The fourth episode of Season 7 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, June 15, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the third episode. On that episode, one chef almost had a meltdown, dinner service was a vast improvement, and the first team switch occurred.

Intro

While going back to the dorms, Fran wished to not be nominated again, believed that Ramsay kept her for a reason, and added that she would be very happy if she could prove him right. In the dining room, Ramsay asked Salvatore to stay a few minutes to have a talk, and said that he needed to bounce back after getting yelled at instead of disintegrating. Salvatore agreed, was dismissed, and said that he would give his best the following night, despite knowing that he would be yelled at. Before going upstairs, Ramsay asked him if he was wearing an Italian suit, which Salvatore responded that it did not matter as a suit was a suit, and that they were there to cook. Ramsay appreciated that answer, and Salvatore went to the dorms.

Very late in the night, everybody was asleep, except Scott and Salvatore, who were on the patio talking about the latter’s experience and work ethic. Salvatore knew that he was the least experienced person at the moment but did not want to lose, so Scott agreed to help him be successful to make sure the blue team would win, acknowledging that both of them were having a great work relationship together. Then, he explained to Salvatore that Ramsay wanted to see him strong, Salvatore acknowledged that Scott was the only one at that moment that has been honest with him and respected him for that, and Scott concluded by convincing Salvatore to follow what he was doing as he felt it would be beneficial for him.

Team challenge

The next morning, the chefs went downstairs, where Ramsay told them that they had to be creative while thinking on-the-spot, before revealing a craps table. When she saw the table, Maria was worried as she was from Las Vegas, and told it was bad news. For the Craps Challenge, each chef would roll a die once, and choose an ingredient starting with the letter it landed on. Before rolling the die, Scott jokingly asked Ramsay if he could blow on it, but Ramsay categorically refused. The die landed on H, and Scott chose halibut, much to Jay’s dismay as they were cooking with it every night. Jason landed on E and chose endive, Ed landed on S and chose salsify, and Benjamin was very happy about that choice as he found it a great vegetable that would balance the dish. Then, Benjamin landed on C and chose crab, Jay landed on P and chose peas, and Salvatore landed on B. After Jay expressed his concern that Salvatore would choke, the latter chose bacon, which made his teammates proud as they found it was a good choice. For the red team, Fran wished for lobster, but landed on B, and took a lot of time to think, before choosing beets. Nilka landed on S and chose shallots, Autumn landed on M and chose mango after declaring her mind was completely blank, Siobhan landed on H and chose ham, Maria landed on T and chose turnips, and finally, Holli landed on D and chose duck, much to her teammates’ relief.

Both teams had 30 minutes to cook their dishes, and in the red kitchen, Autumn quickly led the team vocally, while in the blue kitchen, the men were very focused on their own jobs. With 20 minutes left, Nilka was about to slice the duck, but Autumn interfered with her job by telling her how to do it and wanting to do it herself, much to Nilka’s annoyance who considered Autumn a control freak, and reminded that they all had knife skills. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore was trying to help anybody, but only Scott accepted his help, saying that his job as a chef was to coach and motivate the ones that had fewer experience. When Salvatore asked Scott if he seasoned his fish, the latter pushed him away by saying he should let him do his own job. With 2 minutes left, Autumn was ready to slice the duck, Ramsay suggested to not slice it too early, and Maria agreed with that suggestion by saying it took a second to slice the duck. But, Autumn insisted that it was time to plate, and Maria was annoyed and just wanted to tell Autumn to shut up. Eventually, both teams completed and plated their respective dishes in time.

During the judging, Scott described the blue team’s dish, which was a pan-roasted halibut with a bacon, pea and crab ragout, salsify purée, and a crab and endive salad. Ramsay deemed most of the dish beautifully cooked, except for the salsify who he said was bitter as it was fried, leading him to suggest not to fry salsify. After, Nilka described the red team’s dish, which was a mango-glazed pan-seared duck with a turnip purée and ham, mango and beets. Holli added that they also used tarragon and duck fat, but Ramsay deemed the turnips boring despite tasting delicious. He complimented the use of the duck fat, but not the fact that there was more of it than meat on the plate. After much deliberation, Ramsay declared the blue team winners by a fraction, while adding that if the red team’s duck was cooked perfectly, they would have won. Nilka apologized to her teammates, and Autumn blamed the latter as she knew the duck had too much fat on it. Finally, Nilka stated that she hated losing, and wanted to die.

Reward

The blue team was rewarded with an indoor skydiving activity. When he learned the reward, Jason was dismayed as he thought they would actually jump out of a plane, and declared that he was not skydiving as he was not a bird. When the men went outside, Jason was the only one that was not excited by the reward.

Arrived at iFly, the men saw Ramsay in the wind tunnel, and Jason expressed relief that they would not jump out of an actual plane. When Ramsay came out of the tunnel, the men went inside, suited up, and began the activity. Benjamin was the first person who tried it, and said that he enjoyed it and that they really needed to relax while doing it. After, Jason tried it, his teammates laughed at the vibrations on his cheeks, and he declared that it was amazing to the point that he wanted to buy a wind tunnel, put it in his backyard and charge his neighborhood.

Punishment

The red team was punished by cleaning the front entrance of the restaurant, which included the floor, the carpet, and the mirrors, as well as prepping both kitchens for the next service. When they began, Jean-Philippe explained them exactly what to do, and Siobhan expected that he would like the entrance to be perfect just like the paste in his hair. During the punishment, Autumn declared that she hated losing, Maria thought that prep was more important than vacuuming, and Nilka told that sweat was pouring out of her face. Later, Jean-Philippe did his quality control by putting a white glove, and touching the frames of the mirrors and portraits to see if dust was still on them. He told Nilka that there was still some dust on some of them, and that she was sweating a lot, which she acknowledged by saying that she was working hard.

After that, the women began prepping their kitchen, but Maria started to be stressed out about the time as she acknowledged they had to prep the blue kitchen too, and was eager to finally get prep done.

Before service

When the men came back from their reward, they entered the red kitchen while the women were still prepping. When they walked by, Maria apologized to them without saying why, Jay acknowledged it, talked about it with Scott, and the latter started to be worried as he thought the men would not be well-prepared for dinner service. In the red kitchen, Maria convinced her teammates to not hit the panic button, but when Sous Chef Andiinformed them that they were all losing their techniques, not going towards the win, and that they had only an hour left to prep both kitchens, Maria started to cry. Fran convinced her not to cry as they would all do it, and Maria left the kitchen to go to the hallway stairs. She declared that she was stressed out as she was working as fast as she could, sat on the stairs, thought that Ramsay would be very upset and eat them alive, and after, Sous Chef Andi went to talk to her. On the patio, Maria told Sous Chef Andi that she was really worried as everything in the kitchen was a mess, but the latter motivated her by saying she should step up her game as she was only working with food. Maria was motivated, and said that Sous Chef Andi was right as she wanted to shine.

When Ramsay asked both teams to line up, he told Maria to bring her lovely face, and she understood it as he thought she was pretty, which made her really happy. When both teams were lined up, Ramsay revealed that they would be hosting chefs tables, and Scott thought it would not be a curveball as working for Ramsay meant that they were just focusing on his expectations. After, Ramsay informed that the red team would be serving Kevin Frasier and his wife, and that the blue team would be serving Debi Mezar and her husband, Gabriele Corcos. While getting ready, Autumn motivated her teammates, and Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

In addition to the chefs tables, Jay and Erica McGraw, Carrie Preston, and Ken Hamlin were in attendance. Ramsay called the first ticket in the blue kitchen, Scott was motivated to win, and called back the order a couple of times, much to Jason’s annoyance. Then, Scott interfered with Jason’s job by giving him clear instructions, thinking that he was the worst cook of the team at the moment, while bragging that he was a leader, a helper and a motivator. Jason was annoyed as he knew Scott was trying to make him look bad in front of Ramsay, and Salvatore asked him for a time on the pasta, but Scott answered four minutes for him. While Scott was telling Jason how to cook the pasta, Jay declared that he did not like the way he was talking to people as he was very condescending, while adding that he would beat him in the neck and face if he would see him in a dark alley. While Jason clearly showed his annoyance about Scott giving him instructions, the latter was dismayed as he thought he was not listening, but when Jason sent his first capellini to the pass, it was accepted. In the red kitchen, Siobhan sent her first capellini to the pass, but it was containing lobster instead of crab. She was schooled by Ramsay, who told her to not cook like a zombie, Holli knew that lobster and crab were different, told that Siobhan must get it together, and Ramsay told the latter that half of the table was not eating because of her mistake. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore sent his snapper to the pass, but it was raw, and Ramsay ordered him to get it back in the pan, while urging him to stop panicking. Salvatore remembered what Scott told him the previous night, and to just focus on his thing while not taking it personally. At the chefs table, Mezar and Corcos noticed that Salvatore’s face was red, thought he might have an aneurism, and Ramsay called the blue team a bunch of fucking Muppets. In the red kitchen, Siobhan’s second attempt at the capellini was also containing lobster, but when she talked back about it saying that it was written crab on the container, she acknowledged it was indeed lobster when Ramsay showed it to her. Ramsay was dismayed that she did not spot it twice, she found the container with crab, and started over while almost panicking. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore sent his second attempt at the snapper, but he was called down by Ramsay to take a look at it, only for the latter to say that it was perfectly cooked, which relieved Salvatore. Scott took all the credits for Salvatore’s success by saying that he followed his advice from the previous night, and thought that with the help of his own leadership and technical abilities, Salvatore could be an asset to the team.

Both teams were sending out appetizers at a good pace, and in the red kitchen, Nilka was working on her first entrées. She was determined to have all her temperatures perfect as she knew there was a lot of pressure on the meat station. Autumn motivated Nilka, told the rest of her teammates to keep communicate, much to Ramsay’s praise, who declared it was finally sounding like a proper team, and when Nilka sent her beef to the pass, it was praised for being perfectly cooked, which made her very proud of herself. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore’s first salmon was cooked perfectly, and he was congratulated by Jason, who acknowledged that not only did Salvatore redeemed himself, he knocked the ball out of the park. Meanwhile, Ed’s mashed potatoes were rejected for being too hard, he was schooled by Ramsay for not cooking them properly, and Jay was dismayed as he said it was not difficult to cook mashed potatoes. Ed was disappointed in himself, apologized to Ramsay, but despite that, customers were enjoying their meals. In the red kitchen, Autumn was ready with her salmon, but when she grabbed it with tongs, she dropped it on counter, and Ramsay was furious about the fact that she did not even seem to care. Ramsay went to the fish station, schooled Autumn for not using a spatula and disrespecting the food, and Nilka was amused that the “princess” got yelled at. Autumn was frustrated as she just did not use a spatula, and Ramsay ordered her to show some respect towards her food. In the dining room, customers started to lose their patience, and in the blue kitchen, Scott delivered his first beef to the pass, but they were rare instead of medium. Ramsay ordered the whole team to touch it, all of them acknowledged it was rare, but Scott insisted that he felt it was medium, before Ramsay told him that he was miles off, and ordered him to get it back in the oven. Scott bragged once again about the fact that his temperatures were correct usually, and that Ramsay was probably having higher expectations towards him due to his position as an executive chef. Scott put his beef back in the oven while almost bumping into Salvatore, and Ramsay asked him what was going on. In the dining room, Jean-Philippe convinced a table to start eating despite not all of them having received their entrées, and in the red kitchen, Nilka sent perfectly cooked Wellingtons to the chefs table, and while she was very proud of herself as she did not work a lot with Wellingtons before, Fran was also proud as she kicked ass and had the situation under control.

In the blue kitchen, Scott sent his Wellingtons to the pass, but they were raw, and a dismayed Ramsay ordered the whole team to touch them. He berated Scott, asked him what was he doing, and Jason told that he should be the next eliminated as he fucked the team up twice already and destroyed them. Jay was not impressed by Scott’s attempt at leadership as he was not able to back it up with his cooking skills, Scott gave three minutes for his refire, and Salvatore impressed Ramsay again with perfectly cooked halibut. He went to the chefs table to serve it, and declared that he was happy to communicate in Italian while calling it a nice relief. In the red kitchen, entrées were flying out at a good pace because of Nilka’s strong performance and the good communication, and in the blue kitchen, Scott finally delivered perfectly cooked Wellingtons, which were well-received by the customers. Scott called it a definite wakeup call for him as he acknowledged he had to pay more attention to his own station. Both teams rallied to serve their remaining entrées while being very vocal, Fran and Benjamin started to serve their desserts, and service was completed in two hours and fifteen minutes. Nilka was very proud and felt that they kicked butts all over the world, and both chefs table left by congratulating their respective teams for their good job. Finally, in the blue kitchen, Jay called the service relatively well despite a bumpy start.

Post-mortem

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay congratulated them on how good they were, and added that he was amazed by that. Then, he singled out Salvatore from the blue team, by saying he could cook and that he should stop downgrading himself to a simple pizza chef, and Nilka from the red team, by saying that she did a good job and cooked all the meat to perfection despite not having a lot of experience in fine dining. Then, both of them were asked to nominate one of their respective teammates for elimination, before being dismissed.

While going back to the dorms, Nilka told that she did not expect that request from Ramsay, but that she would take that responsibility. On the patio, she immediately targeted Autumn for being yelled at a lot on fish, but the latter retorted that the only thing she messed up was not using a spatula for an order of salmon, while considering the rest of her service correct. Maria was annoyed by her constant excuses for everything and added that she sucked, Holli recalled the lobster incident from Siobhan, the latter recited exactly what happened, and prayed that nothing wrong would happen to her, while adding that she was feeling very nervous. Nilka was determined to make her own decision by herself while not letting anybody make her go against her instinct, but Autumn was convinced that she would not be eliminated.

On the blue side, Jay acknowledged it was a tough decision, Ed admitted that Ramsay was upset with him as he made some stupid moves, but did not think that tables were sitting and waiting on the pass because of him. In the dorms, Salvatore and Scott were alone and talking, and Salvatore acknowledged that despite the latter being his friend and helping him a lot, his mistakes were big and he was nervous. However, Scott did not believe he was the worst cook nor the worst leader, and added that because he was working well with Salvatore, he was ready to trust him. Scott admitted that he was happy Salvatore had a good service, and while the latter was happy too, he was also sad that he had to nominate one of his teammates. Salvatore added that Scott was his only friend in the competition at the moment, convinced him that he was good, but also added that it was a competition despite having somebody to help him, and that it was not easy.

