The fourth episode of Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on April 22, 2008. On that episode happened the very first Family Night service, a serious injury, and a meltdown by one contestant, leading to a hilarious elimination.

Intro

While dismissing the contestants, Ramsay told he would love to say good night, but could not as it was a shit night. Then, he called Ben’s name, and called him a punk and useless. On her way back to the dorms, Vanessa was still ashamed and feeling the failure, being very emotional, and was comforted by her team. She declared she cannot fail again as that was all she knew what to do. On the blue side, Bobby acknowledged Hell’s Kitchen was a dirty game, and Ben mocked Ramsay’s insult of punk, but he also thought that Ramsay might be testing him and that he would like to see his commitment. Louross said he was now digging into the personal level.

Kitchen Cleaning

A few moments later, Ramsay was talking in the microphone, asking everybody to get downstairs, in their kitchen, to clean them. In the red kitchen, everybody was doing their part, except Corey, who complained that she was too tired at the moment and did not do very much. After a few minutes of hanging around, she went back to the dorms and laid on her bed, which annoyed her teammates. Shayna stated this action was lazy, and Christina said that if she was that tired, she should maybe go home.

Team Challenge

The next morning, both teams got lined up in the dining room in front of Ramsay, who asked Corey how she was feeling that morning. She said that she was ready to lead her team and step up to the plate, but that statement made all her teammates laugh. When Ramsay asked the red team who was their strongest chef, Jen and Corey raised their hands, but the rest of the team agreed on Jen. When Ramsay asked why not Corey, she said it was because they did not like her, but Shayna recalled what she did during the kitchen cleaning the previous night. What Corey understood about this is that her teammates were threatened and intimidated by her, because they were trying to bring her down. When Ramsay asked the blue team who was their strongest chef, Bobby immediately nominated Ben in that position, which Louross agreed, followed by the rest of the team. That statement motivated Ben, who said he wanted to be strong, go for it, and see how far he would get.

After that, Ramsay said that the first three services were a disaster, and told he was changing everything by organizing the very first Family Night special in Hell’s Kitchen. He ordered both teams in the blue kitchen, and introduced the Pasta Making Challenge. During his demonstration on how to properly make pasta, Ramsay used Bobby’s arms to hang the pasta. After that, each team got 20 minutes to make the most acceptable pasta as possible. On the red side, Jen acknowledged that the men were stronger physically, but that did not stop her to be very determined to win the challenge. On the blue side, it was Petrozza who was as determined, who said he would get his teammates pumped up. At one point, Matt was not doing anything, except from standing still, with his arms spread, waiting for the pasta, which annoyed Ben, who said he did not man up. Ramsay told Matt that he might want to rest his arms, which he did, and he continued to verbally motivate his team. After a few minutes, Jen started to put some pasta on Shayna’s arms, and on the blue side, Ben did the same thing on Matt. Near the end, Craig was holding the pasta to go in the machine, but he was doing it wrong, and Louross told him how to do it properly. However, Bobby, who acknowledged Craig was holding the team back during every challenge, pushed him to the side and rolled the pasta himself. This annoyed Craig who told everybody would like to make themselves look good and make other people look like shit, but he stood there, not helping, and Ramsay called him a “lazy little fucker” and told him to move. On the red side, Corey thought that Jen’s way of becoming a leader was not correct. With very few seconds left, Petrozza almost broke his arm rolling the pasta, with Jen and Bobby having the same motivation. When time was up, Matt and Shayna’s arms were fully covered in pasta.

Before the judging, Ramsay congratulated both teams for the effort, declaring he saw more energy during that challenge than the first three services combined. Then, he asked why Corey and Jen were holding Shayna’s hands, and Jen said it was because her arms were tired. After that, he pulled some pasta off Matt’s arm, checked it, and placed it on the balance. The men were at 1.39 lbs of acceptable pasta, which worried Louross. After taking some pasta off Shayna’s arm and weighing it, the women’s total was at 2.66 lbs so far. They started celebrating, but Jen noticed Matt’s arm which still had a lot of pasta on it. Ramsay took the remaining pasta from Matt’s arm off, and after a quick check, the men finished with a score of 5.49 lbs of acceptable pasta. They were looking very nervous, and Ramsay took some pasta off Shayna’s arm. After the women’s total elevated at 4.82 lbs, Ramsay took the remaining pasta from the women, weighed it, and the women’s final total was 6.57 lbs, therefore clinching their win. The women celebrated by hugging each other.

Ben’s spit cups

Before the women left for their reward, Christina became mad at Ben because he was chewing tobacco and leaving his spit cups all over the kitchen. When Ben got up to get it, Rosann schooled him on the fact that he was leaving his dishes in the sink without washing them, and both of them got into an argument, where Rosann said she would throw in the garbage anything she would find laying on the counter, and Ben started mimicking her. They finished their argument with Rosann saying she was watching Ben.

Reward

The red team was rewarded with a day at an amusement park, in Santa Monica Beach, and they were transported there in Hummer limousines. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Jen’s efforts, and she said that the win was making her feel great as she led her team to victory. After Rosann and Ben’s argument, the women were getting ready for going out, with Corey saying that even though her team was talking behind her back, she would still manage to have a good time, enjoying being in California. When they got outside, Vanessa was excited to drive in a Hummer limousine as she never did before, even in a regular limousine. Arrived there, Christina declared it would have been fun to throw Corey off the Ferris wheel, but just to be out and see the outside world was good enough.

Punishment

The men had to prep all the new menu items, all day long, for both kitchens. That loss infuriated Petrozza, saying that challenge was all about muscles and strength, and that he could not believe that his team lost. Back in the dorms, Louross was pointing fingers at Craig for not being a team player, while Craig spent some alone time, away from his team. After Ben and Rosann’s argument, Petrozza picked up the phone, and led his team to prep. After some time of prep, Petrozza became exhausted, saying that his team needed a day of rest. Also, the men joked that they hope the women’s roller coaster would shut down and crash. Later, when Sous Chef Scott asked for a volunteer, Ben proposed himself, and went outside to see the children’s playground for that night’s service. Then, he was tasked to clean the animals’ shit in the pen, which let him question his position as the best chef on his team.

Before Service

When the women arrived from their reward, they saw Ben cleaning the animals’ pen, embarrassing him. With an hour left before service, the women got changed and prepped the remaining items from their kitchen. Outside, children were already having fun in the playground. During prep, Christina declared her team had to work hard to prep a menu they learned half an hour before, and after, she almost burned herself lifting a hot tray with her bare hand. Jen was trying to motivate her team, saying that if they could not do a menu consisting of burgers, pasta and onion rings, they could not do anything. In the men’s kitchen, everybody was trying to rally behind Craig, who was deemed the weakest link at that point, but he gave all of them attitude saying pasta was easy to cook and that they should shut the fuck up.

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay motivated them saying that he was not asking for a perfect service, he was demanding it. He also added that the first team who would complete its tickets first would win the service. After that, he told Jean-Philippe that because it was Family Night, he had to take his tie off, open up his shirt and relax a little bit. Jean-Philippe was reluctant to do so, saying he was feeling more comfortable in his traditional suit. When he almost missed the step on his way down, Ramsay told him to walk straight and called him a doughnut.

Dinner Service

When the first ticket was called out in the red kitchen, Vanessa was determined to have a good service, saying that she does not have to fail again after her disastrous performance during the previous service. So, she quickly took vocal control of the red kitchen. In the blue kitchen, Ben and Matt gave each other a high-five, motivating each other, as Ben was also determined to lead the men to victory. The first chowder Vanessa sent to the pass was deemed beautiful by Ramsay, who told that they had the momentum and that they must not lose it. Ramsay told the men that the women sent their first ticket, and after that, Louross communicated with Matt over the chicken wings. Then, Ramsay told Matt to not serve raw chicken. Ben brought his first onion rings to the pass, but they were not crispy enough, so Ramsay told him to start again. When Ben was caught staring at Ramsay, the latter told him to get to work, and he finally delivered acceptable onion rings.

45 minutes into service, the blue customers were getting their appetizers, and despite the onion rings receiving positive reviews, a chicken wing dish was sent back for being raw. This infuriated Ramsay, who called the whole men’s team out for that mistake, and called Matt a fucking prick. Craig thought it was major and called it nasty if a kid bit into a raw chicken When he asked Matt what he was doing, the latter only responded by saying “Yes Chef, sorry Chef, it will not happen again”. This led Ramsay to remind him his tartar signature dish on the opening episode. Ramsay told him to wake up, and in the red kitchen, Vanessa managed to send half of her appetizers. When the team moved on to entrée, Shayna erupted a fire on the appetizer station, and when Vanessa was about to take it off, some oil dropped on her hand, and she sustained a second-degree burn. She asked Ramsay for some ice, and Rosann yelled, calling for a medic, and declaring that her hand was blazing red, thinking she would break down in tears. Vanessa ran to the back store to see a medic, who applied some heeling cream over her hand, but Vanessa was still in great pain, and finally went to the hospital by SUV. When she was not coming back, Shayna was worried as she did not know what happened to her. Christina asked where Vanessa was, but nobody answered as they did not know either. Then, Ramsay declared she was on her way to the hospital, but that if they were slowing down, they would be in trouble. Despite being one member down, Christina vocally rallied the women, motivating them by saying they would be able to pull it off anyway.

