The seventh episode of Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 24, 2006. On that episode, black jackets were given, and a friendship is broken as one of the two broke a promise.

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

Intro

After surviving elimination for a third time, Virginia was crying on her bed, thinking she sucks, but was comforted by Sara, who faked feeling compassion for her, as she said she deserves to go home. In the blue team, the three members were talking about what was in store for them tomorrow. When Heather left the patio table, Keith and Garrett promised that they would pick each other if one of them was to win an individual challenge. The next morning, Heather and Keith were hugging each other on the couch, when Heather declared she formed a great bond with him, as his prediction was both of them in the finals.

Individual Challenge

Before the next challenge, Ramsay announced the remaining five contestants would become one team, which was the black team. Virginia was the first to receive her black jacket, followed by Sara, Keith, Heather, and finally Garrett. After that, they went back to the dorms to change. When they came down in the blue kitchen, Ramsay introduced the 10 Ingredient Challenge, where each contestant had 20 minutes to prepare a dish using the same 10 ingredients from the counter in front of them.

Garrett served a veal chop over prawns and mushrooms with saffron. After Ramsay asked him if he ever cooked veal before, Garrett answered he did not very often. Ramsay declared the veal was cooked perfectly, and that his dish tasted good, but the saffron on the mushrooms was too much. Heather served fresh saffron prawns over a bed of spinach and artichokes, and Ramsay, despite telling it tasted nice, realized the spinach was not clean enough, as he got some dirt in the throat. Virginia made a chiffonade of spinach and beet tops, with poached prawns garnished with truffles. Ramsay praised the presentation, before telling the prawns were delicious, vibrant, and that if she performed like that on her last service, he would have been very happy. Sara made a grilled veal with a sauce of toasted prawn shells. Ramsay said the presentation was boring, but that the flavors worked well. Finally, Keith served a veal chop stuffed with wild mushrooms and spinach, with prawn salad on the side. Ramsay praised the color of the veal chop as he said it was making people wanting to eat it. After congratulating everybody because they did better than he expected, Ramsay said it was his toughest decision. After deliberation over Keith and Virginia, he declared Keith the winner, and said he could choose someone to come with him on the reward. Despite promising Garrett he would pick him, he chose Virginia because of her second place, infuriating Garrett, as he accused Keith of being a liar.

My opinion

Both Garrett and Virginia should went up which they did went up by Keith. But Sara and Heather didn’t have good performances as well.

My comment: Garrett was a good chef but he was angry sometimes so I went him back to home.

Gordon choose Garrett.

The sixth episode of Season 2 Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 17, 2006. On that episode, both teams created their menus, and that service resulted in one team performing strong, while the other struggled on their own menu.

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

Intro

Following Rachel’s elimination, Heather was already crying and missing her. She talked to Maribel about it, and said she did not think this would happen, but Maribel understood it as she wanted her to be eliminated. Maribel did not care about it, saying Heather could say whatever she wants. On the patio, Keith and Garrett talked about how Heather is not as strong as she thinks.

Team challenge

The next morning, Sous Chef Scott and Mary-Ann woke up the contestants with megaphones, shouting all over the dorms, and telling them to get outside immediately with their jackets on. The contestants were taken to the Grand Central Public Market in Los Angeles, where Ramsay explained the Three Course Meal Challenge, and that inspiration was the main reason of that challenge. Each team was given 20 minutes to shop for their ingredients of their three dishes. On the red team, Virginia took the leadership role, much to the annoyance of Maribel and Sara, as they felt she does not have what it takes. On the blue team, Heather struggled to find what she wants, and Keith noticed she was getting flustered.

When the teams came back in Hell’s Kitchen, they had one hour to prepare all three dishes. Virginia was the unofficial leader for her team as she chose the dishes, but said she would like everybody to lead their own station, with the help of others. Maribel did not feel her two teammates had confidence in her. In the blue kitchen, they were organized by each choosing a station, but Keith said he did not want to put too much responsibility on Garrett as he was lacking the knowledge of the kitchen the most in the team.

Garrett and Sara went up for the appetizer round. Garrett presented a roasted corn scallop and shrimp bisque. Although Ramsay found the presentation nice, he found the shrimp tail very dangerous to leave on the plate as it was really sharp. Sara made a bell pepper soup, and despite Ramsay praising the appetizing colour, the peppers were burned. Virginia took responsibility for that mistake as she told Sara to roast the peppers to fuck. For the entrées, Virginia served a chicken roulade stuffed with Mexican hard salami, sliced tomatoes and garlic. It impressed Ramsay as Hell’s Kitchen was not that sophisticated yet with their chicken dish. For the blue team, Keith served a pan-roasted rib-eye with smocked chili. Ramsay said the steak was cooked perfectly, and even the vegetables presented as a mess were delicious. For the desserts, Heather presented a fresh-fruit crepe with mango purée, but Ramsay did not like it as it was soggy. Maribel served a strawberry short cake, and received praise from Ramsay for the taste, but he said it could be more inspirational. After much deliberation, Ramsay declared the red team winners. He also added his favorite dish overall was Virginia’s chicken roulade. That announcement infuriated the blue team as they felt they should have won.

Reward

The red team enjoyed a day of sunbathing on the patio, before a night out with Ramsay at three different restaurants in Hollywood. The first restaurant they went was Providence, before going to Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse. Arrived there, Virginia annoyed her teammates for not being able to properly ask a question to the owner of the restaurant. The last restaurant they went to is unknown.

Punishment

The blue team was punished by taking part of Delivery Day. During the punishment, they were furious as they felt they should have won, being sore losers, and trash talked the red team. They also made an agreement to work hard, eliminate all the girls of the red team, and be the final three. When the red team took off for their night in the limousine, Garrett flipped the birds to them, unaware Ramsay was inside it. Heather did not think it was a good idea. During the night, they were going to bed, telling each other good night, and five minutes later, another delivery came in.

Creating new menus

The next morning, Ramsay reminded Garrett about the “bird-flipping” incident, and threatened him with on-the-spot elimination. After that, Ramsay announced that for the next service, he was going to let both teams have control of the menu. He told them to go back to the dorms and get to work. For the blue team, Keith and Heather quickly came up with suggestions for their menu, but Garrett’s ideas were turned down due to them being too complicated, much to his frustration. On the red team, it was the same story as Garrett for Maribel, with Virginia and Sara taking total control.

Before service

With three hours left until service began, both teams prepped their kitchens. Maribel was moving slowly due to not contributing to the menu, while on the blue team, Garrett was still mad on his lack of input and wonders why he was even there.

Before service, Ramsay reminds the two teams that while it was their menus, it was still his standards.

Dinner service

In the blue kitchen, Keith got the team off to a strong start with perfect risottos and Ramsay praised his work. In the red kitchen, Virginia sent raw scallops, slowing the red kitchen down, and got lost on orders, forcing Ramsay to send the blue teams appetizers to a few tables that have two different team orders. More problems occurred for Virginia when her sashimi was sliced in different sizes, and Maribel was sent over to try and help her. It worked, but they were way behind as it had been an hour since service started.

