The Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns Thermometer Scandal, Explained

"Thermometer-gate" — what Guilty Eats is calling the latest "Hell's Kitchen" scandal — is a case of one chef being unable to stand the heat on Gordon Ramsay's popular cooking competition show. And you know what they say, "If you can't stand the heat...."

Chef Matthew Francis Johnson was eliminated in the second episode of "Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns" after Ramsay called him out for bringing a digital thermometer into the kitchen (via Gold Derby). Moments before taking Johnson's jacket, Ramsay noted the irony in a chef cheating with a smuggled thermometer and still presenting the show's host with raw chicken in one dish and raw lamb in another. "How incredible that somebody sneaked a meat thermometer in here, and then we still couldn't produce any cooked protein," Ramsay said in a "Hell's Kitchen" video posted to Facebook.

The thermometer violated the show's rules because, as Guilty Eats explains, outside kitchen tools of any kind are forbidden. But Ramsay indicated he was kicking Johnson out of the kitchen for poor overall performance, not for the cheating scandal. Here's the truth.

In his elimination speech to Matthew Francis Johnson on Episode 2 of "Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns," Gordon Ramsay summarized how Johnson had managed three major screw-ups in rapid succession to become the second chef to leave the show (via Gold Derby): "At signature dish, you delivered me a dish full of s**t," Ramsay said, quite literally. (Johnson had not properly cleaned the shrimp, per TV Fanatic). "Then, at the alcohol challenge, you served me a raw chicken. And then tonight, you served me raw lamb." 

If anything, Ramsay suggested that Johnson could have been better at cheating. Handing Johnson his meat thermometer on his way out, Ramsay said, "The next time you decide to cook protein, use this s**t properly."

After Episode 2 of "Hell's Kitchen: Young Guns" aired, Johnson did not address the thermometer scandal directly but did admit to making a mistake (or three) on Instagram: "I have made SO many mistakes! On the show, in my personal life, and in my career. But now, I try to just laugh and have fun, because all my mistakes have helped me grow." In a "Life After Hell" video on YouTube, Johnson added that he continues to work in the industry, producing videos for food companies. "I'm never going to go back to restaurants," he said. "It's just not for me."