement buzzing through my body as I lock eyes with the girl next to me, her brown curls are bouncing in place as she jitters. We both give a shy grin, recognizing the other's excitement. As we approached the limo, the driver opens the door and lets us all inside.

The limo was plush and cozy and there was an ice box with a bottle of champagne inside situated in the middle. The driver introduces himself as Paul and passes out champagne glasses to all of us before he takes his seat at the front and begins the drive to the kitchen.

One of the younger men- green-eyed, thin with messy ruffled brown hair- took hold of the champagne bottle, opened it swiftly and began pouring glasses for everyone with finesse. His winning smile was contagious as he confidently lead us all in a discussion of where we'd come from to get here, and cracked a few jokes. Soon enough all of us were smiling and laughing together.

After about 30 minutes of driving and laughing, the lights of the tinted window limo went out, leaving us in partial darkness. The chatter died down and everyone started looking around somewhat confused. Shortly, a small TV flipped open right by the window between the driver and us contestants. On that TV was none other than Chef Ramsay, wearing his striking white head chef jacket with his arms crossed across his chest in what one may consider his signature pose.

"Good afternoon, Hell's Kitchen contestants! I hope you all are enjoying yourselves on your trip to Hell because things are about to get a lot less luxurious. As soon as you arrive, I expect you to hop in the kitchen and begin work on THE signature dish of yours that you are," he adamantly shook his fist, "MOST proud of." The passion in his eyes burned in a way that could be felt through the screen. All of us were silent, at rapt attention.

"You have 45 minutes from the moment you arrive to complete your signature dish. The red and blue team will be competing, so be sure your dish impresses. I will meet you all as soon as you've finished. Good luck, contestants." he finished and turned his back to us as the screen folded back up and the lights turned back on.

We were all silent for a few seconds, until one of the women sitting closest to the screen weakly said, "Gee, he sure is intimidating."

She was small even while sitting down, her curly red hair framed her pale white face. She had freckles across her nose that really stood out when her skin was drained of color. One of the men sitting next to her- somewhat built, brown eyed and black haired with a buzz cut- comfortingly wrapped his muscled arm around her shoulder, rapidly bringing color back to her cheeks.

"Chin up Red!" he exclaimed. "Ya wanna be brave when you talk to Ramsay, even if you're scared, don't show 'em that you are."

She nodded delicately, curling her shoulders in to avoid touching his arm as much as possible. He didn't seem to notice and left it around her for the rest of the duration of the ride, about another 15 minutes or so.