In the blue kitchen, all the appetizers went out, and Garrett and Heather began working on entrées. However, Ramsay noticed that Garrett’s duck salad was raw, and told Keith he needed to get his team under control. Before they could do anything more, a truck horn was heard, and the three of them were forced to do one more task on their punishment. All three of them raced outside and took in orders of wine, giving the red team a chance to catch up on appetizers.

Moving onto entrées, Sara sent in her lamb entrées but it turned out to be raw, and Ramsay was even angrier when Sara claimed she was learning. In the blue kitchen, Garrett sent up another duck salad, but it was raw again, forcing Ramsay to show him how to properly cook it. Garrett caused a small fire, causing a disbelieved Ramsay to say “Welcome to Hell’s Shithole”. Despite these problems, entrées from the blue kitchen came out, while the red team has not sent any entrées out yet, and red diners were getting impatient. That angered Ramsay who threatened to kick out Sara unless they would get moving. Her next lamb dish was raw again, forcing Ramsay to tell Jean-Philippe to take the lamb off the menu, and angrily ordered Sara not to touch another lamb for the rest of the night. Jean-Philippe himself has reached his limit and went off for a drink.

In the meantime, the blue team has almost finished service, and Heather took over the meat station, and served a respectable order of steak. In the red kitchen, more problems arrived as a lukewarm salmon returned to the pass because of Maribel, with Ramsay saying he could not believe the first thing Maribel touched all night went poorly. On their side, the blue team has performed a Hell’s Kitchen first and served desserts along with entrées, finishing their first complete service. On the other side, the red team continued to struggle, and Ramsay noticed that their salmon dish was very impracticable, much like their other items, and suggested they slice it for grilling. But when Sara argued about consistency, Ramsay finally had enough, and schooled her on her attitude, before calling the blue team over, and informing them that there are 11 red tables that have not received entrées yet. Ramsay ordered the blue team to help the red team, and left the kitchen, having seen enough for the night. With the blue team’s help, the red team succeeded to serve all their entrées.

Post-Mortem

After service, a returning Ramsay praised the blue team for completing the service. He told Keith that this was his best performance, while telling Garrett that he was lucky to be on the same team as Heather and Keith, which Garrett agreed. For the red team, Ramsay called Sara’s performance her worst so far, and that the red team were the obvious losers for creating a menu that was too difficult for any of them to handle. Nobody was safe, and each of them were asked to nominate one teammate for elimination.

The three discussed their performances, and Sara and Virginia argued over their performance, while Maribel deflected her poor performance since she never had a hand in the menu creation.

Elimination

At elimination, Ramsay decided to not go with the team’s nominees, and instead nominated the entire team for elimination. After deliberation, Ramsay eliminated Maribel for her lack of leadership and not doing much during service, but praised her for her attitude and hard work. During her exit interview, Maribel admitted that trying to work as a team was her weakness, and that her husband and daughter would be proud of her for being herself throughout the competition.

Ramsay’s comment : “I’m trying to find someone that deserves a restaurant. Now to run that restaurant properly, you need a leader and Maribel clearly can’t lead a section, let alone a kitchen.”

My opinion

The red team was a mess tonight because no one in the red team can cooked. I think Garrett didn’t know that Ramsay was in the car when he flipped them off. Garrett was lucky he was in the blue team.

My comment: Maribel wanted to see her family more than begin here. So I sent her home.

Gordon choose Maribel.

The fifth episode of Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 10, 2006. On that episode, happened the blind taste test, and a heartbreaking elimination of the hardest worker of the season.

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

Intro

After surviving another elimination, Virginia went on a war against Sara, saying that she was now an enemy for betraying her, but Sara did not care one bit. On her side, Rachel felt Ramsay had some choice words for her after her worst performance since her arrival, and felt he expected more of her because she has a lot to give. After Tom’s elimination, Keith now felt the blue team was strong and that he could smell the prize.

Team challenge

The next morning, when the contestants went down in the dining room, Ramsay arranged a table with some high quality dishes. Ramsay explained the taste is important for a chef, and asked the contestants to try some of the dishes, which included cheese fondue, chicken kebab, caviar and pâté. After tasting the dishes, and all the contestants saying they enjoyed the dishes, Ramsay revealed that the dishes were fake. The fondue was actually spray-on cheese, the kebab was a TV dinner, the pâté was made from hot dogs, and the caviar was from a catfish. Virginia was upset as she took that tasting seriously, but Keith said the pâté tasted good as it was made of hot dogs, and added that hot dogs are “slamin'”.

That is when Ramsay introduced the annual Blind Taste Test. Rachel was forced to sit out to even the teams at 3 members each. The first pair was Keith against Maribel. Both of them identified potato, but only Maribel correctly identified seared tuna. Keith made everybody laugh when he was struggling to get Ramsay’s spoon in his mouth. Neither of them got the oregano, but Keith tied the score at 2 by correctly identifying pear chutney. On the second round, Heather went up against Virginia. Both of them missed sea urchin, and scored with chicken and hot dog. Virginia scored on Swiss cheese, but Heather did not as she guessed parmesan. After two rounds, the score was 5-4 for the red team. The last ones were Sara and Garrett. Coming into the challenge, both of them were confident about their palates. They correctly identify scrambled eggs, and spinach, but failed for kiwi. With the score being 7-6 for the red team, Garrett tasted short rib, but guessed turkey, which secured the win of the red team. Ramsay praised Virginia as she had the best individual performance overall, with 3 out of 4.

Reward

The red team was rewarded with a photo shoot for TV Guide. During the reward, the women were having a positive vibe, and everybody was having a good time, and enjoying the moment with Ramsay, until Sara “blew gases” during the shooting, when Ramsay was sitting on her direct right. Rachel thought that was really immature and that it just showed her true personality.

Punishment

The blue team had to clean both kitchens after the previous night dinner service, which was left because Ramsay was too angry to let them switch it off themselves. Heather was envious as she was a woman also, and was on that team before. During the punishment, Garrett volunteered to get some champagne bottles to the photo shoot. When he arrived there, the women, especially Sara, were rubbing salt in the wound by showing him their pedicure, and Ramsay told him to get out as he stank. When Garrett came back, he made his two teammates envious, Keith even stated that anything else was better than doing the dishes.

Before service

When the red team came back from their rewards, it did not take long for Maribel to feel home-sick again, as she was missing her daughter and husband very much. On her side, Rachel developed a great friendship with Heather, which annoyed Sara as she found it unprofessional because both of them were making eyes to each other. Rachel explained to Heather the power struggle in the red team because of her feud with Sara.

