Season 3 Episode 9

The ninth episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 30, 2007. On that episode, Ramsay surprised the chefs with some special judges, and tested their skills at the pass in that night’s service to decide who would be in the finals.

Intro

On their way back upstairs, Rock approached Jen and apologized to her for his behavior in service, and the two made up by hugging each other. Back in the dorms, Bonnie and Jen were upset that Julia was eliminated, but Bonnie hoped that Julia would take Ramsay’s offer. Rock himself was upset as Julia was an inspiration to him and he was proud of her accomplishments. Bonnie expressed surprise that they went from five to three in one night and that she never expected to make it to the final three. Jen also added that Rock was determined to win as he had a poor upbringing in the past.

Individual challenge

The next morning, the three remaining chefs went downstairs and met an uncharacteristically cheerful Ramsay. Ramsay explained to them that he has worked with some phenomenal chefs, and introduced the three to who he considered the best chef in his life, who was his own mother, Helen Ramsay. Helen came into the dining room holding a plate of food, and Ramsay introduced her to the chefs, while telling Rock to never swear in front of his mom, nor his own mom. Helen revealed that she brought Ramsay’s favorite dish, macaroni and cheese. Ramsay explained that some customers preferred ordering comfort food for their meal as it reminded them of their childhood, but in a fine-dining environment, you had to elevate the dish. He then revealed his own macaroni and cheese dish which included lobster, black truffle, and aged parmesan cheese in it.

Ramsay revealed that for their next challenge, they would be taking some of America’s classic dishes and elevating it to the level of fine-dining. Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann wheeled in two carts that had five domes. Under those domes contained what America classic the chefs would be cooking with. Bonnie went up first and got Frank and Beans for her dish, though she thought it was a British classic. Jen went up next and got Fried Chicken, which excited her. Rock got Spaghetti and Meatballs for his dish. Ramsay gave the three one hour to cook their dishes.

The three headed to the kitchens and began cooking. They were allowed to use anything in the pantry to help cook their dish. Bonnie, who never had Frank and Beans before, asked Sous Chef Scott what it looked like, much to his dismay. Bonnie later swore in frustration, though Ramsay sternly warned her not to. All three of them had ideas on what to use for their dishes and were able to complete cooking and plating their dishes.

The three brought over their dishes and revealed them to Ramsay and Helen. Bonnie presented her Italian version of Frank and Beans which had mini bruschetta and a mushroom wheat cream sauce in it. Rock made spaghetti three ways that had cream sauce, veal, and spicy chorizo and pork respectively. Finally, Jen made a fried chicken roulade stuffed with crab meat, spinach, and goat cheese. All three dishes impressed Ramsay and he sent them back in line. Then, Ramsay revealed to the three that he invited some special judges to help him out, and much to their surprise, it was their own respective mothers. Ramsay had the three moms sit with their backs towards the chefs, and they had to remain quiet during the judging. The moms tasted Rock’s dish first, Jen’s dish second, and Bonnie’s dish last. After the three tasted their dishes, Ramsay asked each which of the three dishes was their favorite. All three said the fried chicken was their favorite which meant Jen was the winner. However, Ramsay allowed Bonnie and Rock to spend time with their moms before sending them off.

Reward

Jen had lunch with Ramsay at The Lodge Steakhouse and brought along their mothers for the trip. During lunch, Ramsay gave Jen some encouragement for next service. After lunch, Ramsay took Jen to Surface kitchen equipment shop and gave her a $1000 shopping spree there. Jen, along with her mom, managed to buy a lot of equipment while maintaining the $1000 budget. After saying goodbye to her mom, Jen returned back to the dorms and met with Bonnie and Rock.

Punishment

Bonnie and Rock had to clean the dorm rooms and were given a list of what they needed to clean from their Sous Chefs. Bonnie revealed that the only cleaning stuff she knew how to do was making beds and using Windex. That surprised Rock given that Bonnie worked as a nanny, but she revealed that her job as a nanny only consisted of cooking and babysitting. Bonnie’s bossy attitude along with her complaints mildly irritated Rock, but he did not mind it too much.