Two hours into dinner service, the women had 12 tickets remaining, while the men had 10. Petrozza sent crab cakes that were deemed very nice by Ramsay, and customers were satisfied. This led to many entrées being served in both sides of the dining room. When Matt served a burger that was too small, Ramsay schooled him on his mistake, and asked him why he was firing burgers so early. He compared the burgers to ice hockey pucks, threw each of them to all the team members, before angrily throwing one towards the back store when he asked if they were a fast-food joint. Then, Ramsay asked Bobby if he could get a grip, which Bobby answered he would, and after that, Bobby was telling Matt how to properly cook his burgers. In the red kitchen, Jen became the vocal leader of the team after Vanessa’s departure, giving instructions to Shayna and Rosann, and asking time. Her leadership helped her team to send out many entrées. In the blue kitchen, it was Bobby who emerged as a leader by sending acceptable entrées to the pass. When he saw food coming out, Ben relaxed a little bit and congratulated Bobby and Matt, but Ramsay did not appreciate, saying the men had six tickets left compared to the women’s two, and that they should wake up instead. Jen and Louross rallied their respective teams to push out their final tickets, and in the red kitchen, Shayna sustained a little burn, which was fortunately not as bad as Vanessa’s. In the blue kitchen, Craig brought a meatball spaghetti to the pass when a spaghetti of clams was on order. Ramsay called the ticket again, and asked for a spaghetti of clams quickly. When Craig sent it, it turned out raw. Ramsay furiously asked him to start again, but when Bobby came over to help, Craig repeatedly said he had it. Ramsay asked for a time, but Craig did not answer, and when his entire team did, he disrespectfully shouted two minutes.

In the red kitchen, the last ticket was called out, and the team rallied to send it, and when they did, Ramsay congratulated them. Jen was so happy she wanted to dance, but Ramsay asked the women to go over in the blue kitchen and help the men. Ramsay asked Jen to go over and help Ben, who Ramsay called “Chef Ben”. He was embarrassed about that situation, and Ramsay schooled him on his laid-back behavior and congratulating his team. Ramsay ridiculed Ben, comparing him as the iceberg of the Titanic. When Shayna came over to help Craig, he refused her help, constantly saying he got it. After Louross gave a little pep talk to everybody, Ramsay called out another ticket, and asked Craig how long for the spaghetti of clams. However, Craig failed to answer, Ramsay became furious, and Matt tried to convince Craig to answer. Then, Ramsay told he was making him nervous, and Craig grabbed a hot pan with his bare hands, burning himself in the process. When everybody, including Ramsay, were asking Craig a time, he lost his patience and disrespectfully told it was coming right now, and that they had to fucking listen. He threw a pan in anger while everybody was staring at him, disbelieving Ramsay. After the last entrée was served, both teams switched off and wrapped up their kitchens.

Post-Mortem

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay announced the women winners for serving all their tickets, and more importantly, for bouncing back after a slow start. He also declared Jen the best cook in both kitchens for emerging as a star. That compliment made her heart melt as she really appreciated it. After that, he told the men that if Family Night was a movie, it would have been a horror movie on their side as it was embarrassing. He asked Craig if it was that difficult to cook pasta, which Craig answered no, and when he turned to Ben, he told him he was surprising him. Ben thanked Ramsay, thinking it was a compliment, but Ramsay added he was surprising in how shit he was, expecting more, and told him he maybe should not have quit his day job this early. Finally, Ramsay named Bobby “Best of the Worst” for making him feel safe in the kitchen, adding that he must not break the trust that was there, and asked him to nominate two of his teammates for elimination, and concluding he was not short of choices.

Back in the dorms, Bobby acknowledged he began the competition roughly, but that the tables were starting to change to his advantage. After Ben said he thought Ramsay was hating him, Vanessa came back from the hospital, and was warmly welcomed by everybody. She told she would see a medical surgeon on the next Monday, and Christina announced her the news that their team won the service. While pleading his case to Bobby, Craig acknowledged his performance was not up to par, but Matt and Ben’s were not as well. Ben asked Bobby for a private talk with him, where Ben said he did not know if he would like to be put up only because Ramsay was hating him. Bobby laughed, and noticed that Ben had some bad services and that he always seem at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Ben acknowledged that even though he was close friend with Bobby, it did not mean anything as they were trying to win a competition. Moments later, Matt joined the conversation, and declared he would nominate Craig for his lack of communication and disrespecting Ramsay. While Matt admitted his poor performance, he said that Craig was a pain in the ass.

Elimination

Bobby nominated Craig as his first nominee, and Matt as his second. Ramsay called both of them down, but also declared he would not want to go any further, stating there was another one who should step forward as well. Ramsay did not called his name, stating he knew who he was, and Ben immediately recognized himself and stepped forward. After all three of them pleaded their cases, Ben told he would give 100% every day, and Matt followed, saying he would give 125%. However, Craig declared he did not know what percentages were, but that he would give just over that. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Craig for failing to keep control of his station and his poor attitude during service. After Craig left, Ramsay told Ben and Matt that they were on their final straw. While dismissing the chefs, Ramsay welcomed Vanessa back, and urged Jen to not stop, a compliment she appreciated.

Ramsay’s comment: “I can teach someone how to cook, but Craig was a bad cook with an even worse attitude. There was no hope for him.”

My opinion

The blue team was the loser tonight. Craig and Ben were shit at service with Matt as well. Matt serve raw chicken, Craig cant cooked pasta and Ben been hopeless. One of the best Ramsay insult was said after tonight service to Ben. I agree with the nominees with craig to go.

My comment: Craig said he didn’t know percentage. He was give 0% at dinner service. He lucky that Jason was shit last episode.

The third episode of Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on April 15, 2008. On that episode happened a scary wakening, a sweaty punishment, and a very satisfying elimination of the most hated chef of the season at that moment.

Intro

While going back to the dorms, Jen and Rosann hugged each other, and Jen declared Corey was not getting rid of her that easily. She acknowledged that this early in the game, you do not get rid of the strongest people because there was still challenges and services. Christina was crying going upstairs, but was comforted by Jen, who said she would not get rid of her.

On her side, Corey was talking with the blue team, and Ben gave her a high-five. Then, she declared the real reasons she nominated those two people. She nominated Christina because she was threatened by her intelligence and thought she was making her look stupider than she really is, and she nominated Jen because of her general annoyance. Christina acknowledged Corey was threatened by her intelligence, and confronted her in the bedroom, but Corey did not care shit what her team was thinking of her. The blue team said she played that strategy too early in the game, with Petrozza thinking she was having evil tendencies.

Team Challenge

The next morning, the contestants were awakened by chickens, running around in the dorms. Ramsay told them to get up, grab a chicken, and come down to the dining room. While trying to grab a chicken, Bobby declared he never did that before in his entire life. When they came down in the dining room, Ramsay declared he would like all of them to get up close and personal with their products. Then, Sous Chef Gloria brought a live chicken to Ramsay, and Sous Chef Scott handed him a clever, making the contestants believe they would have to kill their live chickens. Ramsay put the clever on his chicken’s head, started his movement, but planted the knife beside its head, declaring “Not these chickens, you doughnuts!”. All the contestants felt relieved that they did not have to kill live chickens. After telling the contestants that they take their products for granted, Ramsay asked them to put their chickens in the pens, get changed, and get in the red kitchen.

In the red kitchen, dead chickens were hanging on racks, and Ramsay introduced the Chicken Cutting Challenge, which the goal was to make the contestants respect their products. After a demonstration on how to properly cut the chicken into eight pieces, Ramsay gave the contestants 5 minutes to cut their chicken. To even the teams, Louross was forced to sit out. When the challenge began, Jason boasted that the blue team would win the challenge because they were men, and that it was not a dust and housekeeping challenge. With 1 minute left, most of the men were already finished, but Craig was still going, and Matt declared he was slow as molasses and making him feel like the million-dollar man. On her side, Shayna was as slow as Craig, and told herself to concentrate and that she could do it.

Jen was the first woman to get her cuts judged by Ramsay. She got a score of 6 out of 8, and Shayna also did. Vanessa, Rosann, Christina, and Corey all finished with perfect scores of 8, making the final score of 44 for the red team. On the blue team, Jason, who declared his team would win because they were men, could not manage a perfect score himself, scoring 6 out of 8. The following two, Petrozza and Ben, managed a perfect score each, making the men’s total at 22. When it was Craig’s turn, he only managed to get 2 pieces accepted, leading Ramsay to question his experience as a chef. With the score of 44-24 for the women and only two men to go for the men, it became impossible for them to catch up, so the women automatically won the challenge.

Reward

The women were rewarded with a lunch at the Saddle Ranch Chop House, on the Sunset Strip, in Los Angeles. When they arrived there, they accidentally jumped into Aaron, a former contestant from Season 3 and a regular at that restaurant, who was riding the rodeo. That encounter surprised everybody, including Ramsay who was in disbelief. Both of them hugged, and Ramsay mimicked his crying on season 3’s opening night, but Aaron said there was nothing to cry about now. After wishing everybody a good day and leaving, Vanessa said it was nice to meet him, as he was a big teddy bear. After that, the women went on to ride the rodeo. During the lunch, Christina revealed her team’s plan to get rid of the men one-by-one, starting with Ben, Craig and Jason.