During prep, both teams were very confident, and it did not seem that much animosity was going on the red team. In the blue kitchen, Sous Chef Scott was nervous as the blue team was a man down compared to the red team. When the teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded that the goal was still to complete a fully-booked dining room.

Dinner service

Even before Ramsay called one ticket out, Heather was caught as she was putting spaghetti in a pot to cook. Ramsay told her they were not a fast-food restaurant, and threatened her with on-the-spot elimination. When Garrett tried to comfort her by touching her shoulder, she aggressively told him to not touch her, prompting Garrett to say she had to work with him and not against him. When he called the first ticket in the red kitchen, Ramsay told them to keep talking because at the moment they are going to stop, they are screwed. When he called the first ticket for the blue team, only Keith answered back, and Ramsay told them he was already nervous and they have not even sent anything yet. On the first ticket, Rachel burned her duck and was already on fire. In the blue kitchen, the first risotto Heather sent was bland. He asked her to taste it, and she answered that she found it a little bit crunchy, but not more, before Ramsay asked her to start again. In the red kitchen, Ramsay gave some polite words of encouragement, and the red team sent many appetizers out. After that, Virginia was praised by Ramsay for her great communication about oysters. In the blue kitchen, Keith was doing the same thing, running around making sure everybody was in control of their station, and helped sending out many appetizers. In the red kitchen, a starter came back in the kitchen for having a hair on the plate. Maribel admitted she has black hair, but Ramsay did not care what colour it was. On the blue team, Heather was trying to help Garrett on the meat station to redeem herself. But, he was more annoyed than anything because he felt she wanted to control what he was doing. In the red kitchen, Maribel sent an acceptable risotto, but Rachel sent overcooked quail, and Ramsay pulled all the team aside to taste her quail. After she declared it was a little overcooked, Ramsay tried to humiliate Rachel by giving her glasses from a customer that Jean-Philippe brought to the kitchen. When Ramsay asked Rachel if she really thought he was going to send that quail in the dining room, she got confused and did not know what to answer. Then, he pulled her back in the pantry room and asked her if she wanted to go home. After telling him that she will not let him down, and Ramsay telling her she already had, Rachel got back in the kitchen ready to fight back.

Two hours into service, the blue team already served half of the main courses to the dining room. Jean-Philippe brought an entrée back in the kitchen, and when Ramsay told Keith it was too cold, Keith gave him attitude and did not show any care. Ramsay schooled him on his attitude, as he was not listening nor looking him in the eyes, and compared his behavior to a 5-year-old. He then told Keith to lead Heather and Garrett, who Ramsay said were cooking like donkeys. Ramsay then came to Garrett and suggested him to change the Hell’s Kitchen logo for Donkey’s Kitchen. In the red kitchen, Rachel’s night continued to go down in flames when she sent rare Wellingtons requested medium. She was ashamed of that mistake and apologized to Ramsay, and when she told him she was afraid of telling him the correct time, he answered by telling her he was not scared to tell the truth, and concluded by saying he was nervous for her, which she responded she was too. In the blue kitchen, Heather screwed Garrett’s station when she sent the wrong number of quail orders. Garrett accused her of making herself look good, and that his station was completely fucked.

Three hours into service, the blue team has served most of their customers, and Virginia was praised by Ramsay for her strong performance on the fish station. When Ramsay came for the last entrées of the blue kitchen, nothing came together and Ramsay schooled Keith and Garrett about the communication problems. He asked for the lamb sauce twice, before Garrett sent it. It became one of Ramsay’s most famous rants, along with calling Garrett a “fat useless sack of fucking yankee dankee doodle shite”. In the red kitchen, Rachel overcooked some Wellingtons requested medium, and tried to hide the mistake by covering them with some sauce. However, Ramsay not being a fool, he could tell her Wellingtons were well done by touching it. That was the last straw, and Ramsay shut down both kitchens. After service, Ramsay complimented Keith about his great cooking abilities, and told him if he could only lose the attitude, he would shine.

Post-Mortem

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay complained about the weight of two kitchens on his shoulders. Heather raised her hand to tell she indeed did not perform as good as she could, and added by saying they all should be up for elimination, but also added that they do not deserve to go home. Keith saw that as a way of getting the responsibility off her shoulders. Ramsay declared the red team losers for serving less entrées than the blue team despite having one more team member. Ramsay also praised Virginia for her comeback and improvement, and named her “Best of the Worst”, before asking her to nominate two of her teammates for elimination.

During deliberation, Rachel admitted her performance was very weak, but fought for her survival by trying to convince Virginia to pick Sara. Sara and Maribel said they would pick Rachel for screwing up service. On the patio, Heather admitted to Rachel that she would miss her very much if she was to go, and Rachel told her that if she was going, she would want her to win.

Elimination

Virginia nominated Rachel as her first nominee, and before she announced her second nominee, she gave a very long speech about how she thinks Sara should be nominated, but in the end, she nominated Maribel as her second nominee. Ramsay eliminated Rachel for screwing up her team and lacking confidence in herself. Before she left, Ramsay praised her hard work, before shaking her hand goodbye. During her exit interview, she received a retrospective montage of her run. Heather took her elimination very hard emotionally as she grew really close friend with her.

Ramsay’s comment: “Rachel clearly couldn’t handle it! She buckled, panicked, and actually screwed the kitchen completely. You’ve got no chance of running a successful business, if you can’t handle one section.”

My opinion

The right people went up for elimination was right. Which was Rachel and Maribel. But the blue kitchen was not good as well. Even though Sara was told that she backstab the night before.

My comment: Rachel was moaning about Sara being bad but Rachel was shit today and last dinner service.

Gordon choose Rachel.

RIP Rachel

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.

The third episode of Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on June 19, 2006. On that episode, one contestant dared talking back to Ramsay, and gets Ramsayed for it, and another one forgot the basics to cook properly.

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

Intro

After Gabe’s unexpected elimination, Garrett jokingly compared his nominations of Tom and Giacomo to a kick in the nuts. Keith was upset, saying that Tom should have been eliminated over Gabe because he lacked more knowledge than him. Tom said he was relieved and felt Ramsay would love to see him win as he is the oldest.

On the red team, the women were as shocked as the other team. Rachel acknowledged that there is nobody who is really safe at elimination. Maribel and Virginia thought it would have been “fat fuck” eliminated, referring to Tom.

Team challenge

The next morning, Heather revealed her injured hand which healed very quickly, as she already taken the bandage off. After that, Tom answered the phone, and Ramsay told him to get everybody in the dining room immediately, in their uniforms. Everybody came down within minutes, expect Sara, who was still in the shower. She came down five minutes after everybody else. Ramsay schooled her when she laughed about it.

