Episode 1707 - Trimming Fat

The seventh episode of Season 17 of Hell's Kitchen aired on Fox, on November 17, 2017. In that episode, the chefs were tested on timings with the menu items, and six chefs competed in an individual challenge to stay in the competition.

Intro[]

While going back to the dorms, Robyn hoped that the blue team did not feel betrayed over her request to go back to the red team, but she did not want to lie to Ramsay. While that hurt the blue team, Robyn promised that she did want to be part of their team and only wanted to communicate instead of fighting. However, Nick felt that Robyn was self-sabotaging herself by talking too much as she needed to learn how to shut up, and Giovanni chewed her out for saying that out loud before reminding her how they welcomed her with open arms. That led Robyn to believe that she had to keep her mouth shut to not be nominated again.

Team challenge[]

The next day, both teams came downstairs, with Ramsay standing behind six covered domes, and revealed that they would cook those six dishes in their next challenge. After revealing them, the chefs recognized them as dishes from the menu: beef Wellington, salmon, halibut, rack of lamb, duck breast, and double bone-in pork chop. Then, Ramsay explained that because he was very determined for a perfect service, he designed a brand-new challenge for them, wanted each of them to prove they knew the menu very well, and the team with the most accurate dishes would win. That led to Michelle commenting that as All-Stars, they should know the menu by now, and there were no excuses. Before the challenge began, Ramsay reminded both teams that they should clearly understand what was happening at each station.

The chefs had 25 minutes to cook their dishes, and both teams delegated to where each chef would be working on. While Manda felt that the challenge was an easy one as they cooked those entrées countless times, when the 18-minute mark occurred, Ramsay revealed the Last Chef Standing Challenge and asked both teams to kick out one chef from the kitchen. After the shocking news, the red team argued over who would be kicked out until Barbie reluctantly agreed to leave the red kitchen. In the blue kitchen, Van agreed to leave the blue kitchen as he did not want to cause an argument, but Milly openly felt that Robyn should have been sent out instead as he was still pissed about her request the previous night. At the 15-minute mark, the blue team had Robyn leave the kitchen, and Dana left for the red team, although she admitted that she did not like it. With only four people left in both teams, Michelle complained about the amount of work she had to do before feeling that Ramsay was not done kicking people out yet. Indeed, at the 12-minute mark, Ramsay asked again, and Milly and Elise left their respective kitchens. At the 9-minute mark, Giovanni and Manda left their respective kitchens, and Jennifer called the situation weird and strange. At the six-minute mark, Jennifer and Benjamin left their kitchens, leaving Michelle and Nick as the last chefs remaining in their respective kitchens. While Michelle knew that she could not let her teammates down, Nick wanted to use that opportunity to show Ramsay that he could handle a giant workload. However, Elise felt that Michelle could not handle the pressure as she felt that the latter was getting flustered. With three minutes left, Ramsay allowed the other chefs back into their respective kitchens to get their dishes plated. However, Dana got concerned over the pork as it looked cooked but knew that it was deceiving her, and when it was sliced, the pork came out raw. Regardless, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time.

Before judging their dishes, Ramsay explained that the lesson for that challenge was to help their communication skills. Still, when Ramsay asked if both teams were happy with their dishes, the red team said they were not as Michelle revealed their raw pork chop. Dana dismayingly said that they were serving Ramsay pork sushi. When Ramsay asked the red team who was responsible for the pork chop, Dana revealed that she started on it, and Ramsay commented that the only thing missing was its tail. The blue team's pork chop, on the other hand, was cooked perfectly, they easily won that round, and the score was 1-0 for the blue team. However, Dana argued that the pork chop was not her fault as she got kicked out of the kitchen and hoped that the rest of the dishes were perfect. On the beef Wellington round, the blue team's attempt was deemed delicious despite Ramsay feeling that it could have done with two more minutes, while the red team's dish was also praised for being delicious. So, both teams scored that round, and the score was 2-1 for the blue team. It was the same result for the halibut round as the red team's attempt was deemed delicious, and the blue team's attempt was cooked beautifully. Both teams scored again, and it was 3-2 for the blue team. On the duck breast round, the blue team's attempt was praised for being cooked beautifully, the red team's duck was deemed delicious, and both teams scored on that round once again. The score was 4-3 for the blue team, and Milly did not mind the ties as they were in the lead. On the lamb round, the red team's dish was raw as Elise did not cook it thoroughly, and the blue team's lamb was criticized for having inconsistent cooking as Giovanni made it both raw and cooked on it, with Ramsay accusing him of bastardizing it. So, neither team scored a point on that round, and the score remained 4-3 for the blue team. The final round was for the salmon, and the blue team's attempt was praised for having crispy skin. In contrast, the red team's attempt was praised for having perfect skin but criticized for having overcooked shrimp as they were curled up. Because of that, the blue team won that round and were the winners of the challenge 5-3. After, Ramsay told the red team that the blue team had better communication skills than them, and Nick felt that the red team was spiralling out of control before commenting that it was no surprise how the blue team kept winning dinner services.

