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The ninth episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on November 10, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the tenth episode. On that episode, Trev’s fate is revealed, the annual Blind Taste Test occurred, and an unlikely hero emerged at dinner service.
The episode began where the last one ended, with Ramsay calling Trev from the winning team down, and reminding him that while the women on the women had a solid service, he fell apart. Then, Ramsay ordered Trev to take his jacket off, but he transferred him back to the blue team, with a stern warning that he was on his last chance. After announcing that the battle of the sexes was back on, Ramsay dismissed both teams.
Back in the dorms, Sabrina was happy that Trev was back in the blue team, and mockingly said that the blue team would send him home anyway. However, Trev felt that the red team did not have his back at all, and was glad to be back in the blue team, while stating that he hoped the women would crash and burn.
The next day, both teams went downstairs, as the women’s morale was very high, while the men were hoping to bounce back. After reminding the chefs about the head chef position at the LA Market, Ramsay explained that the restaurant was also responsible for room service, and called Sous Chef Scott, who was holding a cart of some of the restaurant’s 5-star food for the chefs to taste. Unknown to the chefs, out of the four dishes, the chicken salad sandwich was bought from a gas station, the spaghetti marinara was from a food truck, and the egg rolls were from a Chinese takeout place. The chicken wings were the only genuine dish, coming from Ramsay’s London West Hollywood. After the chefs tasted the dishes, Ramsay asked them what they liked the most, and after their answers, Ramsay said that their palates needed work. He revealed where the dishes were from as Rob was the only one to find the wings as the best dish. After, Ramsay introduced the annual Blind Taste Test.
Russell and Gail competed on the first round. Out of their four ingredients, both of them got grapefruit, while Russell got black truffle, giving the men the lead at 2-1. On the next round, Rob and Sabrina faced off, and neither of them scored a single point, leaving the score at 2-1 for the men, though Russell was more upset with Rob as he was eating more than anybody. Vinny and Jillian competed next, and both got potatoes, and mozzarella cheese, making the score 4-3 for the men. The final round was between Nona and Trev, and while both of them got squash, Nona correctly identified scallops and endive, clinching the victory for the women 6-5, and Ramsay was heavily impressed with Nona’s palate.
The women were rewarded with a $2000 shopping spree to purchase any clothes at a local boutique, and eating lunch with Ramsay at Michael Mina’s XIV. During their shopping spree, Jillian compared them as the Spice Girls of Hell’s Kitchen. During lunch, Ramsay told the women that he was looking for a leader that could run a brigade at the LA Market, and urged all of them to start becoming leaders, as Nona took that to heart.
The men were punished by sorting through trash from different restaurants for recycling, and prepping both kitchens for the next service. Russell was frustrated that the blue team lost three consecutive challenges and services, and said that they had to get their game back. During the punishment, Russell blamed Rob for costing them the challenge, but Rob responded that it was a team effort, much to Russell’s annoyance. Later, Sous Chef Scott came with cheese sandwiches for the men to eat, though Russell refused to eat them.
As the men began prepping for service, the women came back from their reward, with Trev jokingly asking if they wanted a hug, causing the women to run away. Jillian was ready to dominate the men, Russell revealed that he was not happy about Trev being back on the blue team, and would do any sabotaging to get rid of him. Finally, Trev realized that things have changed in the team, and realized that if he would not shine, he would be eliminated, while stating that they had to work together.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay asked the men why they were gluttons for punishment, before stating that he has never seen a big row of bad luck from them before. However, the men promised to turn it around, as Ramsay reminded everybody that with only eight chefs left, there was nowhere to hide. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
As both teams got their first tickets, Trev got the men off to a strong start with perfect risottos, while in the red kitchen, Jillian and Sabrina did the same thing with their appetizers. As the women’s appetizers were sent quickly, they began on entrées as Nona was cooking her meat. In the blue kitchen, Rob’s scallops were raw, without sear on them. After being forced to eat one, Rob was ordered to wake up as Ramsay reminded him that the women were on their fifth ticket, while the men were on their second. However, Rob’s second attempt came out raw again, as Sous Chef Scott believed that Rob’s pan was not hot enough. That caused Trev to ask if Rob was an idiot as this was their ninth service, while Ramsay was forced to cook an order of scallops for Rob. In the red kitchen, Ramsay asked Nona why her chicken was taking too long, and she revealed that she did not drop it when he called it earlier. Things got worse as Nona struggled to carve her chicken, but under Sabrina’s leadership, entrées from the red kitchen were being sent to the diners.
In the blue kitchen, the men began serving entrées, but Rob was struggling on his halibut. Despite being convinced by Russell to send it to the pass, the halibut was raw, and Ramsay complained that nothing was going out. Then, Ramsay pulled Rob to the dining room, and warned him to either wake up in the next five minutes, or get out. Russell kept asking Rob for times and communication, but Rob felt that Russell was acting like a whiny bitch when Ramsay was around, while going silent when he was gone. Despite that, Rob’s halibut was finally accepted. Meanwhile, diners from the red kitchen were waiting for their entrées as Nona was cooking a beef, while having another one resting. Ramsay accused Nona of forgetting an order of beef, but when she argued against it, Ramsay pulled her to the front and accused her of not even listening to him. However, Nona answered that she was waiting, until Ramsay came over to her station, and found out that her pan was not even hot enough for searing. Then, a frustrated Ramsay ordered Nona to get out of his way, before angrily kicking her out, and relocating Jillian to the meat station. Back in the dorms, Nona broke into tears as she believed that she had more to prove to Ramsay. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay noticed that Vinny’s spinach with egg garnish looked like a rhinoceros ass, before noticing a raw gnocchi delivered by Vinny. Then, a frustrated Ramsay kicked Vinny out as well, while Trev took over the garnish station. However, Russell sent raw chicken, and he was kicked out as well, while warning Rob that if he would mess up one more time, he could either be sent to the dorms, or out the front of the restaurant. Back in the dorms, Vinny vented that thirty more seconds could have gotten the gnocchi ready, while Russell complained that he got kicked out for one mistake, and Nona joined them. In the red kitchen, the women continued to push their tickets, while in the blue kitchen, Ramsay asked Rob for the halibut. While Rob did send the halibut to the pass, it was raw and Rob was kicked out. However, a confused Rob asked why he was getting kicked out, only for Ramsay to angrily yell that he was getting kicked out because of the raw halibut. After Rob left, Trev was the last man standing in the blue kitchen, and he decided to fight through the fear and produced an acceptable salmon. As Trev got the desserts ready, the women got their desserts out together as well, completing service.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay called the service a disaster as, while they started with eight chefs, they ended with half of them in the dorms. Despite that, Ramsay declared the women winners, and singled out Jillian and Sabrina for their solid performances. After, Ramsay reminded the men about their horrible losing streak, before naming Trev “Best of the Worst” for being the only chef in the blue kitchen left at the end, and asked him to nominate two people for elimination. After dismissing the chefs, Ramsay pulled Nona aside, and told her that while he was still impressed by her terrific palate, he asked her not to argue with him again as a tearful Nona apologized.
Nona returned to the dorms as Gail and Jillian comforted her, while reminding her that one of the men would be sent home. Meanwhile, Russell pleaded his case to Trev on why he should stay by claiming he was a team player, but Trev recalled how Russell refused to give Trev a towel during prep. Rob reminded Trev that he was the last person with him before getting kicked out, and stated that they could have won if Vinny and Russell were not. However, Vinny reminded Rob of the fish returns and how Russell only cared about himself. In the end, Trev struggled on who to nominate as each of his teammates had terrible performances.
Trev announced that Rob was his first nominee, and Russell was his second. While little stunned that Russell was Trev’s nominee, Ramsay agreed with him and called both of them down. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay sent Russell back in line, and eliminated Rob for his string of poor performances and believing that he overstayed his welcome.
After Rob left, Ramsay warned the men that unless they would bounce back, the final four could be the remaining women, before dismissing everybody. Nona was shocked that Trev nominated Russell, and believed that the men were crumbling apart. Russell accused Trev of throwing him under the bus, but Trev said that he did not.
Ramsay’s comment: “If the size of one’s waist corresponds to the size of one’s talent, then Rob would be a fantastic chef. Instead, he just wears gigantic pants.”
The eighth episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 13, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the seventh episode. On that episode, Hell’s Kitchen celebrated its 100th dinner service, and one team fell apart during service
Back in the dorms, Rob was relieved to have survived elimination, but he and Vinny knew that Russell nominated him only to get him rattled, and both of them agreed to get rid of Russell. Meanwhile, Sabrina asked Jillian why she nominated her, and while Jillian said that she did not know who else to vote for, Sabrina rudely dismissed it. That caused Jillian to call Sabrina both a baby and the weakest link of the red team since day one, while adding that she was sick and tired of carrying her. Then, Jillian told Nona and Gail that there was no way Sabrina could win Hell’s Kitchen, which Nona agreed while suggesting that they let Sabrina sink herself.
The next morning, Sous Chef Scott phoned to the dorms, and ordered everybody to head to the SUVs. The chefs were taken to Bristol Farms where they were greeted by Ramsay. He explained that for the Budget Challenge, both teams would be making four dishes, using beef, pork, lamb, and chicken as their proteins. Each chef was responsible for cooking their own dish, and because the red team had an extra person, Jillian and Gail were paired on a dish. After, Ramsay told the chefs that they had a $60 budget, and 20 minutes to shop for their ingredients. As both teams gathered their ingredients, Russell kept the blue team from moving away from him, much to their annoyance. Meanwhile, Sabrina tried to voice out her suggestions, but the red team ignored her. Eventually, both teams got their ingredients in time and, while the blue team got on their budget mark, the red team exceeded their budget, and were forced to remove the expensive lentils Sabrina wanted.
When the team came back to Hell’s Kitchen, they had 45 minutes to cook their dishes. Jillian expressed concern for Sabrina as lentils took 45 minutes to cook, and despite the red team offering their help, Sabrina refused it as she wanted to show Ramsay what she was capable. In the blue kitchen, Russell checked on his teammates’ dishes as he was determined to win the challenge, but Rob called him a douchebag. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.
For the judging, Mark Peel, Sophie Gayot, Libby Rego, and Justin Wyborn were invited as guest judges. Each judge would give what they would pay for each dish, and the team with the highest total would be the winner. On the first round, Nona and Rob presented their beef dishes, judged by Gayot. Nona’s pan-seared ribeye with parsnip purée, sautéed broccolini and red wine balsamic reduction was praised for its tender ribeye, but was criticized for the broccolini’s poor presentation, while Rob’s grilled New York strip with crispy shitake mushrooms was praised for being light, but criticized for having too many onions on it. In the end, Gayot said that she would pay $32 for Nona’s dish and $26 for Rob’s dish, putting the red team in the lead $32-$26. On the next round, Peel judged Boris and Gail’s pork dishes. Boris’ marinated pork tenderloin with stirfry was praised for its color, but was criticized for having dry pork, while Gail and Jillian’s pan-seared pork tenderloin with roasted beets and shallots was praised for its beets, but said that the pork was bland. In the end, Peel said that he would pay $28 for Gail and Jillian’s dish and $26 for Boris’ dish, and the score was $60-$52 for the red team, as a concerned Russell hoped that he and Vinny could pull it out. On the third round, Rego judged, and Russell and Trev presented their chicken dishes. Russell’s chicken cacciatore with rustic potatoes was praised for having a juicy chicken, but was criticized for having undercooked potatoes, while Trev’s lemon roasted chicken breast was praised for having a crispy skin, but criticized for having undercooked carrots. In the end, Rego said that she would pay $22 for Trev’s dish and $26 for Russell’s dish, making the score $82-$78 for the red team. On the final round, Sabrina and Vinny presented their lamb dishes, with Wyborn judging. Sabrina’s lamb with lentils, carrots, and red wine sauce was praised for the perfectly cooked lamb and the sauce, Wyborn said that he did not order anything with lentils, but liked the flavor. Vinny’s round bone lamb chop with red potato was praised for having flavor, but was criticized for having a mediocre presentation. In the end, Wyborn said he would pay $23 for Vinny’s dish and $28 for Sabrina. The red team won the challenge $110-$101, and Sabrina was proud to have redeemed herself in the eyes of her team
The red team was rewarded with a sail boat trip, and a waterfront dinner at the Maya hotel. During the dinner, Trev told the women that they have proven that he was on the right team, and apologized for not trusting them before. However, that comment did not sit well with Jillian as she claimed that the red team was a kickass team before Trev came, and said that he did not help them win the challenge. Later, the red team got some salsa lessons.
The blue team was punished by deep cleaning the dining room, and fumigating both kitchens for a black-tie dinner service. While Russell was pissed that he was punished for his teammates’ failures, Rob was pissed that he had to clean, and Vinny was embarrassed to have lost to Sabrina, who he considered the most inexperienced chef on the red team. During the punishment, Rob barely helped as he was still pissed that they lost, and openly said that he hated losing. While fumigating the kitchens, Rob split his jumpsuit, which Vinny knew would happen eventually. When the red team came back from their reward, Rob was still pissed, and rudely told them to leave.