Team switch

Nilka announced Autumn as her nominee, and Salvatore announced Scott as his. Autumn and Scott were called down, and during her plea, Autumn was called the appendix of the red team by Ramsay, as everybody was trying to get rid of her. But, she did not believe it was true as they needed her, before Ramsay reminded her that they just nominated her. After, Ramsay recalled the dropped salmon incident while calling her soulless, but she disagreed by saying that she loved food and would not give up her entire life to cook if she was indeed soulless. Then, Ramsay told Scott that he was shit on a shovel, and while the latter admitted that he cooked like an asshole, he bragged one more time, about the fact that he was the strongest leader by far, so much that it was to his detriment as he was too concerned about his teammates. Ramsay acknowledged that he was talking like a politician, was full of shit, and added that he was not as good as he thought he was. After deliberation, Ramsay asked both of them to take their jackets off, and transferred them to the other team. So, Autumn went to the blue team, and Scott went to the red.

After both of them went back in line with their respective new teams, Ramsay urged them to make their new chance count, before dismissing everybody. While being dismissed, Jason was amazed as he truly believed Scott should have been eliminated while being happy that he was on the red team, Autumn was determined to not mess up again, declared that her game face was on, and that the red team would be sorry to see her go. Finally, Scott was energized again to cook with the women as he was with the men, and declared that he would come out to play.

Ramsay’s comment: “After our best service yet, I decided to give Autumn and Scott another chance. But they better excel, or they’ll both be gone.”

Trivia

• This is the first episode of the show where absolutely no chef is eliminated. There have been episodes in the past where he refused to get rid of anyone during final eliminations, but those episodes usually resulted in the loss of a member through other causes such as injury and anger during service.

The third episode of Season 7 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on June 15, 2010, airing as a double feature alongside the fourth episode. On that episode, a lunch service challenge took place, one chef fought through a burn during service, and another almost walked out after getting yelled at too much.

Intro

While going back to the dorms, Benjamin was upset as he wished Jason would have been eliminated instead, and Jason was angry at his teammates for their comments at elimination and knew that they made the wrong decision.

On the patio, Jason confronted his teammates by saying that shit was not cool, and that he felt backstabbed by them, while adding that they were not doing that where he came from. Jay acknowledged Jason had a bad temper, reminded him that it was following him in the kitchen, but Jason told him to get the fuck out of there, that he was fucking with his life and family, and added that he was not the weakest, while slamming the chair he was holding. Nilka tried to calm him down while stating that he just went out of control, but Jason was still furious and stated that he could break the chair with his bare hands. Maria was happy to see that as the men were falling apart and were right where the women wanted them to be, and finally, Jason left the conversation, still upset.

Team challenge

The next day, both teams went to the dining room, and Ramsay reminded them that there was no communication, and complete silence. Then, he asked what they had in common, which Jason correctly answered teamwork, and he introduced the Marching Band Lunch Service Challenge, where both teams would cook a menu consisting of burgers, salads, and fries to the marching band of the University of Southern California, with the team serving all their tickets first winning the challenge. Autumn was confident as it was not difficult to cook and bragged about the fact that she was able to cook on a higher level than most people.

After, both teams went in their kitchens to prep, with Nilka being motivated to win after losing all the challenges since the beginning, by saying that they had to stay focused, synchronized, and just do it. In the blue kitchen, Jason was still upset about the previous night, but was motivated to continue pushing as he still wanted to work at the Savoy. So, he acknowledged he had to work hard but watch his back at the same time. When both teams finished their prep, the marching band entered, with Siobhan saying that it was great to see them and that she was having goose bumps on her arms, and Jay saying that he was enjoying cheerleaders from any team. Both teams went to their stations while motivating each other and waiting for the first ticket, and in the dining room, the band members were eager to eat.

Ramsay called the first ticket in the blue kitchen, was annoyed because Jason did not give any call back, and asked the men if they could work as a team, which they answered they could. In the red kitchen, Fran and Autumn were showing great teamwork while dressing the salads, with the latter being very proud of it. Because of them, the first salad bowls went to the dining room very quickly. The customers on the blue side started to lose their patience because of the long wait, and in the blue kitchen, Sous Chef Scott urged Jason to get the first salad out quickly, with Jay thinking that the latter was still upset about being nominated the previous night and that he had the potential of holding the team down. Then, Jason received help from Benjamin, Ramsay was still annoyed at Jason not calling back the order, and Jason acknowledged that Ramsay was hard on him about not calling back. When he did it for a third time, Ramsay told him he was really getting pissed because of that, and Jason noticed that it was a two-way sword as if he was too quiet or too vocal, it was bad either way. Because of Benjamin’s help, Jason succeeded to send his first salad bowl to the dining room.

In the red kitchen, Nilka aggressively asked Jamie for the burgers, but the latter answered that they were thick and would take a while, and Ramsay asked for a time on the burgers and chicken, before Maria, determined not to lose another challenge, jumped on the grill station to help Jamie. Maria was upset that Jamie was always saying that she had it, and decided to drive the bus for her, which Jamie allowed her to do. In the blue kitchen, Scott sent his burgers to the pass, but one of them was raw, dismaying Ramsay, who asked him to check everything, and Scott started his burgers over while motivating his teammates. In the red kitchen, Jamie finally sent her burgers to the dining room because of Maria’s strong help, and both teams were neck-and-neck at three tickets left each. So, both teams rallied and pushed to serve their remaining tickets first while the band members in the dining room motivated their respective teams, and in the end, it came down to the last serving of fries from both teams. The red team succeeded to serve them before the blue team, therefore winning the challenge. The women celebrated by cheering and hugging each other, with Maria being very proud and excited about that win, while in the blue kitchen, Ed was ready to take the responsibility for the loss as he was not fast enough with the fries. After, Ramsay thanked the marching band members for being there, and they left the restaurant.

Reward

The women were rewarded with a day at the Malibu Beach Inn, with Siobhan feeling incredible to have won a day with her feet in the sand, as she claimed not having won a lot of things in her life. Back in the dorms, while getting ready, Autumn declared it was nice to look like her everyday self and be a woman again, and Fran stated that she would wear her milf outfit while asking Nilka if she knew what it meant. When she revealed what it meant, Nilka called her stupid.

Arrived outside, the women entered in their vintage cars, and during the ride, Fran told that they would only find those cars in California. Also, Maria told her teammates they deserved it, and acknowledged it was the start of a new beginning, while adding that the men were feeling shitty at that moment. Arrived at the resort, they were greeted by Ramsay on the beach, with Fran being surprised that he was smiling, and Holli saying that he was cute and looking like a real person. When the women arrived on the beach, Ramsay proposed them another challenge, much to Fran’s dismay as she thought they had a day off, and he revealed the challenge was a game of soccer against his own family. He introduced his four children and his wife to the red team, and his children congratulated the women on their victory.

During the soccer match, Holli acknowledged she was wearing the wrong shirt as one of her breasts might pop up of it at any moment, and Autumn acknowledged the red team did not have a chance against Ramsay as he played soccer professionally. In the end, Ramsay and his family won 3-0. For the rest of the day, the women rested on the beach while bonding as a team, with Fran feeling like a movie star as they were getting food and drink, and Autumn feeling that it was a good day for her team as they bonded and rested. Finally, the women built the Hell’s Kitchen logo in the sand, and celebrated their victory by clinking their drinks together.

Punishment

The men were punished by cleaning a section of the Los Angeles River to help the Heal the Bay organization, while wearing yellow jumpsuits. Jason wondered if they were serious when he was handed his jumpsuit, and when they got on the bus, which was very small and old, Salvatore told that they had what they deserved as it was a punishment. During the bus ride, Jason described the bus as horrible, old, and bumpy, and when they arrived, Benjamin revealed that he thought they would go to an actual river and not a cement river, before Jay declared that it was smelling ass.

Outside, the men were introduced to Nick and James from Heal the Bay, and Nick explained that they must clean the trash from the river as it would get in the food they would cook. So, the men got to work while joking around with the products they were founding, Jason called it crazy, and Benjamin told that it sucked. Later, when he found a pole in the water, Salvatore jokingly asked if anybody would like to do the Olympics with him, Ed acknowledged there was a lot of weird things coming out of the river, and Jason begged the country to stop littering as they were causing a mess.

At the end of the day, the men filled up a huge garbage bin with trash, with Benjamin saying that it was a rewarding punishment as they worked as a team all day, wished that they would work like that during service, and added that he did not want to wear the yellow jumpsuit again. While taking his sucks off, Jay jokingly said that he did not think the women would like to cuddle with them that night.

Before service

The next day, because both teams bonded the previous day, they felt very united while prepping. Also, Benjamin was very happy to see Jason smiling again and working as a team member despite being nominated the previous night, and in the red kitchen, Fran was determined to show Ramsay what she was capable of as she was kicked out during the first service and worked tableside during the second. However, when she grabbed a pot of hot water to throw away because it was too salty, she dropped some of it on her left arm, and she sustained a serious burn. She did not want to show any weakness despite knowing that it was bad, and was determined to stay for the service and decided not to tell anybody about it. When Ramsay entered the kitchen, he asked what happened, and Fran explained that she dropped some water, but not that she burned herself.

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay informed that both teams were extremely slow during service so far, and that because of that, Jean-Philippe had to buy some time to the impatient customers. Then, he dedicated Holli and Salvatore as assistant maître d’s, and everybody went to their stations, while both of them changed into their maître d’ outfits. In the dining room, the two of them got a little training from Jean-Philippe, and Holli revealed that she had experience in front of the house as she did it when she was 16-years-old as a hostess and server at an IHOP. After, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe, Holli, and Salvatore to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

When the first customers entered, Holli and Salvatore were already taking their first orders, but they were slow to bring them to the kitchen, much to Ramsay’s annoyance. When Salvatore presented his first ticket, it was rejected because of his bad handwriting, with Ramsay asking if he was writing in Japanese. Holli’s first ticket was accepted, and Ramsay called it in the red kitchen. In the blue kitchen, the men were still waiting for Salvatore’s first ticket, he was pushed by Jean-Philippe to go faster, and he admitted that he did not know how to write in English. So, Jean-Philippe wrote the ticket himself, and Ramsay yelled at Salvatore as the customers were there for dinner and not breakfast. When Salvatore presented his ticket to Ramsay, he admitted that Jean-Philippe wrote it for him, dismaying Ramsay, and the first ticket was called in the blue kitchen.

In the red kitchen, Maria sent her first risotto to the pass, but it was overcooked and under seasoned, and she admitted that she did not cook that much risotto before. Her second attempt was still overcooked and stuck to the plates, she was embarrassed, and Nilka acknowledged that Maria was lacking self-confidence. So, she decided to help her, and because of her help, Maria’s third attempt was accepted. In the blue kitchen, Scott was working on his first appetizers, and rejected Ed’s help, but the latter did not care. Scott was excited to work on appetizers as it was an opportunity for him to stand out, but the first potatoes he brought to the pass did not have any color. Ramsay berated him, showed him the potatoes that the red team did, and ordered him to stop serving shit. While Scott started over, in the dining room, Holli and Salvatore worked hard to keep the customers from losing their cool, with the latter saying that his teammates were putting extra love to the salmon. In the blue kitchen, the men were moving on to entrées, but Jason was behind on garnish, and Ramsay was dismayed because he only brought two carrots and his mashed potatoes were not ready yet. Benjamin wondered why he could not do it as it was very easy, and Jason thought that he had to be on guard as his teammates did not want him on the team. He was motivated by Scott, Ramsay asked for the garnishes, and after Jason brought them to the pass, Benjamin was praised for cooking the Wellingtons perfectly.

More than two hours into service, entrées were flying out of both kitchens, but Salvatore brought back a dish that the customer asked for medium-well, and Ramsay berated him as that request was not written on the ticket. So, Ramsay ordered Salvatore to enter the kitchen with the plate, explain the situation to his teammates, and after he did, Ramsay did not put the blame on Benjamin and berated Salvatore by ordering him to take the plate and fuck off to the dining room. Salvatore was upset, told that he could not take it anymore, and started to walk out of Hell’s Kitchen by declaring he was breaking apart and that he was done, before Jean-Philippe tried to convince him to stay. Salvatore sat on one of the benches in the entrance, Jean-Philippe followed him and told to not take it personal as he knew Ramsay for 16 years and those kind of situations of humiliation. Salvatore decided to stay for Jean-Philippe to at least not give up on his team, but added that if the blue team would lose, he would nominate himself. Back in the dining room, Jean-Philippe told him to keep a smile on his face, and Holli returned a rare dish that was supposed to be medium-rare. Ramsay accepted the return, and ordered Fran to refire a medium-rare steak urgently. Autumn reminded her what she needed to refire, Fran stated that because Ramsay was watching her closely, she had to watch herself closely despite her injured hand. Siobhan asked for a time as she was ready to send her fish to the pass, and Ramsay reminded Fran that the beef had to be medium. She sent her beef to the pass, but it was raw, Ramsay schooled Fran while ordering the team to start the whole table over, and Autumn acknowledged Fran was getting flustered and lost control of her station. Then, Autumn reminded Fran what she needed once again, and Fran responded by requesting her help. In the blue kitchen, Jay asked Jason for a time on garnish, which he answered one minute, Ramsay asked for the halibut and the garnish, Jay was ready, but Jason gave 20 seconds, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Jay was dismayed as well by saying that his mother could do it better, and then, Scott jumped on the garnish station to help Jason, much to the latter’s annoyance, who said that he wanted to take a hot pan and slap his face. Scott was scrambling over Jason, stopping him to do his job properly, but reminded that he was just there to help as they were a team.

Three hours into service, Holli tried her best to please some unsatisfied customers by jokingly proposing more bread, but they refused. In the red kitchen, Ramsay was unsatisfied with Jamie’s mashed potatoes which were burned, much to his dismay, and he was even more angry when she was trying to explain herself. Siobhan acknowledged that Jamie needed help as she was not able to control her station herself, and accepted to take over the station, much to Ramsay’s annoyance, who told her to leave the station to Jamie. Then, the carrots were burning, when Ramsay asked for an explanation, Jamie did not give any as she declared it would never happen, and added that he was all over her ass, but not in a good way. After, Siobhan sent her halibut to the pass, but it was raw, and Ramsay schooled her about taking over Jamie’s station while not being able to cook properly on her own. So, she started over, and in the blue kitchen, the men were finally pushing out their entrées. On the following ticket, Benjamin was working on his beef, but Scott tried to interfere one more time, before being aggressively pushed away by Benjamin, who told that he was working for Ramsay and that if Scott was doing the same thing, they would have a better service. Benjamin was praised once again for perfectly cooking the beef, he was congratulated by Scott as well, and customers were satisfied.

