Hell's Kitchen: Why Did Ariel Turn Down The Prize & Where Is She Now?

Chef Ariel Contreras-Fox won Season 18 of "Hell's Kitchen — arguably one of the best cooking shows of all time — only to turn down part of her grand prize.

In each season of "Hell's Kitchen," host Gordon Ramsay gradually narrows down a field of roughly 15 to 20 chefs to a sole winner. They then receive large sum of cash and a position as head chef at a restaurant of Ramsay's choosing. For winning Season 18, Ramsay offered Contreras-Fox the opportunity to head his Hell's Kitchen restaurant in the Las Vegas Caesars Palace hotel. While she presumably kept her cash prize, she ultimately turned down the job offer and instead undertook a role as Concept Executive Chef at a Mexican restaurant called Dos Caminos in New York City.

Contreras-Fox told HollywoodLife.com that this move was inspired by her interest in focusing her talents more on taste-making than running a kitchen. "I want to get more on the tastemaker side of things. I think I've proven myself and I'm someone who knows what they're doing," she said.

While she may have forgone the top position at the Hell's Kitchen restaurant that Ramsay offered her, in the show's immediate aftermath she still opted to help Ramsay's Vegas restaurant out with events and even maintains a positive relationship with the "Hell's Kitchen" host to this day.

Chef Ariel Contreras-Fox is proof that success in the wake of "Hell's Kitchen" is oftentimes nonlinear. Some "Hell's Kitchen" competitors have thrived even after losing, whereas Contreras-Fox maintains a successful career after turning down the position she earned following her Season 18 victory.

According to her Instagram bio, her present-day job title is Vice President Culinary for Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse and the Del Frisco's Grille restaurant chain — both of which are a part of a large company called Landry's Inc. that also owns Dos Caminos.

In 2022, Contreras-Fox wrote a book called "Spice Kitchen: Healthy Latin and Caribbean Cuisine." Shortly after its publication, Gordon Ramsay brought her up in an interview with the San Diego Tribune as one of three former contestants with whom he still keeps in contact and mentioned that he wrote the book's forward.

On the whole, Contreras-Fox seems to be dividing her time between a more corporate restaurant business position and her desire to become a tastemaker through avenues like her cookbook after turning down her "Hell's Kitchen" prize to pursue a different kind of career.