Hell's Kitchen (American TV series) season 9
| Hell's Kitchen | |
|---|---|
| Season 9 | |
Region 1 DVD cover | |
| Hosted by | Gordon Ramsay |
| No. of contestants | 18 |
| Winner | Paul Niedermann |
| Runner-up | William "Will" Lustberg |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Fox |
| Original release | July 18 – September 19, 2011 |
| Season chronology | |
Season 9 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on July 18, 2011, on Fox and concluded on September 19, 2011, with a two-hour season finale. Gordon Ramsay returned as host and head chef, while Scott Leibfried and Andi Van Willigan returned as the Blue Team and Red Team's sous-chefs respectively. James Lukanik returned as maître d'.
The season was won by jr. sous-chef Paul Niedermann, with fellow sous-chef William "Will" Lustberg finishing second.
The entire season took about six weeks to film, and was filmed between April and May 2011. It also saw the show return to its original one season per year schedule, having run two seasons each in 2009 and 2010 due to the after-effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.
Third-place finisher Elise Wims tied Season seven fourth-place finisher Autumn Lewis and Season eight sixth-place finisher Sabrina Brimhall for the record of most nominations in a single season, with seven.