Season 3 Episode 8

The eighth episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 23, 2007. On that episode, the remaining chefs merged into the black jackets, one chef did not even complete dinner service, and a tearful elimination of an emerging cook occurred.

Intro

Back to the dorms, Julia expressed surprise that Ramsay kept Bonnie over Brad, and even Bonnie herself was surprised. However, Rock was happy Brad left as he was his biggest competition so far and he believed he could beat all of the remaining chefs at that point. Rock then bluntly told Josh that his energy was lacking and he had no shot at winning, but Josh still believed that he could win the competition.

Individual challenge

The next morning, both teams came down to the dining room and met Ramsay. With five chefs left, Ramsay told them that there was no red or blue team anymore, and that all of them would now become the black jacket chefs in one team. That news excited the chefs, and Sous Chef Scott presented them with champagne glasses for a celebratory toast that soon led to Ramsay spraying everyone with champagne. The five chefs were sent back upstairs and changed into their new black jackets while congratulating each other on getting this far.

Back downstairs, Ramsay announced the black jackets’ first individual challenge. Each of them would be cooking a dish that would be judged by some special guests and the description of the guests being trendsetters had Jen and Josh believe that they were cooking for celebrities while Julia guessed they were cooking for doctors. Ramsay told Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann to put blindfolds on the chefs and led them to the SUVs. Once they got to their location, it became clear that the “trendsetters” were actually teenagers, and they drove all the way to Alhambra High School. Ramsay explained that for the Alhambra High School Lunch Challenge, each of them had to cook a dish for 100 students, and they had an hour to cook before the lunch period began. The students would vote for their favorite dish and the chef who had the most points would be the winner.

The chefs raced to the kitchen and began working on their dishes. Rock made Kobe beef burgers on ciabatta rolls, Josh was making baked salmon with pineapple salsa, Julia served grilled chicken and cheese sandwiches with onion rings, Bonnie prepared fried goat cheese over salad, and Jen made baked chicken fettuccine with a herbed butter sauce. After the hour passed, the lunch bell rang and the chefs had their lunches ready.

The students made their way to the cafeteria and got a plate from each chef. Each chef had a different way of communicating with the students. Jen urged the students to vote for her, Rock used a political way to sell his dish, Josh casually served his dishes, Bonnie gave an explanation of her dish to some interested students, and Julia also took a casual approach. Ramsay told them to speed up as the line was getting gridlocked, and while Rock tried to argue that the students were coming from both sides, Ramsay shut him down.

Eventually, all the plated were served, and the students tasted the final five’s dishes. After voting for their favorite dish, Ramsay gathered the chefs to announce the winner. In the end, Julia was declared the winner as she had 51% of the votes much to her excitement as it proved she was a great cook.

Reward

Julia’s reward was an overnight trip to Las Vegas with Ramsay, and she was also allowed to pick one of her teammates to come with her. Julia picked Jen, and the three of them flew to Vegas on a private jet. Julia and Jen went to the Green Valley Ranch resort, that would be the grand prize for that season, to stay for the night and had a spa treatment. The next morning, they headed down to the Red Rock Resort where they met Ramsay and Season 2 winner Heather West. Heather took them on a tour through her restaurant Terra Rossa and had some dishes prepared for the two. Also, Heather gave Julia and Jen some advice to help them for the rest of the competition.

Punishment

For Bonnie, Josh, and Rock, their punishment was to head back to Hell’s Kitchen and help Jean-Philippe clean the dining room. Josh struggled on one of the cleaning machines, which caused Jean-Philippe to snarkily tell him that the thing needed electricity, not solar energy, much to Rock’s amusement. Josh almost killed a vacuum cleaner when it picked up a chicken bone while Rock and Bonnie had an argument over ironing the tablecloths, where Bonnie revealed that her only job as a nanny was to cook and had no idea on how to clean anything.

Before service

The next morning, the three chefs left at Hell’s Kitchen headed down to prep for that night’s service. Bonnie accidentally threw out monkfish that she thought smelled rancid, which caused Sous Chef Mary-Ann to chew her out as Bonnie threw out all 23 of the portions they had for service and it was even worse when Sous Chef Scott said it did not smell bad. That incident broke Bonnie’s confidence and feared that she could be going home that night. Back upstairs, Bonnie went on a tangent that Ramsay was favoring Julia the most, but Rock argued that Julia succeeded on what she knew best. Jen and Julia made it back to Hell’s Kitchen, but showing pictures of their trip and describing it made the three other chefs annoyed at the two of them.

