The fifth episode of Season 10 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on June 18, 2012. On that episode, Mexican cuisine was the main theme, a misunderstanding ruined a team dynamic, and dinner service had multiple people get kicked out.
Intro[]
While going back to the dorms, a disbelieved Brian called his nomination the most terrifying moment in his life as he was nearly eliminated before promising to his teammates he would not mess up again. Clemenza reassured Brian that they believed in him. Brian admitted that despite joking around a lot, he knew that the competition was no longer funny. Then, Danielle called Roshni over for an ashtray, but the latter refused to as she was on the blue team now. Even though Roshni admitted that it was not her decision to be reassigned, she said no matter the color of her jacket, she would give it a 110% from now on as the blue team welcomed her.
Meanwhile, in the hot tub, Dana complained to Danielle and Christina that Robyn blamed others for her mistakes. Dana predicted that something would go down between Robyn and Kimmie. Then, Dana added on that the red team had a big rift in their teamwork as they all hated each other. At the same time, Kimmie told Robyn, Barbie, and Tiffany that Dana and Danielle were strong together. Also, she believed that Christina was following the duo as Robyn felt things would get dirty soon.
Team challenge[]
The next day, both teams came downstairs as Ramsay told them about one cuisine he grew to love in a big way and that it was something Hell’s Kitchen never focused on before. Then, Ramsay revealed he was talking about Mexican food, which fired up Brian as he cooked and ate that ethnic style a lot and predicted he would come out strong. Sous Chef Scott came out with a giant piñata, with Royce calling it a big donkey, and Robyn wanting to take a whack at Sous Chef Scott’s ass. For the Mexican Cuisine Challenge, each team would turn five classic Mexican dishes into fine dining dishes. Ramsay revealed that there were colored balls in the piñata that contained their ingredients. Also, they had 90 seconds to collect as many as 25 ingredients, just before Ramsay hit the piñata and let lose the ingredient balls.
As the chefs grabbed their ingredients, Clemenza did not expect 40 gazillion balls to come bouncing at them, and Dana said they were everywhere. After Brian grabbed whatever balls were in front of him, the collecting time was up. Both teams had 35 minutes to cook their five dishes: burritos, enchiladas, soup, tacos, and tostadas. However, while all the chefs were cooking their dishes, only five could be judged. Brian had an idea for a shrimp taco with two sauces and called it simple and sexy. In the red kitchen, Danielle was not confident about turning a burrito into a fine dining-worthy dish. However, Kimmie said that she did not care if Danielle had problems as a burrito was not a hard dish to make. At the same time, Danielle revealed she never made Mexican food until now and nervously hoped it was 125% perfect. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time, and Ramsay told them to decide who they were dropping. While the red team easily decided their five dishes, the blue team struggled to choose between Royce and Brian’s tacos. With Patrick as the deciding vote, he picked Royce’s dish, upsetting Brian as he felt it was a bad call.
Thomas Ortega and John Sedlar were invited as guest judges. Justin felt good to have his dish tasted by other people hoping it was good. The taco round was up first, Royce and Kimmie were up, and the former presented his traditional pork tacos with pimento potatoes. The dish was criticized for having a greasy tortilla shell. Then, Kimmie’s shrimp fajita taco was praised for having an abundance of vegetables and filling. Even though Sedlar questioned why she used a flour tortilla instead of a corn tortilla, it had strong flavors. So, Kimmie scored that round, the red team led 1-0, and Brian was pissed that if his tacos were judged, Kimmie would have lost. On the burrito round, Danielle’s New York striploin burrito was immediately criticized for falling apart on the burrito round when Ortega picked his piece up and was hard to eat. In contrast, Clemenza’s Mexican-Italian burrito was praised for thinking outside of the box, he won that round, and the score was a one-point tie. On the soup round, while Tiffany’s crab salsa soup was praised for having the flavor of the crab, Justin’s pickled shrimp tortilla soup was also praised for tasting good. However, Tiffany won that round, and the red team led 2-1. On the enchilada round, Christina’s carnitas enchiladas were criticized for having its Mexican flavors completely sanitized. In contrast, Patrick’s lobster enchilada was praised for its flavoring and having the spirit of Mexico. So, Patrick scored that round, and the score was tied at two each. As Roshni and Dana walked with their tostada dishes, Clemenza wondered how good it would be if Roshni pulled out the win against her former teammates. Dana’s seared ahi tuna tostada was praised for the watermelon and mango combination, for having the tuna complement the heat of the jicama, and Kimmie prayed for Dana to pull out a win. After, Roshni presented her grilled tostada with a chilli crab filling, and it was praised for having the nice balance of the heat and spice together and flavor. However, while Ortega liked Roshni’s dish the most, Sedlar preferred Dana’s dish, leading Ramsay to have the tiebreaker. Ultimately, Ramsay went in favor of Dana’s dish as it was the best overall dish of the day, she scored that round, and the red team won 3-2.
