Season 1 Episode 6

The sixth episode of Season 1 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 11, 2005. On that episode, there was the first ever blind taste test, the first menu created by the teams themselves, and a satisfying elimination of the most egotistical chef occurred.

Please watch the full episode before you read (below) to avoid spoilers about this episode.

Intro

Following Chris’ unexpected elimination, Elsie was in shock because she truly believed she was going to be eliminated. However she was comforted by Jessica who told her that if she was still there, it was because she was deserving to. Moments later when everybody was on the patio Ralph was still surprised and amazed by that decision saying he learned a lesson which was that he and Michael had to be more focused if they want to win because anything could happen. Jessica realized her chances of winning were still there because it could happen to Ralph or Michael also.

Team challenge

Before the challenge Ramsay had some words of encouragement for Elsie as he said she deserved to be there. But he had some harsh words for Ralph as he was not happy with his performance on the previous night’s service. With Chris’ elimination he had to understand that it could happen to him. After that Ramsay introduced the first annual Blind Taste Test. Each contestant had to identify four foods correctly with blindfolds and headsets on. Jimmy and Andrew went first. Andrew correctly identified chicken and Jimmy correctly identified radish. So after one round, the score was even at 1. Elsie and Jessica went head-to-head in the next round. After both missed ox tongue by guessing pork, Elsie got scallops but not Jessica. Elsie also guessed Caesar salad dressing and burger correctly getting her team up ahead by 3 with Jessica scoring no point. For the final round Michael and Ralph went against each other in the battle of the professional chefs. Both missed the first food which was veal sweetbreads. But because Ralph missed the spinach which he guessed romaine lettuce the challenge ended as it now became impossible for the blue team to catch the red team up. So the red team won the challenge 4-1. Elsie was praised as she had the best overall performance with 3 correct answers out of 4.

Reward

The red team enjoyed a wine tasting afternoon with Ramsay. Jimmy learned how to sip wine correctly, but laughed every time he tried, making everybody else laugh.

Punishment

The blue team had to wash the entire restaurant’s dishes. During the punishment, the three members of the team snapped, saying it was not right and unfair, and would rather enjoying Ramsay’s company instead of that crap.

As the second part, the blue team’s baby chickens were in the storage room that was locked. Ramsay gave the combination only once to get them.

Creating new menus

After the reward and punishment, the phone rang in the dorms and Jimmy answered. Ramsay told he wanted everybody down with their jackets on. Ramsay announced that for the next service, each team had to come up with a new menu. These menus would go head-to-head and the customers would decide which menu they would choose from. The red team showed great teamwork while creating their menu but in the blue team, Ralph took full control of the menu, annoying Andrew, who had a great idea for a braised salmon. This idea was shut down by Ralph, who said he preferred poached halibut.

Before service

During prep, the red team showed great teamwork again while in the blue kitchen, Ralph was trying to tell Andrew how to poach halibut. Ramsay told the teams that even though it was their menus, it was still his standards and reputation. When the blue team got their baby chickens out of the locked storage room, Sous Chef Scott caught Andrew taping the door so it would not lock again. That led him to give Andrew a piece of his mind and putting the baby chickens back in the storage room.

Dinner service

When the first order came in the red kitchen, Jimmy sent a bacon-wrapped scallop dish to the pass but it was undercooked, so he had to start again. In the blue kitchen, Andrew got the team off to a good start with his salad appetizers. Because of the backup in the red kitchen and appetizers flying out of the blue, some diners at same tables received meals at separate times. After a hair was discovered in one of the blue team’s appetizer, Jessica said it was not hers but Ramsay responded by saying he did not care about who’s hair it was. When Jimmy sent his second scallop appetizer, it was overcooked, prompting Michael to come to his help. With the help of Michael and Jimmy successfully sent out acceptable scallops to the pass. Andrew served perfectly cooked food but on cold plates. Because of that Ramsay asked him to start over. When he did, Ralph told Jessica to lend a helping hand on Andrew. She poured the broth in the halibut plates and when Andrew sent them, they were acceptable. Moments later, however they came back, and Jean-Philippe had to explain to both Andrew and Ralph that the halibuts were overcooked and tasteless.

In the red kitchen, the entrées flew out of the kitchen as Michael cooked the duck breast and filet mignon to perfection and they were well received by the customers. When an order of mussel paella came in the red kitchen, Elsie was excited to cook it as it was her children’s favorite. However the customers did not give great reviews on her dish. When Andrew’s halibut was still undercooked, he told Ramsay he needed six minutes on the hot plate but Ramsay gave him four leading Andrew to declare that it was not chemically possible to cook the fish that fast. When Jimmy tried to bounce back from his first scallop dishes, the new dish he sent was not seasoned enough so Ramsay asked him to season it a little more. Near the end of service some female customers waved at Ralph because they found him cute but when he waved back, Ramsay gave him a piece of his mind saying he was not in a mood for smiling and autographs could be taken care of after service. Moments later Ramsay shut down both kitchens because too many orders came back. Michael and Jimmy had a heated argument after the latter could not deliver a proper scallop dish, where Michael called Jimmy a fatty.

Post-mortem

Ramsay started by congratulating both teams on their improvement because nearly the entire restaurant received food. He praised Michael’s outstanding performance and the fact he came out of Chris’ shadow. After Ramsay told Jimmy his performance was disappointing, Jessica’s performance was consistently average and Ralph that he was not there to flirt. Despite the red team’s menu being less popular, they won the service because their food was of better quality than the blue team’s, citing that the blue team’s halibut returns were the main contributor. After that Ramsay asked the blue team who was responsible for the halibut dish but Ralph did not answer, much to Andrew’s annoyance since it was Ralph’s dish in the first place and Andrew answered for him. Jessica was named “Best of the Worst” because she did not take part in the blue team’s halibut conspiracy and was asked to nominate one of her teammate for elimination.

Back in the dorms, Jessica congratulated the red team for their victory but expressed disappointment in losing. Andrew continued to rant that he did not want the halibut dish on their menu and was angry that Ralph did not own up to it. After listening to Andrew’s rant, Jessica finalized her decision while Michael secretly hoped that Jessica would nominate Ralph as he was the biggest competition so far. Then Jessica met Ralph and reassured him that she would not nominate him, but warned him that she needed to stand on her own feet and not look like an idiot. Meanwhile, Andrew continued to vent his frustrations to Michael and Jimmy at the patio.

Elimination

Jessica named Andrew as her nominee but Ramsay for the first time ever had a nominee of his own. So Ralph joined Andrew on the chopping block. Ramsay eliminated Andrew mid-plea after he failed to stand up for himself and refusing to take responsibility for his mistakes.

Ramsay’s comment: “So we’re down to the final five. These are the best of the best and the cream is slowly rising to the top and they all really have to start emerging as individual talent. Andrew’s gone tonight because he’s out of his depth and I discovered a fake; he can’t cook!”

My opinion

Elimination

Gordon ask Jessica to nomination one person instead of two for tonight.

Jessica have the same elimination as me. Which was Andrew to leave but Gordon also pick Ralph to go up.

My comment: Andrew moaning about the cooked halibut but if he cooked it well he would not got elimination. He wish he could tape his way to the next round.

Gordon choose Andrew