Ramsay introduced the next challenge by saying both teams had communication problems during the two previous services. For the Relay Challenge, both teams would cook three dishes from the existing menu in 20 minutes, one chef would be in the kitchen for 5 minutes at a time, and they had 15 seconds to communicate to the next one. Heather volunteered to sit out for her team because of her injury, prompting Sara to be very unsympathetic and calling her a princess. The first to go were Tom and Virginia. Ramsay told them the dishes are the chicken, tortellini, and salmon. Tom used pre-made tortellinis, where Ramsay told him he would not accept it, and Virginia started a new batch. During the relay, both of them successfully communicated to Giacomo and Rachel. In the blue kitchen, Giacomo continued Tom’s batch of fresh tortellinis, while in the red kitchen, Rachel started the sauce for the salmon. When it got to Maribel and Keith, communication was poor on both sides, as Keith started a new batch of tortellinis despite being told they were already done by Giacomo, and Maribel was never told by Rachel that the tortellinis was the third dish. Maribel only worked on the chicken and salmon dishes. She tried to find out what was the third dish herself, but never succeeded. While she was waiting for her turn, Sara was annoyed by Heather’s way of giving her tips. She responded disrespectfully by flipping the birds to her. During the final relay, Garrett misunderstood Keith and started a new batch of tortellinis, and Maribel never told Sara anything, so Sara had no clue that the tortellini was one of the dishes. Garrett brought all three dishes to the pass, but Sara only brought two of them, missing the tortellini. Seeing this, Tom was confident and thought his team had it in the bag.

During the judging, the women’s tortellini was missing, and the men’s was missing the sauce. When Ramsay acknowledged that, Tom said he wants to speak, but Ramsay told him to stand up straight as Tom was almost lying on the counter. Ramsay schooled him on his behavior, but Tom talked back saying nobody would want to get in a street fight with him, and that he was lucky he signed a contract stating he would never touch anybody on the show. The men won the tortellini round for at least serving something, while the women won the chicken challenge as they did not forget the sauce, which the men did. On the salmon round, the men were missing the bacon, which made the women win 2-1.

Reward

The women were awarded a day on the “Just Dreamin” yacht with Ramsay, and sunbathing. When Ramsay left, Virginia started flirting with him by saying “Miss me!”, and declaring she would like him to rub sun lotion on her.

Punishment

The men had to participate in Laundry Day, by washing and ironing all the tablecloths. During the punishment, Tom made a sexist comment, despite him saying he does not want to be sexist. He said that women do laundry better than men.

Before service

When the women came back from their reward, Garrett made a comment about how they should go back home to cook them lunch. This statement infuriated Heather as she considered it disrespectful. Both of them later had a talk where both explained to the other that the lack of respect is what pisses them off. Before getting to sleep, Garrett talked about how he was sick of that “men vs women” thing, and said he came in the competition to prove something to the entire world. In the next room, the women were listening to him and Heather mocked him.

During prep, Maribel was feeling very homesick as she was missing her daughter and husband. She cried and Heather tried to comfort her. In the blue kitchen, Giacomo was determined to get a good service because his team needed to break its losing streak. Sara was annoyed by Heather’s leadership. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay declared that the goal is still to serve a fully-booked dining room.

Dinner service

Keith, on the appetizers, tasted the food with his spoon and put it on the plate, and also grabbed rice with his bare hand. Customers saw him do it, and Ramsay told him to not do that in front of customers. He was also told to pull his pants up, because the view of his ass was not appealing for the customers. Garrett on garnish, was caught whistling, and Ramsay told him to stop. In the red kitchen, Sara was annoyed by Heather’s way of telling her what to do, and when Ramsay asked for a time, both of them answered. Ramsay said to Heather that the appetizers station was Sara’s, and that she had to run it. This made Sara smile.

A half-hour into service, Giacomo, on meat, failed to turn his oven on, and when he talked about it to Sous Chef Scott, he answered by calling him “stupid”, and Ramsay called him “donkey”. After that, Garrett was caught whistling once again, and Ramsay had to tell him one more time to stop doing it. In the red kitchen, Heather, on fish, struggled on her first entrée, and Ramsay refused to send her sub-par dish. When he schooled her, Heather understood she deserved to be yelled at because as a boss, he decides what goes out and what does not. In the blue kitchen, Keith was about to send his last appetizers out. He asked Tom to get him some tomato sauce. Sous Chef Scott then told Keith they did not have time to, prompting Garrett to take a batch of tomato sauce on the garnish station, leading Keith to tell Tom that he does not need him to do it anymore. Despite this, Tom continued stating he already started. When Ramsay asked Tom what he was doing as they already had tomato sauce, he said Keith told him to, and Keith answered by saying he got it. Tom was furious at Keith as he accused him of throwing him under the bus.

More than an hour into service, Sara, Heather, and Virginia successfully helped the women to serve many entrées in the dining room. However, for the men, Giacomo struggled on meat, and lied to Ramsay about duck that was supposed to be resting. When Ramsay asked him why he was lying to him, Giacomo apologized and said he did not mean to lie. Ramsay called him “useless” and got to the breaking point, at the point that he decided to switch everybody’s station. So, Giacomo was now on fish, Keith on meat, Tom on garnish, and Garrett on appetizers. When he grabbed a pan, Tom burned his hand, and acted like if it was torturing him. Keith took a look at his hand, but remained unsympathetic saying he should take it like a man and move on. Tom accused Keith of burying him when he reminded him about the sauce incident, leading Keith to say he can not take it anymore.

Two hours into service, the women served many entrées out, with the lamb Wellingtons being the most popular item. That put more pressure on Maribel. When she declared she only had 6 Wellingtons when 8 were on order, she told Ramsay about the situation but told her to stop panicking. After schooling Sara on her disrespectful behavior, Ramsay told Maribel to get lamb and pastry to make fresh Wellingtons. In the blue kitchen, Tom was still complaining about his burned hand. Ramsay asked him to show it, but saw nothing. He also told Tom he does not need a drama queen. After that, Jean-Philippe came to the kitchen to tell Ramsay that one of the red tables was about to walk out. Maribel declared she needed seven minutes, but when she sent raw Wellingtons, which were supposed to be rare, Ramsay told her to get them in the oven. In the blue kitchen, Tom ran out of mashed potatoes. Ramsay was discouraged, and when he asked Tom what he was doing, Tom looked confused and was accused of giving up by Ramsay. When Tom declared he was trying to make an ass out of himself, Ramsay congratulated him by saying he successfully did. Back in the red kitchen, the lady from the “walking out” table came to the kitchen to speak to Ramsay, and Maribel told them her Wellington was coming in 45 seconds, and the countdown began. Unfortunately, the Wellingtons she brought were undercooked, and because of that, the table walked out. After schooling Maribel on her giving up, and witnessing many frustrations from both sides, Ramsay shut down both kitchens.

Post-mortem

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay praised Sara’s performance, and named her the best on the women by far. He also reminded Maribel that she was the cause of her team not completing their tickets, which she was aware of. From the men, Giacomo and Tom’s performances were deemed the worst. Ramsay declared the men losers, and asked each member of the team to nominate one person for elimination, and named nobody “Best of the Worst”, because nobody deserved it.

