Season 2 Episode 8

The eighth episode of Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 31, 2006. On that episode, immunity was given for the first time in Hell’s Kitchen, but the chef who received it made a shit performance, not worthy of it.

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

Intro

Back in the dorms, Virginia went lying on her bed, crying and ashamed about her poor performance and being nominated a fourth time. She said she does not want to be there if she does not deserve to. Sara was thinking that Virginia had no skills whatsoever, and that Heather and Keith were her biggest competition. On his side, Keith joked with Heather about the fact he was the last man standing, declaring he had to get rid of the dudes as he was a pimp. He reminded his nickname “K-Grease”, and Heather said to him that he had to pick her if he was to win the next challenge, or she would punch him in the throat.

Individual Challenge

The next morning, when Ramsay asked the final four who they think was the strongest chef, everybody answered themselves, except Virginia who was still feeling ashamed about her last dinner service performance. Ramsay declared they were all strong chefs, and named the reward of the next challenge before explaining it, which was a guaranteed spot in the final three. After that, the chefs put blindfolds on and were taken to a secret location where they would run their own individual restaurants.

Ramsay introduced the 100 Portions Constructions Workers Challenge, where each contestant had 1 hour to prepare 100 portions of a meal for the same number of construction workers for lunch. Virginia prepared a turkey, prosciutto, and feta cheese sandwich, Sara made seared quail with salad and fresh berries, Keith served a poached lobster and greens, and finally, Heather cooked a grilled chicken sandwich with French fries. While serving her plates to the construction workers, Sara spoke in her native tongue which was Spanish, and on her side, Virginia used a very flirtatious approach. After every worker sampled each plate and voted for their favorite and least favorite dishes, the contestants went back to Hell’s Kitchen with Ramsay.

Arrived in Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay announced that Heather’s dish was voted the worst, which made her feel her heart dropped. He also announced Virginia’s dish as the one who was voted the best, making her the winner of the challenge.

Reward

Virginia was rewarded with immunity at the next elimination, which means she went through to the final three, and a shopping spree of $1000 at the Sur La Table boutique, where she shopped with Ramsay. In the end, she bought for close to $970 worth of kitchen items.

Punishment

Heather, Keith and Sara were punished by prepping crab for the next dinner service. Heather and Keith felt that Virginia won not because the workers liked her dish, but because they liked her. Keith said she won only because she is the hottest and was flirting with them, saying things like “I’ll take you home”. Both of them also plotted against her, where they agreed to leave her on the side if she would need help during service. During the punishment, the three chefs punished trash-talked about Virginia and said they were tired to see her win, which included she was successful only on the fish station, which was the easiest one. Sara entered in the other two’s conspiracy to keep Virginia aside during service.

Before service

When Virginia came back from her reward, she received very cold shoulder from her teammates, as she gave them cheap presents, and did not want her to be there as they did not want to be friend with her any longer. Virginia took her bags, went to her room and got to sleep.

The next morning, during prep, Virginia was not feeling secure even though she was safe, so Heather, Sara, and Keith were given more pressure as one of them would go home that night. Although he was not safe from elimination, Keith was feeling confident.

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay revealed that three top chefs would be eating in the dining room that night. The final four were given extra pressure as Ramsay reminded them that was not a table they would like to mess up.

Dinner service

Virginia was up to a good start with her crab amuse-bouche that she was serving in addition of taking care of the garnishes. Keith and Sara also took the kitchen off to a great start by sending many appetizers out, Keith serving them in record time. It took only 30 minutes for the kitchen to move on to entrées. Ramsay praised that service start, and told the chefs he wants to keep that momentum. After, when Ramsay called out a six-cover, Virginia was caught staring at him, not doing anything. He told her that she had to move her ass by mimicking what she was doing. Heather was running around her station, knowing she could be eliminated that night. On her station, Virginia was looking for the green beans and started panicking when she could not find them. She told Ramsay she wanted to move fast as many things were going at once, but he told her to communicate well with Heather, who has just sent out perfectly cooked Wellingtons. Ramsay told it was the best start they have ever had.

