The twelfth episode of Season 16 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox on January 5, 2017, airing as a double feature along with the eleventh episode. In that episode, Fusion cuisine was the main theme, one team continued their dominance over the other at dinner service, and the other turned on each other at elimination.
Intro[]
Back at the dorms, Paulie called his teammates a bunch of scumbags. Later that night, Paulie went to bed early but overheard Ryan talking with Kimberly on how many fires were being let off in the blue team and that she was trying not to light one. However, Paulie deemed Ryan a two-face schemer, but Andrew caught him up and awake when he went into the bedroom.
Team challenge[]
The next day, the chefs came downstairs and saw a Hawaiian dance show for them, with Heather wondering if she will ever go to Hawaii after that day. After, Ramsay explained that he loved both Hawaiian cuisine and Fusion cuisine before announcing that their next challenge would be the Fusion Cuisine Challenge. Then, Ramsay invited James Beer award winner Roy Yamaguchi, with Paulie deeming that reward the MVP of cooking, and Yamaguchi explained that the key to fusion dishes was to keep them balanced. Ramsay had Sous Chefs Andi and Aaron pull out two wheels containing different countries and explained that each chef from both teams would spin the wheel to decide what countries they would work with. Heather and Ryan were the first chefs from their teams, and both of them got French and Japanese, much to Ryan’s dismay as she did not want those countries. Devin and Kimberly were up next, with the latter saying that her fusion dishes were what got her into the competition in the first place, and their countries were Chinese and French, even though Devin wanted Indian. Paulie and Andrew were the last chefs to spin, and while the former got Mexican, the latter got a wild space and picked Indian, much to Paulie’s dismay. Because Heidi was the lone chef that did not spin, she had the choice of doing one of the three fusion pairings. Heidi picked French and Japanese as she wanted to face off against Ryan.
Both teams had 45 minutes to cook their fusion dishes, but Ryan had no idea what to make as she never cooked with Japanese or French food before, and Paulie, who had no respect for her, wanted to see Ryan tank. In the red kitchen, Heather and Heidi discussed their dishes together, and the former was confident in her orange blossom vinaigrette. Devin noticed that Ryan’s lamb was raw one minute left, and she decided to pan-sear it with little time left. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time, but Ryan was still concerned over the cook on her lamb.
In the first round, Paulie and Andrew were the first people from their teams to compete, and the former presented his Mexican-inspired roti with Pico de Gallo, roasted corn, and avocado. It was criticized for a messy presentation and tasting more Indian than an actual fusion dish. An annoyrd Paulie commented that he looked ridiculous with a weird combination of flavors. Then, Andrew’s spicy grilled lamb chop with hot curry and grilled corn was praised for a better presentation but criticized for not being spicy enough and being raw in the center. After, Yamaguchi and Ramsay decided not to give Paulie and Andrew a point as both missed the mark. On the second round, Ryan was concerned that things could get ugly after the poor performance in the first round, and Heidi’s French halibut with poached egg and stir fry vegetables was criticized for being a mess. Then, Ryan’s Japanese rack of lamb with French lentils was praised for a nice presentation and a perfectly cooked lamb. After, Heather’s French and Japanese New York striploin with orange blossom vinaigrette was criticized for having the vinaigrette taking away the flavor of the rest of the dish, with Ramsay comparing the taste to a mouth full of perfume. In the end, Ryan won that round, the blue team led 1-0, and she felt great winning over two dishes from the red team. On the final round, Kimberly and Devin were up, the former felt that Yamaguchi’s critics were tough, and she presented her classic steak au poivre over Chinese-styled rice. The dish was praised for having a nice presentation but criticized for being overcooked and not having strong flavors. Devin’s pan-seared halibut over Chinese style rice and French-inspired oyster sauce was praised for a nice presentation but criticized for crunchy rice as he had cashews inside them, and the halibut was overcooked. After a tough decision, Kimberly’s dish won out as she had a great tasting sauce, the score was tied at one each, and Heidi was glad that the red team was still in it. Ramsay and Yamaguchi went for the best dish to break the tie, and they easily picked Ryan’s dish, giving the blue team the victory.
