Season 2 Episode 4

The fourth episode of Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on June 26, 2006. On that episode, happened the first team switch of the season, and a very bad dinner service from both sides that resulted in two firsts of the show.

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

Intro

Back in the dorms, Tom went on a war with his teammates Garrett and Keith for nominating him. He told Garrett he has his back and expected he would have his. At that point, Garrett thought they would be a better team without Tom.

After that, Tom went on the patio and talked with Heather and Rachel about how it is only a game, how he only cares about the money, and how he sacrificed everything to be there, like if he was the only person who did. The two girls were irritated by his way of thinking, and Heather told him that she cares about the experience, and Rachel told him that she and Heather were born to do that.

Team switch

After Gabe, Larry, and Giacomo’s eliminations, the blue team was two men down. Ramsay noticed that Heather, Sara and Rachel were emerging as leaders in the red team, which pissed Virginia as she thought being bossy was not the definition of a leader. Heather was transferred to the men’s team, which pissed her off because she now has to work against her girls of the red team. Keith did not think he needed a leader, but was tired of telling Tom what to do. Sara was happy to see Heather go as she thought it was a perfect opportunity to take the reins of the red team.

During that sequence, we got to see Larry’s picture burning for the first time since his departure.

Trip to Los Angeles

Before the challenge, Ramsay took all the contestants out of the restaurant to visit one of the most successful restaurants in Los Angeles. After a long walk, they arrived at Pink’s Hot Dogs, which at the time, was the busiest restaurant in Los Angeles, with 2000 customers each day. Tom was upset as he thought they were going to Spago. All the contestants ordered a hot dog to eat, while Tom declared he worked at a hot dog place when he was in college. Ramsay invited him to go behind the counter to make a hot dog. Keith stated Tom belonged there. After, Ramsay asked Tom to get out before he sweats in the food, referring to his incident during the first dinner service prep.

After that, Ramsay declared Hell’s Kitchen would open for lunch for the first time, so the contestants ran back to the restaurant to begin prep. Keith was the slowest to run because of his stature. Back in Hell’s Kitchen, the contestants had only two hours to learn the menu and prep. In the blue kitchen, Heather quickly became a strong voice in the kitchen and the organizer for the men. In the red kitchen, Sara felt Rachel would crumble because of Heather’s departure from the team.

Team challenge

For the Lunch Service Challenge, each team would serve their half of the dining room, filled with children, and the first team who completes their tickets first wins the challenge. The menu included hamburgers, pizzas, French fries, and pasta. Before tickets came in, Sara cut her finger, and Sous Chef Mary-Ann and Rachel helped her to get her injury healed fast. Sara did not appreciate and said she needed space and a minute to herself. In the blue kitchen, Garrett and Tom got into an argument because Garrett was setting Tom’s station. Heather quickly calmed the situation down. In the red kitchen, there was a power struggle when Sara was not able to get her pizzas done. Both Rachel and Maribel came to help her on the pizza station, but Sara refused saying she could handle it by herself. Rachel thought she should have asked for help if she needed some.

After a few minutes, both teams sent acceptable food out in the dining room to the children who were making a big mess and screaming all over the place. In thirty minutes, the children became more satisfied when food arrived at the tables. But, in the red kitchen, Sara sent square pizzas, and accused Rachel of having rolled them.

Moments later, the blue team had 3 tickets left to serve, while the red team had 4. Both teams rallied to complete their tickets, and both of them finished at the same time. All the contestants celebrated their first completed dinner service, and the children left a very messy dining room. After service, Ramsay congratulated both teams and told them to keep that momentum for the next dinner service. When he said he asked all the children to rate the food out of 10, Ramsay declared the blue team winners as they manage to score 9,85 out of 10, compared to the red team’s 9,84.

Reward

The blue team enjoyed a day at the amusement park, at Santa Monica Beach, to feel like children again. They really bonded as a team, and Heather made up with Garrett, and became friend with Keith. All three of them conspired to get Tom out as they felt they would be better without him. Heather and Keith also joked that both of their initials were the same as Hell’s Kitchen, so they would be the perfect final two.