Punishment

The men were punished by picking peppers on a 100-acre farm, with farmers clothes and hat on, under the hot temperature of the sun. While getting ready, Ben declared he would throw peppers at Craig, who was lying on his bed knowing he was the one to blame, and Matt, two feet away from him, was throwing things in anger in his closet. He also compared watching Craig during the challenge as watching “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. When they saw the Hell’s Kitchen bus, they thought it would be there bus to go to the farm, but a small, dirty, old, blue school bus was revealed behind the previous one, with Louross describing it as “ganky looking”. During the punishment, Jason declared he was chubby because he liked food and that he was not doing labor jobs like that. Ben also threw peppers at Craig, who did not find it funny. Sous Chef Scott was supervising on the roof of the bus.

Before service

When both teams came back to Hell’s Kitchen, Corey and Christina started to put their plan into action when Corey asked Ben to jump in the hot tub with the women. He categorically refused to, saying that Corey was putting a bad taste in his mouth. However, Jason, who was looking at them, fell in their trap, Christina helped him to take off his clothes, and he jumped in the hot tub with the women. They gave him some food and beer, and asked him what was going on with the blue team, which he answered that most of his teammates were pissed off at Craig for fucking up during the challenge. He also declared that he did not like the way Ben was running his mouth. Ben was furious at Jason as he felt he ratted out the team. The next morning, an argument erupted between Ben and Jason, where Ben told him to stay focused on the competition as they were there to win, and that he had to work very hard during the next service, as Ben did not want to lose.

During prep, Christina and Corey were trying to work as a team and putting their differences aside, with little success. Christina declared that she would get rid of Corey the next opportunity she would get as she did not like her. In the blue kitchen, the pressure was shifted to Jason and Craig, as both of them were deemed the weakest links of the team. Bobby was annoyed by Craig’s way of not doing anything and being completely lost. Jen was confident going into service as her team may have their fare share of problems, but the men were worse.

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay announced that the goal was to have a fully-booked dining room. He also revealed a chicken special on the menu, and that because the men lost the challenge, Bobby would be cooking tableside. Jean-Philippe would be cooking for the women. Ramsay also dedicated Jason to the dessert station by jokingly telling him to not eat any. When Ramsay asked him what were the desserts, Jason failed to correctly answer, so Ramsay ejected him to the dorms, and told him to read the menu. After that, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner Service

Jean-Philippe was slower than usually to bring the first ticket to Ramsay. When Ramsay called the first ticket in the red kitchen, Christina, being on appetizers, to control of her team really fast. In the blue kitchen, Craig had communication problems with Petrozza, and was asked by Ben and Matt how much time it would take him to make his first risotto. Craig told that he said 2 minutes 30 seconds before, and that they had to do the math. When Ramsay asked him how long, he schooled him on his behavior and told him to communicate. Matt and Craig got into a little argument when Craig told Matt to shut the fuck up. Matt did not appreciate this answer, and compared Craig to Edith’s character in “All In The Family”. In the red kitchen, Rosann brought her first Caesar salads to the pass, but they contained crab garnish. Ramsay schooled her for that mistake, telling her she was not stupid, and that she had some balls, so she had to use them. He also compared the women to the return of “the Bitches from Hell”. While Jason was still studying the menu in the dorms, Petrozza brought his first appetizers to the pass, and they were deemed beautiful by Ramsay. Petrozza enjoyed that compliment, and said that it meant as much to him as a win. When Ben asked Craig for the bacon, the latter declared he did not have it yet, which led Ben to call Craig an idiot and that he could not work his station despite working in the industry for 13 years. So, Ramsay made a painful decision, which was sending an incomplete order, where half of the table would eat, and the other would stare.

An hour and a half into service, and a blue table received only half of their appetizers. In the red kitchen, Christina and Rosann sent four tables of appetizers out. Back on the patio, Louross went to get Jason back, but Jason was about to give up as he did not like the way Ramsay was putting him in the spot like that. Although, Louross convinced him to get down anyway, which he did. When Jason entered the kitchen, Ramsay pulled him aside to make him recite the desserts. He struggled a little bit, even wanting to give up, when Ramsay asked all the team to come around him. Ramsay asked Jason if he would want to go home, which Jason answered that he did, and that he was done. However, Ramsay encouraged him, and Jason went on to successfully recite the desserts, before getting on his station. When Craig finally delivered bacon to the pass, Ramsay sent the rest of the table out. In the red kitchen, Vanessa brought her first entrée of meat to the pass, but it turned out raw. So, she became very emotional, ashamed about her performance, and Ramsay told everybody to get on the meat station. In the blue kitchen, they were ready to move on to entrées, as well as Bobby’s tableside chicken special. When Ramsay called 7 minutes to the window, Bobby understood and went to his station, starting to cook his chicken. However, in the kitchen, Matt failed to communicate with Louross, so Ramsay asked them to. After that, Louross told Matt how to properly communicate with him, and when Matt did, Louross thanked him. When Ben brought his salmon to the pass, he was schooled by Sous Chef Scott, who asked him why he would give it if it was burnt. After, Ramsay schooled Ben also, and asked him if he could cook a salmon. Ben said that he could, but started to give excuses, stating he was used to different cooking techniques than the ones he was using at the moment. Knowing that the entrées from his kitchen might not come out, Bobby took matters into his own hands, suggesting to the customers that he could cut the chicken in six pieces and serve them to each of the customers on small plates. The customers agreed with that idea, which Bobby executed, while Jean-Philippe was staring at him, but the customers were satisfied. One of the women’s tables had S.O.S. written on it, using bread.

In the red kitchen, a minor fire erupted on the meat station, with Rosann and Corey trying to blow it off. Ramsay came to the station, told everybody to stand back, and took off the fire while throwing the pan in the sink, saying “same shit, different day”. In the blue kitchen, Jason started to prepare his first desserts, but did not have a clue what he was doing, stating that women can make desserts. Louross helped him by telling that his crème brulées were ready, which Jason did not believe. When he took his soufflés out of the convection oven, Jason declared they were looking like muffins stuck in a cup. When Ramsay asked him what was happening with the desserts, Jason told him about the problem, and suggested to rub some sugar around the rim, mixed with butter and cocoa powder. When he heard that suggestion, Ramsay was so discouraged that he went to the hot plate, and banged his head on the counter a few times. Moments later, Ben brought raw salmon to the hot plate, infuriating Ramsay, who made the entire team taste it. This was the final straw for Ramsay, and told the men to join the women in their kitchen to have a quick talk. Ramsay told that they went backwards, that Vanessa was all over the place, that Jason was hopeless, and that Ben was not caring. When Ramsay asked Ben for the excuse he was giving, which was different techniques, he angrily threw all the remaining tickets towards him. Ramsay declared both teams losers, told Christina that her efforts on appetizers were good, Petrozza that his mind was clear and had good focus on his appetizers, named both of them “Best of the Worst” for their respective teams, and asked them to nominate one teammate for elimination. Before leaving, Bobby waved hands at his customers, and was chewed by Ramsay for it, who angrily told him to get out.

Post-Mortem

During deliberation, Vanessa was very emotional and ashamed of her performance, and Christina tried to comfort her. Vanessa still felt ashamed, saying this was the only she knew how to do, and did not knew if she was knowing how to do it any longer. Christina also considered Corey to exact some revenge on her, which Petrozza would agree with, and Christina declared she was not the last dumb blonde left. On his side, Petrozza considered Craig, but said if Jason was not there, the team would have performed better. Jason felt he would be nominated, but said he would fight for it if it happens instead of “putting his head down like some bitch”. Corey also thought she could be put up because Christina would payback her.

Elimination

Before asking for the nominations, Ramsay asked if anybody was hungry for the competition, or if they should all quit now. After that, Petrozza named Jason as his nominee, despite the rest of the men wanting to get rid of Craig. On her side, Christina nominated Vanessa, despite her team thinking she would have picked Corey to exact some revenge. After listening to both of their pleas, where Vanessa cried in shame, Ramsay told her she would have one more chance, and eliminated Jason for giving up before service and not showing any energy. During his exit interview, Jason made one last sexist comment, thinking that Vanessa’s crying was the reason why she was kept in the competition over him, and stating that because he is a man, he does not cry. Before dismissing the chefs, Ramsay told Vanessa that if that was her life, she should wake up fast as time was not her friend. Christina explained that she did not put Corey up because to win, she had to keep her friends close and enemies closer.

Ramsay’s comment: “I kept waiting for Jason to show me some energy, to wake up, but he never did. And that’s why I’m putting him to sleep.”

My opinion

Both kitchen were both rubbish tonight, so right decision for both team to be loser. Craig or Jason would be my pick to go up same as Vanessa as well. Jason was right to go.

My comment: Jason gives up at the beginning of the dinner service, so I give up on him at the end.

The second episode of Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on April 8, 2008. On that episode happened the first team challenge, and a surprise elimination, that nobody saw coming.