In the red kitchen, Fran sent her beef, but it was medium instead of medium-rare, angering Ramsay, and when she told that she may have another one waiting, Ramsay was dismayed. Nilka told that Fran fucked the team up as she did not know her temperatures and everything was sent back, and added that she let her nerves get to her. Then, Ramsay ordered a perfectly cooked steak, but when Fran stuck her hand in the oven, the pain from her burn started to be excruciating, and she revealed her injury to Autumn by saying that she needed a shitload of help. Autumn suggested her to see a medic, but she refused to leave the kitchen and show her injury to her other teammates. Autumn insisted to take a look at her hand, but Fran aggressively told her to not look at it, but when Autumn continued to insist, Maria and Nilka told her to leave Fran alone. Then, Autumn revealed Fran’s injury to Sous Chef Andi, who talked about it to Ramsay, who called Fran to take a look at her hand. He told her that she was burned very seriously, and ordered her to go see a medic, much to her annoyance. So, she left the kitchen very emotional, and while she was with the medic, she declared that she did not care if her hand would fall off as she just wanted to finish cooking. The medic applied some lotion on her hand, and back in the red kitchen, Maria and Nilka took over the meat station for a quick moment, but Maria did not understand what temperature was called for the beef, much to Ramsay’s dismay. In the back store, Fran got a bandage applied over her hand, she returned in the kitchen and got back to work, while asking Siobhan for a time. Four hours into service, both teams rallied to complete the remaining tickets, with Fran being scared to lose as she could easily be the main target from her teammates. Eventually, both teams served all their tickets, and service was completed.

Post-mortem

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay reminded that even though they completed service, it did not have to be that painful. Then, he told that because of Scott’s uncolored potatoes incident, the women started much faster than the men, urged Fran to stop panicking, and declared the men winners, while praising Benjamin’s strong performance. After, he asked the women to nominate two people for elimination.

While going back to the dorms, Nilka was pissed to have lost again, stating that it sucked, and on the patio, Holli told that meat was the main thing she was bringing back in the kitchen. Also, Autumn acknowledged that the meat refires killed them, and Fran took responsibility for not telling anybody about her injury. Then, Nilka declared Fran as the obvious first nominee, but was stuck on the second person, before Siobhan considered Maria and Jamie. The latter was pissed as she did not thing she did second-worst, told that she had it, but Maria said that she always said that and that the only thing she had was an excess amount of weight. Then, Jamie considered Maria, which infuriated the latter who asked why she should be nominated, while reminding that at least she got the team out of the gates. But, Jamie still did not believe she did second-worst, and the team was stuck between who to nominate.

Elimination

Nilka announced Fran as the red team’s first nominee for the many refires she had and losing her composure, and Jamie as the second for burning a lot of things. Fran and Jamie were called down, and during their pleas, Jamie said that she had a great taste profile and was a great team player, with Ramsay adding that she was so much a team player that she let Siobhan take over her station. After, Fran stated that she had a drive while giving her burn as an example, but Ramsay told that he could not teach an old dog new tricks. Fran did not believe she was an old dog without new tricks, and wanted a second chance to prove it and adding that she could blame her hand for her mistakes, but refused to do it. After much deliberation, Ramsay told that he believed Fran could still fight back, and eliminated Jamie for her string of poor performances and letting her teammates take control of her station. During her exit interview, Jamie did not believe Ramsay made the right decision as she still thought she was a stronger cook than Fran.

After Jamie left, Ramsay told that services must not be that hard, and dismissed the chefs. While being dismissed, Fran was ready to show people what she had after still wanting to work through burns, Jay compared the red team to a bunch of girls who could not get their emotions together while adding that he could not get any happier, and Nilka told the blue team must watch out as all the red team’s dead weight was gone.

Ramsay’s comment: “To be a great chef, you need creativity, leadership qualities, and passion. Jamie had passion.”

The second episode of Season 7 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on June 8, 2010. On that episode, a supposed easy challenge turned into a disaster for one chef, another one made a fundamental mistake before service, and a shocking exit occurred.

Intro

While going back to the dorms, Jamie acknowledged the mistakes made by her team during the previous service and said that they should get their acts together. So, the women gathered around the couches and talked about the problems, with Autumn saying that they should not send their food if they do not think it would pass, and to not refuse help. However, Siobhan was annoyed because Autumn thought she knew everything and that she was the boss, and added that she would not put up with that. Then, Fran accused Autumn of not being a team player, which the latter disagreed and added that she could not care less what her teammates were thinking of her.

On the other side, the men did the same thing as the women on the patio, with Scott acknowledging that was fucking rough, Ed acknowledging that Ramsay expected perfection, and Andrew convinced his teammates that they all knew how to cook food while adding that they had to be confident in themselves. Andrew continued by declaring he was not intimidated by Ramsay as the food they were serving was not that good, and concluded by saying that he was making better food at home. After, Benjamin said that Mikey not communicating was the downfall, Jason did not want any of his teammates to be eliminated despite acknowledging Mikey was on borrowed time, and Mikey himself acknowledged he screwed up, was disappointed in himself, but could not wait to get better from that moment. Finally, Scott rallied his teammates by saying they must be supportive to each other.

Team challenge

The next morning, at 5 am, while the chefs were sleeping, Sous Chefs Scott and Andi came in the dorms with an alarm clock, headphones and amplifiers, and woke up the chefs with the sound of the alarm being amplified all over the dorms. Sous Chef Scott ordered everybody to get downstairs immediately, Mikey thought the alarm clock was much more bigger than it was, and Nilka thanked God that she was wearing a bra. Arrived downstairs, Ramsay asked the chefs who were ready to fight back, which they all answered they were, and reminded that they did a lot of basic mistakes the previous night. So, he introduced the Egg Relay Challenge, in which the chefs would form pairs to cook four egg dishes, which were poached, soft-boiled, sunny side up, and scrambled. Scott was confident as he proclaimed himself as a badass in the kitchen, and because the red team was one member down, Siobhan was tasked to cook the eggs on her own. She was nervous about that, but was ready to kick butts either way.

When the 5 minutes countdown began, the chefs ran in the kitchens, Autumn immediately suggested to Siobhan to work with her and Fran, which she agreed, and in the blue kitchen, Scott convinced his teammates to not burn their eggs. In the red kitchen, Autumn was cooking Siobhan’s sunny side up egg, while the latter focused only on her poached egg, and in the blue kitchen, Scott, who was paired with Andrew, was more focusing on Salvatore’s eggs than his own. Then, Salvatore asked Mikey how his scrambled egg was, which the latter answered it was fine, and Mikey confirmed that Salvatore was doing great, and was annoyed when Scott came over to interfere with their job, as it reminded him of the previous service. Eventually, everybody got their eggs cooked and plated in time.

On the first round, all of Maria and Nilka’s eggs were accepted, which made Maria proud of herself, but Salvatore and Mikey only scored with their poached and sunny side up eggs, which were the ones that Mikey cooked. Salvatore acknowledged that Scott interfered with their job, but also that he was not the best chef and that he at least was not bragging about it by pretending to be. The score was 4-2 for the red team, and on the second round, Siobhan presented her eggs that she was supposed to do on her own, but when Ramsay asked her how long she boiled her soft-boiled, she revealed that she got help from her teammates. Ramsay was dismayed, asked her why she did not do them on her own, which she answered that she got pressure from her teammates, and Nilka was immediately insulted by that statement. Then, Siobhan corrected by saying that Autumn forced her to do it, but the latter retorted that she only suggested her to do it, and Ramsay asked Siobhan which of her eggs did she do herself, which she answered only the poached one. Ramsay was dismayed, she revealed that she did two poached eggs in five minutes, he asked her how could she not follow a clear instruction, and she started to cry as she was extremely mad at herself for not pushing Autumn away. She regretted not doing that, but Autumn was unapologetic as she felt thrown under the bus, and added that under the pressure, Siobhan did not know when to shut her mouth. Because of that, only her poached egg was tasted by Ramsay, which he deemed delicious, and she scored one point. After, Ed and Jay scored three points, but when Ramsay tasted the scrambled egg, he asked if it bounced, and Jay thought he made a great egg while adding that Ramsay said they should make it taste the best and not look the best. After two rounds, the score was tied at 5.

On the third round, Fran and Autumn presented their eggs, but they only scored with the soft-boiled as Fran’s scrambled was compared to a chopped omelet, her sunny side up did not have any seasoning, and Siobhan cooked the poached, dismaying Ramsay once again. After, Scott and Andrew scored three points, and the score was 8-6 for the blue team. On the final round, Holli and Jamie scored four points, and Jason and Benjamin scored with their poached and sunny side up, tying the score at 10. When it came down to their soft-boiled egg, Maria prayed for at least a tie, but the egg was deemed perfect, and the blue team won the challenge 11-10.

Reward

The blue team was rewarded with a helicopter tour of Los Angeles, with Salvatore being excited about it as it was his first helicopter ride ever, and lunch with Ramsay on top of a building. During the ride, all the men were very excited, with Andrew saying it was wonderful as he never saw Los Angeles before in his life and that it was the perfect way to see it.

Arrived on top of the building, the men were welcomed by Jean-Philippe holding a tray of champagne glasses, with Mikey saying that it was flawless, Ramsay congratulated them by saying they never wanted to lose a challenge, and they toasted to their victory. During lunch, Ramsay told the men to call him Gordon outside the kitchen, and Jay declared it was a great day as he succeeded to have a helicopter ride and eat with Ramsay in one day. Then, Salvatore started to talk about his personal love life, revealing that he has been cheated on and that he had slept with close to forty women in his life. He said that he did not find the right one yet, but jokingly added to Ramsay that everybody would think he was a man whore, with everybody laughing.

Punishment

The red team was punished by taking a delivery of a giant tuna, cutting it, cleaning it, and gutting it for the next service. While going back to the dorms, Nilka was pissed that they lost to eggs, and told that even though Autumn convinced Siobhan to accept help, the latter had to push her away and follow the instructions. Siobhan was crying, she was comforted by Holli and Jamie, who told her to not let that ruin her day, which she responded that she had to let it out so she could feel better. She went to her bed and cry, and on the patio, Nilka told Autumn that Siobhan threw her under the bus, with Autumn adding that she was ready to be the fall guy as she was strong and that she could take it. Then, Siobhan went to the patio, Autumn comforted her and apologized, but Siobhan was still extremely upset.

During the punishment, when the tuna arrived, Nilka was impressed as she never saw a fish that big before, Holli was wondering how they would get it off the truck as it was slippery, and Jamie complained that she was carrying three-quarters of the weight while her teammates were carrying the other quarter, and wished that she would not fall to the ground and make out with the tuna. Finally, the women succeeded to carry it in the kitchen and place it on the counter. While cutting it, Maria disagreed with Autumn’s way of doing it as the latter left the skin, and she acknowledged that the skin was always the first part they were removing while not understanding what Autumn was doing.

Before service

The next day, during prep, the women were worried about Siobhan’s kitchen knowledge, and started to tell her exactly what to do, with Autumn saying that she may not be the right person to be the chef at the Savoy. Siobhan told that she wanted to know the consistency and make sure it would be perfect, but when Nilka came over to tell her what she had to do, she was annoyed, started mimicking her, and told that she would go slower as she was just pissing her off.

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay announced that they would serve tuna tartar tableside, and dedicated Fran and Scott to do it. After asking everybody if they were feeling good and if their prep was done, he asked Salvatore what were the desserts, but the latter struggled to answer. Salvatore declared that Ramsay was making him nervous and that he started to mumble because of that, Ramsay was furious as he was not running a kindergarten, and he kicked Salvatore out of the kitchen, while ordering him to study the menu. Salvatore went back to the dorms with a menu, Ramsay wished to see somebody take control of their team, and everybody went to their stations, waiting for the opening.

In the red kitchen, Autumn was determined to win after three losses, and put more salt in the water. When Ramsay tasted the water, he found it disgusting, ordered everybody to taste it, which they all found disgusting, with Siobhan saying it was worse than sea water and that she was about to puke, and Ramsay asked who seasoned it. Autumn admitted that she seasoned it originally but that somebody else should have added more into it, but Maria was unapologetic, saying that she should own up to her shit. After, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

While Fran and Scott were already serving their tuna tartar in the dining room, in the blue kitchen, Ramsay dedicated Jay to go to the dorms and get Salvatore back in the kitchen. In the dorms, Salvatore declared he could not remember and that he was banging his head, and when he arrived in the kitchen, Ramsay called the first ticket and asked him what were the desserts. Salvatore took a lot of seconds to properly give the first dessert, dismaying Ramsay and himself as he claimed his heart was beating very fast, and could not believe he forgot four desserts. Moments later, he quickly recovered by correctly giving the first three desserts, but incorrectly gave berry pudding as the fourth one, before correcting himself by saying panna cotta, with Ramsay being satisfied. In the red kitchen, Ramsay asked if the water was boiling, which Holli answered it was not, and in the blue kitchen, Mikey sent his first risotto to the pass, while being confident that he would nail it. However, the risotto was sent back for having undercooked rice, Mikey revealed that he did not want his risotto to be mush as he hated it, and Ramsay asked Scott, who he called “Carrot top”, to serve four more tartars on two tables because of Mikey’s mistake, which he did while apologizing for the delay. In the red kitchen, Siobhan was working on her risotto, but Autumn seasoned it for her, dismaying Ramsay. Autumn said that she just added more salt, and Ramsay called Siobhan to ask her if she could cook a risotto, which she answered that she could but that she wanted to push Autumn away also. Ramsay encouraged her to do it, Siobhan added that Autumn was trying to interfere with her job, and Nilka, who was pissed, angrily told that they did not have time for that as they lost three times in a row already. Ramsay was dismayed by the lack of teamwork in the red team, and asked to be taken out of there.

In the dining room, Fran was lost as she could not find the right table, went to the wrong table twice, before being pulled back by Jean-Philippe. In the blue kitchen, Mikey was working on his second attempt at his first risotto, Andrew was dismayed as the risotto was being sent back every time, called Mikey a jackass, and revealed that it was messing up everything. Ramsay sarcastically congratulated Mikey for taking 43 minutes to send his first appetizer, but the risotto he sent to the kitchen came back for undercooked rice, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Jason told that Mikey needed to snap back and get back into the game, not only for himself but for the team as well, Ramsay confirmed the rice was bullet, urged him to refire it, but Mikey did not communicate, much to Ramsay’s frustration. Then, Mikey told Benjamin he needed five minutes on his risotto, the latter urged him to take his time while acknowledging he was a young kid despite knowing he deserved to get his ass kicked for not serving the proper food. In the red kitchen, Jamie and Holli served their entrées, but Nilka was not ready yet with her garnishes, and she gave a minute and a half, much to Ramsay’s frustration, who ordered the other women to take their stuff back. Nilka declared she had the crab mash, but Ramsay did not want to hear it, and stated that he would not wait and shout for everything. Nilka acknowledged she was lost, and Holli asked her for a time while acknowledging that she froze and was not talking. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore’s first Wellingtons were perfectly cooked, but Jason was not ready yet with the chicken, which was still raw, annoying Salvatore, and Ramsay asked Jason if he could talk, which he answered he could. But, Jason gave two minutes on the chicken, annoying Ramsay, and he was even more dismayed when he went to the meat station to see how Jason was cooking the chicken. Benjamin was dismayed as well saying that Jason was rushing the chicken, that it was not even ready, and that he totally fucked the team. Ramsay brought the pan to the front, declared the chicken was raw, that he was not frying it properly, and asked Jason if that was his best, which he answered not. Jason acknowledged he fucked the chicken up, but took it like a man, and started over. Ramsay compared the situation to a fine fucking mess while kicking the garbage bin, and the customers started to lose patience, with Jean-Philippe apologizing for the delay.