Dinner service

Later, Hell’s Kitchen opened, and the first tickets came in. However, Ramsay noticed that Josh already cooked a risotto when there was not one on order yet, and also saw more of them cooked, leaving Ramsay confused and to chew out Josh as that was lost money. Rock brought up his scallops, but they were all burnt at the bottom which dismayed Ramsay even more. It soon got worse when Ramsay found out Josh had cooked spaghetti not to order, and told him that even his own mother would cook it seven minutes before she wants it.

Thirty minutes into service, Ramsay informed Jean-Philippe that they would be serving appetizers and entrées at the same time. Bonnie brought up her Wellingtons and Ramsay said they were well cooked. However, Julia did not have her fennel ready, and an impatient Ramsay took the pan from her. When Julia rudely retorted “whatever”, Ramsay asked if she was taking the piss out of it, and noted that she looked asleep. Josh was caught again cooking spaghetti not to order and Ramsay warned Josh that he was pushing him to the limit.

Automatic elimination

One hour into service, Josh’s appetizers were finally leaving the kitchen. Unfortunately, one of his orders of risotto was sent back for being undercooked. That infuriated Ramsay who berated him for that. Finally at his limit with Josh’s constant poor performances, Ramsay ordered him to take off his jacket and leave Hell’s Kitchen immediately. Josh walked out of the kitchen, but Ramsay ordered him to leave the jacket behind, and eventually followed Josh with same order while angrily calling him a “fucking useless sack of shit”. Josh soon went up to the dorms, packed his belongings, and left through the loading area. During his exit interview, Josh admitted how he would have given up his right arm to continue service, but bitterly admitted that his dream to win was now over. This marked the first time in Hell’s Kitchen history that Ramsay eliminated someone during service. Ramsay gave no comment on Josh’s elimination, and Josh did not receive a retrospective montage of his run.

With Josh gone, the four remaining chefs had to save that service. Jen was moved to the appetizer station and she managed to get a good order of risotto up. However, Julia continued to struggle on the garnish station, and admitted that she forgot about the monkfish garnish, much to Ramsay’s shock. Also, Julia was accused of giving up. Bonnie asked Rock for a time on his turbot, but he forgot about it and snapped at her when she told Ramsay his mistake though Ramsay noted that “Rock has hit rock bottom”. While some of the diners were having a good experience, others were starting to get impatient. Jen tried to communicate with Rock on appetizers, but he ignored her and sent up his scallops before her spaghetti was ready. Jen managed to catch up, but she was pissed by Rock’s attitude in service. This led to an argument between both of them where Jen called him out on his behavior, and Ramsay called Rock out for tossing his order on the hot plate.

Despite the arguing, entrées were going out and the four chefs made it to desserts. However, another argument between Jen and Rock occurred when Rock put the ice cream base on the counter where Bonnie was working on instead of the sink, which led Jen to call him an asshole. However, Ramsay overheard it and reminded them that he got rid of Josh and they should start working like a team. More arguing between the two occurred, and it led Ramsay to bang the overhead to get them to stop. Even though Rock and Jen continued to argue, desserts were all served.

Post-Mortem

Ramsay was disappointed in the chefs because at that point, they had the best five, now four. Ramsay singled out Bonnie for having the best night that service and her best overall performance of the competition, and named her “Best of the Worst”. Then, Ramsay asked Bonnie to come up with two nominees for elimination.

Back in the dorms, the women discussed Rock’s anger in service and were concerned that he cannot control his temper. Jen broke down by the stress of service, and admitted that she wanted to go home. Meanwhile, Rock reflected on his poor attitude in service and admitted that he should have talked with Jen after service instead of arguing with her which severely disappointed him. Bonnie revealed that Rock was a definite choice, but the problem was between Jen and Julia as the second nominee. Julia pleaded her case, and Bonnie revealed that she wanted the three women to continue together.

Elimination

Bonnie named Rock as her first nominee, and Julia as her second. That put Ramsay in a hard place as he had a chef that was completely driven by his career, and a chef that improved a lot in the competition. Eventually, Ramsay eliminated Julia for her poor performance on garnish and her lack of experience. That decision upset the chefs, but Ramsay praised Julia for her growth in the completion and was very proud of her. Them, Ramsay revealed that he would personally send Julia to culinary school because of her potential, and offered her another chance in the competition when she was done. During her exit interview, Julia received a retrospective montage of her run.

Ramsay’s comment: “To become a great chef you must have a natural ability. Clearly, Julia does have it. All she needs is a little more experience. After that, she will be ready to run her own restaurant.”

Julia received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence, but Josh did not.

My opinion

I was not surprised that Josh left during dinner service because I thought Brad should have been there then Josh. It was Julia time to leave tonight.

My comment: If hell kitchen was open a hour before it opened Josh might be there. For Julia she just lack a little of experience.