Episode 1109 - 13 Chefs Compete

The ninth episode of Season 11 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on April 30, 2013. In that episode, steak was the main ingredient, one chef showed his dedication like nobody else did before or after them, and one team's winning streak ended.

Intro[]

While going back to the dorms, Barret guaranteed that he would turn the heat up on himself, admitted that he made foolish mistakes and that he let Ramsay and his teammates down while crying. Jon convinced him to bring himself harder, told him that he was moving backwards and stated that he should return to the old Barret, who began the competition strong. Michael gave him two choices between crumbling to the ground or using the fire. Then, Barret declared that he was there to win Hell's Kitchen, declared that he would do something crazy to show Ramsay that he deserved to be there if that was what needed to be done. He went to the bathroom to shave his head.

On the red side, Amanda acknowledged that the men were dysfunctional before saying that Ramsay was taking them apart pieces by pieces. Ja'Nel thought that the women were competing against themselves. Amanda concluded by predicting that only women would wear black jackets. Then, Nedra put her teammates down to Earth by saying that they should not get cocky and that they needed to be humble.

Team challenge[]

The following day, both teams went to the dining room, where Ramsay greeted them. He immediately noticed that Barret was clean shaved. Then, the latter took his hat off, revealed his entirely shaved head, making everybody in disbelief, and Nedra told that he pulled off a Britney Spears. Ramsay asked Barret what happened, which he answered that he was ready to work as it was about his passion for food and not looks, and Ramsay appreciated that answer. After, Ramsay revealed that the next dinner service would be Steak Night, introducing the Steak Creation Challenge. Sous Chefs James and Andi brought planks of different meat cuts. Jacqueline revealed that she was watering in her mouth after seeing the beef. Because the women had seven members, two of them would be cooking the filet mignon. Each chef had 30 minutes to create an exciting dish to enhance the steak, with all of them requested medium-rare.

When the countdown began, Nedra and Susan agreed to work together. When Ja'Nel asked if everybody knew what they would do, Amanda was the only one who was still looking for ingredients. Mary revealed that she would do a salt and pepper rubbed rib-eye with blackberry vanilla sauce. Still, Ja'Nel was worried because Mary was a butcher, and butchering and cooking meat were two different things. When Ja'Nel tasted Mary's stock, she found it sweet and declared that she did not like it. With fifteen minutes left, Anthony revealed that he would work with bananas and citrus for his ribcap, which Michael found interesting by nodding his head. Anthony never worked with bananas like that before while praying to God that it would work. With ten minutes left, Nedra revealed that she was making a raspberry chipotle sauce, which Susan felt good about. Amanda revealed that she had no idea what she was doing as her mind was throwing a million ideas at her and asked Susan if she could use sauce, which the latter answered it was hard to know. In the blue kitchen, Barret was caressing his hanger by rubbing black garlic on it as he enjoyed working with it, knew exactly what to do to make his hanger shine, and Zach told that Barret was about to orgasm. With five minutes left, everybody rallied to finish cooking their dishes. Barret was confident that the men would win as they were eating and cooking steaks a lot. With two minutes left, a fire erupted in Ray's pan, much to Ramsay's dismay. Eventually, everybody plated their dishes in time.

On the first round, which was the Porterhouse round, Cyndi served her wild mushroom dusted Porterhouse with black garlic, thyme, and rosemary butter, which was perfectly cooked, and praised for the nice flavors. After, Jon presented his Porterhouse steak with blackberry, black garlic and lavender sauce, which was cooked perfectly and deemed delicious. Jon won the round over Cyndi, making the score 1-0 for the men, much to her disappointment as she hoped to have at least tied the round. Zach served his Chinese peppercorn crusted filet mignon with lemon zest and mustard seed on the filet mignon round. He continued to describe his dish for an extended period of time. Susan did not believe that Zach used that much ingredient for a filet mignon. The dish was cooked perfectly, but Ramsay asked if it was supposed to be that sweet, which Zach answered it was. Nedra presented her and Susan's filet mignon with a blackberry chipotle sauce and fresh mint, which was cooked perfectly and deemed delicious as well. Both of them tied the round, making the score 2-1 for the men, and Zach was very proud of himself as he cooked his ass off, even dancing about it. On the third round, Amanda's smokehouse barbecue New York strip was missing salt and pepper. Michael's truffle-crusted New York strip was not cooked medium-rare, and neither of them scored a point. On the fourth round, Anthony's rib cap with shallots, garlic, and bananas was praised for actually working. Jacqueline's rib cap with black garlic and lemon zest was praised for being fragrant, and both of them tied the round, making the score 3-2 for the men. On the fifth round, Ja'Nel's hanger with Argentine cherry and orange was deemed delicious. Barret's black garlic-rubbed hanger was overcooked, and Ja'Nel won the round, tying the score three and making her very proud of herself. On the last round, Michael hoped that Ray would score a point as he had more experience than everybody, and the latter served his rib-eye with Grand Marnier sauce, which was unexpected by Ramsay. The steak was slightly overcooked, but the Grand Marnier was deemed nice. Mary presented her rib-eye with blackberry vanilla sauce, which was cooked perfectly but criticized for having many blackberries. After deliberation, Mary won the round over Ray, and the women won the challenge 4-3, making Mary very proud to have won it for the women and over Ray, which she deemed great. Then, Ramsay told Ray that he would have nailed his dish if the steak was cooked medium-rare, and Anthony was extremely disappointed to have lost again.