An hour and a half into service, the red team were serving their entrées at a good pace, but Jamie sent a salmon that was burnt underneath, much to Ramsay’s dismay. He brought the salmon back, told Jamie the pan she was using was too hot, and smashed the salmon with his hand. Jamie told Holli to start over, stated that Ramsay just went Satan on her ass, while adding that she may still have salmon in her ear. Ramsay exposed the lack of communication between Jamie, Holli and Nilka, and when Holli gave seven minutes on her refire, Ramsay was dismayed because Jamie did not understand. In the blue kitchen, Andrew was extremely focused on his garnishes, and started talking to himself while pushing Mikey away, which Ed noticed and compared him to a maniac while wondering what that was. Andrew asked Benjamin for a time on the salmon, Sous Chef Scottreminded him the garnishes had to be ready before the proteins, and he started rushing while asking Jay to send the mashed potatoes to the pass for him. Ramsay asked why Jay was on garnish, and Andrew started rushing the rest of his garnishes.

Andrew’s exit

When the mashed potatoes were sent to the pass, Ramsay noticed they were too runny, with Sous Chef Scott comparing them to potato soup, and gathered the men to show them the liquid potatoes. Then, Andrew took the batch and started mixing them with the fresh batch he was making, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Andrew asked why it was wrong to do it, Ramsay called him an idiot, and while he explained why it was not right to mix runny mashed potatoes with fresh ones, Andrew talked back by saying it was a brilliant idea. Ramsay explained that it would not make any difference, Andrew disagreed, asked him if he could not cook in a sauté pan any longer, and Jason called him crazy for talking back to Ramsay as the latter was the Jay-Z of restaurants. Finally, Ramsay declared to Andrew that he was losing his patience, but when the latter continued to talk back, he was kicked out of the kitchen into the dining room, with Ramsay concluding by telling him that he did not care, was not having any respect, and that he was a fucking joke to the industry. When Ramsay came back in the kitchen, he called Andrew fucking useless, and in the dining room, the latter was about to walk out when Jean-Philippe tried to convince him to stay by telling him he was just being tested, and that there were a lot of people that would be willing to be in his shoes at the moment. However, Andrew was not interested to come back, took his shoes off, and walked out of Hell’s Kitchen for good, by the front door. During his exit interview, he declared that Ramsay was likely to see him as a little prick, but did not care what Ramsay was thinking of him as he was done.

After Andrew’s departure, Scott was reintegrated in the kitchen and assigned to the garnish station, while Jason wondered what happened to Andrew as Ramsay made him disappear like a magician. Finally, both teams rallied to complete their remaining tickets, and service was completed for the second consecutive night.

Post-mortem

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay was not satisfied, said that it would not get any easier, asked Jason if the chicken incident was him at his best, which he answered not, told Mikey that he could not even cook a risotto, Nilka that she was lost on garnish, and Jamie that she should not bring shit to the pass. After, Ramsay named both teams joint-losers, and asked them to nominate one person each for elimination.

During deliberation, Jason was quickly considered by Jay, which Benjamin agreed with, but Jason, while admitting he did not give his 100%, refused to be nominated as he knew he was not the weakest on the team, and called it straight bullshit while thinking his teammates were intimidated to work with him. Then, Jason considered Salvatore for not having the best food knowledge and experience, but Salvatore did not want to be nominated if he did not have a bad service. Salvatore was also considered by Mikey, who was really surprised that he was not considered by anybody. Finally, Ed was torn between Salvatore and Jason, stating it was hard to decide.

In the red team, Jamie considered Nilka, which the latter felt okay with as she acknowledged her mistakes, but Maria tried to convince her teammates to nominate Autumn for not being able to season the water properly before service as it was a basic mistake. Siobhan agreed with that as she thought Autumn was presenting herself as some big hot shot despite not seasoning the water properly. However, Jamie did not change her mind and still voted for Nilka.

Elimination

Maria announced Autumn as the red team’s nominee for over seasoning the water before service, with Siobhan adding that she was not a team player because she needed to overpower her teammates. After, Benjamin announced Jason as the blue team’s nominee for not being a team player and being difficult to work with. Ramsay seemed surprised by that decision, but still called the two of them down. During her plea, Autumn did not think she should be eliminated for salty water, and when Ramsay asked the red team if they thought she was the worst cook, they answered she was not. Then, Maria considered Jamie as being the worst cook, and because of that, Ramsay sent Autumn back in line, while calling Jamie down. During their pleas, Jamie said that she had a lot of heart and communication skills, and Jason acknowledged that he messed up with the chicken, but could not wait to keep pushing and work for Ramsay in London. In the end, Ramsay announced that the person who would be eliminated would be for all the right reasons, before calling Mikey down, and eliminating him for his second shit service in a row. During his exit interview, Mikey acknowledged his crappy performance, but did not regret anything and accepted his faith.

After Mikey left, Ramsay was worried that there was no head chef amongst the chefs, before dismissing them for the night. While being dismissed, Maria regretted her decision to push her teammates to nominate Autumn, Jamie was furious that she was thrown under the bus by Maria, and Jason thought he was backstabbed by his teammates, while calling it straight bullshit.

Ramsay’s comment: “Mikey was all about appearances. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t appear he could cook.”

Ramsay gave no comment on Andrew’s departure, and he did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence.

The first episode of Season 7 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on June 1, 2010. On that episode, 16 new chefs arrived in Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay got naughty with a fake one, and the first completed opening night occurred with many ejections.

Intro

The season began with a preview montage, saying it would be the hardest, fiercest, wildest, sexiest, and most rewarding one yet.

Seventeen new chefs arrived in Hell’s Kitchen, with Jason saying that nobody was competition to him, Stacey saying that Ramsay could give her the prize already, Ed saying that it would be a piece of cake, and Scott saying that he was ready to whatever Ramsay would throw at him. When they entered the restaurant, they were greeted by reporters and photographers from the media, and Ramsay was waiting for them at the podium, with Nilka feeling like a celebrity. After the chefs introduced themselves, including where they came from and what experience they had, Ramsay guaranteed that the opening dinner service would be completed. When he declared that, Jason wondered if he lost his mind, and Autumn was worried as it never been done before. Then, Ramsay asked everybody to cook their signature dishes.

Signature Dish Challenge

While cooking, Scott acknowledged that was why they were there, Stacey revealed that she was a celebrity chef who cooked for people such as Nathan Lane, Martin Short, Don Rickles, Ashton Kutcher, and Demi Moore, and declared that they all loved her food. Then, Holli acknowledged she would play the cute factor, but was ready to work as hard as everybody, and hoped to do better. Everybody cooked and plated their dishes in time.

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay noticed there were some executive chefs amongst them, and remembered one of them not having a lot of experience. The woman with glasses revealed that she was a stay-at-home mom and that she never worked in a restaurant before. So, Ramsay called her down, and she presented her veal scaloppini. Ramsay immediately noticed it was looking like baby vomit, and after tasting it, he declared it was delicious. She was relieved, he told her not to be so nervous, but she told he was scary. Then, he gave her a hug while telling to relax, which Maria noticed that this was not his type as he was not personable. After, Ramsay revealed it was one of the best starts ever, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and moments later, he leaned forward and started to make out with her, shocking everybody. Holli jokingly declared she wanted to be first, Jamie stated that Ramsay was a little slutty, and Siobhan was stunned as he really liked the dish. Moments later, Ramsay announced that the woman was his wife Tana, and she took off her disguise, with Jay thanking God as they just licked their teeth and calling him a filthy bastard. Ramsay announced that he was trying to make a point, which was that he was not giving two fucks about the chefs’ experience as he was only looking for who had the magic. Then, his wife left while wishing good luck to everybody, and Ramsay introduced the Signature Dish Challenge.

On the first round, Maria presented her pan-seared filet mignon with blue cheese Beurre blanc, while being confident that he would love her food. Ramsay deemed the dish delicious as the steak was tender and cooked perfectly, Salvatore revealed he was a pizza chef for 20 years, and Ramsay noticed his strong Italian accent. He asked Salvatore where he was coming from, which he answered Naples, Italy, and how long was he living in the United States, which he answered 21 years. Ramsay was shocked, asked him how was his accent so strong, and Salvatore jokingly answered it was for women as they liked it. Then, he presented his Bucatini all’amatricana, but he admitted that he did not make the pasta from scratch. Ramsay was upset that an Italian could not make his own pasta, the dish was undercooked, and Maria won the round, making the score 1-0 for the red team. On the second round, Benjamin served his lobster agnolotti with a butter poached lobster and truffle sauce, and he confirmed Ramsay when the latter asked him if he made the pasta from scratch. Ramsay called out Salvatore, who showed a disappointed face. After tasting the dish, Ramsay deemed it delicious and congratulated Benjamin. Then, Holli revealed her banana leaf wrapped halibut, but Ramsay was shocked and trashed the banana leaf in the trash, and she said that it was a classic northern Indian dish. However, Ramsay said that he never saw food like that in India, and she second-guessed herself on where the dish originated from. Ramsay spat it out, Holli declared she messed it up a little bit, which he responded that she was polite and by trashing the entire dish. Benjamin won the round, making the score a tie at 1. On the third round, Jamie revealed her creamy chicken Kiev, but before Ramsay tasted it, he discovered a toothpick, and did not want to taste it, embarrassing Jamie a lot. After, Scott served his duck breast with parsnip, and he declared it would be struggling for him to be a cook amongst cooks as he was used to be a chef amongst cooks, while adding that he would be embarrassed to be the runner-up. After tasting his dish, Ramsay deemed it pathetic as there was not a single appetizing ingredient. Neither of them scored, and the score was still a tie at 1. On the fourth round, Mikey and Siobhan faced off. Ramsay was stunned by Mikey’s hair, asked if he could touch it, and the latter revealed there was wax in it. After, he declared he had a few tattoos, and revealed his latest to everybody, which was the Hell’s Kitchen logo. Everybody was shocked, with Jay declaring that all he had to say was “what the fuck”, and Ramsay noticed how dedicated he was. Then, he presented his Brie stuffed with lobster, and while it was looking a mess, it was deemed delicious. After, Ramsay noticed Siobhan’s dreads, she declared she had them for eight years while adding that people were taking her for a dirty hippie girl because of them, and Ramsay told her he did not want to see one of them in her dish as she would dread it. After, she served her seared Ahi tuna wrapped in mint leaves, and it was working for Ramsay despite mixing tuna with mint leaves. Both of them scored a point, and the score was tied at 2.

On the fifth round, Stacey’s fish was overcooked, and Jay’s steak was beautifully seasoned. He won the round, and the score was 3-2 for the blue team. On the next round, Fran’s pasta were too hot, with Ramsay fearing it would set the room on fire, and Jason impressed him by perfectly cooking grits. Because of that, Jason won the round, and the score was 4-2 for the blue team. On the next round, Ed’s fish was too salty, while Autumn’s chicken was praised for being able to go to Heaven. So, she won the round, and the score was 4-3 for the blue team. On the final round, Andrew served a steak tartar before revealing he was raising and butchering his own animals and eating them raw. He also added that he would buy two walk-in coolers if he would win the competition. Ramsay called him the Hannibal Lecter of Hell’s Kitchen, and after tasting his dish, he declared it was bland. Finally, Nilka said she became a chef because of her passion, and that she wanted to show her three kids that they had to go for the things they wanted in life. Her sweet and spicy chicken wings were not well received as they were too hot for Ramsay. She admitted that she used half a bottle of Tabasco, Ramsay drank a glass of water, spat it out, and declared it would blow her asshole. Neither of them scored, but the blue team still won the challenge 4-3.

Post-challenge

After saying that both teams would know their reward and punishment later, Ramsay announced that the winner would become the head chef at a restaurant in the Savoy Hotel in London, United Kingdom. Jason declared he was shocked and wrapped turn, and compared the prize to Jay-Z. Then, Ramsay reminded that the opening night would be completed, and the chefs went to the dorms by following Sous Chefs Scott and Andi.

Arrived in the dorms, all the chefs were very excited, and Salvatore even declared that he felt in another world while comparing them to a nice penthouse. After, they found their chefs jackets, recipe books, and set of knives on their beds, with Maria stating that the knives were the best, as well as the last set one should order in their life. Fran was preoccupied by Ramsay’s guarantee of completing the opening night, and the women gathered around the kitchen table to study the menu, being very confident. On the blue side, the men felt more pressure by saying there was a lot of shit they had to memorize.

All of a sudden, an alarm bell started to ring, everybody came to the television, and Ramsay gave a lesson on how to properly make the lobster risotto. After that lesson, Jason said that it was invaluable, and hoped Ramsay would give 20 more lessons like that. Then, the chefs were inspired, studied everywhere, and after, another alarm bell rang, with Ramsay giving a lesson on how to properly make the filet of beef. Moments later, the third lesson was about scallops, and later, the fourth lesson was about the lamb Wellingtons. Lessons kept coming like that throughout the whole night, at each 15 minutes. At one point, Siobhan was in the shower when the alarm bell started to ring, and after all the lessons were given, Benjamin acknowledged they were really helpful and Ramsay would be proud of them.

Punishment

The next morning, Sous Chef Andi came in the dorms, woke up the red team, and informed them that their punishment was to cook breakfast in bed for the blue team. Fran was pissed that she had to do that because she did not even cook her own children breakfast in bed. All the women got in the red kitchen, and prepared breakfast consisting of fruits, waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, and orange juice. When they were done, each of them went back to the dorms with a platter, and gave them to each man.

Reward

The blue team was rewarded with a breakfast in bed prepared by the red team. When they woke up, they were given a tray each by the women, and Jason was feeling very good to have won the challenge as getting up early was not his thing, and hoped that the red team would lose again. Then, Salvatore thanked the women while jokingly asking if they would do this every morning.

Before service

Later that day, both teams went in their respective kitchens to begin prepping for the opening night. In the red kitchen, Maria was confused if she had to use her own arm as a measurement, and declared she was nervous as she did not want to disappoint Ramsay because he was her idol. In the blue kitchen, Scott was already emerging as a leader by giving clear instructions to his teammates, but Jay was not impressed, saying that Scott was the strongest talker on the team but probably not the strongest cook. After, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen for the service he was dying for.

