Episode 2106 - Til Chef Do Us Part

The sixth episode of Season 21 of Hell's Kitchen aired on November 10, 2022. In that episode, reigning champion Trenton got married, both teams made the wedding service unforgettable in the wrong way, and Ramsay cut the fat by sending two people home.

Intro[]

As both teams returned to the dorms, Abe felt he was being disrespected despite not being nominated and felt that people like Alex had their noses up. Abe and Billy vented their frustrations about Alex, as the former felt the latter did not think he belonged in the competition. Still, Abe said he felt he was better than Alex due to his skills and passion. Billy and Abe made a pact to stay together, and the latter began to get emotional over his family as he was fighting for them.

Team challenge[]

The following day, both teams came downstairs, and Ramsay asked if they were married. All but Sakari, Cheyenne, Dafne, Sommer, and Alyssa raised their hands to confirm they were. Because Ramsay deemed wedding nights their important day, he decided to show the chefs photos of their wedding days via video. The first photo was of Billy and his wife, which was their second attempt. Then, Tara's wedding photo was shown of her husband grabbing her garter, Alex with a Beetles-like haircut, and Ileana with her husband in a Bangladeshi wedding ceremony. After, Abe's wedding photo featured his wife and their nine kids, and the next couple of photos featured Alejandro with his wife, Mindy with her husband, and Brett with his wife. The last one made Brett tear up as he considered his wife his best friend. The final photo Ramsay shared was of him and his wife Tana on their wedding night.

Afterwards, Ramsay said that although Hell's Kitchen hosted several engagements before, none were more memorable than Season 20 winner Trenton's proposal to his girlfriend Macee after winning the competition. The chefs saw a clip of the moment, and Ramsay announced that Trenton and Macee were in Los Angeles to have their wedding at Hell's Kitchen. The couple entered the restaurant as Ramsay said that Trenton was killing it at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas. Ramsay asked the couple if they had a date set, and Macee revealed they were getting married that night. The news took everyone back as that made Dafne upset she was not married. For the Trenton and Macee Wedding Planning Challenge, both teams must create a sample menu for the couple to taste and see which dish would be on the menu that night. For their likes, Macee asked for Southern cuisine, seasonings, and carrots. Afterwards, Ramsay gave Trenton the honor of beginning the challenge.

Both teams had forty-five minutes to cook six sample dishes for Trenton and Macee to taste. These included flatbread, scallops, shrimp pasta, seafood entrée, steak entrée, and chicken entrée. Alex decided to make a meat and potato dish in honor of Trenton and Macee's midwestern background, while Tara had an idea for the flatbread that she made for her clients. Twenty-five minutes left, Alejandro went for a Mediterranean-styled flatbread while Brett cooked from his heart, cooking an oven-roasted chicken that would be deep-fried afterwards. Brett called it an honor to cook for Trenton and Macee. Twelve minutes left, Sommer felt pressured to cook for Trenton and Macee, but she decided to do a blackened halibut and give them the VIP treatment. In the blue kitchen, Billy made some corn salsa for the scallops as he knew a happy wife meant a happy life. Five minutes left, Alyssa found her chicken darker than she liked, but she believed it would be juicy. Still, Dafne deemed it sketchy as it looked burnt. In the blue kitchen, Brett realized he had left his chicken in the fryer and prayed it was not dry. Eventually, everyone had their dishes cooked and plated on time.

Alejandro and Tara walked their flatbreads up, and the latter presented her flatbreads with caramelized onions, caramelized apples, baby arugula, and spicy honey. While Trenton liked the presentation, he and Macee found it tasted bland. In contrast, despite Tara believing he went too outside the box, Alejandro's Spanish-inspired flatbread with chorizo sausage and clams was good. Despite Trenton feeling that the flatbread was not fluffy enough, he and Macee gave the point to Alejandro, and the men led 1-0. Afterwards, Alejandro hinted that he might put that flatbread on the menu. In the scallop round, Billy's pan-seared diver scallops with sweet corn puree and pickled okra were praised for being cooked nicely and having the acidity of the okra complimented the corn. Ileana's sweet corn succotash and hard-seared scallops were praised for having a wedding-like presentation, but Billy scored that round. The men led 2-0, and Billy said that "Be True" came out swinging. During the shrimp pasta round, Dafne's prawn and angel hair seafood pasta was praised for being fine dining, while Sakari's seafood pomodoro had a great sauce. However, Vlad's butter white wine noodles with shrimp and clams were criticized for being sloppy, as Macee knew she could not eat it without making a mess. Dafne scored a point, and she felt terrific for beating two men. The score was 2-1 for the men.