Intro

Back to the dorms, Matt was feeling bad about Dominic’s elimination, and Jason thought that he would have been called down. Bobby, knowing he dodged a bullet, was ready to bounce back, and declared that a new Bobby would come out. Jason made yet again a sexist comment, declaring he would not lose to girls, especially little kids.

On the women, Christina’s level of confidence was high, saying her team killed it, and that the men should cut some dead weight.

Team Challenge

After a night with very little sleep, the next morning, the contestants were woken up by the Sous Chefs holding megaphones and telling them to get outside immediately. Arrived outside, Ramsay declared that with all the amount of food wasted on the previous night, any restaurant would have hit bankruptcy. He then told the contestants to get in the garbage bags and get every wasted food in two cylinders, one for each team. While they were going through garbage, Jen was shown almost puking because she was disgusted. Every contestant found that job nasty. After a few minutes, Ramsay told them to get back in line up the stairs, and declared they should be ashamed as they put thousands of dollars in the trash during the last service. After asking to clean up and change, Ramsay was waiting for the contestants in the red kitchen, where he explained the 6-Ounce Halibut Challenge.

After a quick demo and both Sous Chefs bringing one halibut for their respective teams, each team was given 20 minutes to prepare as many 6 ounces portions of halibut as possible. This challenge was designed to test attention to details and teamwork. In the blue team, Petrozza took control of the filet, and Louross was saying some words of advice, such as making love to the fish, and encouraging his team, while Ben gave some tips to Jason. The men finished with more than 8 minutes left. In the women, Christina was telling Sharon to take her time as they had plenty of it. Sharon was feeling nervous as she did not want to cut herself. Jen was annoyed by Sharon’s lack of skills, saying they have to tell her what to do. On the blue side, Ben called that challenge “redemption”.

During the judging, Jen brought the women’s batch to Ramsay. They eventually managed to get 41 of all their pieces accepted. For the men, Craig brought his team’s batch to Ramsay, and Bobby declared he counted 50 pieces in total. When two pieces of halibut were butchered, Bobby immediately thought it was Jason who did it. Despite that, they managed to get 41 of their pieces accepted as well, and the challenge ended in a tie. To break the tie, Ramsay asked each team to name one member from each team to come forward and select a 6-ounce filet, with the closest one to 6 winning the challenge. Ben and Corey were eventually chosen by their respective teams. After both of them picked their filets, they were put on a balance, and Ben’s halibut weighed 5.9 oz, while Corey’s weighed 4.8 oz. Therefore, the men won the challenge. Corey apologized to her teammates while being emotional, and Jen rubbed salt in the wound saying it is not that hard to pick a 6-ounce filet, and questioned her team’s judgement by picking Corey.

Reward

The men spent the day on a 100-foot super yacht, and were transported in Rolls-Royce and Bentleys. While getting ready, Louross entertained his teammates, walking around the dorms with woman’s boots, and boxers underwear. Everybody laughed, and Ben even called him crazy. Arrived at the port, the men were greeted by Ramsay, entered the boat, and were asked to take a seat and enjoy a seafood meal, which Petrozza deemed phenomenal. Moments later, Jean-Philippe brought them some caviar. After that, they enjoyed a champagne glass with Ramsay at the tip of the yacht, and Ben said it was nice speaking to Ramsay outside the kitchen. The team finished by yelling “Whose yacht?” and responding “Blue’s yacht!”, referring to Jen’s antic before they left (see details below).

Punishment

The women were punished by prepping the halibut, making all the fish stock, and maximizing every portion for the next dinner service. When the men got ready to go out, Jen started to smash her clever down with anger, yelling “Whose house?”, and her teammates answering “Our house!”. During the punishment, Jen continued to rub salt in the wound, pointing fingers at Corey and saying she was not deserving to be in the competition anymore. Christina tried to talk some sense out of her saying that it was everybody’s fault, but Jen continued her finger-pointing anyway. Then, Corey declared war to Jen, stating that she does not have to call her out in front of everybody like that.

Before service

The next day, both teams began prep, but in the red kitchen, Sharon showed her lack of knowledge, and Corey had to tell her everything she needed to do, and Christina declaring that the women had a problem with her. In the blue kitchen, Jason showed his high level of confidence because of the team’s high spirit, and made another sexist comment saying he thought that the women, because they did not have a man to lead them, were not knowing what they were doing. Back in the red kitchen, Corey was annoyed by Christina’s way of knowing everything and speaking out loud. After that, Jason continued his sexist comment declaring that a room full of girls was useless, unless they were having a Tupperware party.

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay asked Petrozza what were the five appetizers, but Petrozza struggled to answer correctly. Then, Ramsay kicked him out of the kitchen, and told him to read the menu and not come back until he knows it by heart. After Petrozza left the kitchen, Ramsay reminded that the opening service was horrific, miserable, and told Jean-Philippe never took that much complaints from customers. Therefore, Ramsay assigned Craig and Rosann to be assistant maître d’.

Back to the dorms, Petrozza struggled to study the menu, saying it was 19 years since he was going through a menu other than his. When he came back downstairs, Ramsay got him in the pantry room, and after ejecting Jason from that room, he asked Petrozza to recite the menu, from the desserts up. Petrozza struggled once again to deliver a correct answer, so Ramsay started to lose his patience, and asked him to go back to the dorms and start again. Arrived on the patio, Petrozza lit up a cigarette, and contemplated his fate in the competition, saying he was done. However, moments later, Bobby went to the dorms to comfort him and talk him back in the game. Petrozza suddenly became emotional, and Bobby handed him his apron so he could wipe his eyes. Bobby felt the need to help Petrozza because of his genuine heart. When he came back to the kitchen, Petrozza successfully recited the menu to Ramsay, and when he finished, both of them gave each other a high-five, and Ramsay told him to get to his station, and Jean-Philippe to open the restaurant.

Dinner service

In the dining room, Craig and Rosann were slow to bring their first tickets to Ramsay. When Craig finally hand Ramsay his first ticket, Ramsay mocked him by calling him “Chef Craig”. When Ramsay called the first ticket out, the men were slow to answer, and Ramsay asked them to be louder. Louross quickly became vocal and led his team, who felt motivated. For the women, Rosann was schooled by Ramsay that it has been 37 minutes and she had not gave one ticket yet, and he told her to move her ass. On their first appetizer, the men failed to impress Ramsay with their quail eggs, and Ramsay asked Bobby to start again. Then, Bobby got into an argument with Jason, as both of them were confused as if Bobby told Jason to fire the scallops or not. Ben and Petrozza tried to calm them down. After a few more moments of waiting, Rosann finally brought her first ticket to Ramsay.

45 minutes into service, Bobby’s second attempt at his first appetizer was accepted by Ramsay, and the men sent out many appetizers to the customers, who were satisfied with them. In the red kitchen, only Christina was enjoying the food, and made Shayna taste it, which annoyed Corey. However, it did not stop her to send an acceptable risotto to the pass, impressing Ramsay and herself. In the blue kitchen, they sent all their appetizers and moved on to entrées. However, Jason was schooled by Ramsay, who could tell, from the hot plate, that his halibut was raw. He made Jason, Matt and Sous Chef Scott touch it. After telling Jason he was trying to help him, Petrozza delivered his first beef entrée, but it was way undercooked, infuriating Ramsay, who made almost all of the team to touch it. When Ramsay asked Petrozza what it was requested, Petrozza answered that it was requested medium.

In the dining room, when Craig lift a high-chair to transport it to one end of the room to the other, he hit a female customer behind the head with the chair. Jean-Philippe became furious, and asked Craig to go apologize to her, which he did very timidly. In the red kitchen, Ramsay told Sharon she had cooked meat against raw meat, and that she had to be gentle with her food. Christina became angry at her because if Sharon was screwing up on meat, she would screw up herself on fish. Then, Ramsay told the two of them to communicate as they were looking like Barbie twins. He also compared Sharon as being the female version of Hannibal Lecter when she was sticking her tongue out of her mouth. He told her to stick it back in her mouth and concentrate. In the blue kitchen, Petrozza struggled to cut his Wellingtons, which led Ramsay to do it for him, and when he did, he told Petrozza that it was beautifully cooked. Petrozza really enjoyed that compliment as he was almost 20 years not cooking on the line. Many entrées came out of the blue kitchen.

Two hours into service, Rosann gave Ramsay a ticket that she wrote one hour before. A furious Ramsay became confused on her explanation, and told her that she fucked everything she touched so far. In the blue kitchen, when Petrozza failed to keep up with the correct orders of beef, a furious Ramsay told him to communicate with Jason so they could have the entire ticket together. Bobby told both of them to communicate as well, and Ben gave a pep talk to his team, acknowledging a lot of communication problems were going on. In the red kitchen, Sharon failed to keep up with the orders as well, as she forgot a beef. Ramsay schooled her on her behavior, and told her if she communicated with Christina, which she answered she did not. A minor fire erupted on Matt’s station, and Ramsay told him to not set the place on fire as nobody could win the competition if there is nobody in it. Matt told Ramsay he would not let that happen again. Moments later, Jean-Philippe sent a raw halibut back in the kitchen, and Jason refused to take responsibility for it, saying it was not his. This was the final straw for Ramsay and he shut down the restaurant.