The next day, both teams prepped their kitchens for the black-tie dinner service, but a still frustrated Russell decided to micromanage his teammates’ prep work in order to win, and called Boris unfocused. However, Boris said that Russell was not acting like a leader, but more like a dick, and was getting tired of his attitude. In the red kitchen, Trev gave his teammates the cold shoulder due to the comments from the reward, causing Jillian to ask if he was on his period. However, Sabrina was happy that the negative focus was off her, while being transferred to Trev.
After, Sous Chef Scott led both teams outside, where Ramsay was waiting for them. Then, Ramsay explained that the black-tie dinner service was actually a celebration for the 100th Hell’s Kitchen dinner service, which excited Nona as she felt honored. After showing them a blimp that was advertising the 100th dinner service, Ramsay said that it was a night that he wanted both teams to be perfect, while revealing that chefs tables would be hosted for some very special guests that had a strong connection to Hell’s Kitchen. Then, a limousine showed up, and the VIP guests were Season 3 winner Rock, Season 4 winner Christina, Season 5 winner Danny, and Season 7 winner Holli. After telling the chefs to use the winner’s presence as inspiration, the chefs came back to their kitchens, as Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen for the 100th time.
The 100th dinner service featured an elegant menu, with Sabrina serving each guest a welcoming plate of caviar. Some notable guests were in attendance, such as Lesley Bargar Suter, Iqbal Theba, Patrick Gallagher, Hugh Garvey, and Sarah Tenaglia. As the blue team got their first order, Boris said that he could get his capellini in eight minutes, but his teammates asked him for five minutes instead. Rob decided to help Boris, and because of his help, the capellini was accepted. However, Boris still gave six minutes on the next ticket instead of five, like Russell wanted. In the red kitchen, Nona’s initial risottos were accepted, but she decided to use a recycled one for the next table after asking Gail for her opinion, much to Jillian’s dismay as Ramsay would never accept that. Indeed, Ramsay noticed it and lectured the red team that the customers deserved better than that, though Nona blamed Gail for that. Despite that, Nona’s fresh refire was accepted, and the customers from the red kitchen enjoyed their appetizers.
Thirty minutes into service, James led the former winners to the kitchen after they took a look back from the memory lane on the cake, with Rock and Christina eating in the blue kitchen, and Danny and Holli eating in the red one. As Vinny took Rock and Christina’s order, Ramsay noticed that Boris did not have a risotto on even though that took longer to cook than a capellini, and warned Boris that he would go ballistic. As Boris struggled to focus, Russell called him a brain dead fuck, while Rob decided to help Boris again. Because of Rob’s help, Boris was able to push more appetizers to the dining room. In the red kitchen, Trev was confident on the garnish station, but soon fell apart when he did not have his garnishes ready. Gail sent her Wellingtons, which Ramsay praised for being above the bar, but when Trev sent his gnocchi, it was raw, and an angry Ramsay ordered him to wake up. Despite that, the red customers were enjoying their entrées, while one of the blue diners complained about an overcooked lobster. James sent back three lobster tail dishes from the same table, and Russell told Vinny to stay focused. In the red kitchen, Jillian sent her lobster tails, but was waiting on Trev’s garnishes, and as he continued to struggle, Danny and Holli believed that he might be going home. Sabrina told Trev that he could not serve his burnt carrots, but Trev talked back, before asking for help. However, Ramsay noticed that Nona and Sabrina were helping Trev, and annoyingly ordered Gail and Jillian to come and help as well, though Trev’s squash was burning up despite the help.
In the blue kitchen, Vinny managed to rebound from his earlier mistake as Boris served Rock and Christina their entrées. Rob asked Russell for times, but got no response, and complained that he was not getting any help. That forced Rob to drag the chicken for eight minutes due to not hearing the order earlier, and the dining room felt the effect. In the red kitchen, Sabrina served Danny and Holli their entrées, but Trev was still struggling on garnishes. A finally fed up Ramsay kicked Trev out of the kitchen to get fresh air outside, and relocated Nona to the garnish station. Without Trev, the red team got more together, and despite jumping into a mess, Nona was able to serve acceptable garnishes as entrées were flying out of the red kitchen. In the blue kitchen, Rob was still struggling with the chicken, and called four more minutes, but Ramsay informed him that the red team only had one ticket left to fire, while the blue team had nine tickets left due to his earlier mistakes. An impatient Vinny sent his lobster tails, but Ramsay and Sous Chef Scott found that they were mush, and Ramsay ranted how Boris dragged the appetizers, Rob dragged the meat entrées, and how Vinny sent a poor lobster tail. Then, Rob sent pink chicken, and a fed up Ramsay kicked the blue team out of the kitchen. Meanwhile, James convinced Trev to go back to the red kitchen, and Ramsay urged him to wake up. After finishing their last ticket, the red team completed the blue team’s tickets, and managed to save one of the most important nights of the season.
After service, while Ramsay told the red team that they were the obvious winners, he was disappointed with Trev’s poor performance. Then, Ramsay told the returning blue team that they were the obvious losers, and called each of them embarrassing, before asking them to nominate two people for elimination.
As the blue team was defeated by their loss, the women on the red team celebrated their victory, though Trev was disappointed with his poor performance. Despite Jillian and Sabrina telling him that he should have asked for help, Trev responded that he got yelled at by them, and called Sabrina a bitch. That led to an argument between both of them, until Nona calmed the situation down as they could not afford to fall apart like the blue team. Meanwhile, Russell voted for Boris and Vinny for their problems, but Boris voted for Russell and Rob. However, Rob nominated Boris and Vinny, but Vinny nominated Rob for not communicating with him, and Boris for struggling on appetizers. In the end, Boris was the first nominee for receiving three votes, while Rob and Vinny were tied at two votes each.
As the blue team came downstairs, Ramsay said that their supposed dream performance turned into an embarrassment. While Rob announced that Boris was the blue team’s first nominee, he struggled on the second nominee, until he announced that it was a tie between himself and Vinny. An annoyed Ramsay asked why the tie, and while Rob said that Vinny’s station was dragging hard, Vinny said that Rob’s dragging on the meat station screwed him up. However, Ramsay reminded Rob and Vinny that they both screwed up on the last four tables, and called both of them down, along with Boris. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay eliminated Boris for his string of poor performances, but before he left, he praised him for his big heart and passion.
After Boris left, Ramsay sent Vinny and Rob back in line, but then, announced that he was not done yet, and called Trev down, ending the episode in a cliffhanger.
Ramsay gave no comment on Boris’s elimination, and he did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.
The seventh episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 13, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the eighth episode. In that episode, a Family Night dinner service was held, one team felt the pressure of cooking for Ramsay’s family, and nobody was sent home due to a terrific performance
After elimination, Sabrina gathered the red team near the stairwell with full knowledge that her time was running out after being nominated four times. Gail told Sabrina that her biggest problem was her attitude, and while Sabrina tried to deny it, the rest of the red team agreed. So, Sabrina promised that she would improve her attitude, but Nona did not believe her promise, and told Gail that she still wanted to see her go home. Meanwhile, Boris felt very disappointed about his poor performance, and knew that he would have to make a major comeback to stay. However, Russell felt that Boris was on his last life, and refused to carry him any longer.
The next morning, both teams went downstairs and found Ramsay next to a large covered item. Then, Ramsay explained that all the best chefs were imaginative, quick on their feet, and had a full understating on the combination of ingredients, before pulling off the cover and revealing a roulette table, which excited everybody, especially Nona as she was a big fan of the game. Ramsay explained that for the Roulette Challenge, each chef would spin the wheel, and when they landed on one of the 18 letters on the wheel, they would have 10 seconds to call an ingredient beginning with the landed letter. Then, both teams would have to create a new dish with their five ingredients, and because the blue team was down a member, Vinny had to spin twice.
The blue team were up first, and while Vinny’s first attempt landed on K, deciding on kale, his second attempt landed on Y, and he chose yams. Boris landed on M and chose miso, much to Vinny’s dismay as miso was hard to work with. Rob landed on S and chose striped bass, and Russell landed on A and chose asparagus. The red team were up next, and Trev spun fist. He landed on R and chose rutabaga. Jillian landed on C and chose cauliflower, while Sabrina landed on B and chose bok choy. Gail landed on F and chose fennel, and Nona landed on S and chose salmon.
With both teams having their ingredients, Ramsay gave them 30 minutes to cook their dishes. Both teams got together to work out what to do with their ingredients and came out with some ideas. During the challenge, Russell checked on Boris to see if his miso was coming together as he was concerned about it, though Boris was upset that the blue team had no faith in his skills. Fortunately, Boris managed to nail the miso broth during the cooking, and Russell admitted that it tasted good. In the red kitchen, Trev got his rutabaga chips fried, but they tasted burnt and bitter, even though Trev thought they tasted good. In the blue kitchen, Rob worked on the yams and asparagus, told the blue team that he was blanching them, and while Russell suggested that they added some seasoning to the vegetables, Rob was against that. With five minutes left to go, Nona was struggling with the cauliflower purée, and decided to put more butter in it to taste creamier. Eventually, both teams got their dishes finished and plated in time.
Ramsay asked for the red team’s dish first, and Sabrina presented a grilled salmon with cauliflower purée and baby bok choy, pan roasted fennel, and rutabaga chips. While Ramsay praised the perfect cooking of the salmon and the taste of the bok choy, the purée looked broken due to Nona using too much whole butter, and the chips tasted bitter. After, Boris presented the blue team’s dish, which was a pan-seared striped bass with braised kale, asparagus, and fried yams in a miso broth. Ramsay immediately praised the presentation, and the cooking of both the bass and kale, along with the sweetness of the miso broth. However, the asparagus and yams tasted lazy as they had no seasoning on them. During deliberation, Ramsay noted it was a hard choice as both dishes had their flaws, but despite that, the red team won the challenge as their purée, despite looking broken, tasted good.
The red team were rewarded with a trip to The Rio, in Las Vegas, for an overnight visit. When the red team arrived there, they were shocked and surprised on how large their suite was, and had an assortment of food waiting for them, with Nona calling it the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Later that night, Nona received a call, but all she heard was heavy breathing, unaware that Penn and Teller were at the front door. Their appearance excited the red team, and the duo gave them envelops stating they won two nights in Las Vegas the next time they would come. Then, the red team took a group photo with Penn and Teller.
The blue team was punished by taking a delivery of 1000 potatoes, and prepping them for French fries which would be used for a special Family Night dinner service. When Rob opened the truck’s doors, a mountain of potatoes came down on the men. During the punishment, Vinny complained that they might be doing that until the beginning of service, all because of Rob failing to season the asparagus and yams. However, Boris actually enjoyed prepping the potatoes due to his Russian background and called it a reward, though Russell thought he was doing more talking than cleaning. After the punishment, Vinny told Russell that they had to win service even if it meant carrying Boris all the way. Russell agreed with Vinny, and even said if they would lose, it would be Boris and Rob who would get nominated.
The next day, the blue team got to prep their kitchen, though Boris knew that he was the weak link of the team as his teammates treated him like that, and needed to bounce back that night. Meanwhile, the red team returned from their reward, and got changed into their chef jackets for prep. However, Sabrina did not pull out the meat from the fridge, and a pissed Jillian stated that she was done with Sabrina, and that she would be sent home if they would lose service.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told them that it was Family Night, and among the diners, his own family would be attending. However, that news intimidated everybody as Ramsay would never forgive them if they would screw up his family’s order. Then, Ramsay told Trev to drive the red team forward, and revealed that there was a carnival outside. So, he wanted the diners to come in happy, eat happily, and be happy himself at the end. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
The Family Night service was featuring the regular menu as well as a kids menu, and each table would receive a welcoming plate of French fries. Also, along with Ramsay’s family, Jerry Springer and his family were in attendance. Both Trev and Rob got the fries out to the dining room, and afterwards, the blue team got their first ticket. Vinny brought his risotto to the pass, but Ramsay found out that he cooked four servings instead of the two ordered, and lectured Vinny on wasting food, while adding on that if he was the head chef at LA Market, Vinny would have been fired. In the red kitchen, Ramsay sent back Jillian’s risotto as it needed more pea purée, but she managed to rebound and got it accepted.
