The second season of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on Fox on June 12, 2006, and concluded on August 14, 2006.

The season was won by sous-chef Heather West, with salad chef Virginia Dalbeck finishing second.

Giacomo's frutti di mare was "not bad", and Heather's chocolate raspberry empanadas were deemed "the best thing" Ramsay had "tasted so far", even though the pastry was thick; the other dishes were poorly received; Rachel's butterfly shrimp were cooked nicely, but overpowered by the chocolate sauce, the sauce for Keith's sesame-crusted tuna was far too hot, and Ramsay refused to eat Polly's "undone" focaccia bread.

Larry's Asian potato crab cakes were raw, and Maribel's Argentine plantain soup was overly spicy, garlicky and compared to "baby vomit".

Ramsay spat out Tom's shrimp scampi, which was served with cooked Caesar salad, Garrett's meat was dry and overcooked, and Gabe's fish was raw.

Sara's peekytoe crab pasta was overcooked and mushy, and Virginia's coconut and pomegranate celery root salad was described as "rabbit food" because it was completely raw, aside from the toasted nuts.

Sara cheered when Heather's risotto was finally accepted, earning a scolding from Ramsay as it had taken them an hour and a half to serve a single appetizer.

Group punishment: The teams were forced to dig into the trash bin containing the food that was wasted in the previous dinner service.

Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with a helicopter trip and lunch at The Saddle Peak Lodge in the Santa Monica Mountains with Ramsay.

Rachel criticized Tom for this response and stated in a confessional that even if Larry partied in the hot tub the previous night, it wouldn't guarantee he would be feeling well later on.

The women had an extra member, so Heather sat out, fearing her hand injury would slow her team down, though Sara assumed she was putting herself in a less vulnerable position.

Tom was scolded for giving up after burning his hand, and ran out of mashed potatoes, making it impossible for service to get back on track.

Ramsay shut the kitchens down at this point, but named the women winners for serving more entrees, singling out Sara as the best of the night.

Team change: Before the challenge, Ramsay acknowledged that the men was now two members short, and Rachel, Sara and Heather had stepped up as leaders.

Field trip: The teams were taken to Pink's Hot Dogs, where Ramsay surprised them with news that they would be opening for lunch for the first time, forcing them to run back to Hell's Kitchen.

Meanwhile, the red team was marred by a power struggle between Rachel and Sara, resulting in the quality of the food leaving the kitchen being occasionally inconsistent.

Service: In the red kitchen, Rachel struggled on risotto, and Sara sabotaged Virginia by saying she was "ready and waiting for her call", though later told Ramsay she had yet to put on her turbot.

Meanwhile, despite Keith and Heather having a strong performance on the blue team, Garrett served a bland risotto and had a cold lobster spaghetti returned.

After Rachel overcooked wellingtons and then tried to cover them with sauce to make them look medium, Ramsay shut down the kitchens, declared the blue team the winners for serving more entrees, and named Virginia the best of the worst for her improvement.

For desserts, Ramsay found Heather's fresh fruit crepes with a mango peach puree very soggy, while Maribel's strawberry shortcake was tasty, if uninspired.

Ramsay, having only been impressed by the entrees, gave the red team the win, picking Virginia's dish as the best of the day and using it as a tie-breaker.

Virginia and Sara (shutting out Maribel) came up with exotic ideas for the red team such as tuna sashimi and rack of lamb.

Despite holding Sara primarily responsible for the red team's failure and calling it her worst performance thus far, Ramsay eliminated Maribel for her lack of leadership, but praised her attitude.

Reward/punishment: Keith received a trip to Las Vegas to visit the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino and chose Virginia to go with him.

Virginia struggled on garnish, breaking romaine hearts and arguing with Ramsay about cooking tortellini when it wasn't even on the menu.

Heather and Keith were disappointed with this, as they both believe she cheated by buying Ramsay's recipe book the previous week and as she asked for ingredients the others had just finished using.

Meanwhile, Virginia remained unresponsive to Keith's orders, forgot what she was cooking and got overwhelmed on the fish station, confusing the rest of the kitchen's timings.

Challenge: Heather and Virginia traveled to Green Valley Ranch Resort in Las Vegas to make a signature dish judged by 20 people.

Despite this, Heather was considered a strong leader, and they picked up from their mistakes, finishing before Virginia's team despite Sara struggling to plate empanadas.

Ramsay praised both teams for their services, but unbeknownst to them, the President of the Red Rock Resort was among the clients sampling dishes from each menu.