Post-Mortem

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay made a summary of the service with one word, which was meltdown. He declared the women the losers after looking at the customer comment cards. He told the men sent half of their entrées, which was not great, but still better than the women. Ramsay also named Corey “Best of the Worst” for finally waking up and giving a good performance on appetizers, and asked her to nominate two of her teammates for elimination.

Back in the dorms, Corey declared she was enjoying that title, and Jen pointed fingers at Sharon, who she nicknamed Barbie, for being a constant poor performer. Rosann was nervous saying she could be up for elimination, and Christina ruled out Vanessa and Shayna when discussing who could be nominated by Corey. On her side, Corey went speaking with Ben and Bobby, and when Ben asked her if she would take out the best, which she answered that she was the best.

Elimination

Corey named Christina as her first nominee, which she claimed was for strategic reasons, and Jen as her second, which she claimed was for personal reasons. While pleading her case, Christina started crying, which made the men’s team laugh, especially Jason. On her turn, Jen gave a very long speech, and Ramsay had to stop her, telling her to breathe. Before he announced his decision, he declared that the prize was very important, and that he would not let somebody who he does not believe in running it. After declaring there was someone in that room he did not believe in, he revealed that person to be Sharon, and eliminated her, in an epic turn of events, for two consecutive poor performances. During her exit interview, Sharon felt that Ramsay did not like her from the start, but believed he had the wrong image of her and would not give up on her dream.

After Sharon left, Ramsay told Corey that even though he appreciated the strategy, he has a conscience, and that in good conscience, he could not keep Sharon.

Ramsay’s comment: “Sharon clearly showed great attention to details. Unfortunately it wasn’t for her cooking, it was for her makeup.”

My opinion

Both team were shit on Service tonight. Craig and Rosann were waiters tonight and they were shit for example Craig hit one female customer on the back of her head with a chair he was lifting up, Rosanna give a ticket one hour later to Ramsey. Matt started a fire in his pan which made Ramsey shut both kitchen down. My nomination would have been Sharon and Rosann to go up but if the men team lost I would have been Jason and Petrozza to go up.

My Comment: Sharon was too busy with her make up than her cooking in Hell Kitchen. So I went her packing.

The first episode of Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on April 1, 2007. On that episode, the contestants arrived in Hell’s Kitchen with a big surprise, a captain for each team is chosen, and one contestant is given a reality check at elimination.

Intro

The season began with a brief recap of the past three seasons, in which the winners from those seasons were shown, and Ramsay telling that he would push the contestants further than ever.

The contestants met up on the bus going to Hell’s Kitchen. What they did not know was that Ramsay was in the bus with them, incognito. On the bus, Craig was seen, with his chef’s hat on, saying “Fuck you!” to everybody, as it was the way he was playing. Bobby claimed he was the “Black Gordon Ramsay”, which led Ramsay to take his sunglasses down and staring at him. Then, the contestants arrived at Hell’s Kitchen, where they were greeted by Jean-Philippe, who claimed he was good at doing an impression of Ramsay. After he did, Jean-Philippe asked Shayna and Jason to do their impressions themselves. After that, Ramsay revealed himself, which excited every contestant, with Rosann even trying to give him a hug. After that, Ramsay instructed the chefs to create their signature dishes, while reminding Bobby’s “Black Gordon Ramsay” rant.

Signature Dish Challenge

The contestants were given 45 minutes to cook their signature dishes. Craig’s Chilean sea bass was deemed too sweet and a pile of shit by Ramsay. He also told Craig to not come in the kitchen with his ridiculous hat, otherwise he would stick it in his ass sideways. Jen’s Dungeness crab with risotto and lobster tail was spat out by Ramsay, who described the rice was raw. After Ramsay told her that because she was a Garde-Manger chef confirmed that she could not cook. Jen started to give him attitude by saying he did not know what he was talking about. Corey’s salad was deemed simple, plain, blond, and boring by Ramsay, who told her it was saying a lot about her. After that, Ramsay told Jason that his dish would not even pass as something tinned in a can, and Shayna’s dish was burnt. When Matt described his Exotic Tartar dish, which consisted of raw venison, Diver scallops, caviar, and white chocolate, Ramsay asked him if he was smoking weed. Ramsay tasted it and, for the first time ever, became sick, started puking it out. He then described it as one of the worst combinations he ever tasted, in 21 years of cooking. Matt stated he did not understand what Ramsay did not like about his dish.

Dominic’s Chicken cacciatore did not impress, and Ramsay told him he expected something more exiting from the 45 minutes given. Rosann’s spicy mussel soup was the first dish to be praised by Ramsay, who told it was seasoned perfectly. Petrozza’s Hen-in-a-pumpkin deeply confused Ramsay. When he lifted the pumpkin to take a look at the potatoes, Ramsay asked Petrozza how much oil and fat did he use to fry them. Petrozza declared he used some butter, but when Ramsay squeezed the potatoes and they started dripping in grease, Petrozza corrected himself saying he used a lot of butter. Ramsay trashed the potatoes, and looked inside the pumpkin, which shocked him. He asked Petrozza how he was supposed to get in there and eat it, and Petrozza said it was a tableside dish. So, Ramsay told him to serve him a plate himself. After looking at the mess, Ramsay declared he would like to stick Petrozza’s head inside it. When Ramsay tasted it, he described it as dry, with the pumpkin not even seasoned. After getting back in line, Petrozza declared that he thought his dish was memorable.

After that, Ramsay declared that Sharon’s dish was not up to scratch for Hell’s kitchen, Ben’s dish was deemed not bad by him, Christina’s dish was described as a good concept with a terrible execution, and Louross was told that he could have done a lot more. Vanessa’s pan-seared halibut was praised by Ramsay, who described it as the best dish by a mile so far. Finally, Bobby’s Hawaiian butterfish was scolded by Ramsay after he found out the fish had been deep-fried.

Team captains

After the challenge, Ramsay announced that the prize of that season was an Executive Chef position at his brand new restaurant in Los Angeles, the London West Hollywood, with a salary of $250,000. He introduced the contestants to the Sous Chefs, Scott and Gloria, and told them that for the first time, they would be going into service with a team captain. Ramsay instructed the teams to decide amongst themselves who they think should captain their teams.

In the dorms, Vanessa was quickly chosen as the captain for the red team, because of her great signature dish. For the blue team, the men took far longer to decide, as everyone on the team wanted to assume that role. After choosing their captain, the red team sat down and studied the menu. Finally, the men came to an agreement and chose Bobby as captain for the blue team. When they made their decision, they went to sleep immediately, and Petrozza was seen snoring.

Before service

During prep, on the men, Bobby was praised by Matt for his motivation and keeping his team in high spirits. Jason declared he did not want to lose to a team of girls, as he thought the only thing he would lose to a woman would be an ironing contest. On the women, Vanessa was acting quiet, and was questioned by Corey for her ability to be a leader, heading into service. Moments later, Christina fell to the floor while carrying pots.

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay asked Bobby to name the 5 entrées from the menu. When he failed to answer correctly, he asked Matt, and then Petrozza, but got the same result. When he asked Christina, she successfully answered the question, relieving Ramsay. After that, Petrozza and Shayna were assigned to serve amuse-bouche tableside.

Dinner service

When Ramsay called out the first ticket, he noticed that Jason was missing. Jason was seen on the patio, smoking and picking his toes on his right foot. Ramsay went in the back store to scream his name so he would come. Jason finally showed up and got on the appetizer station. Petrozza and Shayna, in the dining room, started to work on their tableside flambé appetizers. Ramsay told Petrozza to not set the place on fire, and called him a donkey. In the red kitchen, Sharon worked on her appetizers, but was pushed around a lot by Jen, who called her Barbie. When both of them gave a different time, Ramsay asked them who was running the station, which Jen answered Sharon, but she was not trusting her that much. Sharon became irritated by Jen’s behavior. When she sent her first risotto, Ramsay told her to taste it and said it had no seasoning. He asked her to start again, and Sharon shifted some of the blame on her teammates. After that, Ramsay told Vanessa to wake up, but she thought she could not do anything at the moment, despite being the captain. Sharon made one more risotto than needed, and discouraged Ramsay. In the blue kitchen, Jason sent his first risotto to the pass, and when Ramsay asked if he tasted it, Jason let a big burp go. Ramsay asked the team to taste it, with Bobby acknowledging it was terrible, leading Jason to start again and Dominic to bin his scallops. Bobby was then asked to assume his leadership duties, but told Ramsay he did not want to dig in, which Ramsay answered by telling him to show some confidence and support. Even Ben acknowledged that even if he did not know what was happening, he had to show some balls at least. In the red kitchen, Ramsay spat out Sharon’s other attempt at her first risotto, but it had too much garlic, leading him to tell her to fuck off and put more makeup on. Jen took the appetizer station over.

