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Spoiler Alert: Expect Robert ‘Big Boy’ Hesse to Return to Hell’s Kitchen Tonight

Photo: Courtesy of Fox

Tonight is the premiere of Hell’s Kitchen season six. We had been lamenting the lack of New York talent among the current crop of contestants, but rumor has it that tonight’s episode starts with a shake-up involving the return of a portly favorite from last season, Robert Hesse, who left the show with the finale in sight after discovering a heart condition. Hesse has been spending the summer in East Hampton as the co-executive chef of Georgica along with fellow Hell’s Kitchen alum Seth Levine. But the prize for winning this season’s Hell’s Kitchen is running Ramsay’s Araxi restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia, during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Is Hesse’s steady job in the Hamptons a sign that he didn’t win, or just a ruse until the show airs and he can take his new job without tipping off spoiler-seekers like us? To make things more confusing, Hesse’s uniform at Georgica is a signature Hell’s Kitchen chef jacket, with the shoulders in black, the color reserved for the best of the best who remain in competition after the men’s and women’s teams merge. Hesse had no comment. But the food at Georgica smelled top-notch when we visited the restaurant on Saturday. We can’t say as much for the crowd that enters the place at 11 p.m. when it turns into a nightclub.

Spoiler Alert: Expect Robert ‘Big Boy’ Hesse to Return to