45 minutes into service, more than half of the families have been served their appetizers. James handed Ramsay his family’s ticket, and Ramsay called it out for the blue team, which Boris knew that they had to get it perfect. While Rob and Russell sent over their appetizers, Vinny was slow on the risotto, and in a panic, grabbed the risotto he made for the last table and sent it to the pass. However, Ramsay instantly knew what Vinny did and irritatingly told him that risotto was for his own wife. Then, Ramsay lectured Vinny and the blue team that even if it was not for his family, they deserved better and yelled that if he was cooking for any of their families, he would make sure that they received a fresh risotto. So, Vinny quickly made a fresh risotto, and Ramsay’s family received their appetizers. In the red kitchen, they began to work on entrées, and Sabrina asked Trev to feel her meat. An annoyed Trev felt them, and told Sabrina to put them in the oven a little longer. Because of Trev, Sabrina sent over her meat which Ramsay praised for being perfectly cooked. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay was waiting on Boris for his beef, and caught him when he was about to slice the meat on a dirty cutting board. Fortunately, Ramsay stopped Boris from doing it, and lectured him to clean off the board, while calling him a dirty pig. In the red kitchen, Sabrina was about to cut her beef until Nona said that she needed one more minute on garnishes. An annoyed Ramsay and Trev pushed Nona to speed up, though Nona was annoyed at Trev for being too close to her and counting down from 15. Fortunately, Nona’s garnishes came out perfectly, and the next table of entrées was sent out. In the blue kitchen, the men were working on Ramsay’s family’s entrées, but Rob got behind on garnish for the macaroni and cheese. Despite asking Russell for some help, Rob did not get any help as Russell did not want to babysit Rob. In the red kitchen, Trev found out that Sabrina was making a grilled cheese for the next table, despite the fact that it was taking two minutes to cook. Trev tried to lecture her about her mistake, but that led to an argument between them as Sabrina felt that Trev was giving her attitude, though Gail asked them to cut it out. When Sabrina sent her chicken, it was raw, and Ramsay reminded the red team that he could not drag tables as there were children in the dining room.
Two hours into dinner service, the men were still waiting on Rob’s macaroni and cheese, and Russell asked Vinny to help Rob. However, Ramsay was forced to send his family’s entrées on the hot plate at the moment, meaning that his own son’s dish did not come with the rest of his family’s dishes. With everyone riding on Rob for the macaroni and cheese, he sent over the dish, and Ramsay sent it out to his son. In the red kitchen, Trev and Sabrina put aside their differences, and got out a perfectly cooked chicken to the dining room. Both teams pushed out their final tickets and sent out desserts, and left happy about the fact that they managed to bounce back from their mistakes.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay said that he could not believe that he wanted the diners to leave happy, and about 90% from the comment cards stated that they were very satisfied with their experience. So, Ramsay congratulated both teams for a job well done, but despite the chefs feeling very proud of their accomplishment, Ramsay said that they would still have an elimination, and asked both teams to come up with two nominees each, based on that night’s service.
Back in the dorms, Jillian noted that it sucked that they had to nominate two people despite having a terrific service. Trev pointed out that the only thing that got sent back was the raw chicken from Sabrina, but Sabrina said that he had some responsibility for that as well, despite the fact Trev helped her. The rest of the red team agreed with him, who felt angry that Sabrina threw him under the bus. For their second nominee, Trev told Nona that she would have died if nobody would have help her on garnish, but Nona said that she busted her ass, and did not want to go home, though Jillian urged her to fight for her life. Meanwhile, the blue team discussed who to nominate, with Boris begging his teammates not to nominate him again. However, Russell said that they were not stupid, and Boris would be going home that night. Then, Boris said that Vinny should be nominated for sending up an old risotto for Ramsay’s wife, but Vinny told that he corrected that mistake afterwards, and then, he revealed that his picks were Boris and Rob as they got yelled at the most. However, Rob said that Russell left him alone despite asking for help, though Russell disagreed with that.
Nona announced that Sabrina was the red team’s first nominee, and herself was the second, while Russell announced that Boris was the blue team’s first nominee, and Rob was the second. After hearing that, Ramsay decided to pull one nominee from each team, and only called Nona and Rob down. Both of them pleaded their cases, with Nona calling herself a fighter, and Rob claiming that he had no support from his team and had to push himself to keep afloat. A shocked Ramsay asked Russell if that was true, but Russell answered that it was not, as he could not help Rob every time, despite Rob saying that there were multiple times that Russell could have come to his station to help. After that, Ramsay called Rob’s name, told him to take off his jacket, but surprised everybody by giving him a clean jacket, and sent him and Nona back in line. Then, Ramsay revealed that nobody would be eliminated because it was a great service after having six horrible services before then. Everybody felt relieved while receiving high fives from Ramsay. Before dismissing them, Ramsay suggested that they all get some sleep because the next day would be a bitch, and jokingly said that he could feel Rob’s heart racing, as well as reminding Nona to bounce back.
Ramsay’s comment: “Tonight, I finally got a respectable service, so I gave them a little respect and didn’t send anyone home. But tomorrow, they’re in for the most intense dinner service in the history of Hell’s Kitchen.”
This was the 100th overall episode of the series.
The sixth episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 6, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the fifth episode. On that episode, Ramsay relocated two chefs to different teams, salad was the main dish, and one chef burned their last chance to stay in the competition.
On their way back to the dorms, the red team congratulated Melissa for fighting back and surviving another elimination. However, Sabrina still believed that she did not belong in Hell’s Kitchen as she was dragging the red team down, and wanted her gone. Melissa admitted to Gail that she was believing Sabrina was pissed that she survived over Emily, and while she knew that she became an easy target, she still believed she could win over Sabrina. Meanwhile, the blue team gathered, with Rob noting that the red team was crumbling, which the rest of the team agreed. Trev even stated that he liked being with the guys as they had a lot in common with each other.
The next day, both teams went downstairs and met Ramsay with different moods. The blue team felt united, while the red team felt divided. Ramsay revealed that something was torturing him the previous night, and he wanted to put things at their place. So, Ramsay called Melissa down and told her that while many chefs had bad services, he could not feel the fight back from her, and was thinking that she was in over her head. Then, Ramsay asked her to give him her jacket, making everyone think that she was eliminated, much to Sabrina’s excitement. Instead, Ramsay told Melissa to say goodbye to the red team, and integrate the blue team, much to her relief, although she knew some of the men were not happy about that decision. After Melissa put on her blue jacket, Ramsay told her to start shining. Then, Ramsay revealed that this would not be the only change as he believed the red team was lacking a leader. So, Ramsay revealed he would be sending one of the blue chefs over to the red team, which made Sabrina think they were either going to get Vinny or Russell. Instead, Ramsay transferred Trev to the red team, much to Sabrina’s dismay, and Trev himself was not happy as he thought the blue team was starting to get along, and that the transfer would force him to rethink his strategy. As Trev was putting on his red jacket, Ramsay urged him to step up as a leader for the red team, and Trev promised to do so.
Afterwards, Ramsay revealed that a lot of fine-dining restaurants had specialty salads that were from the inspirations of the chefs who made them. Sous Chef Scott wheeled a cart containing three domes, and Ramsay revealed some examples of specialty salads, such as misua salad, cobb salad, and Waldorf salad. For the Salad Challenge, each chef would make a salad entrée each that would show some inspiration, though Rob was concerned as he was not a salad guy. Then, Ramsay revealed that the best salad would be featured in the Bon Appétit magazine, where it would be seen by 8 million readers, which excited everybody.
The chefs had 30 minutes to create their salads. During the challenge, both teams got their proteins needed, and Vinny declared that if he could pull his salad off, it would be the sexiest thing since his hair in the morning. The blue team welcomed Melissa, and she knew that she would have to prove herself in order to be a worthwhile member. In the red kitchen, Jillian asked Trev for some help on her raspberry vinaigrette, but her constant questions annoyed him, who called her clueless. With five minutes left, Rob was struggling on cooking his scallops, and raced to get them cooked properly. Eventually, both teams finished their salads and got them plated in time.
During the judging, Ramsay invited Bon Appétit’s senior food editor Sarah Tenaglia. Boris and Gail went first for their respective teams, and Boris presented his grilled fennel heirloom tomato and avocado salad with key lime dressing and coriander. Ramsay got annoyed with his sweaty face and motioned him to wipe down, much to Russell’s annoyance as he felt that the blue team was fucked no matter how good Boris’ salad was. His salad was criticized for having a heavy dressing and looking soggy. On the other hand, Gail’s five spiced scallop salad with radicchio and romaine and a rice wine vinaigrette got praised for its beautiful presentation and for perfectly cooked scallops, and she won the round over Boris. Nona and Rob went up next, and Rob presented his pan-seared diver scallop salad with roasted portabella and grapefruit vinaigrette. Despite Rob’s concern, his scallops were cooked perfectly though the dressing was overwhelming the other flavors. However, Nona’s quail salad had a poor presentation as it was compared to road kill, and Rob won the round, tying the score at 1 each. Vinny and Jillian were up next, but Vinny’s trilogy of meat salad was criticized for tasting flat, and Jillian’s fruit and nut salad was criticized for not being an actual entrée salad, so neither of them scored a point. Russell and Sabrina were up next, and while Russell’s bruschetta and burrata salad was praised for being lovely, Sabrina’s applesauce and pork salad was criticised for tasting like a hotdog. So, Russell won the round, giving the blue team the lead at 2-1. The final round was between Trev and Melissa. He presented his apple, pear, and pork salad with a strawberry vinaigrette, which was praised for having an assertive, but working dressing. Melissa presented her seared duck breast salad with baby yams, roasted shallots, and blue cheese dressing, and while Ramsay praised her for making a bold move on using duck, not only did it still have a lot of raw fat on it, it was under seasoned, and the blue cheese was overpowering. So, Trev won the round, and the final score was a 2 point tie. To break the tie, Ramsay asked Tenaglia what salad she liked the most overall, which she answered that Rob’s salad was the best, therefore winning the challenge for the blue team.
The blue team was rewarded with a day at Malibu for lunch at The Getty Vella. In addition, not only was Rob’s salad was featured in Bon Appétit, he would join Tenaglia and Ramsay in a photo shoot for the magazine, and his salad would be featured in the next service. Rob was happy that he won the challenge for the blue team, and his teammates congratulated him for it. When they arrived at The Getty Vella, they were greeted by the curator Carol White, who took them on a tour of their exhibits. While looking at a mummy, Vinny jokingly said that they found Raj, and while looking at some Roman busts, they compared the faces to Gail, Nona, and Trev. During lunch, Melissa bonded with her new teammates, and admitted that she really thought she was going home earlier that day. Also, Melissa felt more relaxed with the men, hoping to be more comfortable during service. After lunch, Ramsay arrived and told Rob that it was time for the photo shoot. During the shoot, Ramsay jokingly asked the photographer if he could make Rob 90 pounds lighter, much to everybody’s amusement, and stated that one photo of Rob looked like he ate a sofa.
The red team had to prep for that night’s service. Trev was not only pissed that his dish was not featured in Bon Appétit magazine, but he was also pissed on being in a new team that lost the challenge. Despite Gail trying to reassure him that they tried, Trev bitterly said that he would have been in Malibu if he was still on the blue team. During the punishment, the women struggled with cleaning up the red kitchen, and an annoyed Trev stated that he forgot what it felt like to work with chicks. Deciding to try and get them into shape, Trev gave some advice to Sabrina on prepping the appetizer station, but Sabrina called him a douchebag, and told him to leave her alone. However, Nona did not mind Trev riding on Sabrina’s ass as she felt there was somebody else who saw what the rest of the red team was trying to tell Ramsay for weeks. For their lunch, Sous Chef Andi gave them flower salads to eat, and said that there was no dressing for any of them. None of them enjoyed their lunch, and a couple of them found bugs on their plates.
The blue team came back from their reward and changed into their chef jackets for service. While prepping for service, Trev came over to the blue kitchen, and vented to his former teammates how difficult it was working with the red team. While Vinny did feel for Trev on his predicament, Trev was no longer on the blue team so it was not his problem.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded Melissa and Trev that their main goal was to prove to their new teams why they deserved to be around. Then, Ramsay asked Rob if the blue team was stronger without Trev, which Rob answered they were. That fired up Trev, who stated that he wanted to beat the blue team even more. After, Ramsay said that he wanted service to be smooth because they would be opening up the chefs tables in both kitchens for some special VIPs. Once everybody was ready, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Carly Smithson, from American Idol, was in attendance during that service. Russell brought over his risotto to the pass, and Ramsay called it excellent. However, the blue team was waiting on Boris for the shrimp garnish, and Russell, who decided to stop playing nice, called Boris out on it. Boris sent up the shrimp, but it was rubbery, and Ramsay threw it at the wall next to Boris. Because of that, the blue customers have not received any appetizers. After, Kelli Williams arrived and sat in the blue kitchen. Ramsay had Rob take Williams’ orders, and he did so without problems. In the red kitchen, Mo Gaffney and Nancy Grahn got seated, and Jillian was assigned to wait on them. While taking their orders, Ramsay called Jillian back to get an order up. Gail sent up her lobster spaghetti, and Ramsay told her to cook the rest of them the same way. Because of Gail, the red team sent out a steady stream of appetisers to the customers. In the blue kitchen, Russell’s careful eye on Boris has gotten appetizers out to their diners as well. Moving on to entrées, Rob asked Melissa for the scallops, and she sent them to him. While Rob sent up the first scallop salad to the pass, Ramsay found out that the scallops were raw, and Russell told Rob to make sure Melissa made a better batch for the next time. Unfortunately, Melissa’s second attempt came out burnt.
