When we last left our Hell’s Kitchen chefs, there was a massive disagreement between Jackie and Kristin — and Jackie, being the classy lady that she is, dumped an entire ashtray on Kristin’s shoulder. Also, Chef Ramsay decided to kick out an insane amount of chefs during dinner service, which was oddly comical.
After Chad’s unfortunate elimination, Frank notes how aggravating it is to be the target. He’s livid over the fact that his name was mentioned during elimination. “Just keep doing what you do, and soon you won’t have to worry about them,” Kristin assures him. Frank believes that it’s a shame he has to work with so many backstabbers.
After Jackie makes a claim that lesbians love her, Ashley, who is bisexual, said that she wouldn’t “bang Jackie if she was the last person on earth.” Jackie thinks Ashley is full of crap, since she’s a self-proclaimed lesbian and bisexual magnet. “She’s the only one, and I’m sad, and I’m offended,” Jackie says when it’s mentioned that Ashley would never consider her. In fact, Ashley notes she’d rather mess around with Jared before even thinking about messing around with Jackie. Poor Jackie.
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The Fast-Paced Protein Challenge
The next morning, Chef Ramsay presents three proteins to the chefs — a rack of lamb, sea bass, and chicken breasts. Chef Ramsay wants the chefs to come up with three stunning dishes using the ingredients linked to each protein. Each team has five minutes to discuss the dishes before cooking, but over in the Red Kitchen, Jackie stays silent, not offering up any ideas.
The Blue Kitchen has its own problems as Frank is still salty over having to work with backstabbers. Chef Ramsay gives the chefs 40 minutes to create the dishes, but only one chef from each team will be allowed in the kitchen at a time. Coordination and communication is super important to win this challenge. The kitchens send up Jackie (since if she screws anything up, she’ll have chefs after her that will be able to fix her mistakes) and Jared first.
Jared yells to his teammates that he’s starting the puree, and says to the camera that he was willing to go first since he thinks he’s the strongest on his team. After Jared and Jackie leave the kitchen, it’s apparent that Jackie did very little work during her “shift.” Jared’s puree is also incredibly burned when Manda takes his place.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Ashley says after leaving the red kitchen in favor of Ariel. Ariel busts her butt, and starts working on the carrots. Kristin soon takes her place, and gets a little ticked off at Ariel over some carrot-related micromanaging.
All of the chefs are ready for their second pass in the kitchen. Jackie starts working on a sea bass, which, according to Kristin, will take her about five minutes to cook. Hopefully, they won’t run out of time and serve an under-prepared dish. Frank manages to cook some “nice and sexy” leeks in the meantime.
Dannie takes over for Frank, and Ariel once again takes her turn to cook. After some communication from her team in the sidelines, Ariel asks the ladies to trust her.
“This is so intense it’s not even funny,” Kristin says before running up to the kitchen. Kristin and Manda are the final chefs of the challenge, and need to make sure everything is plated and cooked properly. “This is pure adrenaline right now,” Kristin comments.
Chef Ramsay will be judging the dishes head to head, awarding the teams one point for a solid dish. Kristin is especially worried about their pan-seared sea bass. “The Sea bass is cooked beautifully,” Chef Ramsay comments. Frank’s sea bass is topped with blood orange, and it’s extremely moist. Chef Ramsay is impressed with both, so each team gets a point.
The pan-seared lamb is up next, which is covered with dijon. Jackie notes that the mustard was burned, so hopefully it was fixed before being plated. The Red Team is in luck, as Chef Ramsay enjoyed the dish, and awards them a point.
Finally, the chicken is served. The Blue Team presents a good chicken, but according to Chef Ramsay, it looks like something is missing. For the Red Kitchen, the carrots on the side of the chicken are raw, which makes Ariel give quite a side-eye to Kristin. If only she listened!
Since it’s a tie, Chef Ramsay goes back to the sea bass to choose a winner, and ends up going with the Blue Team. “That gorgeous sea bass, it was beautiful!” Manda notes, happy about the win.
A Day At The Park
The Blue Team will be spending a VIP Day at the Santa Anita Park, which is a horse racing track. Well done, Blue Team!
Of course, with victory, there’s also punishment. The Red Team will have to help prep some gigantic lamb shanks. “I think we lost the challenge because Kristin thought the carrots were cooked without tasting them,” Ariel laments. Dannie looks like a million bucks as she passes the Red Team ladies who are prepping their lamb. “It looks like she’s going to church!” Jackie exclaims.
Manda is also wearing a classy, fancy hat. She’s a little upset with Frank, who is acting like the world is ending, and refuses to even smile throughout the reward. “The people on my team, are scumbags,” Frank says in a sad tone. “I’m not stooping down to their level.”
But there’s no time for arguments as the horses race. It’s unclear as to whether or not any of our chefs actually won, but they sure had fun shouting at the jockeys.