During deliberation, Tom was seen talking to himself on the patio table, surrounded by empty chairs.

Elimination

Giacomo and Tom voted for each other, and Garrett and Keith both voted for Tom. After both of them were given 10 seconds to plead their cases, Ramsay eliminated Giacomo, despite the fact Tom received the most votes, for being the worst performer of the night, lacking the knowledge, and lying to Ramsay during service.

Ramsay’s comment: “Before you can even attempt to run a restaurant, the first thing you’ve got to do is make sure you know how to cook. Giacomo? He was lost beyond belief.”

My opinion

Both teams were rubbish in the challenge today because the red team didn’t bring three of the dishes up and the blue team did one of the three dishes time time and lose after begin one nil up. Tom burn his hand he reckon but no one believes him. Giacomo didn’t know that the oven was not on.

My comment: Giacomo was a shit chef but after tonight performance he be a good hair dresser.

Gordon choose Giacomo.

The second episode of Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on June 12, 2006. On that episode, there was a smelly group punishment to begin the day, the first emotional departure, and a surprise elimination.

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

Intro

After Polly’s elimination, the women were more ashamed and embarrassed about their dinner service loss. Virginia even stated she thought she was going home. On their side, the men were totally confident and enjoying their win. Garrett and Gabe talked about chopping off the red team before chopping off each other as men.

Team Challenge

The next morning, after only two hours of sleep, the contestants were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann playing cowbells. They were told to get outside immediately. Ramsay reminded that the previous night service was embarrassing, and Virginia that she was lucky to be there after being nominated. He also told Larry to start showing passion. The contestants then had to get in the dumpsters and collect all the trash from the last dinner service. That task was given as a lesson about waste. During the task, Giacomo commented it was nothing for him as he lost his retainer five or six times in the school trash can. After that, Ramsay told the contestants to get clean and meet him in the blue kitchen, where Ramsay introduced the Steak Challenge.

Each contestant had 10 minutes to cut as many acceptable 10 ounces sirloin steaks as possible. After a quick demo, Ramsay asked Keith to sit out to even the teams at 5 members each, which pissed him off because he would have loved to take part in the challenge. However, he was allowed to help his teammates, as he tried to do with Giacomo.

For the red team, Sara produced three acceptable steaks, while Heather produced only two. Ramsay told her he expected more. Rachel scored three more, and Virginia scored two, along with Maribel. The red team finished with a total of 12 points, a performance that Ramsay found unsatisfying as a lot of meat was wasted. For the blue team, Gabe gave a great performance as he scored three points despite never having done this before, and was proud of himself. Garrett only scored one point, and Giacomo scored two, making the blue team’s total at 6, with two people still to go. When it was Larry’s turn, none of his steaks were acceptable, making him the worst performer overall. Tom was the last man to show his meat, and gave the best overall performance by scoring five points for his team. But it was not enough as the final score was 12-11 for the red team. Tom’s performance was praised by Ramsay.

Reward

The red team was rewarded with a helicopter ride to The Saddle Peak Lodge to have lunch with Ramsay. During the reward, the women found Ramsay very nice and friendly, and Virginia stated she can not wait to know him on a different level.

Punishment

The blue team was punished by cutting all the steaks for the next dinner service, which included a steak special. During the punishment, Keith was angry at Larry’s performance and considered him as a weak link. On his side, Larry was so ashamed he did not even want to look his teammates in the eyes, and did the punishment apart from them.

Larry exit

When the red team got back from their reward, Gabe made a joke about how the red team are one man down and missing somebody, supposing he would like to transfer to their team. Heather answered by saying she would think about it in the jacuzzi. The whole red team, except Rachel, jumped in the hot tub, and were later joined by Larry who said women were his downfall.

When everybody got to sleep, Larry was feeling ill, sweating and tingling. He called a medic on the phone, and he was rushed to the hospital. The next morning, everybody was wondering where he was, as nobody saw him. Then, the phone rang and Sara answered. Larry was on the other hand of the phone, and told her to get everybody near the phone to listen to him. He told he was at the hospital because the stress of the competition shut his body down. He concluded by declaring he would not return to Hell’s Kitchen, and telling everybody to stay strong and be a unit. Heather stated she was sad to see him go because of an illness, and would rather see him leave because of something else. Gabe wished him to get better. Ramsay gave no comment on Larry’s departure.

Before service

Because of Larry’s departure, the teams were now even at 5 members each. During prep, Sara was happy about his departure as she felt she was now one step closer to her dream. When the teams were lined up, Ramsay assigned Sara and Keith as waiters for their respective teams. He jokingly told Keith to probably lose some weight while running up the stairs.

Dinner service

When the doors of the restaurant opened, Keith was already sweaty after walking up stairs, and his customers noticed it. Sara delivered her first ticket very quickly. In the blue kitchen, Keith delivered his first ticket 20 minutes after the opening, and it was not accepted by Ramsay because no temperatures were written. Also, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to get a towel for him as he was sweating a lot. In the red kitchen, Virginia sent a first monkfish dish. It was rejected because of the vinaigrette. Ramsay broke the plate to the floor at the women’s feet, and asked them to start again. In the blue kitchen, Keith took 30 minutes to bring his first ticket to his team. Ramsay reminded him it was his team and warned him to not sabotage it. When Ramsay called the first ticket, Tom asked him to repeat the order, which Ramsay refused, and was told to read the ticket himself. Gabe got in a heated argument with Ramsay when he asked if quail was needed and no quail has been called. Ramsay schooled him on his rudeness. 45 minutes into service, no food left either kitchen. In the red kitchen, Maribel received help from Heather on appetizers, and in the blue kitchen, everybody took Gabe’s station over him. Ramsay schooled Gabe on that laid-back behavior, but despite that, he managed to send acceptable appetizers out.

An hour into service, appetizers fly out of both kitchens. When the red team got ready to plate their entrées, Heather suffered a second-degree burn to the hand, and Ramsay helped her by getting her hand under cold water. Then, he asked Jean-Philippe to get some ice. Despite her injury, Heather continued to be a team player by telling Maribel and Sous Chef Mary-Ann what was going on her station. She was then told to see a medic by Ramsay and left the service by ambulance. After her departure, the red kitchen became chaotic, and after Maribel dropped some spaghetti to the floor, Ramsay told her to get a restaurant with only one table in it, because with more, she would be fucked. In the blue kitchen, Tom on meat, and Giacomo on garnish, had communication problems. Giacomo did not know what was going with the duck as sides, which discouraged Ramsay. When a customer went to the kitchen, Ramsay told him he was working with mop heads for the first time in his life. After witnessing a communication problem in the red kitchen, Ramsay allowed Sara’s request to come back in the kitchen to finish service. She was put on the meat station. In the blue kitchen, Tom declared he was ready to walk with one duck and one chicken, but Giacomo’s garnishes were not ready. Ramsay schooled Giacomo after he discovered fried cabbage, saying he should become a hairdresser as he was “bouncing around with women’s hair”.