Punishment

The red team had to clean the big mess left by the children in the dining room. During the punishment, Rachel was annoyed by Sara’s childish behavior, especially when she was inhaling helium and making weird sounds while spraying water on the floor. Rachel said she busted her ass to make her team win, and considered that Sara did not care if they lost. Rachel and Sara became rivals and got into a heated argument. For lunch, Sous Chef Mary-Ann brought a cake that she smashed to the floor. Rachel got so angry she mimicked a choking gesture to her neck with her pencil.

Before service

The next morning, the blue team was very confident with the acquisition of Heather as a new teammate. She helped Keith to keep his pants up, and Garrett said his team needed to win. In the red kitchen, it was too much quiet because of the animosity between Sara and Rachel as both of them wanted to lead the team. Virginia felt very uncomfortable about that situation. When Ramsay briefed the teams, he told them that after three bad services, this is the one where they have to bounce back. He concluded by declaring the second part of the red team’s punishment by saying that the restaurant’s ice machine is broken, and one of them will have to get ice themselves.

Dinner service

In the red kitchen, Rachel, on appetizers, had to communicate with Sara, on fish, to get salads Saint-Jacques quickly. In the blue kitchen, Heather, on garnish, felt like the men’s babysitter, as she was telling Garrett how to do his risotto, and Tom if his pan was hot enough. In the red kitchen, Sara did not communicate well with Rachel when she was about to plate her first appetizer. She did not understood her on her first three calls. Garrett sent unsalted appetizers, and Ramsay told him to taste his food before sending it. On her side, Rachel sent stiff risottos, and Ramsay told her to start again. When he asked her if it was because Heather was gone, she answered that it was not. On his second attempt at the risotto, Garrett finally succeeded and impressed Ramsay. On her second attempt at the risotto, Rachel did not has the same success as she got from an extreme to the other by sending a risotto with too much liquid. Ramsay compared it to a soup. Rachel acknowledged her mistake and declared Ramsay would have a great opportunity to get rid of her. One of the customers at the blue tables sent a lobster spaghetti back in the kitchen because it was too cold. Ramsay schooled Garrett about the tasting he did not do. When Ramsay asked him if he would like to return in prison, Garrett took that like extra motivation, and was ready to bust his ass and show he deserves to be there.

45 minutes into service, Rachel only served 6 table of appetizers, and the red kitchen would move to entrées. When Virginia asked Sara if she was ready with her turbot, Sara answered that she was. So, Virginia sent her Wellingtons to the pass, but Sara did not bring her turbot, saying she did not even start cooking it. Sara was trying to sabotage Virginia, and Ramsay, unaware of that happening, accused Virginia of lying to him and sabotage her team. Ramsay told Virginia that she was not a team player, and that she was out for herself, making Sara laugh in her head because her plan of sabotage worked. In the blue kitchen, Garrett was about to send his last lobster spaghetti, and the team moved on to entrées, but Tom never started cooking the quail that was called an hour before. In the red kitchen, the team was about to complete their first entrées, but Maribel’s mashed potatoes were overcooked and looked like glue. Ramsay asked her to make some fresh ones, and told her if it was the last thing to eat in the country, he would rather starve. In the blue kitchen, the first Wellingtons that were needed were undercooked, but Keith reassured Ramsay when he told him 4 minutes were needed only. After that, Tom was schooled by Ramsay about his miscommunication.