Scoring[]
| Red Team | Blue Team | ||||
| Chef | Score | Total | Chef | Score | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew | 0 | 0 | Paulie | 0 | 0 |
| Heidi Heather |
0 0 |
0 0 |
Ryan | 1 | 1 |
| Kimberly | 1 | 1 | Devin | 0 | 1 |
| Results | 1*-1 | ||||
- * Best dish named by Ramsay and Yamaguchi breaked the tie in the challenge and won it for their team.
Reward[]
The blue team was rewarded with a $2000 shopping spree at Surfas for kitchen supplies, which excited Devin as he never got a chance to blow that amount of money before, and a seven-course lunch at Providence, which excited Ryan as she never ate a two Michelin star restaurant before. During the reward, Devin called the store a cool one and compared himself to a child in a candy store. At the same time, Ryan said that she has never spent that amount of money for herself before calling it a great day. At lunch, Devin called it the best reward so far and called it amazing. However, Paulie told Ryan that he did not have an ego problem in the kitchen, but she said that he did as he liked to talk a lot before hoping that they could start over. However, while Ryan and Devin were having fun at the reward, Paulie did not.
Punishment[]
The red team was punished by taking in a delivery of a side of beef, breaking them down for a hanger steak special the following service, and taking in deliveries of potatoes. After hearing that, Andrew complained that it was another punishment that involved heavy lifting and believed it would take forever to complete. During the punishment, Kimberly complained how much it sucked to be covered in blood and fat for hours and told Andrew that if he cooked his lamb better, he might have scored that round. Later that night, Kimberly asked Andrew why he had to be so loud, even calling him worse than Gia, and deemed him obnoxious before saying he could be going home if he does not change his attitude. However, Andrew said that Kimberly sucked and that he could not stand her before telling her to take her sushi truck out with her. When Andrew and Kimberly continued to argue, an annoyed Heather said that they had to work as a team and told the two to get it together.
Before service[]
The next day, both teams began to finish up the last bit of prep work. After, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner service[]
Kellita Smith, Jasika Nicole, Patrick Renna, and Tommy Savas were in attendance that night. On their first ticket, Ryan asked Devin for some help on the kale salads, and the latter wanted that night for the blue team to be fast and furious. However, Paulie deemed Ryan smug and was not afraid of her before wanting to see how things played out. After delivering their first order of appetizers, Ryan felt that the blue team was off to a strong start as her risottos were deemed great. Still, on the next ticket, Ryan failed to hear an order of one risotto, put the pan in the wash bin, and sent up three orders of capellini without the risotto. Ryan berated herself up for that mistake and knew that there was nowhere to hide with only three chefs left in the blue kitchen as the men would notice her mistakes. In the red kitchen, Andrew communicated with his teammates, and the red team was able to push out appetizers to their customers. Unfortunately, one customer from Smith’s table found a hair in her kale salad, and Marino brought it back to the hot pass with a request to make a scallop dish as a replacement. While Andrew asked Heather where the hair came from, she did not know whether it was her hair or Heidi’s hair before calling it gross. Despite that, Kimberly got the scallop dish accepted and out to the customer. Ryan was struggling with the refire in the blue kitchen, much to Paulie’s pleasure, but managed to get it accepted.
One hour into service, both teams pushed out appetizers and the blue team were beginning to move onto entrées. Still, Paulie did not communicate with Devin as he felt the latter was dragging them, and Ramsay ordered Devin to speed up. Then, Devin’s veal chops came out raw, and Paulie annoyingly pulled off his sea bass from the pass as it died. After Ramsay found out, he berated Paulie and Devin for their lack of communication. When Paulie asked Ramsay to check on the fish, Ramsay angrily told him to man up if he knew it was not acceptable, and Devin felt it was overcooked. After Paulie announced that it would take two minutes for his refire, Ramsay forced the blue team to start over, and Devin called it embarrassing. Ramsay called the blue team the three stooges before an annoyed Ryan asked why Paulie and Devin were not communicating. Despite their problems, the blue team was able to get their refire accepted. In the red kitchen, the red team was beginning on entrées. Heidi told Kimberly to hustle as the latter’s fish should have been done before her meat, and she decided to send it up despite that as she could not let it die. Despite Kimberly’s slow performance, she managed to get her fish accepted despite Ramsay calling her grandma due to her slow speed. In the blue kitchen, Ramsay called out the next order, but Devin failed to repeat the order as he was not good with memorization, and Ryan felt disappointed as it was his time to take control. Despite that, Devin got his New York striploins accepted, and both kitchens were pushing out entrées at a good pace.