Three hours into service, many tables have walked out, despite Keith trying his best to buy his team some time. The red team rallied to try and finish service as they saw some hope. Many entrées left the red kitchen. Sara was complimented for serving nice Wellingtons. However, Virginia sent unacceptable tortellinis and when Ramsay asked her if she would serve it in her restaurant, she answered she would. He could not believe her answer and asked her another time, where she answered she would make some more. After that, Ramsay asked both teams to take a look in the dining room, which was almost empty because too many customers left. Ramsay shut down the restaurant.

Post-mortem

Heather came back just in time for the announcement of the winning team. Ramsay praised her dedication and teamwork when he reminded the delegation of her station to Maribel while standing in pain over the cold water. He also reminded Virginia she can not buy standards, and questioned Gabe about his multi-tasking abilities. Ramsay declared the blue team losers as they served no entrées, and praised the red team’s improvement. He also named Garrett “Best of the Worst” for being the only one on his team who did not have a bad service, and asked him to nominate two of his teammates for elimination.

Elimination

During Garrett’s deliberation, Giacomo was annoyed by Tom’s way of making himself look good.

Garrett eventually chose Giacomo as his first nominee, and Tom as his second. After Tom was sent back in line when he convinced Ramsay he would never let a major malfunction like that happen again and that he would take charge, Ramsay called Gabe forward, and eliminated him for his lack of passion, and the fact he allowed his teammates to run his station for him. Before getting out, Ramsay told Giacomo to get a grip fast.

Ramsay’s comment: “It’s absolutely crucial in Hell’s Kitchen to have finesse and passion. It was pretty obvious that Gabe had no passion.”

Gabe received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence, but Larry did not.

My opinion

Both blue and red dinner service was rubbish tonight so couldn’t decide to pick for the team which lost. So Gordon pick the blue team. So my nominated was Giacomo and Tom. But Gabe didn’t do much as well.

My comment: Giacomo was a shit chef but after tonight performance he be a good hair dresser.

Gordon choose Gabe.

Season 2 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox between June 12 and August 14, 2006. Sous chef Heather West, from Port Jefferson, New York, was the winner of that season and became Executive Chef at the Terra Rossa restaurant inside the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas, with a salary of $250,000.

Contestants

12 contestants competed during this season. From this season on, the teams were divided by gender at the beginning, male contestants in the blue team, and female contestants in the red team. The contestants were (in alphabetical order):

Contestant	Age	Occupation	Hometown
Giacomo Alfieri	21	Pizza Chef	Euless, TX
Rachel Brown	39	Personal Chef	Dallas, TX
Virginia Dalbeck	25	Salad Chef	New York City, NY
Gabriel “Gabe” Gagliardi	27	Marketing Executive	Chicago, IL
Keith Greene	28	Chef/Bartender	Southampton, NY
Polly Holladay	43	Caterer	Ben Franklin, TX
Sara Horowitz	31	Deli Manager	Dallas, TX
Maribel Miller	31	Cafeteria Chef	Brooklyn, NY
Thomas “Tom” Pauley	43	Former Stockbroker	Belleville, NJ
Larry Sik	38	Fishmonger	Arlington, TX
Garrett Telle	27	Former Prison Chef	Cedar Park, TX
Heather West	25	Sous Chef	Port Jefferson, NY

Contestant progress

At the end of each episode, one chef from the losing team is eliminated by Ramsay, after being picked by the “Best of the Worst”, determined by Ramsay after the last dinner service.

1. Heather West
2. Virginia Dalbeck
3. Keith Greene
4. Sara Horowitz
5. Garrett Telle
6. Maribel Miller
7. Rachel Brown
8. Tom Pauley
9. Giacomo Alfieri
10. Gabe Gagliardi
11. Larry Sik
12. Polly Holladay

Episode

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Season 2

 

 

The tenth and eleventh episodes of Season 1 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on August 1st, 2005, as a double feature. On those episodes, Ralph and Michael designed their own restaurants, chose their brigade for the final service, and one of them was declared winner of Hell’s Kitchen.

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

Intro

The episode began with a recap of the first nine episodes of the season, mentioning what happened, and who got eliminated when.

That episode began at the exact point where the last one left off. Ralph and Michael got some appreciated time with their respective families after Jessica’s elimination. Back in the dorms, both talked on the patio while smoking cigarettes, telling they both dreamed about having their own restaurant.

New restaurant design

The next morning, the phone rang in the dorms and Ralph answered “Bonsoir!”. Ramsay told him to get in the dining room with Michael two minutes later, and when they hung up, Ramsay mocked Ralph’s “bonsoir”. Two minutes later, the finalists had a chat with Ramsay, where he announced the final test. After the chat, Ramsay made them stand up, one on each side of the restaurant, and a huge white blanket came down from the ceiling, which became their final test. Each contestant had to design their dream restaurant, with the help of John Janavs, the architect of Hell’s Kitchen, Jean-Philippe for the service, and the Sous Chefs for their menus. Michael took the red kitchen, and Ralph took the blue kitchen.

After a quick consultation with Janavs and Jean-Philippe, works in both restaurants started immediately. During the process, Janavs talked to Ralph about a problem, which was his wallpaper only came with half of what was needed. So, he reassured Ralph by telling him they would get a shipment from Pennsylvania to the airport that night. After that, Ramsay talked with Janavs and remarked that Michael’s restaurant seemed to have a very contemporary style, and Ralph’s to feel like a bistro-steakhouse. Janavs explained that those were the mood both contestants desired. Ramsay felt nervous, but Janavs reassured him.

Final challenge

Ramsay introduced the final challenge, which was the Final Signature Dish Challenge, by saying that everybody around the world go to restaurants to taste the signature dishes. Each contestant had to prepare the signature dish for their restaurant. Michael made a braised short rib oso buco, and Ralph made a Porto House steak for two people.

Both got on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Ramsay to get customers taste both dishes. During the challenge, when he saw he was losing, Ralph started to panic and became like a salesman, trying to sell his food and telling that his food was better than Michael’s. One of the customers stated he was liking Michael’s dish more, but was liking Ralph more as a person. Michael won the challenge 12-6.

Restaurant design continuing

When both finalists returned to Hell’s Kitchen, they met John Janavs again, who told them that the works were doing great. Both contestants were satisfied with their new restaurants. Then, they returned to the kitchen to work on their food.

Practice service

The night before the final service, Ramsay made a practice service for Ralph and Michael where they would feed the construction workers of the restaurant, and where both would run the hot plate. On his first ticket, Michael had trouble to be heard by everybody because he was not talking loud enough. Ramsay told him he was not reading the dictionary at bedtime and had to be loud. Michael acknowledged his downfall, and a few minutes later, he turned around and jokingly told his team they were cooking like old people, which made Ramsay laugh because it was not expected.