An hour and a half into service, Jillian served the entrées for the chefs table, but was missing the scallop salad. Nona was struggling with the scallops as they did not have any color on them, but managed to send them over to Jillian. However, Ramsay found out that they were raw, and despite Nona trying again, they still came out raw. Then, a furious Ramsay brought the red team to the front and, after berating them all for Nona’s mistake, he told Trev to cook the scallops. Fortunately, Trev’s attempt was successful and the scallop salad was delivered to the chefs table. In the blue kitchen, Melissa sent over her refired scallops to Rob, but he rejected them for being overcooked. Rob revealed that Melissa was burning a lot of scallops, and Melissa was annoyed that none of her attempts were acceptable. Then, Russell aggressively asked for a time on the scallops, but Melissa revealed to Ramsay and the blue team that she had no more scallops left as she burned all that they had. A furious Ramsay gathered all the wrecked scallops from the blue team and asked everybody to feel the weight of it, with Rob stating that Melissa wrecked 7 pounds of scallops, and an annoyed Vinny said that Melissa just could not cook at all. Without scallops to work with, Ramsay told the blue team to make a rock shrimp salad as a replacement for the chefs table. In the red kitchen, Ramsay and Trev asked Sabrina for the gnocchi, but she claimed that Trev was supposed to cook it. However, Ramsay reminded Sabrina that the gnocchi was the garnish station’s responsibility.
Two hours into service, and all the diners were feeling the effects from the struggling kitchens. In the blue kitchen, Vinny reminded Boris about his lamb garnishes, but Boris was late to communicate. While Boris did send up his mashed potatoes to the pass, they tasted bland and Vinny frustratingly waited for his retry, while his perfectly cooked Wellingtons were waiting at the pass. Then, Boris’ parchment paper caught fire, and a distraught Ramsay sent it to the sink, while asking why he was even fucking bothering. In the red kitchen, Trev got vocal with the red team, and asked Sabrina for the garnishes. While Sabrina did not say anything at first, she angrily said that need one more minute and thirty seconds on the chicken garnish when Trev kept asking her. Trev sent up perfectly cooked Wellingtons, but when he asked Sabrina for the garnish, she angrily yelled at him. Then, Ramsay pulled Sabrina aside, and lectured her to keep her mouth shut and show some discipline.
Two and a half hours into service, despite some hurdles, both kitchens were almost done. In the blue kitchen, Vinny told Boris to send up the chicken garnish, but they came out soggy, and a frustrated Ramsay ejected Boris from service. While Boris went back to the dorms, both teams were able to push out their last tickets and serve desserts.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay was about to announce who the winning team was, but stopped and admitted that he could not do it. Despite asking for a smooth service, Ramsay said that both teams gave a service that had more speed bumps than a church parking lot. So, both teams were named joint-losers, and Ramsay asked them to nominate one person each for elimination.
Back in the dorms, Russell stated that he was tired of losing, and wanted the dead weight from the blue team gone. Russell and Vinny targeted Boris as he had more bad nights than any of them, and struggled on three of the four main stations so far. However, Boris said that Melissa should be nominated for wrecking all the scallops, and while Melissa knew that she screwed up royally, she still had no clue as to why Rob rejected most of her scallops. That left Rob as the final vote, but struggled on choosing between Boris and Melissa. Meanwhile, the red team gathered and discussed who they would nominate. Jillian and Trev said that Nona should be nominated for her poor performance, but Nona defended herself and said that Sabrina should be nominated for her hold up on garnish. Gail agreed with Nona based on Sabrina’s attitude, but Sabrina told that she was getting tired of being nominated, and upsettingly stated that she was better than any of them. Before storming off, Sabrina yelled that Nona would be leaving before she would, though Nona responded that they would see what happened.
Jillian announced that Sabrina was the red team’s nominee, while Vinny announced that Boris was the blue team’s nominee. While Ramsay agreed with those nominees, he said that he thought about who else deserved to be nominated. So, he also called Nona from the red team, and Melissa from the blue team, to join Sabrina and Boris, and said that the four nominees represented what went wrong during that service. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay eliminated Melissa for being nominated three consecutive times, and failing to improve on her new team. After Melissa left, Ramsay stated that he has not given up hope of there being an amazing service from both teams, before dismissing them.
Ramsay’s comment: “Melissa had a red jacket, she had a blue jacket, and now she has no jacket at all.”
The fifth episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 6, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the sixth episode. On that episode, Hell’s Kitchen hosted a prom for the first time, one chef showed their nasty side towards the prom committee, one chef made an embarrassing mistake during dinner service, and another one got their revenge on their team.
On their way back to the dorms, Boris said he respected Ramsay’s decision that night, and knew that Ramsay was waiting for him to step it up, even promising not to let Ramsay down. Then, Vinny gathered the blue team up and reminded Boris that he said he was the best chef on the blue team. So, Vinny told Boris to take charge of their next service, which Boris accepted as it could win them dinner services.
On the red team, Emily, Melissa, Nona, and Gail were still surprised that Sabrina was still around despite being worthless to them and her poor attitude. Sabrina asked Jillian if she could see any of their teammates being a head chef, but Jillian did not think so.
The next day, both teams came down to the dining room and met Ramsay, who revealed that for the first time ever, Hell’s Kitchen would be hosting a high school prom. Everyone was excited by that, though Jillian revealed she never went to her prom due to being wasted in her teenage years. Then, Ramsay added that it would be a Beverly Hills High School prom, leading Nona to ask if Brenda and Dylan from 90210 would come. In order to make sure the guests would enjoy the food, the chefs had a video chat with the prom committees to discuss what they wanted. The prom committees, consisting of Briana, Reavon, and Bennett, explained that they wanted to do a Old Hollywood theme for the prom, and wanted the menu to reflect it. Boris asked what their favorite dishes were, and the chefs were shocked when the committees listed off some high-end dishes they enjoyed. After the call, Ramsay explained that for the next challenge, both teams would make a tasting menu including one appetizer and two entrées, and the team finishing with the most points would be declared the winners.
With only thirty minutes of cooking time, both teams got to their kitchens to work on their dishes. Boris tried to take the leadership role for the blue team, but got annoyed when everyone else was talking over him. In the red kitchen, the women had put aside their differences and agreed on a couple of ideas. During the challenge, Boris asked if he could help anyone, but was ignored and pushed aside by his teammates. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.
Ramsay asked if they were all happy with their dishes, but Boris was not and revealed to Ramsay that he had no inputs during the creation of the blue team’s dishes. However, Russell argued that he did not contribute to a dish as well, but was still happy about what they made. That led to an argument between Boris and Russell, until Trev stopped them. While distraught over what he just saw, Ramsay invited the prom committee to help judge the dishes with him.
On the first round, Sabrina and Vinny presented their respective team’s appetizers. The red team’s Dungeness crab cake with sautéed shrimp was loved by the committees for its flavor, while the blue team’s sesame seed crusted tuna and lemon crème fresh tasted a little burnt, and had no flavor. After discussing the appetizers, two out of the three members enjoyed the red team’s dish more, giving them the lead 1-0. On the second round, Nona and Rob brought their team’s first entrées. The red team’s pan-seared ribeye with tuna ceviche had mixed reviews as, while the committees loved the flavor, they felt that the combination of steak and tuna did not work. However, the blue team’s pan-seared halibut over a light seafood broth was deemed dry and rough, despite being favourable. After deliberation, two out of the three members preferred the red team’s entrée, automatically giving them the challenge win at 2-0. However, Ramsay still wanted the prom committees to sample the last dishes, so Emily and Trev brought up their team’s second entrées to see if they were worthy of being on the menu. While the blue team’s pan-seared ribeye with roasted red potatoes was well received, the red team’s vegetarian pot stickers won, and the women clinched the first challenge shutout in Hell’s Kitchen history.
The women went to Knot’s Berry Farm for the day. During their reward, they rode on some rides and got to take a group photo dressed as western showgirls. However, some of the women’s chests were too big for the corsets, leading Emily to call them the most boobalicious red team in history. Then, they played some side games, where Jillian envisioned the plates as Ramsay’s head and won a giant monkey.
The men were forced to decorate the dining room ahead of the following night’s service. They met James, who ordered them to clear down all of the standard Hell’s Kitchen décor by folding up the tables and hanging up the linens. Rob, who did not like putting the stuff away, decided to have some fun and pretended that the linens were his prom dress, much to Vinny’s humor, but James sternly warned him not to get any creases. Later that day, James brought back the prom committees to instruct the men on what they wanted to be decorated. The prom committees’ instructions annoyed the men, and Russell snapped at them a few times. Eventually, Russell started to give attitude to the prom committees and swore at them, but James sternly told him to stop being disrespectful. Then, Trev told the committees to talk to him about instructions as the rest of the men were not in the best of moods. Eventually, the prom committees left for the night, but Vinny bitterly said that he hoped the teens would have a horrible prom. As the women came back with stuffed animals, Rob stated he wanted to beat them more than ever.
he next day, both teams came down to begin prep for prom night. Sabrina’s slow pace during prep annoyed Nona, and called Sabrina the most annoying person to work with. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded them that prom was a once in a lifetime experience. So, he expected both teams to work like machines with perfect coordination and phenomenal teamwork. Once the chefs got to their stations, Ramsay told James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
The menu for prom night featured the red team’s winning dishes along with the blue team’s halibut dish. Also, Ramsay dedicated Vinny and Nona to assist him on the plating station for their respective teams. Both teams got their first orders and Emily sent up her crab cakes. However, they were soggy, and an annoyed Jillian said that her six-year-old could make better crab cakes than her. Emily’s second attempt was accepted because of Gail’s help, and the red team were able to send out their first table. In the blue kitchen, Boris cooked ten crab cakes when two were ordered, and a concerned Ramsay asked if this was things to come, while reminding Boris that they were cooking for each table one at a time.
A half hour into service, Melissa has gotten her filet mignons cooked, but that angered Ramsay as the women had only served three tables of appetizers so far, and were not even close to starting entrées. Then, Ramsay asked if Melissa wanted to go home before counting all the cooked beef on the tray. To the shock and horror of Jillian, Nona, and Emily, Melissa cooked 23 filets, and Ramsay said that they were all overcooked and unusable for the rest of the night. Then, Ramsay yelled at Melissa, saying that he could not keep telling her what to do for every service. In the blue kitchen, Boris sent his crab cakes, but they were cold in the center, with Rob calling Boris a malfunctioning machine. Despite that, the men managed to recover, and sent out their appetizers to the dining room. In the red kitchen, Sabrina was getting her appetizers ready with full knowledge that the women would come after her again if they would lose. Fortunately for her, her potstickers came out perfectly and were sent out to the dining room. In the blue kitchen, the men began working on entrées and Russell was waiting on Boris for the halibut. However, Boris proved to be slow and did not give a time, until Ramsay asked for one despite their ticket only having one halibut on a seven top table. Fortunately, Boris managed to send the halibut to the pass, allowing Russell to slice his beef, and both of their dishes were accepted.
Meanwhile, the women had yet to serve the prom committee’s table, and Ramsay saw purple goop on the plates, which he compared it to Barbie’s vomit and purple snot, and wanted to know who was responsible. When Gail revealed herself, Ramsay angrily ordered her to get a grip. Emily sent up her halibut, but it came out raw and Ramsay berated the women for not fighting back, while Nona knew that Emily was sinking them. In the blue kitchen, Russell was taking the leadership role for the men in order to keep entrées going out on time, much to Ramsay’s praise. Because of Russell’s vocal leadership, the men started to work as a cohesive unit, and Ramsay praised Russell for his perfectly cooked steak. In the red kitchen, the women were sending out entrées as well. Melissa sliced her beef, but it came out rare, and she put the sliced meat in the oven, much to Ramsay’s dismay. When Ramsay was lecturing Melissa on her mistake, Nona accidentally spoke up, leading Ramsay to lecture her on interrupting him, much to her embarrassment. Despite those mistakes, Jillian and Sabrina took the lead for the women, and both teams got all their entrées out to the dining room. After dinner, James introduced the prom king and queen, and prom ended on a positive note.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay stated that while the women were consistent on appetizers, they deflated on entrées. So, the men were named the winners, and Ramsay singled out Russell for his strong leadership and having the best service of the blue team so far. Sabrina was named “Best of the Worst” for the women due to her solid performance on the appetizers, and while Nona visibly disagreed with that decision, she was forced to back down when Ramsay reminded her that he did not see anything Sabrina cooked come back. After that, Ramsay told Sabrina to nominate two of her teammates for elimination.
Back in the dorms, Nona still disagreed with Sabrina being “Best of the Worst”, and called it an insult that she had the power to send someone home. On the other hand, Sabrina gloated that she had the power to eliminate someone, and told the red team that she already thought about who she would nominate. Sabrina told Emily that she was her first nominee for not performing well in services, but Emily felt that Sabrina’s decision was out of spite. Then, Sabrina told Melissa that she was her second nominee for her poor performance, but Melissa decided not to argue against it. Later that night, Russell and Rob questioned Sabrina’s decision to nominate Emily, as she would be going home eventually, and Jillian suggested that Sabrina could nominate Gail instead, as she was a bigger threat. That left Sabrina thinking of what she would do.