Two hours into service, Paulie revealed that he only had two sea bass portions left out of twelve he started with, and Ramsay ordered him to tell Marino his problem as he was fed up whipping his ass. When Paulie claimed that he lost two sea bass due to Devin’s raw veal chops, the latter told him to man up as he was responsible for that. An annoyed Marino asked Paulie what he was supposed to tell the customers. A reluctant Ramsay allowed Paulie to borrow two extra sea bass portions from the red kitchen, and Ryan said that Paulie was not as great as he said he was due to his frantic performance that night. Eventually, the blue team was able to get their order completed, and both teams were able to complete service.
Post-mortem[]
When both teams were lined up, Ramsay congratulated the red team for a job well done while berating the blue team for their pathetic performance. He named them the clear losers and asked them to nominate one person for elimination before dismissing them back to the dorms as the red team worked on desserts.
During deliberation, Paulie said he could not see why he should be nominated as he believed he did nothing wrong and wondered who to pick between Devin and Ryan. Devin reminded Paulie about the refires for the latter’s overcooked sea bass, but Paulie argued against that, and Ryan reminded Devin about how he could not remember an order. Despite that, the blue team begrudgingly agreed that Paulie messed up the less that night, while Ryan felt that Devin has not been as consistent as herself throughout the competition before nominating him for elimination. Without further discussion, the blue team agreed that Devin would be the nominee for elimination, but he called it messed up as he felt he did a better job than Ryan that night. However, Paulie told Devin that he would rather have him than Ryan around as she made more mistakes that night.
Elimination[]
Paulie announced that Devin was the blue team’s nominee for failing to remember a ticket order and being lost that night, but the latter argued that he was not lost and that he did perfect that night. Then, Ramsay asked Devin who he would have nominated, and the latter said Ryan for her poor start that night. During their pleas, Ryan said that she was consistent and solid on the line and that she could lead a kitchen, Paulie said that he had the determination and passion of the competition while taking in criticism, while Devin said that he was confident, passionate, and creative. After Ramsay noted how difficult it was to choose from one of the three as they were both determined, he called up Paulie’s name. While Paulie thought he was eliminated, Ramsay told him to say goodbye to Devin as the latter was eliminated for his inconsistent performance on meat, and disappointing performances throughout the competition. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Devin for his passion and big heart before urging him not to stop. Devin told Ramsay that it was an honor to make it to the final seven. During his exit interview, Devin said that he should not have been eliminated but felt humbled by the experience.
After Devin left, Ramsay told the chefs that it would be crunch time the next time he saw them and that it was time to stand out. While being dismissed, Ryan declared that she was there to win it, while Heidi felt they were getting down to the nitty-gritty and was dreaming about the black jackets. Paulie claimed that Ramsay scared him before believing that Devin should have gone home and told him to learn how to cook.
Ramsay's comment: "Devin had a hard time remembering the tickets. Unfortunately, his performance tonight would be hard to forget."
Trivia[]
- Title Reference: The title refers to the Fusion Cuisine Challenge.
- The title would also be repeated in Season 22, Episode 6.
- With this episode, the red team of this season set the record for the most service victories in a season with eight wins out of a possible twelve.
| Hell's Kitchen Season 16 Episodes |
|---|
| When the Wall Comes Tumbling Down • Crepe Grand Prix • The Yolkes on Them • Surf Riding & Turf Fighting • Walking the Plank • Let the Catfights Begin • Don't Tell My Fiancé • Dancing with the Chefs • Spoon Fed • Dancing in the Grotto • Aerial Maneuvers • Fusion Confusion • Black Jacket Lounge • Playing Your Cards Right • Tequila Shots? • Leaving It on the Line |