Scoring[]

Reward[]

The women were rewarded with a day by the pool at the Wilshire Hotel, including a 360-degree view of Los Angeles, with manicures and pedicures. That lead Jacqueline to say that she loved Ramsay. While being dismissed, Cyndi praised the streak of challenge and service wins and called it amazing.

When the women walked by the entrance to go on their reward, they found the men carrying the cow. Mary revealed that even though it would be terrible to do something like that on a beautiful day, she found it fun to butcher cows. Arriving at the hotel, the women were excited, Susan deemed it the perfect reward on Los Angeles' hot spot as they owned the rooftop, and everybody enjoyed the view. Susan continued by telling that the men were missing out on something fantastic, that she was enjoying every moment of it, and the women cheered to their steaks being cooked perfectly.

Later, the women were enjoying their time in the pool and on their chairs. They received their pedicures, with Jacqueline acknowledging that Nedra was the one who needed a pedicure the most as she looked like she walked through the desert for a thousand years. When the women asked if they would like to come back to Hell's Kitchen, Susan answered that she would only come back to win the service and make the men feel bad again.

Punishment[]

The men were punished by taking a delivery of a giant cut of beef and prepping it for the next service. Jon called losing challenges demoralizing, acknowledged that everybody's nerves were on edge. When the cut of beef arrived, it was a whole cow, which Barret called another day in Hell for the men. Ray was worried about carrying it but not butchering it, and while they were carrying it, the women walked by to go on their reward. Sous Chef James reminded the men that they were carrying a very expensive cut of beef in the dining room, and Anthony wished the women to enjoy their rooftop as he would fall off.

When the men started to butcher the beef under Sous Chef James' supervision, they did not know what they were doing. Anthony declared that the only thing they did was staring at it, knowing that the meat was coming from somewhere. Then, Ray led his teammates on cutting the beef as he used to work at a place where they were doing that. Still, Zach was annoyed by that, and when Ray told that they had to listen to what the beef was saying, Barret reminded him that it was dead.

Before service[]

When the women came back from their reward, the men were prepping their kitchen for the next service. Zach was annoyed by the women rubbing their win in their face before declaring that he wanted to beat their asses. Then, the men were allowed to take a break and regroup for the service by Sous Chef James. On the patio, Anthony declared that he was tired of losing before blaming Barret, Michael, and Ray for their challenge loss. So, he told the three of them the truth, which Ray acknowledged. Jon said they had to work twice as hard as everybody else, and Zach targeted Michael for screwing up the men for the second consecutive challenge. Michael acknowledged that it might be the thing he needed to hear, and he needed to regain the trust of his teammates, or he would be history. After Zach declared they had to get weak people off the men, he continued by targeting Barret and saying that it would only get harder. Barret was annoyed by Zach's behavior as he knew he messed up and did not need anybody to remind him he did. Zach continued by saying that his teammates did not want to work or win challenges, much to Ray's annoyance, who told him it was enough. However, Zach continued his arrogant behavior, and when Ray got up to confront him, both of them calmed down, and they shook hands. Ray added that nobody could beat him up like he could beat himself up and did not need anybody to remind him that he messed up as he was already feeling the pain of being a loser. Finally, Ray promised that he would do what he would be supposed to do during service, and the men went back to their kitchen.

Both teams were finishing prep for the Steak Night dinner service. In the blue kitchen, Michael was ready to redeem himself, and Ray had an amazing feeling. In the red kitchen, Amanda was nervous as she was not comfortable with steak temperatures, so she was ready to let Jacqueline run the station as the latter was a strong chef.

When both teams lined up, Ramsay dedicated Susan and Zach to serve prime rib tableside. He reminded them that both kitchens needed to be in sync while adding that he was not referring to the boy band. After everybody went to their stations, Ramsay asked Jean-Philippe to open Hell's Kitchen for Steak Night.