An hour and a half into service, the red kitchen did not send a lot of entrées, despite them being enjoyed by the customers. In the red kitchen, Virginia and Rachel sent quail dishes with the bones still on them. Virginia was ashamed about that mistake, and Rachel said to Ramsay she has to get used to his procedures. Ramsay schooled her about that comment, and delegated her to get some ice for the restaurant, as the second part of her team’s punishment. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay was irritated by Tom’s way of organizing his cooking as he was cooking orders for the next tables and not listening to Ramsay. After Ramsay told him he does not have passion, Tom’s duck in his pan began to burn, and Ramsay had to tell him to leave it and removed the pan from the stove. In the process, Ramsay called Tom a “fucking dick” and a “donkey”. Then, he asked Keith to get on the meat station to cook for Tom, and told Tom to shut up, open his big eyes, and watch what was Keith doing. Rachel, who left the restaurant to get some ice at the supermarket, forgot some money to buy it. So, she got on her knees and begged the man in front of her to pay for her, which he accepted. On her way back, she fell to the ground and ripped one of her bags. While she was gone, Virginia, Sara and Maribel succeeded to send out many entrées, with Maribel acknowledging that Rachel gone made the kitchen run smoother as Ramsay was not constantly yelling at them. After that, Rachel came back, poured her ice into the machine, and came back to the kitchen, stating that she busted her ass.

Two hours into service, and only half of the diners in each kitchen received their main courses. In the red kitchen, Virginia sent rare Wellingtons which were requested medium, and Ramsay noticed that the Wellingtons were covered all night with egg whites instead of egg yolks. When he told Rachel about it, she acknowledged the mistake, but did not seem to care about it, like if it was not important. That was the final straw for Ramsay, and he pulled the red team off telling them “Fuck the lot of you!”. When he came back in the blue kitchen, he asked the red team and the blue team to come, and threw his apron and towel at Tom. He then told both teams he has had enough and that he could not believe one of them is trying to win a restaurant. He asked both teams to nominate one person for elimination before kicking them out of the kitchen. This marked the first time in the history of the show that the teams were named joint-losers.

Post-mortem

In the dorms, Virginia cried about Sara’s sabotage technique and felt betrayed by her. She cannot take being called a liar by Ramsay, and Sara tried to excuse herself by saying she wanted Virginia to learn from her mistakes. On the blue side, Heather, Keith and Garrett acknowledged that Tom was the reason why the blue team sunk. They all agreed to nominate him, and Tom, who stayed apart from them, was talking to himself at the table with empty chairs, trying to convince himself he is going to come back the next day. On the red side, when they were debating on who to put up, Virginia, after witnessing what happened, knew they were all going to go against her, but Rachel told her to step up for herself. She also considered Maribel for being a weaker cook than Rachel and Sara.

Elimination

Before asking who the nominees were, Ramsay compared the contestants to fast food cooks, but reminded them that the prize is not a fast food restaurant. After telling Keith he was the one bright star in the blue team, Ramsay asked him who was his team’s nominee, which was Tom. After telling Sara she showed some initiative, which Virginia disagreed by shaking her head, Ramsay asked her who was the red team’s nominee, which was Virginia. Ramsay questioned that decision and asked Sara if the team considered Rachel, which she answered they did. Ramsay told Rachel it was her worst performance since her arrival, which she agreed, and called Tom and Virginia down. After both of them pleaded their cases, Ramsay asked Rachel if she was happy, and she answered him he was not and even volunteered to take Virginia’s place as the red team’s nominee, an offer which Ramsay considered tempting. This marked the first time in the history of the show that a contestant nominated themselves for elimination. But in the end, Ramsay eliminated Tom for being a consistent poor performer and lacking the experience to work in a kitchen. After Tom left, Ramsay told the remaining contestants that was the worst service he ever experienced and to not give up on him. Heather was relieved that Tom was gone as she felt the blue team could come back without him.

Ramsay’s comment: “Tom’s got a big heart, sadly he’s a really crap cook. Why on earth he’s ever decided to attempt to become a chef? We’ll never know.”

My opinion

The blue team won the challenge on this episode, which was a lunch service and Heather move to the blue team. Sara make Gordon called Virginia a liar.

My comment: Tom was lucky that the last two chefs was shit but after tonight performance Tom was right to go.