Hell's Kitchen is a gruelling competition for aspiring chefs, and Gordon Ramsay's yelling doesn't make it easier. These are the best seasons!

With 18 seasons of the show, it can be a little difficult to pick and choose the best seasons of Hell's Kitchen out of their lesser counterparts. There’s always some good drama floating around, in addition to it just being a pretty top of the line cooking show- much like Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

With $250,000 and a place as head chef of a high-end restaurant on the line, contestants are under pressure to perform. The constantly changing challenges, teams, and Chef Ramsay’s infamous temper only add to the excitement. Currently, the 19^th season of the show is set to premiere sometime in early 2021, and audiences can’t wait to see who burns next.

10 Season 2 - 6.9

The show was obviously still trying to find its stride going into its second season. It was the first season where the original teams were separated according to the gender of the contestants, and it seems to have worked out for them, since it was maintained up until the 18^th season.

Wrapping up the show’s run in standard definition, it also saw the beginning of several challenges that would make appearances in future seasons. This season’s winner was Heather West, then a 25-year-old sous chef from Port Jefferson, New York. It's also well known for the infamous "Where's the lamb sauce?!" episode.

9 Season 10 - 6.9

This season was the only one in which both teams failed at a challenge so badly that both teams were declared the losers, as well as the only time all of the eliminated contestants were actually nominated for elimination.

The winning chef was Christina Wilson of Philadelphia, who saw herself into a spot at Ramsay’s titular Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas- perhaps partially on the back of being a member of the first red team in the show’s history to win a Signature Dish Challenge.

8 Season 14 - 6.9

28-year-old Meghan Gill of Roanoke took home this season’s top prize in the end- the Head Chef slot at the Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Atlantic City. Although the Final Three in this season was the first to have an all-female Final Three, the all-male blue team dominated most of the season.

With the blue team tying the record for the most dinner service wins in any season, their wins were bolstered by their Signature Dish challenge wins, with Chef Ramsay approving all of their dishes during the judging.

7 Season 16 - 6.9

Along with Seasons 14 and 15, this season managed to be both the third consecutive and third overall season to feature an all-female Final Three. Blowing all other teams out of the water, the red team completely dominated this season with a record eight dinner service wins.

On the flip side, the blue team was thrown out of dinner service a record seven times- no doubt contributing to this being the only season with two times two contestants were eliminated in a single episode. Kimberly-Ann Ryan from Michigan eventually took home the top prize, Head Chef at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar at The Venetian in Las Vegas.

6 Season 1 - 7.0

Michael Wray from Fort Collins Colorado won the inaugural season, and the prizes (which differed from those that followed). He was given his own restaurant in Los Angeles and an opportunity to learn with Chef Ramsay in London- although he turned the latter down for personal reasons.

Since it was the first season, it contributed several things that would continue throughout the show, such as the first Signature Dish Challenge.

5 Season 6 - 7.0

This season marked the first time ever that Ramsay eliminated a chef in the kitchen, during the after-service post-mortem. It also marked the first time a contestant returned, with Robert Hesse from Season 5 returning to the competition.

Other series firsts were the two finalists being the first in the series to that point avoiding having been nominated for eliminations, as well as having the first time Ramsay walked out during dinner service. The season was eventually won by Dave Levey of San Diego, who became Head Chef at Araxi Restaurant & Bar in Whistler, British Columbia.

4 Season 12 - 7.0

This season takes several top spots for the show- most contestants nominated in one night with six, two contestants who quit for different reasons, and- along with Season 11- the most initial contestants with 20 starters.

It was one of the rare seasons where no team was declared the opening night winner, as well as being the only season where both teams managed to lose the first three dinner services- much to Chef Ramsay’s disgust. Eventually the position of Head Chef at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas went to Scott Cummings.

3 Season 9 - 7.1

The winner of Season 9- Paul Niedermann- took the Head Chef slot at BLT Steak in New York City as his prize for securing the season. It saw the beginning of the Private Charity Night during dinner service, although it also saw the last time the show would have a double dinner service.

For the first time in its history, it aired episodes in different time slots and days, which perhaps contributed to the viewership slip from the previous seasons.

2 Season 8 - 7.1

Premiering less than two months after the finale of the previous season (due to a lack of scripted programming due to after-effects of the Writer’s Guild of America strike) doesn’t seem to have hurt the viewer ratings for this season.

Nona Sivley became Head Chef of the LA Market Restaurant at the JW Marriott Hotel in Los Angles after winning the top spot this season. A highlight of the season came at the end, when Russell Kook, the runner-up, became the only second-place finisher on the show to have a meltdown at his loss, going as far as threatening the chefs he felt cost him the title with blacklisting.

1 Season 18 - 7.3

This season shook things up a little, with only eight new contestants- the 16 person roster was rounded out with the return of eight previous contestants from prior seasons.

Dubbed the Rookies and the Veterans, they were split along these lines into teams unlike the gender split from previous seasons; in Episode 4 Ramsay decided to return to the gender split teams. Eventually, Season 6 Veteran Ariel Contreras-Fox came out on top of the pack, winning Executive Chef at Hell’s Kitchen Caesar Palace in Las Vegas.

NEXT: Hell's Kitchen: 10 Worst Seasons Of The Show,Ranked (According To IMDb)

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