After Michael’s turn, Ralph took his place. On his first ticket, he already seemed very confident and charismatic, which was praised later by Ramsay. However, he failed to spot Michael’s sabotage, which was crab risottos without crab. He was also calling Jean-Philippe “Jean-Pierre”. Construction workers started to complain, and a risotto came back. Ramsay told Ralph he had to taste everything. Ralph told Michael about his supposed mistake, and Ramsay acknowledged it was a clever move from Michael. After service, Ramsay was not impressed and detected many flaws from both contestants. Michael had to run the team and not the other way around, and Ralph had a poor-quality control.

When both got back to the dorms, Michael got into character by mimicking some Ramsay rants, which made Ralph laugh. After that, Michael went out on the patio and did his nightly ritual of speaking with Ramsay’s face on the billboard, while smoking a cigarette.

Restaurant design finish

After a good night’s sleep, Ralph and Michael got down in the dining room to see the progress of their new restaurants. Ralph was very satisfied and told by Janavs that the wallpaper problem has been solved. On the other hand, Michael had problems of his own because the booths he asked for did not came in time. Also, the beige color of the stairs’ base would not match those booths, so Michael agreed to switch the color from beige to red.

Team selection

When the finalists came back in the kitchen, Ramsay greeted them to their staff, which were returning contestants. Dewberry was the first who entered the room, followed by Wendy, Andrew, Jimmy, Elsie, and finally Jessica. Because Michael won the final challenge, he got to pick first. His first pick was Jessica, which infuriated Ralph because he felt Jessica was his. Jessica was not very happy about that decision either as she would have wanted to be on Ralph’s team. Ralph selected Andrew as his first pick, and Michael picked Jimmy as his second pick. Ralph picked Wendy as his second pick, Michael picked Elsie as his last, and Ralph was left with Dewberry. Dewberry was not angry about being picked last because he expected it.

Before service

During prep, Michael stated he would have preferred professional cooks instead of returning teammates, but had to deal with what he had. On the other side, Ralph made a list of rules to follow for his team. Jean-Philippe came to Ralph’s kitchen, and asked him, who called him “Jean-Pierre” once again, to come to the dining room and meet his dining room staff. He declared the name of his restaurant “Frank & Lulu’s”, referring to his dog’s name, and his friend’s dog’s name. Then, Michael met his staff and named his restaurant “Lola Pop”, referring to his wife’s pet name that he was giving to her. Later, Michael’s booths arrived, to his great relief.

An hour and a half before service, Andrew cut his thumb when peeling an artichoke. He showed his injury to a disgusted Wendy, went to see a medic, and was taken to the hospital. All that time, Andrew stated he did not want to let his team down. When Ralph went to see Ramsay in his office, he declared that being a man down, he would run the pass and the garnish station at the same time. Ramsay was not a fan of that process.

After that, Ramsay changed subject by having a look at Ralph’s restaurant to see the design and the staff. When Ralph introduced his staff to him, Ramsay said the men were looking great, but the women were looking like grannies. For Michael’s dining room, Ramsay liked its setting and vibe, and for the staff, remarked that girls were looking great, but guys were looking like ballerinas. Ramsay joked about it saying that the guys should go get their tutus. A few minutes before the doors open, Andrew made a heroic return, was hugged by Wendy and gave Ralph a high-five, to the latter’s relief. Michael and Ralph were given their head chef jackets, and briefed their teams.

Dinner service

Moments after the doors opened, Michael and Ralph gave each other a big hug. When Michael called his first ticket, his team was not answering immediately, so he had to told them they need to answer. It was a rocky start for him because he was lost and confused, and that made his team switch off completely and cooking as individuals. However, his first appetizers were well-received by the customers. In the blue kitchen, Ralph also got off to a bad start because of Wendy’s confusion on the appetizer station. She did not know how many orders she had to make, so Ralph spent more time on her station than the hot plate. But Ralph, being clever, had a backup plan, which was a tableside salad appetizer.

More than an hour into service, one of Michael’s customers had plastic in her salad. When it came back, Michael threatened Elsie to kill her if she would do it again. After, Jessica, still angry at not being on Ralph’s team, refused Michael’s authority and had a confrontation with Elsie. Michael had to calm the situation down. In the blue kitchen, the customers were enjoying the food, and Ralph started to send out entrées. But, Ralph caught Dewberry putting fish stock in the spaghetti when he was not supposed to, and Dewberry was almost passing out. After Dewberry left the kitchen, Ralph talked with Sous Chef Scott about that problem, worried that he would not make it through dinner service because of his physical state. Jean-Philippe also told Ralph that despite the food being great, the service had to go faster. Andrew got in the back store to check on Dewberry, who was sitting down, and pushed him to go through service. When Dewberry made a heroic return, Ralph held him the list of rules to follow, and Dewberry managed to bounce back after sending a properly cooked sea bass, while jokingly telling he would rather be called Brad Pitt’s wife. That joke made Ramsay, Ralph and Sous Chef Scott laugh.

Three hours into service, Ralph managed to get more than half of his entrées out successfully. When an undercooked steak came back in the red kitchen, Michael told Jimmy to refire one quickly, and that he was not happy about it. Jimmy successfully bounced back and sent an acceptable steak dish. It was at this moment that Michael’s kitchen started to come together as a proper professional kitchen. Both kitchens started to send out desserts, and had a great finish. After all the tables were completed in both dining room, Michael was congratulated by Jessica, who said the menu was easy to execute, and Dewberry was given a big kiss by Ralph.

Post-mortem

After both teams were lined up, Ramsay congratulated both saying it was a great service. When it seemed that Ramsay was ready to announce the winner, he told he was not ready and would study the comment cards from the customers to help him make his decision. Then, Ramsay declared that because Michael wanted a restaurant in Los Angeles, every customer in his restaurant was from Los Angeles, and that because Ralph wanted a New York Steakhouse, every of his customers were from New York.

Michael and Ralph congratulated each other as they made their way back to the dorms while knowing that their fate was in Ramsay’s hands. Ralph believed he might win, given that he was a little stronger than Michael, but Michael felt that he deserved to win, given he was representing the new generation of chefs and that he pushed himself in service. Then, both split off to different rooms, each hoping that they would be the winners, while talking to the photos of their loved ones.

Winner Announced

Moments later, Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann came to the dorms, put blindfolds on Michael and Ralph, and told them to put their hands on their back so they could lead them to Ramsay’s office. Arrived there, Ramsay declared that one of the two restaurants received a 90% of return business, and the other one got 94%. After that, he asked both to stand in front of a door each, and said that only the winner’s door would open. After waiting nervously for Ramsay’s countdown to end, both finalists turned their handles, and only Michael’s door opened.