Scoring[]
| Blue Team | Red Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royce | 0 | 0 | Kimmie | 1 | 1 |
| Clemenza | 1 | 1 | Danielle | 0 | 1 |
| Justin | 0 | 1 | Tiffany | 1 | 2 |
| Patrick | 1 | 2 | Christina | 0 | 2 |
| Roshni | 0 | 2 | Dana | 1 | 3 |
| Results | 3-2 | ||||
Reward[]
The red team was rewarded with a gourmet lunch at John Sedlar’s Rivera restaurant, with a big surprise waiting for them when they got there. Dana was ready to indulge herself in fine dining during the reward as Sedlar presented them with a tasting spread of his signature dishes, and Danielle called it the best meal in her life. Later, the red tea went to a local gazebo and received salsa lessons, even though Dana was scared. Kimmie said she never danced except for bouncing, as that’s what they do in the South.
Punishment[]
The blue team was punished by prepping for Mexican Night, which included making both the salsa and the tortilla by hand. As the blue team was dismissed, Brian felt he was robbed of his chance to bounce back from the previous night, but Patrick did not care for it and welcomed Roshni to losing.
Sous Chef Scott handed the blue team tripe as their lunch during the punishment, but while Clemenza loved the tripe, both Royce and Patrick were disgusted by their meal. Brian himself hated the musky smell the tripe was emitting and wanted it away from him. Later, they were making the salsas, but when Clemenza asked Patrick a question, the latter ignored him. That irritated Clemenza as Patrick wanted to be the blue team’s leader, but the latter argued he was trying to figure something out and said that if somebody wanted to ask to prep something, they should not even be in a kitchen.
Before service[]
Later, the red team came back from their reward, and Brian compared losing to pulling his lips to the back of his head while somebody threw acid in his face. Later that night, the blue team completed their punishment and went back upstairs to relax. Still, Royce complained that Mexicans did not use flour tortillas before refusing to believe that Kimmie, a Memphis girl, did not make a better taco than himself. Despite Tiffany wanting a no bitching policy, she took a big swig of wine, got drunk, and told Kimmie and Robyn what Royce said. However, Tiffany only used Royce's complaints to blame Danielle, Dana, and Christina. That irritated Kimmie as she scored a point compared to Christina and Danielle.
The next day, Robyn brought up what Tiffany told her last night. When Christina and Dana denied saying anything terrible towards Kimmie, the entire red team gathered as the latter called the trio pieces of shit for bad-mouthing her. However, Dana and Danielle argued that she never said anything poor about Kimmie’s dish and heard it from somebody and made assumptions. Then, Kimmie told Dana to kiss her ass and called her a bitch, while Dana called Kimmie a bitch in response.
Later, both teams were beginning to prep for Mexican Night. While the red team was fractured due to the argument back upstairs, the blue team worked in harmony. Clemenza wanted to hold back on the shouting and swearing for Roshni. After prep, Ramsay had both teams lined up and said they were making history with Hell’s Kitchen first Mexican Night before expressing excitement. Before opening the dorms, Ramsay found James in a sombrero, irritating the former as he asked the latter to open Hell’s Kitchen for Mexican Night.