Scoring[]

Reward[]

The blue team was rewarded with a trip to a rock-climbing gym and having lunch at Bourbon Steak at Americana. While being dismissed, Van was happy the blue team won another challenge and mockingly told the red team to have fun with their punishment, once again calling them ratchet reds. During the reward, Giovanni commented that he never went rock climbing before and wanted to see if his fat ass would let him do it, which he did. However, Giovanni got winded by the first climb and complained that he was too old for that. Then, Milly's underwear was showing as his harness was slipping, and while Nick jokingly said that the former was twerking, Milly had no shame showing off his designer underwear before commenting how hard it was to climb rocks.

At lunch, the blue team met up with Sous Chefs Christina and Jocky at Bourbon Steak, and Robyn called it a nice surprise. Milly called the food great, and when Sous Chef Jocky asked Robyn how it felt being the only female on the blue team, she commented how weird it was but wanted to earn their trust. After, Nick believed that they could mould Robyn into the chef they needed her to be, and while he felt that she was having a change of heart, he would send her home if she was not.

Punishment[]

The red team was punished by helping Marino clean the dining room, clean the latter's shirts ahead of the following service, and clean both kitchens. After hearing that, Manda complained that it would be a long day, sarcastically told Marino that he was welcome, and asked if he wanted a sandwich. During the punishment, Marino gave the red team his shoes to polish as well, but when a pair of women's shoes were seen, Dana asked what he did in his spare time. Then, Barbie's pickiness over the shoes irritated Elise and Jennifer, and Dana called the former a know it all at shoe shining before deciding to vacuum to not listen to Barbie. Later, Michelle called the oven disgusting, and Manda wondered how long it would take Elise to wipe down the shelves due to the latter's slow pace. She accused Elise of skating through punishment as she did for the other ones despite being a physical person. Then, Elise and Michelle argued about the former's rudeness and poor attitude, and Elise called Michelle nails on the chalkboard annoying. Despite that, the two agreed to drop the argument and went through the rest of their punishment.

Cook For Your Life Challenge[]

Later that night, both teams were in the dorms wondering when they should be prepping as it was 6:30 pm, and Jennifer was freaking out. Then, Ramsay called the dorms and asked Michelle to bring everybody downstairs into the blue kitchen. Ramsay showed them a demonstration of his signature dish at Chelsea in London, which was tagliatelle oysters with champagne sauce and caviar. While Nick felt that Ramsay was making the demonstration look easier than it should be, Dana took very close notes on the dish. After, Ramsay had both teams lined up and explained that he had to focus on the chefs who were operating at the highest level at this point in the competition. So, Ramsay announced that six chefs would be competing in a Cook For Your Life Challenge, and the chef who was the least successful in recreating his dish would be automatically eliminated. Because Michelle and Nick were the last chefs remaining in the previous challenge, Ramsay asked both of them to nominate three chefs from their teams to compete in the challenge. While Nick was relieved to be safe from the challenge, he did not want any animosity from his teammates. Nick named Robyn as his first nominee as she struggled as of late, while Michelle called Barbie her first nominee. Even though Barbie commented that she was always the first nominee, she would be the last one standing. For their second nominees, Nick named Giovanni for being frazzled at some points, even though the latter disagreed with that notion, while Michelle named Manda, but the latter said that all that challenge would do was make her stronger. For their final nominees, Nick picked Milly as he felt the latter needed to step it up, but Milly argued against that, and Michelle picked Elise for not being a team player. That caused Elise to refuse to play nice anymore and said that Michelle should be praying that she did not survive the challenge. After, Ramsay dismissed the six remaining chefs back to the patio so they could wait for the victors. Still, while Elise felt that either Dana or Jennifer should be up instead of herself, she felt Michelle picked her out of fear of her abilities.

