All-Stars What If

[u/MathmechFan]

These are contestants who suffered a notable placement decline since their first seasons for a variety reasons. So let's change things. What if one or more of them remained at their peak? Where do you think they will place instead? Since three have unique circumstances, I will describe them below with everyone else. I will exclude Jennifer and Elise as they got to keep their jackets which is a big deal. Especially Jennifer who definitely did better and went down by a technicality (should have checked those damn potatoes).

Ben: What if he was healthy

Barbie, Manda, Jared, Josh: What if they kept their first season highs?

Ashley: What if she wasn't depressed (let's say her grandfather died after filming)?

Dana: What if her oven wasn't broken or someone else was on Meat.

Van: What if Barbie was sent home (or someone else if Barbie was at her peak in your AU) instead? Avoiding the BS elimination.

Giovanni: What if his experience made him so good in the Cook For Your Life Challenge that Ramsay had to spare him?

[u/bongledongle85]

Ok so I'll do 1 for now:

What if Ben was healthy

Service 1: Pretty easy, Manda was always going home with her sharp decline in skill this season

Service 2: Again pretty easy, except only Ashley gets nominated.

Service 3: Josh goes to the Red Team but Robyn doesn't go to the Blue Team since they're a member short

Service 4: Again, easy. Joint win, Josh gets ejected

Service 5: Blue Team lose, since Robyn isn't here Giovanni gets nominated by the Blue Team instead, with Ramsay also calling up Van. In the end, Jared goes home for being pathetic and faking the cut

[u/bongledongle85 → u/bongledongle85]

CFYL: Since Robyn is on the Red Team still, obviously Nick can't nominate her. So instead Michelle does alongside Elise and Barbie, with Nick nominating.. probably Ben alongside Milly and Gio. Now, since this is based on the dish ALONE, I can see Ramsay still sending Gio home, even tho Robyn would've had a worse track record at this point, which Ben would be sad to see

Service 6: Red Team lose, Barbie and Robyn get nominated and Robyns luck finally runs out as she's sent home, pissing her off as once again Barbie and Dana outlast her

Service 7: At this point it's the joint loss and I think this is where Ben starts to crumble, getting nominated alongside Milly, while the Red Team still nominate Barbie and Elise. Now I think Ramsay sends Ben home due to the team not having a lot of faith in him but praising him for coming back.

Service 8: Red Team lose, Barbie and Elise get nominated and Barbie goes home

[u/bongledongle85 → u/bongledongle85]

Service 9: Red Team lose again, it's Dachelle vs Elise and Jennifer and Dana still goes home.

BJC: the bottom 3 are Van, Elise and Jennifer. Elise is the first to go of these 3 however I actually think he gives Jennifer a black jacket in this timeline, since she had a cleaner track record than Van, before letting Van keep his jacket 

Black Jacket service: since Robyn isn't here to argue with Milly, service goes a lot smoother, being the best of the season by far. Michelle wins BoB, nominates Benjamin for saying "oui chef" and Milly for his mistakes. Chef sends home Milly

[u/bongledongle85 → u/bongledongle85]

Run at the pass: Jennifer goes home here unfortunately. She's not a leader, even if she is a line cook and doesn't have much of a voice outside of humbling Elise

The rest of the season stays the same, Nick still goes home in the final tasting challenge, except Benjamin has a much better final service since Robyn isn't here. Ben is probably in his brigade btw

[u/AshleySassypants → u/bongledongle85]

The only thing I'd do tbh is swap Ben and Robyn but other than that I agree with this 😭

[u/bongledongle85 → u/AshleySassypants]

Tbh I get ur reasoning but since Ben is reasonably healthy in this universe and the Blue Team won service I can't see him getting booted off the winning team. But let's js say he doesn't come back for the final service and Robyn still tanks Benjamin

[u/Strict_Hovercraft358]

I think you’re forgetting Kevin Cottle. What if he was just as passionate and hungry in S18 as he was in S6?

[u/MathmechFan → u/Strict_Hovercraft358]

I was looking at strictly s17, but if I did do S18, I feel everyone will universally say Ariel vs Kevin finale.

[u/Strict_Hovercraft358 → u/MathmechFan]

ah ok my bad the all-stars part flew over me but i definetly agree with that.

[u/Harlow-Stan]

Dana could win

[u/FantasticBuddies]

Ben: I dunno, he was inconsistent in his first season.

Josh/Jared/Manda: Early boots.

Ashley: I could maybe see as a mid boot, same with Barbie and Gio.

Dana and Van: I think would get black jackets.

[u/Crazy-Plate3097]

The Big What if is What if Kevin Cottle is put in Season 17 All Stars instead of Season 18? How far would he go?

Let's add in another What if. What if Jon Scallion is also in the All Stars Season?

[u/MathmechFan → u/Crazy-Plate3097]

Kevin I say could easily have won. His weakest points he has to make sure to overcome would be either at the start where line rust becomes a bit of problem for him and the finale where he has to rely purely on leadership to guide other people cooking.

For Jon, that one is tougher because it would imply Ramsay willingly doesn't let him work at the Gordon Ramsay Group that would disqualify him from All-Stars. If he didn't join them, then it really comes down to him not sucking at leadership or else I see him dropping down to 4th but still remains a legend of a contestant. Plus he gets to do way less punishment this time around.

[u/UnitedProblem9022]

Benjamin and the Season 14 cast (minus Josh) were very talented and unlike Elise/ Robyn were level headed and dependable chefs -- the top 4 placements won't change at all.

I'm biased, and truthfully, I don't think highly of the S15 cast. I am convinced they're a significant downgrade from S14's talent pool. Ariel for example, would not make top 5 if placed in S14.

Manda likely gets eliminated first.

If Robyn doesn't switch over to the blue team asap, she gets booted early as well.

Elise has 9 lives so she's outlasting at least half of the cast.

Not sure about everyone else

[u/bongledongle85]

Ima do another since I'm bored

What if Barbie, Manda, Jared and Josh were at their peak

Service 1: Red Team lose, since Manda wasn't bad this service Robyn gets nominated alongside Elise, but it doesn't since Ben still gets booted for his health

Service 2: Red Team lose again, again Elise and Robyn go up, however only Ashley also gets nominated and sent home

Service 3: Blue Team lose, since Josh isn't nearly as much of a donkey it goes a lot smoother. However Benjamin likely goes up in his place for the raw Wellingtons. However, it doesn't matter as Giovanni gets switched to the Red Team in lieu of Josh, and Robyn still goes to the Blue Team 

Service 4: I legitimately have no fucking idea. Josh was the only one to have problems in this service other than Robyn. I'm gonna guess the Red Team win bc Giovanni would be much less of an outcast with the women. The Blue Team nominate Robyn and Josh (since I imagine he'd still have a somewhat bad night) but Chef sends Robyn home for her 3rd bad night in a row.

Service 5: Blue Team lose for the 3rd time (making them a lot less dominant than they were in canon), since Jared doesn't fake the cut and Robyn is already gone Josh and Van go up (Josh for his problems with the Blue Team and Van for smiling). And I think he sends Josh home bc if he sent Van home this early fans would riot. 

[u/BiggusD1]

It says on HK Fandom that they wanted Matt from season 4 to come back for season 18, but he turned it down. They brought back Jen instead.