Dinner service

In addition to the classic menu, Jay and Nilka were assigned to serve Caesar salads tableside. Ramsay called the first ticket in the red kitchen, and Stacey dropped her scallops while declaring that her food was amazing and that she would rock the fish station. However, Ramsay reminded her that she had to put the curry powder on them much to his dismay. Jamie convinced Stacey that she had it while being worried as her face was already red, and told that she had to calm down. When Stacey brought her scallops to the pass, they were raw and way over seasoned, and Ramsay ordered somebody to teach her how to properly cook scallops. Stacey received help from Siobhan, while admitting that scallops were not as easy as they seemed. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay asked for the capellini, but Salvatore revealed that he burnt his initial batch, much to Ramsay’s annoyance. He ordered to start the table again, and Salvatore was disappointed in himself as he fucked up his first table of appetizers. Then, Ramsay asked Salvatore if the one he was making was for the next table, but Salvatore revealed that he burned it once again. Ramsay was furious, Jason thought that something was wrong with Salvatore mentally, and Ramsay assigned the latter to dressing the salads. In the dining room, Nilka and Jay were the only one serving food, and the latter talked about how it was his first time in Hell’s Kitchen to the customer who told him the same thing about himself. In the red kitchen, Fran served her potatoes, but Ramsay was not satisfied as they were all overcooked or too small, and he was dismayed. When he asked for a time on the new potatoes, Fran did not give any answers, and when Holli asked her, Fran shouted two minutes, much to Ramsay’s dismay about the lack of communication. Siobhan considered Fran a spitfire as she crumbled, and added that it was disappointing to see. Ramsay showed Fran how to properly toss the potatoes, but she declared that she was afraid of the grease, which dismayed Ramsay. When he asked to repeat what she said, she responded that she was afraid of him, which led him to mock her by saying that he was afraid of her, and Autumn gave a pep talk to the women by urging to calm down, starting the night over, and send the first table so they would be fine. In the blue kitchen, Benjamin was working on his risotto, Ramsay asked him to taste his food, but after he did, he put his spoon back in the pan. Ramsay caught him, was dismayed, and schooled him on how he did it in front of customers in the dining room. Benjamin acknowledged his mistake, and Ramsay ordered him to start over. In the red kitchen, Fran was working on her lobster risotto, but put crab in it instead of lobster, without realizing. Ramsay caught that mistake, was disappointed, and Fran acknowledged that she did that mistake by accident as they switched the containers, while asking to give her a break. Then, Ramsay asked for somebody to explain her how a lobster was looking like, and Autumn wondered how Fran would explain her performance as her thirty years of experience did not seem to be in that type of restaurant. Autumn told the team to concentrate, but Fran was not impressed as she did not think Autumn was a team player because she was just standing there looking pretty while everybody else were sweating their asses off.

45 minutes into dinner service, very few food came out of the kitchens, and Nilka tried to reassure the customers by telling them to be patient. In the red kitchen, Jamie brought her first filet of beef to the pass, but Ramsay wondered what it was, and she offered to put it back in the oven, but Ramsay told her to leave him alone. He ordered the red team to touch the beef, compared it to cold cream on a fucking hot steak, and Maria, after acknowledging it was cold, started to laugh out loud. Ramsay schooled her by telling there was nothing to laugh about as no entrées were leaving the kitchen, but she laughed again. Ramsay asked her what was funny, Maria answered that nothing was, and then, he kicked her, Jamie and Fran out of the kitchen. Fran refused to leave her team, but Ramsay told her that he would drag her out if she would not get out by herself. So, the three of them went back to the dorms being very angry, and Jamie punched the boxing balloon in anger. After, Ramsay ordered Jean-Philippe to get Nilka back in the kitchen, and she was assigned to the meat station with Siobhan. In the dorms, Fran did not know why she was kicked out as she was sweating her balls off, Maria compared all of them to a bunch of clowns, and at one point, Fran acknowledged she mistook the crab for lobster, but refused to take responsibility for it. She also added that she never been kicked out of a kitchen in thirty years and that it was a big fucking deal, and finally, Jamie thought that they would not complete the service. Back in the blue kitchen, Mikey was working on his halibut, but Scott tried to interfere by telling him to make sure it was cooked right, and added that because he was on the garnish station, he thought Ramsay was seeing some confidence in him. When Scott told Mikey to walk with the halibut, the latter was annoyed as he thought his halibut needed more time to be cooked despite Scott thinking it was correct. Mikey sent his halibut to the pass, but it was raw, and Ramsay smashed it on the counter in anger, while Mikey was putting the blame on Scott, who he thought was making him look bad. While Mikey started over on the halibut and Scott motivated him, in the red kitchen, Siobhan was confident about her entrée, and Autumn told that her team was working better after the three ejections as they were able to send entrées at a good pace, and Siobhan’s Wellingtons were perfectly cooked.

An hour and a half into service, entrées were leaving the red kitchen, and in the blue kitchen, Salvatore and Benjamin were on their last ticket of appetizers. Benjamin was caught cooking his risotto without any rice, he got schooled by Ramsay, who asked how it was possible to cook a risotto without rice, and reminded him he had to put the rice before the stock. Salvatore questioned Benjamin’s position as a chef because the latter could not even cook a risotto, and he was caught cooking potatoes in a cold pan. Ramsay told Salvatore he could not do that as the potatoes would absorb the olive oil and that it would feel like eating a mouthful of grease. When Ramsay asked for a time from both of them, they did not give any answers, and a fed up Ramsay kicked them out of the kitchen, while calling Jay back in the kitchen. While getting out, Salvatore declared he did not know what happened as he was lost on appetizers, and jokingly wondered if Ramsay kicked him out because he did not like him or Italian people. Back in the dorms, Maria told both of them to not feel that bad while padding Salvatore on the arm, and in the red kitchen, Stacey called five minutes on her salmon, much to Ramsay’s dismay, and she declared that she had not work on a line for a very long time, while adding she did not have any idea what she was walking into. Then, Ramsay asked her why she wanted another five minutes, but she corrected by giving three minutes, and when he asked her why she was jumping all over the place like that, she answered that she was not sure how long it would take. After stating that he was not sure about her, Ramsay kicked Stacey out of the kitchen. Back in the dorms, Jamie asked Stacey if they got some entrées served, which the latter answered they did. In the blue kitchen, Mikey served his next attempt at the halibut, but it was raw again, he became the third person from the blue team to be kicked out, and Jason acknowledged the service was fucked up on both sides.

Two and a half hours into service, the customers were about to lose their patience, and with only nine chefs remaining in total, Ramsay decided to merge both teams in the blue kitchen after calling everybody useless. In the dorms, Benjamin asked if they would complete the service, and Mikey declared that he wanted to slap Ramsay’s ass. In the kitchen, Ramsay declared that he would not shut the place down, and Ed took the leadership role, while Ramsay urged him to bring it together. Ed was determined to take control of the team, gave clear instructions to Siobhan and Nilka, and declared that he would get done all it may took. Because of both teams being merged together and Ed’s leadership, entrées were served at a good pace, with Ramsay telling Ed that his Wellingtons were perfectly cooked. The team rallied to serve their final tickets, while Ed continued to vocally rally everybody, and finally, the last ticket was served. Jason called that night a bittersweet victory and added that it was harder than he thought, Scott declared he wanted to puke, and Ed declared it was awesome.

Post-mortem

When both teams were lined up, Ramsay did not want to celebrate despite completing the opening night, declared the red team losers, and asked them to nominate two people for elimination. While going back to the dorms, Nilka was pissed that they lost and had to put two people on the chopping block.

During deliberation, Stacey declared she was overwhelmed, acknowledged she fucked up, and Autumn reminded her to not refuse help if she did not have it. Stacey said that her performance was not the best while not being the worst at the same time, and that she would fight to stay. She asked for her teammates’ opinions, and Nilka considered Maria for being a little bit frazzled. But, Maria reminded that she was kicked out before entrées started to be sent out, and called it complete crap as she did not think she did as bad as other people on her team. Then, Autumn considered Stacey and Fran, but the latter asked her why she should be nominated, and Autumn answered that she seemed flustered when Ramsay was yelling at her. However, Fran thought that Autumn should be sent home because she was not a team player and only thinking about herself, therefore considering her for elimination.

Elimination

Autumn announced that Stacey was the red team’s first nominee for elimination, and Fran was the second. During their pleas, Fran was still wondering why she was kicked out, and Ramsay responded that she could not tell the difference between crab and lobster. Then, he asked her how many legs was a lobster having, but she struggled to answer, before revealing that she was a Kosher chef. After, Stacey acknowledged she fucked up and let her team and Ramsay down, but added that she was a team player and that the only way she would go was up. Then, Ramsay asked her how much she cared, which she answered that she cared more than he could imagine, and told that he needed somebody with balls and strength. Fran said she had some balls, and needed more time to show it. In the end, Stacey was eliminated for being the worst performer of the night, and completely frazzled.

While going back to the dorms, Fran declared that she decided to cook instead of playing tennis at home, and added that somebody would not stay thirty years in a kitchen if they were not loving it. Also, Jason was ready to keep beating the women’s butts again while they were down, and finally, Autumn was not afraid to be the bitch or the villain as she was there to win.

Ramsay’s comment: “It’s a good thing Stacey’s a private chef, her food wasn’t good enough for the public.”

My Opinion

 

Season 7 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox between June 1, and August 10, 2010. Banquet chef Holli Ugalde, from San Bernardino, California, was the winner of that season and was promised a Head Chef position at the Savoy Hotel in London, United Kingdom. This marked the first time a prize was awarded in the UK. However, she was never awarded this position because of supposed visa issues, so she accepted an undisclosed amount of cash, and kept the title of “Season 7 winner”.

Contestants

16 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. The contestants were (in alphabetical order):

Contestant	Age	Occupation	Hometown
Siobhan Allgood	25	Pub Executive Chef	Philadelphia, PA
Ed Battaglia	28	High School Cooking Teacher	Edgewater Park, NJ
Jamie Bisoulis	26	Sous Chef	Chicago, IL
Salvatore Coppola	35	Pizzeria Chef	Laurel Springs, NJ
Jason Ellis	37	Personal Chef	Suwanee, GA
Andrew Forster	28	Farmer	Wake Forest, NC
Scott Hawley	32	Executive Chef	New York, NY
Nilka Hendricks	28	Line Cook	West Hempstead, NY
Frances “Fran” Klier	44	Catering Chef	Rockville Center, NY
Benjamin Knack	33	Culinary Instructor	Malden, MA
Autumn Lewis	29	Personal Chef	West Hollywood, CA
Jason “Jay” Santos	32	Executive Chef	Medford, MA
Stacey Slichta	38	Private Chef	Studio City, CA
Michael “Mikey” Termini	29	Line cook	Kihei, HI
Maria Torrisi	24	Kitchen Supervisor	Scranton, PA
Holli Ugalde	24	Banquet Chef	San Bernardino, CA

Contestant progress

1. Holli
2. Jay
3. Benjamin
4. Autumn
5. Jason
6. Ed
7. Nilka
8. Fran
9. Siobhan
10. Salvatore
11. Scott
12. Maria
13. Jamie
14. Mikey
15. Andrew
16. Stacey

Episodes

Info

The fifteenth episode of Season 6 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 13, 2009. On that episode, Dave and Kevin worked on their menus, participated in their final challenge, chose their brigades for the final service, and one of them was declared the winner of Hell’s Kitchen.

Intro

The episode began with a recap of the previous fourteen episodes, mentioning what happened, and who got eliminated when.

Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay congratulated Dave and Kevin for making it to the finals, while reminding them that the winner would become the Head Chef at the Araxi Restaurant & Bar in Whistler, British Columbia. Then, Ramsay revealed that for their final service, both of them would be creating their own menus, with Dave cooking in the blue kitchen, and Kevin cooking in the red one. After, Ramsay revealed that there was a limousine outside waiting for them, and asked them to spend thirty minutes getting changed in the dorms. After, Dave and Kevin headed off in the limousine to the Bonaventure Hotel, in downtown Los Angeles, where Jean-Philippe was waiting for them. Then, Jean-Philippe told them that they would be heading to the roof of the hotel to meet Ramsay, and then, Ramsay told them that their final challenge was about to being, before introducing them to a live audience.

Final challenge

For the Final Tasting Challenge, Ramsay asked Dave and Kevin to create a dish worthy of the Araxi Restaurant in 45 minutes. After a quick change into their chef jackets, both of them went to the kitchen and began prepping their dishes. Kevin decided to make a petit clam bake with poached lobster and corn pudding, while Dave made a rack of venison with a sour cream and chive parsnip purée. While Dave felt he was putting his ass on the line, Kevin noticed how different he and Dave were as Dave was making a simple dish, while himself was making a more complicated dish. Eventually, Dave and Kevin got their dishes finished and plated in time.

For the judging, five chefs and gourmands tasted both dishes, so either of them needed a three points to win. The first judge was Alain Gayot, owner of Gayot Publications, and after tasting both dishes, he gave Dave’s dish the point, giving him the lead 1-0. On the next round, international food critic Jamie Maw judged their dishes, and like Gayot, she gave Dave’s dish the point. The third round featured Epicurious’s editor in chief Tanya Steele, and she gave Kevin the point, making it 2-1 for Dave. For the fourth round, Executive Chef of the West Restaurant Warren Geraghty judged the dishes, and just like Steele, gave Kevin the point, making it a 2 point tie. For the final round, Ramsay invited Gourmet Magazine’s editor Colman Andrews, and after tasting their dishes, Andrews gave the point to Dave, and he won the challenge 3-2.

Team select

Back in Hell’s Kitchen, the production crew worked on separating the restaurant for the final dinner service as Dave and Kevin rested for the following day’s events. The next morning, Dave and Kevin were up at 5:48 am, and began working on their menus. While Kevin wrote down ideas he had in his head, Dave decided to go with a simpler menu so his night would not go badly. After, Dave and Kevin went to their kitchens, with Kevin working with Sous Chef Heather and Dave working with Sous Chef Scott. Then, Ramsay appeared and asked Sous Chef Scott if the special delivery arrived. Sous Chef Scott answered that it did, and Ramsay asked Dave and Kevin to follow him, while explaining that he brought some special ingredients to help them. When Dave and Kevin opened the truck doors, it was revealed that Robert, Amanda, Ariel, Van, Suzanne, and Sabrina were in the truck, and they all happily reunited. While helping the returning chefs off the truck, Dave looked at everybody to figure out who he wanted on his team.

When everybody was lined up the kitchen, Ramsay welcomed back the returning chefs, while reminding them that they would play a big part in Dave and Kevin’s future. Then, Ramsay told Dave that because he won the final challenge, he was rewarded with the first pick for his brigade. Dave picked Ariel as she was in the final three with him, while Kevin picked Van, with the latter saying that he had to redeem himself as his poor performances got him eliminated. Dave’s second pick was Robert since, even though Robert had a hard time in Hell’s Kitchen, he was confident in him. Then, Kevin picked Amanda as his second pick because his menu was fish heavy, despite knowing that she had her own problems. That left Suzanne and Sabrina as the last two choices, and while Suzanne knew that she might be the last pick overall due to her attitude, Dave picked her as his last choice since they won the Taste It Now Make It Challenge together, and despite her attitude, he knew she was a strong cook. That left Sabrina as Kevin’s final choice, and while Kevin knew that she was inconsistent in the past, he preferred having her over Suzanne. After, Ramsay told the chefs to head back to the dorms and get changed.