The six chefs had 30 minutes to recreate Ramsay's dish, but Manda commented how crazy it was to be recreating a dish she just saw in that amount of time. Then, Manda commented on how intense the red kitchen's mood was as neither of them was talking and that it was everybody for themselves. In the blue kitchen, Giovanni refused to go home that night and planned on beating anybody in his way, while Milly wondered why Nick would nominate him as he loved working with those ingredients. In the red kitchen, Barbie revealed that she used to be a Sous Chef at a seafood restaurant and used to shuck oysters every night, claiming that she wanted to prove to Ramsay she deserved to stay. In the blue kitchen, Robyn called it do or die and realized that her anxiety was getting her as she struggled with the oysters before deciding to talk to herself to calm down. In the red kitchen, Elise knew that she could be sent home over one mistake. Eventually, the six chefs got their dishes cooked and plated on time. Back at the patio, Van felt that Milly would be the first to come upstairs. Michelle said that she would rather have Barbie or Elise eliminated over Manda. However, when Benjamin and Dana asked Michelle what would happen if Elise survived, she argued that she could handle it.

Elimination[]

Before the judging, Ramsay noticed that Elise was tearing up as she still felt she did not deserve to be nominated. Manda was the first one up for judging and knew how important that dish was. While Ramsay praised the sauce, he wanted Manda to be a little more generous with it before calling it a strong effort. Milly was the second person to have his dish judged and boasted that he was ready to throw down the perfect recreation of Ramsay's dish. Ramsay praised the dish for looking beautiful, having the right ratio of pasta and oyster, and a beautifully cooked oyster. However, Ramsay asked Milly what was missing on the dish, and while the latter struggled on it, Ramsay revealed that he cooked five oysters instead of the six required, much to Milly's embarrassment. Despite that, Ramsay deemed Milly's attempt better than Manda's, he was sent back upstairs and was welcomed with open arms.

Barbie was the third person to have her dish judged and was confident that she was not going home. However, Ramsay noted that she put too much pasta on her oysters, and it had crunchy cucumbers. So, Manda's dish was deemed better than Barbie's, and she came back to the dorms to reunite with the red team. Robyn was the fourth person to have her dish judged and was confident Ramsay would love her dish. However, Ramsay discovered that two of Robyn's oysters were gashed due to her cutting too hard, and she got dismayed about her chances. After, Barbie was deemed safe, and the latter felt that Michelle would freak out if Elise were safe. Elise was the fifth person up but was still upset as she did not deserve to be in the bottom three and that she had done nothing but be a team player. Elise's dish was praised for a beautiful presentation but criticized for tasting too salty as she put her oyster shells too far into them. Despite that, Elise's dish was deemed better than Robyn's, and she was safe. After, Elise refused to let Michelle hear the end of it, and when she came to the patio, she told Michelle that it was on. When the two argued about it, Jennifer broke it up, and when Elise told Michelle to get used to her face, the latter snarkily asked if she meant her crying face.

Giovanni was the final person to have his dish judged and declared that he was not ready to go home. While the dish was praised for looking beautiful, Ramsay noticed that Giovanni lacked the sauce component and had too much pasta on the dish. After a hard decision, Ramsay deemed Robyn's dish the better of the two, and Giovanni was automatically eliminated. Before leaving, Ramsay told Giovanni that he was glad he came back and urged him to look after his family. During his exit interview, Giovanni knew that he should have done better with his age and experience but looked forward to seeing his family again and had no shame leaving. Meanwhile, Robyn returned to the dorms, was excited that she was still around, and declared that she broke out of her shell. Then, Elise boasted that she was the strongest chef on the red team and warned Michelle that she was coming after her, while Jennifer said she would not want to be in Michelle's shoes.

Ramsay's comment: "Giovanni may have age and experience, but his attention to detail in this critical challenge was a big disappointment. "Arrivederci", Giovanni."

Trivia[]

• Title Reference: The title refers to Ramsay's desire to get rid of the weaker chefs by this point of the competition and focus on the stronger chefs, hence the Cook For Your Life Challenge.
• This marks the first time the Cook For Your Life Challenge was used since Season 14. It is also the first time since Episode 1203 - 18 Chefs Compete where Ramsay asked for six nominees and the first time that all six were at risk of elimination.
• The dish used in the Cook For Your Life Challenge was previously used in MasterChef Season 8, which aired the summer before the episode aired.