Dinner service[]
The menu featured an ahi tuna tostada, tequila cilantro mussels, and a New York striploin with mojo verde for Mexican Night. After getting their first order, Kimmie knew how important getting appetizers out were, and hoped for Barbie to pull it out. However, Barbie sent up a pan of mussels with no flavor to them, along with a perfect one. Ramsay showed how off-color it was before asking the women to help her out. Despite Christina offering to help, Barbie was confident she had it despite a bumpy start. Guy walked up his tuna in the blue kitchen, but despite knowing his shit and promise never to put out poor food, his first attempt was cold. Then, Guy angered Ramsay when he claimed it felt good before ordering ahi tuna at room temperature. Clemenza told Guy to get it right as he was just pan-searing tuna. Despite that, Guy got his refire accepted, and appetizers were quickly leaving the blue kitchen. In the red kitchen, Barbie got her refire accepted.
A half-hour into dinner service, Barbie’s bounce-back has allowed the red team to push out appetizers, and they were ready to begin firing entrées. Dana asked Kimmie if she wanted to put their meat and fish on the same tray for the pass, and the latter agreed. However, Ramsay was not happy about that as the steaks and snapper were dripping into each other. When he demanded who sent it like that, Kimmie was waiting on Dana to accept the blame as it was her decision. However, Dana argued that Kimmie should take responsibility as it was her station. At the same time, Ramsay grew more frustrated at the lack of an answer. Eventually, Kimmie took the blame even though Dana was responsible and was pissed she got in trouble. Kimmie kicked Dana off fish, telling Robyn that she was not responsible for the incident. However, when Robyn asked Dana if she was, but the latter denied it until Tiffany yelled that nobody cared and ordered the two to shut up and cook. However, Dana called Kimmie a big baby as she did not need to deal with a person like her. In the blue kitchen, Patrick and Guy walked with their first attempt on their first entrée order. Still, Guy sent up steaks that had one portion overcooked and the other one dry. That frustrated Clemenza as he knew Guy could cook a steak because they all done it a million times before. Then, Ramsay told Patrick that Guy has given up and ordered him to control the situation. While Patrick felt Ramsay was expecting more of him, he was ready to take the lead, and in the red kitchen, Danielle was confident her pork was the bomb, and it was her time to shine. However, her pork was raw, which Ramsay deemed the ultimate insult before pounding it, and Robyn felt bad for the pig as it was Danielle’s fault. While the red team was now forced to restart their first entrée order, Guy and Patrick sent up their second attempt. Still, Patrick put his chicken back in the oven for another minute just as Guy sliced his steak. Guy blamed Patrick for screwing him on that, and Ramsay decided to kick the two out of the kitchen, making Patrick tear up as he never been kicked out before. While the five remaining blue chefs try to rebound, Danielle sent up her refire, hoping it was good. Fearful it would be raw, Dana and Christina urged Danielle to get another pork fired immediately. Still, their fears came true as the pork was raw. A pissed Ramsay kicked Danielle out of the kitchen, with Kimmie expressing shock over how the latter served raw pork twice. Ramsay told Christina to flash the pork urgently.
One hour and fifteen minutes into dinner service, three chefs have been kicked out of the kitchen, no entrées were served, and Ramsay’s patience ran thin. When Clemenza walked up his pork, he forgot a portion and needed two more minutes on it, irritating Ramsay. Then, Justin decided to walk the pork up despite Clemenza’s protest, and sure enough, it was raw, and it led to Ramsay kicking the two men out of the kitchen. As they left, Clemenza angrily told Justin that the pork was not ready and asked how dumb the latter could be as Justin admitted to his mistake. In the red kitchen, Barbie used a meat thermometer to check if the chicken was cooked properly. Still, Ramsay yelled that they never need a tool like that to cook meat before kicking Barbie out. Tiffany commented that cooking a chicken was as easy as taking a poop. However, Tiffany sent up burned mashed potatoes, which led her to get kicked out. A fed-up Ramsay did not care if the entire red team went home that night, while Dana was scared about their situation.