Before service

Once everybody changed in their chefs jackets, both teams went downstairs to begin prepping for the final service. In the red kitchen, Kevin’s team asked him about his complicated menu items, and in the blue kitchen, Dave’s team has already picked up his simpler menu. While Robert praised Dave for making that decision, he noticed Kevin’s dishes and said that all of them could be on the cover of a gourmet magazine. Later, Ramsay pulled Dave and Kevin aside so he could taste some of their menu items, which had three appetizers, three entrées, and three desserts each. For Kevin’s menu, it featured a caramelized scallop appetizer, a coffee-cured beef tenderloin entrée, and a Crème Brulée trio dessert. While Ramsay praised the presentation, he warned Kevin that there was a lot of components on the dish that he had to execute perfectly. For Dave’s menu, it featured a wild mushroom risotto appetizer, a roasted loin of venison entrée, and a dark chocolate mousse dessert. While Ramsay noticed how simple and pedestrian Dave’s menu was, he reminded him that he had to explode as he was in the finals. After, Ramsay noticed that while Kevin’s menu was artistic and beautiful, his main concern was that the menu might be too complicated and Kevin would have to watch his attention to details. For Dave’s menu, Ramsay noticed that while it was more humble and rustic, he could not afford to be sloppy.

A few moments before the restaurant opened, Ramsay called Dave and Kevin over for some unfinished business. He revealed that there was something missing from both of them as they had to look like head chefs, and gave both of them their head chefs jackets, while they were focused on being the winner of Hell’s Kitchen. After, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

In attendance were some of British Columbia’s top chefs, including Warren Geraghty, Frank Pabst, Thierry Busset, and James Walt, with the latter being from the Araxi Restaurant & Bar. Kevin and Dave got their first tickets and called their orders, both determined to make sure that night would go well. While Van was communicating with Kevin, Amanda was quiet due to feeling nervous around Kevin, and wanting to be perfect. Van and Amanda brought their appetizers, but Amanda’s scallops were raw, and Kevin was dismayed that the first thing she sent was unacceptable. In the blue kitchen, Dave pushed Robert to get the first order out as the latter wanted to bring the pain for his last night in Hell’s Kitchen. While Robert slowly sent his risotto to the pass, Dave was happy with it, and called Robert his ace in the hole. Because of Robert’s strong performance, Dave was pushing out appetizers to the dining room.

Forty minutes into service, Kevin has not served any appetizers out because of Amanda’s poor performance, much to Sabrina’s dismay as she felt they were going to the pooper fast. Amanda’s next attempt came out overcooked, and as Kevin was dismayed by what was going on, Ramsay reminded him that he could always change the chefs’ locations if things were not working out. Then, Kevin had a near meltdown as Amanda’s pan caught on fire, and he relocated Van to the fish station and Amanda to the appetizer station, with Ramsay noticing that Amanda sunk the team and completely lost any focus. However, Kevin’s decision paid off as he was finally able to send out his first table of appetizers. In the blue kitchen, Dave was almost finished with his appetizers, but Robert informed him that they were almost out of mushrooms. When Robert sent his risottos to the pass, Ramsay noticed that they were not the same as they were half an hour before due to them having very little mushrooms in. While Robert claimed that Dave said not to put too many mushrooms in them, Dave told that he said not to go crazy on the mushrooms, and told Ramsay that he would have never sent them out. However, Robert felt that Dave crossed the line for throwing him under the bus, and decided to screw him by purposely dropping a refire. Despite that, Dave was still sending out appetizers, and his customers were satisfied with their dishes. However, Kevin’s customers were not satisfied as one of them found that their risotto was raw. Jean-Philippe sent the risotto back to the kitchen, and Kevin was angry that Amanda was struggling no matter on what station she was. Then, Kevin asked Van to help Amanda, and because of his help, appetizers were leaving at a constant stream. In the blue kitchen, Dave was pushing entrées, and told his brigade to keep doing so. When Ariel brought her venison and salmon to the pass, Dave rejected the venison as it was well done instead of medium, and refused to send out imperfect food. Ariel brought her refires, and that time, Dave accepted them.

One hour and fifteen minutes into service, the customers were enjoying their entrées from both kitchens. Jean-Philippe gave Kevin Walt’s order, and the latter warned his team not to ruin it. However, Amanda got confused on temperatures, and when she sent her beef tenderloin, it was medium well instead of medium rare. That angered Kevin, who accused Amanda of being slow, and noticed that Sabrina’s potatoes were broken. Then, Amanda’s pan caught fire again, but instead of yelling at her, Kevin decided to take a calmer approach, and showed Amanda what to do. Because of that, Van noticed that things were clicking more, and Walt received his entrée. Later, Ramsay told Dave and Kevin that each of them had four and six tables left respectively, and urged them to speed up. Kevin decided to cook two tables at once in order to catch up, and in the blue kitchen, Ramsay discovered that Ariel’s venison was gray and called it lazy cooking, while reminding Dave that he could not compare his team to friends anymore. Then, Jean-Philippe came back with a raw salmon, and Dave told Robert to help Ariel. After, both kitchens were at their last four tables, and after being neck-and-neck, both teams got their final tickets out. Dave told his team that he was very proud of them, and Kevin noticed that while he started rough, he managed to bounce back near the end.

Post-mortem

After Dave and Kevin said goodbye to their brigades, they went back to the dorms waiting for Ramsay’s decision. Kevin was very anxious, and declared that waiting for the announcement was as stressful as his wife giving birth to his son, while Dave wondered if he had the same performance as Kevin’s. In his office, Ramsay looked over the comment cards from the customers, along with his own observations, to determine the winner.

Winner Announced

Ramsay called Dave and Kevin, and told both of them to head to his office immediately. When they got to his office, Ramsay praised them for their strong performances, and after reading the comment cards, he said that it was the closest victory in Hell’s Kitchen history. Then, both of them stood in front of a door each, both knowing that it would open only if they were the winner. After Ramsay’s countdown, both of them turned their handles, but only Dave’s door opened.

Dave became the winner of Hell’s Kitchen, and won a head chef position at the Araxi Restaurant & Bar, therefore making Kevin the runner-up. While Kevin was a little disappointed about not winning, he decided to show his son that it was okay to lose, and to never stop dreaming. Dave was in a state of shock, celebrated with his sister and fiancée, while noticing that he fought through a lot of pain during his time, and was happy to have earned Ramsay’s respect. Sous Chef Heather welcomed Dave to the club as he hung his portrait on the Hell’s Kitchen Wall of Fame.

Ramsay’s comment: “Dave has a very natural ability and a very sophisticated palate. He fought through excruciating pain and excelled, and went on to win Hell’s Kitchen. He’s gonna be an amazing asset to the Araxi Restaurant & Bar in Whistler, and I’d like to wish him the best of luck. Honestly, I don’t think he’ll need it.”

During the credits, some never before seen footage was shown, including Van beating Ramsay in an arm wrestling contest, Ramsay using Jean-Philippe as a human shield while the children from the 80 Vegetarian Portions Challenge were throwing stuff at him, Robert accidentally breaking a vase while cleaning up, Dave entertaining the diners with a dance as Jean-Philippe watched in bemusement, and Ramsay saying he was nobody’s bitch as a running gag, referring to Joseph’s infamous outburst.

My Opinion

 

The fourteenth episode of Season 6 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 13, 2009. On that episode, one chef was not sure of their dish during the challenge, the final three ran the hot plate during service, and two of them made it to the finals of Hell’s Kitchen.

Intro

The re-energized chefs went back to the dorms after seeing their loved ones, as Kevin felt that it motivated all of them. Meanwhile, Dave reminded himself that he wanted to win the competition for his family, and Ariel hoped that she could make it to the finals.

The next morning, at 6:35 AM, Ariel and Kevin were still sleeping, while Dave was up and admitted that he was nervous about taking down Ariel and Kevin. When they finally woke up, Ariel and Kevin were determined as well, as the finish line was very close.

Individual challenge

The final three went downstairs, where Ramsay greeted them, and reminded that after their next dinner service, only two of them would be in the finale, while adding that only one of them would become the Head Chef at the Araxi Restaurant. Then, Ramsay explained that while Whistler had become a hotspot for international destinations, the 2010 Winter Olympics would go crazy on that, before revealing three domes behind him. For the International Cuisine Challenge, each chef would pick a dome, and create a dish that would match the culture that was chosen. Ariel went first and got China, which excited her as it could be an easy cuisine to work with. Dave went next and got India, but was not happy about it, as he never worked with Indian food before, though Ramsay told him not to get too intimidated by it. That left Kevin with the last choice, which was Mexico, which he called an easy dish as almost everybody in the world has made Mexican food at one point. After, Ramsay revealed that there were ingredients from their country in the pantry room, and gave the chefs 45 minutes to cook their dish.

Dave decided to make a dish he knew already, and added an Indian flair on it, but admitted that he did not have any idea what he was doing, while Kevin and Ariel already figured out what their dishes would be. 15 minutes in, while Kevin and Ariel had their dishes prepped, Dave struggled to pick what protein to use as he did not want to use one that was sacrilegious in the Indian culture. In the end, Dave decided to use pork, but Kevin noticed that Dave was showing fear, and hoped that it would hinder his performance. Eventually, the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated in time.

Ramsay revealed that he invited some chefs to help him judge their dishes, all of which were experts in their respective country cuisine. The judges were Vikas Khanna, Thomas Ortega, and Eddie Won. Ariel went first, and presented her duck with lychee plum marinade and noodle broth, but nervously stumbled on describing her dish. The judges criticized the dish for not being balanced and having a watery sauce, disappointing her. Kevin served his Orange and Cumin pork tenderloin with molee Mexican chocolate sauce, but when he lifted the dome, Ramsay noticed that the sauce was not on the pork, and Kevin realized that he forgot to plate it. The dish got mixed results as, while it tasted good and had an interesting mango sauce, Ortega felt that it needed the missing sauce to put it to the next level. Dave was the last person to be judged, and revealed his seared pork tenderloin with ming bean purée, but Khanna revealed that pork was not a good choice of protein as there was a lot of Muslims that lived in India, and would have preferred either chicken or seafood instead. Despite that, the dish was praised for the spices working well together and having the lentils done creatively. In the end, the three judges chose Dave’s dish as the best, and he won the challenge.

Reward

Dave was rewarded with a special lunch made by the three judges, and received a complete set of Demeyere cookware, which was the same used in Hell’s Kitchen. When Dave came down, Jean-Philippe revealed that his fiancée and his sister would be joining him for lunch. Dave and his loved ones got to see the chefs cook their lunches and taste them, which Dave felt that it was an honor, and called it the best reward so far. After lunch, Dave went back to the dorms, and reminded himself that his next service would be his most important one yet.

Punishment

Kevin and Ariel were forced to prep for that night’s service, and polish the silverware in the dining room. A disappointed Kevin knew that if he had plated his sauce, he would have won the challenge. During the punishment, Jean-Philippe gave them the silverware to polish, before telling them to have fun. After seeing Dave reunite with his loved ones, Kevin was upset that he was so close to seeing his family again and felt hurt by that, as Ariel peaked over what was happening in the kitchen. However, that only fired up Kevin as he was determined to win the competition.

Before service

30 minutes before the opening, the final three began to prep their stations, with the goal of making it to the finale. When they were lined up, Ramsay reminded that only two chefs would make it to the finals, and wanted them to cook with their hearts. Ramsay also revealed that each of them would run the pass, told them to remember how he was running it during the earlier services, while reminding them that they have to run the kitchen and not the other way around. After, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

Ramsay took the lead at the beginning, and called out the first order. Kevin and Dave got their appetizers accepted and going to the diners, with Ramsay noticing that it was the fastest start so far.

Kevin was the first chef to run the pass, and he felt that he had to run it the same way he was running the line, but better. Kevin read his first ticket clearly, and got off to a strong start. However, his first quality test came as Sous Chef Scott sent up a halibut instead of sea bass. Fortunately, Kevin caught the mistake, and sent it back, much to Ramsay’s praise. However, Ariel’s timings became inconsistent to Sous Chef Scott’s, and Kevin complained that she was slowing the team down. When Ariel sent her lamb to the pass, Kevin saw that it was overcooked, and asked her for a new mid rare, despite Ariel thinking that it was mid-rare. That forced Kevin to send an incomplete table of entrées to the dining room, but Ariel managed to send her refire, though told Ramsay that she could not cut a bone off one of the chops. However, Kevin forced Ariel to do it regardless, but it caused the lamb chops to fall apart as he ordered her to make other ones. Because of that, no food was leaving the kitchen, and Kevin was running out of time on the pass. Ramsay ordered Kevin to get a grip, and he pushed Ariel for the lamb. Despite being pissed off, Ariel brought her lamb, but was missing the lamb sauce. Kevin called Ariel nuts as he sent over his last table.

Dave was the second to run the pass, and not only called his first ticket with authority, but was very aggressive with his orders, much to the others’ shock, until Sous Chef Scott warned him to watch it. Despite that, food was leaving the kitchen, and the diners were happy. However, Dave’s quality test came as Sous Chef Scott put asparagus purée into the risotto instead of the spinach purée. Dave failed to notice the mistake, but Ramsay stopped him and reminded him to taste everything. Then, Dave failed another quality test as Sous Chef Scott sent tuna that was not seared and had no sesame seeds on it. A frustrated Ramsay pulled Dave aside and told him that he was not focusing, before ordering to get a grip. Dave realized that he had to stay in control, and noticed that the tuna Sous Chef Scott sent was cold. After, Dave rejected Sous Chef Heather’s garnishes for not having salt, and Ramsay praised the improvement from him. Dave continued to rally as diners were enjoying their entrées.

Ariel was the last to un the pass, and knew that she had to do well or else she could be eliminated. While Ariel read her first ticket well, her first quality test came as Sous Chef Heather sent up parsnip purée instead of mashed potatoes. Ariel failed to notice it, and Ramsay told her that she did not taste it well. Despite that, entrées continued to leave, until Sous Chef Scott presented another quality test as he brought salmon instead of sea bass, but that time, she noticed it. Then, Ariel started to call out a lot of ticket orders much to Kevin’s dismay, as there was a lot to remember and he got confused. Ramsay reminded Ariel that she had to coordinate the line as Kevin was dragging the scallops, and then, Ramsay told her that the kitchen was running her. Ariel got her voice back, but noticed that Kevin was dragging his scallops and felt that he was sabotaging her. Then, Ariel noticed that Kevin missed a portion, but he managed to send it on time.