Dinner service[]

When the first customers entered, Cyndi reminded her teammates that they had to be synchronized with Susan. The first ticket was called in the red kitchen. When the first ticket was called in the blue kitchen, nothing was supposed to be cooked, but Barret was caught frying crab cakes. Ramsay was dismayed by that mistake as there were no crab cakes on order. Anthony was dismayed because Barret forgot very quickly, and the latter told Ramsay that he misunderstood. Then, Ramsay reminded him that the crab cakes were still frying, so Barret took them out of the fryer and acknowledged that he had to listen to what Ramsay was saying. Anthony mocked Barret for not being there. Anthony sent his four cocktails, which were accepted. Because of Anthony's leadership, appetizers were being served at a decent pace. In the red kitchen, Nedra sent her appetizers, but Mary forgot to drop the slider. When Ramsay asked Mary why she did not drop it, she answered that she did not hear him. Mary said that she would put it now, but Ramsay reminded her that they were backed up because of her, ordered her to wake up, and the women had to start the ticket over. Nedra was dismayed by that mistake, urged Mary to get it together, and reminded her that she was making her get behind. Nedra and Mary sent their food to the pass, with all of it being accepted. However, a customer found a hair in Mary's slider. Jean-Philippe informed Ramsay about the problem. Ramsay showed it to Mary, much to her and Jacqueline's dismay.

Ramsay called a slider refire urgently. Mary acknowledged that it could have been her hair, she was asked by Ramsay if that was the best she could do, which she answered not, and he urged her to give him better. In the blue kitchen, almost all of the appetizers were served. On the following ticket, they moved on to entrées, but Barret was feeling overwhelmed as he had to make many things at the same time. Then, Barret wished that somebody would get him out of there, he sent his crab cakes to the pass. Still, Ramsay reminded him that he had to bring the salad that was going with it and berated Barret for that mistake, with Ray not believing that he could forget a salad as they were not the first day any longer. Jon was dismayed as he needed Barret to calm down and get the food out, and when the latter sent his crab cakes salad to the pass, he still had to send the hanger garnishes. Michael sent the meat, Jon sent his sea bass, Barret sent his garnishes, and everything was accepted, with Barret being exhausted. Jon motivated his teammates to keep going, and in the red kitchen, Mary wanted her slider to be accepted as she did not want to be embarrassed about the hair incident anymore. When Mary sent it, it was accepted. The women continued to have good communication and send their appetizers out. When they moved on to entrées, Susan went to the dining room with her prime rib that she took out of the convection oven. On the following ticket, Jacqueline acknowledged that she and Amanda were having a lot of pressure on meat, did not want to be yelled at by Ramsay or Amanda second-guessing herself. Susan went to her first table to serve her prime rib. However, Jacqueline and Amanda were not doing anything as Susan was slicing the prime rib. When Jacqueline told Ramsay that she and Amanda were waiting for her, he called the entire team down. Susan sarcastically thought that she was called down to be said that Jacqueline was an amazing chef. Then, Ramsay asked Susan if she told Jacqueline to stop serving her entrées, which she answered not, and she added that it was worthless if Jacqueline could not perform when the light was on her.

More than an hour into service, the women had not served an entrée, and Ramsay berated them for stopping entrées from being served before they organized themselves. When Susan returned to the dining room, a customer asked her if everybody was okay, she revealed what happened. Jacqueline finally delivered perfect steak dishes, which the customers appreciated. In the blue kitchen, the next ticket was called. Ramsay expected Ray to lead the meat station while urging him not to have a senior moment, and Ray thought that Ramsay liked him as they were almost the same age. Ramsay urged Ray to speed up, and Michael sent the meat to the past while acknowledging that he and Ray needed a perfect batting average or they would be in trouble. Still, the New York strip was raw, and Ray was dismayed. Ray admitted that he cooked it, Ramsay scolded him, and Michael, both decided to switch leadership commitment. Jon said that they should get their heads out of their asses. Ray told Michael not to rush the steaks. Still, Michael was annoyed and told that Ray should let him cook, and when Michael announced that they would need three and a half minutes, Ramsay handed Ray the tray of the table in his hands. Anthony was dismayed that the meat station was holding the men back, and they had to start the entire order again.