Before service

The next morning, the chefs went downstairs to begin prep for their biggest service yet. All three of them were determined to make it to the finals and eventually win, and prep went without any problems.

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay reminded them how big service would be as it would determine which two would be in the finals. Then, Ramsay revealed that for that night’s service, he would let them have a chance to run the pass, as this would allow Ramsay to see who was capable of leadership. Ramsay also offered the chefs an opportunity to do some assertiveness training with him. Bonnie’s training left Ramsay surprised at her anger, Rock’s first attempt was weak but managed to pick it up on his second attempt, and Jen’s attempts were similar to Rock’s. Once training was done, Ramsay ordered Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

Orders soon came in and Ramsay took the lead in the beginning. Rock and Jen were able to get their appetizers out with no problems and Ramsay praised them for their good start. Ramsay pulled over Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann, and told them to make at least two mistakes in order to further test the chefs on the hot plate.

Jen was called up to run the pass first. She called out her first ticket with assertiveness, but her first quality test soon came as Sous Chef Scott sent up a spaghetti that had no crab in it. Jen failed to notice it, forcing Ramsay to stop the waiter sending it up and told her that she had to pay more attention. However, Jen managed to recover by refusing Sous Chef Scott’s risotto as it was overcooked with no seasoning, and continued to prove her assertiveness though she got confused by a couple of correct orders she thought were wrong.

Rock was up next. He called out his first ticket well but proved to be slow when plating food. Sous Chef Scott sent up another quality test which was monkfish without ham, but Rock was able to catch it. Despite passing the test, Rock was still slow on plating and not being vocal enough which Bonnie took note of.

The final person up was Bonnie. She messed up when calling her first ticket out, which confused some of the chefs. However, Bonnie was able to notice that the pigeon Sous Chef Scott sent up did not have crispy skin, and called out Jen for not adding enough salt to the risotto. Jen soon revealed that she ran out of risottos as she overcooked the rest of her rice, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Despite that problem, Bonnie completed her run with no further problems.

Ramsay took over the pass for the last tables, and the rest of the orders came through without any problems.

Post mortem

Ramsay lined up the chefs and declared that was their best service so far, and congratulated them for sending up their dishes with very minor problems. However, Ramsay reminded the three that their performances up on the pass had some highs and lows, so he would be judging their performances based on their time up on the hot plate as well as how they performed on their stations. Then, Ramsay told the three to get back up to the dorms, and come up with an explanation on why one of them should be in the finals.

Back in the dorms, Jen asked Bonnie if she still wanted this as she feared Bonnie’s heart was not in the right place. Bonnie admitted that she was originally terrified of taking a giant step up in her career but was now confident she could do it. Rock took a look at some family photos he brought with him, and reflected on how winning this competition would change his family’s life.

Elimination

The final three made it downstairs to meet Ramsay, who asked each of them why they deserved to be in the finals. Bonnie said it was because of her growth in the competition, Jen said she was passionate about cooking, and Rock said that he grew in both a chef and as a leader. Ramsay remarked that all three of them had some very good highs that night and it would be a tough decision. Ramsay called up Rock’s name and told him that he was the first finalist, much to his pleasure. This left Bonnie and Jen remaining. After some thinking, Ramsay said that Jen would be going home. Before Jen left, Ramsay praised her for her passion for food and urged her to continue it. Jen hugged Ramsay goodbye and left. During her exit interview, Jen received a retrospective montage of her run.

After Jen left, Ramsay congratulated Bonnie and Rock for being the final two and that they were very close to win the grand prize. Then, Ramsay surprised the two of them by revealing that Rock’s wife and Bonnie’s parents were standing behind them, and the two reunited with their loved ones. Ramsay told the final two that they came a long way since the beginning, and that they both deserved to be here. Then, Ramsay announced that their biggest challenge was about to start, soon as a giant curtain dropped down separating the dining room, and the episode ended as a cliffhanger.

Ramsay gave no comment on Jen’s elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.

My opinion

Jen was the right person to go tonight because she was bad then the other at the hot plate.

My comment: Unfortunately for Jen, she was not a leader but a good chef. That why she went home.