After, Ramsay ran the pass for the rest of the night, and desserts went without problems. Kevin knew that one mistake could send someone home, Dave called himself a fighter, and Ariel said that she really wanted to be in the final two and win.

Post-mortem

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay said that despite the ups and downs, they had a good night on the pass. However, Ramsay said that it would be a hard decision to eliminate someone, and asked them to nominate one person each, who they thought should not be in the final two.

Back in the dorms, Dave was conflicted on who to choose, Ariel confronted Kevin on dragging the scallops on purpose, and Kevin said that Ariel’s communication skills were the main problem.

Elimination

Kevin voted for Ariel due to being nominated a few times, while Ariel voted for Kevin as he did not have her back. Dave said that he felt lost when Ariel was on the pass, and nominated her. However, Ramsay said that it still was not helping, and said that it was a very hard choice, before asking them why they deserved to be in the finals. Kevin said that he was a strong person and confident that he could run the Araxi, Ariel said that she grew a lot during the competition, and Dave said that he led himself through the competition and grew tenfold. After, Ramsay named Dave as the first finalist, and Kevin as the second, therefore eliminating Ariel. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Ariel for her ambition, drive, and passion, and told her to keep her jacket as a symbol of all of her accomplishments. During her exit interview, Ariel received a retrospective montage of her run.

After Ariel left, Ramsay congratulated Dave and Kevin for making it to the finals, and reminded them that there was one more challenge for them to face. Then, he revealed that there was a limousine waiting for them outside, and the episode ended in a cliffhanger.

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

My Opinion

 

The thirteenth episode of Season 6 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on October 6, 2009. On that episode, the chefs began the day on the best way possible, they cooked for supposed vegetarians during the challenge, and one chef was probably taking too much from their injury, which could have forced them to leave the competition.

Intro

On their way back to the dorms, Tennille noticed that there were only four chefs left, which meant that she beat thirteen other chefs to get to that point. Meanwhile, Dave told Ariel that she was a talented chef despite her poor performance, but Ariel still said that she wanted to get to the final four based on her skills, and not for dodging a bullet. Elsewhere, Kevin boasted that he knew everybody’s weaknesses, and unless they would know his, they were all screwed.

Individual challenge

At 6:38 am, everybody woke up, while Dave did earlier to give himself a motivational talk. The final four came downstairs, only to see Ramsay pacing in his office in a very bad mood. When the door opened, a mini Ramsay came out, much to the chef’s confusion, and started berating the chefs for their disastrous performance, while telling Dave that if he was a horse, he would have been shot long ago. After, the real Ramsay appeared, and admitted that he wanted to have a little fun with the chefs, before warning them that things would get harder as they were the final four. Then, Ramsay explained that there was nothing more painful in the world than a vegetarian, but in a fine dining environment, they had to cater for vegetarians. For the 80 Vegetarian Portions Challenge, Ramsay said that he wanted each chef to create a vegetarian dish, and make enough for eighty people that would come to the restaurant an hour later.

The chefs got their ingredients, and Kevin noted that it was nothing as he was used to making multiple portions at his country club. Kevin made an Asian style crepe with beet carpaccio, Tennille made a vegetable stuffed eggplant with brown rice and a creamy mushroom sauce, Ariel made a vegetarian lasagna, and Dave made a polenta tower with goat cheese and roasted peppers. Ariel offered to help Dave, but he refused as he wanted to win on his own, but groaned when he lifted a heavy pot with his bad wrist. Dave went to the back room to calm himself down, and refused to show weakness as Ariel confirmed that Dave was the one-armed bandit because of that, and was impressed that he was fighting through that pain. Eventually, the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated what they could get on as time was up.

After, Ramsay said that the guests did not like vegetables as it was revealed that the eighty guests were children. That horrified Dave as he was not working well with children, and Tennille was worried as she made an eggplant dish and stated that she could not win at all. The chefs had to serve their dishes to the kids, but because they did not get all their portions ready on time, they were forced to leave the impatient children at the pass, and plate their remaining portions. While Tennille started to make her dish presentable, she ended up throwing her stuff on the plates due to the rush. Dave served his dishes by using the word sandwich hoping that they would eat it, and declared he sold himself out. Ariel realized that she lucked out with lasagna, while Kevin knew that it would be tough for him as his dish was full vegetarian. Eventually, all the portions were served and the children ate them, while ranking what they liked the most. After lunch, Ramsay revealed to the children that he had a surprise for them, and asked Jean-Philippe to bring the sweets, as a surprised Ariel called it mayhem. Afterwards, Ramsay revealed the results and announced that 40% found that Kevin’s dish was the worst. Then, Ramsay revealed that the top two dishes were Dave and Tennille’s, but with 55%, Tennille won the challenge.

Reward

Tennille was rewarded with a Beverly Hills style makeover, and loved getting pampered at the salon. Then, she joined Ramsay for lunch at Nobu where she ate some of Nobu Matsuhisa’s signature sushi dishes. After lunch, Nobu presented Tennille with some of his signature knives designed by Rokusaburo Michiba and manufactured by Henkel that she got to keep, and she thanked the children for that reward.

Punishment

The remaining chefs were punished by cleaning up the dining room, with Ariel saying that it was the worst clean up yet. Back in the dorms, Dave and Kevin were surprised that Tennille’s eggplant beat their dishes, though Ariel believed that she cooked elementary. That led Dave to believe Tennille may not have what it was taking to be at the Araxi Restaurant. During the punishment, they complained about the mess, including how they had to scrape gum off the bottom of the tables. Also, Dave took some candy from the ground for himself.

Before service

The three remaining chefs were getting their stations prepped as Tennille came back from her reward. Dave was not impressed with Tennille’s make over, while Kevin was a little impressed with her new knife set. Sous Chef Scott told Tennille to get into her chef jacket as they were opening soon, and Tennille realized that she was back to hell. 35 minutes before service, while Ariel knew that the pressure was on, Tennille knew that service would be her most important one yet.

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay said that despite their highs and lows, they managed to make it through. However, Ramsay wanted them to be better, and asked them to put their passion on their plates. After, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

Ramsay called out the first ticket, and reminded them about the needed passion. Kevin communicated with Tennille as he wanted to prove to Ramsay he could win, and got his appetizers accepted. Soon, dishes were flying out in a record time, as everybody was determined to gain perfection. On their next order, Ramsay asked Tennille for the scallops, and while she sent them up, they were rubbery, and Ramsay compared them to a rubber band. Knowing that there was no more room for mistakes, Tennille got her refire accepted, but Ramsay lectured her on paying attention.

A half hour into service, and all of the appetizers were served. Moving onto entrées, Dave got his lamb sliced, but then, he lifted the pan with his bad wrist, and almost collapsed in pain. Dave went to the back hallway while Ramsay followed and admitted that he was watching Dave out of concern, as he was sweating, looking dizzy and out of breath. Ramsay directed Dave to the medic, and after a quick check up, Dave returned and got his lamb approved by Ramsay. However, Kevin felt that Dave should have been medically eliminated if he was in that amount of pain. Entrées were leaving the kitchen at a steady pace, but when Ramsay asked for the sea bass, Tennille brought up a burnt portion along with a raw halibut, and Ramsay found more rejected portions at Tennille’s station. Then, Ramsay found out that Tennille failed to get the sea bass seared properly, and asked everybody to take a look at it, with Dave comparing it to shriveled up leather. Because of Tennille’s mistake, the line was stalled, as the diners were forced to wait for their entrées. Tennille’s second attempt on the halibut came out raw again, and despite her saying that she was not doing it on purpose, a frustrated Ramsay reminded everybody about the promise he asked them earlier.

Forced to start their ticket over, Dave and Ariel asked Tennille for a time, but they did not get any answer from her, until she said two minutes. But, when Ramsay asked Tennille for a time, she said that she needed six more minutes, even though Dave already sliced his lamb. Then, Ramsay pulled her to the pantry room, and yelled that she was not communicating with the team. Despite Tennille saying that she was, Ramsay ordered her to fight back. While Tennille got more open with her teammates, Ariel hoped that Tennille could bounce back quickly. Tennille’s refire was accepted, and entrées were once again being pushed out. Eventually, all the entrées were served and Ramsay told them to clean up.

As they were cleaning up, Tennille was disappointed that she screwed up despite winning a challenge, and called it the worst night she had in Hell’s Kitchen. Meanwhile, Dave was concerned that his injury may take him out of the competition.

Elimination

When the chefs were lined up, Ramsay admitted that he was very happy that they started service talking and communicating, and despite some slip ups, they fought back and completed service. However, Ramsay turned to Dave and said that he has never seen a chef suffer in pain like that before, and was very concerned that he may not be able to continue in the competition. However, Dave argued that he could still pull through pain, and stated that his right hand was still strong, while begging Ramsay not to eliminate him because of an injury. Ramsay reluctantly allowed Dave to stay, but warned him that he would be watching him carefully.

Then, Ramsay turned to Tennille and reminded her about her poor performance, and stated that he did not want any nominations, before eliminating her as he refused to prolong her agony. While Tennille was heartbroken about getting eliminated, Ramsay told her that he was so proud that she fought back harder than anybody else, and praised her massive heart. Before leaving, Tennille hugged the other chefs as Ramsay reminded her that she had the greatest comeback of the competition. Tennille received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview. That marked the first time that Ramsay eliminated someone during the post-mortem.

Families visit

After Tennille left, Ramsay dismissed the final three and suggested that they get some rest, as Dave was relieved to have dodged a bullet. Before the final three could celebrate, Ramsay called them on the phone and ordered them to come downstairs immediately for some unfinished business. They rushed to the dining room, and while Ramsay admitted that he wondered if he made the right decision of keeping Dave, he said that he knew he did. Then, Ramsay revealed a reward for them, which were Dave’s fiancé and sister, Ariel’s fiancé and mother, and Kevin’s wife and son. They were excited to see their loved ones as Ramsay allowed them to spend some time together. Eventually, the loved ones left and the chefs were informed that their next dinner service would be their last, before dismissing them.

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

My Opinion

 

The twelfth episode of Season 6 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 29, 2009. On that episode, the individual challenge resulted with two winners, the punished chefs were doing compensatory work, and the biggest loud-mouth of the season was finally eliminated.

Intro

On their way back to the dorms, Dave confronted Tennille for changing her mind about the nominations. He not only decided not to trust her, but called her a bitch and said that she did not deserve to be in Hell’s Kitchen. However, Tennille told him that she gave Ramsay her honest opinion, though Dave said that she should have said something before elimination. Kevin watched all of that, and relished the fact that people were self-destructing as Dave angrily left. Meanwhile, Suzanne admitted to Ariel that she was shaking as it was her third time up for elimination, and feared that it could be her last chance. Ariel herself realized that she had to pull through from her poor night as they were in the final five.

Individual challenge

The next morning, the final five came downstairs and met Ramsay, who was ready to give them their first individual challenge. Ramsay explained that their dishes should not just taste great, but look great as well. For the Presentation Challenge, each chef would be cooking their own dishes for some of Bon Appétit’s staff members, which included Editor-In-Chief Barbara Fairchild that would be judging based on look alone, with Suzanne hoping that she would win, as Bon Appétit was one of the premiere magazines in the culinary industry. Then, Ramsay explained that out of the five dishes, two of them would be judged by Ramsay and Fairchild on taste to declare the winner.

With 45 minutes to cook, the chefs got to work as Kevin noticed that the pressure was on. He made a Caribbean sea bass with orange and papaya, while Suzanne made a calamari salad, though Dave thought that a salad was not what the Bon Appétit staff was looking for. Dave’s dish was a rack of lamb with fingerling potatoes, Ariel made prosciutto wrapped John Dory, hoping for a pick up after the previous night, and Tennille made an Asian inspired red snapper. However, Tennille’s snapper broke on the tray, and with very little time to cook another one, she put it on top of her garnishes to mask how screwed up it was. Eventually, all the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated in time.

The Bon Appétit staff went to look at the chef’s dishes. While almost everybody explained their dish with confidence, Dave struggled to describe his dish as he was not doing well in front of crowds. After that, Ramsay gathered the judges’ comment cards, and revealed that Tennille’s dish was the worst looking, with Dave commenting how Tennille presented garbage to the judges, and Suzanne’s dish got fourth place, though she felt that it was artistic. Then, Ramsay revealed that Kevin’s dish was the best looking one, and between Ariel’s dish was the second best. Ariel and Kevin presented their dishes to Ramsay and Fairchild, and both received praise as Ariel’s dish had edgy cranberry sauce, and Kevin’s dish matched the Caribbean taste he hoped for. After much deliberation, Ramsay declared Ariel and Kevin joint-winners as he could not pick a lone winner, and said that it was hard to choose the best dish out of those two.

Reward

Ariel and Kevin were rewarded with a Bon Appétit photo shoot with Ramsay and Fairchild at Shutters on the Beach, in Santa Monica, with Ariel stating that her family would be excited to see her dish in the magazine. During the reward, Kevin felt like a movie star and that it was a taste of what could come if he would win.

Punishment

The remaining chefs were punished by cleaning a street Hell’s Kitchen adopted, and the fact that Dave had to be near Tennille made him nauseous. Also, he warned that he would snap if she would bitch. Dressed in garbage crew jumpsuits and getting driven on a prison bus, Tennille frustratingly asked if she committed a crime. During the punishment, Suzanne called garbage collecting not the glamorous thing she has done, and Dave quickly got annoyed by Tennille ’s constant complaints. When they got back to Hell’s Kitchen, they had to clean the front entrance of Hell’s Kitchen, which included sweeping up the steps, shining the sign, and cleaning the carpet. Then, when Ariel and Kevin returned from their reward, Tennille got annoyed when they walked over the clean carpet. While sweeping, Dave’s fractured wrist started to swell up and he put it on ice. However, the pain continued to torture him as he lied on the bed groaning. Kevin came to check on him, and told that he needed to think of himself, but secretly wanted Dave to go home as he was his biggest competitor. However, Dave knew that everyone wanted to see him gone due to his broken wrist, but chose to stay.

Before service

The five chefs got to work prepping for that night’s service. However, Dave was starting to slow down, and Kevin stated that it was frustrating as Dave could not rely on people any longer. Kevin took the lead for prep, but Suzanne felt that he was patronizing them.