Sabrina announced that Melissa was her first nominee, and Emily was her second, deciding to stick with her original plan instead of Russell, Rob, and Jillian’s suggestion. Ramsay asked Nona if she had anything else to say, but Nona said that she did not. Then, Ramsay called the nominees forward, and after listening to their pleas, Ramsay called up Nona’s name and asked her who should go home. Nona said that she would send Emily home for being way over her head and being a constant poor performer in services. Ramsay agreed with Nona and eliminated Emily for those reasons. After Emily’s exit, Ramsay remarked that they were now down to ten chefs, and he really wanted to start feeling the hunger from them. Nona expressed relief as she thought she was going home that night, and Melissa knew that she would have to get stronger after dodging another bullet. Before leaving, Ramsay reminded Russell that the only way was up, and Russell said that there was no more playing games and that it was time to get serious.
Ramsay’s comment: “Like everyone in Hell’s Kitchen, Emily started at the bottom. Unfortunately, she stayed there.”
The fourth episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 29, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the third episode. On that episode, one chef felt alienated by their team, an Italian themed service was a disaster for both teams, and an explosive argument occurred in the dorms.
Back in the dorms, the blue team were extremely happy that Raj was finally gone, and Rob even said it felt like he lost a 100-pound gorilla from his back. The men got beers out and toasted to a new beginning. Meanwhile, Jillian knew that the red team was pissed at her for defending Sabrina, but she did not care. Sabrina did not care as well as she believed she was improving more than the rest of the women. Also, Melissa told Gail that she was fearing things would get dirty now as they were supposed to be a team, and the two of them agreed not to let anything get too dirty inside the red team.
The next morning, the chefs headed down to the kitchens and met Ramsay, who asked if anybody was smoking. When almost half of the chefs confirmed that they were indeed smoking, Ramsay asked if they would stop for the next 48 hours as smoking could ruin their palates. Louis, who has been a smoker for the last 10 years, agreed to do so, but Trev felt that it was not the time or place to quit smoking. Then, Ramsay explained that a great chef could take something simple and turn it into a stunning dish. For their next challenge, Ramsay announced that the chefs would be working with ravioli, and gave them a demonstration on one of his own ravioli dishes that he made back in London. For the Ravioli Challenge, each team would have to make a unique ravioli dish, using any of the ingredients on the hot plate, with 30 minutes to cook them. After, Ramsay said that both teams would taste their dishes and rank them from first to last.
During the challenge, Sabrina had a hard time with the pasta maker, and a reluctant Melissa showed her how it was working. Then, Sabrina had a hard time opening up the kitchen fridge and asked Gail for help, leading Gail to refer to Sabrina as an immature 12-year-old. In the blue kitchen, Trev was helping out Louis, Russell, and Vinny with their dishes, calling himself a team player. However, Louis considered Trev a tool to be used and not a chef at all. Eventually, both teams cooked, plated their dishes, and began to taste their dishes for ranking, but Trev’s dish was ignored by the blue team and was ranked sixth, much to Trev’s dismay.
Before tasting their dishes, Ramsay asked if everybody was happy with the ranking, which they all were, but Trev. Gail told Ramsay that she wanted to move down to the sixth ranking as she had no confidence in her dish, and a reluctant Ramsay agreed, being surprised that Gail did not have a lot of confidence despite being an Executive Chef. The first pair up was Vinny against Melissa, who presented her chicken and pancetta ravioli with walnut cream sauce. Despite Ramsay getting concerned about the walnut sauce, he said that it worked well, and praised the dish for being balanced. Vinny presented his Swiss char bacon and mushroom ravioli with fontina cream, and while Ramsay praised it for tasting delicious, Vinny’s ravioli were busted, and Ramsay chewed out Vinny for talking over him. So, Melissa scored for the red team, giving them the lead 1-0. The next pair was Rob against Jillian, who presented her eggplant, spinach, garlic, shallots, and ricotta cheese ravioli, which Ramsay praised the pasta for tasting good and Jillian for making the ricotta cheese exciting. Rob revealed his shrimp mouse ravioli with lemon zest and chive, and Ramsay said it tasted good despite being concerned by the word mouse. Because it was a hard choice, Ramsay decided to award both Rob and Jillian a point, making it 2-1 for the red team, making Rob happy that he made something Ramsay liked. The third pair was Russell against Nona, and while Nona’s bruschetta and quail egg ravioli was praised well, Russell’s whipped ricotta and chili ravioli won over her, making it a tie at 2. The fourth pair was Emily against Louis. Emily’s duck confit ravioli was praised for its flavor, but Louis’ salmon mouse pine nut ravioli was spat out, and Ramsay called it the worst ravioli he had ever seen. So, Emily won the round, making it 3-2 for the red team. The fifth pair was Boris against Sabrina, and Ramsay warned the blue team that if Sabrina would score on that round, the red team would win the challenge. Boris’ feta spinach ravioli was deemed delicious, and while Sabrina’s shrimp and oregano ravioli were also deemed delicious, it had busted ravioli. So, Boris won the round, making it a tie at 3. The final pair was Trev against Gail, who presented her braised short rib ravioli with sun-dried tomato paste. Ramsay said that the dish tasted nice, and after, Trev revealed his duck and arugula ravioli with mozzarella, with Russell thinking that the blue team was doomed as he had no confidence in Trev, due to the latter being a bartender. Despite Russell’s concerns, Ramsay called Trev’s attempt a bold move and liked it. Then, Ramsay revealed that one of the dishes was under seasoned, revealing that it was Gail’s dish. So, Trev scored the point, and the blue team won the challenge 4-3.
Ramsay found it weird that Trev and Gail’s dishes did not taste like the worst of either teams, and Trev revealed that the blue team did not even taste his dish, though Rob thought that Trev threw the entire team under the bus. Then, Ramsay had the blue team taste Trev’s dish, and revealed that their next service was Italian Night, while telling Vinny that his ravioli dish, despite not scoring any points, was the most inspirational dish of all the chefs. So, Vinny’s ravioli would be added to the following service’s menu, but Ramsay told him not to bust it.
The blue team went on a trip to Palace Verde’s to an Oceanside resort, and got to travel there by helicopter, much to Boris’ excitement. During the helicopter ride, Louis compared it to flying as Superman, and Rob was able to cross off that experience from his bucket list. At the resort, the men played some golf and Vinny, despite having no interest in it, managed to get the closest to the pin, much to Rob’s amazement. At dinner, the men celebrated their victory, but Trev was not happy and felt that they did not act like a team during the challenge. Russell, who knew that Trev was still mad about them not tasting his dish, asked Trev if he would have won against Melissa in the first round, and while Trev said he thought so, he argued that he just wanted to be part of the team. However, Rob told Trev to stop stinking up their moment, but the argument continued. After calming down, Vinny told Trev that it was an honest mistake and apologized to him. After toasting again, Russell hoped that the blue team would regroup and win the next service. When the men got back to Hell’s Kitchen, Vinny asked Trev if he would stop acting like a whiny bitch, and Trev, who had enough with the men, decided to befriend the women. Trev vented his problems to Gail and said that he would rather be on the red team. After, Trev jokingly asked Gail if she wanted to make out, but she refused to.
The women had to prep both kitchens for the following night’s service, and make pasta and mozzarella cheese from scratch. Sabrina blamed Gail’s under seasoned dish as the one who lost the challenge for the red team, despite herself losing out as well, as Melissa pointed out. Jillian hoped that the red team’s punishment would be a bonding experience as everyone of them was hating each other, and also felt that it was herself and Sabrina versus the other four. Later in the day, Sous Chef Andi informed the women that their milk delivery has arrived, but much to the shock of the red team, cows were brought for them to get farm fresh milk. Of the women, Nona had the least amount of problems milking her cow and felt that she should be on a farm. Sabrina was the only one who did not try and milk the cows, much to Emily and Melissa’s annoyance. After milking their cows, Sous Chef Andi called the team back inside to progress prep. Later that night, Sabrina’s constant questions continued to piss off Melissa and Emily, as they believed nothing they have said to Sabrina was registering with her. Sabrina even stated it was hard to do prep with people she did not like. Later that night, the women continued to prep as the men came back to Hell’s Kitchen and annoyed the women with their questions and trying to steal their food. Jillian told the men to make something delicious upstairs, leading Vinny to jokingly call himself delicious.
The next morning, both teams began prep for service, and Vinny revealed that he put in extra gel in his hair for Italian night. Both teams would be working with a new menu for that night, and Vinny found out that the ravioli filling was not prepared correctly, and compared the taste to glue. Then, Vinny showed Jillian how to properly make the ravioli filling, but Jillian thought that Vinny was throwing a fit about it.
When the teams were lined up, Ramsay asked how the 48-hour smoking fast was going. Trev revealed that he was still smoking, but Vinny stated that he stopped. Nona revealed that she has not smoked since yesterday as well, but Gail sheepishly admitted she smoked one cigarette the previous night. Ramsay reminded the chefs that it was Italian Night for that night’s service, and with a simple menu, Ramsay was hoping for all of them to complete service. After, Ramsay told James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
For Italian night, Ramsay created a menu that featured shrimp scampi, grilled pork chop, and chicken parmesan, along with Vinny’s ravioli dish. Jack Osbourne was in attendance that night. The blue team got their first orders, and Russell wanted to prove how strong he was on the appetizers. Because of him, the blue team was off to a great start. In the red kitchen, Melissa brought up her appetizers, but forgot another order of ravioli needed. Melissa brought the second order up, but it was undercooked, and Ramsay lectured her on rushing it out and treating him like a fucking idiot. Sabrina said that Melissa’s mistake made her look like a dumbass, and Ramsay urged one of them to help Melissa out. While the red team had not send any appetizers out, James came to the pass and told Ramsay that one of the blue diners was going to propose that night, and Ramsay told James to look after that table for the night. Because of Russell’s strong efforts on appetizers, the blue team began to work on their entrées. Louis sent up his salmon to the pass, but it came out stone cold, and Ramsay told him to do better. Russell got annoyed as Louis could not grill salmon despite being a camp cook. In the red kitchen, Melissa hoped to redeem herself from her earlier mistake, but she failed to do multiplication when she said that three times three equaled six. That dismayed Ramsay, and warned Melissa that he would be watching her as she was scaring him for failing math. In the blue kitchen, Louis brought his pork out of the oven, but realized that he failed to get another pork chop ready for the ticket. Then, Ramsay saw Louis’ burnt pork chop and asked Sous Chef Scott if that was how they were cooking a pork chop, which Sous Chef Scott answered it was not.
One hour into dinner service, and Louis’ poor performance on the grill station was affecting the customers. In the red kitchen, Melissa has managed to bounce back from her earlier mistakes and her appetizers were being sent out to the dining room. Soon, the red team began working on their entrées, but Sabrina struggled on giving times to both her teammates and Ramsay. Then, Sabrina felt that her pork chop was not ready yet and told the team that she needed eight more minutes. Then, Melissa said that if Sabrina would sunk the team that night, she would be going home. Sabrina’s inability to call out proper times frustrated Ramsay and asked if anyone could help her out. Melissa went over to help Sabrina out, but she was frustrated that Sabrina could not get her timings correct. Because of Melissa, the red team was finally able to send out their first table.
In the blue kitchen, Louis made a comeback and entrées from the blue kitchen were being sent out. Unfortunately, James’ brought back one of Rob’s rock shrimp pizzas that was burnt on the bottom. Ramsay chewed Rob for hiding it from him, and sent him out to the bar area to eat it. Trev felt that it was not much of a punishment, but Rob was humiliated. In the red kitchen, Gail tried to communicate with Sabrina, but Sabrina’s inconsistent timing confused Gail. While Sabrina admitted she might not be a team player as Ramsay said in the beginning, she also admitted she was a manipulative bitch. Sabrina brought up her pork, even though Gail was not ready with her pasta, and Sabrina knew that it made Gail look bad. Gail brought up her pasta, but it was raw and crunchy and Ramsay berated Gail for her comical performance despite her experience. In the blue kitchen, the men were still struggling with entrées and James informed Ramsay that the proposal table has been waiting a long time. So, Ramsay warned Louis not to let the couple break up before they got married, and Louis sliced his pork. Unfortunately, it was pink and Louis carried the pork in his hands to show it to Sous Chef Scott, who berated Louis for carrying it in his hands, and called him both a slob and a pig. Then, a frustrated Ramsay brought the men to the front and berated them for taking advantage of their reward, cooking like fucking idiots, and told them to either get a grip or fuck off. Boris decided to clean the dishes in the sink, but Ramsay was not happy about that as they were still cooking at the moment. So, Ramsay decided to eject Boris from the kitchen to wash the dishes in the back store and yelled that LA Market was not looking for a head chef in pans.
