Episode 106 - Day 6

The sixth episode of Season 1 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox on July 11, 2005, airing as a double feature alongside the seventh episode. In that episode, the first-ever blind taste test took place, the first menu created by the teams themselves, and a satisfying elimination of the most egotistical chef occurred.

Intro[]

Following Chris's unexpected elimination, Elsie was in shock because she genuinely believed she was going to be eliminated. However, she was comforted by Jessica, who told her that if she was still there, it was because she was deserving to. However, Elsie still felt that Chris should have stayed over herself, but in the end, she felt Ramsay truly saw something in her.

When everybody was on the patio, Ralph and Michael were still surprised and amazed by that decision, and the latter said he did not want to put Jimmy in that position since he worked hard. While Jimmy appreciated that, Michael knew that Chris' elimination was his first blood drawn, and when he asked Jimmy if he made the wrong decision, the latter did not think so. Then, Ralph said that he learned a lesson: he and Michael had to be more focused if they want to win because anything could happen. After, Jessica realized her chances of winning were still there because it could also happen to Ralph or Michael.

Team challenge[]

The next day, both teams came downstairs, where Ramsay still expressed disappointment in the previous service. He thought the experienced chefs would shine, but with Chris' elimination, it did not happen. Then, Ramsay had some words of encouragement for Elsie as he said she deserved to be there. But then, he had some harsh words for Ralph as he was not happy with his performance on the previous night's service. Ralph promised to do the best he could, but Ramsay told him that he had to understand that it could happen to him with Chris' elimination. After that, Ramsay introduced the first annual Blind Taste Test. Each contestant had to identify four foods correctly, with blindfolds and headsets on. The team with the most points were the winners. Also, Ramsay revealed that the winning team would spend an afternoon with him while the losers had to wash all the pots and pans from the previous service.

Jimmy and Andrew went up first, and Ramsay tested the effectiveness of the headsets by playfully insulting the two. Andrew correctly identified chicken, and Jimmy correctly identified radish, making the score a one-point tie. Elsie and Jessica went head-to-head in the next round. After both missed ox tongue by guessing pork, Elsie got scallops, Caesar salad dressing, and burger, while Jessica failed to get the remaining three. So, the red team led 4-1. For the final round, Michael and Ralph went against each other in the battle of the professional chefs. Both missed the first food, which was veal sweetbreads, but before the next ingredient, Ramsay warned the blue team that if Ralph could not get it, the red team would automatically win due to their huge lead. Ralph missed the spinach, which he guessed romaine lettuce, so the red team won the challenge 4-1. Andrew was disappointed in Ralph's poor performance, and Ramsay deemed the latter's performance another disappointment. Elsie was praised as she had the best overall performance with three correct answers out of 4.

Scoring[]

Reward[]

The red team enjoyed a wine tasting afternoon with Ramsay. Back in the patio, Elsie said she so needed the win, and despite the concerns, she got the best overall performance with three correct answers out of 4. Then, while Elsie felt Ralph was pissed off, Jimmy reminded her what the former used to say that to the victors come the spoils. During the reward, the red team and Ramsay toasted to the blue team doing dish duty. Then, Jimmy learned how to sip wine correctly but laughed every time he tried, making everybody laugh. Jimmy admitted that he knew more about beer than wine, while Elsie found it hilarious that the former knew nothing about high class.

Punishment[]

The blue team was punished by washing the entire restaurant's dishes. After the challenge, Ralph lamented that he drank coffee, smoked cigarettes, and took a cough drop earlier, before wishing he skipped all three before the challenge. During the punishment, Jessica complained that it sucked, while a bitter Andrew wished he would spend time with Ramsay rather than do dishes for the next four hours. Then, a pissed Ralph wanted to kick somebody's ass. Later, the blue team began to snap, with Ralph and Jessica making death threats towards Elsie, but the former said it could have been worse.

Creating new menus[]

Later, the red team came back from their reward to see the blue team still working on their punishment, but as they went back to the dorms, a bitter Jessica asked them to clean up for a bit. Then, Jessica considered the punishments growing worse and that Hell's Kitchen was becoming more hellish.

Later that evening, at 7:38 PM, the phone rang in the dorms, and Jimmy answered. Ramsay said he wanted everybody down in ten minutes with their jackets on. Michael had no idea what was in store for them, but once downstairs, Ramsay announced that each team had to come up with a new menu for the next service. Ramsay asked for three appetizers, three entrées, and three desserts. These menus would go head-to-head, and the customers would decide which menu they would choose from.