Moving onto entrées, Ramsay called up the steak round. Mindy's New York Striploin with balsamic cabernet reduction had a country club feeling to Trenton, while Cheyenne's filet with chipotle demi glaze was tasted without any review. Alex's barbecue spiced rubbed hanger steak was loved by Trenton and Macee as they were fans of that cut, and he scored that round. The men led 3-1, and the seafood round began. Abe's pan-seared snapper with Cajun seasoning was praised for being bright, while Sommer's VIP blackened halibut with bacon collard greens and bacon cream screamed Southernly. Sommer scored, and the men led 3-2. The final round was the chicken, but Brett was nervous that he overcooked it. Alyssa's Cajun chicken with honey-glazed carrots was praised for the cooking of the protein and having flavor depth, making Dafne feel they had it. Then, Brett presented his mustard collard greens and twice-cooked chicken. It was praised for being Southern-based, and the couple went with Brett's dish, giving the men the win 4-2. That made Brett feel great, especially since Trenton inspired him to compete in the first place. After the challenge ended, Ramsay sent Trenton and Macee out to get ready for the evening.

Scoring[]

Reward[]

The men were rewarded with a rage room experience at Rage Ground LA and lunch cooked by Suzanne Goin at Cara Cara. As the men went to get changed, Alex was happy to win as he could let loose his aggression. During the reward, the men smashed stuff in the rage room, though Alex saw Brett take out too much rage on some of the items. Then, Abe threw a broken printer onto the floor. Later, the men had lunch as Alex felt they were a cohesive team, especially since Billy came through in the challenge.

Punishment[]

The women were punished by making a six-tiered Bailey's Irish cream cake for the wedding. Hearing that intimidated Alyssa as that was a huge responsibility. During the punishment, Mindy admitted to not being a baker, but she knew how to make icing before. Later, Ileana was unsure if the cake batter was baked properly as it felt giggly, but the outside was crispy. Her fears came true as the middle was still raw, forcing Ileana to put it back in the oven. Ileana got angry at herself for messing up just as the men came in from their reward. Alyssa told Billy not to touch the cake, as Vlad saw the women get angry at their punishment.

Before service[]

Later that evening, both teams began prepping for the wedding service as neither wanted to let Ramsay down. The wedding guests soon arrived, which included Trenton and Macee's family and some Hell's Kitchen alums. These included Season 19's Kori, Mary Lou, and Cody and Season 20's Emily and Victoria. Ramsay had both teams line up at the pass to watch the ceremony, and Mindy found it cool as she had not been to a wedding in a while. After the ceremony was over, the service began.

Dinner service[]

The menu included the challenge-winning dishes, and both teams were responsible for the head table. The men got their first order, but Abe did not let Billy sear the scallops despite it being his dish. Billy reluctantly allowed Abe to do it, as the latter wanted to get the men off to a strong start. However, they were ice-cold, and Ramsay asked Billy why he was not cooking his dish. Billy was unhappy that Abe was limiting his contributions, and the latter's refire came out overcooked. Billy decided to cook the scallops himself, and the women began working on appetizers in the red kitchen. Dafne knew a wedding reception was important because love was the theme, and she refused to make mistakes. Cheyenne was excited to cook for Trenton and Macee as the wedding reminded her of her girlfriend and she knew the latter wanted her to be focused. Cheyenne's scallops were accepted, and the guests on the red side enjoyed their appetizers.

Forty minutes into the service, Billy said he needed a minute and a half for the scallops and felt he had it. However, Billy's scallops were raw, angering Ramsay as Trenton and Macee chose his dish to be on the menu. Sakari got annoyed by the inconsistent performances at the fish station while Abe tried to motivate Billy to get him focused. Then, Ramsay saw Billy's overcooked refire and had him bring them to the front along with Cheyenne. Ramsay told Cheyenne to cook the scallops, embarrassing Billy as he knew how to cook scallops. Thanks to Cheyenne, the first order from the blue kitchen was sent out. Moving onto entrées, the women began to communicate, only for Ramsay to notice that Alyssa was cooking more collard greens than needed. Ramsay compared it to a roadside café and told Alyssa to cook with love. Tara accused Alyssa of being scattered-brained and dazed, ordering her to get garnish under control. When the women sent up their entrées, Ramsay sliced into the chicken, and it came out raw. Dafne did not know why Mindy was not helping Sommer and letting the latter take the blame, but the refire was accepted.