James came back to remind Ramsay that the proposal table had still not received their entrées. Louis brought up his chicken parmesan, but it was raw and a fed up Ramsay expelled Louis from the kitchen while telling him to take Boris with him on his way back to the dorms. Ramsay relocated Vinny to the meat station, and Russell gave the remaining blue chefs a pep talk. Vinny managed to send the table out to the dining room and saved the proposal table. In the red kitchen, they were only three tickets away from finishing. They managed to finish, but Ramsay told them to not celebrate yet, and ordered them to go and help the blue team finish their tickets. Russell was not happy about the red team coming over and even wanted to slap one of them. Despite being in one kitchen, both teams got confused on orders and Russell said that he sent up polenta to the pass despite the fact it was clearly not there. With nothing going on, and the pork chop on the pass dying, a fed up Ramsay ejected both teams from the kitchen, and had Sous Chefs Scott and Andi finish up service. A disappointed Trev thought that the red team’s presence would help, but it became the opposite. Despite a miserable night, Ramsay and the Sous Chefs were able to get the proposal table’s dessert out, and the boyfriend proposed to his girlfriend, who said yes.
When both teams were lined up, a disappointed Ramsay said that they were all weak. Despite the fact that the red team completed their service, both teams were named joint-losers, and Ramsay told them to nominate two people for elimination.
Back in the dorms, Jillian asked if they would base their nominations on that night or on overall performance. Sabrina said that despite Melissa helping her out a lot, Ramsay got on her case that night. So, Sabrina voted for Melissa and Gail, but Nona thought that was an ungrateful move. Jillian also nominated Gail and Melissa, but Gail argued that she would fight for her life to stay no matter what. On the blue side, Vinny said that Louis and Boris were a no-brainer on who to nominate. However, Boris tried to argue that he did not do a terrible job and argued that Rob should be up for elimination due to his burnt pizza, but Trev told Boris not to cop out. Meanwhile, Nona told Melissa and Gail that they should not be up for elimination, and that Sabrina should be the only one up for the red team. They told the rest of the red team about their decision, but Jillian and Sabrina disagreed with it. This led to an argument between Sabrina and Melissa, where Sabrina said that she lost all respect for her entire team, even promising that she would make their lives a living hell if she would survive elimination.
Nona named Melissa as the red team’s first nominee, but when she stumbled on why Melissa was nominated, Sabrina told Ramsay that Nona did not nominate Melissa. However, Ramsay reminded Sabrina that he asked Nona for the nominations, and Nona gave a more clear explanation. After, Nona named Gail as the second nominee, but backtracked and said that Sabrina was the real one. Trev named Louis as the blue team’s first nominee, and Boris as the second. Ramsay agreed on the nominees and called all of them forward. During the pleas, Louis said that he would do whatever Ramsay told him to do, Boris argued that he was the most experienced chef on the blue team, Melissa said that she carried Sabrina throughout service, and Sabrina tried to argued that she had more great performances despite her inexperience, but Ramsay sternly warned Sabrina to never use her inexperience as an excuse again. After, Ramsay called Melissa and Boris’ name and told them to get back in line, before eliminating Louis for his poor performance at the grilling station, and telling him to get back to camp. After Louis’ exit, Ramsay sent Sabrina back in line, and expressed disappointment that the chefs turned his expected success into failure. Before dismissing the chefs, he urged them to turn it around.
Ramsay’s comment: “Louis the camp cook dreamed of fine dining, but the only thing I would trust him with is toasting a marshmallow. Kumbaya, my friend!”
The third episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 29, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the fourth episode. On that episode, a breakfast challenge service took place, dinner service was mixed at best, and one of the most incompetent chefs in the show’s history finally pushed Ramsay to the breaking point.
Back in the dorms, Rob expressed surprise that Curtis got eliminated while Raj, who he referred to as a lunatic, was still around. On the other hand, Raj was extremely happy to have survived elimination twice in a row, and mocked Vinny for his malicious decision to tell the diners not to order sides, though Vinny argued that he only recommended to the diners not to order sides. Meanwhile, Jillian and Sabrina met Russell and told him that the men was looking weak, while the women were strong. However, Jillian believed that Emily should be the next person going home due to her poor performance during the previous service. Later that night, at 2:18 am, Raj was still celebrating but Trev told him to calm down. Vinny realized that the rest of the men would have to work with Raj if they wanted to win, and Trev decided to befriend Raj as he was the only person who was listening to him.
The next morning, at 5:07 am, the chefs were asleep until multiple ambulances came to Hell’s Kitchen. Then, a group of paramedics came to the dorms, woke the chefs up, and gave them health exams. Once everyone was tested, Sous Chef Scott told them to get dressed and head downstairs. When they got downstairs, they saw Ramsay with a group of paramedics sitting at the tables. Ramsay explained that during the last service, he saw no energy from anyone, and after looking over the medical exams, he realized it was not a physical limit as they were all healthy, but a mental block. As Ramsay was looking for a mentally strong person to become the head chef at LA Market, he introduced the Paramedic Service Challenge, where each team would cook breakfast for paramedics from Los Angeles. Ramsay told the chefs that the first team to serve all of their 50 tables would be the winner.
The chefs went into their kitchens and began prep, with their dishes being an egg white omelet with turkey bacon, roasted tomatoes, and toast as the first, and scrambled eggs with French toast, bacon, and sausage as the second. However, they could not serve any of those two dishes until each table received a fruit salad bowl. Nona was determined to make sure the women would finally win a challenge. In the blue kitchen, Rob noticed that none of his teammates came to help him on the fruit salads, while in the red kitchen, half of the team was working together on their fruit salads. The results showed as the women sent out two bowls of fruit salads, while the men did not. Rob sent over his first bowl, but it did not have any pineapple in it, although he was able to quickly put them in afterwards. In the red kitchen, the women began working on their first orders, and because of the excellent teamwork, they managed to serve their first three tables. In the blue kitchen, Boris sent up his omelet, but Sous Chef Scott told Ramsay that it was burnt on the bottom. So, Ramsay refused to serve it, forcing the men to start over.
In the red kitchen, Nona and Sabrina called Emily for the bacon, but she did not respond. Sabrina went to get the bacon from the convection oven, but they were all burnt, much to the latter’s dismay, calling the former a dumbass. Despite that, Sabrina and Melissa were able to cook more bacon in time, and sent out more dishes. Meanwhile, the men has yet to serve one of their tables, and Ramsay chewed them out for looking like amateurs. Raj brought up his scrambled eggs, but Ramsay found out that there was no seasoning in them, and forced the men to taste them. When Raj was about to argue with Ramsay about the seasoning, he got chewed out for it, and Trev told him to just say “Yes, Chef.” Confused by the situation, Raj left the kitchen and put his head in the fridge to get straightened out, but Ramsay caught him and told Raj to move back in the kitchen. The men continued to look disorganized, which caused a dismayed Ramsay to ask who was in control, while calling it a disaster. Meanwhile, the women managed to get their last table out and were declared the winners. After, Ramsay told the women to go in the blue kitchen and help the men serve their tables. With the women’s help, the men were able to serve all of their tables. After, Ramsay berated the men for their disorganized performance, and Trev knew their problem was a lack of communication. Raj tried to argue that he tried to speak up, but Trev shut him up and reminded Raj that they were performing as individuals, which Ramsay agreed with. Trev even voiced his frustration that Raj was not contributing worthwhile to the men and it was hurting them a lot.
The women won a trip to Santa Monica where they had lunch at the Viceroy Hotel along with a secret surprise. When they arrived in Santa Monica, they saw that their surprise was trapeze lessons, which excited Melissa as she had never done that before. Later that day, they met Ramsay at the Viceroy Hotel. During lunch, Nona got splashed with champagne by accident and Ramsay dried her off. The women toasted their victory and Jillian expressed hope that the women would continue to win.
The men had to polish 250 stemware glasses for the next service, and clean up both kitchens. Before leaving, Ramsay urged the men to use their punishment as an opportunity to regroup and bond because they really needed it. Louis even hoped that they would get together because if not, it would be an all-female finale at the end. During the punishment, Trev tried to urge Raj in helping out with the polishing, but Raj felt that Trev was being mean to him, and also believed that he was all alone against the rest of his team who he compared to kids. Trev saw that Raj left watermarks on one of his glasses, and an annoyed Russell told Trev to finish it for Raj.
Later on, as they were cleaning up the red kitchen, Trev saw that Raj partially covered a loaf a bread with ceramic wrap, and Trev was starting to be fed up. The rest of the men were getting fed up as well as Vinny noted that while Raj might have the most cooking experience of them all, he clearly showed that he had little experience cooking in a kitchen. Raj called that comment unfair, but an angry Trev yelled that Raj was screwing up the men and they were trying to get that through to his thick skull. However, Raj accused them of targeting him unfairly, which led Trev to tell Raj to go home and stuff his face with Twinkies until he had a heart attack. As the argument continued, Raj got enraged, yelled at Trev to shut up, inches away from his face, and called the rest of his team a bunch of snakes. Before anything escalated, Boris and Russell pulled Raj to the back hallway and Boris told Raj to calm down with some Taichi. In a confessional, Boris said he did not want any of his teammates fighting as they needed everyone to work together, but still called Raj fucking nuts.
The next morning, both teams began prep as Russell urged Raj to communicate. Meanwhile, Nona noticed that Sabrina was missing as the latter was in the bathroom getting herself ready. Sabrina proved to be not helpful during prep as she figured Ramsay was not looking for a prep chef, much to Melissa’s annoyance.
Once both teams finished their prep, they lined up, and Ramsay told the men they were having the weakest start so far, and urged them to make a comeback that night. Then, he told Raj that he did not given up any hope for him yet, but told him to make a comeback and stay out of the fridge. Ramsay revealed that for service, they would be giving all the diners culinary styled cocktails, and dedicated Sabrina and Trev as mixologists. Once everybody was ready, Ramsay told James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
The men got their first ticket, and Vinny and Raj began working on their appetizers. Despite Vinny saying that he needed 4 more minutes on his spaghetti, Raj was about to send up his scallops until Louis and Vinny convinced him to refire them. Meanwhile, Emily tasted Jillian’s appetizers and thought that they needed more salt. They sent out their appetizers to the dining room, but James came back with the dishes as they were too salty. Jillian was angry at Emily for screwing her up, and Ramsay urged the women to taste their dishes. With neither team getting food out to the diners, Trev and Sabrina were pressured by James to get their cocktails out. While both of them were annoyed by James’ pressure, they managed to serve their cocktails to their customers. Meanwhile, both kitchens managed to get appetizers out to their diners.
An hour into dinner service, and the men was beginning to serve entrées. Raj brought up his salmon, but Ramsay found that Raj cooked it in a disgusting stock that was not needed, forcing the men to start over. In the red kitchen, Melissa’s Dover Sole dish was overcooked and Ramsay compared it to Gandhi’s flip-flop. Jillian found that comment hilarious and wondered where Ramsay came up with it as she believed Gandhi never wore shoes. Without any entrées coming out from either kitchen, the diners were getting impatient. In the blue kitchen, Raj said he was ready with the refired salmon, but backtracked and said he needed one minute. Ramsay criticized Raj for doing that and called him a fucking bozo. Raj managed to bring up the salmon, but it turned out to be raw and Ramsay smashed it with his hand in frustration. That frustrated Boris who claimed that Raj could not even change his underwear correctly, and Ramsay reminded Raj that they have yet to send an entrée out. Oblivious as to why the salmon was rejected, Raj attempted to ask Ramsay about it, ignoring that Ramsay had both of his ears plugged and Rob urging him not to say anything. Eventually, Ramsay angrily told Raj to cook his fucking dish and shut his fat mouth. Then, Ramsay had Vinny help Raj out, and because of Vinny, the team was finally able to get their first table out.
An hour and 45 minutes into service, both teams were sending entrées out to the dining room. Nona allowed Emily to help her on garnishes, but got frustrated when Emily did not have the gratin ready in time, calling her worthless. That forced Nona to double her efforts, and she managed to send out gratins to Ramsay’s approval. Meanwhile, Boris got his Wellingtons ready, but found out they were raw when he sliced them, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Because of that, the men were forced to start over. After, Boris saw Raj eating the rejected fish at his station and begged Raj to stop. Ramsay soon caught Raj eating and mockingly asked if he had enough, but Raj said that the food was delicious, much to Ramsay’s annoyance. In the red kitchen, Gail was distracted and did not notice that one of her ribeye steaks was on fire, much to Nona’s annoyance. Ramsay took the flaming pan into the sink and accused Gail of giving up.
Two hours into service, and Gail managed to redeem herself with a perfectly cooked beef dish, and in the blue kitchen, Raj managed to get his halibut accepted as well. However, Ramsay saw that Raj cooked three Dover Soles that were not even ordered, and Vinny told Raj that there was no way Ramsay would accept them from that moment. Ramsay called for the Dover Sole, but Raj revealed he had no more left despite the fact there was three on order. That horrified Ramsay and the men, Louis got fearful that things would get ugly, Boris called the situation embarrassing, and Raj was confused over what to do. After much thinking, Ramsay ordered Raj to go out to the dining room and inform the diners who ordered the Dover Sole what happened. Raj tried to argue that he could not go out due to a dirty apron, but Ramsay angrily ordered him to leave. Then, Raj struggled with dropping his apron off, leading Sous Chef Scott to aggressively order Raj to drop it and leave. Once in the dining room, Raj told the table about their predicament and offered other fish instead. With Raj out of the kitchen, the men managed to push entrées out and Ramsay noted that it was the first time they sounded like a team. Eventually, both teams managed to send out their last table.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told that while both teams completed service, it was painful to watch. As Ramsay could not pick a winner, he decided to use the comment cards to help with his decision. The men had a 54% approval rating from the customers, while the women had a 50% approval rating. So, the women were declared losers, and Ramsay asked them to nominate two people for elimination.