After prep, Ramsay gathered them and reminded that by that point, it was all about determination, while adding that he wanted a perfect service and warning Suzanne to show it. Then, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

For that night’s service, both Ariel and Kevin’s challenge winning dishes were added to the menu. Before Ramsay read out the first ticket, he told the chefs to prove why they were the best chefs. Dave, Tennille, and Suzanne got to work on their appetizers, but when Dave asked if anything new was added to the cold appetizers, Tennille answered not, while calling him a fucking idiot. However, Ramsay reminded Tennille and Dave that he did not care if they were not liking each other, and was only concerned about teamwork. Then, Ramsay asked for the scallops, but Suzanne revealed that she did not have them on, and blamed Tennille for not giving her a proper time, much to Ramsay’s dismay. Despite the weak communication, Dave, Tennille, and Suzanne’s appetizers were accepted and sent out to the first table. However, more diners were coming, and more tickets were flown into the kitchen. Ariel tasted Tennille’s risotto and said that it was overcooked, but Tennille ignored her and sent it up. However, Ramsay ejected it and forced her to make a new one. Suzanne’s scallops were rejected as one was burnt and Ramsay accused her of not working hard.

While Tennille and Suzanne were struggling on their refires, Dave continued to push out cold appetizers as Ramsay was forced to send out incomplete tables. Suzanne and Tennille brought their refires, but Tennille’s risotto was overcooked again, and Ramsay lectured her to pay attention to her work, before asking who cooked the rice during prep. Kevin revealed that he cooked the rice, and then, it was revealed that all the rice was mush. While Dave said that Kevin screwed up, Tennille should have realized that the rice was overcooked herself. Suzanne got some good rice from the pantry room, but that led Ramsay asking why they were using the poor rice earlier, with Tennille noting that it was both her and Kevin’s fault. Then, Ramsay lectured Kevin on putting the overcooked rice on Tennille’s station as he was one of the most technical chefs of the final five, and asked him for a standard. With the new rice, Tennille’s third attempt was accepted, and Ramsay asked her and Kevin to look at the difference. With the risotto problem dealt with, appetizers were sent out to the dining room, and the chefs got to work on entrées. Recalling how poorly the previous service went, Ariel hoped that she would do better. However, her chicken still had some pink on it, and Ariel got frustrated for disappointing Ramsay. That forced Kevin to start over on garnishes, and he complained that he thought Ariel was better than that. Despite that, Ariel’s refire was accepted, and Ramsay sent the first table of entrées out. Suzanne brought up her sea bass, but it was raw and an angry Ramsay smashed a piece to the ground, with an irritated Kevin stating that Suzanne should be able to cook fish at that point. As a disappointed Suzanne basted her refire, a distraught Ramsay yelled that they were very inconsistent that night, before mumbling that it could not be possible. Meanwhile, Jean-Philippe apologized to the tables that had no fish.

One hour and a half into service, while Suzanne’s sea bass finally made it to the dining room, only half of the diners have received their entrées. Dave called that night a disaster, and Ramsay yelled at the final five to wake up, while ranting that it was like each chef was taking a turn to screw up. Ariel brought up her lamb, but it was sliced poorly, and a frustrated Ramsay pulled her to the dining room and asked her if she would send that poor piece if she was at the Araxi. Ariel answered that she would not, and deemed embarrassing to be called out like that in front of customers. As Kevin tried to rally the group, Ramsay told him that the only reason he got frustrated was that he had to watch that shit unfold before complaining that every table was getting screwed.

Two and a half hours into service, Ramsay gathered the chefs, said that he was done sending out incomplete tables, and warned them to either get it together or fuck off. Despite some struggles from Ariel, they managed to complete dinner service, but Ramsay was very disappointed in them for a disastrous dinner service.

Post-mortem

When the chefs were lined up, while Ramsay admitted that they managed to complete dinner service, he bitterly said big deal as he expected a poor performance like that weeks before, and compared it to a giant soufflé collapsing. After reminding them that they did not act like a team, he asked them to agree on two nominees for elimination.

Back in the dorms, Dave admitted that they all sucked, and believed that anybody could go home. Kevin suggested that all of them vote for two names, and Suzanne said that her votes were Ariel and Tennille. However, Tennille thought that she had a better performance than Suzanne, while Suzanne said that she was a better team player, and that her station was tight. However, Kevin knew that Suzanne was very inconsistent and nominated her. Ariel said that her nominees were Kevin and Tennille for the risotto incident, but Kevin knew that Ariel only said that because she refused to nominate herself, which Suzanne confirmed. Near the end, nobody knew who to nominate.

Elimination

Kevin announced that Ariel was the first nominee, and Suzanne was the second. Ramsay called them down, and during their pleas, Ramsay noticed that it was Suzanne’s fourth nomination, but Suzanne said that she was focused on standard technique and perfection, and believed that she was a better chef than Ariel. Then, Ramsay accused Ariel of getting worse, but Ariel said that she was still passionate, and wanted to prove it to Ramsay. While Ramsay believed that both of them should leave, he eliminated Suzanne as she was given more chances than anybody else, and was on a downward spiral without return. Suzanne received a retrospective montage of her run during her exit interview. After Suzanne left, Ramsay sent Ariel back in line, and warned Tennille that she dodged a bullet. Then, he told the final four to bounce back, and warned them that neither of them was getting a free ride. Tennille acknowledged that she indeed dodged a bullet, and while Ariel was happy to be in the final four, she said that she would enjoy having gotten there by skills alone. Kevin boasted that he was more consistent than the rest of the chefs, while Dave noted that it was going to get cutthroat from that moment on.

Ramsay’s comment: “Suzanne had a red jacket, she had a blue jacket, she had a black jacket. Now, she has no jacket.”

My Opinion

 

The eleventh episode of Season 6 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on September 22, 2009, airing as a double feature alongside the tenth episode. On that episode, the remaining chefs were merged into the black team, an exuberant celebration happened after the challenge, and half of the chefs let Ramsay down during service, leading him to do the unthinkable.

Intro

Back in the dorms, Van claimed that he fought for his life to stay as it meant everything for him to stay and win, while knowing that he could not make any more stupid mistakes. The next day, Van was still upset over his previous performance, but knew that he had to let it go. Then, he went to the living room, and found gift boxes. When he showed them to Dave and Kevin, it was revealed that they were containing black jackets. The rest of the chefs opened their black jackets, with Suzanne comparing it to Christmas morning, and they knew that while it was a great milestone to get to, it also meant that it was time for the individual game to begin.

Pairs challenge

The new black jacket chefs came down in the kitchen, and met Ramsay who was cooking a dish. As Ramsay was plating his dish, he noticed that there was no more red or blue teams, and gave them the dish to taste. The dish everyone tasted was one of Ramsay’s signature dishes, and after Ramsay explained how he would always try and imagine what the dishes ingredients were, he announced that the next challenge would be the Taste It Now Make It Challenge. Then, the six chefs were broken up into three teams of two, consisting of Van and Ariel, with the latter being concerned as Van has been nominated twice before, Tennille and Kevin, much to Tennille’s happiness, and Dave and Suzanne, which Dave decided to reluctantly go with. After, Sous Chef Scott brought a dish that was cooked in one of his own Los Angeles restaurants for the chefs to taste.

Each pair had thirty minutes to recreate Ramsay’s dish, containing fish, garnish, purée, and sauce. Everybody crowded around the dish as Dave decided to taste every fish to guess what the correct match was. Ariel could not figure out what the fish was, and while Van wanted to use sea bass, everybody went with turbot. For the garnish, everybody chose calamari. For the purée, Ariel and Van used celery root, while the remaining pairs used parsnip. For the sauce, Ariel and Van went with starfruit, Dave and Suzanne went with passion fruit, and Kevin and Tennille went with grapefruit. With their ingredients chosen, the pairs worked on their dishes, but Van accidentally dropped the turbot on the ground, forcing him to cook another one. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated in time.

The first pair that was judged by Ramsay was Kevin and Tennille, followed by Van and Ariel, and finally Dave and Suzanne. After tasting their dishes, Ramsay revealed that while all of them got the protein correct, nobody got the purée as it was actually white onion. While calamari was the correct garnish, Tennille and Kevin forgot to plate theirs, and automatically lost. In the end, Dave and Suzanne got the right fruit sauce, and won the challenge. However, Suzanne openly gloated about their victory until Dave made her shut up, much to the other chefs’ annoyance.

Reward

Dave and Suzanne were rewarded with a trip to the London West Hollywood, along with Ramsay, where they would eat lunch with Season 4 winner Christina. While Dave was not happy to be with Suzanne for most of the day, he decided to make the best of it. On the ride to the restaurant, Dave asked Ramsay what to do for black jacket services, and Ramsay reminded them that while they were still cooking as a team, they had to focus on the individual aspect now. When they arrived at the restaurant, Ramsay gave Dave and Suzanne a tour before a meeting with Christina. During lunch, Suzanne asked her a lot of questions, but when Dave tried to say something, Suzanne talked over him. Then, Christina told them that they had to think ahead now as Ramsay could throw a wrench in any plans, as Suzanne felt that she could win the competition.

Punishment

The remaining chefs were punished by prepping for a Couples Night Service, as well as helping Jean-Philippe to decorate the dining room. During the punishment, Van was pissed that he did not get the chance to spend some time with Ramsay, and instead had to be with Jean-Philippe, who he called whistle britches. Jean-Philippe gave them instructions on decorating the dining room, but Tennille quickly got annoyed by his precise instructions.

Before service

While prepping for service, Van noticed that the mood has changed as everybody was eyeing up their competition, and announced that he was ready to take advantage of that. Dave and Suzanne came back and got to work, but when Dave asked if he could help anyone, he got cold shoulders and realized that they were all gunning for him. While Tennille said that they were playing individually now, they still had to work together because every mistake could hurt the team, and she caught Dave up to speed.

When everybody was lined up, Ramsay said that he was expecting the six chefs to be the dynamic team he hoped for. Also, Ramsay reminded them the theme of Couples Night for that service, and to help keep the romantic mood, he put Kevin on the tableside station. Once everyone was at their stations, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen.

Dinner service

The menu of Couples Night featured a chopped salad appetizer, and a porterhouse steak for two that would be served tableside by Kevin. Ramsay called out the first ticket and reminded Kevin not to make the salad portions reasonable. Despite feeling confident on her station, Suzanne served two tortellini portions instead of three ordered, as Kevin tried to buy time in the dining room because of that mistake. Despite Suzanne saying that she needed two more minutes, it took way longer, and she screwed the timing of the whole team. Despite that, she managed to fix the tortellini refire and the synchronization between her and Kevin was fixed. Van was determined to make sure his fish was cooked properly, but Ramsay caught him searing a sea bass instead of cooking the scallops, and he warned Van that he would be watching him like a hawk. However, Van started to sweat in his scallops, and Ramsay yelled at him for that, before forcing the team to start the ticket over. Because of that, the kitchen received an overflow of tickets as very little food was being served, and Ramsay yelled at both Suzanne and Van for that.

Working on appetizers and entrées, Tennille took the lead and communicated with Van and Ariel, much to Ramsay’s praise as she was the last person he would have expected to do so. Then, Ramsay praised Tennille’s perfectly cooked lamb, but Van was late on the halibut, and placed it in a non-sizzling pan. While Van sent his halibut, it was raw and Ramsay bemoaned that it was too much as Van was disappointed by his poor performance. Then, Ramsay pulled Van into the pantry room and urged him to get a grip, with a warning that one more mistake could get him ejected. When they came back, Ramsay noticed that Ariel’s lettuce was burnt, which she did not notice, and Ramsay continued to go into despair. Eventually, Ramsay called Sous Chef Scott and both of them walked out of the kitchen, much to the shock of everybody, and Jean-Philippe asked if they would come back.

Without any Head Chef or Sous Chef, Tennille knew that if Ramsay would shut down the service, everybody could go home. So, she took the lead for the chefs, and communicated with Ariel and Van. However, Ariel was slow on garnishes and despite wanting five minutes, Tennille reminded her that they needed three minutes. Dave came to help Ariel and despite noticing that she was looking defeated, her garnishes made it up to the pass, and the only thing left was plating. Kevin got the first few dishes plated and sent out before returning to the dining room, leaving Suzanne in charge of plating. However, she refused to plate the dishes as she did not want to screw up, much to her teammates’ annoyance. So, Van decided to plate the dishes and send them out to the dining room. However, Van did not communicate with Tennille on the timing, and did not like how he was being treated like a girl. Despite that, food was leaving to the customers as Ramsay and Sous Chef Scott came back to the kitchen, with Dave noting that Ariel, Van, and Suzanne were horrible, even fearing that they would get shut down. Then, Ramsay yelled that nobody has ever pushed him to leave his own kitchen, before ejecting Van, Ariel, and Suzanne from service. Back in the dorms, Van went off that he worked his ass off despite getting yelled at Ramsay, much to Ariel’s concern, and went off to calm himself down. Meanwhile, Dave, Tennille, and Kevin managed to serve their last ticket, and when they were getting desserts ready, Ramsay pulled Tennille aside to praise her, saying that she gave the best cooking of meat he ever saw, much to her pleasure.

Post-mortem

When Dave, Kevin, and Tennille were lined up, Ramsay noticed that it was the first time in five years that he ever walked out of Hell’s Kitchen, and while he remarked that it was not those three’s fault, he called that night one of the most frustrating services he ever had. Then, Ramsay told the three of them that because they cooked their hearts out that night, neither of them would be going home, and asked them to agree with two nominees of the three people that got ejected from service.

Back in the dorms, Tennille told the rest of the chefs the news, and berated Suzanne for refusing to plate the dishes. Despite Suzanne arguing that she did not want to screw up the plating, Kevin remarked that she should know by that moment what her own standards were. While the three of them agreed that Suzanne was the first nominee, they were torn for the second. While Tennille noted that Van had a miserable night on the fish station, Dave brought up Ariel’s name as it was her burnt lettuce that drove Ramsay to the edge, though he secretly admitted that his decision to keep Van was a strategic one. However, Ariel did not want to be thrown under the bus, even though she knew that her night was not great, and while Tennille knew that nominating Ariel for one poor night was not fair, she struggled on who to choose. Despite that, they agreed that Suzanne and Ariel were the nominees that night.

Elimination

Dave announced that Suzanne was the first nominee, and Ariel was the second. However, when Ramsay asked Tennille for her opinion, she said that Van should be nominated instead of Ariel. Since Ramsay had mixed feelings of the three problematic chefs of that night, he called all three of them down. During their pleas, Ariel said that she wanted to prove that she could bounce back, Suzanne said that she was nervous, with Ramsay warning her that she was spiraling down, and Van said that he was trying his best and hated being nominated again, along with getting ejected from service. After, Ramsay sent Ariel back in line, noticed that Van and Suzanne have been nominated three times each, and eliminated Van for his back to back struggles on the fish station. But, before Van left, Ramsay told him that while he could cook, he needed to keep it cool and let his food do the talking. Van received a retrospective montage of his run during his exit interview. After Van left, Ramsay sent Suzanne back in line, and told Tennille that he appreciated her telling him the truth about Van. However, Dave was not happy that Tennille threw Van under the bus, and said that she should watch her back as he was determined to win.

Ramsay’s comment: “Van may be a poissonier, but his performance on fish was anything but Van-tastic.”

My Opinion