Ninety minutes into the service, Ramsay gathered both teams for the main table and ordered them to have them ready in six minutes. Both teams worked on the order as Alyssa deemed it important to make Trenton and Macee happy. However, Ramsay saw that Alyssa did not have her collard greens fired, making Cheyenne feel she saw no game from the latter. Brett knew the head table was important in the blue kitchen, but he walked up an ice-cold steak to the pass. On the refire, Abe felt the boat was sinking and prayed they bounce back. However, the chicken was raw, and that led Ramsay to kick the men out of the kitchen. As the men walked to the dorms, Ramsay berated them for their disgraceful performance and told them to nominate two people for elimination. In the red kitchen, the women worked on their half of the head table as Sommer did not want to mess it up. However, the steak Mindy walked up was cold, forcing them to put it back in the oven. Then, Ramsay found that the chicken was raw, making him lament about Alyssa's failure to make collard greens, Sommer struggles with the chicken, and Mindy giving him cold steaks. Tara was appalled by that as it was someone's wedding as Mindy and Sommer sent up the refires. While the chicken was accepted, the steak was overcooked, and Ramsay kicked the women out of the kitchen. As they left, Tara knew Ramsay was embarrassed about their miserable performance as it was Trenton's special night and called it gut-wrenching. With both teams out of the kitchen, the Sous Chefs stepped in to cook the head table's orders. The reception ended on a high note as Trenton and Macee shared their cake.

Post-mortem[]

Back at the dorms, Alyssa called that night harder than she expected, while Dafne accused her of shutting down. Alyssa argued that she kept going, but Dafne said she was her own worst enemy. Then, Dafne and Ileana scolded Sommer for rushing the proteins to the pass, but the latter claimed that it would be her final night of failing. Even though Cheyenne deemed Mindy and Sommer's performance bad, she did not want Alyssa to stay due to her confusion all night. Cheyenne told the women about having to help the men earlier and deemed them weak.

Meanwhile, Alex accused the fish station of putting them on a bad start, but Abe argued that the meat station's failures got them kicked out. Still, Vlad and Alex said the scallops doomed them from the start, while Billy said that Abe pushed him aside from the start. Abe argued that Billy had never worked fish before, but the latter said the former did not have it. Sakari and Abe voted for Billy and Brett as nominees, while Vlad and Alex voted for Billy and Abe. Abe tried to blame Brett's raw chicken for getting them kicked out, but the latter reminded the former that he refired scallops too many times and how Cheyenne came to help them. Then, Abe got upset that he was being picked on, but Alejandro said it was a professional opinion and Alex said that Abe's outburst proved he was not a leader. However, Abe argued that he was and came down on Alex for being snooty.

Elimination[]

As both teams came downstairs, Ramsay asked if that was a wedding or a funeral. Cheyenne announced Alyssa as the women's first nominee for elimination and Sommer as their second. Then, Alejandro announced Billy as the men's first nominee for elimination and Abe as their second. During their pleas, Sommer felt she was determined and did not give up, while Alyssa wanted to fix her mistakes and be more vocal. Then, Billy was embarrassed about his performance and wanted to bounce back, while Abe thought he was a strong, confident chef and threw Billy under the bus by calling him unreliable. Ramsay eliminated Billy for failing to cook his own dish and not backing up his talk. During his exit interview, Billy was unhappy to go home on his dish and felt Abe snaked him out that night.

After Billy left, Ramsay said he was not done and eliminated Alyssa for struggling on garnish and failing to bounce back. During her exit interview, Alyssa was surprised by Ramsay's decision, but she felt she should have worried about herself and not a team that did not have her back.

After Alyssa left, Ramsay told both teams to think about how they would redeem themselves the following day. While being dismissed, Sommer was relieved to survive elimination, but she vowed never to let that happen again. Then, Abe said he would fight for the prized position and rise like a soufflé, while Cheyenne felt that a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

Ramsay's comment: "It's so sad that on Trenton and Macee's wedding day, I have to say 'I don't' to both Billy and Alyssa."

Trivia[]

• Title Reference: The title is a play on the wedding phrase "To Death Do Us Part".
• The episode original airdate was November 3, 2022, but it was delayed to the following week due to the 2022 World Series game being postponed two days beforehand.
• With this episode, Season 21 becomes the second season after Season 16 to have two separate double eliminations. It also marks the first time Ramsay did this twice during the team phase.