1) It’s the next morning, and there’s no sign of Robert in the dorms. The chefs head downstairs, and Chef Ramsay is there with a Hell’s Kitchen branded craps table. A twelve-sided die is given to each team, with letters printed on it. Each chef will roll the die, and choose an ingredient that starts with each letter. Chef Ramsay warns them that all of the ingredients they choose have to go together. I believe Chef Ramsay is trying to avoid having to eat another dish of the “steak and peaches”-level of disgusting ingredient clashing that he tried in an early season.
2) The letters and ingredients broke down like this:
Suzanne – R – Rabbit
Amanda – H – Haricot Vert
Tennille – P – Potatoes
Sabrina – G – Garlic
Ariel – H – Ham hock
After the women finish, Chef Ramsay states that he likes the ingredients.
Boston Andy – H – Haddock
Stoner Dave – F – Figs after too much thought – Scheming Kevin wants him to say fennel, but no dice.
Tactful Van – A – Angel hair pasta
Scheming Kevin – A – Apples
Boston Andy again (rolling for Robert) – T – Tomatoes
After the men finish, Chef Ramsay seems worried about the figs.
3) Reward challenge: Make a dish with these ingredients. The women seem to have the better-composed dish, and they hit the ground running, immediately taking stations and getting to work. Stoner Dave takes ownership of the figs, grabbing a pot and spewing fig facts like Bubba talking about shrimp. Suzanne is running around to everyone’s station, adding this, making comments about that, and pissing off the Red team. The men are still trying to get around the figs. Scheming Kevin gets an idea and grabs them to add to the tomato sauce. The men are all over this idea; they think this will give them a shot. Tennille thinks the garlic puree is too garlic-y, but the other girls are satisfied with it being so intense. Plating! and everyone comes in at the wire.
4) Tactful Van thinks the women’s dish looks like something out of a cookbook, with rabbit leg as the focal point. Chef Ramsay likes it, but thinks the garlic is too strong. The men have a braised haddock, with fig in the sauce to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. Chef Ramsay likes it! The winning dish is the men! Chef Ramsay harps on the garlic puree, ensuring we get Tennille in a confessional yelling about how she said it wasn’t good. Again. The women have to take the deliveries for the kitchens. This punishment sucks, every season. Right away the women drop a case of lemons. Good start. The men get to go to Las Vegas for the night, staying in the Hardwood Suite at the Palms, complete with in-room basketball court! Jesus. Tactful Van, who’s never been to Vegas, is yelling the ENTIRE time, even while describing mundane things on the street. Back at the dorms, a delivery comes in at 1:15AM. Heh.
5) With two hours to go until dinner, the guys are pumped. Suzanne is giving her team little pep talks and getting laughed at. And lo! As the guys are getting ready and assigning stations, Robert comes sauntering back through the door! The guys seem less than happy to see him, and act kind of cold. But no time for fighting, Chef Ramsay reveals that tonight, for the first time EVER, there will be chefs’ tables. Chef Ramsay has invited two of his head chefs from NY, and two from LA to be served at these chefs tables. Each station has to take the appropriate order from the chefs’ tables and explain the menu items (the contestant on appetizers takes the app order, the contestant on Fish takes the fish order, and so on).
6) Stoner Dave calls out for two risotto orders for the customers at the Blue kitchen’s chef’s table, but the two guests never got to even hear appetizer choices, much less order anything. In the Red kitchen, the two guest chefs have not been attended to at all. When Ariel finally does get around to taking the order, she at least explains the menu options to them. Stoner Dave doesn’t drop the appetizers, and Chef Ramsay tells him the risotto is good. However, the Red appetizer scallop orders are too seared and have too little salt. And NOW I recall where I’ve seen one of Chef Ramsay’s guest chefs before! He was a contestant (and winner) on Food Network’s Chopped (episode 1.5, aired 2-10-09).
7) Apparently there are no more problems with the appetizers anywhere, because we skip forward and the regular orders start coming in, and the Blue team is scrambling. Tactful Van’s on fish, and sends out a fish with the plastic paper it comes wrapped in, still on it. Somehow not understanding foodservice packaging, he interviews that, “I dunno why they have it wrapped up like that.” Thanks, Tactful Van! And another Blue diner finds another wrapper on their fish. Chef Ramsay completely flips out and smashes the plate on the counter. The guest chefs at the blue chef’s table have awkward looks on their faces. It gets even worse when Chef Ramsay realizes that they haven’t had an order taken since the appetizers, and Tactful Van shambles over. He gives a, “What’re y’all havin’?” and is confused when the guest chefs explain that they have no idea what their options are. Tactful Van tries to explain the menu, but can’t recall some of the components of each dish. The guest chefs, who work for Chef Ramsay in real life and can most likely recite their entire menu start-to-finish while running backwards and weightlifting, have a look of “Is this idiot for real?”
8) Robert is struggling with the lamb, as the meat needs to be double the size of the bone. Meanwhile, Chef Ramsay is yelling at Amanda to hurry up, but she’s got nothing to do until Ariel churns out some pasta for the dish. Back to the Blue kitchen, Chef Ramsay flips on Scheming Kevin, and due to a raw rabbit coming to the pass, loses it completely and calls for just the Blue kitchen to be shut down, but not the Red. Something tells me this is being done to get rid of Robert due to his medical reasons.
9) The Red kitchen completes their service, and Chef Ramsay has the comment cards from the chefs’ tables. The Red kitchen’s chef’s table said they would be happy to return. The Blue kitchen’s chef’s table said thanks, but no thanks. No surprise, the Blue team loses. Tactful Van gets called out for the fish, Robert for the lamb. Stoner Dave was the best of the worst. He’s got to think of two people up for elimination. Upstairs, Robert still feels that he’s better than most of the blue team, especially Boston Andy. He’s trying to get Stoner Dave to look at body of services, rather than what happened tonight. He keeps putting Boston Andy down and self-promoting. Boston Andy’s trying to defend himself, but Robert’s just being a dick here, and for good reason—he’s not better than Boston Andy. Robert’s an executive chef out on Long Island. Boston Andy’s had his own restaurant for about ten years. If anything, Boston Andy’s letting Robert walk on him here, maybe to get sympathy points from Stoner Dave?
10) Downstairs, the first up is Robert. When asked why, Stoner Dave cites a weak service tonight, and Robert’s ongoing health problems. The second up is Tactful Van, based on tonight’s performance. Chef Ramsay pulls Boston Andy out of the line as well. Three up! Chef Ramsay doesn’t think ANY of them can win this competition at this point, and tells them so. Tactful Van apologizes for the fish, and claims he’s better, and yells that Chef Ramsay has the ability to spot talent, and he should stay. Robert starts yelling that only Boston Andy should be up there. The two of them start arguing like second graders. Chef Ramsay fakes out Boston Andy by calling his name. Boston Andy steps forward, but before he could hand over his jacket, gets told to get back in line. Chef Ramsay calls for Robert’s jacket, the reason being Robert’s had more services in Hell’s Kitchen than anyone, and due to that, you can’t send up a raw entree or incorrectly-cut lamb. Boston Andy and Tactful Van each interview that if they mess up again, they’ll most likely be gone.
Next time: Boston Andy’s in the Blue team’s sights! The Red team wants Suzanne gone! But the plans backfire (so we’re told)! Chef Ramsay yells! Someone is scheming! And Chef Ramsay is scrEEEAAAMMing!