45 minutes into service, no food whatsoever left either kitchen. Jean-Philippe even suggested to a customer to give him his smile, which the customer found useless. In the blue kitchen, Jason sent a burnt risotto, and Ramsay told him to sit down at the pass and eat it. In the dining room, Petrozza was trying his best to keep the customers from hunger. Jen sent unacceptable quail eggs, and was mocked for it by Christina. After that, Ramsay ordered Vanessa to hand over her captain’s title to Rosann, who quickly became vocal and asking time to her team. Vanessa acknowledged she sucked as a captain, and Jen questioned Ramsay’s decision of not picking her as captain instead of Rosann. At one point, she asked Vanessa if she was mad at her when she corrected her, but Vanessa told she was not. In the blue kitchen, Dominic got schooled by Ramsay about boiling scallops, with Ramsay mimicking his actions. After that, Ramsay asked Bobby to take control of the disgusting and embarrassing mess. He also told that Jason was not caring, Dominic was dreaming, Matt was standing still, pissing in his pants, looking for his tartar crap, and Louross was running around like a toilet brush. When his teammates asked him to jump in, Bobby refused to saying they got it and that he did not want to join the chaos. In the red kitchen, Jen finally sent an acceptable risotto out, and she enjoyed a moment of proudness to herself.

With Jen mastering the risotto and Rosann’s leadership, appetizers started to come out of the red kitchen. However, in the blue kitchen, the men were at a standstill, waiting for Jason’s call. When a disgusting sauce was sent to the pass, Ramsay told the entire team to taste it, and called it “snot” while throwing it back on the stove. Ramsay then kicked the counter and called the men “Useless fucking pieces of shit.” At that point, Louross, disappointed with the fact his team never tasted their food, started to be more vocal, and Ramsay asked Bobby to lend his captain badge to him. Then, Louross gave clear instructions to his team, relieving Ramsay. In the red kitchen, with appetizers going out, the women began serving entrées. However, Corey’s chicken was rubbery and dry. After passing it around, Ramsay threw it towards the back store and schooled Corey on that mistake. After that, Jason finally got his appetizers correct, and felt like a million dollars. However, it was too late as most of the tables walked out of the restaurant. After Ramsay told both teams to take a look at the empty dining room, and shut down the restaurant. Everybody cleared down, embarrassed, with Rosann crying in shame.

Post-Mortem

When the teams were lined up, Ramsay told that no entrées left either kitchen and reminded Bobby that he hid behind his team, performing like a coward. He also told Jason that he sunk his kitchen. After that, he compared Vanessa’s performance like having a mouse on service, and told Corey that her chicken bounced off the wall and nearly left the restaurant. Despite those struggles, Ramsay still declared the men the losers. He also named Louross, who at least tried, “Best of the Worst”, and asked him to choose two of his teammates for elimination.

During deliberation, Jason pleaded his case to Louross, stating he did better than Bobby, who himself acknowledged he had a bad night, but did not want to go over to Louross to kiss his ass, as that was not his type. Dominic also pleaded his case to Louross, saying he did what everybody told him to. Jason also told Bobby that he had a feeling that both of them would be nominated.

Elimination

Louross named Bobby as his first nominee, and Dominic as his second. After both of them pleaded their cases, Ramsay eliminated Dominic for his poor performance on the fish station and lacking the experience of working in a fine-dining restaurant. During his exit interview, Dominic called being the first one eliminated a real heart breaker, and said his dream of working for Ramsay was now dashed.

Ramsay told Bobby to wake up, saying he threw the towel in, and Jason that he dodged a bullet. Before leaving, Jason made one more sexist comment saying he would never lose to girls again.

Ramsay’s comment: “To be a great chef you need passion, creativity and talent. Dominic had passion, but that was it.”

My opinion

Both of the teams were shit tonight but the red team was a bit better than the blue team. Bobby and Vanessa who were the captain for the team were rubbish, Bobby didn’t help his team and Vanessa was like a mouse on service which Ramsay said to her which I agree with. I would have nomination Dominic and Jason up but Bobby would have been my next person to go up. When the Captain badges were switch for both team, they did better than the first half of service.

My comment: Dominic said he cooks at home for his kids but after tonight performance I feel sorry for his kids.

 

Season 4 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox between April 1 and July 8, 2008. Culinary student Christina Machamer, from St. Louis, Missouri, was the winner of that season and became Senior Sous Chef at Gordon Ramsay’s London West Hollywood in Los Angeles, with a salary of $250,000.

Contestants

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

Contestant	Age	Occupation	Hometown
Bobby Anderson	37	Executive Chef	Niagara Falls, NY
Ben Caylor	29	Electrician & Former Chef	Charlotte, NC
Dominic DiFrancesco	43	Stay-at-Home Dad	Catawba, SC
Corey Earling	25	Private Chef	Brooklyn, NY
Louross Edralin	24	Hotel Cook	Las Vegas, NV
Rosann Fama	33	Law Office Receptionist & Former Cook	Staten Island, NY
Jennifer “Jen” Gavin	24	Garde Manger	Chicago, IL
Vanessa Gunnell	31	Line Cook	Bozeman, MT
Christina Machamer	25	Culinary Student	St. Louis, MO
Louis Petrozza	47	Catering Director	Charlotte, NC
Shayna Raichilson-Zadok	28	Catering Company Owner	Buffalo, NY
Craig Schneider	30	Sous Chef	Coram, NY
Matthew “Matt” Sigel	35	Sous Chef	Pine Hill, NJ
Sharon Stewart	31	Room-service Chef	Las Vegas, NV
Jason Underwood	29	Sous Chef	Youngstown, OH

Contestants Progress

1. Christina
2. Petrozza
3. Corey
4. Jen
5. Bobby
6. Matt
7. Louross
8. Rosann
9. Ben
10. Shayna
11. Vanessa
12. Craig
13. Jason
14. Sharon
15. Dominic

Episode

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Episode 13

Episode 14

Final

Into

 

Continue from Season 3 Episode 10

The eleventh episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on August 13, 2007. On that episode, Rock and Bonnie led their teams for one more battle of the sexes, the final dinner service occurred, and one of them is declared the winner of Hell’s Kitchen.

Before service

The episode began where the last one left off, with Ramsay dismissing the chefs back upstairs so Rock and Bonnie could brief their teams on what was happening. With only 10 hours until service began, Bonnie revealed to her team that she picked them because they had always beaten the men, much to their happiness, though Julia was still rooting for Rock to win. Meanwhile, Rock made his team catch up fast on the menu and where he was placing them for service, which was based on their strengths and weaknesses. While Vinnie was willing to be led by Rock, he was a little concerned about the menu as he had not made it before, and Brad knew that they had to cram a lot of stuff in if they were to help Rock succeed. Meanwhile, Bonnie took a more relaxed approach to make her team catch up and surprised Melissa when she admitted that she never cooked most of her menu items before. Bonnie herself was concerned about that, and admitted she was nervous herself.

Eight hours before service began, the construction crew was still working on the restaurants. In the meantime, Rock and Bonnie brought both teams downstairs to begin prep for the final service. In the blue kitchen, Rock got his team motivated and focused, but admitted that his challenge for that night was to get them to listen to him. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Julia got into an argument as the latter thought the former was treating her like an idiot, but Bonnie hoped that Julia would put her problems aside for that night.

Three hours before service, Jon Janavs pulled Bonnie aside to inform her that they ran out of the initial wallpaper for her restaurant and had to use another kind. Bonnie was upset by that news and soon noticed that there were bubbles on the walls, though Jon promised to try and remove them. Meanwhile, Josh sent over a piece of spaghetti to Rock which was too soft for him, and Rock admitted he was going to have to pay close attention to Josh for that night. Rock took Josh aside and gave him a pep talk, where he told him that he could be a good cook but needed to trust himself. In the red kitchen, Melissa sent over the prawns to Bonnie, but they turned out to be overcooked, and Bonnie told her to not brown them too much.

One hour before service, both finalists’ restaurants were behind schedule. However, Rock and Bonnie were ready to show Ramsay some of their featured dishes from their respective menus. For Bonnie’s menu, it featured a herbed breaded goat cheese appetizer, an egg fettuccine with sautéed prawns entrée, and an assortment of chocolate truffles dessert. Ramsay tasted the dishes but noted that the prawns were overcooked, something Bonnie blamed Melissa for, and said that the truffle dish looked too small. For Rock’s menu, it featured a crispy chicken breast with crab cakes over jasmine rice appetizer, one of his a pan-roasted ribeye entrée, and a vanilla bean milkshake with double chocolate chunk cookies dessert. Ramsay noted that the rice had too much garlic in it, and suggested that Rock serve the milkshake in a martini glass. By the end, Ramsay noted that both menus were different, with Bonnie’s being more light and balanced, while Rock’s was more rich and heavy.