Another Red Team Quarrel
Back in the Red Kitchen, Ariel has had it “up to here” with her team. “Ariel is a toddler,” Kristin comments, getting in a screaming match with her. The two need to be separated to work out their issues, while the rest of the team continues working.
Kristin and Ariel get locked in a pantry, but nothing happens. “I’m sick and tired of being diplomatic,” Ariel says, noting that they’ll have to work things out for the team to succeed.
When the Blue Team comes back, Jared asks Frank if he’s been bothered all day over being thrown under the bus during the last elimination. “What’s the problem?” Chef Christina asks. “Is that what you’re bothered about? That you got put up there one time?” Christina says. “Let it be personal for them, don’t let it be personal for you.” Christina notes that people are gunning for her job, but it doesn’t let her stand in the way of doing her job. Frank admits she’s right, which is rare for him, as Christina is a woman.
The Start Of Dinner Service
Hell’s Kitchen opens and welcomes a bunch of diners and unpopular celebrities as usual. (No offense, Bill Engvall.) Almost immediately, the Red Kitchen screws up their risotto by making it way too soupy. “Oh dear, oh dear,” Chef Ramsay laments, telling Ashley that she also needs to fix the seasoning.
Frank is working on the risotto over in the Blue Kitchen, but refuses to communicate with Manda over how many risottos he’s preparing. It’s just radio silence. “Are we doing this already? Because I’m not playing this game tonight,” Manda sighs while working on some lobster.
Ashley’s risotto still isn’t perfect. “It’s still too thin,” she complains. “It looks like cheese fondue,” Chef Ramsay says as he gives it a stir. He calls the chefs over to look over at the mistake. “There’s more cheese in there than there is in Holland!” he yells. Ashley apologizes, but Chef Ramsay thinks she’s already checked out. (Maybe she’s being distracted by Jackie, the bisexual magnet.)
Ashley breaks down in tears, but quickly regains her composure to try her risotto for a third time. “Stay with her, you push with her!” Chef Christina commands. Much to Ashley’s relief, her re-fired risotto finally hits the tables. Good recovery there, lady.
Frank is still a little sad, but decides that he really should be communicating better with his team. He starts to finally be a team player, watching garnishes and asking his team how they’re doing. “Great communication, keep it going!” Chef Ramsay says, noting the change.
Teamwork
Over in the Red Kitchen, Ariel and Kristin have to put their differences aside and work together. “As much as Kristin and I don’t like each other, we work together really well during service,” Ariel admits. Kristin also notes that she can hate Ariel in the morning, but feels compelled to hug her after every service based on how well they can communicate in the kitchen.
Chef Ramsay notes that this has been the best dinner service thus far, which makes me fear that something will shortly be set on fire.
Both teams are on their final tickets, and Chef Ramsay announces that the first to finish service wins. So, of course the Red Team bring up raw meat to get ahead. It’s the Blue Team for the win!
The Red Team has a bit of a temper tantrum (and by Red Team, I mostly mean Jackie) and get scolded by Chef Christina for acting like babies. Ashley breaks down in front of Chef Ramsay, upset because she probably knows her risotto incident will put her on the chopping block. “I’m so much better than that,” she says between tears.
Back at the house, the Red Team thinks that they’ll nominate Jackie and Ashley — Jackie, since she angrily threw her water bottle shortly after learning they lost. “We all get pissed off, but you just have to contain it a little bit more,” Ariel says. Jackie gets upset that her personality is under the microscope, and announces that it should be Kristin and Ashley. And oddly enough, Ashley agrees.
“Why am I nominated?” Kristin asks. “I don’t know who else to nominate,” a tear-stained Ashley says. “Don’t put my name in there since you can’t think of someone else,” Kristin fights back.
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The Elimination
Chef Ramsay asks Ariel for the nominees, and Ariel says that Ashley is the first, based on her lack of communication. As for the second, Ariel says Jackie. She rushed, and didn’t produce a good product. But based on the dramatic pause, I’m wondering if Kristin really was the second nominee.
Ashley’s parents own restaurants, and Chef Ramsay reminds her that that doesn’t mean she’s qualified to run her own. As for Jackie, she blames miscommunication on her errors. “I was trusting Ashley, and I shouldn’t have done that,” she says about sending up uncooked meat. See, Frank? That’s what “throwing under the bus” really looks like.
Chef Ramsay calls Ashley’s name, but puts her back in line. Then he calls Jackie forward, and says that while she’s an okay chef, she’s totally not ready for the BLT job. (It’s about time, Chef Ramsay. I mean, she’s been cooking for three months, and has been violent on camera.)
Ashley thinks that being nominated was a serious wake-up call, and promises to do better next week. As for Jackie, “It’s a shame that her mouth was bigger than her talent,” per Chef Ramsay.
And, uh. Ashley is still bummed out next week, and might hook up with Jared as a response. So that’s something to look forward to.
Hell’s Kitchen airs on Wednesdays at 9pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