One hour into service, nearly half of the dining room received their entrées, and the three master chefs arrived, greeted by Jean-Philippe. Ramsay declared to the team each of them would choose a dish to serve them as they were VIP guests. Keith would serve a lobster spaghetti, Sara would serve one monkfish and two scallops, but Ramsay told her to get all three of them the same dish, so she chose the scallops Saint-Jacques. Heather would serve beef Wellingtons. When a minor fire erupted on Keith’s station, he reassured Ramsay telling him he was in control, and the fire disappeared. When he realized his pasta was undercooked, he took a chance and put it back in the boiling pot. On her side, Sara declared she needed two minutes on the salmon, so Heather had to take her duck back. When she acknowledged her mistake, Ramsay said he knew it was her mistake and claimed the duck was perfectly cooked and that she was holding the entrées back. When Sara said she needed two minutes again, Ramsay was discouraged and Heather had to refire her duck. Ramsay said to Sara that she cannot sabotage this service as it was immaculate going on. When the master chefs finished their appetizers, Keith realized his gamble of reboiling the pasta did not pay off as the pasta was still too watery, and Ramsay told him to not give up on Ramsay, as Ramsay did not give up on him. Then, another minor fire erupted on Keith’s station. After that, Sara declared she was running out of salmon for the night. Ramsay did not believe her, and she told him she was serious. She checked with Jean-Philippe if she could serve turbot instead, and after that, when Ramsay was schooling her about her performance, she talked back to him saying “come on!”. Ramsay became furious when she kept talking back to him, and sent Heather to the fish station so she could help her. Sara refused her help and told her she was fine. Ramsay threatened her with elimination. When her scallop dishes made it to the chefs’ table, it received mixed reviews.

Determined to insure the quality of her food, Heather had to communicate well with Virginia. She repeated one of her orders to her when she did not understood it well the first time. After a minor fire erupted on Virginia’s station, Heather was sent there to help her. She went to the back store looking for bok choy, and when Virginia asked Keith if he could run to get her cream as fast as he could, he categorically refused to. When Ramsay asked Virginia if it was because she was safe that she was panicking like that, she answered no and reminded that Heather was working her station for her. Despite this, Heather succeeded to get her entrées out, and more than half of the diners received their main courses. When Jean-Philippe returned to the kitchen with the chefs’ dishes, he said to Heather that the meat was cooked perfectly, but Virginia’s peas were burned. Ramsay provoked Virginia by saying that because she was safe, she was playing against Heather and not with her.

Heather was determined to complete service, with or without help. When Sara asked her to slow down, Ramsay made her count the tickets, which there were 10 left, and made her apologize to Heather. After that, Virginia told her to slow down as well as she could not make it in time, leading Ramsay to tell Heather she was screwing her. Then, Virginia told Ramsay she burned the cabbage, which made Heather taking her meat back. This is when Ramsay decided to take Virginia’s immunity away from her, which made Heather smile and thank god. After that, Virginia became confused and panicked on time she needed, which discouraged Ramsay. Two and a half hours into service, the team was about to complete its second dinner service in a row, which Ramsay was eager about it. After the last ticket was sent out, Ramsay congratulated Heather and made everybody clear down.

Post-mortem

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay reminded them it was their best start ever, but when it became the middle, it shut down. Referring to the chefs’ comment cards, the Wellingtons were the most enjoyed, and because of that, Heather was named “Best of the Worst”, and Ramsay asked her to nominate two of her teammates for elimination.

Back to the dorms, Virginia convinced Heather to put her up as she was so ashamed about her performance. Heather respected that decision and went to the patio to tell the news to Sara and Keith that Virginia was taking herself out. They celebrated being the final three and clang their beer bottles together.

Elimination

Heather nominated Virginia as her first nominee, and Sara as her second. During her plea, Virginia was given the opportunity to take her immunity back by Ramsay. After deliberating about how she wants to be in the final three because she deserves it, Virginia eventually changed her mind and declared she wants to stay in the competition. Ramsay respected her decision and eliminated Sara for her poor performance on the fish station, but praised her hard work. Before she left, she gave a Texan farewell to Ramsay saying “Kiss my grits!”, and received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview.

Ramsay’s comment: “Sara’s not good enough as a cook, she made so many simple mistakes, she definitely didn’t merit to win her own restaurant. Hello sweetheart, kiss my grits!”

My opinion

Sara and Virginia should went up and they did went up but I will choose Virginia to go home but Gordon choose Sara. I think Virginia got the revenge on Sara when she backstab her in week 4.

My comment: I would choose Virginia to go home but Sara went home. So kiss my grits Sara.