Back in the dorms, both teams went to their respective bedrooms to discuss their menus. Elsie said she had a paella recipe, while Jimmy suggested a pan-seared duck breast. As Michael wrote them down, he knew the red team's menu must reflect what the person wanted and agreed with Elsie to put scallops on there. Meanwhile, Ralph took full control of the menu, shooting down Jessica's chocolate cheesecake, and instead added a flourless cake. Andrew had a great idea for a braised salmon, but that idea was shut down by Ralph, who said he preferred poached halibut. That annoyed Andrew as it was supposed to be a group effort, but instead, it was a group effort under Ralph.

Before service[]

The next day, both teams began prepping early for the day, and Michael showed Elsie how to make bacon-wrapped scallops. In the blue kitchen, Ralph was trying to tell Andrew how to poach a halibut as they cannot afford mistakes. Before service began, Ramsay looked over both team's menus and expressed concern over Elsie's paella as everything could overcook in one effort. Also, Ramsay found the red team's menu to be an ambitious one, with the one concern being the bacon-wrapped scallops. Andrew told Ramsay about their poached halibut for the blue team, but the latter felt the sauce was a little thin. After, Ramsay had both teams lined up, reminded them that the customer cards will decide who won based on the number of orders and experience, and told the teams that even though it was their menus that night, it was still his standards and reputation.

As for the blue team, Ramsay said that their second punishment was having their storeroom locked for the night, where their baby chickens were located. Ramsay gave them the combination for one attempt, and Ralph compared it to having one arm tied behind his back before hoping the customers did not order a lot of baby chickens. When the blue team got their baby chickens out of the locked storage room, Andrew had Jessica give him some masking tape so he could seal the latch, but Sous Chef Scott caught him in the act. That led Sous Chef Scott to give Andrew a piece of his mind, saying he was not stupid like he was acting, and told him not to cheat off a punishment. Then, Sous Chef Scott told Andrew to get serious like his teammates instead of acting like a jerk before putting the baby chickens back in the storage room despite Ralph wanting to break them down.

Dinner service[]

As the restaurant opened, the customers began picking from the menus, with Jean-Philippe telling one table that they cannot mix and match. The red team's menu featured Jimmy's roasted duck breast, Michael's filet mignon, and Elsie's paella. The blue team's menu consisted mainly of Ralph's dishes such as mushroom agnolotti, grilled New York steak, lemongrass poached halibut, and flourless chocolate cake. When the first order came in the red kitchen, Jimmy sent a bacon-wrapped scallop dish to the pass, but it was undercooked, so he had to start again. In the blue kitchen, Andrew went to get some things from the storeroom but missed Ramsay's order as a result.

Thirty minutes into dinner service, Andrew got the team off to a good start with his salad appetizers. Because of the backup in the red kitchen and appetizers flying out of the blue, some diners at the same tables received meals at separate times. However, a hair was discovered in one of the agnolotti, but while Jessica said it was not hers, Ramsay responded by saying he did not care about who's hair it was and told her not to argue. In the red kitchen, Jimmy sent up his refire, but it was overcooked, prompting an annoyed Michael to come to his help.

One hour into dinner service, Michael's help allowed Jimmy to successfully sent out acceptable scallops to the pass. In the blue kitchen, the blue team were off to their best start yet and were onto entrées, but while Andrew served perfectly cooked halibut, they were on cold plates. Because of that, Ramsay asked him to start over and berated Andrew for serving hot food on cold plates. When he did, Ralph told Jessica to lend a helping hand for Andrew by pouring the broth in the halibut plates, although the latter was beginning to grow frustrated by the stress. When Andrew sent them, they were acceptable, though Ramsay had him feel the plate for reference.

One hour and a half into dinner service, the blue team won the number of tickets by eleven, but some of the blue diners complained that the halibut dish was overcooked and soupy. Jean-Philippe brought back some halibut from a table that had complaints back to the pass and explained to both Andrew and Ralph that the halibuts were overcooked and tasteless. In the red kitchen, the entrées flew out of the kitchen as Michael cooked the duck breast and filet mignon to perfection, and they were well received by the customers. When an order of mussel paella came in the red kitchen, Elsie was excited to cook it as it was her children's favorite. However, while she got her dish out, the customers did not give great reviews on her dish.