Michael became the first winner of Hell’s Kitchen, and Ralph the first runner-up. Ralph took his defeat graciously and celebrated with everybody else. While celebrating, Ramsay made an offer to Michael, which was to come to London to train under him and eventually become a world-class chef, an offer which Michael accepted.

Ramsay’s comment: “Ralph was great tonight, but Michael deserved to win because his creativity and standards are simply on a higher level, and I accomplish my goal of turning an unknown into a master chef and that has to be the perfect way to close Hell’s Kitchen, tonight. And I’m fucking out of here!”

My options

My comments: Michael team was better than Ralph because Ralph got the second pick because Michael won the challenge so Ralph got Dewberry and Wendy the first two to go out of all of the chefs who come back.

The ninth episode of Season 1 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 25, 2005. On that episode, the final three had to make bread while sleepwalking, and saw their families for the first time since their arrival, not knowing their fates were in their hands.

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

Intro

The final three went back to the dorms, where some champagne bottles wer⁴e waiting for them. They celebrated and congratulated each other on still being there. After a few drinks, Jessica went to bed inebriated, and was followed by Ralph and Michael shortly.

Beard making

At 4 AM, the phone rang in the dorms. Michael picked it up, and Ramsay told him to get his two teammates and himself in the blue kitchen immediately. Ralph and Jessica never believed him and tried to convince him to go to bed, but when Sous Chef Scott went looking for them in the dorms, they rushed to put their jackets on and head downstairs. Ramsay asked the chefs to make bread because the baker was not able to provide the restaurant with bread. Jessica was still a little drunk, so she did not know what was going for a few minutes, yawned and laid on the counter to rest. Ralph and Michael organized the bread making process and ran the ovens. After an hour, Jessica was sent to bed by her teammates because she would be more of a hindrance, and two hours later, she came back to the kitchen ready to help, but, Ralph and Michael were almost done. A few minutes later, they all went back to sleep, and were woken up two hours later by Sous Chef Mary-Ann playing a triangle.

Individual Challenge

Before Ramsay explained the challenge, he asked Jessica how was the bread experience, and Michael at what time they finished. Then, he declared for that night’s dinner service, each of them was going to come up with a unique dish and the customers will determine their lives in Hell’s Kitchen depending on that dish.

Ramsay explained the Perfect Soufflé Challenge. After a quick demonstration, each contestant had 10 minutes to create a unique perfect soufflé dessert. Ramsay declared Jessica’s soufflé as the worst he ever tasted, Ralph’s was enjoyed by Ramsay for the taste, but the latter told him to put more egg whites to lift it better. Finally, Michael’s soufflé needed more sugar. After deliberation, Ramsay declared Ralph the winner.

Reward

Because Ralph won, he got to choose first between beef, chicken, and tuna, for an inspirational dish to be served during the next dinner service. He choose beef, Michael chose tuna, and Jessica was left with chicken.

Before service

While working with the Sous Chefs to create their dish, Michael and Ralph had a good idea, but not Jessica, who asked a lot of help from the Sous Chefs. During prep, the final three felt confident going into service. When they were lined up, Ramsay reminded them that the objective was still to serve a fully booked dining room.

Dinner service

All three remaining chefs were responsible for their own individual dishes, but were also managing a station. Michael on appetizers, Ralph on garnish, and Jessica on desserts. Michael managed to get the kitchen to a strong start by sending many starters out. When Jessica made her first chicken dish, she was a little late on everybody else, so Ramsay sent the other dishes, that were waiting on the hot plate, back because she was not ready. After that, Jean-Philippe went to greet the families of the contestants that were in the dining room. When their orders came in the kitchen, Ramsay only mentioned to the contestants that VIPs were in the dining room, without any further information.

An hour into service, the remaining chefs’ dishes received mixed reviews in the dining room. Later, when orders of desserts came in, Jessica was having a hard time keeping up with the orders because she was concerned about her chicken dish as well. When the individual dishes came to the contestants’ families, Ralph’s beef and Michael’s tuna were well received, but when Ralph’s fiancée tasted Jessica’s chicken, she spat it out. Jessica struggled with the desserts, leading Michael to take her chicken dish over to continue sending out the entrées. A few minutes later, Ralph and Michael had a little communication problem, and Jessica failed to deliver a proper time for her desserts, leading Ramsay to lose his patience. He lost his patience again later when she was giving attitude about her bad timing with the desserts. After she slipped and dropped a plate to the floor, she started panicking and asked for help from her two teammates.

Two and a half hours into service, Jessica sent unacceptable soufflés to the pass, and asked Ramsay if he could help her. Ramsay categorically refused, and Jean-Philippe went speaking to Jessica in the kitchen, before being kicked out of the kitchen by Ramsay. After that, Jean-Philippe went to the contestants’ families to try and buy Jessica some time. When it came down to the last ticket, all three chefs became excited and wanted to finish as quickly as possible. When Ralph served the last main course, he joined Jessica with Michael, and completed the desserts. For the first time ever, a fully-booked dining room was served, and Ralph’s filet mignon was the most popular out of the three, followed by Jessica’s chicken, and Michael’s tuna came last.

Post-Mortem

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay mentioned that the service was completed and, most important, no food came back. After stating that he was a very proud man, he brought the final three back to earth saying that one of them would go home.

As Jessica was clearing her station down, Michael and Ralph met on the patio, with Michael nervous about his fate as Jessica’s chicken was ordered more than his filet. Despite that, Michael wanted Ralph to go home as he was his biggest competition so far. Later that night, the final three met up in the living room and agreed that their time in Hell’s Kitchen had been tough but fun all at once.

Elimination

Because of the great service, Ramsay gave the final three a surprise. Michael was visited by his wife and in-laws, Jessica saw her girlfriend, her mom and her sister, and finally, Ralph said hello to his fiancée, his mom, and his uncle. After a heartwarming reunion, Ramsay revealed that each family completed a comment card, unaware their decision would influence the chefs’ stay in Hell’s Kitchen. Each family member told the dish they enjoyed the most. Michael got the highest score with 5 votes for his tuna, followed by Ralph’s filet mignon at 3 votes, and Jessica’s chicken only got 1 vote. Therefore, Jessica was eliminated, but received praise from Ramsay who told her she did an amazing job and was proud of her. Then, Ramsay told her to go by the front door with her family, as she deserved to. Jessica received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview. After Jessica and her family left, Michael and Ralph became the first ever finalists of Hell’s Kitchen.

Ramsay’s comment: “Now we’re down to the final two. This is it! And the fascinating thing about these two guys is they’re both equally as good as one another, and this is where they have to now separate, put everything they’ve learned from Hell’s Kitchen, and show me what they’re made of. That’s what I’m looking for!”

My opinion

My comment: Ralph and Michael was better than Jessica so Jessica have to go.

The family choose Jessica.