30 minutes before opening, Rock’s construction workers were rushing to get his restaurant finished, while Bonnie’s restaurant was finished and ready for Ramsay to tour. Ramsay liked how it did not look intimidating and was relaxing, almost like a neighborhood restaurant. Rock’s restaurant was finally ready for Ramsay to look at, and it was praised for looking elegant and smart. With 5 minutes left, Ramsay called Rock and Bonnie over for one last meeting. He reminded them that their service would test on how well they would run their own restaurant, and after that, he gave them head chef’s jackets. After they got changed, they rallied their respective teams one last time and Ramsay ordered Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

Bonnie’s “Neighborhood Hideaway” and Rock’s “Homestyle Bistro” would go head to head, as the customers’ feedback would be part of deciding the winner. Rock got the first ticket from Jean-Philippe and called the order out with authority, though he admitted that it felt weird doing it. Bonnie got her first order and called out with authority as well. Both teams got their first appetizers out together and both received positive reviews from the customers. When Bonnie called out the next order, she noticed that none of her team responded and felt that they were not respecting her enough as a leader. She asked Julia for a time on the cauliflower soup, but Julia refused to answer as she just wanted the dinner service to be over. In the blue kitchen, Josh served crab cakes, but they were burnt. Josh stated that he needed one minute to refire them, but argued with Rock’s order to get them up by 30 seconds. In the red kitchen, Bonnie tried to push Jen to get more vocal even though she was already doing so, and ignored Julia’s warning that she did not have the okra ready. When Bonnie was still not listening, Ramsay warned her that she was losing momentum. Despite those problems, Bonnie’s team was able to get their appetizers out, but Rock’s appetizers were at a standstill. Josh was caught cooking six crab cakes not on order, forcing Ramsay to warn Rock about it.

An hour and a half into service, Bonnie has succeeded in getting all her appetizers out, and the team moved onto entrées. However, Melissa told Bonnie that they had only four orders of her fettuccine pasta left, which angered Bonnie as Melissa never told her before service began. Bonnie was forced to tell Jean-Philippe that they would have to change the dish to a normal pasta dish and admitted to Ramsay that she did not know how many portions they started with, causing him to ask how she could be underprepared. In the blue kitchen, Rock noticed that Josh burned another crab cake and reminded him that only one order of appetizers had left the kitchen in the last 30 minutes. Ramsay pulled Rock to the back room and warned him that Josh was sinking his service and ordered him to make a decision. After Josh burned another order of crab cakes, Rock had enough and had Josh and Vinnie switch stations, a decision which Ramsay approved. Vinnie, despite having concern for not knowing how to prepare the fish entrées, managed to get acceptable snapper out and the food was finally leaving Rock’s kitchen. In the red kitchen, despite communication being back up, Bonnie was still pissed off when Melissa warned her that there was only one order of prawns left. Things soon got worse when two of Bonnie’s pasta dishes were sent back for being cold and undercooked. Bonnie revealed that not only were there no prawns left, they had no other seafood ready as a replacement. Fortunately, Jean-Philippe told her that the customers were okay with just the pasta, but Bonnie soon realized her voice was not being heard again, and Julia rudely retorted that she was only doing her job of cooking Bonnie’s food.

Three hours into service, Rock’s team finally found a good rhythm. Rock himself was cooking some of the dishes, and they were almost caught up on their entrées, with Rock’s leadership continuing to be strong. Meanwhile, Bonnie’s team were getting desserts prepared, but Julia ignored Bonnie’s orders to wrap up the goat cheese and told Jen to do it. That angered Bonnie, and it led to an argument between both of them, which led to Bonnie believing Julia was really bitter about the situation as a dismayed Ramsay watched on and reminded her to run her kitchen. Despite that, both teams managed to get their desserts out with no problems.

After service ended, Rock admitted that he now knew how Ramsay felt during almost every service, and was frustrated on how Josh performed terribly. Bonnie and Julia made up, and the finalists congratulated their respective teams for service. Rock’s family came over to the hot plate, and he happily greeted them because of some help from Vinnie.

Post-Mortem

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay noted that final service being tough. He asked Rock what he would do differently, and Rock’s answer was to win the last challenge and his first pick would have been Jen as he thought she was the strongest chef throughout the competition. That answer shocked, but honored Jen while adding on that he would not have had Josh on his team due to his poor performance that night, which pissed Josh off. Bonnie’s answer was to double check on everything as being short on the prawns might have hurt her chances. However, Ramsay praised the final two as it was the strongest he had seen them perform and that they completed the service. Ramsay admitted that his decision would be hard as both of them never gave up, and both of them displayed great leadership qualities. After that, he told the finalists to get back up to the dorms and wait for his decision. Rock and Bonnie said goodbye to their teams before heading back upstairs.

Back in the dorms, Rock and Bonnie hugged each other for a job well done while admitting that they both had a rough night and could have done better. Back in his office, Ramsay reviewed the comment cards from both restaurants and reflected on what he saw from both Rock and Bonnie at the pass. As the two were waiting, Rock admitted that Bonnie probably won.

Winner Announced

Later that night, Rock and Bonnie made their way to Ramsay’s office. Ramsay praised Bonnie as she surprised him the most with her assertiveness, and called Rock “rock solid” for his strength in the kitchen. He told the finalists that he read every comment card, made observations of their performances, and that this was a tough decision. He had both of them stand in front of one door each, and revealed that only the winner’s door would open. After they nervously waited for Ramsay’s countdown, both turned their door handles, but only Rock’s door opened.

Rock became the winner of Hell’s Kitchen, and won his own restaurant at the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa, in Las Vegas, therefore making Bonnie the runner-up. Bonnie took her defeat graciously, even telling Rock she was very happy for him and still expressed hope that the right opportunity would come to her eventually.

Ramsay’s comment: “Rock deserved to win Hell’s Kitchen because he’s a very confident cook and he has become a really good leader. He can motivate staff, he can create, all those qualities are not easy to find in one chef. Rock holds all of them.”

My opinion

Rock deserves to win hell kitchen as he was the beater chef tonight and the other weeks in hell kitchen, but Bonnie did deserve second place.

The tenth episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on August 6, 2007. On that episode, Bonnie and Rock designed their own restaurants, participated in their final challenge, and reunited with their former teammates.

Intro

The episode began with a recap of the first nine episodes of the season, mentioning what happened, and who got eliminated when. During that recap, Josh received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence for the first time since his elimination.

The episode began at the exact point the last one ended. A giant curtain dropped between Rock and Bonnie and Ramsay revealed their biggest challenge. Both of them had to create new restaurants on their own half of Hell’s Kitchen, with Rock cooking out of the blue kitchen, and Bonnie cooking out of the red kitchen. Ramsay allowed Bonnie and Rock some time with their families and revealed to Rock that his son and daughter were also there. Rock reconnected with his children while Bonnie was told by her mother that she and her dad were very proud of her. The finalists’ loved ones eventually left, and Ramsay told the two to start thinking of their restaurant ideas.

Back in the dorms, Rock and Bonnie celebrated their biggest milestone and congratulated each other. They relaxed for the night, and Rock admitted he thought he and Melissa would be the final two chefs left, but Bonnie told him that the other chefs underestimated her which was their downfall. That shook Rock a bit and even feared that he might lose to her, while Bonnie was ready to beat Rock.

New restaurant design

The next morning, Rock and Bonnie began to work on their restaurant ideas. The finalists met up with Hell’s Kitchen architect Jon Janavs to describe their visions of their restaurant. Bonnie’s vision was a more classical approach with mismatched china, while Rock wanted a more contemporary theme to his restaurant that had matching decor. After their discussion with Janavs, both of them met Jean-Philippe to discuss what the waiting staff would be wearing. Bonnie wanted all the waiters dressed in black, with the women wearing fitted pants, while Rock’s idea for the waiters to wear jeans was rejected.

As construction began, Rock and Bonnie met with their respective Sous Chefs, Scott for Rock, and Mary-Ann for Bonnie, to discuss some menu ideas. Bonnie had a clear vision for her menu as it featured a lot of her favorite foods to eat, while Rock struggled to get his vision to Scott as he was not prepared for his menu.

Las Vegas trip

Before the final two could check up on the progress of their restaurants, Ramsay approached the two and told them that there was one more matter of business to take care of. He announced that he was taking both of them to Las Vegas. The two excitedly packed their bags, and flew on a private jet. While flying, Ramsay recalled the time Rock had an angry outburst after losing the Lobster Challenge, the time when he served frozen gnocchi for his signature dish, and the time he put up Brad for elimination instead of Josh after the last team service. Ramsay also expressed surprise to Bonnie on how much she improved despite the fact she failed to cook quail eggs on the opening service, and her impressive anger during the assertiveness training before the previous service. Each of them said they would be the winner, which caused Ramsay to note that it would be a fierce battle.

They landed in Las Vegas and made their way to the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa, which would be the grand prize for the winner. The final two made it to their room and saw a promo clip of their time in Hell’s Kitchen on the Television, which excited them.

Final challenge

Later that night, Ramsay took Rock and Bonnie outside and told them they would be getting drinks. When they went through the VIP area, they saw a huge crowd of people. Ramsay introduced the audience to the final two and told them that they would be competing in their final challenge. In front of the live audience, both would cook their new signature dishes from their menu in 30 minutes, which would be judged by some of Vegas’ best chefs.

After changing into their chef’s jackets, Rock and Bonnie got to work on their dishes. Rock was making his surf and turf dish that had fried chicken and crab cakes, while Bonnie cooked her shrimp and lobster pasta. Despite the pressure, both were able to cook their dishes and plate them in time.