In the red kitchen, Mary announced that her sea bass was ready, but Amanda announced that they needed four minutes as they were waiting on the bass, much to Ramsay's dismay, Mary told him that she told Amanda and Jacqueline that her sea bass was ready and that the meat station was screwing her. When Amanda said that Mary did not tell her that the sea bass was ready, the latter was annoyed as she should have taken responsibility for her mistake. Mary sent her sea bass, but when Jacqueline sent her filet mignon, it was raw. Ramsay berated Jacqueline and Amanda for messing up the easiest cut of meat. Amanda regretted having put her trust in Jacqueline, Ramsay reminded her that it was not Sushi Night, and Jacqueline declared that she would never trust people again as Amanda did not know her meat temperatures. After Ramsay called for another filet mignon, Nedra came to the meat station to help Jacqueline and Amanda and wondered how hard was it to cook steak before stating that it was the easiest thing somebody could cook. When Ramsay asked for a filet mignon, Amanda responded that she was checking on it, gave one minute to Nedra. Ramsay asked Ja'Nel to tell both of them and Jacqueline, who he called the three blind mice, that three people cooking the same steak was a recipe for danger. Then, Jacqueline sent the filet mignon to the pass, but it was still raw. Ramsay slammed the counter five times. Amanda admitted that it was raw, and because of that mistake, Amanda, Jacqueline, and Nedra were kicked out of the kitchen, along with Cyndi. Cyndi was furious about being kicked out for no apparent reason, while Nedra was very angry. In the red kitchen, Ja'Nel was dedicated to the meat station. Mary was asked to help her, and Susan was reintegrated back into the kitchen. Jean-Philippe was dedicated to finishing slicing the prime rib for the red tables. Back in the dorms, Amanda was feeling terrible as she knew she messed up. Nedra asked who the driver was and who the supporter was, which Jacqueline answered that she was the driver. When Nedra accused Jacqueline of letting Amanda fail, Jacqueline refused to take responsibility for Amanda's failures. Then, Nedra wanted to explain something, but Amanda interrupted her, which led to an intense argument where Amanda admitted her mistakes. Nedra claimed that she wanted to fix the mistakes. Amanda told Nedra to shut up. Ray and Michael were ready to serve their second attempt at the New York strip back in the blue kitchen, with the latter acknowledging that they had to get it right. When Ray sent it to the pass, it was accepted. Customers were enjoying their entrées. Ja'Nel, Mary, and Susan rallied to serve the last table with good communication. The men served their last ticket as well, Susan was asked to get the four ousted chefs back in the kitchen, and the service was completed.

Post-mortem[]

When the men lined up, Ramsay congratulated them for having a strong finish despite not having a good start. They won the service and were urged to build on that win. Anthony was satisfied that they would not have to eliminate somebody despite not having a perfect service. When the women lined up, they were named the obvious losers. Ramsay added that their success in challenges went to their heads. They were asked to nominate two people for elimination.

While going back to the dorms, Nedra called the two people that were on the meat station, referring to Jacqueline and Amanda, the obvious nominees. During deliberation, Nedra revealed that they were kicked out of the kitchen because of the steaks constantly being raw. Then, Cyndi considered Amanda an obvious nominee for not being confident to cook meat, and Nedra considered Jacqueline for continually having a laid-back leadership when assigned as the station's driver. Jacqueline retorted that she could not do that much alone and that Amanda messed up the filet mignon, which was not a complicated thing. After, Amanda admitted her mistakes by convincing her teammates not to blame Jacqueline just because she was the station's driver. Amanda added that she was not the weakest chef and that she did not deserve to be eliminated based on that performance. After, Jacqueline considered Mary for the hair incident, which she called a disgusting mistake. Still, Mary reminded that she refired it and added that she could not be eliminated because she was not the worst.

Elimination[]

After Ramsay claimed that the meat station in the red kitchen was a freak show and embarrassing, Cyndi announced Amanda as the women's first nominee for elimination and Jacqueline as the second. During their pleas, Ramsay told Jacqueline that it was her worst performance at that point. Jacqueline retorted that she was a better chef than Amanda as she stayed focused. Still, Ramsay reminded her that she sent a raw filet mignon despite knowing it was raw. After Amanda expressed how passionate she was, she considered herself an asset to the women until then. Ramsay reminded Amanda that she disintegrated, but she promised to be more vocal if given a second chance. She apologized for her poor performance. Still, Ramsay wondered if he could wait for more. After deliberation, Jacqueline was eliminated for her laid-back behavior and disintegrating performances. During her exit interview, Jacqueline did not agree with Ramsay's decision as she was proud of her work and did not need somebody to scream at her.

After Jacqueline left, Ramsay hoped that the women would not go on a bad trend, and while being dismissed, Amanda was determined to show Ramsay that she was the one he was looking for while promising that it would be a different story during the following service. After, Nedra targeted Amanda for becoming a weak chef on the women, and Zach acknowledged the Hell's Kitchen journey while being determined to keep his head in the game so the men could keep winning.

Ramsay's comment: "Jacqueline talked a good game, but unfortunately for her, I need someone who can deliver."