Back in the dorms, the women agreed that Emily was their first nominee for her poor performance, but Emily said she was not ready to go home. For their second nominee, Sabrina and Jillian agreed on Melissa based on her overall poor performances, but Melissa, Nona, and Emily argued that Sabrina should be the second nominee based on her poor attitude and the fact that she did not help out very much during prep. That angered Sabrina as she was not even in the kitchen during service, but Emily reminded her that a kitchen cannot run properly if none of the food was ready. That left Gail as the final vote, but she struggled on who to choose.
Jillian named Emily as the women’s first nominee, and Sabrina as the second, although she admitted she had no idea why. Ramsay even asked why Sabrina got nominated as she was not in the kitchen, but Melissa explained that Sabrina did not help out during prep. Ramsay agreed on the nominees and called Emily and Sabrina down. During the pleas, Sabrina told Ramsay that while Emily messed up and she sucks, Melissa should go home as she has performed horribly despite being an Executive Chef, but Ramsay told Sabrina to explain why she herself should stay in Hell’s Kitchen. Sabrina answered that she was here to grow and that she had bigger balls than the rest of the women put together. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay announced that the person leaving that night was Raj, from the winning team, as he has been the worst performer in all of the services so far and proved to be way out of his league. After Raj left, Ramsay asked the men if they were relieved, and the men thanked Ramsay for that reward. Sabrina and Emily went back in line, and Ramsay dismissed the chefs for the night.
Ramsay’s comment: “When the going gets tough in the kitchen, a chef puts his head down and cooks. All Raj wanted to do was put his head in the freezer, and that’s why his stay in Hell’s Kitchen was a short one.”
The second episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 22, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the first episode. On that episode, sushi was the main item, one chef got in trouble when they tried to manipulate the diner’s orders, and one chef’s poor performance got their team frustrated with them.
While going back to the dorms, Raj sarcastically thanked Louis for his comments, but Louis said he only told the truth. Russell did not want the men to implode and wanted to give Raj a fighting chance. On the women, Sabrina knew her teammates did not like her, but she did not care as she was out for herself. Emily was not happy Sabrina threw Nona under the bus during elimination, but Nona did not care as Sabrina showed her immaturity, and called her an infant.
The next morning, at 4:32 am, the chefs were asleep in their beds, when a group of Japanese taiko drummers sneaked into the dorms and woke everybody up. Sous Chef Scott appeared and told everyone to head downstairs to meet Ramsay, who said that the opening service was memorable for all the wrong reasons. But, before he could go any further, he got distracted with Raj’s heavy breathing, which Sabrina, Jillian, and Vinny decided to mock in their confessions. After getting Raj to slow down, Ramsay revealed that he made a phone call to one of his old friends, and introduced the chefs to Masaharu Morimoto. Ramsay explained that Masaharu was very well known for his sushi dishes, and for the Sushi Challenge, the chefs would recreate Masaharu’s signature salmon and cucumber roll and tuna nigari dish, much to the concern of Jillian, as she never worked with “Chinese food” before. Then, Masaharu gave the chefs a demonstration on how each of the sushi pieces were to be made, while the chefs were paying close attention. To make sure there were no mistakes, Masaharu brought over his trademark Morimoto knives for the chefs to use during the challenge, and Ramsay said that the team who won the challenge got to keep their knives. After Masaharu left, Ramsay revealed that the challenge would be done in pairs, and the person next to the chefs would be their partners for that challenge.
Ramsay gave the chefs 10 minutes to make their sushi. While making them, Melissa expressed hope in doing well because she had Gail as her partner, and that she should know how to make sushi because of her Asian background. However, both Gail and Melissa were struggling. The pair of Curtis and Trev were not doing well either as Curtis was struggling with rolling his sushi up, and compared it to a dookie roll. After time was up, Ramsay told the men to sit out one pair to even up the numbers, and they all immediately went with the pair of Curtis and Trev. Ramsay agreed with their decision and called Curtis and Trev’s attempt embarrassing.
The women went up first, and the pair of Melissa and Gail was not only missing a salmon roll, but in addition, the rolls were cut poorly and the tuna was improperly sliced. Because of that, they scored no points. The pair of Jillian and Nona were up next and managed to score 8 points. Emily and Sabrina were the final pair and managed to score 7 points. The women finished with 15 points.
The men were up next, and the pair of Rob and Louis only managed to get 4 points as they failed to put wasabi in all of their tuna nigiri pieces. Russell and Raj were up next, and they also scored 4 points due to Raj failing to put wasabi in three of his tuna nigiri pieces. The final pair was Vinny and Boris and they managed to score 8 points, giving the men the win 16-15.
In addition to keeping their Morimoto knives, the men went to Cellar 360 in San Francisco with Ramsay. During the flight, Ramsay jokingly refused to sit next to Raj. When they arrived at Cellar 360, they were greeted by Matt Lane of the Rosemount Estates, who gave them the first wine tasting, while revealing the winner of that season would also become the spokesperson for Rosemount Estates in addition to the head chef position at LA Market. During the tasting, Raj gulped most of his wine, which caused Ramsay to jokingly tell him to sip it. Eventually, Ramsay said he had to get back to Hell’s Kitchen, but informed the men that he arranged a sunset dinner at the Water Bar restaurant for them. While eating dinner, Curtis and Trev thanked the men for winning despite their poor performance, and Trev felt their reward was a bonding experience. Later that night, the men returned to Hell’s Kitchen, with Raj doing karate moves when he entered, and went to sleep.
The women had to prep sushi for the next dinner service. Gail was upset about letting the women down with her poor performance, and while Jillian calmed her down, Sabrina blamed Gail and Melissa for costing them the challenge. During the punishment, Nona and Sabrina got into an argument over the latter’s lack of help, and Sous Chef Andi asked both of them to help take in deliveries of rice. Nona proved to be out of breath and slow during the delivery, much to Sabrina’s annoyance. For dinner, Sous Chef Andi revealed that Ramsay has provided them with squid to eat. While the rest of the women were disgusted by their dinner with Sabrina repeatedly throwing up in the process, Gail happily ate the squid as she was used to eating food like that. Once they finished their dinner, Sous Chef Andi dismissed the women for the night and suggested that they get a good night’s sleep for the next service.
The next day, both teams were ready for service and began prepping. During prep, Raj was struggling on getting his station ready when he was picking parsley, so Vinny came by to help him out despite having zero belief that Raj would do well. Once prep was finished, Ramsay had both teams lined up and said that he wanted that service to be a fresh start after their awful opening service. Since both teams made James’ first night as maître d’ a total misery, Ramsay picked Jillian and Vinny as assistant maître d’s for that service. Once everyone was at their stations, Ramsay told James to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Sabrina and Curtis were in charge of a salmon sushi roll appetizer, which was added to the menu that night. Jillian brought her first ticket to Ramsay, but Ramsay noticed that the ticket had three dessert orders on a table of two. Jillian admitted she miswrote the ticket due to being nervous, but Ramsay urged her to fight back. Meanwhile, the men were waiting on Vinny’s first ticket who was struggling to remember what tables he was waiting on, and Ramsay asked James to find him.
30 minutes into dinner service, Vinny managed to deliver his first ticket. Ramsay asked Vinny if he was trying to sabotage the men, but Vinny denied doing so. Ramsay called out the men’s first ticket, and everyone but Raj acknowledged the order, despite Raj being right next to Ramsay. Then, Ramsay pulled Raj aside and asked him to call back what he said, but Raj admitted he was not paying attention, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Louis even said it was a god damn miracle that Raj was not dead or in an insane asylum. In the red kitchen, Gail, Nona, and Sabrina brought up their dishes, and Ramsay sent them out to the dining room. Curtis brought up his sushi rolls, but Ramsay saw he made three fat fucks and a minuscule piece, and that his plate was not properly clean. Due to Curtis’ poor performance, Ramsay was forced to send out one incomplete table of appetizers to the dining room. Meanwhile, the women were moving onto entrées, but Emily’s first order of steak came out rare, forcing Ramsay to trash Nona’s perfectly cooked fish and start the order again.
An hour and a half into dinner service, and Vinny’s performance as a maître d’ was slowing down the blue kitchen. Hoping to speed things up, Vinny recommended to one table to not order sides because he had no faith in Raj’s performance. However, James soon came to the table and found out what Vinny did, and Ramsay was confused why one of Vinny’s tickets had no side orders. James brought Vinny over to the pass and told Ramsay about what Vinny did. Then, Ramsay brought Vinny back in the blue kitchen, and Vinny explained that he told the table that while the sides were delicious, it would take a long time for them to leave the kitchen. Because of that, Ramsay confronted Raj if he told Vinny to say that, but Raj argued he did not and showed that he had all the sides ready to go. That led Vinny to reveal he only told the table that because he had no faith in Raj, and a furious Ramsay kicked Vinny out of service as he had no authority to decide what would go out. On his way back to the dorms, Vinny still thought he was helping the customers. In the red kitchen, Emily was still struggling on the meat station, and Nona was getting frustrated. Also, Gail told Emily to turn the convection oven up, but Nona got angry when Emily revealed she did not know how to cook meat, and Ramsay chewed Emily out for sinking her team while urging her to bounce back. In the blue kitchen, Boris took control of Trev’s fish station and sent up the scallops, but they came out raw.
Two hours into dinner service, the men had not been able to send out appetizers, while the women served nearly half of their entrées. Melissa sent up her mashed potatoes, but not only were they cold and runny, Ramsay said that they were not even needed. Melissa got confused on the ticket orders and Ramsay decided to swap Melissa out for Jillian in the dining room. As Melissa settled into her new role as assistant maître d’, Jillian took over the garnish station and called out for times, allowing the women to get back on track. Meanwhile, in the blue kitchen, Curtis’ problems continued as he sent up poorly cut sushi pieces without any wasabi to the pass, which caused an impatient Ramsay to kick Curtis out of the kitchen. Then, Ramsay found that Raj was stacking up the garnishes, cluttering his station, and he kicked Raj out as well. Once Raj was back in the dorms, he decided to put his head in the freezer to get his mind straightened. In the kitchen, Louis sent up his Caesar salads, but he did not plate an equal amount of walnuts on either plate. Finally fed up, Ramsay brought the rest of the men to the back hallway and ejected them from service.
Back in the dorms, Louis vented how the men were looking like idiots after failing the first two services and that they would do it again unless they focused. When Raj told everyone to calm down, calling his teammates kids, Louis yelled at him for his condescending remark. The rest of the men joined in, throwing things at Raj, Vinny berating Raj for failing to prep parsley during prep, and Boris called Raj a waste of life. However, Raj called his team a bunch of snakes. In the red kitchen, the women managed to get all of their tables finished, and while Ramsay said it was not worth a massive celebration, he praised them for a good job, and the women were extremely happy about their victory.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told the men that they were the obvious losers, while angrily berating Vinny for telling the customers not to order sides as he was not in position to do so. Then, Ramsay asked Curtis why the sushi station was difficult for him, and Curtis said that he had no excuse for his poor performance. Ramsay asked the men to nominate two people for elimination.
Back in the dorms, the men easily agreed on Raj being the first nominee, but Raj argued that Vinny should be up for elimination due to him telling the customers not to order sides. Trev, Russell, and Vinny agreed that Curtis should be the second nominee, but Curtis argued Boris should be up instead as he muscled Trev off the fish station and sent up raw scallops, which caused Trev to reconsider his choice.
Boris announced that Raj was the first nominee, but when Raj tried to argue against it, Vinny reminded him it was a unanimous decision. After that, Trev announced that Boris was the second nominee, which Boris was surprised about. While Ramsay agreed with those nominees, he decided to call down Vinny as well, as he was still upset Vinny tried to convince some customers not to order sides. After listening to their pleas, Ramsay decided to spare the nominees and eliminate Curtis as his poor performance on sushi was the reason the men fell apart. A tearful Curtis left the restaurant stating the experience meant a lot to him and his family and he swore to make it up to them someday.
Ramsay’s comment: “Curtis might have been a good ol’ boy, but unfortunately, he wasn’t good at cooking.”
The first episode of Season 8 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on September 22, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the second episode. On that episode, the sixteen new chefs were introduced, one of them was forced to leave before service would begin, and the opening service became one of the worst starts in the show’s history.
The season began with the narrator describing how restaurants, no matter the size, location, or style, all have chefs that were passionate and had big dreams. Then, Melissa, Vinny, Raj, and Jillian were seen receiving their acceptance invitations to Hell’s Kitchen, and reacted with excitement. After, a quick preview was shown, with the contestants being called the most competitive, intense, emotional, desperate, and paranoid group of chefs ever. It also showed arguments between team members, and even a few chefs standing up to Ramsay.