Returning back to the live audience, Rock and Bonnie were ready to be judged. The first judge up was Sean Griffin, Chef De Cuisine of Caesar’s Palace who went with Bonnie’s dish for her perfectly cooked shrimp. The next judge up was Gerald Chin, Executive Chef at the MGM Grand, and he picked Rock’s dish tying the score at 1 each. The third judge up was Anthony Carron, Cooperate Executive Chef of the Michael Mina Group. He chose Bonnie’s dish, putting her back in the lead 2-1. The fourth judge was TV star Robin Leach, known for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and he favored Bonnie’s dish as well which kept her lead at 3-1. Ramsay then revealed that the fifth judge was Season 1 winner Michael Wray, who, since winning, opened up his own restaurant named Tatou. Michael tasted both dishes and decided on Rock’s dish, closing the gap 3-2, with Bonnie still in the lead. After, Ramsay revealed that the sixth judge was Season 2 winner Heather West, and just like Michael, she preferred Rock’s dish. The score became a tie at 3. To break the tie, Ramsay invited Chris Fearnow and Bob Finch, the General Manager and the Executive Chef of the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa. After tasting both dishes, both of them agreed that Bonnie’s dish was better and she won the challenge 4-3.

After the challenge, Ramsay took Rock and Bonnie to a skyscraper and celebrated with champagne. Then, Ramsay gave them an invitation to New York City, and eat at the Gordon Ramsay New London NYC in the chef’s table while spending a few days in the city, which they accepted.

Team select

Later that night, Rock and Bonnie returned to Hell’s Kitchen and while the crew was working on their restaurants, the final two shared one last meal together. As the two ate, Rock admitted that he changed a lot in the competition and sometimes he can doubt his own skills, though Bonnie knew he was trying to use psychological warfare against her.

The next morning, Rock and Bonnie were relaxing in the dorms when Brad, Jen, Julia, Melissa, Josh, and Vinnie came in. Everybody was excited to see each other again and caught up. Brad was shocked that Rock and Bonnie were the finalists, but he was rooting for Rock to win. Bonnie and Jen reconnected, with the latter rooting for Bonnie to win. As Bonnie was checking out the gift basket, Julia, still disappointed in getting eliminated so close to the end, ended up breaking into tears. Julia went into the bathroom to calm down, and Bonnie knew that Julia really wanted to win. A phone call from Ramsay occurred, with him calling everybody down to the kitchen.

Ramsay welcomed back the returning chefs but noticed that Julia was still crying, so he asked her if she was okay. Julia claimed she was, but stated that her low point was being here right now and seeing the finalists. Recalling a few moments, Ramsay reminded Josh of his elimination in the middle of the first black jacket service, Vinnie getting a raw egg smashed in the chest in the third service, Jen winning the American Classic’s Challenge, Brad’s poor performance during the Army and Navy Service Challenge, Melissa’s poor performance during the fourth service, and Julia winning the Alhambra High School Lunch Challenge. Then, Ramsay told Bonnie that since she won the last challenge, she got first pick of her team. Bonnie immediately chose Jen while Rock chose Brad for being the strongest of the five remaining. Bonnie’s second pick was Melissa, due to being nervous about Julia’s emotional state, and Rock chose Vinnie for his second choice as he thought Vinnie would do well under good direction. That left Julia and Josh as the last choices, and Bonnie picked Julia as she wanted the girls back together but was unaware that Julia was secretly rooting for Rock to win. That left Rock with Josh as his last pick, although Rock admitted it was better Josh than Julia as he was concerned for her state at the moments. Ramsay sent everyone back upstairs so Rock and Bonnie could get their teams up to speed, and the episode ended on a cliffhanger.

 

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.

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.

Reward

The red team was taken to a photoshoot for In Touch magazine. The three women got a makeover for the shoot and were joined by Ramsay.

Punishment

The blue team had to participate in Recycling Day, which meant going through the garbage and sorting out the recyclables. That punishment infuriated Rock, not just because the blue team lost to a simple lobster bisque, but also because he grew up in the ghetto and never had to go dumpster diving. His angry attitude shocked his teammates as they never saw him explode like that before. As the blue team sorted through the trash, Sous Chef Scott told Rock that he was needed at the photoshoot. However, it turned out that he was forced to separate the trash there as well, which only infuriated him more. Rock later claimed that he would never force his own brigade to sort through trash.

Before service

The red team returned from their reward and got changed into their chefs jackets. Rock was left alone to calm himself down, and he remained determined to do what he did best. Later that night, both teams got to work on prepping for that night’s service. As this was Melissa’s first time working with the blue team in service, Brad made sure she was focused and Melissa herself wanted to make a good impression. In the red kitchen, the three women were focused on their work and wanted to prove that they could do service without Melissa.

Ramsay had both teams lined up and told Bonnie that her grilled lobster salad was going to be on the menu that night, much to her pleasure. He also told the blue team that as the second part of their punishment, they would have to go and grab the lobster from the tank when the orders would come in the kitchen, and Josh volunteered to do it. Ramsay also warned Melissa that this was her last chance to make a comeback. With both teams at their stations, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

The first order for the red team came in and Ramsay reminded the red team that with only three members, they had to move quicker. Josh was sent out to get a lobster for the red kitchen. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay noticed that their pot of water was not boiling, and Brad revealed they just put in fresh water 5 minutes ago, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Josh sent the red team’s lobster to Julia, and the red team sent up their first order of appetizers out of the kitchen. Brad sent up his risotto, but he made too much as three dishes were brought instead of two needed. Ramsay noted that the blue team were not off to a great start and ordered them to not panic. The red kitchen continued to communicate well because of Jen’s leadership, and Ramsay praised that. The red team’s customers were happy for getting food, but the blue kitchen’s customers were still waiting for their food.

Melissa’s scallops were too thin, and Ramsay was upset that everything she touched was screwed and reminded her that this was not the opening night. In the red kitchen, they managed to push out 28 of their appetizers and Ramsay stated that they had the best start in Hell’s Kitchen so far, and urged them to not stop. However, Bonnie’s pan soon caught fire and was uncertain what to do, forcing Ramsay to come in a put the pan in the sink and lectured her on fire safety. In the blue kitchen, Josh prepared the mashed potatoes, but they turned out to be runny as he did not put enough salt into them. This angered Ramsay who compared the blue team to a bunch of fucking babies. The red team’s fast momentum continued as Jen and Bonnie were getting praise for their dishes and Sous Chef Mary-Ann urged them to keep it up. Brad sent up another order of risotto, but it turned out to be overcooked.

An hour and a half into service, and the red team continued to pull ahead on entrées. Julia soon got confused on the sea bass order and panicked, but Ramsay reminded her what he was waiting at her station. When she looked unresponsive, Ramsay asked if she wanted to leave but she retorted that she wanted to stay. Melissa brought up her monkfish, but it was overcooked and Ramsay was angrier that she did not notice it when everyone else knew it was overcooked, while also saying that it looks like regurgitated dog shit. Things got even worse when Melissa revealed that she only had one more monkfish left which meant that none of the six on order would be sent out. A desperate Ramsay then had Rock move from the garnish station over to the fish station in hope that he could save the blue team’s disastrous service, forcing Melissa on the garnish station. Meanwhile, the red team got to work on their last two tickets, but an argument between Bonnie and Julia over Bonnie’s meat erupted, and Julia broke down in tears over the stress catching up to her. In the blue kitchen, they were running out of mashed potatoes and no one knew where to find more. Their problems continued when Jean-Philippe brought back an entire table of six entrées for being overcooked. That served to be the final straw for Ramsay who ordered the blue kitchen to shut down their service.

Post-Mortem

After a lopsided dinner service, Ramsay bluntly told the blue team that a team which had 2 Sous chefs (Josh and Brad), an Executive chef (Rock), and a Line Chef (Melissa) lost to a team that had a Nanny (Bonnie), a Short Order Cook (Julia), and a Pastry Chef (Jen). Ramsay also reminded Josh that he was the only chef at the moment that still have not had a decent service, and told Brad that this service was his worst one yet. Ramsay ordered the blue team to come up with two nominations for elimination.

The blue team met to discuss who they should nominate, with Melissa knowing that she would be up for elimination. Brad asked if they should base their nominations on that night’s service, which would be Melissa and himself, or on overall performance, which would be Melissa and Josh. Josh argued that he should not be up for elimination, believing that he had decent services, but the blue team agreed to do nominations based on overall performance.

Elimination

When the blue team was lined up for elimination and Ramsay asked them if their decision was difficult, the team answered that it was, with Rock shaking his head, disagreeing. Ramsay, tired of the bullshit, called Melissa down, even before asking who the nominees were, and eliminated her on-the-spot for her worsening performances, not improving since her transfer to the blue team, and running out of chances. During her exit interview, Melissa admitted to being the worst chef in the blue team that night, and knew Ramsay sent her home for wasting her second chance.

Despite Melissa’s elimination, Ramsay declared he was not done yet, and called Brad and Josh down. He criticized Josh’s constant poor performances and told Brad that his performance was worse than shit and that he complimented shit. Both pleaded their case on why they should stay, and despite Ramsay’s disappointment in both of them, he gave both of them another chance and ordered them to get back in line. With both teams equal to three now, Ramsay dismissed the chefs for the night.

Ramsay’s comment: “That was really difficult today because Brad and Josh were absolutely horrible. With Melissa, she’s very assertive and she sounds like a leader but unfortunately, she doesn’t cook like a leader.”

My opinion

Melissa deserves to go up as well with Josh and Brad tonight while the red team have the best service.

My comment: Melissa was the best chef before the sixth episode but becoming the worst chef.