Two hours into dinner service, no entrées have served. It looked like the worst service since opening night. Ramsay warned the blue team about making another mistake before finding burnt bits of skin from Royce’s chicken. He kicked Royce out of the kitchen before saying he was in over his head. That left Brian and Roshni as the only blue chefs left in the kitchen, with the latter fearing how screwed they were. Ramsay warned the two that they would be history if they messed up the order again on his children's lives. Deciding to push it out, Brian and Roshni finally got the first order of entrées out and got a groove going. At the same time, the four remaining chefs from the red kitchen did the same. Eventually, both teams completed their orders. Brian felt good to be one of the two remaining chefs on the blue team left in service.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams lined up, a pissed Ramsay called that night an absolute disgrace before reminding Kimmie about the steak and snapper incident. However, Kimmie revealed to Ramsay that it was Dana’s fault. Still, Dana argued that it was not how she recalled the situation as she asked Kimmie if they were doing it. Then, Ramsay asked Patrick if he was tired due to being the oldest chef in the competition, but while the latter said that he was not, Ramsay retorted he was tired of him. After, Ramsay bluntly named both teams' joint losers and asked them to nominate two people each for elimination.
During deliberation, Clemenza said they all should be mortified for failing on an easy service and felt the blue team needed to be accountable for their actions. Royce considered Patrick and Guy for elimination as they screwed up on their stations and forced the others to try and rebound from their mistakes, and Brian agreed to that. However, Patrick felt they were basing it on strategy and called his teammates' vultures ready to feast on his carcass.
Meanwhile, Kimmie accused Barbie of screwing the red team with the mussels early on. When Barbie reminded her that she was kicked out for only using a meat thermometer, that set Kimmie off. She felt Barbie was the weakest link on the team and claimed that the latter would have been beaten down if they were in the hood. However, Barbie thought she did not deserve to be nominated and accused Kimmie of failing on her station. Then, Robyn said the most common sense choice would be Danielle for serving raw pork twice, but the latter argued that she did not mess up on anything until that moment. After Dana tried to defend Danielle, she knew it was a choice between the latter, Barbie and Kimmie. As she did not want Danielle to go home, being that she was her friend, Dana took Christina and Danielle back to the bedroom and wanted the three to stick together. However, Christina struggled as Danielle had a poor night, Kimmie had a poor attitude earlier that day and had no idea what to do.
Elimination[]
Before asking for the nominees, Ramsay called Mexican Night a disaster. Clemenza announced Patrick as the blue team’s first nominee and Guy as their second. Barbie announced herself as the red team’s first nominee and Danielle as the second. During their pleas, Patrick felt he had been consistent until now and admitted that putting the chicken back into the oven was a poor judgment call before promising never to make it again. However, Ramsay accused Patrick of being beat, but the latter disagreed with that notion, while Guy said he had been solid before that night and was a fighter. When Ramsay asked if he was in over his head, Guy replied that he was not. Then, Danielle claimed she put herself on meat despite never working on it before as she wanted to stay in the competition and stand out before admitting to her mistake. At the same time, Barbie said she did not deserve to be nominated as she was not the weakest chef. Ramsay agreed with Barbie and sent her back in line. Before he could decide who was going home, the episode ended in a cliffhanger.
| Hell's Kitchen Season 10 Episodes |
|---|
| 18 Chefs Compete • 17 Chefs Compete • 16 Chefs Compete • 15 Chefs Compete • 14 Chefs Compete • 13 Chefs Compete Part 1 • 13 Chefs Compete Part 2 • 12 Chefs Compete • 11 Chefs Compete Part 1 • 11 Chefs Compete Part 2 • 10 Chefs Compete • 9 Chefs Compete Part 1 • 9 Chefs Compete Part 2 • 8 Chefs Compete • 7 Chefs Compete • 6 Chefs Compete • 5 Chefs Compete • 4 Chefs Compete • 2 Chefs Compete • Winner Chosen |