Hell's Kitchen: What Happened To Jen Gavin & Why Did She Claim She Was Sabotaged?

"Hell's Kitchen" is nothing if not a cutthroat competition — but sometimes that intensity can show up in the way contestants interact with the show's notorious host, Gordon Ramsay. Jennifer "Jen" Gavin initially competed on "Hell's Kitchen" during Season 4, where she made it all the way to the final four before being eliminated by Ramsay during Episode 12. But when Gavin returned to the show for Season 18's all-star edition, she claimed Ramsay sabotaged her and ruined her hopes of working as a chef at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

During the third episode, Ramsay and Gavin fought over her performance during the episode's dinner service. He claimed she had under-sauced the duck dish she served him, while she claimed he sabotaged her by having his sous chef deliberately hide her pan, which was filled with a garnish made of creamy leeks. Ramsay eliminated Gavin, who claimed he acted unfairly and deliberately. 

"You're trying to sabotage me right now. You set me up. I'm steady bringing you the food, Chef, and you throw the pan under there and say I didn't give you enough. Have a good one, Chef," she said, repeatedly calling Ramsay a liar. He, in turn, said she was lying, and told her she lacked the stuff to be a top-level chef. Gavin retorted. "I do have it, and there's plenty of people that think so, but you're not going to disrespect me in here."

After her first "Hell's Kitchen" appearance aired, Gavin established Edible Passport, a restaurant and catering company in Blue Island, Illinois. It continues to operate and offer gourmet food to customers as of press time. But that's definitely not the only thing that Gavin's been up to since becoming a reality star.

"At the end of the day, I have an entire business at home waiting on me. I've accomplished a lot of things. I'm going home wishing I would have said more. I wish I would have told (Ramsay) to take that blue chef jacket and stuff it so far up his (expletive), he'd start coughing out blueberries," Jen Gavin said during her final "Hell's Kitchen" confessional. While her anger at Ramsay might never be resolved, Gavin has definitely moved on and kept quite busy between appearances on the show. 

After her first appearance, she worked for a period at The Big Easy, a restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. The gig ended in 2010  when she quit due to a conflict with the restaurant's owner. She has since catered tour stops for many notable musicians, including Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney.

Gavin admitted in 2018 that she regretted returning to "Hell's Kitchen" for a second course. She explained that she only agreed to appear again because she was in a bad financial place after losing money on a food truck investment. The chef admitted to being in a tough place emotionally, which ended up affecting her relationship with her teammates. 

But all of that seems to be water under the bridge for Gavin. Despite not having Ramsay's support, she's launched a successful and enduring business. It definitely goes to show that losing "Hell's Kitchen" isn't necessarily a bad thing.