The sixteen new chefs arrived at Hell’s Kitchen in the SUVs, with Antonia excited about being here, and Louis knowing that this was the beginning of his new step. But when Louis went to open the doors, they turned out to be locked, confusing the rest of the chefs. Gail even asked where Ramsay and Jean-Philippe were. Moments later, a mysterious man appeared behind them and introduced himself as James Lukanik, the new maître d’ for Hell’s Kitchen. Emily was disappointed that Jean-Philippe was not there, and found James’s accent not that sexy. James revealed that there has been a change of plans, and gave the chefs blindfolds to put on. Gail and Vinny were nervous about what was going on as things were way out of their comfort zone. Moments later, the chefs arrived at the mysterious location, still blindfolded, and Ramsay let his presence known to them. Then, Ramsay explained that they were standing in the restaurant that would be the grand prize, and told them to take off their blindfolds, revealing that they were in LA Market, a multi-million dollar restaurant that was part of the LA Live complex. After, Ramsay asked the chefs if they wanted to see more of the restaurant, and while they all said they did, Ramsay told them that they were not ready yet and told them to get back to Hell’s Kitchen and cook their signature dishes.
With determination after seeing the prize restaurant, the chefs immediately got to work, cooking their dishes with only 45 minutes of allowed time. During the cooking, Emily was worried about her breasts popping out of her shirt, which Jillian took notice of, and Sabrina complained about walking around in high heels. Eventually, the chefs completed their dishes and plated them in time. Before tasting their dishes, Ramsay revealed that the salary for LA Market’s Head Chef would be $250,000, which Jillian said she wanted to win as it would get her and her boyfriend out of his parents’ house.
During the first round, Emily went up against Russell, but before Ramsay could taste their dishes, he gave Emily his apron to put over her chest as he did not want one of her breasts popping out, which Nona asked if Emily was for real. Emily presented her duck breast with grape and walnut campo, which Ramsay praised for being nicely cooked, and Emily hoped that Ramsay would duck breast and not her human breast. Russell revealed his grilled calamari steak with a salsa-verde, and while Ramsay was concerned about it being mid-rare, it was praised for its delivery. Because of that, both of them scored a point, tying the score at 1. On the second round, Nona went up against Vinny, and she presented her fried chicken with asparagus. But, Ramsay found the asparagus undercooked and the chicken too sweet due to Nona using honey. Vinny revealed his herbed poached halibut while saying people from Queens and people from Queens and they will be humiliated if they cross him, and he will bite their fucking toes off if they step on his shoes, and Ramsay immediately saw that there was oil on the plate, even asking if Vinny’s hair oil got on the plate, while criticizing the presentation, which made Raj pray to god despite not being religious himself. Despite that, Ramsay said that the fish tasted nice and was nicely seasoned, and Vinny scored another point for the blue team, giving them a 2-1 lead.
During the third round, Antonia and Curtis faced off. Before Ramsay could judge their dishes, he caught Sabrina yawning out loud, accused her of being bored, and threatened her with elimination. However, he gave Sabrina a chair to sit down, called her “Baby Spice”, and said he was already pissed with her despite not even tasting her food yet. After that little incident, Antonia revealed her Mardi Gras gumbo, but Ramsay was immediately shocked at the presentation, and asked if it normally looked like a plate of liquid shit. After tasting it, Ramsay started to throw up and asked Antonia if she tasted her dish. Antonia revealed that she did not, which caused Ramsay to throw up again. Antonia apologized that Ramsay did not like it, but Ramsay called the dish inedible. So, Antonia suggested to throw the dish out, but Ramsay decided to give it to Raj, and ordered the rest of the chefs to taste it. Everybody disliked the dish, Rob rather wanted a cat to shit in his mouth, Nona and Boris came close to throwing up themselves, and Vinny compared the taste to a big ball of mud. After Sabrina returned the dish to Ramsay, he tossed it in the trash, before throwing up once more. After, Curtis revealed his lemon pepper chicken, but Ramsay called it shit, so neither Curtis nor Antonia scored a point, leaving the score 2-1 for the blue team.
For the next round, Jillian and Rob were up. Ramsay asked Jillian what was up with her eyebrows, even asking if she singed them off, but Jillian revealed she got them tattooed. She presented her herb and vegetable stuffed chicken with an herb cream sauce, which Ramsay deemed delicious, relieving Melissa as she was a little concerned based on Jillian’s appearance. Rob presented his pistachio-crusted rack of lamb, but Ramsay found the lamb poorly cut along with it having raw fat on the meat. Jillian scored another point for the red team, tying the score at 2. The next round was between Gail and Trev, but Gail’s dish had burnt potatoes and Trev’s dish was deemed an embarrassment, therefore none of them scored. Lisa and Louis were up next, but Lisa’s meat was dry, and Ramsay could not get Louis’s lobster out of its shell, so neither of them scored as well. Melissa and Boris went up next, and while Melissa’s steak did not score a point, with Ramsay even asking if she was out of her tiny mind referring to her stature, Boris’s dish managed to score another point for the blue team, giving once again the lead for the blue team at 3-2.
For the final round, Sabrina and Raj faced off, although Emily was a little concerned since Sabrina already pissed off Ramsay earlier that day. Sabrina revealed her buceta fish with grilled endive and blood orange fennel salad with brown butter vinaigrette, and while Ramsay thought she copied the recipe from a book, which she denied as she was not reading a lot, he liked the balance of the dish and the uniqueness of the fish. Finally, Raj, who boasted how much experience he had, presented his seafood and vegetable pancake. The presentation shocked Ramsay as it looked nothing like a pancake, and that it was pissing with oil. While Ramsay did like the taste of the seafood, he refused to give Raj a point due to its shocking presentation. So, Sabrina scored the point, leaving a tie at 3. To settle the tie, Ramsay explained that every kitchen was only as strong as their weakest link, and there was one dish that was the biggest insult for making him physically ill. That dish was Antonia’s gumbo, and because of that, the blue team won the challenge. Louis joked that Antonia was the most valuable player for the blue team that day.
The blue team received massages, champagne, and caviar up in the dorms. When they got to the dorms, James greeted them, and the men relaxed. Later that night, a drunk Raj entertained his teammates with karate poses and stances. Curtis suggested that Raj take it down and save his energy for service, while admitting that he thought Raj would have a heart attack.
The red team had to clean both kitchens ahead of the opening service, which Emily was not happy about as she had people to clean up for her back at her job. During the punishment, an upset Sabrina asked if they were going to keep losing, but Lisa reassured her that they would not. After nearly six hours of cleaning, the red team finished up and headed straight to bed.
The next morning, both teams came down to the kitchens and met Sous Chefs Scott and Andi, who provided the chefs with brand new Henkel knives for the competition. Both teams began their prep for the opening night, with Rob and Jillian confident that their teams would do well.
While the rest of the chefs were confident going into service, Antonia was feeling ill, even stating in the confessionals that her head was hurting. One hour before service began, Sous Chef Andi noticed that Antonia was missing, and she asked Emily to go and find her. While Emily looked around, Antonia was about to leave the confessional area, only to collapse immediately. Emily found Antonia as the medical crew was checking up on her to see if she was feeling okay. Antonia revealed she was having a migraine, and that her head was hurting a lot. Emily relayed the news to the rest of the red team, but Sabrina was unsympathetic about Antonia’s condition despite being nervous herself. Despite managing to get herself sitting up, Antonia’s health was still uncertain, with her body even starting to shake. So, an ambulance was called, and Antonia was sent to the hospital.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told them the bad news about Antonia, but urged them to keep focused on the opening service. Despite the fact the red team was down a chef, Lisa was still determined to beat the blue team that night. Before opening up, Ramsay approached James and reminded him that while it was the first night for the chefs, it was also his first night as the maître d’. He also told James to stay on top of everything while asking any questions he might have. With James understanding everything, Ramsay asked him to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Michelle Branch and Donald Schultz were in attendance, and a special pizza station was handled by Melissa in the red kitchen, and Boris in the blue, and Emily and Raj were assigned as waiters. While Emily greeted her first table with confidence, Raj stumbled on explaining the specials. Then, Raj was seen writing the table orders at the pass, which caused Ramsay to ask why he did not do so at the tables. Ramsay read out the first tickets in the blue kitchen, and every member of the blue team got to work. Melissa and Boris sent up their pizzas to the pass, and both of them got their teams to a great start. Jillian and Nona sent up their appetizers, and both were accepted by Ramsay. Meanwhile, Trev sent up his salad, but it was overdressed, much to Ramsay’s frustration. While the blue team did not serve any appetizers yet, the red team managed to serve almost half of theirs already. However, one of Melissa’s pizzas came out raw and Ramsay chewed her out for it. Boris overheard Ramsay and decided to mimic him, which Louis thought was not a smart move. Indeed, Ramsay overheard Boris’ mimic, and pulled him over to the red kitchen to feel the raw pizza, while lecturing Boris on taking the piss out of his rants and threatened him with elimination if he would do it again. Boris promised not to mimic Ramsay again, admitted that it was not a smart move from his part, and Ramsay told Boris to focus. In the red kitchen, Lisa’s performance on the fish station started to slow down the momentum when she revealed to Nona that she did not put her scallops on yet. Then, Ramsay told Lisa that her scallops had no color on them due to her constantly flipping them and cooking on a low heat. Sabrina asked if she could bring up her Wellingtons, but Ramsay told her that they were still waiting on Lisa’s scallops.
In the blue kitchen, Trev’s next attempt on his salad came out overdressed as well and Ramsay angrily asked for a properly dressed salad, while smashing the plate on the floor. Louis even considered strangling Trev for a proper salad. Trev sent up his third attempt, which was finally accepted. However, Ramsay informed the blue team that it took them an hour and a half to send their first order of appetizers out. In the red kitchen, Sabrina said that her Wellingtons were ready, but Gail told her that they were still waiting on the halibut and tagliatelle. However, an impatient Sabrina decided to send the Wellingtons anyway, which caused Nona to ask if Sabrina was crazy. Since the garnish and halibut were not ready yet, Ramsay accused Sabrina of throwing her team under the bus and berated her for not caring, calling her “Baby Spice” once again. Meanwhile, Ramsay told Raj to either help the blue team or fuck off, and Raj returned to the blue kitchen. Ramsay assigned him to help Boris on the pizza station, and a recently thrown off Russell felt that there was no way the two of them would work together, comparing the situation to two idiots doing a Rubik’s cube. Russell’s prediction came true as, despite Boris giving Raj clear instructions, Raj decided to do his own thing and cut the cheese instead of rolling the pizza dough. That caused a frustrated Boris to accuse Raj of trying to sabotage him, and Ramsay bemoaned that they were screwed on a pizza. Lisa sent her halibut to the pass, but it came out raw.
Over two hours into dinner service, no entrées have left either kitchen. Despite James trying to do damage control over the situation, the diners got fed up and started to walk out. When James let Ramsay know about this, a frustrated Ramsay pulled both teams together and showed them what was going on. After berating Sabrina for sending up the Wellingtons bypassing her team, Boris for mimicking one of his rants, and accusing Raj of switching off, he shut down the restaurant.
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay called that night the worst opening night in the history of Hell’s Kitchen, and that they all set a new low, sarcastically congratulating both teams for their joke of a performance. Ramsay declared both teams joint-losers, and asked them to nominate two people for elimination.
Back in the dorms, half of the blue team voted for Raj due to his abysmal performance, though Raj believed that they were all jealous of his abilities. The rest of the team agreed on Trev as their second nominee due to wasting five salads before sending out their first ticket, leaving Trev concerned about his fate. On the red side, Gail said that she would nominate Lisa due to her poor performance on the fish station and that she might be in over her head. Nona said that Sabrina should be up as well for being a poor team player, but Sabrina argued that Nona should be up for elimination based on her signature dish the previous day. By the end, everyone else was struggling with who to nominate.
Before asking for the nominees, Ramsay revealed that he got a call from the hospital, and that Antonia would not be returning to the competition. Despite that, he was still going to send somebody home. Louis named Raj as the blue team’s first nominee, and Trev as the second. After that, Gail named Lisa as the red team’s first nominee, and Sabrina as the second. During the pleas, Ramsay called Sabrina the most selfish cook in the competition so far, but Sabrina argued that she still had more potential and believed that Lisa was spent, much to Lisa’s disagreement as she argued she could cook circles around Sabrina despite her age. Then, Sabrina told Ramsay that she believed Nona should go home that night due to serving fried chicken as her signature dish, failing to cook asparagus properly, and snoring during her sleep, which Gail believed was a low blow. However, Ramsay disagreed with Sabrina and thought that all four nominees should be sent home. After much thinking, Ramsay called Sabrina’s name, and told her to get back in line, before sending Trev back in line as well. Ramsay eliminated Lisa for her poor performance on the fish station and believing she was in over her head. After Lisa’s exit, Ramsay told both teams to make a massive comeback for their next service, and to either get serious or leave, before dismissing them.
Ramsay’s comment: “The only thing positive I can say about Lisa’s performance tonight, she didn’t kill anyone.”
Ramsay gave no comment on Antonia’s departure, and she did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.
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