Three hours into dinner service, one table that ordered from both menus was waiting for entrées. Even though Michael was ready on his dish, Andrew's halibut was still undercooked and told Ramsay he needed six minutes on the hot plate, but Ramsay gave him four. That led Andrew to declare that it was not chemically possible to cook the fish that fast. As blue diners were growing restless, Jimmy tried to bounce back from his first scallop dishes, but the penne dish he sent was not seasoned enough, so Ramsay asked him to season it a little more.

With only 15 minutes left until service ended, some female customers waved at Ralph because they found him cute, but when he waved back, Ramsay gave him a piece of his mind saying he was not in a mood for smiling, and autographs could be taken care of after service. Moments later, Ramsay shut down both kitchens because too many orders came back and felt that nobody had the urgency that night. Michael was upset by that as the red team only had four tickets left and had a heated argument with Jimmy after the latter could not deliver a proper scallop dish, where Michael called Jimmy a fatty. In the blue kitchen, Andrew noticed that the bisque was not a popular item that night, but Ralph felt they did well enough as it was the best food they put out.

Post-mortem[]

Ramsay started by congratulating both teams on their improvement because nearly the entire restaurant received food. Then, Ramsay praised Michael for his outstanding performance and coming out of Chris' shadow. After, Ramsay told Jimmy that his performance was disappointing for not getting the starting blocks out, deemed Jessica's performance consistently average, and reminded Ralph that he was not there to flirt. Although the blue team had the most orders due to an appealing menu, Ramsay named them the losers based on the six halibut returns, citing that the six who ordered that dish would not be coming back. After, Ramsay asked the blue team who was responsible for the halibut dish, but Ralph did not answer, much to Andrew's annoyance since it was the former's dish in the first place, and he answered for him. However, Ralph argued that the dish was a combined effort. Jessica was named "Best of the Worst" because she did not take part in the blue team's halibut conspiracy, along with having highly rated appetizers and desserts. She was asked to nominate one of her teammate for elimination.

Back in the dorms, Jessica congratulated the red team for their victory but expressed disappointment in losing. Andrew continued to rant that he did not want the halibut dish on their menu and was angry that Ralph did not own up to it. After listening to Andrew's rant, Jessica finalized her decision, while Michael secretly hoped that Jessica would nominate Ralph as he was the biggest competition so far. Then, Jessica met Ralph and reassured him that she would not nominate him but warned him that she needed to stand on her own feet and not look like an idiot. Meanwhile, Andrew continued to vent his frustrations to Michael and Jimmy at the patio.

Elimination[]

Jessica named Andrew as her nominee, but while Ramsay agreed with her decision, he had somebody else that needed to join the latter. So, Ralph joined Andrew on the chopping block. During their pleas, Andrew refused to accept the blame for Ralph's halibut dish as he could not walk out for the wrong reasons, but the latter retorted that the former should have cared out more about the dish before service instead of during service. Then, Andrew told Ramsay that he felt he was on the Ralph team instead of the blue team as he could not have put a dish on the menu, and had he been able, then Jessica would not have nominated him. However, Ralph argued that he never wanted the team to be all about him and felt it was the burden of his work. After their pleas, Ramsay told Andrew that he was never the person who liked to be steamrolled ever since he met him, but found it interesting that he claimed Ralph manipulate his dish into a halibut dish. Before Andrew could respond, Ramsay eliminated him mid-plea after failing to stand up for himself and refusing to take responsibility for his mistakes. During his exit interview, Andrew admitted that he wasn't as successful in the kitchen but had more integrity that night, he spoke and stood up for himself and said what needed to be said.

After Andrew's exit, Ramsay warned Ralph that he was not untouchable. While being dismissed, the latter refused to give up until he won. Then, Jessica said she did not nominate Ralph because he helped her a lot but knew his weakness now, and while Michael wanted the latter gone that night due to being his tough competition, he was confident he could take Ralph.

Ramsay's comment: "So we're down to the final five. These are the best of the best, and the cream is slowly rising to the top. And they all really have to start emerging as individual talent. Andrew's gone tonight because he's out of his depth, and I discovered a fake; he can't cook!"

Trivia[]

• This episode introduces the first annual Blind Taste Test, and the first time Ramsay ended a challenge prematurely due to one team having a huge lead over the other.
• This marks the debut of the Red Vs. Blue Menu Service.
• This marks the first time Ramsay made his own nomination during the Elimination Ceremony.
• This marks the first time a chef was nominated three times in total.